Has Final Fantasy 6 or Final Fantasy 7 Aged Better?

I'm a Final Fantasy latecomer. When my then-nine-year-old sister asked my mom for Final Fantasy 10 back in 2003, my mother hesitated after seeing the T-rating. Luckily, there was another game with anime boys for the PlayStation 2 right next to it on the shelf at Blockbuster, and the presence of Donald Duck meant my mom could rest assured that it was child-appropriate. We became a Kingdom Hearts household, and I never touched a Final Fantasy game until I was an adult. Despite this, I was very aware of the rivalry between Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 7 fans because I spent too much time in anime spaces on the Internet in middle school. I was left with the impression that FF7 was overly edgy, slow-paced melodrama, and that FF6 was the superior game, mostly due to Kefka’s existence (and that I liked "Dancing Mad" way more than "One-Winged Angel").

Spoilers ahead for Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 7

As an adult, I eventually realized that these impressions were colored by nostalgia on both sides. And so, I bought the original Final Fantasy 7 and gave it a fair shake. I was surprised at how well it had aged, so I went ahead and dove into the rest of the FF7 expanded universe. For a while, the FF7 series remained the only Final Fantasy games I’d finished, until I got the urge last year to finally get through FF6 after someone I knew kept gushing about it. While I enjoyed FF6, it was definitely an experience going back to the last mainline 2D Final Fantasy game after previously playing the entry that changed the series forever. But which game was better? While I’d say FF7, I’m also confident in saying that the PlayStation classic wouldn’t be what it is without FF6.

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By Josh Cotts

The Player's Imagination Versus Explicit Characterization in Final Fantasy Games

In a world where people are suffering under the thumb of a corrupt group seeking power, an underground resistance movement takes shape. To help fight back, they recruit the last survivor of a magical race and someone who was experimented on in the same way the enemy’s greatest soldiers were. But while the heroes managed to keep their sanity mostly intact after the experiments, the villains weren’t so lucky. Now, the supersoldier villains want to destroy the world, and it’s up to the resistance to stop them with the help of survivors of those same experiments. Without any more context, I could be talking about Final Fantasy 6 or Final Fantasy 7.

Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 7 Are Very Similar Stories

When you describe the plot this way, you realize that FF7’s plot is really built on a lot of the tropes that FF6 used first. Celes Chere and Cloud Strife are magically enhanced former members of the enemy faction, the Gestahlian Empire or Shinra, who switched sides and joined the resistance: the Returners or AVALANCHE. They help defeat one of the other magic-induced supersoldiers—Kefka or Sephiroth—who went mad and nearly destroyed the world.

Terra Branford suffers from memory issues just like Cloud, a result of experiments and trauma. Like Aerith Gainsborough, Terra is the last member of a magical race that makes her integral to both sides' plans. Terra, the character you start the game with, even disappears for a while at the start of the second act, leaving Celes as the party leader. The same happens in FF7 when Cloud goes missing after Sephiroth summons Meteor, leaving Tifa and Cid to temporarily lead the party.

To claim that FF7 simply rehashes FF6’s story or that FF6 was just a blueprint for FF7 is unfair to both games, but compared to FF7, the SNES game does suffer in hindsight story-wise due to its technological limits. This is because the sixth game stretches out its cast far too thin. At fourteen playable characters, it’s still the biggest playable cast of a mainline Final Fantasy game as of this writing. The issue is that quantity does not equal quality. FF6 was simply doing so much in other areas that there literally wasn’t any room to give more than a handful of party members something resembling a real character arc.

Final Fantasy 7's Characters Are Better Done Than FF6

FF7 doesn’t give everyone equal screentime either, to be fair. Vincent Valentine is the biggest victim of this, as while he does deliver some important lore if the player seeks him out, the only time after his introduction that the game gives him any story focus is the singular cave scene with Lucrecia. At least Yuffie got a whole sidequest in Wutai. But Vincent and Yuffie still get dialogue and reactions unique to them during story moments if they’re in the party.

In FF6, aside from a handful of Easter eggs, party dialogue is largely unchanged between characters. Most of the playable cast doesn’t get much characterization after their recruitment scenes in the World of Balance and World of Ruin. Granted, those recruitment scenes are well-done, and Terra, Celes, Locke, and Sabin all have decent stretches of game time focusing on them specifically. Some side content also fills in the writing gaps, like how Cyan’s dreamscape sidequest helps him process his grief or Shadow’s randomly occurring dreams hint at his relation to Relm.

In contrast, everyone in FF7’s playable cast has unique dialogue that changes depending on the story scene, and all the required party members have specific story arcs that shift the focus to them well after their introductions. Players will spend a long time with Barret before his backstory is finally revealed at Corel Prison. Red XIII is first recruited at Shinra’s labs during the Aerith rescue mission, so his relation to Cosmo Canyon later on is unexpected. Tifa keeps (what she thinks is) the truth of Cloud’s relation to the Nibelheim Incident under wraps for well over half the game. Even Cid gets to take on the role of party leader for a while. FF7's supporting characters feel present throughout the game.

But the various histories of Cloud Strife and the gang cast weave a tangled web, and that translation doesn't necessarily make things easy to understand. While FF7 put a lot of effort into each member of the cast, the complex story meant it could be hard to follow at times. FF6 fans might argue that the game’s simpler storytelling works in its favor, and that’s fair. It’s still a well-written story that treats the characters it does put extra focus on rather well; it’s hard not to smile at the end when Terra finally lets her hair down and feels the breeze on the airship. Celes’ opera is a legendary scene, and Kefka’s unabashed love for evil can be refreshingly uncomplicated compared to the telenovela that Sephiroth’s history is.

final fantasy 7 original party members sephiroth

How the Story and Characters Contribute to FF6 and FF7's Age

In a Game Informer interview, director Yoshinori Kitase (who worked on both games) said that one of the ideas driving FF 6's development was that "everyone is the main character." He explained that letting players choose which characters to play created a "player-driven second half." As such, it may be better to describe FF6's storytelling as more open-ended than FF7's, instead of simpler. It’s a game with a strong core plot that encourages players to use their imagination to determine the “main character" of FF6. Meanwhile, FF7 players are stuck with Cloud whether they like him or not.

As a relative newcomer to the Final Fantasy series, I’d say that FF7's story and characters are deeper, but that FF6’s plot sowed the seeds for that. Final Fantasy 7 simply has more room to give each character time to shine. It’s not FF6’s fault that it was stuck on the SNES, but in terms of how the games have aged, FF7 simply did better for me. Now, if FF6 finally got a remake, that might change.

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By James Ratcliff

FF6's Gameplay is More Unique, But Less Refined

Terra Branford Uses Trance in Combat Final Fantasy 6

Gameplay-wise, FF6 and FF7 take the inverse approach that they do to storytelling: FF6’s characters are more individualized on a gameplay level than they are on a writing level, while FF7’s characters are more interchangeable in combat situations. Even if their personality or story roles aren't very memorable, FF6's party members all stand out in gameplay because they each have their own unique combat actions. Only Terra can use Trance, only Celes can use Runic, only Locke can steal, only Gogo can mimic, etc.

Meanwhile, FF7’s party all have weapons and limit breaks that are unique to them, and their different statlines make sure that everyone at least has a niche the game implies they should fill. But overall, it’s not hard to turn Tifa into a spellcaster or Barret into a healer. They won’t do as well in those roles as they would in offense-oriented ones, but the game is workable with a party that doesn’t play to its natural niches. Magic also isn’t as easy to use this time because party members have to keep Materia equipped to use the spells associated with them. The result is simple: the player has to strategize more to decide which Materia would work best with the builds they’ve created for each character. If they don’t have enough Materia in Final Fantasy 7, then they’ll have to manage their resources instead of loading everyone in the party up on Ultima and going crazy.

Final Fantasy 7 Cloud during flashback in Materia Menu

I wouldn’t call FF6 or FF7 particularly well-balanced in either case, but if I had to choose, I’d say FF7's Materia system better balances the combat. However, I’d also say that FF6’s less polished mechanics are more fun to play around with. Relm’s Sketch ability might not be that good, but after turning it into “Control,” it’s still really funny to make two demons cast Death on each other. It can be annoying to lose control of Gau with his Rages, but if you have Edgar hit an enemy with the Debilitator to give them a fire weakness, it can be oddly cathartic to see this little boy unleash the power of the sun with Flare Star on them. And speaking of Edgar, the Chainsaw will be your best friend in boss fights.

As fun as FF6 can be to break in half, it’s still an easier game even without going to the effort of grinding or unlocking everything, especially since characters keep the spells they learn after mastering them. Even if you remove their Esper in FF6, you’ll more likely be using magic for everything than each character’s unique ability by the game’s midpoint. FF7 can also be easy to break and isn’t particularly difficult, but having to manage your resources with Materia means the player will have to strategize more. You really get the feeling that the team was specifically trying to avoid making Materia as exploitable as Espers were.

A scene featuring characters on a cliff in Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)

How the Gameplay Contributes to FF6 and FF7's Age

In the end, I’d have to say Final Fantasy 7 has also aged better gameplay-wise. Both titles definitely have growing pains that can make them a bit less fun for modern players, but FF7 just has more refined gameplay and a better idea of what it wants with its characters. When it comes to which game would be a better first entry for new Final Fantasy fans, FF7 is great for those wanting a more character-focused story and tighter gameplay.

Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Twin-Pack Nintendo Switch (1)

However, it is worth trying Final Fantasy 6 first instead because of just how much its successor improved on it. Without having a game from a completely new console generation to compare it to, it can be easier to appreciate FF6 on its own merits. But it’s also unfair that FF6 never got the expanded universe material or remakes that FF7 did. If Terra and friends could at least get another adventure in the Octopath Traveler HD-2D style, then FF6 could find itself on equal ground with its original PlayStation rival and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.