I found VI more fun for a number of reasons, which ultimately mostly come back to my preferences for gameplay over story (and I don't think Final Fantasy is a great series for stories anyway) and the greater customization options (and ultimately replayability) that VI has. Some key points:
1. The larger cast. This gives me more options when putting together parties. To make things worse, VII's cast plays very similar aside from Limit Breaks. If you take a party of Cloud, Barrett, and Tifa the game isn't going to much different than if you take a party of Cloud, Cid, and Red XIII. But in FFVI a party of Relm, Gau, Strago, and Terra is very different from a party of Cyan, Sabin, Umaro, and Setzer.
2. Four characters in a party vs. three characters in a party. And since one is locked for 95% of FFVII, you functionally only get a choice of two other characters.
3. To add to this there are multiple segments in FFVII where you must split your party into two or three different parties using a total of 8-12 characters among them. I love this sort of thing.
4. Equipment. In FFVI you have two arm slots, a head slot, a body slot, and two accessory slots. In FFVII you have one weapon slot (all of which are exclusive to one character), one armour slot, and one accessory slot. That is a massive downgrade.
5. I liked the non-linearity in FFVI. The whole game wasn't like this, but a very good chunk of it was between the three scenario choice and the >!World of Ruin!<. There is more freedom to explore and do things in different orders in FFVI than FFVII.
A minor issue, but I also think graphically FFVI holds up a lot better than FFVII does. I do really like FFVII and thing it is one of the better Final Fantasy games (I probably have it 4th or 5th depending on whether you count Tactics or not), but the above is why I prefer VI over it.
6 is hamstrung by how relatively primitive it is. Even just a couple years later, the PS1 was capable of so much more and Squaresoft had such higher expectations for what a JRPG could be. FF7's world is large, complex, and fascinating.
The genesis for that is found in FF6 with its complex and interesting magic steampunk setting but in the end it is built around pulp fantasy concepts compared to FF7 exploring the psychology of its main characters, the creep of technology, and environmental destruction.
I actually like FF6 more than FF7 as I find it more enjoyable to play, feel it has a great cast, and is delightful escapism but IMHO FF7 is so much more sophisticated both in the type of narrative that it tells and the world it builds that there is no real contest.
FF6 is fertile grounds of an expanded update. Whether modern Square-Enix is the company to do this is up for debate but I do believe the director with the right budget and right vision could take FF6 as it is now and turn it into something extraordinary.
The one thing I would disagree with is the playability.
I find that 7/8/9 suffer at times from the 3D world without guaranteed 360° controls. Certain angles that exist in the games couldn't be reproduced by the original controllers, whereas FF VI was made with straight lines in mind. I can't think of a time playing VI where I struggled with which direction to move the character or how to avoid geometry.
VII was also designed with D-pad in mind. It also sometimes reorients the directions so you can navigate more complex areas whilst still only pressing cardinal directions on D-pad.
Correct, but with modern sensibilities in mind, it gets complicated when you're expecting "up" and instead go 45° to the left.
The PS1 era was the sweet spot for me, I LOVE IX. But I don't think any game from 7-10 actually controls especially well. The fixed camera angles with pseudo-3D motion capabilities and early efforts at 3D geometry led to some annoying reorientations (especially in 8 and 10), issues that 6 just didn't have ever.
I actually don't disagree with what you said, except for VI. NPCs getting in the way is much more prevalent in that game, it lacks inherent running ability in its original leading to about an hour of slow walking in the beginning of the game. And it has cave/ other natural formation areas that are annoying to navigate with its 4-direction movement.
I guess I view those more as pacing issues (which while they didn't bother me in the mid 90s, are annoying now I agree) rather than gameplay shortcomings.
The caves I never had any issues with, but I think VI was my first JRPG and could probably play it in my sleep, so I do recognize that I might just overcome some of those oddities without considering them.
VII. But it's seen as "cooler" to say VI, online.
In 90% of major polls (for the past 25 years) FFVII wins, hands down. Not only that, but it sold faster as well as many times more copies during it's initial release. It also launched less than a year and a half after the launch of the PS1, while FFVI launched closer to the end of the Super NES's life cycle. There were multiple times more Super NES's out there during VI's launch than there were Playstations during VII's launch.
Also, Square have always considered it their best game, and have stated it countless times. It has the most unique world with it's steam-punk/cyber-punk design, the best OST ever made for a video game (period), a better magic system than VI, has better character designs and is more immersive, as well.
VI does come close, and is easily the best early FF game, but the people of the world have chosen FFVII by a massive margin for a reason.
FFVI is 100% a masterpiece, though.
Square says its their most successful. 9 is their favorite. Also people choose 7 because they're children and youtubers told them its the best. Most of them have the Persona 5 effect, you know, its their favorite but they never played it.
Nothing you just said is true. I'm sure some people at SE have stated that IX was their favorite FF game but the top people at the company have officially stated that original FFVII is the best game thry've ever made. They even went on to state that their ultimately goal is to, one day, be able to surpass it. They've actually been saying this for a long time now and have said it on several occasions. They even stated tgis, multiple times, during the development off FFXV. That the company's goal with XV was to top VII as the best game they've ever made. Unfortunately, they did not succeed.
And FFVII came out before Metacritic but if you add up _all_ of it's original review scores (not just pick and choose but include _all_ of them) from mainstream publications it averages out as a 97.375/100. It has sold multiple times more copies than the next best selling FF game.
Also, why would the only people who list the original FFVII as the best be children when the game came out 26 years ago? I seriously need to ask if you're mentally handicapped in some way because of how dumb of a statement that was. Wtf...
And FFIX sold 1/3 as many copies as the original VII, by the way, and that was when the FF franchise wasn't nearly as well known or popular. In fact, IX isn't anywhere close to being one of the top selling FF games, whatsoever. It's not even one of the better selling ones. It's, literally, at the #11 spot as far as sales go.
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/86245/final-fantasy-franchise-sales-top-selling-games-ranked/index.html
Its a known fact that the creator Hironobu Sakaguchi said ff9 is his favorite. Youre just a fan boy that dosnt like to know his favorite isnt their favorite. Youre probably 16 and get all your opinions from youtubers.
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From an objective standpoint I think these are some seriously well thought out and excellent points. I still enjoy 6 more personally but I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Most of these I agreed on, except the first four.
After playing both 6 and 7, dozens of years later, I remember all of 6's characters AND their personal stories, and I remember their story beats clearly, such as the death of wife and child, and seeing them board a train to the afterlife, a coin flip deciding the crown, a baby born of an interspecies relationship, etc. etc.
But ask me about 6, and I couldnt for the life of me tell you about Yuffie or who she even was. Pretty much all I remembered was that Aerith was an ancient that died, and that Sephiroth and Cloud were somehow linked in the past, and that two characters were more cat-like. But what their names were or how they were even relevant to the plot was lost to me over time.
But ask me about anyone in 6 and I can tell you their backstory down to the WoR story. That means characters and story were all far more impactful for me.
Gameplay and sidequests were perhaps way more fun in 7, but the story and characters I did not find engaging by any means.
Two months later on a two year old trend, but i totally agree with you. I can remember the characters and their backstory on FF6, i can remember even the jokes, the drama and ultros incursions! I really felt emotionally invested in this game
FF 7... To me there's just loose images on my head, maybe it's edginess and 3d rendering made it more popular, but it felt "faster" and more shallow to me
Really was!
Its not a blame thing: 6 came when they were masters of the 2D medium.
7 came when they were basically beginners learning a whole new technology. Its not surprising that it looks technically more impressive than 6, but that seems to have come at a bit of a loss for story quality.
Honestly, for me it's VI without question. Don't get me wrong, VII is really good, but I never thought of it as "the best FF ever", and I actually kind of like FFVIII better than FFVII original.
Out of those two, FF7. I like 6, but I put 7,8,10,11 and 12 above it any day. FF5 and 9 too, on a good day.
So yeah, FF6 is usually fittingly ranked number 6 for me, occasionally number 7 or 8.
VII by a landslide.. It actually has amazing distinct looking towns and not just oh i'll put the inn in the top left corner and put the weapon shop in the middle this time and slap a new name on it like FFVI.
Also I hated Terra. SHe is fucking annoying. Stop whining about love NOBODY CARES....
> Also I hated Terra. SHe is fucking annoying. Stop whining
WTF? Of all the whiny types FF comes up with, Terra doesn't even make the top *twenty*. Are you f'ing kidding?
Tidus is his own top ten, before even considering others.
Shes annoying and I hate her. She whines about how nobody will love her all the time and then becomes some creepy nun type to watch over kids..
Probably my least favorite main character in the series. If you can even call her that because Celes completely outshines her with the better scenes and takes over the second half the game
V is so bland I cannot play it to completion. The job system itself has been iterated more than any other in FF, so you can get that in many other games. No reason to play V.
Besides tactics, how was the job system reiterated ? I just now finished my first playthrough of ffv(and last, of course.. I mean really lol) which I played and enjoyed solely for the job system. Not shi**ing on you, looking for more games to play. Ffv was boring as hell but kept my attention well enough
They used and expanded it many times since.
XII and XIII use it, in addition to the 2 MMOs.
So does X-2.
The Bravely Default games.
All the Tactics games.
Awesome critique of FF6 and FF7 which are products of the times they respectively were in. Of the SNES days, FF6 rules and FF7 ruled PS1 days. It always boils down to preference honestly. FF7 was friggen revolutionary and its hands down the best in the series in many ways but nostalgia has a way of keeping me from ever placing FF7 over FF6. It's too classic and memorable of a game for me to ever have any other game beat it. Music is where I think FF6 shines over FF7 still.
I found VI more fun for a number of reasons, which ultimately mostly come back to my preferences for gameplay over story (and I don't think Final Fantasy is a great series for stories anyway) and the greater customization options (and ultimately replayability) that VI has. Some key points: 1. The larger cast. This gives me more options when putting together parties. To make things worse, VII's cast plays very similar aside from Limit Breaks. If you take a party of Cloud, Barrett, and Tifa the game isn't going to much different than if you take a party of Cloud, Cid, and Red XIII. But in FFVI a party of Relm, Gau, Strago, and Terra is very different from a party of Cyan, Sabin, Umaro, and Setzer. 2. Four characters in a party vs. three characters in a party. And since one is locked for 95% of FFVII, you functionally only get a choice of two other characters. 3. To add to this there are multiple segments in FFVII where you must split your party into two or three different parties using a total of 8-12 characters among them. I love this sort of thing. 4. Equipment. In FFVI you have two arm slots, a head slot, a body slot, and two accessory slots. In FFVII you have one weapon slot (all of which are exclusive to one character), one armour slot, and one accessory slot. That is a massive downgrade. 5. I liked the non-linearity in FFVI. The whole game wasn't like this, but a very good chunk of it was between the three scenario choice and the >!World of Ruin!<. There is more freedom to explore and do things in different orders in FFVI than FFVII. A minor issue, but I also think graphically FFVI holds up a lot better than FFVII does. I do really like FFVII and thing it is one of the better Final Fantasy games (I probably have it 4th or 5th depending on whether you count Tactics or not), but the above is why I prefer VI over it.
I think Final Fantasy is more known for its story telling and characters than its gameplay.
6 is hamstrung by how relatively primitive it is. Even just a couple years later, the PS1 was capable of so much more and Squaresoft had such higher expectations for what a JRPG could be. FF7's world is large, complex, and fascinating. The genesis for that is found in FF6 with its complex and interesting magic steampunk setting but in the end it is built around pulp fantasy concepts compared to FF7 exploring the psychology of its main characters, the creep of technology, and environmental destruction. I actually like FF6 more than FF7 as I find it more enjoyable to play, feel it has a great cast, and is delightful escapism but IMHO FF7 is so much more sophisticated both in the type of narrative that it tells and the world it builds that there is no real contest. FF6 is fertile grounds of an expanded update. Whether modern Square-Enix is the company to do this is up for debate but I do believe the director with the right budget and right vision could take FF6 as it is now and turn it into something extraordinary.
Very well said
The one thing I would disagree with is the playability. I find that 7/8/9 suffer at times from the 3D world without guaranteed 360° controls. Certain angles that exist in the games couldn't be reproduced by the original controllers, whereas FF VI was made with straight lines in mind. I can't think of a time playing VI where I struggled with which direction to move the character or how to avoid geometry.
VII was also designed with D-pad in mind. It also sometimes reorients the directions so you can navigate more complex areas whilst still only pressing cardinal directions on D-pad.
Correct, but with modern sensibilities in mind, it gets complicated when you're expecting "up" and instead go 45° to the left. The PS1 era was the sweet spot for me, I LOVE IX. But I don't think any game from 7-10 actually controls especially well. The fixed camera angles with pseudo-3D motion capabilities and early efforts at 3D geometry led to some annoying reorientations (especially in 8 and 10), issues that 6 just didn't have ever.
I actually don't disagree with what you said, except for VI. NPCs getting in the way is much more prevalent in that game, it lacks inherent running ability in its original leading to about an hour of slow walking in the beginning of the game. And it has cave/ other natural formation areas that are annoying to navigate with its 4-direction movement.
I guess I view those more as pacing issues (which while they didn't bother me in the mid 90s, are annoying now I agree) rather than gameplay shortcomings. The caves I never had any issues with, but I think VI was my first JRPG and could probably play it in my sleep, so I do recognize that I might just overcome some of those oddities without considering them.
Fair point
VII. But it's seen as "cooler" to say VI, online. In 90% of major polls (for the past 25 years) FFVII wins, hands down. Not only that, but it sold faster as well as many times more copies during it's initial release. It also launched less than a year and a half after the launch of the PS1, while FFVI launched closer to the end of the Super NES's life cycle. There were multiple times more Super NES's out there during VI's launch than there were Playstations during VII's launch. Also, Square have always considered it their best game, and have stated it countless times. It has the most unique world with it's steam-punk/cyber-punk design, the best OST ever made for a video game (period), a better magic system than VI, has better character designs and is more immersive, as well. VI does come close, and is easily the best early FF game, but the people of the world have chosen FFVII by a massive margin for a reason. FFVI is 100% a masterpiece, though.
Square says its their most successful. 9 is their favorite. Also people choose 7 because they're children and youtubers told them its the best. Most of them have the Persona 5 effect, you know, its their favorite but they never played it.
Nothing you just said is true. I'm sure some people at SE have stated that IX was their favorite FF game but the top people at the company have officially stated that original FFVII is the best game thry've ever made. They even went on to state that their ultimately goal is to, one day, be able to surpass it. They've actually been saying this for a long time now and have said it on several occasions. They even stated tgis, multiple times, during the development off FFXV. That the company's goal with XV was to top VII as the best game they've ever made. Unfortunately, they did not succeed. And FFVII came out before Metacritic but if you add up _all_ of it's original review scores (not just pick and choose but include _all_ of them) from mainstream publications it averages out as a 97.375/100. It has sold multiple times more copies than the next best selling FF game. Also, why would the only people who list the original FFVII as the best be children when the game came out 26 years ago? I seriously need to ask if you're mentally handicapped in some way because of how dumb of a statement that was. Wtf... And FFIX sold 1/3 as many copies as the original VII, by the way, and that was when the FF franchise wasn't nearly as well known or popular. In fact, IX isn't anywhere close to being one of the top selling FF games, whatsoever. It's not even one of the better selling ones. It's, literally, at the #11 spot as far as sales go. https://www.tweaktown.com/news/86245/final-fantasy-franchise-sales-top-selling-games-ranked/index.html
Its a known fact that the creator Hironobu Sakaguchi said ff9 is his favorite. Youre just a fan boy that dosnt like to know his favorite isnt their favorite. Youre probably 16 and get all your opinions from youtubers.
He's 1 person. I don't care if he started the franchise. Gamers, world-wide, have spoken loud and clear. Didn't know Sakaguchi was your god.
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How does sakaguchi's dick taste in your mouth kid? You seem mad, must be rooted from your family problems.
everything they said is true.
Yeah I'm not reading all that, but Final Fantasy VI all day.
Same but FFVII for me.
Yeah, FF7 for me though.
From an objective standpoint I think these are some seriously well thought out and excellent points. I still enjoy 6 more personally but I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Thanks I appreciate it
VI for me, but VII is very good. I’d have a tougher time deciding between IX and VI.
Most of these I agreed on, except the first four. After playing both 6 and 7, dozens of years later, I remember all of 6's characters AND their personal stories, and I remember their story beats clearly, such as the death of wife and child, and seeing them board a train to the afterlife, a coin flip deciding the crown, a baby born of an interspecies relationship, etc. etc. But ask me about 6, and I couldnt for the life of me tell you about Yuffie or who she even was. Pretty much all I remembered was that Aerith was an ancient that died, and that Sephiroth and Cloud were somehow linked in the past, and that two characters were more cat-like. But what their names were or how they were even relevant to the plot was lost to me over time. But ask me about anyone in 6 and I can tell you their backstory down to the WoR story. That means characters and story were all far more impactful for me. Gameplay and sidequests were perhaps way more fun in 7, but the story and characters I did not find engaging by any means.
Two months later on a two year old trend, but i totally agree with you. I can remember the characters and their backstory on FF6, i can remember even the jokes, the drama and ultros incursions! I really felt emotionally invested in this game FF 7... To me there's just loose images on my head, maybe it's edginess and 3d rendering made it more popular, but it felt "faster" and more shallow to me
Really was! Its not a blame thing: 6 came when they were masters of the 2D medium. 7 came when they were basically beginners learning a whole new technology. Its not surprising that it looks technically more impressive than 6, but that seems to have come at a bit of a loss for story quality.
Honestly, for me it's VI without question. Don't get me wrong, VII is really good, but I never thought of it as "the best FF ever", and I actually kind of like FFVIII better than FFVII original.
VI is perfectly proportioned and never wears out its welcome, unlike VII. The characters are more likeable in VI and there's a genuine sense of hope.
Out of those two, FF7. I like 6, but I put 7,8,10,11 and 12 above it any day. FF5 and 9 too, on a good day. So yeah, FF6 is usually fittingly ranked number 6 for me, occasionally number 7 or 8.
VII by a landslide.. It actually has amazing distinct looking towns and not just oh i'll put the inn in the top left corner and put the weapon shop in the middle this time and slap a new name on it like FFVI. Also I hated Terra. SHe is fucking annoying. Stop whining about love NOBODY CARES....
> Also I hated Terra. SHe is fucking annoying. Stop whining WTF? Of all the whiny types FF comes up with, Terra doesn't even make the top *twenty*. Are you f'ing kidding? Tidus is his own top ten, before even considering others.
Shes annoying and I hate her. She whines about how nobody will love her all the time and then becomes some creepy nun type to watch over kids.. Probably my least favorite main character in the series. If you can even call her that because Celes completely outshines her with the better scenes and takes over the second half the game
She's worried that she doesn't feel the emotion towards others, not the other way.
FF:V, 6 is bland.
V is so bland I cannot play it to completion. The job system itself has been iterated more than any other in FF, so you can get that in many other games. No reason to play V.
Besides tactics, how was the job system reiterated ? I just now finished my first playthrough of ffv(and last, of course.. I mean really lol) which I played and enjoyed solely for the job system. Not shi**ing on you, looking for more games to play. Ffv was boring as hell but kept my attention well enough
They used and expanded it many times since. XII and XIII use it, in addition to the 2 MMOs. So does X-2. The Bravely Default games. All the Tactics games.
Story and character design is much more complex and vivid with VI. A graphic jump doesn't put VII above VI...not by a long shot. FF6 wins bruh
Awesome critique of FF6 and FF7 which are products of the times they respectively were in. Of the SNES days, FF6 rules and FF7 ruled PS1 days. It always boils down to preference honestly. FF7 was friggen revolutionary and its hands down the best in the series in many ways but nostalgia has a way of keeping me from ever placing FF7 over FF6. It's too classic and memorable of a game for me to ever have any other game beat it. Music is where I think FF6 shines over FF7 still.
vi no doubt. vii didn't catch me at all and I found it vain in comparison