Playing Final Fantasy VI Part 6

I've been trying to get this post up since last weekend, but my internet has been moody with the weather.

Alright, Celes is back.

And she brought the jerk who I paid 3,000 gil to help me kill one random battle. Hey, jerk face.

Locke: Sorry I was dick and I doubted your allegiance. So…wanna go back to the inn and…ok.

Stay away from the summoner- never mind.

I hope I get to fight this engine room. Apparently it’s so dangerous, it’s all these guys can talk about.

Drunky.

Really?

Back to Thamasa.

Aw cuteness!

I am confused about how far I got in the game years ago, though. I know the story up to a point. But I don’t remember this part at all.     

"Mama, use Cure on me!" This picture isn’t mine (I found the original here). I didn’t get a screenshot of it. If my hellspawn ever decides to get here, this is going to be their vocabulary to confuse people.

Also not mine (found the original here), as I couldn’t get the fire at the right moment.

Just another pyro kid. We had tons of these in my town when I was growing up. No magic involved in either case.

He’s going to help the little girl that’s on fire, jackass.

WHY DIDN’T YOU TRY USING MAGIC BEFORE?

I do remember this part, btw. My patchy memories of this game is making me worry.

Screw off, Shadow, Interceptor had this fire under control.

And he uses a smoke bomb to get them out of a burning building, figure that out.

And he’s leaving. Again.  

Playing Final Fantasy VI Part 5

I was in the town of Thamasa. The town of assholes.

Then I got to the Imperial Observation Post.

Well, fuck. I assumed all those years of “the floor is lava!” would have prepared me for this.

Then I had a fight with Kefka. I was mildly pleased to see him.

Still really loving the battle scene cut scenes.  

And then I found Maranda, and in there I found…dog fighting? There are soldiers and townspeople gathered around the two dogs that go back and forth in the ring. If it were just the Imperial soldiers, I’d be like, Yup, Imperial scum doing scummy things. But having civvies, including a kid, involved in dog fighting makes me hate Maranda.

Yeah, right, pyro. But I’m not going to judge.

Terra, give the man some peace!

Speaking of poo…

Terra barged into the bathroom to speak to soldiers, found this one on the toilet, and proceeded to have a fight with him.

And then this happened. Great use of my last 11 seconds. I wish the soldier after was like, did you just pee in front of me? WTH game. 

Ah no not Kefka! Here come the choices of RPGs. Seriously though, you wouldn’t pardon someone after they had poisoned Doma. I didn’t think the Emperor would want me to tell him to execute him, so I said to leave him in jail.

In the end, I got the second best level of rewards. I didn’t know I was being scored, and the only thing I did wrong was opening all the chests. This game hasn’t had any repercussions for opening chests so far, so I didn’t think about it.  

I was also told to go back to the Blackjack to see a special scene with Setzer. I enjoyed getting more depth from him, and he reminds me of Cid from VII and Vaan from XII.

And here, I took a break. I’m actually starting to enjoy this game much more. The Empire has seemingly backed down, and the espers have become enraged and may destroy the world. 

Playing Final Fantasy VI Part 4

I honestly forgot where exactly I was supposed to be going. The village where I parked my airship had nothing. So I wondered to another town.

Whiiiitee giiirrrrrl waaasteeeeed!

Um...No?

I got to the town I needed to go to, but I looked away when the town name came up. So I have no idea what’s going on. Some guy wants me to go behind this crate with him...at least buy me a drink first.

You're just so cute with your vibrant clothes and evil laugh!

Squee, Kefka.

  

Oh no, Celes!

I don’t remember this from the last time I played. Apparently she is an imp? How did I not ever see this status before?

I don’t remember this at all, honestly. Which is a good thing, because I’m experiencing this again “for the first time.”

And then this asshole tried to kill me. What if I was looking for the bathroom? What if I just wanted to know if he had a moment to talk about the Invisible Pink Unicorn?

Speaking of unicorns...

It’s the laaaasstt uniiiiiicooorn!

Whoa, plot!

 Da da duuuun!

Cool it on the graphics.

 Graphics!

Then I became badass. I should look like this all the time.

I wish I hit the screenshot button a few seconds before. Two sparkles dance and fly together, and then – that’s how a baby is made!

And this is where I called it quits. I played way longer than I wanted to.

Setzer’s Slots ability in battle is fun to use. It hasn’t failed me yet, though I am sure one day it will. I was lazy and forgot to rearrange my party, so it's still Edgar, Locke, and Setzer, and I'll be too lazy to fix it tomorrow too.

Playing Final Fantasy VI

Today, on playing Final Fantasy VI...

Totally not my screenshot, I just cropped it.

I'm torn between Kefka's battle graphic. He's so cute as a sprite but he makes for one colourful and confusing monster that is three times their size. I also found out that his sprite had to be switched for the full graphic because the game could only handle 3 sprites on the screen. Interesting. 

Look at the emotion here. Riveting.

I like how certain scenes go into the horizontal battle view. This perspective gives more depth than the standard view IMO. One thing I do have a problem with regarding this game is that the characters have a difficult job expressing emotions and developing character. Some are standing out more than others, like Locke, Gau, Cyan, and Sabin (to a degree). Terra and Celese are bland and thus far, I couldn't really give you character points for either one.  

Spooky blackness is spooky.

Shadow's dream sequences are neat, and I do recall looking forward to them. Spooky music played and then...

WTF get back here!

...Shadow, the biggest tool ever, left. I paid $3300 for that dream you had, asshole!

I don't know why every RPG playing boy in my high school was obsessed with him. Yeah, he has a cool outfit. Thus far, he's real busy being a douche.

In the future I will steal that Elixir you hid in the clock...
Shhh...you don't need it anyway.

Locke's story with Rachel is interesting enough that I want to wake her up. However, a story really can't have everyone losing their memories. This overused plot device is like a serial on-line dater...overused and unwanted.

And here is where I left off, right before the opera house. So, this is the part where everyone catches on fire, right? 

Btw, this is the iOS version of FFVI. I don't own this version, but damn, it looks good! I can't justifying forking over more money for a game I already own, and I am morally opposed to companies milking their fan base. But Kefka does look cute! 

Final Fantasy VI

I know I haven't been posting here since last November. There just isn't a lot of time anymore, especially for video games.

I managed to start playing Final Fantasy VI yesterday, though. About 11 years ago, I tried to play it. I got about half way and lost interest. It's going better this time, but with all the characters, I am having a difficult time becoming attached to anyone in the large cast. Kefka was always interesting to me, so I'm glad I'm revisiting the title.

Other notes include:

What is that?! It's green, looks kinda like a duck, and it has something on its head. BUT WHAT IS IT?

I would live here, with the Moogles. Screw everyone else and their politics and wars. I'm still puzzled as to why the Moogles decided to help Locke and Terra. They were just doing their Moogle business down here and...heard the commotion and decided to investigate, and they decided to help...because...Moogle?

This is where I left off, just before the battle at Narshe. Banon is like, are you ready? I'm like, What am I doing switching characters I have no idea...!

On another note, I re-watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind today. I think I bought that film about three years after I tried to play FFVI, and I probably never watched the whole thing again. I was packing up my belongings (because what else do I do?) and watched it at the same time. I appreciated it much more this time around. The environmentalist themes used to be preachy to me, and the whole "giant warrior" stuff made me roll my eyes.

I didn't know that Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind inspired Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and it influenced Chocobos. I thought about it, as a teen and now, that the horseclaws do look like Chocobos, but I never thought that it really did inspire him.

I totally didn't make this GIF, btw. I packed my DVD before I figured I'd write about horseclaws.

This movie is pretty awesome, btw. If you like fantasy stories, especially one that has inspired Final Fantasy on many levels, you should check it out.

And...anyone want to address the sucky state of RPGs? Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns? No. Just no. Who thought these stories through and thought they were good ideas? I'm looking forward to FFXV, though the Fabula Nova Crystallis story doesn't interest me much. I hope FFXV can breathe life into RPG stories again.

In a nutshell, other recent RPGs have the same clone characteristics. Variants of the same story, the same tropes, the same cliches, the same predictable plot twists. Can we get something that doesn't suck, pretty please? Or, anyone who reads this, comment or email me with some new (or newish) RPG titles for me to check out. Which console doesn't matter, though I'd rather stay away from PC only titles.