But then Celes survives, hope is rekindled and she restarts the quest to save the world. You search for your comrades, see how they've been surviving in this post apocalyptic world, you become more powerful and prepare for the final fight with Kefka which ends with a dramatic assault on his fortress tower.
If anything, I think FF6's story is probably the only one among all JRPGs I've ever played, that comes so close to the three acts structure of cinema. Set up, stakes are raised, and final confrontation.
I also find very interesting that for the first half of the game Kefka is always in front of you, you fight him, you see what he's capable of and you know he's danger, but you keep confronting him and then he defeats you. I mean, yes there have been many cases in FF where a boss defeats you, but nowhere did that raise the stakes so much and feel so natural.
Beatrix in FF9 just let you go, and Edea in FF8 put you in a prison where you escaped from in 20 minutes.
But your defeat in FF6 means something. You used to HATE Kefka, but now you also fear him. You can't defeat him anymore like you used to. He won and he destroyed the world. You payed a high price for your failure.
But in the end the beauty of the story of FF6 is that even when you failed, the heroes rallied again, prepared harder and fought him again. It's an epic. And what's best is that it's an epic very well translated into a game. It doesn't feel pretentious (not of course that Chrono Trigger feels pretentious, but later JRPGs sure do) or forced. You don't fear Kefka cause you are told you should fear him (*cough* Sephiroth *cough*), you fear him cause you see what a monster he is, and he DEFEATS you.
I mean, I loved FF8,9,12, the worlds, the characters, the aesthetics....but if I was reading their stories in books....I'd get bored. They were good for video games (plot holes notwithstanding), but FF6 honest to god I'd read it if it was a book.
In fact of all the FF games that could have gotten supplementary media (comics, books, heck a sequel) it should have been this one. There are so many character to explore, their pasts are actually interesting. You are given enough information for their actions to make sense, but left vague enough for your imagination to fill in the blanks about everything that turned them into the characters they are (Celes's life in the empire, Edga's and Sabin's relationship are only 2 of the sub plots that I'd REALLY want to learn more about).
FF6 was the first JRPG (after pokemon) that I beat. It wasn't the first one that I tried. FF8,7,4,5,9 (order in which I played them) all were nice, but this was the only one that I just HAD to know what comes later. The story kept me intrigued and when I beat it, it really felt like the characters had gone through a long odyssey and finally they had succeeded.
......boy I can write a lot about video games that make me feel positive emotions
)
