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I was having a good old chat with a friend about Final Fantasy in general, and I was saying how original and brilliant FFVI was. She disagreed, and said that FFIII was the first game to have a proper 'End of the World' scenario and, having not played FFIII, I was a bit taken aback. I always thought it was FFVI which had the first and best complete overhaul of the world map, towns, monsters and people.

So, let's settle this. Are there any other games which FFVI lends to, or is it, like I said, the first game to change the landscape and levels after a major story event? I'm not necessarily talking Final Fantasy games here, and I don't mind FFIII spoilers.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Well, FFVI wasn't the first one with “massive destruction” but FFIII wasn't either.

SPOILERS for FFII, FFIII, FFV and of course FFVI:

FFII:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

The story of FFII is the one that is the most similar to FFVI, it's about a rebel group fighting an evil empire. Near the end of the game, the Emperor uses a giant tornado to raze a bunch of towns, they are gone, destroyed, you can't enter them anymore. (Same map, just most of the locations are missing).

FFIII:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Now FFIII, you start your adventure in a Floating Continent, thinking that's the whole world, later you find the rest, but it is “frozen in time” by Xande, everything is kinda death... but you are able to revert the process and turn things to normal. Not much harm done. (Here there's a change between the Floating Continent, the frozen world, and the normal world).

FFV:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

FFV, Exdeath absorbs various parts of the world into the Void, there's no way to go back to those places later in the game. Fortunately at the end everything is restored, all is well. (Here's a change between world 1, world 2, then world 1 and 2 merged and the the voided places).

FFVI:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

In FFVI, Kefka destroyed those towns, and killed many, they can't be unfrozen or pulled from the Void. Of course people are rebuilding at the end, but what was lost is lost.

So if your friend wants to give credit to another game, FFII deserves it way more.

This post has been edited by Neal on 16th November 2009 06:45

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"Love, and do what you will" Saint Augustine

FF III Spoilers:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Very early in the game you're on a single continent, which is revealed to be the last (or second to last?) continent on a large landscape covered in water. After one dungeon on this ocean world, the oceans recede in some weird time-reverse thing and you play on a proper overworld.

FF V Spoilers:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

In the first third of the game, you play on a pretty typical world map. In the second third of the game, you're transported to another world and play on that map. For the last third of the game, the two worlds are united and you play on a map that has features, continents, towns, and other features from both worlds combined.

I think that's about it. FF VI's world-ending events are pretty shocking, and IMO have considerably more plot significance and impact than the similar events in FF III and FF V, but I guess there are similarities.

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END SPOILER

In general, I liked the changed world in FFVI best. It had a lot of emotion tied to it, what with having to find your entire party, not to mention the whole "everything is dead" thing.

Geographically, FFV was pretty cool. Seeing the two different worlds was cool, but then seeing how they fit together into a whole was pretty amazing. I loved the fact that you could ride a chocobo all the way around and get back to where you started.

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"My name is Atma...I am a power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strength given form...Feeble creatures of flesh...Your time is nigh!"

What about Lord of the Rings? It was published 50 years before FFIII was made. It's "End of the World" scenario is the one which inspired the modern fantasy genre that FF is part of. The fantasy genre has numerous stories that are very similar in their plots and themes. I have heard people say that there is no original story, and I agree. We have been writing stories for thousands of years. When you think about the stories present in Final Fantasy have been done in the past.

But it's not about the "End of the World" scenario, it is about how it is done. And I have said this many times, that the execution of FFVI's plot is on a different level than almost every other game ever made. What makes it great is not its originality, but its uniqueness. It wasn't the first, but it told the story in such a way as to make it its own.

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Praise Be To Helix!