Dai
Death Scythe
Final Fantasy VI (pixel remaster)
In my FFXVI review, I mentioned the main thing that otherwise great game lacked was charm and personality. FFVI has those by the gallon. The chibi art style of 16-bit RPGs felt like it held back some games, but FFVI takes full advantage of it to make its varied cast of characters irresistable, whether it's someone throwing a knowing wink, a knucklehead martial artist bouncing around the screen, or a psychotic clown pulling Iyami's "Sheeeh!" pose when something doesn't go his way. Each character has an inventive signature playstyle in combat too, making for a lot of party-building options. All of this acts in service to one of the series' best stories, an epic ensemble piece that goes from one memorable scene to the next, even massively shaking up the structure of the game in its latter half.
The pixel remaster does a good job of addressing a couple of the original's few flaws. As good as the original's music was, the iconic opera scene was too ambitious for the audio capabilities of the SNES. Thankfully its unconvincing MIDI squawks are finally replaced with real vocals, along with the whole soundtrack getting excellent new arrangements. The other flaw in FFVI was always the massive amount of grinding required before facing the final dungeon, since it's the one part of the game where you need three full parties that can take on tough bosses. The optional progress boosters in the pixel remasters turn this into a much quicker exercise in the late-game.
The one problem that remains in FFVI is inextricably tied to its story. After giving the player over a dozen excellent characters to take into battle, the latter half of the game takes a lot of them away for a long time. Depending on which characters end up being your personal favourites, it can feel like it takes forever to get the band back together.
That one gripe aside, FFVI remains an all-time classic. Even if you normally have trouble engaging with games from the 8 or 16-bit eras, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how well FFVI has aged.
Final Fantasy II (pixel remaster)
I've made a couple of previous attempts to play FFII, first with the NES original and then the PS1 remake, but just could not stand the awkward levelling system. The pixel remaster does a good job of rebalancing it, so that you can now build up your characters as the designer probably intended originally, instead of having to resort to infamous workarounds like beating up your own characters to increase their stats. Despite that, FFII remains a weirdly masochistic experience where you will be happy about monsters beating the stuffing out of your party because that will increase their HP and defence.
FFII has amazing flexibility in developing your characters' abilities, especially when you consider it was originally a NES game. Fortunately I got lucky and put together a party that saw me through the bulk of the game with few problems. The final boss was a different story though. Talk about a difficulty spike. I looked up some walkthroughs, which all mention that the standard method for defeating him requires a weapon that can only be obtained during one brief moment in the story. I'd already missed that chance, so I thought I was screwed. I ended up coming up with an unorthodox and counterintuitive strategy that worked, but I was just lucky that two of my characters had high enough evasion for it. Even if you're not the type to check walkthroughs on your first attempt (as I'm usually not), I would recommend looking up how to get the blood sword, even if only to keep it as a backup.
The plot has all the twists and turns that would come to typify some of the later FF games, but it whizzes through them with little dialogue. It's like the skeleton of a FF story without the fleshed out dialogue scenes that make the later ones great. There are a surprising number of noble sacrifices, but the game is in such a hurry that each death just allows for a few seconds of sad music before you trot off to the next location without comment. There are some okay characters, but the main party get short shrift on characterisation, with only caveman-esque meathead Guy being remotely interesting (the dude can talk to beavers...).
It ends up feeling like Final Fantasy on fast forward, my first complete playthrough clocking in at a mere 15 hours. Even in its improved pixel remaster state I wouldn't recommend FFII for anyone but the series completionist. It's not bad; it's just that the series has produced so much better games in the years since. Definitely don't prioritise it over IV, VI, or even V.
In my FFXVI review, I mentioned the main thing that otherwise great game lacked was charm and personality. FFVI has those by the gallon. The chibi art style of 16-bit RPGs felt like it held back some games, but FFVI takes full advantage of it to make its varied cast of characters irresistable, whether it's someone throwing a knowing wink, a knucklehead martial artist bouncing around the screen, or a psychotic clown pulling Iyami's "Sheeeh!" pose when something doesn't go his way. Each character has an inventive signature playstyle in combat too, making for a lot of party-building options. All of this acts in service to one of the series' best stories, an epic ensemble piece that goes from one memorable scene to the next, even massively shaking up the structure of the game in its latter half.
The pixel remaster does a good job of addressing a couple of the original's few flaws. As good as the original's music was, the iconic opera scene was too ambitious for the audio capabilities of the SNES. Thankfully its unconvincing MIDI squawks are finally replaced with real vocals, along with the whole soundtrack getting excellent new arrangements. The other flaw in FFVI was always the massive amount of grinding required before facing the final dungeon, since it's the one part of the game where you need three full parties that can take on tough bosses. The optional progress boosters in the pixel remasters turn this into a much quicker exercise in the late-game.
The one problem that remains in FFVI is inextricably tied to its story. After giving the player over a dozen excellent characters to take into battle, the latter half of the game takes a lot of them away for a long time. Depending on which characters end up being your personal favourites, it can feel like it takes forever to get the band back together.
That one gripe aside, FFVI remains an all-time classic. Even if you normally have trouble engaging with games from the 8 or 16-bit eras, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how well FFVI has aged.
Final Fantasy II (pixel remaster)
I've made a couple of previous attempts to play FFII, first with the NES original and then the PS1 remake, but just could not stand the awkward levelling system. The pixel remaster does a good job of rebalancing it, so that you can now build up your characters as the designer probably intended originally, instead of having to resort to infamous workarounds like beating up your own characters to increase their stats. Despite that, FFII remains a weirdly masochistic experience where you will be happy about monsters beating the stuffing out of your party because that will increase their HP and defence.
FFII has amazing flexibility in developing your characters' abilities, especially when you consider it was originally a NES game. Fortunately I got lucky and put together a party that saw me through the bulk of the game with few problems. The final boss was a different story though. Talk about a difficulty spike. I looked up some walkthroughs, which all mention that the standard method for defeating him requires a weapon that can only be obtained during one brief moment in the story. I'd already missed that chance, so I thought I was screwed. I ended up coming up with an unorthodox and counterintuitive strategy that worked, but I was just lucky that two of my characters had high enough evasion for it. Even if you're not the type to check walkthroughs on your first attempt (as I'm usually not), I would recommend looking up how to get the blood sword, even if only to keep it as a backup.
The plot has all the twists and turns that would come to typify some of the later FF games, but it whizzes through them with little dialogue. It's like the skeleton of a FF story without the fleshed out dialogue scenes that make the later ones great. There are a surprising number of noble sacrifices, but the game is in such a hurry that each death just allows for a few seconds of sad music before you trot off to the next location without comment. There are some okay characters, but the main party get short shrift on characterisation, with only caveman-esque meathead Guy being remotely interesting (the dude can talk to beavers...).
It ends up feeling like Final Fantasy on fast forward, my first complete playthrough clocking in at a mere 15 hours. Even in its improved pixel remaster state I wouldn't recommend FFII for anyone but the series completionist. It's not bad; it's just that the series has produced so much better games in the years since. Definitely don't prioritise it over IV, VI, or even V.
