Final Fantasy VI Is Overrated

It’s the classic response each time someone mentions loving Final Fantasy VII. “Wait until you try Final Fantasy VI,” someone will inevitably say. “Makes VII look amateur.”

And I’ve written that as politely as possible. I’ve seen too many hipster rants about the beauty of the SNES JRPG classics, and the message is simple. If you came in with the PlayStation games, you’ve missed out.

There’s always been a smugness to the discourse. Oh, you think THAT is good? And the end result is that it hurts the product they profess to love.

Let me start by saying Final Fantasy VI is a good game. There are things about it that are great. I love that no single character is the absolute focus. The graphics are phenomenal, and especially in the Pixel Remaster. The plot is decent, the characters are memorable, the battle system interesting. I have some issues with the second half of the game – a hodgepodge of missions that feel more like side quests than part of something that is so story driven.

I get why someone might like this latter segment. It feels almost a bit Elder Scrolls, in that you have a world to explore, clues to follow. Everything you’ve seen before has changed, and you now have the chance to revisit. That’s a hell of a thing. But it lacks structure, it lacks pace. Want proof? Go read any of the major guides for this game. They’re all a mess, and really difficult to follow unless you’ve been using them for the entire WoR section. Again, I understand why that might be seen as a positive for some.

Final Fantasy: The Nintendo Challenge

But listen, my personal feelings on the game don’t matter. I could have hated it and it still could be someone else’s favourite game of all time. That’s not the issue.

The thing is that in the three decades since Final Fantasy VII became the biggest thing to ever exist, the legend around Final Fantasy VI has been increased to epic proportions. A small few still bitter about Square jumping on the PlayStation bandwagon perhaps, or just people who really like to hate on anything popular. Whatever the cause, the result is the same. It has created an expectation that a SNES game from 1994 just can’t live up to.

And so Final Fantasy VI inevitably feels overrated, despite being very high quality. I was promised the best Final Fantasy, the best JRPG. I was promised something that surpassed some of my favourite games of all time. And what I got was just a game. More fool me for listening to the hype, even with a degree of scepticism. It’s not a fault of the game itself at all.

And this is just one example of many. It’s not a Final Fantasy VI specific issue, even within this one franchise. How many times have you seen people use Final Fantasy VII to trash the remakes? Look at how so much of our discourse around all media goes today. Is it any surprise that nothing can live up to the expectations of an audience waiting to be disappointed?