It’s finally here! Final Fantasy VI, also known as Final Fantasy III back in 1994 when it was first released on the SNES, launched today on the PlayStation Network. Many reviewers, including us, have this RPG on their top 10 favorite games of all time.
Square-Enix had this to say about the Square (aka SquareSoft) classic: “Winner of numerous awards and a fan favorite, Square Enix’s FINAL FANTASY® VI role–playing game is now available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system via the PlayStation®Network.
First released on the PlayStation® as part of the FINAL FANTASY ANTHOLOGY in 1999, FINAL FANTASY VI captured the hearts and minds of gamers and critics alike, and has been lauded as one of the best in the series.”
The PlayStation Blog cited that Final Fantasy VI has “made it all to #9 on IGN’s top 100 games of all time back in 2007. And in 2009, Game Informer went one better and named it #8, while G4TV named it #1 in their “Top 5 Must-Own RPGs.” The music, the story, the characters and so much more makes this a game that we’ve all loved and are so glad to be able to enjoy it yet again on a modern console.
For many of us as gamers, this brings back tons of memories. It may even be the reason we started loving the Final Fantasy series to begin with. Memories of the infamous Maria and Draco opera scene, the “octopus royalty” Ultros or the villain, Kefka, stand out most. Perhaps it’s the artwork from Yoshitaka Amano or the music from Nobuo Uematsu. The list of what’s to like about this game goes on and on. And what’s even better is that this is the Final Fantasy Anthology version so it has all of the updated full motion video (FMV’s) that were added to the PlayStation version.
Some more history on the game from Wikipedia shows: The game was known as Final Fantasy III when it was first released in North America, as the original Final Fantasy III had not been released outside of Japan at the time. However, later localizations used the original title. Final Fantasy VI was originally directed by series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, but he eventually stepped down as director after becoming Vice President of the company. The director role was passed on to Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito. Yoshitaka Amano, a long-time contributor to the Final Fantasy series, returned as the image and character designer, while regular composer Nobuo Uematsu wrote the game’s score, which has been released on several soundtrack albums.
Not only that, but at Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds, a large majority of the music can be heard live. Dancing Mad, Terra’s Theme and the Maria and Draco Opera – beautiful pieces. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out. Don’t pass up the chance because it’s amazing.
For us, this makes our PSPGo even more enjoyable. We can now say that we’ve got Final Fantasy IV through IX on one handheld system. Hopefully they’ll launch Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII with the upcoming PlayStation Vita. That will be a good day. So go! Find yourself in the middle of one of the most enjoyable Role-Playing Games in history!
“Imperial Magitek Armor? Not even Narshe’s safe anymore!”
