FFVI World 1

An Empire at war!

Plot

While a lot of the early plot seems to be literally all of the tropes woven together in new ways, this game is also from 1994. Not all of these were as over done then as they are now.

As the game progresses, and more of the plot is revealed, it does begin to be more unique. I especially like the blending of high fantasy with technical advancement (which is a staple of the series as a whole). I was consistently surprised by the plot twists, and how much depth/nuance characters developed. While everyone starts out as the stereotype, the characters that get cutscenes realyl develop and begin to get rounded out.

The villans are actual villans, and they're very easy to hate (Fuck Kefka, that asshole).

Also, holy shit, the crystals are people? <mind-blow.gif>

All the tropes

• Protagonist that has a strange power
• Protagonist that lost their memory
• Horny party member
• "Only you can save us"

Music

Somehow, this is even better than FFV. But maybe I just love chip tunes.

For FFV, I was into World II before I decided that I needed to have the soundtrack. I didn't make it nearly that far this time

Comparisions to other games

Similarities to older games

• FFVI seems to have abandoned the job system for relic-based roles.
• Much like FFIV, your party isn't static, but in contrast, you have a lot more control over it more often

Improvements from FFV:A

• Separating out armor from relics
• UI Polish (this might be a FFV vs FFVI port improvement rather than a game-level change)
• Better help via the moogles: JIT help seems better than the Greenhorn club info-dump in FFV
• Actual Mechanics
  • Bushido
  • Blitz
  • Follow the star
  • Split parties with objectives
  • A plot (I love FFV, but the plot isn't one of the reasons)

Guide usage

As stated, I did as much of this without a guide as I could until it wasn't fun. I ended up breaking it out for strategy hints on one fight (Ultros + Typhon, then the Airforce combo) and navigation on the continent.

Time

I the general size and scope of JRPG's. But I also like to be informed about it. I tend to pay attention to "average play time" information, and also how I'm lining up with that. That being said, I got to the end of World 1 in ~18 hours. Since I've never played this game before, I have no idea how that stacks up. But I've seen the average total time is ~35h, and this is 1/2 that.