A solid port that retains the amazingness that is FFVI !
Final Fantasy VI takes place in a war torn world where magic and technology collide. The evil 'empire,' in search of lost magic from the "War of the Magi" 1000 years ago, sends troops to investigate the rumors of a frozen esper. (Espers are creatures that harness magic and fought in the War of the Magi). When the troops discover the frozen esper, they are killed by a mysterious power emanating from the esper. Every soldier, that is, except one. Terra, under the control of the empire, wakes up to find herself in a struggle between the 'returners,' a rebel group, and the 'empire'.
FFVI is a pretty expansive rpg game, with plenty of deep story elements and character development aspects. The game itself hosts 14 different playable characters, which is huge. Some characters are hidden, and take some poking around (or luck) to discover. Most of the characters also have side quests or stories that tell a little bit more about who they are outside of the main plot.
Combat is entered through random encounters on the world map or game screen, and works off of the Active Time Battle, or ATB system. The active time battle system allows characters to make a move as soon as their battle gage fills up, so combat is much more free flowing than a turn based battle system. Users will be able to attack, defend, use special abilities, and cast magic. Your party will generally consist of 4 people, and you generally get the ability to choose who goes along with you during the game. At times, you will split all of your available members into two or three groups, and must manage them seperately as they defend a location or defeat multiple bosses, so character balance is generally important for most of the game.
All your characters' equipment is fully customizable. You have the option to equip both hands, the head, the body, and two accessories. The accessories, or relics, as they are called, grant characters with different abilities, such as wielding two handed, or protecting near death characters. You can definitely have fun customizing each person and suit them to your tastes. As well, on the equipment screen, you can look at items, different characters' special abilities, magic spells, save your game, etc.
Not long into the game, you'll be able to equip your characters with espers, which teach your characters different types of spells and grant them certain ability bonuses. You can track your progress through the menu screen, and you'll have to take the time to figure out how to pass the espers around efficiently to all your characters. The real task will be uncovering the harder to find espers, which give you some of the best spells in the game, like Ultima.
If you've leveled up your characters throughout the game the ending will be somewhat easy, which was disappointing for me. I like a hard boss at the end, but I didn't have much difficulty. The finish is fun to watch though, and well put together.
Even though the music is 24 bit, it is fantastic. The composer was none other than Nobuo Eumatsu, and he did a wonderful job. At one point in the game, you even play the part of an opera singer, which showcases the game's orchestral feel.
If you were caught off guard by the opera thing, the storyline is well put together and has you visiting many different locales and doing many different things throughout the game. Whether you're hunting for dragons, riding chocobos, or buying stuff at the auction, this game keeps the entertainment as varied as possible.
The GBA edition of FFVI has made some changes that were definitely noticeable to me right off. Espers and other certain characters have been renamed to make them closer to the original Japanese names. There is also a new end dungeon, four new espers, and a shrine where you can fight monsters over and over. Also, like the PS version, the GBA version contains a bestiary and a music player. These additions give the game even more depth to an already outstanding story. The translation has been changed again, but many of the crowd favorite one liners were saved and the rest of the dialogue clarified.
The story is epic and symbolic, and you'll be playing for at least 40 to 50 hours to complete it. I've put in about 60 or more hours to get most of the extra plot threads, which are fun, amazing, sad, and worth watching.
If RPG's are for you, and you want a long, deep story with cool characters, FFVI is one of the best. On the GBA, the added features and extras just add a cherry on top of this game's perfection. In my opinion, it is one of the best games of all time.
SCORE: 9.5/10