The Japanese version of Final Fantasy VI was the third FF game to be brought to the West after FFI and FFIV. Thus, the people who brought the game over decided to re-number it as “Final Fantasy III” causing quite a bit of confusion for unknowing RPG fans. However, the numbering system’s since been rectified after the later titles in the series appeared on the Playstation. Now, just over a month later since the FFV Advance, Square-Enix has already launched another one of their classics, FFVI. With familiar music from the Final Fantasy series, this re-release features four new Magicites, some new spells, equipment and an extra dungeon.

It’s been one thousand years since everything was burned to ashes in the “War of the Magi” and magic was believed to have disappeared from the face of the world. Using metals, fire powder, steam engines and other resources, humans have once again restored the world but someone is trying to restore the legendary “magic” and use its power to rule the world. History was about to repeat itself.


Our tale begins 1000 years after the War of the Magi.
The story begins with two soldiers of the Empire and a mysterious girl travelling to the town of Narshe in search of a frozen Esper. After fighting their way through some weak resistance in their giant mechanical Magitek Armour, they finally locate it within a cave. Suddenly, the Esper glows and the light destroy the two panicking soldiers. The mysterious girl passes out and ends up waking up in the home of an old man. He shows her the broken bracelet that the Empire was using to control her great magical powers but the girl remembers nothing of the past - only her own name “Terra Branford”. Some events later, Terra meets a treasure hunter named Locke and the young King of Figaro, Edgar. After learning about her magical powers, they ask Terra to join them, the Returners, in the fight against the Empire.


The Returners are ready to strike at the Empire.
If you’ve played any of the previous FF games, you’ll feel right at home with the battle system. At a glance, it seems to be turn based but making use of the same ATB (Active Time Battle) system from the last game FFV, the enemy won’t stand around while you decide what to do once your gauge is full. They will still attack while you’re browsing the main battle menu but, they won’t when you’re browsing your spells, abilities or items.

As with all FF games, battles are still random encounters in enemy infested areas such as dungeons and the world map. As with FFV Advance, you can still hold the A button to whiz your way through random all the random battles if you like but bosses require a little more tactic this time round. Also, there is no longer a job system where you can freely switch classes because it is all pre-defined as part of the story but don’t worry, the fun is still there. While customisation in FFV was done by mixing the skills of different jobs, here in FFVI choices available are slightly toned down and come in the form of expensive accessories or “Relics” that you can equip your characters with giving them double the agility or immunity to certain status effects etc.