With my deadline approaching and out of stuff to do, I fly to where the Imperial Capital once stood. What stands there now is the Tower of Kefka. At the top sits the man who started everything, killed the Espers, and brought about the end of the world. We fly over, land, and we’re asked to make three parties.
Before we do, everyone mentions that they’re about to save the world by destroying the Warring Triad and ending all magic. They then wonder what will happen to magic and Terra when they do. I feel like the Warring Triad took a back seat to Kefka in the second half of the game, almost being brought up from nowhere here, since I kinda forgot about them. They're important figures and deserving of more time.
Party One:
Celes, Cyan, Mog, and Locke.
Party Two:
Relm, Edgar, Strago, and Umaro.
Party Three:
Sabin, Terra, Shadow, and GOGO.
Each team gets a world breaker General, a high quality commander, and a character who is perfectly okay. I thought One was the strongest, so I gave them a handicap by straddling Locke, who sucks, onto them.
Kefka’s Tower is a little like the Phoenix Cave. The need to open up paths is lessened but still there. Party Two and Three can advance as far they want, but they do need to open a route to allow One to reach the top of the Palace. The layout resembles fleshy walls with rooms that fit right into the Magitech Research Facility strewn about. We even wind up in the Esper containment room towards the end. The enemies can be very tough unless you have a few characters with Ultima. I didn’t get the Cursed Shield repaired, so only Relm had that spell, and why I now believe FFVI is the story of an angry ten-year-old who blinks and destroys everything. GOGO can Mimic it at about half effectiveness, by the way. Everything is manageable, but be afraid of the Madam fights. She causes a lot of magic damage, and her ninja boyfriends attack every two seconds. The Behemoth can be rough, and the Malboros are, well, Malboros.
There are a few bosses around, as well. Party Two gets the Gold Dragon; it’s a joke. Party Three gets the last dragon, Skull, and it’s also a joke. When we fell the last of the eight legendary dragons, we magically get the Crusader Magicite. Never summon it but feel free to learn Meteor. It’s not as good as Ultima, but Celes made use of it. Party Three also runs into Inferno, who resembles the boss of the minecart section. It’s actually quite hard, being able to one-shot Sabin. Use lightning and try to keep an arm dead. Have a Life 2/3 ready.
There are also four more bosses when everyone gets together. Either Two or Three can fight the Guardian, but it’s easily felled. Its death reveals a save point, so enjoy your ability to tent! After this, we now have to take each party to fight a member of the Warring Triad, the statues that created magic, and what Kefka moved on the floating continent to destroy the world. Two of them, Demon and Fiend, and total pushovers, but Goddess, oh man. Maybe it’s because Locke sucks, but even a pincer attack doesn’t give us an edge. Her Bolt 2 can wreak Celes’ face, so consider equipping Thunder Shields... She also likes to turn people into zombies. She lacks weaknesses, so I used Duel Casted Meteor and charged up Cyan’s level seven SwordTech during the animations. Locke sucked, and Mog, well, Mog was there. Honestly, his zombie attack did more to help than Locke did. With enough well timed Phoenix Downs and luck, I was able to take her out. Also, why was she standing on Ultemecia's head?
Their deaths also reveal a safe point and open the way to Kefka himself.
"Life... hope... dreams? Where do they come from? And where are they going?"
The twelve people I brought along are all together again. Kefka welcomes his "friends" and shows off his power. He uses the Light of Judgement on the ocean and throws Locke and Terra around with telekinesis. He then shows that he’s a nihilist and wonders why everyone fights?
“Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?”
In response, everyone gives their reasons to fight. Terra fights for love. Celes, for the man who believes in her. Cyan and Edgar fight for their kingdoms. Sabin is here for his brother. Relm and Strago stand side by side to each other. Mog loves his friends. Locke battles for the future. Shadow, oddly enough, fights for his family. I don’t know what Gau and Setzer do, and Umaro and GOGO don’t get lines. Kefka decides those are stupid reasons and promises to create a “monument to nothingness”, and we enter the final battle. NOTE: I looked it up, Setzer fights for Daryl, and Gau also fights for his friends.
Everyone gets a chance to fight in this epic, four staged battle. You decide the order, and a new character appears when one dies, and we transition to another stage. So keep your heavy hitters alive when you think you’re about to win, or else you’ll lose them forever. Poor Sabin got wiped in the first round. Fortunately, Relm has more than enough power to make for it. Sabin might not have even been that helpful since most of the stages are multi-person fights. I've read each stage is supposed to represent the Warring Triad and is ripe with religious imagery, and I can kinda see it. The last stage is full blown God-mode Kefka, complete with one last wretched laugh of a mad clown. It’s also probably the easiest. Any damage he does can be Cure 3’d or Life 2’d away. My plan to accidentally make everyone a white mage kinda worked, even if only Celes and Terra have Life 2. Enjoy Dancing Mad, what many say is the best final boss theme in all of RPGs. It’s a little too chaotic for me, but I understand the hype. Be careful using Pearl/Holy for any stage. With twelve people coming at him, Kefka dies, in strangely easy fashion, and returns to the nothingness he feared the most.
As Kefka starts to fade away, his tower collapses with him. Terra turns into an Esper as we notice the magicite beginning to leave this world. Thus begins the ending cutscenes. It’s as though it’s out of a picture book with each character having something that represents them being on a table with their name appearing over it. Everyone’s themes are mixed into the background music, making in a wholly unique thing that only Final Fantasy VI has done. Most of the scenes are also humerus in nature, making for a good release at the end of this fairly depressing game.
Cyan, represented by a sword, shows technology whos boss when he saves Edgar by stepping on a pressure plate.
Setzer, heralded by playing cards, dies in an explosion due to a faulty gamble when rolled a nat one. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Sabin saves Edgar from a falling piece of stricture and says why he left the kingdom: he knew he'd have to save Edgar with his "stupid muscles". Both men are represented with a duel-headed coin.
Mog, with his windup tree and dancing Moogle figures, is saved by Gau but complains about the touching of his hair/Pom-Pom.
Umaro busts down a wall when Edgar couldn’t open a locked door. His skull-and-crossbones alter is shown here.
The mask of Gogo mimics Celes to open a path. ...and falls down a hole when they leave.
Gau, with a throwback to his “shiny” diving suit, finds a short cut by fallible down a cliff. I guess he's imitating a goat.
Celes is saved by Locke from falling down a hole when she went back for her dropped “silly trinket.” The trinket, as well as their book icon, seems to be Lockes’s bandanna.
Terra’s dad, which raises questions about the nature of magicite, says farewell to his daughter but said if her emotions were strongly attached to someone, she’d remain in this world. Why is Terra represented by martini glasses?
Relm, with her trusty paintbrush, helps her aged grandpa with the rough terrain. She then says she’s gonna paint his portrait...but for real this time. Presumably, there's a portrait of Strago somewhere after all of this.
Shadow tells Interceptor to go with the others while he takes a different path and runs away. He promises his dead friend he betrayed he's gonna start over again. What’s he got to do with apples? Shadow is the only party member not onboard the airship at the end.
Strago remains undaunted in the face of turmoil. His icon is the same book that appeared when these scenes started. Is FFVI a story he’s telling?
We’re in the credits somehow, also represented by the book.
After this, Terra, still an Esper, guides the airship away from the debris, I guess, even though her magical power is beginning to fade. She can only get so far before changing back into a human and falling from the sky. The ghost of the would-be rapist manages to guide the Falcon into a position to catch her, and everything is fine.
The credits roll, proper, as we see life begin to return to the planet. Birds are back, ships already sail a new, and greenery has started to replace the badlands. Most notably, the sickly orange sky is a beautiful blue once more. The clouds that look like the dragon from The NeverEnding Story are still there. After the credits, the Final Fantasy Overture plays, and we see the people brimming with hope. People I failed to talk about in the blogs are having their dreams come true. In Thamasa, the burnt down house is repaired. A single new tree has taken root in Kohligen. Katarin gives birth to her baby.
The, as far as I’m concerned, final shot we see of the party is Terra untieing her hair and letting her GREEN locks blow in the wind.
THE END
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