Chrono Trigger VS Final Fantasy VI

[Xeogred]

What I really don't get is the Chrono Cross hate though... haha, not sure if I've ever seen it around here, but yeah generally it doesn't seem to get much love nowadays. I'll agree Trigger is the better game for sure, but I love Chrono Cross too.

Guess it could be nostalgic and just a special game to me though, since it was the first PSX game I owned myself and going from the N64 to something like that... with the insane CD quality music, cutscenes, beautiful backgrounds, etc, it was quite the experience back in the day for me.

[MrPopo]

Having played Chrono Cross long after the PS2 came out, I'd say that CC was a really good game, but it doesn't hold up well as a CT sequel. The connections to CT are tenuous and don't really become apparent until quite late in the game. The game likes to pull a lot of bait and switch on what your ultimate goal is, up to the very end of the game. CT bounces you around a few times at the start, but it's a natural flow from the initial "Lucca accidentally made a time machine" part. Then a few hours in you discover Lavos, and everything after that point leads to the goal of stopping him. Finally, CC's system of having a shitton of characters was overambitious. There are a lot of characters who join up because why the hell not? VI had a lot of characters but it devoted a fair amount of time to each one, and their joining up seemed to make more sense.

[irixith]

Chrono Trigger for the replayability, and because it's more interesting all 'round than FF6.

FF4 has my favourite story between 4, 5 & 6. Cecil's story is simply more relatable than Terra's I guess.

and there really isn't just one protagonist, but all of them (almost) have equal importance. You just start out as Tera. I think Celes has a bigger part in the story. No, that isn't right. Come to think of it ALL the characters (except the bonus ones) get character development, their own dramatic scenes, and side quest storylines. I love that game ^_^.

Just quoted the part I'm replying to here...

...but FF6 really is Terra's story. You begin as a girl who can't remember her past, and through the help of your friends, find your father, your past, and the ability to survive in a world without magic. All the other stuff that happens as the backdrop is awesome (like Kefka destroying the entire world. ), but I've always seen the game as Terra's story from beginning to end. After the world is destroyed, much of reuniting The Returners is optional side quest material, which to me really isn't part of the story proper. While other characters do develop, sacrifice and die, the game is as much about Terra as FF4 is about Cecil.

Cecil gets a great (if not somewhat predictable) story -- from his initial mistakes to his ultimate redemption and ascension to the throne. There's a beginning, a middle and an end to it. Terra begins with no memory, and then undergoes a series of events each more convoluted and fantastical the last, where midway through the story I sort of stop caring -- and then she ends with her memory intact and the knowledge that she can survive in the world once Kefka gets destroyed. Whoop-dee-doo! Cecil gets to rule over and rebuild Baron with the love of his life by his side, and Terra just gets to exist.

I guess the long and short of it is that FF4 is engaging all the way through by sticking to Cecil's story, while FF6 is a weird convoluted story (that unfortunately set the stage for the weirder, more convoluted story of FF7), but it's filled with memorable moments (who doesn't mention the opera?) that seem to sway the majority of gamers over the overall package.

[Flake]

...but FF6 really is Terra's story.

I disagree so completely with that statement. That's what I loved about FF6: It was the strongest ensemble of any game I have EVER played. Terra was the first character you met but in the end, the story belonged to too many people to say it was only her's. You can just as easily say it's the story of Locke and Celes, or Cyan's redemption. Or the reunion of the Figaro brothers. Everyone was a character in everyone else's story.

[foxhound1022]

...but FF6 really is Terra's story.

I disagree so completely with that statement. That's what I loved about FF6: It was the strongest ensemble of any game I have EVER played. Terra was the first character you met but in the end, the story belonged to too many people to say it was only her's. You can just as easily say it's the story of Locke and Celes, or Cyan's redemption. Or the reunion of the Figaro brothers. Everyone was a character in everyone else's story.

^ This. I agree with this wholeheartedly. I have never become more engrossed in the stories of each of my party members than in Vl.

[Xeogred]

FFVI is Edgar's story in my book.

Haha, but I'm with Flake there. It's something I like about FFVI and that has to be a hard thing to pull off. You can pretty much choose who you want to see as the main character. It works well when they all have good backstories and development.

Having played Chrono Cross long after the PS2 came out, I'd say that CC was a really good game, but it doesn't hold up well as a CT sequel. The connections to CT are tenuous and don't really become apparent until quite late in the game. The game likes to pull a lot of bait and switch on what your ultimate goal is, up to the very end of the game. CT bounces you around a few times at the start, but it's a natural flow from the initial "Lucca accidentally made a time machine" part. Then a few hours in you discover Lavos, and everything after that point leads to the goal of stopping him. Finally, CC's system of having a shitton of characters was overambitious. There are a lot of characters who join up because why the hell not? VI had a lot of characters but it devoted a fair amount of time to each one, and their joining up seemed to make more sense.

Very fair complaints, yeah. This is why I like Trigger more myself. CC does get a little all over the place at times, but yeah when it's good... it's damn good. I do remember the ending always being anticlimatic though and not making much sense at all.

I'd say it's about as connected as Xenogears is to Xenosaga, though I guess in Chrono's case it's pretty official with some direct connections... but yeah, I try to look at them mostly as their own separate entities, like you would a Final Fantasy game I guess.

Think I just said this elsewhere, but I think you can easily see the "Dream Team" / Monolith-Soft's touch in all their games. All the Chrono's and Xeno's have some similar themes and design ideas. Xenogears is probably my favorite of these games all around, but I love them all and how they deal with a lot of sci-fi and ridiculous Nietzsche stuff (moreso just the Xeno's lol).

[ZeroAX]

...but FF6 really is Terra's story.

I disagree so completely with that statement. That's what I loved about FF6: It was the strongest ensemble of any game I have EVER played. Terra was the first character you met but in the end, the story belonged to too many people to say it was only her's. You can just as easily say it's the story of Locke and Celes, or Cyan's redemption. Or the reunion of the Figaro brothers. Everyone was a character in everyone else's story.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes. I guess irixith prefers FF 4's focus on one sole character. It does make the story more streamlined (in FF6 at some point you lose some character for a good chunk of gameplay, so you play with others and THEIR stories get more developed), but for me that is also the beauty of FF6. All the personal stories that tangle around the main story that is for the first half Star Wars and for the second half.....Lord of the Rings? Matrix? Don't know, don't care, love it either way .

But even if I consider 6 faaar better, I can understand why someone could like 4 more. But I think you SHOULD play it again, just to see that the story isn't really just Terra's

[Xeogred]

Yeah, in general I think FFIV's specific character approach is better, but FFVI had good balance and did the huge cast thing pretty well. I'd say... perhaps Suikoden is the only other series out there that can do it and even better. The Xeno's are up there too, although those games are like 80% more story with 500 side characters that aren't even playable, haha.

Think my Xeno fanboyism is bleeding through here a lot right now...

[brunoafh]

I always felt that the emphasis on multiple characters in FF VI was it's biggest downfall. Not because that's a bad way to go about story telling, but because it's done very poorly in the second half. The first half is gold, but the second half really falls apart. The story is pretty poorly patched together and Terra's role, which prior to this is by far the most prevalent, is reduced to pretty much nothing, and I dunno, it just all felt really random and rushed. The second half feels like a completely different game.

[MrPopo]

I always felt that the emphasis on multiple characters in FF VI was it's biggest downfall. Not because that's a bad way to go about story telling, but because it's done very poorly in the second half. The first half is gold, but the second half really falls apart. The story is pretty poorly patched together and Terra's role, which prior to this is by far the most prevalent, is reduced to pretty much nothing, and I dunno, it just all felt really random and rushed. The second half feels like a completely different game.

Well... it is a completely different game. You set out to save the world and you FAILED. Now you need to rekindle hope in everyone.