The best of the 2D Final Fantasies, paving the way for those to come.
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Pros:
+ Story: While it gets off to a slow start, things do eventually become very interesting. In particular, something incredibly dramatic and unexpected happens around the halfway point; and everything that follows is pure Final Fantasy gold.
+ Characters: They're hardly complex compared to what we expect of our characters nowadays, but in the context of the period it came out in, the characters are quite interesting, with most of them having fairly strong personalities and backstories.
+ Setting: It's not all that amazing initially, but again, in the second half of the game, the setting becomes fleshed out into something pretty evocative and interesting. This is in part due to the graphics, which although dated now, are in a completely different league from the other SNES-era Final Fantasy games, and allow a lot more detail and variety.
+ Innovative: Important features such as Limit Breaks and the ability to choose the members of your party made their debut in FFVI, and go a distance to bringing the series up to date. This game was also a key moment in developing the cinematic style and storytelling techniques of the series, and you can really feel its influence when you play FFVII afterwards.
+ Music: More unforgettable music from a composer that specialises in the stuff.
+ Secrets & Sidequests: There's an awful lot of optional things to see and do, considering how far back this game is from, particularly towards the end.
Cons:
- Slow Start: It takes quite a while for the really interesting story and gameplay elements to kick in: it all starts off quite cliched and plodding until its scope and ambition finally emerges.
- Neglected Characters: As can be expected from any game with such a large cast of party members, you'll find yourself sticking to a few key characters almost exclusively whenever you get the opportunity. This becomes more of an issue in the sections where you're forced to use every last one of them, where your weaker members become a crippling burden...
- Heavy Fighting: It's not quite as battle-happy as its Nintendo predecessors, but FFVI still requires you to do a somewhat tedious amount of fighting: fewer fights with greater rewards, as with the Playstation games, would have been a better idea.
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While some of its impact has been lost now, it's still easy to see why FFVI was hailed as a classic at the time. It's definitely the most impressive of the 2D games in the series, and as long as you're willing to put up with a slow start, you'll be in for a treat.