what's the appeal?

>>385254163
Nostalgia

A large cast of interesting characters, a pretty good epic story, and decent jrpg gameplay.

I agree it can be over-praised but it is still praise-worthy.

>>385254163
An ensemble cast, magicite allowing for character magic customization, easy to follow story, tightened mechanics from the previous editions, character specific skills to prevent them from feeling too samey

>>385254163
Great artstyle, interesting story, a lot of side-content, great cast of characters, awesome music. Bonus points for making me want to improve my English back in the day.

>>385254163
The appeal is that it's a good game.

>>385254503
>decent jrpg gameplay

ATB based gameplay is bottom of the barrel.

>>385254876
why does it always top "best RPGs ever" lists instead of FF VII?

File: FFVI_Essence.jpg (1MB, 957x1484px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 957x1484px

>>385254163

For me: The party, the MC, the NPCs, the villains, the setting and its era, the free customization, the individual skills, the visuals, the music, the cohesion, the arcs, the twists, the atmosphere, the combat, the equipment, the relics, the summons, the scope, the themes, the tempered cinematic direction, the preference for fun, the structure (although it was an acquired taste) and lastly the story and gameplay integration.

It is my second favorite, because I love my Just Guard and Just Attack that much.

>>385255262
because ff6 actually belongs there, ffvii is good but doesn't even touch 4, 5 or 6 for that matter

>>385255262
Contrarianism.
Pure contrarianism.
People will deny but FFVII, while similar, has a better combat system, better music, better story, better characters and a better world than FFVI but because VII is the popular one VI is the one with all the praise these days.

this came from a time from when imagination was a large part of enjoying a video game, and this one had just enough concrete and just enough empty space to inspire your imagination to create a magical experience.
the soundtrack is also SUSPICIOUSLY good. like nobuo uematsu is such a fucking master of counterpoint i don't understand why he uses these extremely layered melodies in like EVERY background song
as a musician it's actually really freaking difficult to write the way he does.
there's always at least 2 or 3 melodies (at LEAST, a lot of the time it's like 4) playing at any given moment. he's amazing like that. it doesn't SOUND complicated either, he has such a firm grasp on incorporating simple rock n' roll style writing into a classically trained context, it's like... why the fuck are you writing music this good for 16 bit video games? anyways, worked out for him, so that's fine.
anyways the game is inspired by classical italian opera, which compounds serious, dramatic, fantastic, depressing and comical elements all into one. it's a really good amalgamation of that, even including a literal opera scene in the game.
all that crap aside, it's a fucking classic turn-based RPG. the core gameplay isn't very good by today's standards so look up a mod called brave new world. it's fucking incredible from a gameplay perspective, but parts of the dialogue are so fucking butchered it makes me hesitate to recommend it, which is fucking silly because the gameplay overhauls are so fucking good, godammnit, why did you touch the script, you goddamned IDIOT?

>>385255653
Brave New World is garbage and does nothing to improve the core gameplay.

>>385254163
Locke Cole.

>>385255503

>but FFVII, while similar, has a better combat system, better music, better story, better characters and a better world than FFVI

As a person, who fucking loves both and whose first FF was VII: Combat system, no. Better Limit system is outweighed by four member party (and better, meaning volatile and therefore exciting, combat). Music, no. You could maybe make a case for VII score (as in how they fit the scenes) being better (I'm undecided), but as a soundtrack, no. Story, no. Characters, for the party and villains, yes, for everyone else, no. World, yes.

You really should've gone for the customization, since Materia is just an improved combination of Relics and Espers (16 slots are also much more than 3), making it a significant advantage.