Final Fantasy VI

I played this game for the first time in 1995 (i was thirteen at the time) and i didn't know much about rpg's except for Zelda which is also a very good game. In the beginning i didn't understand the gameplay and i thought it was boring and almost turned off the snes to never play the game again.

Luckily i continued playing and after a couple hours (when you choose between Sabin, Edgar and Locke groups)i realized that it wasn't just another good game, it was like entering in a parallel magical world which you don't want to comeback. It was so perfect in all the sense of the word, music, story, plot, game play etc etc that i just want to be part of the returners or a soldier of Figaro or something.

This is not only the best video game ever, this is better than any movie, book or anything as well. Now i'm 22 and i still haven't feel this with any other game (including ALL the others final fantasy) and i think i'll never feel it again.

There's a gigantic difference between a very good RPG like Chrono Trigger, FFVII, FFVIII, etc and the mighty FINAL FANTASY VI.

From the moment you power on your SNES or PSX to the moments the final credits crawl across your screen this game will hold you under it's spell for hours at a time. The quality of this game can be seen in every part of it be it the music, Uematsu Nobue the Character design Yoshitaka Amano or simply the amazing story this game shines above all the rest even through it's age. Simply put for those who never had a chance to play this masterpiece back in 1994 do yourself a favour and buy the rerelease on the Sony Playstation because if you can enjoy a good movie you can enjoy this game.

Disregard other's comments on this masterpiece, for it truly is the greatest game of all time. Final Fantasy VI was the first game to truly realize the potential of games as a storytelling medium. It's characters (particularly Celes and Terra) face true hardship and identity crises. This was also the first game to tackle such issues as teen pregnancy, suicide, and death in the family. It's not a light-hearted romp like 10, or a sweeping love story like 8. It's just the best.

Dark at times, light at others. Sakaguchi balanced the tension of Terra's slow descent into madness and her inevitable rise to destiny with stories of her search for love. Celes and Locke both face pain dead on, with Cid and Rachel both falling before their times. The most powerful moment in the game, in fact, is easily Celes' decision to end it all when the world goes to hell (though the opera scene is truly emotional as well).

This game changed gaming. All the plot twists and grandure of 7-10 could not exist without 6. It's 16-bit graphics often tell more story and emotion than the others can even hope for, and it's got the best villain ever (Kefka is the man). If you haven't played it, do yourself a favor. I just finished my 5th time through, after beating 10 so thoroughly, and I find myself loving it more and more.

You have to understand, I first played this game when I was 11 years old and it was one of the most amazing and emotional things I'd gotten involved with at that age. Sure, I read books all the time, but video games added the element of interactivity and that made me feel more involved in the story. I cried, I cheered, I fell in love with the characters. I scribbled quotes from the game all over my notebooks and dreamed about being part of the cast of characters.

That said, this game is from the SNES days, and if you've played RPGs from that era, you may understand that the standards for writing and translation were significantly lower than they are today. Dialogue is frequently awkward and badly-written, and the scenes that once moved me to tears are (seen from more mature and experienced eyes) very brief, often too brief to really have the necessary emotional impact. It's like someone had a really good idea that was lost in translation, but as much as I like to make fun of the translator, I suspect that the writing in the original Japanese wasn't much more sophisticated. That, I think, is where this game really suffers. If you are playing it for the first time today, comparing it to modern games, please bear in mind that its writing was excellent for the time but has not aged well. Everyone fixates on how graphics have changed over time, but I think that the level of writing is a more significant and noticeable difference and I think that if people want to judge a game by fair standards, they have to take that into consideration as well.

The music, as many people have said, is one of the strongest points in the game. There's really not much else to say except that it's really good and adds necessary emotional oomph to key scenes. The graphics were great for the time, and I think they're still pretty solid for what they are. The gameplay is ... well, it's Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy gameplay is always solid and never amazing, but at least there's nothing horrid about it like the FF8 Draw system. If you've played any Final Fantasy game, you have some idea of what to expect.

I kind of wish that they could remake this game and help it live up to its potential. The characters (many of them) have the start of excellent development, enough that some of them remain my favorite characters of all time, but the writing does not do them any favors. If the writing could be brought up to modern standards, I think there's enough of the human soul in this game to forgive its save-the-world storyline.

Released in the United States as Final Fantasy III originally, this role playing game contains a combination of drama, science fiction, and action into something resembling an independent film noir turned into a video game.

The story starts by explaining what has happened in the world up to that point in an intro story, and we are then introduced to three soldiers of the Empire in their mechanical Tek Armor: Vicks and Wedge, two bland troops, and Terra, a brainwashed prodigy. They enter the frozen Northern city of Narshe in search of a creature called an Esper. They fight through the city's defenses, but get more than they bargain for once they discover the creature in the caves to the North of Narshe. Since this is a video game, seeing the story progress depends on you being successful in the game, and you can achieve slightly different outcomes depending on your actions.

Terra is the center of the game, with Locke, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, and Cyan also as lead characters (did I mention the cast is big?). Supporting characters include Shadow, Gau, Strago, Relm, Umaro, Gogo, Mog, Setzer, General Leo, Getsahl, and Ultros, with Kefka as the resident villain.

I am a big fan of film, television, literature, and video games (I have no life), and am familiar with all four mediums. I have to say, Final Fantasy III is better than most movies I have seen, and I have seen a lot of good movies. Although the dialogue can be cheesy at times, and the scene at the Opera House is awful, there are many good points. The overall plot is astounding, but I do have to say it could only work in video game format, not film or television. Maybe literature. Still, the writing is great and original. The art direction is fantastic. The design of the backgrounds, characters, and monsters (especially in the battle scenes) is the most creative I have seen.

The best part, however, is the soundtrack. The music for this game is just amazing. Excluding the Opera House scene, every track for this game is something I would listen to, and i'm generally not even into instrumental music. I could start naming names, but everyone who worked on this project did a good job, so I won't pick and choose. Easily the best video game of all time, and better than most movies.