10-20-1994		4-2-1194
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Long ago the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scortched wasteland, and magic simply ceased to exist. 1,000 years have passed... Iron, gunpowder, and steam engines have been rediscovered, and high technology reigns... But there are those who would enslave the world by reviving the dread, destructive power known as "Magic". Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless, deadly mistake?

Final Fantasy VI is a story about love and hope. A young woman, born with the gift of magic and controlled by the empire, sets out on a mission to recover an esper found deep within a cave. Her reaction to the esper frees her from the empires control, and she begins her journey to understand who she is. Her quest turns into a fight to save the world from the empire, and the madness of Kefka.

Final Fantasy VI. I can remember the first time I ever sat down with this game. It was the summer of 1995. I rented it and Final Fantasy IV. Of course I was immediately put off by VI due to the entire limited introduction and mechanics. No magic, no control, and no free movement around the maps…I did not touch it again until almost a year later. I was talking to my aunt, and the subject of Final Fantasy III (VI) came up. I told her I tried it and hated it. She said I had to get past the slow starting beginning and really get into the game to like it. So a few days later I found a copy at the Target I was in. With only having seen Final Fantasy I, IV, and Mystic Quest, I was in for the ride of my life.
Final Fantasy VI was everything and more, more, more! There was not anything in this title that was not exciting. From the gameplay, battle mechanics, the shift in the ATB system, to the most epic of all Final fantasy stories, VI delivered. This one title cemented me as a Final Fantasy die hard, until the 2010 release of XIII shook that cement.
First off, graphically this was a amazing game to see. Detail was in everything from the characters, enemies, landscape and towns. It was beautiful and rich in detail. The brilliant uses of lighter and darker colors in the game added greatly to the feeling and mood set in the game at the time. This was perhaps the SNES single greatest achievement for graphics in its lifetime. Almost everything about the game was perfect, fluid, and just simply beautiful to look at.
Story…story was beyond anything seen before. If you thought the storyline of IV was great, this one definitely blew your mind away. Though following the typical “Save the world from the lunatic trying to take it over” story was the root, it was taken to an entirely different level in VI. Each of the 16 different characters had a role and reason for being in the game, and their personal stories were weaved seamlessly into the main story. This game had hidden stories within hidden stories waiting for the player to find them. Suspense and discovery, twists and turns are what brought this storyline to the absolute top of the field. The only downside to the story was not the story at all. It was the extremely poorly translation of the game for the American market. But even with that, you are in for a completely engrossing suspenseful 30+ hours of gameplay that you will love.
Characters. Never before or since has there been a cast of characters this immense in a console Final Fantasy title. There are 16 total playable characters, 14 of which are given extreme detail and backgrounds. You will learn of their lives, why they are fighting, and what brought them here. Everyone from the main lead Terra, all the way to Gau has some kind of history or story to unlock and learn. Each one has a unique personality that gets the gamers involved in their plights. You actually feel for these characters as they journey, and you want to see them come to the final confrontation and win. And this was done some 7 years before voices provided the emotional responses. And the creation of the villain Kefka is one of the finer evil creations in gaming history. Similar to the Joker, he is just simply insane. He will do anything for his own means of gaining power. He is not the typical silent calculating villain that does not get an appearance till the end of the game. He is right there from the start, making the threat to our characters very real. And who could ever forget that in game laugh?
The gameplay was fantastic too. Using the ATB system once more, Final Fantasy VI was very easy to use, and get right into, especially for the fans fresh off IV. The additions of Limit Breaks, and special attacks for each character added to the fun and value of the game. There was an expansion of magic and summons called Espers that helped make the gameplay more unique. Extra stuff such as the coliseum, and sidequests were made abundantly available in VI. This allowed the player to take a break from the story and go exploring for new equipment and other things. This also marked the first title in the series to feature hidden characters. Characters that can become a part of the party if found and under the right circumstances. This would be later done again in Final Fantasy VII, before being abandoned.
The critical reception of Final Fantasy VI was outstanding, and it cemented not only Squaresoft in the USA, but also RPG games as a real genre to play. It is held with high regards, and is perhaps the greatest of all the Final Fantasy titles to date. It had so much more to offer than it predecessors, and is certainly more engaging than the ones that followed. Though it was the first title to step from fantasy to the more futuristic worlds and styles, it was the only one that did it successfully.

	9-30-1999		-
	5-17-2002		5-17-2002

In 1999, Final Fantasy VI was re-released together with Final Fantasy V as Final Fantasy Anthology. CG's were added to the introduction of the game. There was also a bonus area added, that showed other CG clips, coliseum list, bestiary, as well as a magic, and esper list. It was the first of the re-releases of former titles, and was well received by fans everywhere. This also marked the first time Final Fantasy VI was released in Europe.