Board 8 > I'm playing Final Fantasy VI for the first time.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Awh I'm not seeing anything about Figaro Castle or Kohlingen
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So that was the famous opera house scene, huh? It was pretty neat, and I'm sure it was another moment that was quite the spectacle for its time. Ultros is low-key becoming my favorite character.

So what happens if you fail the opera scene more than three times? I save stated my game at the part where you had to make the dialogue choices just to purposely lose and see what happens. It just reset, but the Impresario said you only have three more chances to get the scene right.

Anywho, Seltzer agrees to help us out and we ride his airship to the far end of the map. Cue an epic Mode 7 scene with the airship approaching the Imperial city Vector and landing down outside the town of Albrook. And that's going to wrap up my play session tonight.

CelesMyUserName posted...

Awh I'm not seeing anything about Figaro Castle or Kohlingen

I mean, not all that much happened in Kohlingen from what I remember, but oh yeah....Figaro Castle! That was just about the scene I started at when I began playing tonight, and damn was it good. Sabin really needed some character development, so that moment came at just the right time. It was definitely another top tier scene so far. This little old 16-bit game keeps impressing me with its ability to make me feel genuinely emotional.

And on the topic of the difficulty, I noticed this seems a bit easier than FFIV Advance (but again, it's been like 12 years since I played that so I wasn't sure if my memory was iffy). I certainly don't mind not having to grind though, because I think that game definitely had parts where grinding felt pretty much essential. I'd say the difficulty is mostly at a sweet spot. It's at least a looot harder than SMRPG was.
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Yeahhh I was glad you had Edgar & Sabin in year team so you could get that scene. Edgar & Sabin were both designed by Soraya Saga of Xeno/Monolith Soft and she's got some... interesting doujin backstories on them lmao, like Edgar's hobby is rearranging his bedroom furniture, and Sabin is afraid of squirrels because one bit his finger as a kid

Kohlingen has some backstory for another character, and you could also hire Shadow again at the inn if you had a free slot in your party

... but Shadow has a habit of randomly leaving your party even if you hire him
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Oh and now I get "magic points" at the end of each battle. Are these just points that go toward granting the new magic abilities for each Esper-equipped character? And is there any bar or counter for this anywhere? I can't find one.

CelesMyUserName posted...

Yeahhh I was glad you had Edgar & Sabin in year team so you could get that scene. Edgar & Sabin were both designed by Soraya Saga of Xeno/Monolith Soft and she's got some... interesting doujin backstories on them lmao, like Edgar's hobby is rearranging his bedroom furniture, and Sabin is afraid of squirrels because one bit his finger as a kid

Kohlingen has some backstory for another character, and you could also hire Shadow again at the inn if you had a free slot in your party

... but Shadow has a habit of randomly leaving your party even if you hire him

Whoa, I could have missed that scene entirely? Huh. Cool to know that the structuring of this game makes for some replayability incentives. And what character has backstory bits in Kohlingen? Or maybe don't tell me and I'll find out later.
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You can check how much AP you need to get an esper ability on the esper page I'm pretty sure or maybe in the particular characters status screen? Wherever you have to go to look up that stuff. It's been many years since I played FF6.
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Oh man how did I skip past the opera house update part of your post, especially with the bit of Figaro Castle scene that Celes uses the coin from!

If you don't have Edgar in your party Celes just still has it anyways and there's no nod to it (if he is there, Celes takes the coin from him)

If you had Sabin & Edgar in your party, Sabin would go all THAT COIN... DON'T TELL ME....!!

I just love the option nod to backstory stuff you may or may not have seen at the time

As for Kohlingen, the characters you need in the party are Locke & Celes
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Monopoman posted...

If you don't like Final Fantasy VI there is a very strong chance you won't like nearly any of the others to this day it has a great cast of characters and the story is one of the most well thought out any developed of any Final Fantasy game.

I still think its the greatest Final Fantasy in the main series and the only game with the name Final Fantasy that beats it in my opinion is Final Fantasy Tactics. A lot of people sing the praises of Final Fantasy VII which was very impressive for its day, but I think that game has aged rather poorly and hopefully the remake helps it.

I like almost every other Final Fantasy. Love some. Never played Tactics though. I appreciate your concern though and someday I just might try 6 again to see if it clicks.
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Not sure if you are accepting gameplay suggestions if you are not skip this post.

Give the esper that teaches the thunder spells to Celes, you'll thank me later.

Monopoman posted...

lordjers posted...

Yeah gameplay is just not as good. Game been easy is actually a negative for me too. Not in all games, but here, yeah, maybe cause I wasn't hooked on the story either. I was particularly disappointed with the Empire.

And I don't agree about the music been better than V. Sure Terra's theme, Aria de Mezzo and Dancing Mad are phenomenal, but the battle themes and stuff you hear throughout most of the game (Terra's Theme been on the running for this of course)? V beats it. IMO. Of course.

You can go track down hacks to the game that do make it quite a bit harder, I think they made it easier to appeal to those that were new to Final Fantasy. A lot of people got their start with the series on VI or VII...

The early Final Fantasy games aren't any harder >_> except the last boss of III
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

Not sure if you are accepting gameplay suggestions if you are not skip this post.

Give the esper that teaches the thunder spells to Celes, you'll thank me later.

Already had that done! Oh yeah, I guess I really didn't assign any Espers randomly. I remember giving her that Esper since she had the most magic power. Glad to know I made the right move though.
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Yeah generally it's a good idea to give offensive spells to Terra/Celes/etc and support spells to people who have crappy magic stat.

I guess Locke enjoy offensive spells at this point too since all of his attacks are crappy though.

did I just witness a sex scene between an esper and a human

Update time! After gearing up in Albrook and talking to the residents there, I make way for Vector. Oh hey, there are actually some decently strong enemies on this part of the overworld, neat. I explore Vector a bit once I get there before heading to the research facility, fighting off some guards and then attempting to go all the way into the main castle before a Guardian shows up. Every attack is completely useless, but hey, I got to see the game over screen! Aaaand then I used the rewind feature on the SNES classic so that never happened and I didn't lose all the items and stuff I bought in Albrook! I guess you basically lose everything but EXP upon dying, right? I might not have even minded restarting if I just lost GP and stuff, but I did noooot feel like rebuying all that gear and figuring out how I had it equipped.

Alright, so the Magitek Research Facility -- which I think was pretty much the first real full-length dungeon in the game -- was pretty great. I got a whole bunch of new weapons and learned tons of new magic spells. It was a bit mazey, but I didn't mind getting in extra battles when going in circles thanks to leveling up. Like, the espers and new spells make leveling up feel even better now. I finally make it to the end and meet some more espers and collect them as they die. Kefka shows up and, oh hey, so does this game's Cid! Why he appears to be dressed up in a banana suit is beyond me, but we take the obligatory mine cart that's in every video game and high tail it out of there. Dang, I was hoping for another Kefka fight.

And man what was UP with that mine cart section...holy shit the graphics were so bad I couldn't even make sense of what I was looking at. Very strange, since all the rest of the 3D Mode 7 stuff in this game has been pretty darn good. I've been playing on CRT mode as well, but it didn't help with that section!

(By the way, for those who have played this game on the SNES and on the Classic, do you prefer the CRT filter or not? The game is just so pixely without it, but it does kind of look cool in its own way.)

We reunite with Terra and finally learn her backstory. And hey, it's via a playable cutscene in the esper realm! Good stuff. That weird fully clothed... sex dance thing happens that I don't understand at all (it was so badly done I was legit confused if it was indeed supposed to be what I thought it was until they confirmed it later) and then we flash forward two years. Gestahl and some Imperial troops invade the realm, steal some espers, and also steal Terra. Flash back to the present and the gang decides it's time to head back to Narshe.

Aw yeah, I now have a fully controllable airship and a wide open map! Love it when the map opens up. I mess around with the party, trading out all the characters so I can optimize them all with gear and espers. Now I think I'm going to stick with some of my more low-leveled party members and try to keep them all pretty balanced, because yeah, the game has been fairly easy so far so why not.

I land outside of Narshe with Setzer, Sabin, Terra and Gau and my adventure continues.
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Explore Narshe. Use what you find there.
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I am one of those gamers who explores everything -- it's why I spent 300 hours in Breath of the Wild!

so how do you guys feel about the Steam/Mobile version of this game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZevK81DgOWc" data-time="

I just found out this was a thing. I'd maaaybe have preferred that but yeah, those character models are kind of ugly
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Oh yeah no a SNES is the best way to play it, especially if it's for the first time. I'm glad you didnt find out that was a thing till now!
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Actually, what the hell is that version on the left? That's not the original. It's translated differently and the font in the opening is scary D:
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I too wish they could've animated Maduin & Madonna smashing at an inn. Also yay you can go see about Kohlingen then

FF6 has been my favourite game of all time without any competition until Xenoblade 1 came along.... buuut the mobile/Steam art style is *so* repulsive for me I couldn't bear to touch it. So sad when that was the version they picked for Steam.

Would've been better off simply running one of those smooth scaling filters like xBRZ

Though I still just love the 16bit aesthetic
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Whoa, that version's awesome. Honestly, I really like the way everything in the Steam version looks though except the character models. I have no nostalgia for this game, so changing the art style that drastically probably wouldn't bug me. But yeah, I'm happy I'm playing it the original way my first time through.
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MZero11 posted...

Monopoman posted...

lordjers posted...

Yeah gameplay is just not as good. Game been easy is actually a negative for me too. Not in all games, but here, yeah, maybe cause I wasn't hooked on the story either. I was particularly disappointed with the Empire.

And I don't agree about the music been better than V. Sure Terra's theme, Aria de Mezzo and Dancing Mad are phenomenal, but the battle themes and stuff you hear throughout most of the game (Terra's Theme been on the running for this of course)? V beats it. IMO. Of course.

You can go track down hacks to the game that do make it quite a bit harder, I think they made it easier to appeal to those that were new to Final Fantasy. A lot of people got their start with the series on VI or VII...

The early Final Fantasy games aren't any harder >_> except the last boss of III

Umm the only easier one is FF4 except for the last dungeon. Or FF1 endgame where you're steamrolling with 4 fighters/black belts or something.
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Has anyone stated Sabin's Blitzes are Magic based?

Logience posted...

Explore Narshe. Use what you find there.

So were you referring to the Gold Hairpin? I'm still going to explore Narshe a bit more, but hot damn that is a good relic.

FinalFantasyVII posted...

Has anyone stated Sabin's Blitzes are Magic based?

What do you mean by this? No they have not, and I also meant to ask about Blitzes earlier. It said I learned a new one but uhhh, it didn't give me a new input command or anything to put in? So I don't know how I'm supposed to do it. I thought maybe there would be a sidequest to help me figure those out or something.
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StartTheMachine posted...

Logience posted...

Explore Narshe. Use what you find there.

So were you referring to the Gold Hairpin? I'm still going to explore Narshe a bit more, but hot damn that is a good relic.

Sure.
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His Aura Bolt or whatever is like Hadoken a Street Fighter.

And the damage is MAG based so give him Magic boosting Espers

Seems like you're enjoying it so far. Good to hear. As great as FF6 was back in the day, it's been overshadowed by FF7. FF7 is good, but I've personally found it to be overrated.

Personally, I preferred the GBA port. More accurate translation, they didn't have to deal with Nintendo's early 90's censorship policies on certain things, and some of the worst bugs FF6 had were fixed. With that said, regardless of version, FF6 is a game I feel everyone needs to experience at least once.

Anyway, you just got the airship. Based on the timing of your posts, I don't think you've gotten this far in the last hour or two, but a non-spoiler tip:

When given the option, WAIT FOR SHADOW! Once you do that, literally WAIT RIGHT THERE!

Yeah, I know. Out of context, that's vague. When you get to what I'm talking about, you'll know it. You'll also thank me later.
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Pummel and Suplex are physical. All other offensive Blitzes are magical.

There's a menu option that lets you see your Blitzes and their button combinations. Also shows you your known SwdTechs and Rages and suchlike. I think it's around the part you access to cast Cure out of battle.
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Oh yeah the GBA port is actually arguably superior, and adds like 3 extra optional dungeons to get some Espers introduced in later FF games. The ONLY thing it's missing. ..is the sound/music quality. SNES to GBA is a huge huge downgrade in that department
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StartTheMachine posted...

It said I learned a new one but uhhh, it didn't give me a new input command or anything to put in? So I don't know how I'm supposed to do it. I thought maybe there would be a sidequest to help me figure those out or something.

Go to the Blitz tab under Sabin's Skills menu

btw, helpful tip for inputting Blitzes if you didn't know: diagonals can just be taps of either direction of the diagonal. So like AuraBolt can be done by tapping Down->Down->Left or Down->Left->Left or whatever
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Thanks for all the tips guys, these are all incredibly helpful! I spent forever in Narshe trying to get to that damn Yeti but couldn't figure out a way to do so yet. Ah well, upgraded gear for everyone, flew around and explored a little bit, and now calling it a night.
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I hear the mobile version fixes Cyan.

StartTheMachine posted...

Thanks for all the tips guys, these are all incredibly helpful! I spent forever in Narshe trying to get to that damn Yeti but couldn't figure out a way to do so yet. Ah well, upgraded gear for everyone, flew around and explored a little bit, and now calling it a night.

That's late game stuff, maybe later.

This has never really been a game I've felt compelled to revisit, though I did overall enjoy the one time I did play through this game. Just not one of the people who thinks this is one of the best games ever is all.
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ZeldaTPLink posted...

I hear the mobile version fixes Cyan.

Fixes how?
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Sounds like an inferior version. Cyan is designed to punish you for using him
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JonThePenguin posted...

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I hear the mobile version fixes Cyan.

Fixes how?

It lets you use his strong abilities without waiting for a bar to fill.

KingButz posted...

Sounds like an inferior version. Cyan is designed to punish you for using him

Well Cyan is probably the #1 reason I don't rate this game a 10/10 so I disagree with you.

His gameplay is very badly designed. And if the reason for that is what you say, it's even worse. No player should be "punished" for using a character. That said, I've never heard that before, so are you sure you are not making it up?

I might not use the word "punish", but it seems entirely straightforward that having to sit there and endure enemy attacks while Cyan's meter charges is the intended cost of using SwdTech. With that said, SwdTech generally isn't super impressive. If FF6 mobile allows you to control other party members while Cyan charges, then that's a fine thing, and he's probably still a subpar character.
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Well if your team is Mog, Umaro, and Gau you can be patient as you need.

MalcolmMasher posted...

I might not use the word "punish", but it seems entirely straightforward that having to sit there and endure enemy attacks while Cyan's meter charges is the intended cost of using SwdTech. With that said, SwdTech generally isn't super impressive. If FF6 mobile allows you to control other party members while Cyan charges, then that's a fine thing, and he's probably still a subpar character.

This is a videogame. If the game tries to punish me for using a character I will respond by not using the character at all.

That's why it's bad design.

whoosh
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And yeah he'd still be subpar but I'd settle for that. 2/3 of this game'd character are subpar. Cyan is just plain unusable.

Not if you turn him into a Dragoon Imp

caring about characters' utility in battle in a game where you mostly win battles anyway is dumb
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that said cyan is actively unfun to play as due to the wait time. i'm impatient.
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If they sped up that bar by say 4 times I think he may have been worth it.
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Especially in the version without the Super Dragon Dungeon

SeabassDebeste posted...

caring about characters' utility in battle in a game where you mostly win battles anyway is dumb

Well I'm an idealist. I look at a game with 14 characters where 11 are bad/mediocre in the endgame and I lament for all the missed potential. There are RPGs that do much better.

SeabassDebeste posted...

caring about characters' utility in battle in a game where you mostly win battles anyway is dumb

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The gameplay is. ...really the weakest part of FF6. Especially the original version, where there are tons of bugs such as an entire stat category being meaningless and the status effect, Blind, not even doing anything at all. It's very similar to Pokemon Red and Blue which manages to be charming enough to make you forget the flawed battle system.
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The thing is that most of the issues are idealistic like I said, the majority of characters are very fun to play with.

Excluding Cyan that is.

Hey, I really like Cyan and the risk-reward idea behind using him. Maybe he becomes less useful later in the game, but I've almost always had him in my party so far. I only have 4 levels of sword tech right now, and though his level 4 Quadra Slam is great for hitting multiple targets, I usually just use his level 1 Dispatch because it's much stronger than most character's "Fight" attacks at this point. Plus if I want to hit multiple enemies without using MP, I just stick with Edgar's weapons, usually his Flash which is his best multi-hit right now. Chain Saw is his best single hit.

also please spoiler tag the names of characters I haven't played as yet thanks. I'm super adverse to even semi-spoilers like that

benjamin3740 posted...

The gameplay is. ...really the weakest part of FF6. Especially the original version, where there are tons of bugs such as an entire stat category being meaningless and the status effect, Blind, not even doing anything at all. It's very similar to Pokemon Red and Blue which manages to be charming enough to make you forget the flawed battle system.

Wait so blind legitimately does nothing? I'm not sure I've been affected by it yet, but that's hilarious. And which stat is meaningless?
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