I've seen you bring up ff6 before. That was a very solid game and it didn't throw crazy story at you. In the end though it pretty much had no mini games, was pretty short, it didn't pull any emotions out of me concerning the characters(actually I don't think I gave a shit one way or another about the characters), the game felt like it was on rails, and if I recall it ended abruptly. The game was more solid, but also not quite as broad and lacked some depth with character development.
Mini-games didn't really exist in Final Fantasy games before VII. At least there weren't any that I remember. So, I'll make this rose-colored statement:
In the 2D era, we didn't need games in our games (dawg) to make them good!
Well, the lack of character development in Final Fantasy VI can be attributed to the ridiculous amount of characters that are available near the end. However, I definitely must disagree if you don't think there are emotional ties in FFVI. What about when Kefka poisons Castle Doma's water supply, which ends up killing Cyan's wife and daughter? Combine that with the song that plays (
The Unforgiven) and it's a scene that I
still remember today.
Then there's the scene where you're playing as Celes on the island after the floating continent, and you fail to keep Cid alive. This was removed in
all versions after the SNES release, but Celes actually tries to kill herself by jumping off the cliff. Then there's the opera house scene with her and the wonderful MIDI rendition of Aria de Mezzo Caraterre. It's like listening to the adults in Peanuts sing.
One of my favorite songs from the game has to be Forever Rachel, and it's used during some rather sad scenes dealing with Locke and his love, Rachel. It plays when you first find her lying in a coma, and get to see what happened to her. If I remember correctly (I haven't played it since the SNES), it plays
again when you bring the damaged Phoenix esper to Rachel in an attempt to revive her. The shard shatters, she comes to life and reassures Locke before fading. After she fades, the Phoenix esper reappears whole again (she's now the Phoenix esper).
Edit: I think the best thing to compare ff7 with is ff2(us)ff4 with Cecil, tella, palom and porom, kaine, ...(my spelling is probably off with the names). There was a gaping plothole near the end if I remember correctly but it was worth overlooking. The characters were amazing, the story was thrilling, the adventure was captivating and scary, it was a difficult game.
Final Fantasy IV definitely has some great scenes in it. I tear up a bit every time Palom and Porom sacrifice themselves to save the group. :'(
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