I know I'm not the first to give my words on FF6 and I know I won't be the last so here goes. Bear with me though this is only like the second review I've ever done.

Story: 9/10

The story is one thing that pleasantly surprised me in this game. 1000 years ago the power of magic was a common thing among all people unfortunately true to human nature some wished to have that power all for themselves and thus the War of the Magi was fought. As a result of that terrible war the power of magic was thought to have been lost and thus the power of machinery came to be. However the long forgotten power of magic has begun to resurface. The game starts you off a young girl named Terra, being escorted by two armed guards. While investigating the city of Narshe Terra and her armed escort come in contact with an esper, a creature of magical power. Terra begins to have a reaction to the esper that causes her to. don't want to give it all away (there may be one or two that still haven't played it). At first I thought this was going be a generic good vs. evil story. From a psychotic clown to two tales of lost love to a man that must face his inner demons (literally) in order to move on, the story had me guessing for a while.

Graphics:8/10

Beautiful. It would be very unfair to try to hold the graphics of FF6 up to today's standards. Now to compare them to the games of that era they were top notch. I'm not really that much for technically breaking down graphic engines or anything like that but I do know what I like. Being made around the same time as titles like FF4, Chrono Trigger, Illusion of Gaia, and Lufia its pretty clear that FF6 is the pick of the litter when it comes to graphics at that time.

Gameplay:8/10

Making use of the tried and true turn based battle system FF6 gameplay is nice to say the least. If you have any experience with other FF titles then you know what to expect. The main thing I'm happy about is the ability to pass your turn by pressing X in battle. Could you imagine trying to use Gogo's Mimic skill to copy a certain other character's action if you couldn't press X to set up the chain (coughcoughFF4coughcough). I just wish my old hands (that are still very capable of playing ANY Capcom fighter) could still pull off those awesome Blitz techniques.

Music: 4.5/10

The only part of FF6 that I found to be lack luster. The reason the music didn't get a higher score from me is that for me to get into a game I have to like the music. That means that not only will the music fit the mood of the current situation of the game (which the music did very well) but in my opinion good music will have a lasting impression on you for some time to come. Unfortunately I didn't get this feeling from the soundtrack. While I may whistle and hum some of the tunes from time to time only a precious few tracks had that lasting impression.

Characters: 9/10

Brilliantly done. With up to 14 characters there are plenty of personalities to identify with. I personally identify with Cyan. I'm going to leave the joy of discovering them up to you. Lets just say that when you have a woman trying to get away from her past, a man that steals (er.hunts) treasure in hopes of saving a loved one, and a young boy who is thrown out of his home by a grief stricken father, its safe to assume that interesting things will happen. Would have been cool if every single character had enough time to develop properly. (i.e. Gogo)

Side Quests: 11/10

There is almost too much extra stuff to do in this game. Collecting every esper. Finding every character. Learning every blue magic spell. I got this game back in 1995 and I'm still trying to do everything. I just "found" the Paladin Shield on this current play through.

Replay: 10/10

Now if you work your way through this game fair and square (none of that gamefaqs.com now kiddies) it'll take you a LONG time to figure out all this stuff. And more than likely you won't fly around the world trying to do every little thing before you finish the game for the first time.

Ending: 7/10

Brilliant. I like the way the ending includes the characters working their way out of Kefka's Tower. Now I wasn't much for the music but even I can't deny what a great job was done on the ending theme. I really like the transitions between the characters. My only problem with the ending is that it really doesn't go into what the characters do after the ending. Yeah there are implications that the world will be rebuilt (i.e. Duane and Katarina's baby, the flower starting to grow. . . ) but it would be nice to have specifics like in FF4's ending.

Overall:8/10

When people say that FF6 is the greatest FF title (some greatest rpg period) I would be hard pressed to argue. Lively characters, a twisting storyline, and plenty of extras to look for. Being part of what many gamers like myself would call a dying breed of good rpgs, I think that FF6 will hold its place in many top 5 RPG list for a long time to come.

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