The Animation of Final Fantasy VI

One last 16-bit victory lap before the 3D era begins. Welcome to Part Six of this retrospective journey through the animation of the Final Fantasy series!
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Watch the whole series! ► • The Animation of Final...
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PATREON ► / newframeplus
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LET'S PLAY CHANNEL ► bit.ly/2lmGte8
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Written and produced by Daniel Floyd
Special thanks to:
-Carrie Floyd
-Soraya Een Hajji
-Ted Woolsey
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♪ Featuring selections from the Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster official soundtracks.
#FinalFantasy #animation #FF6

[@rpvarela]

11:03 - It ain't a Final Fantasy 6 video until Sabin suplexes the train. You get a thumbs up :p

[@Flanagax]

He totally got me at 8:42. I was like, "Look at this guy, showing Phantom Train like that without suplexing it..."

[@Kwyjibo28372]

when the dm is like, "yeah, fine, you suplex the train"

[@insaincaldo]

The only thing I really know about this game.

[@glossophobia4117]

😂😂😂

[@haflaen]

As someone not hugely familiar with Final Fantasy, I adore how you’re not just tracing the evolution of animation in the series from a technical standpoint but using that as a lens to explore its evolving approach to story and character. Because the technical side is only half of it, right? Where things get really interesting is in how those animations are used to convey character and tell stories. As a result, I’m learning more about a pillar of gaming history that I’ve mostly disregarded in the past, and at the same time learning about that fascinating middle ground between art and science that animation occupies. Looking forward to the next one!

[@Nickle_King]

*Nods* Yup. It doesn't make a difference how many pixels or polygons a face has. If it can't smile, laugh, frown, cry, scowl, or scream in a way that makes you feel it too, it might as well be a blank canvas. Good example. Noctis? By in large, might as well be a doll. Celes? Everything from extasy to deviousness to heartbreak.

[@anonymouspotato3453]

It kind of reminds me of the old musical theater adage - when you can't speak, you sing, and when you can't sing, you dance. In FF games, when you can't speak, you animate.

[@TwilightWolf032]

I definitely recommend picking up FFVI to play. It should be quite cheap on Steam right now, and modding it too look like it did on the SNES (a necessity in my opinion, they used the GBA sprites, which were overly bright to make up for the lack of backlight on the GBA) is fairly simple and straightforward, you just need to substitute a couple of folders and not think about it ever again! Trust me, there is a reason many regard it as better than FF7!

[@ikmor]

Well said!

[@maynardburger]

Honestly this video probably goes further in detailing what made FF6 special as a whole than most any other analysis video I've seen on it, and doing so almost purely by talking about the importance of the character animation. Of course the game does other new and interesting things, but at its heart, the characters were what made this game feel like such a leap for RPG's at the time, and the thing that people tend to most fondly remember.

[@Nemo2342]

Well darn, now I want a Chrono Trigger video too!

[@SacchieILU]

yes please. a slight detour is requested in a bonus episode Dan

[@CoronaMacGuinness]

Third for this. CT is basically the lost Final Fantasy game between 6 and 7 in terms of approach, and it might be interesting to cover the influence of Horii and Toriyama in the direction compared to the FF games. After all, it could easily be considered the first "Square-Enix" game, long before the buyout.

[@Tile_22]

I was thinking the same thing. I'd love a video comparing Chrono Trigger to Final Fantasy 6 to showcase the costs and benefits of Chrono Trigger's more dynamic battle animations.

[@TonyTheTGR]

IIRC, what they did in CT was cut the cast in half (14 > 7) in order to double the animations available to the characters and really maximize this expression and movement; which is largely why it's the masterpiece that other JRPGs aspire to, rather than VI.

[@lucas_lipp]

Hell yeah! I'd adore a video on Chrono Trigger

[@JacobGeller]

I'm so psyched whenever I see another video in this series has dropped

[@1SpicyMeataball]

C

[@ICountFrom0]

(23:30) I will go you on further. The combat screen is where we're used to dangerous things happening. Sure, you can take some hits outside of combat, but combat is where the high risk stuff is, like boss fights. The esper wasn't REALLY dangerous, until it became a combat screen, and she's alone.

[@ariwl1]

What I love about the SNES FFs and their use of battle screens to tell stories is how they kept the tension up even when the game was in control and you were no longer playing BECAUSE you could never be sure you were no longer playing or when you'd be called on to actually fight the battle again. Most modern games these scenes would be portrayed in regular cutscenes which, even if they essentially serve the same purpose, offer you even the slightest moment to relax a bit because you know you don't actually have to play for a few moments.

[@thunderthebright8469]

4:06 Mog, Umaro and Gogo are mostly chilling and/or there for the ride. Heck, you find Gogo in a random cave and he's like "Yahaha, you found me! I'll be in your party now!"

[@Padrier958]

+1 Korok Seed

[@TheGolux]

A random cave... in a monster's stomach

[@thunderthebright8469]

@@TheGolux it's very random for a cave system to be there, I would say

[@templetonf]

I love how the ending of the game specifically has Gogo NOT escaping from the sinking tower. I always imagined he just found his way back to his random cave from there.

[@GoeTeeks]

@@templetonf He didn't know it at the time, but he was copying Shadow.

[@digikun4168]

7:54 I had to re listen to this three times before realizing he's saying "But Dan", and not "BUT DAD" 😅

[@digikun4168]

I know it's only twice but I'm not sure how to feel about him calling me a naughty gamer...

[@Rognik]

Dan is our gaming dad, even if we happen to be older than him.

[@FearlessSon]

It's hard to overstate just how big Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III as I knew it at the time) was on it's release. This was a huge step up, and as much as Final Fantasy VII was breathtaking, there was a magic in Final Fantasy VI's 2D art that it couldn't _quite_ carry over.

[@madamminalost]

I wish - if they ever do remake it - they do an HD2D like in Octopath Traveler. I can't see this game in 3D, and considering the subject matter (waves at Doma) if they did move it to 3D it'd either be M or heavily changed. HD2D feels like a good balance.

[@TheJackOfFools]

Yeah, IMO they didn't really start capturing characters nearly as well till FFIX. I love 7 and 8, but there was just too much "new" about the 3D world it seems. But by FFIX (and the PS2) they really start to hit their stride again.

[@iantaakalla8180]

I like that the two stories about capturing identity in industrialized modern world have the most awkward 3d animations. It really feels like they knew how to choose their stories such that it fit the vibe of the ability to emote.

[@Stratelier]

Case in point: Where Final Fantasy VI had unified its sprite sheets between overworld and combat (remember when Locke had to disguise himself as a merchant and then an Imperial soldier? They were using NPC sprites in combat!), FF7 needed to "revert" to using separate character models in the overworld (low poly, with a "sprite-like" aesthetic) vs. combat (high poly, realistically proportioned), which -- again -- precluded them from using the actual combat scene for anything beyond (some degree of) actual combat. Sure, you had the flashback with Sephiroth as a party member one-shotting monsters that were clearly beyond Cloud's experience level, and that final Omnislash to finish Sephiroth off for good, but that was nothing compared to what FF6 was doing before it.

[@konga382]

@@Stratelier FF7 definitely took one step back for every two steps forward. Thankfully Square managed to turn those steps back around with FF8 and FF9. Compare the character models between FF9 with FF7. Night and day difference, looks like entirely different console generations.

[@jcharr1]

8:48 - I think we can all agree that "Evil Toot" is the best attack name ever.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Fool! Doctor Doom does as he pleases!

[@ThisIsntAYoutuber]

All iterations of “Evil Toot” are gold. Even when it was renamed to “Diabolical Whistle,” it still held up.

[@generaljimmies3429]

"Evil Toot" is what I do inside a crowded elevator

[@reloadpsi]

Kazuko Shibuya's work in this game is nothing short of high sorcery. I can't believe how effective these animations are at telling such a serious story.

[@pufthemajicdragon]

So, I'm a writer. And it may not be obvious, but these videos apply to writing narrative fiction. When you talk about animation, I'm picturing in my head how to apply this to the characters in my stories, how to "animate" them with words, give them life and meaning through action. Describing how characters smile and frown and pace and shuffle as they talk or travel is a powerful way of bringing characters to life from the page. The tools you're giving me as a writer are amazing.

[@enlongjones2394]

The character size becoming standard in and out of battle becomes interesting immediately. In FF7, they go back to having lower-detail characters outside of battles and full size full detail characters in battle. But with 3D models instead of sprites. It’s interesting to see that progression happen again in 3D.

[@Stratelier]

Yeah, compared to FF6 it does feel like a small regression (imposed by development choices informed by the hardware, but still).

[@timothymclean]

I am reasonably confident that FF7's chibi models are there because they couldn't figure out how to effectively render a bunch of higher-fidelity character models at once on the Playstation. I have no idea what was missing, exactly, but crafting two sets of models for every major character with such massive stylistic differences just screams "technical constraint" to me. Especially given the iconic blocky shape of everyone's limbs.

[@titaniumvulpes]

@@timothymclean It was planned to be released on the SNES at first, and then they toyed with the N64 before finally settling on the PS1. The blocky overworld models are pretty similar to the ones in e.g. SM64, so they might have been designed during the N64 phase and by the time they'd switched to PS1 it was too late to change because they'd already designed the scale of the overworld backgrounds and objects around the chibi models' size. The fact they immediately went back to full-scale overworld models with 8, still on the PS1, tells me it was probably specifically the Nintendo consoles' technical limitations.

[@shadowthephoenix1]

Tbf it was the first 3d ff, and a fairly early ps1 game, Square was likely still just figuring out the hardware. Even by ff8 it was clear they already had a much better grasp on the hardware with everything actually having textures, higher poly count/more detail in models, better animation, and the battle and field models being almost exactly the same. 7 to 8/9 is still one of the biggest jumps in visual quality on just a single console i've seen lol, and that goes for both in game graphics and fmvs.

[@InnocentGuillotine]

@@timothymcleanthe PS1 was still pretty new hardware when FF7 was released, so there was probably a lot of uncertainty about how much the system could actually handle displaying at once. This is especially true when you look at literally the very next mainline game, which helps indicate that it was heavily influenced by uncertainties about the hardware. It's not dissimilar to FFIV in that regard, where they're just testing the waters to see how well they can scale up to this new, bigger thing.

[@Nenacu]

My dude, that transition between Xenogears and FFT at the end of the video was so absurdly clean.

[@Ali-fs7ze]

"2D sprites over 3D backgrounds" is such an underrated visual style. I Can Not get enough of it. I wish we'd gotten at least one big mainline FF like that.

[@veronicamcghie5238]

My dream is one day we get a FFVI, a Chrono Trigger or even a Terranigma re-release in that fancy Octopath Traveller engine

[@PlebNC]

Klonoa 1: "WAHOO!"

[@guardstorm9790]

@@veronicamcghie5238FFVI is so great that i feel HD2D isnt enough. A proper 3D remake is better for FFVI.

[@nekkowe]

I miss Ragnarok Online a little, now...

[@NEETKitten]

It's not technically Final Fantasy, but Crystal Project is basically a love letter to the pixel-based Era of the franchise and it uses this style to great effect.

[@ConfusedMoogle]

I know it was probably not deliberate that this video dropped the same year as the game's 30th anniversary (or, indeed, anniversaries, considering both western and JP releases) but I can't help but appreciate that it did nonetheless. Still doing us all a service with this series, Dan.👍👍

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Still, I hope that the FF7 animation breakdown video releases a bit sooner than FF7's 30th anniversary.

[@Imperial_Squid]

Haven't watched the video yet but I just wanted to say I tuned in to the stream where you worked on fixing the sprites ages ago and wanted to comment that I really appreciate just how much work you put into these videos to add all that polish and care, it doesn't go unnoticed

[@Doomsword0]

23:08 putting it in terms of cinematography is so neat, I wouldn't have thought of that but that's so cool. As you say Dan, very clever!

[@thegustbag]

Dang it, Dan. I was not expecting to cry over an animation video! But it's just so incredible to see really the evolution of such a beloved medium through this series. And seeing the level of mastery these artists achieved even with the crudest tools, when compared to what they have now, at least. This has been such a lovely journey. And what a place to say goodbye to 2D pixel animation: at its peak (I mean, moreso after you mention Chrono Trigger)

[@delta3244]

23:23 - not only is it clever, it fits into something I've thought about with game music and cohesion. It's been a while since I encountered this context in the wild, so I won't describe it perfectly, but I've seen people say that they prefer 8/16-bit music over orchestral in some contexts where both are an option. I believe one significant reason for this is cohesion. In old games, music and sound design were inherently linked by both being results of the same, very distinct-sounding engine. In modern games, because there does not _need_ to be any connection between the way music and sounds are designed and produced, it's possible for them to clash. Sound design, across sfx and music, inherently tended to work together and be cohesive on old sound engines. On modern ones, that choice must be made deliberately and carefully. Furthermore, there was always a similarity in style between pixel art and 8/16-bit sounds because in broad strokes, art (visual or audio) running on those systems involved relatively large, descrete entities being placed together to imitate a "real," smooth analogue. That's imprecise - that similarity is not exactly the reason why there's cohesion - but it's close enough for my purposes. Old games had a relatively easy time being cohesive across all sound and visuals, because the tools they had to work with were well-suited to be put together. Nowadays, we have a large selection of tools, and so we need to be careful to select ones that can be cohesive, and use them accordingly. Modern successes include the Ori games, whose sound and music design are unrelated but both derive from the visual style, relating everything accordingly and making the games cohesive across each of those three elements. Hollow Knight is another good example, where its sfx work perfectly with the visuals (*according to me, who knows nothing about the art form), and its music is then cohesive with the sfx, which transitively makes it cohesive with the visuals (this transitive relationship won't always exist, but it will often). For a specific example of why audio/visual cohesion matters, one can imagine a person who prefers the FF pixel remasters' rearranged music over the originals, but who prefers listening to the originals in-game because of the cohesion between the original instrumentation and the pixel art, which is lesser in the new instrumentation. As for the scene I'm commenting about? One can imagine using some special camera for that cutscene, which has the same benifits as the battle cam, but which allows for this idea to be expressed perfectly - even better than the battle cam does. If such a camera were to be used, I contend it would make the scene worse. The use of the battle cam, this preexisting thing which is used in many places, is more than merely 'good enough.' It works very well, _and_ fits in with the way the camera works in the entire rest of the game. It doesn't distract you, it doesn't do anything out of the ordinary, it's just a clever use of what you're familiar with that fits the scene and game very well. Introducing some special thing which the player would need to understand before engaging with the cutscene would would take them out of the game for a second. The battle cam doesn't. It fits the game and that cutscene far better than the more fancy alternative would. If you had to chose between using music X and music Y, where both suit scene A, and Y is a better piece of music than X (let's pretend this is objective), but X is more cohesive with the visual and sfx design, you should pick X the vast majority of the time. Cohesion matters. Even within visual parts of the game, you can still distract by trying to be too fancy, or deviating from established norms. It's far better to stick with what the player understands and knows than to introduce something new, unless there is a good reason or a large benifit to introducing the new thing. There may well be an Occam's Razor of game design, being something along the lines of "It is better to do very well with few things than it is to do perfectly with many."

[@Platanov]

Isaac Newton once said "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants," and it is in this sense that I think it is fair to say that Final Fantasy VI is the best game ever made. It's not that subsequent games haven't surpassed it in whatever respect, but that it represents the largest single step forward that video games have ever taken as 'art'. The animation, art, music, characterization, story, worldbuilding, were all so much more mature than any game that had gone before. So you could say it's not the giant that currently happens to be at the top of the stack, but the tallest single giant that is (and probably will ever be) in the stack.

[@maynardburger]

I think FFVII probably represents an equal leap. It really is crazy how much they had to reinvent everything.

[@iantaakalla8180]

The next leap of that significance would have to be Undertale, and that had to basically deconstruct video game RPG habits to do that.

[@notreallythere477]

From belting out opera to just belts, it's gonna be a hell of a transition.

[@XanderVJ]

17:34 Fun fact here (in case nobody else has mentioned it yet). This iconic opening sequence was created by none other that Tetsuya Takahashi, the man who later on would co-create "Xenogears", and then founded Monolithsoft, creating the two spiritual successors "Xenosaga" and "Xenoblade".

[@fieryrebirth]

After playing Xenoblade, I think the "14 years ago" scene is actually a subtle callback to FF6's intro now that you taught me this.

[@TenNoYaiba]

Thank you for codifying all those subtle animation tricks and marvels that we laypeople just look upon with awe and call "good". I've never really been able to express my thoughts about what exatcly it was about the animated expressions and details of the FF6 cast due to my lack of immersion in the artistic and animation spaces. It is immensly relieving to have an expert in the field go over the technical details that I simply appreciate in amalgam as fine art. Thank you.

[@MagikusMasalus]

Clicked faster than smash windup animations🔥🔥🔥

[@nickfarace9339]

I still think the moment they show the Falcon emergy from the ocean in the world of ruin, to one of the best 16 bits ever, is one of the greatest scenes in gaming and left a permanent mark on me. The game is full of cinematic scenes the likes of which we had never seen in a video game at that point, but that one is really the big one for me.

[@SonicBoyster]

This video just dropped onto my homepage and I was thoroughly captivated from beginning to end. That's not common for me, at least not with videos I'm not actively looking for on my own. Your presentation here is phenomenal. Nice work.

[@NewFramePlus]

Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@Ahrpigi]

4:06 undeniably some of the characters of all time! To be perfectly honest though, I forgot Mog is playable and that Strago existed at all, but the yeti and mime are locked in my memory.

[@ClintEPereira]

I think if you add Gau, you can have an auto-attack team that just rages or dances the entire fight.

[@rdrrr]

​@@ClintEPereira A cool use-case for Umaro; he doesn't care about the Cultist's Tower's restrictions. Every other character cannot use physical attacks or skills when climbing the tower. Umaro functions as normal. Because all the enemies are magic-users, Umaro's physical attacks really hurt too.

[@Vyolynce]

I did that during my first-ever playthrough. I was leveling up Cyan, Mog, Gau, and Umaro when I happened across Doma Castle... Have you ever tried to beat Wrexsoul with characters you *can't aim*? I don't recommend it! I literally had to start my entire game over because I was stuck there.

[@HolyCow0273]

This video came out the same day I’m graduating🎉

[@jureigeeksoutoccasionally]

Congrats!

[@mariacargille1396]

Congratulations! Happy graduation :)

[@VexerZero]

Congrats! Best of luck with your future!

[@ceegronlee]

congrats!

[@Imperial_Squid]

Congrats! 🎉🎉 what did you study btw?

[@wilddragonchase]

im pretty confident in saying that the cinematography choices in VI were a direct result of Kitase's involvement. he is a filmmaker by training after all

[@devaraft]

I never realized they previously had to have different battles and non-battle movements. That must be so relieving for the team who wants to explore more complex story

[@TheOwlslayer]

It's such a joy watching these animation videos of yours, it's like they're radiating with your excitement! Can't help but get pulled along for a fascinating ride.

[@JosephHeiskell]

The legend has been fulfilled

[@BagMonster]

Glad to see you're still making steady progress on this Behemoth of a series. Hopefully you can catch up to the end of the series this decade!

[@Psittacus_erithacus]

Top quality work as always. Really enjoy this series. Thanks to all involved, including the patrons!

[@dogthedog1338]

Your videos bring me so much joy, thank you so much

[@customURLfor]

your videos take me back to college's Art History classes, giving me new reasons to appreciate these works of Art with a fresher and more focused look. thanks so much

[@bashdeasy]

I really enjoyed the pixel animation breakdown. You showed me a whole new side to the video games I grew up loving so much. Thank you so much! Looking forward to the 3D era

[@MoonlightBrillance]

“Unique animation” *Sabin proceeds to suplex a train*

[@JediMB]

9:55 Celes definitely has a reserved "lady laugh" to me. But, yeah, this game has absolutely brilliant animation.

[@ZaphodBeeblebrox65]

This actually moved me to tears. Final Fantasy as a series is so very special to me, in so many ways, and seeing all these subtle and obvious ways the games are made is just magic. I'm not an animator, in fact my analysis of visual arts is muddled a lot of the time, but having all these moments and details explained gives me such a deep appreciation for something that is already close to my heart like very little else. Thank you, Dan, for doing these videos. Hearing you speak about something like this with such obvious love, care, and appreciation is genuinely moving while also shedding light on things I wouldn't have consciously noticed otherwise. I'm truly grateful, and can't wait for the next parts; the run from FF6 to FF10 is my absolute, all-time favourite set of media in the world, and these videos are helping me get to know them better than ever.

[@katt-the-pig]

Been so long since the FF5 video, I was beginning to think I missed this one. I can only imagine how much of an undertaking this video must've been.

[@lemmingrad]

Been doing fanart in FF6’s 16x24 sprite style for years (started off doing a fanart piece of a co-op card game scenario done in the style of FF6’s battle screen), starting just before you started your animation of Final Fantasy video series. This one was especially the one I looked forward to the most. Having had a failed career as an animator (I didn’t have the drive to keep getting better to stay in it), going back to doing sprite work to what probably inspired me to get into animation was my comfort zone. Someday, I might regain my confidence to try to create a game.

[@DrakeyC]

I'm so happy you discussed the battle scenes, I haven't seen many people talk about them in other FF6 vids. I've talked to friends about this the last few years as I studied and modded FF6, and how they use the battle screen to integrate story scenes into fights perfectly, and at times use the battle screen to play out scenes without any fighting at all, because they can still do more complex special effects and smoother character movements. The frozen Esper reacting to Terra could definitely be done in the map screen, but it wouldn't have the same impact of the battle scene with the aura, the energy flow, and the explosions, and Terra's movement would have been confined to the grid tiles of the map instead of walking forward on a slight angle. In a way, these battle scenes were the first FMVs. They were an important step towards a more cinematic manner of storytelling in Final Fantasy and showing the player something that was not and could be done in past games.

[@eternalevecho]

I've been waiting excitedly for this video since I first heard that you were going to do an animation series on final fantasy (so like 7 years or so lmao) absolutely worth the wait.

[@Sientir]

First: Massive congratulations on getting this done. I've heard through the live streams just how much work you put into getting here! Second: w00t! I'm looking forward to watching this! :D

[@rag152]

Aww man Gogo looking at the other party member is great @13:41. Never noticed that.

[@joshuabraddy6264]

This is easily one of the best video series on youtube. So appreciate your effort and expertise, Dan!

[@HappyHeart35242]

It was really innovative and ahead of its time how, for sprites roughly 18 pixels in height, they were quite expressive and showed emotion. That's living proof that this is the highlight of 16 bit graphic design.

[@PinkSupervisor]

Dan, your videos are a treasure. I've been playing the Pixel Remasters, since it was about time I revisited Final Fantasy, and put on some videos in the background while auto-battling the random encounters, a lot of them about analyzing the early FF games. And it's incredible how succinct your videos are. Some of these videos go for hours, trying to in depth about various things, but the way you dissect the animation and the value it gives to both characters and storytelling really stands out to me.

[@ChesireWaltz]

Until this series I had deeply underestimated the intricacy of these early pixel games. These deep dive videos are such a treat, seeing the evolution of the animation!

[@studiodsr]

If I could nitpick one thing in an otherwise incredible video: Mog’s battle entrance animation is not him waving to the camera. He’s actually flailing his arms in panic, like “oh shoot, enemies!”. You can even see little drops of sweat - manga code for nervousness.

[@johnelliottart]

I follow a lot of channels on KZbin but this is the only one that I keep an eye out for a new video and make space to watch. Also the only one I’ve ever patronized.

[@TheAgentGold]

Glad I'm not the only one who appreciates the unique animations for entering battle! I think a lot about the way characters are animated in this game. There's a consistent set of expressions which everyone has sprites for, but their specific way of fulfilling that list is individual to each of them. Then the number of ways they can play out a scene with those expressions becomes massive, depending how many ways you can imagine making it work. When it comes to creating new sprite based games, I figure this set of expressions and movements is a very good starting place since, evidently, it's all you need. You can always add more on top of it of course, but if you create this sprite set for each of your characters, you already have the tools to tell any story you can imagine.

[@DaveMerrett]

That turn at the end mentioning chrono trigger reminded me of when you said Okami might be the best zelda.

[@keeganmoore99]

Oh, boy! An excuse to rewatch the entire series.

[@keeganmoore99]

Oh, boy! I've rewatched the entire series.

[@thattagen]

I never realized how hard this game's animation goes. Great video, as always!

[@GKLechuguilla]

Thanks again for a marvelous, well done video. This one brought tears to my eyes!

[@Cheesewiz680]

thank you so much for this. The animation upgrades are something that I notice but never really thought about and it's just another reason why FF 6 is just the GOAT to me

[@kazmatt]

I’ve been looking forward to this game specifically since the first moments of this series. FFVI is my desert island game, my one true love, and it’s because of these characters. The depth of storytelling conveyed through the animation, plot, and music planted every one of these characters in my heart. Great job sir! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@The_RayBlast]

I cheered when I saw this

[@nelisezpasce]

Good job on this one! The end made me emotional! The term "victory lap" is now echoing inside my head! It makes me want to give it my best! I want to try my hardest!

[@ClairvoyantTruth]

I've been waiting for this forever and it never appeared in my feed!

[@hunterroge]

I remember watching my brothers play this one a lot as a kid. I should really sit down and play through it one of these days.

[@reggietheporpoise]

I’ve been waiting for this episode for so long and it did not disappoint. You’re great. Wonderful insight, well explained.

[@acecat2798]

"...Okay that part's not great" and "These three, who are also undeniably in the video game..." had be giggling uncontrollably.

[@epicgaia9038]

Always excited to see a new one of these drop.

[@TheBandoBandito]

I waited and was not disappointed. I'll gladly wait another 6 months for the next part.

[@ToriTheChicken]

I absolutely love that every time I watch any of your videos, it's a bomb of positivity. Even when it's bad, you make it positive (see some sonic games for example). It's just a good time, and gives me an even greater appreciation for game making as an artform.

[@MrSTVR]

FF7 would be an immense undertaking. Chibi overworld models, battle scene models, minigames, summon animations and FMV cutscenes.

[@sjodinable]

It's always been kind of wild to me that Square chose to go back to different models and animation for overworld and battles in FFVII, after this game benefitted so greatly from using the same sprites for both.

[@maynardburger]

FF7 is indeed absolutely nuts in terms of what they accomplished for the time. I replayed the original recently and I was just blown away by how much it does, and how much they had to invent. And all making it work so well as a full package.

[@matthewbarabas3052]

@@sjodinable agreed. that game really didnt age well.

[@Teedyan]

This series is always a blast, thanks for still making it for us. 😁

[@vdate]

For my money, a quite interesting look at the 'what might have been' of a Final Fantasy series that hung onto sprite animation for a game longer might be Suikoden 2 - it is another game that retained the commonality of character size inside battle and outside (even if the perspective changes slightly between modes). Suikoden 2 opted to use its newly expanded hardware constraints on the PS1 by simply expanding the character sprites and increasing animation 'fidelity' - not necessarily doing away with the pantomime entirely, but deploying it with more restraint, with the only characters who get really exaggerated animation being those about whom that exaggerated motion says something. Additionally, there was an astonishing amount of one-off sprite animation deployed for those story scenes where it'd otherwise require the use of awkward pantomime - and it's amazing what a change that can make to the way a scene is felt. (And yes, of course Suikoden 1 did similar work in this regard - but I'm rather less familiar with it, and thus not as confident about speaking to its adaptations of spritework to the PS1 environment.)

[@Stratelier]

Breath of Fire is another good example -- 3 and 4 in particular preserved the use of 2D character sprites (including enemy sprites in combat) with a 3D overworld (albeit at limited camera angles so as to facilitate the spritework).

[@ilikestuff9250]

I'd say Xenogears is a good example of this albeit still limited. Chrono Trigger serves that purpose better

[@LeoAngora]

FF6 was the last FF I played and the one I like the most. Thanks for bringing back many warm memories.

[@Hrotriks]

What a fantastic video , nver conciously noticed those animations elements , but while playing you feel them , like Terras blinking eyes. This was my first jrpg and no wonder I was smithen by the posibilities of the genre. This is a reason why a lot of western rpgs of those times and pre 3d didnt hooked me as much , because they use words to describe instead of emoting characters , I know the style is different but what a huge difference it makes to see the actions than rather read them.

[@the_zens]

I was so unreasonably excited to finally see this in my sub feed!

[@TheAlgae]

I love this video series! It always makes my day when I see a new entry in my KZbin queue.

[@slacknate]

i love this series on your channel (and others too tbh), thank you for continuing to put out these videos!

[@alexhaupt2134]

My only hope is that you mention camerawork in FF7. I'm particularly fond of the bridge on the way to Corel, where the camera sways up and down as the player walks to simulate the bridge's movements. It's such a weird usage of their camera system that I kind of didn't even process that it was moving for a bit!

[@franconunez925]

The amount of giggling I had during this video, being one of the biggest games in my childhood and playing it multiple times because it erased my saves multiple times over the years I needed to actually finish. I love the presentation of this game and you helped me love this game even more than I already do, also it having a teather presentation was a really big hit on the nail with this game.

[@BagginsWulf]

EXCELLENT video, as always. I've been waiting for this one since I saw the first one. (4 and 6 are my two favorites in the pixel art era.) Thanks for putting so much effort into these. It really shows!

[@Sephigruen]

It's so impessive watching the team's skill with the given tools evolve over time. Thanks for this series and your videos in general. Always a pleasure to watch.

[@stevethepocket]

I've never played these games or even seen substantial footage of them before you started doing this series, but ever since you pointed out the size difference between the overworld and battle sprites, I've been wondering what purpose it served in the first place. The benefits of sharing a library were obvious-cutting down on redundant work, allowing all the poses to be used in more ways, even reducing the game's memory and storage footprints by a little (at least until they started adding tons of emote poses that were only used in cutscenes and thus would have been half again as large as what we actually got).

[@apollolux]

Regarding focus on character development, even if they didn't necessarily succeed at individual development to equal levels, there was definitely a lot of work done with clustered, interpersonal development throughout the game and in the backstories recounted through flashbacks. Terra, Locke, Edgar, & Banon, Celes, Locke, & Setzer, Edgar & Sabin, Gau, Cyan, & Sabin, Celes & Leo, Strago, Relm, & Shadow, etc.

[@fntthesmth423]

Aw hell yes time to rewatch the whole series of videos!

[@Doubtkiller256]

this channel's about to pop tf OFF when we get into 7-8-9. Looking forward to it!

[@Ytilee]

I love this series, it's always teaching more than I expect.

[@oliverbeoulve8004]

I love these videos so much. Thank you for putting the time and effort into making them. I can't wait to see what you make next! ♥

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

I just rewatched these videos recently! Great timing

[@stormie5666]

I've watched this twice now and I'm still giggling at "You naughty gamer, you"

[@PLPEberronguy]

I think I just realized why this series gels with me so much. It reminds me of the Gametrailers Retrospective on Final Fantasy that got me into the franchise in the first place. As always you made an incredible video and I am excited to see more! The only thing I would have loved to see added is a joke about that internet urban legend about GoGo being Adlai Stevenson :p

[@JWCHeetebrij]

On the latest Nextlander podcast there was a big shoutout for you channel! You’re doing the Lords work.

[@Jibash]

Absolutely live this series of yours, Dan. Last one single-handedly convinced me to play ff5 despite lack of time in life

[@Finvaara]

Normally I just watch Playframe and back the Patreon there, but I've been looking forward to this specific video ever since you announced you were going to be doing a Final Fantasy series on New Frame Plus. As soon as it dropped I had to watch the entire series of videos, and they were all excellent, especially this one.

[@ishikkayabas1314]

OMG YES! After the long wait for the FF5 video, it is such a wonderful surprise to get another one of these so soon! Dan you're awesome (Carrie too

[@tchukkelz2246]

22:42 I also like how, in changing the view to the battle screen, the game is making the player feel uneasy. It makes the player feel like whatever's in that block of ice might come out and attack. The battle screen is for battling, after all. Why would we go into the battle screen if not to fight? It puts the player on edge.

[@matthewbarabas3052]

i always just thought the battle screen is just a different camera angle. since they cant make it work in the overworld, they just use the battle screen.

[@TonyTheTGR]

This does a great job of encapsulating just how significant VI is, and why it's us Boomers' favorite FF game! You really addressed everything but the soundtrack.

[@TheRhetoricGamer]

I was really looking forward to this one and you did not disappoint!

[@MrTheWeir]

Just discovered this series today, instant subscribe. Looking forward to future installments!

[@numbvox]

This was a beautiful video appreciating a moment of genuine inspiration and innovation in gaming. Terrific watch, thanks for making this ❤

[@SimplyMavAgain]

Wild to think about the fact that i've been looking forward to this episode for two years.

[@ICLHStudio]

I've always wanted to see a visual-storytelling analysis of this game by someone with serious theater experience; I feel there'd be some interesting insights and comparisons with stage blocking and the sort of zoomed-out visual style, especially in contrast to how most modern games have such an exclusively cinematic focus/style. (There's actually a lot of interesting theater/RPG cross-over elements; I vaguely remember an old article somewhere on the internet comparing JRPGs to theater in how the audience suspends disbelief and those who dislike the 'unrealistic' aspects as missing the point; citing parallels between people complaining about the 'unrealistic' turn-based battles vs 'unrealistic' breaking into song and dance in a musical or being able to see the wires in Peter Pan).