Warning: very long discussion of a video game coming up. there may be spoilers. you probably don't care.

Going through one of my (rare) FFVI obsessive phases...It'll always be one of my less favorite games in the series, though now that it's been five years since I last played it, I'll admit that it's growing on me again. Funny, I never actually beat that game...I couldn't be bothered. I dearly loved some parts of it, but the overall experience was always a little disappointing. I don't think I can quite explain why- it might be that there was no main character, and what's the point in playing a role plaing game if you can't role play a main character? Oh, sure, people say Terra's the main character, but you don't really need her to beat the game. The only characters you do need are Celes, Sabin, Setzer, and Edgar- but I'm fairly sure you can kill Sabin if you're not careful.

I always lacked the finger coordination to pull off his blitz moves, anyway. It wouldn't have mattered to me if he got squished. The only characters I really liked (and to me, the characters are really all that matter, in most cases) were Locke, Setzer, Shadow, Gogo, Mog, Cyan, and Celes.

You can divide the game into two parts; the World of Balance, or Terra's Arc, and the World of Ruin: Celes' Arc. Nice to see female characters that pull off being graceful plot devices. Square didn't manage that again until FFX, in my opinion. Terra bugged me, though- the plot device girls always do.

I could never shake the feeling that the series was continuous; the ancient castle was only too obviously the ruins of Castle Baron, and Crescent Island appeared in FFV, though I didn't know it at the time. I'd always associate certain characters with certain other characters- Rydia and Terra, Celes and Rosa (though admittedly, the only thing those two had in common was blonde hair), Shadow and Edge (ninjas- never mind that one was emotionless and depressing while the other was a loudmouthed brat), Cecil and Locke. (Don't even ask where that connection comes from. I couldn't tell you without using flow charts and diagrams and lengthy, convoluted lectures on the inner workings of my mind. Just smile and nod.) Pretty tenuous connections, really- but Figaro does resemble Damcyan if you look at it slantwise- and whose to say that Gilbert couldn't have spawned someone like Edgar? (I never much liked Edgar, you know- true, he was one of the two characters who could weild a polearm, but he always irritated me.)

I was all of nine years old when I first played VI; I think I was actually expecting a sequel to IV, which may or may not be the source of my underlying disappointment. Also, because I was only nine, there were a lot of things that I just didn't get about the game. I was very stupid at nine years old. So, the whole thing with Shadow being Relm's father- didn't figure that one out 'til I discovered the internet. Like I said, stupid.

I adore Shadow, though. He's a ninja. He's silent and cranky and surly and full of rage and he's got Interceptor. And we all know that Interceptor is the coolest thing since sliced bread, no really. It's endlessly amusing that most of Shadow's dialogue has something to do with a) the fact that Interceptor bites and dislikes strangers, b) the fact that Shadow dislikes strangers (and probably bites, too- watch out for rabies, you never can tell with those ninjas), or c) doom, gloom, dying, and other pleasant thoughts of that nature. Shadow's the man, he is. Not a particularly powerful fighter, but when you get right down to it, all the characters were exactly the same- probably another reason why I disliked the game.

I also adore Setzer to a ridiculous degree- for the airship, for the gambling, for the opera house, for Darryl and for Kohlingen. For the cards and the slots and the trick coin- I love the man to pieces. For the scars and the albinism and the money- he's got so much money he can afford to throw it at your enemies! No, really. He's cool. Mad cool. Also fairly useless as a fighter, but again, it doesn't really matter. He named his airship the Blackjack. Not Falcon or Enterprise- Blackjack. Darryl's ship was the Falcon, but we can forgive her for that, since she too, kicked much arse. Really now, how can you not love a guy whose title is "The Wandering Gambler"? Especially when you first meet him when he comes swinging on a rope into the middle of an opera to steal away the leading lady? The thing about Setzer, you see, is that he's got style. And an airship.

Celes is just cool, of course- she's no opera floozy, and that's almost as good as Relm's "puffed up aerobics instructor" line. "Love starved twit" is up there with immortalized lines from Celes, too. I always found her more useful in the beginning than Terra, and Celes never had the same irritating doubts that the green haired one did. Way to go, strong female character. Woo. (Plus, she ends up with Locke. That's thirty thousand points in her favor, right there.)

Locke's a thief. 'Scuse me, treasure hunter. 'Nuff said. He's Indiana Jones without the whip. And the archaeology degree. And the hat. But he does have a bandanna! And a disturbing tendency towards having his girlfriends disappear...Locke's immortal lines are "I'll rip your lungs out" and every single time he calls himself a treasure hunter. We all know he's just a sneakthief, though. Locke is in De Nile, but Celes will hopefully pull him out.

Cyan is just one heaping pile of angsting ronin, and he's a darling because of it. Tragic story, with the wife and kids, the whole kingdom gets destroyed, that sort of thing- but he speaks in dialect, and he's the cause of the whole "Mr Thou" mess- and in the bar in Nikeah, he says one of his immortal lines: "Back, you licentious howler!" I mean, come on- I don't even know what a licentious howler is, but you've just gotta love a guy who says stuff like that.

Mog is pretty self explanatory- he dances. And he's got a pompom on his head. And he can use pole arms. And, supposedly, at level 50 or 60, he learns ultima on his own. Hello, niftyness. Gogo is similar- he can do anything you damn well want him/her to, and he just looks cool, alright? That's all. Gogo= utter coolness. And he's immortal, evidently, since you fight him in FFV, too, and that had to be at least 1000 years before VI, if you believe in the continuation of the series.

Yes, I can base a belief system off these games. Say not a word, ye blasphemers- I r a dork. *sigh* Dammit...I really haven't played this game since seventh grade, and in retrospect it was a rather key aspect of my elementary/middle school years...but...nrg. I think I have to go download it now. Too much trouble to hook up the ol' snes right now. *doublesigh* I should have stopped after the first paragraph of this long...whatever this was. The thing is, I never actually beat it myself, and I really can't just leave it as is...

Hushup. I'm rationalizing this on the fact that this game never gave me any closure. *glares* Well, it didn't. Hmph.

On a side note, RPG Classics is the best site since sliced bread, no really. All the information you could ever possibly want on any game you could ever possibly care about. The (as of yet unfinished) FFVI walkthrough made me spurt peanut butter out my nose. Eeeew. But wait, that's a good thing! ...kinda. I should stop putting peanut butter on my ice cream, shouldn't I?

Right. Rom hunting now...