Final Fantasy VI vs VII [Part 1]
There’s very few things I love in life as much as Final Fantasy. Specifically Final Fantasy IV-X (excluding VIII). I can’t seem to go more than a few months without replaying one of these games. In fact, every time I replay one of them I ask myself “So this is my favorite Final Fantasy, right?” It’s hard to pick a favorite! Each one offers a fantastic crew of characters and a progression system unique to itself. My top three Final Fantasy games are VII, VI, and X (1, 2, 3). Sometimes IX gets an edge over X, but that’s another conversation for a different day.
And to be honest, if I think about it long enough that order gets shuffled!
While I think most people would compare Final Fantasy games within their respective trilogies (the Famicom trilogy/Super Famicom trilogy/PS1 trilogy/13 Trilogy)'; I actually think we can get a bit deeper.
I can’t seem to stop comparing my two favorite games in the franchise: Final Fantasy VI and VII.
I didn’t realize this until I replayed them both back to back last year, but FFVII owes a lot of its identity to its SNES older brother. Many of its elements are just reworks of what was done in 1994. For example:
The Returners in VI are just like Avalanche in VII
The Gestahlian Empire VI is similar to Shinra in VII
Espers in VI share a similar role to Ancients in VII
Exploring the Magitek Research Facility in VI feels like exploring a Mako Reactor in VII
Magicite in VI allows a user to use magical abilities just like Materia in VII
Setzer’s Slot Ability in VI is just like Tifa’s Limit Break in VII
This song in VI clearly became Aerith’s Theme in VII (there’s a few more songs that share similar notes)
Maybe this ones a stretch, but the Gestahlian soldiers with their lack of visible eyes remind me a lot of the Shinra soldiers:
Both games are masterpieces in my eyes. But much like with diamonds, I suppose you could argue that some diamonds are "higher grade” than others.
Yes I understand that comparisons like this are arbitrary, but screw it; I think it’s a fun exercise regardless.
Our Grand Introductions:
Both games offer some of the most legendary introductions within video games, not just JRPGs. A common and justified complaint of the genre is that it takes many hours for a game to open up.
VI:
The sound of a freezing wind greets us. A trio of characters are donning strange mechanical machines. The character we control is wearing a Slave Crown- which does exactly what it sounds like, draining all of her free will away. We march on through the wind and snow, a collage of lights shine through the frozen night. These lights embody what will one day become a second home for our group. But for now, we rip and tear through its villagers, killing them and even their dogs. We get a flashback, showing that our character was captured and abused. We see an emperor claiming to his people that he will obtain ultimate power, all while making an eerily familiar gesture. This is the first 20 minutes of Final Fantasy 6.
The next two to three hours go by so fast for somebody like me who has played this game a bunch of times. But for a newcomer, I can imagine the first few hours feeling like the most exciting part of the journey. We meet a charming thief, Locke, who introduces us to King Edgar of Figaro. They are part of the Returners, a group looking to liberate the lands from Gestahl. We soon meet up with Edgar’s twin brother Sabin, but Locke and Sabin get separated. We then play three different paths of varying lengths to get everybody back together. Sabin meets Cyan, a knight of Doma whose wife and young son were poisoned to death. He also meets Gau, a boy raised in wilderness. Locke meets Celes, an ex-general of Gestahl who reminds him of the woman he once loved. The woman he lost. Each one of these characters has their own unique ability. Sabin enters his attacks like rudimentary Street Fighter commands. Cyan uses different sword techniques that require patience. Celeste can turn herself into a magnet for magical spells, negating damage. This makes each character feel like a unique star in the sky. You want to have everybody on your team, but you can’t.
By pushing the player on three different paths with three different parties, it forces them to use all of their special abilities and think of the combinations they’d like in the future.
It’s genius.
The game truly opens up around the five hour mark when you get your first pieces of Magicite. These allow everybody to learn spells. You can mix whatever Magicite on whoever you want, leading to a huge amount of options. Five hours sounds like a long time to wait, but I find that the game does an extremely good job at introducing us to everybody and the different lands we explore. How can you be bored during this intro; there’s a part where you fight a freaking train!
VII:
Speaking of trains…
We get this shot of outer space and millions of stars. But for this specific story, we zoom into one star in particular. We keep zooming in and see a construct oddly balanced between amazing and horrifying. A metallic structure known as the city of Midgar. A train rolls in. On top of the train is a spiky headed blond boy with an attitude. He carries an enormous sword on his back. Within seconds we’re in our first fight and we link up with a giant man with a machine gun for an arm. The music is intimidating as we go down an elevator in a facility that feels unwelcoming. It’s this worlds version of a nuclear power plant. But it’s Mako, the blood of the planet. A giant corporation known as Shinra is draining it for their own personal use. We fight a giant robot and blow up the mako reactor. Good right?
Wrong.
The explosion causes many casualties. And there will be many more to follow. Unlike Final Fantasy VI, the sense of justice within VII is much more shrouded in shadows. It’s more ambiguous. Our main group, Avalanche, clearly follows the motto of “Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette”. You’re ecoterrorists.
For a first time player who knows nothing about the game, you may think the entire game takes place within Midgar. It sure feels like it. We’re lead through the different “sectors” of Midgar. None of them are quite fancy. It feels like a city secondly, and a corporations headquarters first. The people at the bottom are mostly living impoverished lives. Our crew gets the addition of Tifa, the main heartthrob for our hero Cloud. But we also meet Aerith, who seems to be the only ray of true sunshine in such a dark place. I’ll never forget the scene on the train where Cloud is shown a map of Midgar. Some civilians walk off the train as we get on. They know we’re trouble.
The Midgar section of the game feels like its own complete story. All capped off with an awesome 1v1 boss fight on top of Shinra Building. I can partially understand why Square Enix opted to make Midgar its own game in 2020’s Remake; because it already felt like an entire self encapsulated story.
But what makes the 1997 original so amazing is Midgar is just the beginning. We get this amazing shot of Cloud and Avalanche with their backs against Midgar. It looks so small in the distance. And now, it’s time for the game to really begin.
Conclusion: Final Fantasy VI and VII both offer players the best four to five hour introductions in video game history. One edge VII has over its older brother is allowing the player to jump into the Materia system almost immediately. It doesn’t take a while like the Esper system in VI. But another key aspect of VI is each character having a unique ability, and luckily we get to play with them from the beginning. VII is also a bit ballsy with keeping the player in one location for so long. VI excellently gives the player a large taste of the world so quickly. VI by the nature of being a Famicom game is much more fast paced, and you may be left wanting more breathing room for certain moments. For example, Cyans family is killed and it’s supposed to be this heartbreaking scene, but two minutes later and we’re laughing at how poorly he controls Magitek armor. Personally it doesn’t really bother me, but I can understand if it does for others. In contrast, VII is already exploding with lore and interesting tidbits of information everywhere. And we’re given enough time to figure out who Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and Barret are and their motivations.
I think VII has a slightly (and I truly mean slightly) better intro. It allows the player to dive into the main customization system almost immediately. It also sets up the world, heroes, villains, and stakes masterfully. The first 4-5 hours feel like its own story, while also the beginning to a grander tale. It’s one of a kind.
Do you prefer the pure insanity of Kefka? Or the anguished and tortured Sephiroth?
Characters:
This is basically choosing who my favorite child is. It’s tough.
VI:
Due to the nature of being a Super Famicom game, VI has characters that are more subdued. You have to use your imagination to bring them fully to life. But that doesn’t mean the games story doesn’t do enough to show off the cast and make them feel like people. Final Fantasy has always been pretty good at letting the characters have small moments that let them shine. Like Zidane helping Garnet speak more like a commoner rather than royalty (IX). Or when Rydia and Cecil have their first bonding moment at a local inn (IV).
VI ups that to the best level on its console. This morning I was playing VI, and just saw the scene where Terra is speaking to General Leo on a ship during night. She talks about if somebody like her could ever feel love. Shadow comes in mid-conversation and tells her that she has to figure it out on her own. Just in that little two minute scene we understand who these characters are. Terra wants to be a normal person. Shadow himself says he “killed his emotions”. These little sprites come to life. Their character designs unfortunately can’t shine as much as later entries due to being sprites, but the colors and concept art help a lot. I love Terra’s sprite, with her bright blueish green hair and red clothes. Setzer’s long black coat. Locke’s blue headband. Celes’ shoulder pads and hairclips. The designers behind FFVI said they didn’t want any particular character to feel like the main protagonist, and I think they achieved it quite well. It’s really the only game I can think of that does something like that.
VII:
FFVII has what I would dub as the “simply cool” factor. It scratches the same itch in my brain I had back in middle school. A guy with spiky hair and a giant sword? Simply cool. A huge guy with a gun for an arm? Simply cool. A kind girl with big boobs AND she can beat the shit out of anybody? Simply cool. A vampire with a shotgun and long red coat? Simply cool.
You get the point.
Almost everybody in this core cast is just fun to play as. Because VII only allows for three people in your active party, this gives the game the best issue a JRPG can have- struggling to make a party! Unlike VI, the characters here actually show off their intended designs well, especially with their in-battle models. And their out-of-battle models are pretty cute in an ugly sort of way. But unlike VI, VII has a clear protagonist. Which makes for a certain stretch later in the game to feel a bit off. There’s a 2ish hour stretch where Cloud is unavailable, so you play as Tifa. It’s not too bad since Tifa has always felt like a secondary protagonist. But then there’s a moment where Tifa is also unavailable and you play as Cid. I love Cid in this game (he’s probably my favorite Cid), but I don’t think the game does a good enough job as propping him up as a leader, even temporarily. At least with VI, every time the game forced me to play as a character, whether it be Cyan, Sabin or Locke- I always felt like each character had almost equal stakes as the protagonist.
Conclusion: Somehow, despite having almost double the amount of characters in VI, I find that it handles it characters a little bit better. There’s decent stretches where you have to play as Edgar, Sabin, Locke, Celes and Terra. There’s never a moment where I feel like “Ah why am I playing as one of the lesser important characters?” The Final Fantasy series (and many JRPGs actually) have a tendency to include one goofy or cartoony character into the mix. Something that gives the main group some levity. Think of Quina in IX. In VI it’s Mog and Umaro. In VII it’s Cait Sith. I’ve personally never been fond of Cait Sith in terms of visual design or even plot importance. If you play 2024’s Rebirth, you’ll see how much they put into this new version of Cait Sith, because they knew most players weren’t fond of him, and he was severely underwritten in the 1997 original. Mog and Umaro, both by being cute little sprites and optional (unlike Cait Sith) feel much more fun for me to have as a player. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the villains. I’m more of a Sephiroth man than a Kefka guy. I don’t mind the “tortured experiment on a nihilist clown” angle. But something about a once revered hero having a severe identity crisis and mommy issues just feels more raw. Cloud once looked up to Sephiroth! Said he wanted to be like him! Who can forget the iconic Serpent scene? We’re constantly being shown that Sephiroth is way beyond us in power. I’m a big fan of 90’s pretty boy villains, so that probably adds to it.
Both games have top notch character designs. But by having 3D graphics (despite primitive ones), VII is able to show off the cool looking heroes a bit better. I also prefer Sephiroth to Kefka. But I think the way VI handles its larger cast is extremely impressive. Even a character like General Leo who you only play as for like 30 seconds is memorable. He’s so important to the story. That isn’t to say that VII doesn’t handle its main cast well. Everyone except Vincent and Cait Sith has a very rewarding character arc. Yuffie does the whole “betray the party but ends up rejoining them for altruistic reasons” better than Cait Sith. I think I’d give it to VII if it wasn’t for my main issue with the game (which we’ll get into in Part 2). Overall, I gotta give this to VI. But again, just by a tiny bit!
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If anybody actually read all of this- I thank you immensely! I am a huge Final Fantasy dork (up until X) and I love just gushing about these games. Stay tuned for Part 2!
