That’s certainly something that would have been less of a problem in 1995, when there weren’t multiple big-name games demanding your attention through online marketing campaigns and YouTube walkthroughs.

The cooldown-focused Active Time Battle system is a blast to use, especially when you introduce healers to keep your damage-dealers from getting killed too early, but when you’re most interested in getting to the next chunk of the story, battles begin to feel like chores you are forced into. Random battles occur nearly everywhere aside from non-hostile villages, forcing you to stop going where you want to go in order to fight a few monsters or animals. Final Fantasy VI tells a long, winding story dealing with more than a dozen main characters, but much of its epic length comes from role-playing elements we’d consider unnecessary fat today.

From new characters with hidden magical abilities to the morphing landscape of the planet itself, I found myself always looking for the next big story beat, and it was during these moments when my enthusiasm started to wane. After spending nearly 30 hours with the game, I can see the steampunk fantasy adventure is still a masterpiece, but, as an adult who can’t devote every waking second to games, I’ve struggled to fully enjoy playing it.įinal Fantasy VI is a masterpiece, but, as an adult who can’t devote every waking second to games, I’ve struggled to enjoy it.įinal Fantasy VI’s story has surprises around nearly every corner. The next game on my “must play RPG” list was Final Fantasy VI, released in North America on the SNES as Final Fantasy III just a year before Chrono Trigger. Growing up, Squaresoft’s seminal Super Nintendo RPG Chrono Trigger blew my mind with its intuitive battle system, time-traveling story, and iconic Akira Toriyama character designs, which hold up just as well in 2018 as they did when it launched in 1995. Japanese role-playing games aren’t typically my cup of tea, but it would be foolish of me to not at least scratch the surface of the genre with recommendations from older, more experienced players. In Backlog, Digital Trends’ gaming team goes back to the important games they’ve never played to see what makes them so special… Or not.

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