@texasgoldrush: I'm not so sure if I'd say Final Fantasy 6's story works better than 7. FF7 wasn't exactly hard to follow or anything. It was just poorly written where 6 just didn't bother trying to complicate things. In general, 8, 9 and 10 had better stories so I'd hardly consider them a flaw. The lack of inspiration for creativity is why Final Fantasy went down the drain along with Square Enix's obsession to overcomplicate the level up system.
In the RPG genre, not holding the player's hand is where the player loses focus and the story loses direction. Especially for rookie RPG players like me in the PS1 days. If the story doesn't progress fast enough, you're going to lose interest. Unless you're an RPG veteran, the elements of the gameplay aren't enough to keep you wanting to play if you don't feel like there's a point to do it. You gotta think for the rookies too, make it user-friendly so no one will feel uncomfortable playing it. That's where Final Fantasy 7 got me. Regardless of the weak narrative, the story tries its damnedest to suck you in and keep your attention. Things exploded, girls were kidnapped, there was always something to see. It was thanks to that, that I fell in love with RPG games in general. First love the story then you'll care about the elements to strengthen your party members. With 6, I just had a hard time wanting to continue because I kept losing track of where to go and I was completely oblivious to RPG games back then. It wasn't until recently that I was able to really play 6 because I now understand how RPG games work whereas before, I didn't even know how to switch equipment.
Final Fantasy 7 was the perfect beginner's JRPG for me and for many others who consider it their favorite over all. That alone is why it deserves the praise. It took enough inspiration from 6 like the strategy combat system and certain characters like Terra and had that same level of enchantment 6 gave us with its score. It was the conclusion to where 6 was heading and capitalized on its strengths like exploration, combat, creativity, atmosphere, and tried to better themselves as storytellers. 6 was great at showing everyone's side of the story but it lacked the depth to really make them feel important. Terra and Locke were some of the few who felt really fleshed out. And Terra clearly inspired them to make Aeris in 7. Terra was mysteriously powerful but she wasn't strong enough as a character to be a protagonist. That was one thing I realized playing 6 again. But it definitely felt like it was leading to 7 and felt very close in other ways. If anything, let's blame Final Fantasy 6 for Enix's failures.
FFVI didn't bother to complicate things because simply put, it doesn't need to. It was a low fantasy for a Final Fantasy game. The concept of low fantasy, in gaming terms, is the emphasis on realism over fantasy, and FFVI, especially in the second half, does this. FFVIII story goes of the rails in the last third and FFIX and FFX have memorable characters, but weak plots. They are not better than FFVI. You can make a case that Final Fantasy Tactics is the best story in the series, however. And sorry, a simple story that works is far better than a complex story that doesn't. That's how FFVI's story is among the best in the series.
Terra doesn't need to be a protagonist, she isn't. If anything, its Celes that ends up the protagonist in the end. That's okay. And no, FFVI characters had depth. You had to find the depth however with characters such as Shadow and Gau. It wasn't spoonfed to you. The only characters that lacked depth are the hidden ones. FFVII on the other had, is spoonfeeding. It was more linear. Sure you had some of the path stories like Yuffie's side quest, but FFVII was more linear. It was to its detriment. The game has serious pacing issues that the series never fixed and only got worse from there. FFVI, being a story of two halves, doesn't have the pacing issues the series has.
The problem with FFVII is that while it had strong influence and direction from FFVI, it lacked the cohesiveness and direction of FFVI.
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