Poll: Is Final Fantasy 6 a Good Intorduction Game?

[Varanfan9]

So lately I have been wanting to get into playing some old school turn based RPGs. My only experience in the genre being pokemon. Now I have heard many great things about FF6 and I really like Kefka as a villain so I was wondering if it is a good RPG to get someone new into the genre or should I perhaps start elsewhere first?

 

[TheDooD]

I'll say no if pokemon is your only background. Breath of Fire 1 & 2 would be a bit easier.

 

[mikey7339]

If you have no problems with graphics then absolutely yes. It will be difficult a little later on but FF6 was one of the gems of the old school RPG generation.

 

[Mike Laserbeam]

Well, it was one of the first few video games that I ever played when I was a very young child, so I'd figure it's a pretty good starting point!

 

[mikey7339]

It's also somewhat buggy in reference to some statistics, which makes some equipment rather useless.

The goggles, they do nothing!!

 

[loomis]

Best final fantasy IMO. Got it during the winter break in high school in played it for a lot for the next 2 weeks.

 

[Richardplex]

I couldn't do FF6, but I don't like TBC, so my opinion is likely invalid. Mother 3 is a simple and hilarious way to get into TBC though, and FFX was one of the better TBC systems I've played. I've heard nothing but rainbows and lovely words about Chrono Triiger, though haven't played it myself.

 

[Roganzar]

Its a great game, as stated above, but maybe not an introductory game. This really is due to its nonlinearity. If you want a Final Fantasy game for one, go with Final Fantasy IV (or Final Fantasy II for us American SNES players) story is also good and while not strictly linear, it will give you a bit more direction on where to go to advance the story.

Or Chrono Trigger. One of my favorite games of all time. Rather good story, good combat system, and huge amount of replayablity. Seriously I think I've played this game, start to finish, easily about 15 times, give or take a couple.

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

It isn't imo. FF6 is one of my favourite games though and the best FF game. It's just a bit slow at times and it has the (bit boring and outdated) gameplay jRPGs are hated (or loved by some) for.

If you want to start playing old jRPGs I highly recommend Chrono Trigger. It's fun, very accessible, supple gameplay, neat little story, awesome soundtrack and one of the best looking games for SNES. As an alternative I'd recommend Earthbound.

 

[Richardplex]

damn it double posts.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

FF4 was my introduction, and I'm very well versed in the series. It tends to hold your hand a lot, so it would be a good game if you're new to RPGs.

 

[Almgandi]

If you really want an introduction to turn based games how about just playing the game that was created to be an introduction? Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is pretty much as simple as it gets and has forever earned a spot in my heart

 

[varulfic]

Go with Chrono Trigger instead, it's a great introduction to the genre and also one of the best ones from that era. The combat is pretty easy but with some interesting mechanics. Also the game is a lot shorter than other turn based rpgs (though the game makes up for it with multiple endings for replay value).

 

[Chris Barber]

I agree that Chrono Trigger is a better introduction game. The sprites are better animated and more expressive; which goes a long way towards drawing in onlookers. I've had a number of people passing through my old apartment while I was doing storyline stuff in CT and had them just sit down and start asking questions about what the game was about.

Although oddly enough I did end up dating someone purely as a result of her suddenly deciding she wanted to play my copy of FF6. And it was her first console RPG. So there isn't really any general rule of thumb to follow here. Some people are just going to gravitate to particular things with no rhyme or reason.

 

[Chris Barber]

Now that I think about it. First you should ask yourself what you're looking for in an RPG. An epic story, enjoyable characters, a fun combat system. Because I could suggest different things depending on your taste. Earthbound was actually the game that made me fall in love with RPGs. I had dabbled in the genre somewhat before that. But I didn't find RPG combat to be all that interesting when I was young. Earthbound was so entertaining, though, that I forced my way through just to see what would happen next in the story. And I loved every minute of it.

FF6 is a really awesome game, though, (its my favorite Final Fantasy) and you should check it out sooner or later. But I'm unsure I'd say to lead with it.

I'm seriously tempted to suggest NEStalgia because I really like social RPGs. But I know that's very much a niche thing and not everyone likes the 1990 Dragon Warrior style of RPGs.

 

[Vortigar]

If you're not afraid to veer off from the turn based thing there's Secret of Mana. More like Zelda with a levelling system. Which is a great game all round, then and now. This is absolutely the #1 game I'd recommend if you're walking into old-school. Plus you can play it three player co-op, absolutely revolutionary back in the day and still is in fact.


My personal fave has always been Final Fantasy 5, which is linear in basic structure and allows for quite a bit of exploration if you want to go for it. It also ramps up very well from a pretty simple game at the start to a multi-class-levelling fest at the end (its one of the few FF's that allow choices in how to level up your characters and arguably the only one that did it right). It was my introduction to JRPG's and I loved it.

Plus you get a boat/submarine/airship, all the classic summons are in there and the game introduced multi-colored chocobo's (if you can find them), what's not to love? Well, ExDeath is a rather generic villain, but his right hand man makes up for it.


And then there's the Turn Based Japanese Strategy RPG. Shining Force, Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics all have their pros and cons and can be interchanged for introduction purposes (personally I'd go for the granddaddy Shining Force).

 

[Chris Barber]

I don't like the idea of going into Secret of Mana right out the gate. Combat in that game is an acquired taste. I've seen a lot of people fail to grasp the "jousting" style of melee combat in SoM where you strike and draw away until your bar is at 100% again. Most players starting out seem to attack rapidly and then fail to understand why they aren't doing damage or are only hitting for single digits. Or why they have to hit an enemy 20+ times to kill it.

Also the game's combat does a really poor job with bosses being cheap unless you know how to fight them. You'll go into a boss knowing its patterns and which elemental magic to spam to murder the boss without issue. Watch a new player fight the big tiger thing in the witch's castle. They'll get knocked down repeatedly and get caught in a kill cycle more often than not if they don't know the ins and outs of using the command wheel. It's never fun popping a menu open to use an item and then not being able to use the item because an enemy set you on fire.

I'd be hard pressed to come up with a less approachable action RPG for someone new to the genre. Any of the other games Vortigar mentioned could work though; depending on tastes of course.