Games We’re Finally Playing: Final Fantasy VI

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OK, so technically Jeff has already played it (and you heard all about it back on episode two). However, I had never actually played beyond the first five minutes (I thought a full hour, but no, not even…) of Final Fantasy VI, considered by many to be the pinnacle of the series. I’ve had Anthology (PS1) since it came out, and I’ve had Advance (GBA) since it came out… but… never played…

This post is actually two-fold in purpose. The first is like the title says; I started playing the game. However, in order to be playing this game, I had to do one other thing.

I dropped the Pokemon habit.

That’s right, I’m done (again… for now). Despite putting the majority of time these days into Pearl, just the fact that Pearl was in Slot 1 and FireRed was in Slot 2 was enough to keep me from playing anything else on-the-go. Once I started up my new job and had an hour lunch to go off and do whatever I wanted, I was all about starting up a new game.

Final Fantasy VI

I decided to make that game Final Fantasy VI, and I’ve been quite enjoying it. That’s not to say that I’m falling all over myself with how amazing it is, but it’s totally perfect for what I need it to be right now. The distance between save points is always just right for a lunch break (something III on DS did amazingly well, might I add). The characters are quirky and hilarious. The music is… well, I haven’t really hit anything yet that’s flooring me, to be honest (yes, I’m playing with headphones so I don’t miss anything). I also understand that the GBA audio isn’t quite up to the level of the SNES, but it has nothing to do with the audio quality; I’m talking strictly composition and arrangement.

I’m just under seven hours into the game, and I just did my second round of split-up-the-team and fight-lots-of-oncoming-soldiers, concluding with Kefka at the end (that shouldn’t be all that spoilerific, I think).

So while I’m enjoying it, there’s nothing knocking my socks off just yet. I know I still need to wait for the inevitable “world beyond the world” realization, and something about an opera scene…

I’m quite petrified of Pokemon: Platinum coming out in the US, because I’m kinda enjoying playing other games for a change…

final fantasy pokemon

Comments

8 responses to “Games We’re Finally Playing: Final Fantasy VI”

September 26, 2008

Jaime D.

Mike’s afraid of the new pokeymans, lawl.

-Jaime D.

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September 27, 2008

Taku128

I actually just won FFVI on ebay. Hasn’t come in yet, but I’m looking forward to playing it. Hopefully I’ll have done everything in Kirby Super Star Ultra by that time.

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September 27, 2008

Kula

I’m about 2 hours into FFVI on my first play through. I have it on the PS1, but I’m playing it emulated on the PC (with the ever so comfortable 360 controller).

It hasn’t exactly blown me away, but I’m definitely enjoying it. I guess I’ve just been spoiled by 7, 8, 10 and 12. After completing it, I’m probably going to start on 4 and work my way backwards. I also need to play 9 as well.

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September 27, 2008

Jamaal

Recently started playing as well. I’m about 10 hrs in. The music didn’t start to floor me till the Opera scene (very awesome). I totally want a legit arranged soundtrack just because of that scene.

Greatly enjoying the game btw.

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September 27, 2008

mike

Whoa, nice! It’s pretty awesome that we can all be playing it together for the first time :D. I guess I’ll leave occasional update so we can all do a mini-book-club thing and discuss how we feel about the game’s progression 😛

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September 28, 2008

DesireCampbell

Holy shit, video game club: we all (or as many as possible) play the same game and and appointed amount of time later, discuss.

Mike, you are a genius.

/me sees if he can find a copy

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September 28, 2008

Jamaal

I’d love if there was actual conversation and analysis like a book club of sorts. It really fits into the theme of “Video Game Conversations” itself. If this becomes an ongoing thing, we should set up checkpoints (like 2nd boss or something if we’re not being terribly specific) to allow coherent and in depth conversations.

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October 1, 2008

Nat

I started FF6 about a year ago, and got stuck with no idea of what to do…

I think I’ll start playing it after I beat 2 though. I recently picked up FF1 and FF2 for PSP, and I beat 1, and now that I’m closing in on 2, I think I understand why I got stuck. I never used to talk to every single person in the towns! So I think I got off track by not really being on track? I dunno… I don’t even remember where I got stuck at….

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