Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

The Gift of the War of the Magi

Though Squaresoft’s (now Square-Enix’s) fabled Final Fantasy franchise began in the 8-bit era of video games, I had no exposure to it until the release of Final Fantasy III on the Super NES, which I happily enjoyed and replayed endlessly to the point of exhausting all its secrets. I would discover it was the sixth entry of the series due to Squaresoft’s American branch renumbering the games because of the absence of many earlier entries in English. The company would eventually rectify the numbering, and especially after merging with Enix, milk most of the earlier games financially. The Pixel Remaster collection would be among the latest iterations of the first six entries, with the sixth, Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster, taking the most time to release due to some fine-tuning, but was it worth it?

The game occurs a millennium after the War of the Magi when rival entities known as the Warring Triad enslaved humans and transformed them into magical beings called espers before realizing their errors and emancipating them, the Triad petrifying themselves as well. Afterward, the espers exiled themselves to another realm, magic becoming a myth and humans advancing their society through science and technology, creating a steampunk world featuring opera and the fine arts. In the decades preceding the main action, the Gestahlian Empire, headed by its namesake Emperor Gestahl, has dominated the world with a few exceptions.

The ”present” begins with three imperial officers piloting Magitek Armor: Biggs, Wedge, and the enigmatic ?????? (which I pronounce like a Tim Allen grunt), eventually identified as Terra Branford, a magically gifted maiden with a mysterious past, traveling to the city of Narshe to investigate a frozen esper. Several events follow that result in her alliance with the Returners, an insurgent organization opposed to the empire. Imperial Court Mage Kefka Palazzo plots with the emperor to hunt for espers, unseal their realm, and bring magic into the world to tighten their clutch on humanity.

From the beginning, the narrative’s Star Wars inspirations are apparent, given the adversarial empire and rebellion against it. A few plot holes and video game illogic also abound, which include three characters sharing one diving helmet to traverse an underwater trench and cranes from the imperial palace rising to grab the player’s airship when it could have just flown higher. Other tropes like amnesia exist, and the developers excised a scene that had surprisingly remained in the Super NES version’s English localization where imperial soldiers repeatedly punch turncoat general Celes Chere, as it had been from the Game Boy Advance and original mobile versions.

However, the plot has endless harmonious beats, such as the intricate backstory for most playable characters, with each receiving a notable blurb when introduced into the narrative. In the original game’s time, the greater emphasis on the steampunk genre was also a welcome break from the largely fantastical atmospheres of previous series entries. Most luminaries and their interactions are nothing short of endearing, such as the womanizing King Edgar and his martial artist brother Sabin, the mysterious Shadow with connections to Strago and his granddaughter Relm, and the clownish but maniacal Kefka as an antagonist. Despite its derivative aspects, the sixth Final Fantasy’s plot was and remains a pinnacle of Japanese RPG storytelling.

The latest localization, with the original Super NES version’s script a hallmark of translator Ted Woolsey, breathes life into the narrative. The naming conventions are sound, starting with the initial homage to Biggs and Wedge from the Star Wars series (with Woolsey originally mistranslating the former as “Vicks”) and continuing with other reasonable choices such as changing Tina to Terra (since the former sounds exotic only in Japan), Lock to Locke (like philosopher John Locke), magic-based armor to Magitek armor, phantom beast to esper, and so on. Corrections of Woolsey’s other errors like "Merton" to "Meltdown" and Setzer’s opinion of the empire regarding his finances (due to misinterpreting a Japanese idiom) remain from the Game Boy Advance and prior mobile versions.

However, the latest translation isn’t entirely untouchable. For instance, many nonplayer characters have the same dialogue; some lines also come across as awkward, like those during Kefka’s initial scenes when approaching Figaro Castle, along with others by the villain such as “Son of a sandworm!” (where “Son of a…” would sound better) and where he enjoys the sound of voices “screaming in unison” (when “in agony” wouldn't have been as ridiculous). Lines also abound that Ted Woolsey wrote better like Edgar saying that Shadow would “slit his momma’s throat for a nickel,” retranslated as “He’d kill his own best friend for the right price.” Another is Locke chastising as rude a merchant who calls him a thief instead of a treasure hunter, which was faithful to the Japanese script, but Woolsey rewriting it as threatening to rip said salesman’s lungs out sounded cooler.

Even so, the script lacks spelling, grammar, and name consistency errors, and many iconic quotes flourish. Among them is the running gag of Locke terming himself a treasure hunter instead of a thief, and some of Kefka’s lines like inviting Edgar to “enjoy the barbecue” when incinerating his castle, noting to his troops why oppose rhymes with dispose, and saying the playable cast “sound like pages from a self-help book.” Many characters also sport dialects like Cyan’s Renaissance-era usage of “thou” and “thy” (which leads to Gau, who speaks in pidgin, calling Sabin “Mr. Thou” when the former word comes up) and Setzer’s utilization of gambling terminology. Ultimately, despite its issues, the localization is well-executed and doesn’t impede the plot.

Mechanically, the sixth Pixel Remaster is like its predecessors, but many differences exist. Initially, players control Terra and her two guardians from a galaxy far, far away as they pilot Magitek armor through Narshe, encountering several enemies that hopelessly try to off them. The active time system, with players still able to select between Active and Wait modes, the former letting the action continue as they navigate menus and the latter pausing it as they do so, returns and follows the same rules as previous games. Users of Magitek armor can use several laser and missile-based abilities to slaughter the enemy, with Terra initially able to cast MP-consuming magic.

There are about two other times throughout the game where the playable characters pilot Magitek armor, but the player’s active party of up to four characters will mostly fight on foot in random encounters that the Pixel Remaster mercifully allows them to toggle on and off at a whim outside combat. Battle commands in this mode include attacking with equipped weapons, with damage depending upon what row a character is in (although flails and boomerangs deal equivalent damage regardless of position); using an ability inherent to specific characters, like Locke stealing items from enemies or Edgar utilizing various Tools; casting different types of MP-consuming magic, with espers eventually allowing everyone to learn and use it; or consuming an item.

Characters can also defend to reduce damage, retaining their stances until they execute a different ability once their active time gauges refill, change their row, or attempt to escape simultaneously, which usually works except against bosses; however, evacuation time may be higher versus more powerful adversaries. Victory rewards all characters still alive or not zombified experience for occasional leveling, money to purchase goods, and later, Ability Points to acquire magic from espers. Death necessitates reloading a prior save file; luckily, autosaving occurs frequently, alongside standard save points where players can use Sleeping Bags and Tents to restore their party, reducing wasted playtime.

Another combat mode aside from pedestrian encounters and those in Magitek armor is strategy battles, which occur twice early in the game, where the player controls up to three parties with a maximum of four characters each, first with Locke and numerous Moogles, among them being Mog whom the player later recruits officially, and second with all mainline allies acquired up to that point, albeit lesser in number. In these skirmishes, the player can switch between parties and move them around the battlefield, able to contact advancing enemy sprites to trigger combat, which works as it does in standard random encounters. An adversarial sprite reaching the target the player must defend results in needing to reload the last save while defeating one representing a boss yields victory.

A plot point comes where the player’s characters split, and they must choose one of the parties to advance the storyline until they reunite. Other moments come, including the final dungeon, where the player must divide their party into teams and make it to the end, with party swapping working as it does in the strategy battles. Other dungeons sport quirks like the Cultists’ Tower, where players can only use magic and items. The final boss battle sequence features a structure where players must choose a base party and backup characters from the rest of the accumulated cast that replace them should one be dead when a tier ends.

Returning to unique character skills, improvements from the original mobile ports remain with further refinement. Unlike the Super NES and Game Boy Advance versions, the player no longer needs to sit and do nothing as Cyan’s Bushido skills charge and can control other characters until he ultimately executes them. In the Pixel Remaster, selecting one of Sabin’s Blitzes opens a box with the button combination necessary to use it; if they err in input, they can restart until they get it right and let him unleash his fury. Turbo auto-battling from the previous collection remakes returns, with some quirks like not needing to repeat said Blitz inputs for Sabin to reuse them.

Characters can eventually equip espers that grant stat bonuses whenever they level while allowing them to learn various magic through acquiring Ability Points after combat, with each spell having a multiplier that dictates the learning rate. Depending on how one plays their cards, this system can grant them an advantage later in the game. Boosts from the previous PlayStation 4 and Switch ports of the Pixel Remasters return that can modify rewards from combat and reduce the old-school grind and brutality that the original Final Fantasy VI could often feature, making the latest iteration more accessible than ever to modern audiences.

The mechanics work pleasantly, given the agile pace of combat, diverse ways to slaughter the enemy, fun tricks like using Phoenix Down and Holy Water to off undead enemies instantly, and the mentioned Boosts to accommodate players of different abilities; however, there are a few issues. For instance, some innate character abilities can backfire, like Celes’ Runic ability that absorbs the next cast magic (even healing cast by other characters); Gau's use of specific Rage abilities is also random and uncancellable until he dies. Other nitpicks include the inability to view enemy status benefits and detriments and some unskippable cutscenes before critical boss fights, including the last.

The final Pixel Remaster inherits most quality-of-life improvements from its predecessors, which include autosaving during transitions between areas, a suspend save, and helpful in-game maps for the overworld (which shows unvisited locations as gray dots and how many treasures remain in each location) and the myriad dungeons. Positive usability features from the previous versions, including a sortable inventory, unlimited space for different item types, optimizing equipment for each character, and an in-game clock viewable any time outside battle, also return. However, issues abound in the lack of fast travel before acquiring an airship, the difficulty for newcomers in finding many secrets without a guide, and (with rare exceptions) the unskippable cutscenes.

Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI was one of the highlights of his musical career, gloriously reorchestrated in the Pixel Remaster, with some surprises. Beginning with a title screen theme inspired by “Thus Spake Zarathustra” and sporting tracks indigenous to the series, like the prelude and overture, the soundtrack features endless variety, with every playable character having a musical motif and sundry remixes, like Terra’s theme, one of which doubles as the first overworld music. Other notable tunes include the “Spinach Rag,” of which Scott Joplin would be proud, most noticeable at the Opera House, which has a surprise as actual English vocals for the game’s iconic opera scene, consequentially sounding better than before. The sound effects are never out of place, with Kefka’s iconic digitized laugh returning. Aside from frequent silence and the slight derivation of a few pieces, the sixth entry’s sound is near-note perfect.

That the original version featured taller character sprites without battles as within could explain its lengthier remastery compared to the previous collection entries. Plenty of pluses are present, like the superb art direction, with character sprites reflecting their respective designs, the characters showing vast emotional spectra, the environments having harmonious color schemes and occasional weather effects, and so forth. The Super NES iteration utilized Mode-7 visual effects, which its respective remaster still does mostly on the overworld, but even more so in scenes like the opera performance. However, the heavy pixilation from the previous remasters returns, and the buildings on the said overworld appear flat, reversing the 3-D effects of the the last mobile version. Laziness further abounds in the battle visuals, with most issues from prior entries returning; despite flashy ability effects, the telekinetic attacking by the player’s characters persists, along with inanimate foes (many being reskins) that merely flash when executing their commands. Ultimately, the graphics don’t detriment the experience yet fall significantly short of perfection.

The sixth is the longest of the Pixel Remasters, taking beyond twenty-four hours to complete, with nods to lasting appeal as PlayStation Trophies, sidequests, mastering every obtainable spell from espers, and constantly attempting to beat the step record the game tracks. However, most unversed in prior versions may need to reference the internet to find everything, and a New Game+ is absent.

In summation, Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster is inarguably amazing, given its harmonious gameplay mechanics, the quality-of-life improvements over prior incarnations, the rich narrative with endearing characters, the above-average translation, the beautifully remastered soundtrack, and the solid visual direction. However, it has issues that make labels like “one of the greatest games of all time” and “masterpiece” aberrations, given the handful of scrappy game mechanics, some unfriendliness to those who have never touched previous versions, some unoriginal narrative elements, a few oddities in the localization, and many lazy visual choices bequeathed from past iterations. Regardless, it is the best way to experience the classic and ends the Pixel Remaster collection on a high note.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer's PlayStation 4, played to the standard ending.