Final Fantasy VI is a quest to discover the selves. Nowhere has a game presented characters with differential views of the world, nor fleshed out more backstories, perhaps, than here. The reason for this is actually due to all the information we can never know about these characters or their motivations. Though we may know of one character’s lover, we can never know the path to that affair in full, nor can we know what caused the break between such passionate identities. And in the midst of such fiery identity, is an entity who is entirely lost, a character who fights to know their story.
Final Fantasy VI is now a lesson of the past, ironically, about the past. The past enthralls within our minds a complex memory, begging to to live once again in the throne of recall. Yet often, we deny the powerful truth of such realities, we distort, we find ways to hide or obfuscate those which confound or crash upon our minds as ceaseless waves. Stories of tide and time affect greatly the characters themselves, changing their lives and allowing them in some cases to move on, in others, to let go, and in others still, to never forgive.
Generations of games have passed now, and still the loudness with which a character speaks continues to be but a whisper. Characters do not demand to know, so much as accept their inequities, thus ending in a state that is mired in a sophomoric strife coming off largely as ignorance, sometimes simple arrogance. Each character in Final Fantasy VI, despite there being so many of them, demands a voice of some level and succeeds in finding a part within. Though not fully embodied, they are of a surface that can be understood, diverse enough that they are not confusing, silent enough that each piece we receive arouses new curiosity.
Discovery then relies on the player to take some interest in the scenario, however, such an interest is probably required for any real absorption of material. There is no transcendent form that does not require curiosity, though with each form, new curiosities can arise from the constructions available. Such is the possibility of character within Final Fantasy VI, where questions of characters can lead to questions about genre conventions. Questions about the standards of character and the importance of a character as a memory, rather than an embodied entity. Through these questions, characters then begin to embody a recall of identities, of what we believe fits into our understanding of mythic characters.
Recommended: Yes