Final Fantasy 6 is one of my most played. I've probably done about 3 completions of it prior to this so I have more perspective on the original than with the rest of the games prior. Interestingly, I didn't used to like it, it took about 3 tries before it clicked enough that I wanted to actually play through it as I just didn't like the intro as a child (fans often cite the intro as one of the most memorable parts).
As the last of the SNES trilogy it unsurprisingly sports some of the best looking sprite-work. While the version does differ slightly losing some of the contrasting dark lines it's overall pretty faithful while keeping in the style of the remaster. One of the stand-out bits of Final Fantasy 6 is that the sprites are considerably larger to pack in a lot more detail and animations. Especially in battle characters jump around making it look less like they are hitting air and there's just something so satisfying about the "ping!" and colored flash when you block a spell. The same sprites are also used both in and out of battle leading to an extra sense of consistency. This is very noticeable coming from Final Fantasy 5. But an understated part of the graphics are the background which while a bit noisy are impressively detailed for hand-drawn sprites. However, this noise could be chalked up to development for CRTs where the color bleed would act as a sort of blend filter and this was highly intentional by the artists. In any case I found the pixel remaster does do the original justice.
As is now custom with the even numbered Final Fantasies it stars a group of rebels against the evil empire. The setup this time no longer rotates through cast members. While you do play with certain groups at certain points you do get to keep all of your party members and are allowed to use your favorites to fill the empty slots on the roster. And it's a big roster. Each character gets to spend a little time in the spotlight and there's real character progression going on. While Final Fantasy 4 and 5 feel like the they were on to something, Final Fantasy 6 actually hits the mark and sets up the franchise as a very character and story driven series. The characters are all very likable, the story nails it's dramatic beats and there's a good bit of humor that lands.
The standout is of course the opera scene. In the remake it's done in HD2D with real 3D elements and a full vocal audio track. This looks very good, I kinda with the whole series was HD2D. The vocal audio is also pretty good. It's very much based on the Distant Worlds versions but I don't think it's quite as good as either of those. It's strange they went this far for this game, but it was also clear that this was the one they spent the most time on. I don't know if the other games had dedicated credits and intro screens, but this one certainly does and it uses a lot less of the generic pixel remaster art in general for things like spells and attacks.
Even with a large cast of characters they also didn't strictly keep to the job archetypes. While you do have a thief (adventurer) many of the other classes are hybridized. Magic users like Terra and Celes can be on the front line as knights and their special abilities trance (increases power for a brief time), and ruinic (absorbs the next spell as MP) aren't terribly interesting and mostly useful in the early game. What I also notice a lot this time was that most abilities have a sort of randomness to it. Sabin's blitzes can't be targeted, Gau's rages are just blue-magic with berserk, Mog's dances, Umaro's attacks and Setzer are also completely random. This still works because the game is quite easy, much more-so than the ones before it. It also helps that the ATB was slowed down giving you more time to make decisions. The only time I had real difficulty was fighting number 128 because you cannot leave or level up at the save point before which means soft-locking is possible if under-leveled or with a bad setup (I found a better strategy) and fighting the boss of Phoenix Tower which can be impossible without the right setup (you pretty much need reraise to survive the final attack which I didn't have and was forced to grid it).
Thankfully grinding isn't very necessary. I did grid a bit for the Paladin shield and Ultima which basically makes the character invincible unless you get very, very unlucky and that also softens a lot of the late game. But each character has their strategies to make them into powerhouses. This sets the tone for the later games where fining ultimate summons and weapons often trivialize the game which required optional super-bosses to balance out. Final Fantasy 6 does not have any such bosses though which is a surprise given they featured heavily in Final Fantasy 5.
The other point of interest in the battle system is the relic system. This is what became of Final Fantasy 5's abilities. Relics can do all sorts of things from changing commands to providing immunities and stat boosts. These can be combined in fairly flexible ways which allow a good deal of customization and broken combinations. Want to attack 8 times in a row? There's relics for that.
I suppose the main place I found myself a little disappointed was with the new music. It's good, it's just not as good as many other orchestral renditions.
I think because I've played this one the finale of the Pixel Remaster series seemed more anti-climatic. This games is Final Fantasy 6 but Final Fantasy 6 needed less of a Pixel Remastering because it's one of the best 2D games out there. The new parts like the music just didn't live up. The gameplay is still classic though. The randomness is a bit much in hindsight but the relic system offers a lot of flexibility. The final 2D game is without a doubt the best one.
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