Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI (ファイナルファンタジーVI Fainaru Fantajī VI) is a computer role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was directed by Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Itou, who took over from series creator and producer Hironobu Sakaguchi, director of the five previous installments of the franchise. Long-time series contributor Nobuo Uematsu composed the musical score, while Yoshitaka Amano contributed to the graphic design.

Final Fantasy VI was the third game in the Final Fantasy series to be released in North America (after Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy IV). As a result, it was retitled and marketed as Final Fantasy III in North America. Several other changes were made to the North American version due to various content guidelines imposed by Nintendo of America, including restrictions against nudity and offensive language.

The game focuses on a conflict between the Empire and magical beings known as Espers. It features fourteen playable characters, the largest cast of any game in the Final Fantasy series to date, excluding spin-off titles. The game is set in a fantasy steampunk-styled world, at a technological level roughly corresponding to Earth during the Second Industrial Revolution. Railroads appear here for the first time in the Final Fantasy series.

Final Fantasy VI was the last title in the series to be released for the Super Nintendo console. It was remade for the Sony PlayStation and released in Japan in 1999, both individually and as part of the Final Fantasy Collection. In North America, this remake is available as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology. In 2002, the PlayStation remake was released individually in Europe and Australia. A new port of the game will appear on the Game Boy Advance as Final Fantasy VI Advance sometime in 2006.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy VI is similar to previous Final Fantasy titles in that its gameplay can be divided into three basic categories: the overworld map, towns and dungeons, and battles.

While on the overworld map, the player directs the characters to locations spread out across the world in which the game takes place. Travel can be initiated in several ways, primarily by foot in the early stages of the game, and by airship in the latter stages. Like most games in the series, there are three primary means of travel across the overworld: by foot, by chocobo, and by airship. Random enemies are only fought on foot.

Most of the plot takes place as the player progreses through towns and dungeons. The citizens of the towns offer helpful information and rumors, and some own shops, which sell equipment and items. "Dungeons" refers to several different types of areas, such as caves, sewers, forests or man-made buildings, which often progress the game's plot. Like the overworld map, random encounters occur, but it is also possible to find treasure chests containing rare items that may not be available in stores. Some dungeons require the player to split the characters into multiple parties in order to solve puzzles.

Combat in Final Fantasy VI is menu-based. The player selects an action from a list, including such options as Fight, Magic, Item. Battles take place in pseudo-real time, a system called Active Time Battle. A party may consist of up to four characters. Each character has an action bar that replenishes itself at a rate dependent on their speed statistic. When a character's action bar is filled, the player may assign an action, such as Fight, Magic, or Item, from a list. In addition, each character possesses one special ability available only to that character; for example, Locke possesses the ability to Steal certain items from enemy monsters, while Celes's Runic ability allows her to absorb most magical attacks until she uses her next turn. Parties are rewarded for battle victories with experience points and GP. When characters attain a certain amount of experience points, they gain a level and their statistics increase. A multiplayer functionality for battles also exists; control of individual characters can be assigned in the configuration menu.

In contrast to previous titles featuring the Active Time Battle, the player is able to pick any character who has a filled action bar and has not yet received any commands, instead of forcing the player to issue commands to whatever character had their action bar filled first.

Customization in Final Fantasy VI lies in the choice of equipment the player chooses to outfit his characters with, including the usage of relics—accessories which augment stats or lend special abilities to the wearer. Although only two characters start the game with the ability to use magic, almost every character can learn to do so. Characters may equip Magicite, enabling the use of specific magic spells. As a character gains magic points, he or she gradually learns spells from the Magicite equipped. In addition, equipped Magicite allows the player to summon a monster to help the party in battle, and may also offer a statistical bonus upon level up.

An element not included in previous games is the Desperation Attack. When a character becomes critically wounded, there is a small chance that the character will use an extremely powerful technique in place of their normal physical attack. Similar features appear in subsequent Final Fantasy titles, under a variety of different names (Limit Breaks, Trance, Overdrive, etc).

The total length of the game is usually cited as approximately 40-50 hours, although much of that consists of optional side quests. A fairly recent gamer fad includes the speed run, which ignores all but that which is necessary to reach the ending in the fastest time possible. The current record for completing the North American localization of the game is 5 hours and 26 minutes. 

Story


A thousand years ago, the War of the Magi erupted between three goddesses. Faced with a need of powerful soldiers, the goddesses turned several groups of humans into magical creatures called Espers. Eventually, the goddesses realized that their war was having a negative impact on the planet. In order to repent, the goddesses freed the Espers that they created and turned themselves to stone. When the war ended, the remaining humans and the Espers were burdened with differences in lifestyle, appearence, and opinion. As a result, the two races retreated to separate dimensions. Gradually, the human race has built a society based on technological power while forgetting the existance of the Espers. Now the most powerful technology is in the hands of the Empire, an expanding political power led by Emperor Gestahl and his top generals — Kefka Palazzo, General Leo Cristophe and Celes Chère — which rules harshly over much of the world. Driven by legends of the immense power of the Espers, Gestahl has initiated a research program to combine magic and machinery, and the result of this program is Magitek. The Empire has channeled the concept of Magitek into vehicles known as Magitek Armor, which allows a soldier to use the power of magic without having Magicite crystals or Esper alignment. Another Magitek invention that was created to enhance the power and control of the Empire was the Slave Crown. However, in order to develop and maintain Magitek, the Empire is forced to use actual Espers. Though the magical energy of Magitek is weak, the Empire seems on the verge of rediscovering the full potential of magic, which Gestahl intends to do by reopening the gateway to the world of the Espers.

Standing against the Empire are the Returners, a resistance movement seeking to enlist the aid of the nearly forgotten Espers in restoring freedom to the world. With the Returners on the verge of success, however, Kefka betrays Emperor Gestahl, and uses the magic of the Espers to remake the world in his own image, becoming almost god-like in the process. One year after Kefka's ascendancy, when most of the world has lost all hope, the remaining Returners reemerge to challenge Kefka's hegemony and to free the world from slavery at the general's hands.

Playable characters


Final Fantasy VI features fourteen permanent player characters, the largest number of any game in the series, as well as a number of characters who are only briefly controlled by the player. Most of the main characters in the game are members of the Returners, an underground resistance movement dedicated to overthrowing the Empire, and almost every character is united in holding a significant grudge against said Empire, and against Kefka, one of its leading generals, in particular. Terra Branford (ティナ Tina), for instance, is a half-human, half-Esper girl who spent most of her young life as a slave to General Kefka. Cyan Garamonde (カイエン Kaien), on the other hand, a loyal knight of the kingdom of Doma, watched his family and friends die as a result of Kefka's poisoning of the castle's water supply. Other characters include Locke Cole (ロック Rokku), a treasure hunter and rebel sympathizer who is close friends with Edgar Roni Figaro (エドガー Edogā), the king of Figaro, who claims allegiance to the Empire while secretly supplying aid to the Returners. Edgar's erstwhile brother, Sabin René Figaro (マッシュ Masshu), has fled the royal court in order to hone his martial arts skills.

Celes Chère (セリス Serisu), a former general of the Empire, joins the Returners following her imprisonment for questioning imperial policies. Believing Celes to be the opera diva Maria, inveterate gambler and womanizer Setzer Gabbiani (セッツァー Settsā) later joins forces with the group, offering the use of his airship to transport the heroes around the world. Shadow (シャドウ Shadou), a high-priced ninja mercenary, offers his services to both Empire and Returners at various stages throughout the game. Shadow shares a mysterious connection with Relm Arrowny (リルム Rirumu), a young girl living in the town of Thamasa under the care of her grandfather, Strago Magus (ストラゴス Sutoragosu), an elderly Blue Mage and heir to a long line of magical warriors.

Gau (ガウ Gau), a feral child surviving since infancy in the harsh wilderness known as the The Veldt, eventually befriends the party, as does Mog (モグ Mogu), a talking Moogle from the mines of Narshe. Mog's fast talking and persuasive attitude convince Umaro (ウーマロ Ūmaro), a savage but loyal sasquatch also living in Narshe, to lend his aid to the party. Rounding out the cast is Gogo (ゴゴ Gogo), a mysterious, fully shrouded master of the art of mimicry who agrees to lend support only when the party finds their way to the lair in the stomach of a giant monster called the Zone Eater.

A handful of Final Fantasy VI characters have reappeared in later games, such as Secret of Evermore and Kingdom Hearts II. Final Fantasy VI: The Interactive CG Game, a short technical demo produced for the Silicon Graphics Onyx workstation, featured 3D rendered versions of Locke, Terra, and Shadow.

Musical score
The soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI is the work of long-time series contributor Nobuo Uematsu. The score consists of themes for each major character and location, plus music for standard battles and fights with boss enemies, as well as for special cutscenes. The "Aria di Mezzo Carattere" is one of the latter tracks, played during an cutscene involving an opera performance. This track features an unintelligible "voice" that harmonizes with the melody: the technical limitations of the Super Nintendo hardware prevented the use of an actual vocal track. The orchestral album Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale features an arranged version of the aria, featuring Italian lyrics, performed by Svetla Krasteva with orchestral backing. This aria is also found in the second full-motion video in the PlayStation re-release with the same lyrics but a different musical arrangement. In addition, the album Orchestral Game Concert 4 includes an extended version of the opera. Arguably the most famous sequence in the game, Electronic Gaming Monthly declared the opera scene one of the "20 Greatest Moments in Console Gaming" in 2002.

Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale features eleven tracks from the game, arranged by Shiro Sagisu and Tsuneyoshi Saito and performed by the Ensemble Archi Della Scala and Orchestra Synfonica di Milano. Final Fantasy VI Piano Collections, a second arranged album, features thirteen tracks from the game, arranged and performed for piano by Reiko Nomura.

Additionally, the original score was released on three compact discs in Japan as Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version. A version of this album was later released in North America under the title Final Fantasy III: Kefka's Domain, available exclusively through mail order from Square Soft.

Graphics
Yoshitaka Amano, also a long-time contributor to the Final Fantasy series, returns as the image designer. Amano provided concept sketches to the programmers, who converted them into the Sprites that feature in the game. Some liberties were taken during the conversion, such as the changing of Terra's hair from blonde to green. The PlayStation release includes full motion video produced specifically for the re-release: the character designs in these video sequences are based on Amano's designs, rather than the sprites in the game.

Though not the first game to utilize the Super Nintendo's Mode 7 graphics, Final Fantasy VI made much more extensive use of them than either of its two predecessors. Unlike both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V, for example, the world map is rendered in Mode 7, which lends a somewhat three-dimensional perspective to an otherwise two-dimensional game.

Localization and censorship
The English language localization includes a number of changes to the original Japanese game. The most obvious of these changes is the alteration of the game's title, which was changed to reflect the fact that it was only the third Final Fantasy title to be released in North America. Unlike Final Fantasy IV (originally released in North America under the title Final Fantasy II), there are no major changes in gameplay, though certain editorial alterations exist in the English script. In a January 1995 interview with Super POWER magazine, translator Ted Woolsey explained that "there's a certain level of playfulness and... sexuality in Japanese games that just doesn't exist here [in the USA], basically because of Nintendo of America's rules and guidelines". Some of the game's graphics are subtly changed to cover up instances of nudity. In addition, the English localization features several name changes. Some such alterations were necessitated by length restrictions (e.g. "Stragos" was shortened to "Strago"). Other changes were made in order for the game to meet Nintendo's aforementioned content guidelines, which, for instance, placed restrictions on the use of religious imagery, leading to the rechristening of the magic spell "Holy" to "Pearl." A number of changes were made simply because of cultural differences between Asian and North American audiences. For example, Terra's Japanese name, Tina, sounds exotic to Japanese speakers, but is a common Anglophone name. Finally, the text files had to be shortened because otherwise they simply could not have fit into the available data storage space of the cartridge ROM. 

The North American and European PlayStation remake retains the bulk of Woolsey's original translation, with a few minor changes, including the return to the original Japanese title of Final Fantasy VI, uncensored graphics, and a number of character and item names alterations.

Reception
Final Fantasy VI sold 2.55 million copies in Japan and around 550,000 copies in the United States under the title "Final Fantasy III" (for the Super NES). The November 1994 issue of GamePro gave the game a perfect 5 out of 5 score, while the October 1994 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 9 out of 10. When the game was re-released for the PlayStation, the same magazines rated it 4 out of 5, and 9.5 out of 10, respectively. The North American re-release (packaged with Final Fantasy V) sold approximately 364,000 copies. Although later installments of the series sold substantially more copies (The Japanese version of Final Fantasy VII, for instance, sold 2.5 million copies during its first weekend alone), Final Fantasy VI is something of a cult hit, and is still remembered fondly by many gamers.

PlayStation rerelease
Final Fantasy VI was the third to last of the Super Nintendo Final Fantasy titles to be remade for the Sony PlayStation, and was released exactly one year after a similar remake of Final Fantasy V, and two years after a remake of Final Fantasy IV. It was followed by a remake of the original Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II in the compilation Final Fantasy Origins. In Japan, the PlayStation remake was released individually and alongside both Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V as a part of a limited edition boxed set entitled Final Fantasy Collection. In North America, the remake was released alongside Final Fantasy V as part of Final Fantasy Anthology. In Europe, the game was released individually, making it the first time the game had ever been officially released in PAL-based territories.

Technically, the PlayStation remake is very similar to the original Super Nintendo version. Aside from the addition of a few new full-motion video cutscenes throughout the game, the graphics and sound are unchanged from the original version. Unlike the rerelease of Final Fantasy IV in the Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation, the script for the North American PlayStation release was essentially left unchanged (gil remained as "GP", Ultima Weapon remained as "Atma Weapon"). The only notable changes to gameplay involve the correction of a handful of computer bugs left in the original game, and the addition of a new "memo save" feature which allows players to quickly save their progress to the PlayStation's RAM. Because of the volatile nature of the system's memory, memo saves are lost if power to the console is interrupted. Finally, the remake includes a number of omake bonuses, including a bestiary and artwork gallery that can be accessed from the game's main menu, and are revealed as the player progresses through the game.

Game Boy Advance rerelease
It has been announced that Final Fantasy VI will be rereleased as a Game Boy Advance title. This is consistent with the rereleases of Final Fantasy IV (released in North America on December 12, 2005) and Final Fantasy V (scheduled for an American release in 2006). Final Fantasy VI Advance is also scheduled to be released sometime in 2006.