There has been a bit of a gaming lull lately, and while I am still working my way through the Elite Four in Soul Silver, and still striking the earth as often as I can in Dwarf Fortress, I felt the need for a something with a little more… something.

As it so happens, over the last month, I have had the occasion to react in abject horror when two different people told me they never played through Final Fantasy III/VI (I’ll stop doing that now).  Both were people I would generally consider “well versed” gamers, and I viewed such a gap in their gaming history as a mark of shame.  So, after vigorously explaining to them that they just had to play, it seemed like the perfect time to give it another whirl myself. 

I could not tell you, honestly, how many times I’ve played through FFVI.  I suspect it is somewhere between 5 to 10 times, but I have no hard proof of that.  That said, it’s been years since I last picked it up (I think when Final Fantasy VI Advance came out in 2007 for the GBA was the last time).

So with the benefit of some time away, and a cavalcade of other JRPGs in the intervening years, I sat down to once again sink into a world of Espers and Blitzes, eager to see how well the game had held up in comparison to my memories of it…

Quick answer: it’s held up pretty well.

More detailed answer: There is something about the first few moments of Final Fantasy VI that still can’t help but entrance.  After a few brief lines about the history of this particular world, establishing that at some point in the past magic existed and did not go well for all involved, we cut to the present: Two faceless, brown-shirted soldiers and a strange girl with a crown seated in giant mechanical walkers, perched on a snowy cliffside.  There is very little dialogue – just a brief mention of their mission, and the fact that the girl is a (now-brainwashed) witch – and there is almost no action beyond some slight walking.  After that, the main theme begins a slow crescendo, replacing the howling winds that had been the only sound, and the view switches to a behind-the-back shot of the mechanized suits marching across a barren snowfield, heading for distant cliffs where the lights of a town pierce the night.  And with that, the credits roll.

Now, you have to understand, when this game came out in 1996, this “cinematic” moment was absolutely incredible to behold; I remember being completely blown away by it.  Even now, over a decade later, though the graphics are obviously long since out of date, there is still something elegant about this opening.  Unlike later Final Fantasies, and even in contrast to FFIV before it, FFVI’s opening embraces simplicity, and it tackles the tried and true storytelling art of showing, not telling.

With just a few lines of dialogue, Vicks and Wedge give us all that we need to know to enter this world.  The Empire is clearly a bad place – we don’t need to be told this, as we can quickly deduce it from the fact that they have brainwashed someone and put them into a walking tank.  We also see that they are more than willing to use force to get what they want, ready to invade a neutral town to get something they’ve heard about only in rumor.  And that thing they want?  It’s called an Esper, and that’s all we’ve got to go on for the moment.

Once the credits finish rolling and the soldiers reach the town of Narshe, the player is given control and the game begins in earnest.  This, I think, is an important point to note; the time between hitting “New Game” and the time the player gets to take over clocks in at under 2 minutes.  This is light speed compared to many current JRPGs, where it can feel like the player has to sit and watch an introductory short film before they are finally handed the reigns and allowed to do some actual playing.  Giving the player hands on control engages them, and every time you take it away, you risk losing their interest.  This, of course, leads into the much bigger discussion of cut scenes on the whole, but we’ll put that one off for the moment…

At any rate, with a mechanized killing machine at their command, smashing through the hapless guards of Narsche is no problem at all.  Again, this shows us that the Empire is a power far beyond those who oppose it, and that if they want something, they’re probably going to get it.

Making your way through the mines, the player meets their first boss battle, which helps subtly introduce us to some new combat mechanics different from previous Final Fantasies.  Players can hold off on taking action, letting Whelk pop in and out of his shell to prevent his powerful lightning attack, though the battle isn’t all that difficult even if you plod on with zero strategy.

With Whelk out of the way, the player is finally introduced to the Esper in question: a colorful creature, entombed in a block of ice.  When the mystery witch comes face to face with it, the player sees that something is indeed afoot.  In a flash of searing light, Vicks and Wedge are erased from existence (or maybe they were sent somewhere really nice; who knows?)  and the witch approaches the Esper until all is consumed with light.

It’s then that she wakes up in an unknown bed, and it’s then that the story really begins.  If you weren’t sucked at this point, you were doing something wrong.  As I said, even to this day, this opening sequence remains enchanting to me, and it gets me excited to replay the game every time.  There are no long-winded cutscenes, there are no tutorials to break up the flow of the action, and enough interesting plot points are raised to pique the player’s interest.  It has a better dramatic pacing than its predecessors FFIV and FFV, and doesn’t have the “bloat” of many that would come later. In effect, it remains engaging, even after all these years, which is not something I can say about many of Square-Enix’s current efforts.

So while that covers the opening ten minutes of the game, there is still plenty more to talk about…