Pav reviews/analyzes Pony Fantasy VI · 6:30am Dec 19th, 2012
a.k.a. Pav wonders out loud why he never has time to work on his own stories
a.k.a. What do you mean, this isn’t fanfiction?
Verily! Because I'm a huge Squeenix nerd, and because I've played both the original and this romhack a number of times through, I'm gonna break down Pony Fantasy VI and give my impressions. Because >>Bronetheus asked about it, this is completely on-topic, and not-at-all old news, and a valuable use of my time, and shut up you’re not my mother.
Now, seeing as how A) not everyone's played the original FF6, and 2) some people enjoy being surprised by the casting choices, I'll try to keep this spoiler-free as possible. However, there will be some mentions that so-and-so is a pegasus, or yadda-yadda happens in the WoR, so ye be warned.
Graphics
As one might expect, here's the bulk of the change. Every playable character was swapped to one of our favorite ponies, as were all the major NPCs. Minor townsponies were all ponified as well—we've got everything ranging from favorite background ponies like Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, to OC ponies and gryphons. The mod also hacked the towns a little to increase the variety to the types of NPCs that appear, so it has a nice poniponi feel all around. A number of enemy sprites have been modified as well. Mammoths are still mammoths, but you'll quickly notice that enemy guards are equines.
Of course, due to engine limitations, everypony is bipedal; pretty standard for MLP romhacks, but it can be slightly strange at first. Speaking of strange-at-first, the standard text has been replaced with an MLP font. It’s rather ostentatious and does take getting used to. I’m used to it, but then again I’ve played the romhack through to completion a number of times. The mane cast sprites are pretty solid, but since the character designs are solid pastels, they look a little plain compared to the original FF6 sprites, and a bit cartoonish on top of the unmodified tilesets. Also, I noticed a few sprites just seem less well-defined than others... for example, Applejack facing-the-side-and-staring-at-ground is barely discernable from facing-the-side-idle.
Still, the graphics are a large part of what you’re looking for in this kind of romhack, and the game delivers.
Plot and Dialogue
Again, as expected, everything is ponified. Mostly. Twilight Sparkle, on top of her character’s motivations, also wishes to learn more about friendship. Rainbow Dash is a speed demon, Trixie is a tremendous braggart, and so forth. So, the characterization all comes across strongly. There’s also plenty of jokes and a few memes, which yes, harrumph harrumph memes, but it really made the script pop for me. Stuff like the Goggles Relic’s description stating that “the goggles do nothing” (Simpson’s reference as well as reference to the MBlock% bug). Or in the scene with Tritoch, Luna remarks that Tritoch has been frozen for 1,000 years, and ponders aloud how lonely that must be. Celestia’s reply: “...”. Or stuff like renaming the town of Mobliz to Ponyville (and all that that implies). Call me biased, but I love when crossovers pick up on these little quirks and just have fun with it.
Other things are played completely straight from the original game. Espers, the War of the Magi, and “Kefka’s” quest for power. Again, I’m biased, but I like universes getting mashed up like that. It’s a familiar tale being retold through a pony lens. For some people, though, this isn’t enough of a mod for them, and feels “lazy”. They’d prefer a stronger overhaul and more event changes to make it feel like a completely unique adventure. If that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t find it here. This is “FF6, but with ponies”. Indeed, very few new scenes or modified events appear here, but there are a few. Most notably, the means of recruiting the game’s two hidden characters has been changed, which I found to be a fun little jab at people who thought they had the game memorized inside and out.
Battles, Gameplay, Difficulty
The meat of any RPG! What’s changed?
First and foremost, playable characters were redesigned. Only unicorns/alicorns can use magic and espers, all pegasi get a jump move (without needing a Relic slot) instead of magic, and earth ponies get two abilities. I love that, since it really drives in the lore, and gives the characters a stronger “class” feel, rather than making everyone a near-equal mage. Since many characters can’t equip espers, their level-up bonuses were removed (sorry, “Relm”!). Instead, base stats and gear stats were increased to compensate. As a result, there’s actually a purpose to giving characters like “Sabin” a better weapon now!
The difficulty was also oomphed. Many later bosses have undispelable buffs like Regen or Life3. Several enemies had their HP and damage and other stats increased. Some enemies like Storm Dragon and “Kefka’s” final form are now significantly harder. Many end bosses also had AI changes. My absolute favorite was the White Dragon in the Fanatics’ Tower. In the original, Wall Rings make this fight a joke. AI script change: any character with Wall status is immediately retaliated with a 9999 thrown lance to the face. Priceless! The game also features one hidden boss, with a second in development. Oh yeah, did I mention this is v1.0b as of writing, and it’s still being tweaked and added to? Class act.
Bug fixes. Block% and MBlock% now behave as intended, meaning Blind status actually does something, 128% MBlock% is still nice but not godly, etc. Vanish/Doom is patched (your tears are delicious). I think the Sketch bug is fixed too. Minor other this-n-thats.
Mostly for lore purposes, a lot of gear options were shuffled hither-and-thither, which does lead to some surprises. The Earrings relic can only be worn by unicorns/alicorns, which normally makes sense because magic, but that means you can’t give them to, say, “Gau”. “Celes” now uses rods instead of swords (don’t worry, they’re Runic-compatible). Fixed Dice were taken from “Setzer” and given to Pinkie Pie. The Minerva, your standard female endgame armor, is now the Gala Dress and can be equipped by any of the Mane Six. Oh, and of course, Tonics were renamed RedDelicious, and so forth. Speaking of RedDelicious, they now heal for percentages instead of fixed rates. Basically, there’s plenty of little tweaks to the game, which make it feel just different enough to me.
Character Breakdown
Uncontent to stop there, lemme highlight some of the major changes to the characters. Big ol’ change-spoilers and name-spoilers here, so if you’d rather be completely surprised, skip this section.
Terra [Twilight Sparkle] : Hardly a spoiler since she appears so early, and who else would you expect to play this role anyway, but whatever. She’s largely unchanged. Loses a few pieces of gear like Ultima Weapon. Still an OP boss-killer. Due to removal of esper bonuses, she’s also permanently has the strongest magic stat.
Locke [Apple Bloom] : Bit of a surprise casting choice, but she makes it work quite well. Even the “romance” with “Celes” is just downgraded to friendshipping, and it works shockingly well. In place of magic, she’s given Edgar’s Tools. I suppose that’s nice, since she’s stuck in your party for the majority of WoB. But I was a huge Locke fan back in the day, and I beat a Locke natural magic SCC, so I felt the buff was largely unnecessary... but that’s just me. The Flash tool was also removed, and replaced with the Medikit, an MP-less Cure-2-or-so which can be multi-targeted. Solid addition to your WoB party.
Edgar [Celestia] : Now this was an interesting one. Has magic, and Tools don’t fit the lore anymore, so her other ability is now Summon. It’s the same as summoning an esper from the magic menu (so it must be equipped, and it does cost MP), however it can be used an unlimited number of times per battle. Neat, I suppose. I never found summons to be very great—or at least not MP-efficient. Potential for abuse with, say, Golem plus an Economizer, I suppose. Also of note, no longer can equip spears, nor can she jump, so no Dragoon mode.
Sabin [Luna] : No surprise, given who “Edgar” is. Every bit as OP as before. Strap on two Earring, spam your strongest magical Blitz, and go to town. Or just load her up with magic and nuke away, who cares anymore? Dunno, I was guilty of using her, but she just felt unbalanced to me. On the plus side, remember how I said this romhack had nice touches? Her casting animation is her shouting in the Royal Canterlot Voice and Bum Rush was changed into RoyalVoice. Me gusta.
Cyan [Applejack] : Fitting that best airship benchwarmer is now best background pony. I kid, I kid! Actually, she got some interesting touches. The sword moves are slow to charge as ever, but they were buffed a fair bit (increased damage, additional elemental properties, and so forth). Being an earth pony, instead of magic she gets a second ability—freaking Blitz! That’s right, she’s a regular Sabin Jr. However, her lower base magic and inability to equip Earrings (!!!) will make her lag behind the real “Sabin” in damage output. She gets a free built-in Gauntlet Relic, by which I mean any of her swords can be equipped with two hands to boost damage. But since neither her sword moves nor Blitz are affected by melee damage, this is largely wasted. Quite a shame really. This character gets a number of buffs, yet remains one of the weaker options.
Shadow [Fluttershy] : Y’know. Because Shadow doesn’t speak much. Watching this pony throw shuriken will never become not-weird, so just accept it and move on. Not many changes here. Instead of magic, we get The Stare, a.k.a. Control. It completely fits the character, and it’s a fun toy, but let’s be honest, you’re just going to be Throwing. One interesting addition is that shuriken weapons can now be equipped as well. They do less damage than when thrown, but they work in the back row and they’re infinite, so it’s a neat cheap alternative.
Celes [The Great and Powerful Trixie] : Oh yeah. Suffice it to say, of all the cast picks, this is the one whose personality is furthest from the FF6 source, and I gotta say, it’s pretty awesome. C’mon. In the opera scene, she ignores the script, goes out on stage and ad-libs. As mentioned above, she gets rods instead of swords, which I guess makes her feel different than “Terra”? The melee damage of rods was buffed though, so she’s still a fairly competent fighter if you wanna go that way. Oh, and for lore reasons, she learns Bolt spells naturally instead of Ice spells.
Gau [Pinkie Pie] : Hoo-boy. Okay. Broken. So deliciously broken. She can equip Fixed Dice for lore reasons, and that stacks with physical Rages like Stray Cat. The most broken part is that... Rages don’t rage! She’s just a Blue Mage! When you select a Rage, it uses the special move once, guaranteed (no random physical hits), targetable (often multi-targetable), MP-free. Next turn, you still have full control. And yes, you can stack the innate Rage bonuses. So go ahead, hit your full party with Magic Urn, switch to targeted SrBehemoth, and you still absorb elements thanks to the Magic Urn you used two turns ago. As usual, Pinkie Pie is destroying the fabric of spacetime.
Mog [Scootaloo] : Built-in Jump for automatic Dragoon mode? Check. Dances never stumble? Check. Dances renamed for clarity about which dance is which element? Check. Dance using a healing move kicks you out of the dance, allowing you to use items or select a new dance or jump or whatever? Check. Clucks like a chicken? Check.
Setzer [Rainbow Dash] : Interesting choices here. Most notable, wah, can’t use Fixed Dice. However, most of the more-common Slots moves definitely seem buffed to me, making her a potent multi-target WoB (and even WoR) damager. She has Jump and spears, making her a potent Dragoon. And remember how I mentioned earlier that she can equip the Gala Dress, a.k.a. Minerva? Y’know how “Mog” with a Snow Muffler is basically impervious to physically damage? I couldn’t quite build up to 255 magic defence, but if you factor in the 50% elemental resists, this character becomes quite magically tanky as well as being a Dragoon. Even without Fixed Dice, she really carried me through my CES playthrough, due to never taking much damage at all.
Strago [Rarity] : Hmm... No real changes of note. Rods are better melee weapons? Considering all the tweaks everypony else got... Oh well, worst poni anyway. The relationship with "Relm" is preserved, but some moments like the Hidon quest only barely make sense.
Relm [Sweetie Belle] : No changes here either? Huh. If anything, a minor “nerf” since her magic stat is locked, and you can’t use espers to make her stats crazy-good. She’s still a solid caster and all, but ehh. And yes, she still has Sketch. Because doesn’t know special talent, I guess.
Gogo [Fausticorn] : Aside from the awesome casting choice, nothing extra to mention here either... Still a strong team member.
Umaro [Derpy] : First off, rather than Umaro, she’s essentially Leo. So she has that sweet multi-target Shock move. Plus, she has Jump and lances, so Dragoon mode. Plus, she retains the Umaro-specific Relics that modify her Fight command, just because. An interesting and strong alternative to your other pegasi.
Other important NPCs:
Kefka [Discord] : So obvious that I feel silly for spoiler-tagging it.
Gestahl [Gilda] : Eh, forgettable.
Cid [Sethisto] : The start of the WoR is 95% hilarious and 5% creepy. I kid, I kid... met him before, he’s a bang-up guy.
Self-Imposed Challenges
Now, I love me the old-school Squeenix games. Since they veer a bit easy, they’re ripe for self-imposed challenges. Recruit no other characters than Celes, Edgar, and Sabin. Beat the game without learning magic. Beat the game with only a single character. Beat the game at level six. I’ve done a number of these in the original game. So naturally, I did them here too. So how’d it compare? Well, a number of these tweaks will affect you, some in the “different” direction, mostly in the “harder” direction.
AI changes and boosted stats will make single-character challenges rough. I had my hands full with SCC “Terra” (natural magic only), and that’s coming from someone who beat no-esper-Relm-SCC in the original. “Kefka’s” final form was nigh-impervious to magic so I had to bust out the Holy Avenger (which I'm pretty sure ignored defense) and whack him to death. With how tough “Terra” was, I’m scared to try other characters.
CES natural magic: drastically different. “Setzer” forgoes Offering and Fixed Dice and becomes this impervious Dragoon instead. “Celes” is largely unchanged. Without Tools, Jump, or espers, “Edgar” is dead weight. :( Best I could do was Genji Glove/Offering, and even then she can’t equip some of the better options like Ultima Weapon. Still totally doable though.
No equipment or espers: no weapons or clothes because ponies! Many abilities were boosted, base stats were boosted, you do lose a chunk of stats from being naked. Overall, it was pretty comparable... until “Kefka’s” final form. Where I was violated over and over and over. Gave up and busted out the Game Genie codes, set myself to level 99, and it was still tough. That final form is not messing around. I did eventually win at level 99, but haven’t gone back to my “normal” save.
Lowest-level, natural magic : Abandoned. The ghost train (now immune to Phoenix Down) nearly blocked me with its increased damage and HP, but I abused save states, got a Desperation Attack and some lucky misses, and squeaked through. Became permanently stuck at FlameEater. It has Regen now, and with its boosted stats, its Fire Ball multi-target special could one-shot “Terra” and “Locke”, and drop “Strago” to single-digit HP. If I redid this with espers (and Shell) this might be possible, but I don’t have high hopes.
So, for you challenge players out there, the usual challenges are still fun here. Some are a little tougher, though, and others are simply not possible.
Conclusion
why the hell are you still reading this wall of text go play it already
Seriously though, if you bothered to read a fraction of this, you’re clearly tempted to play this game. And it absolutely is good, with a fresh set of paint on a classic game. It’s still just FF6 under the hood, so don’t expect a completely revamped adventure, but if you love classic JRPGs and ponies, you’ll love this.
then again if you're more interested in a novelization that adds a few more twists...
this sounds great but it won't run on any of my emulators...i mostly use ZNES as suggested but it just keeps repeating the intro....i love the deatil of your analysis but please list a way to fix this bug or give me some option....nothing is working an i've wanted to play this for months!
Played it, loved it. Haven't quite finished it. Hunting dragons, and they are kicking my flank. Course, I also haven't played it in a few months. Did abuse the fast-forward button to get the Paladin Shield... Feel kinda bad about it, but all it was was a time saver.
627503 Use this one. http://www.snes9x.com/
May not be your favorite emulator, but it does work quite well. Just have to make sure the settings are right when you start. One thing you have to change, but I can't remember for the life of me what it is... Might have just been because the netbook i was using sucked though...
627513 i'll try it and see if it works
627503
Strange, I use ZSNES for Windows, v1.51 without issue. Also, make sure you've grabbed the latest version of the ROM from the website.
Oh also, if you're watching the intro without pushing any buttons at all, it does loop (demo mode, essentially). You're pushing A or Start at the title screen?
627529 yes and i use the appropriate button configurations....but it keeps looping
Beaten it already and keep replaying...this game is full of feels
Holy crap, Pav. When you said that you were going to write a review of Pony Fantasy VI, you weren't kidding. Good christ that's a lot of words...
I played this, got to the longest scenario... and quit. For some reason, this game just wasn't doing it for me.
I love the original. Hell, I'm neck deep in novelizing the sombitch but for some reason I was growing bored with this port. I ended up watching Phoe's Let's Play and felt that was enough.
I'm not sure if I'll give it a try later on as I've got so much other crap to do nowadays. Plus, I haven't even started Xenoblade: Chronicles!
Still, nice review! It's a great port regardless of my feelings on it.
That picture made irrational amounts of happy shoot out of me.
XD Very well thought-out, and even learned one or two things that I apparently missed before! I had always like Cyan in the original, but then again, it was because I would power-level Terra at the beginning when she's alone, so that I could have Sabin's Fire Dance and Cyan's Level 4 Sword for the mountain fight... It was also back before I was serious about the esper buffs. I was SO ticked off when I found out they offered NOTHING, because until then I was doing a low-level challenge, and then... Phantom Train... I died, I kid you not, over 70 times to that.... THING. EVENTUALLY, I got lucky... 'Sabin' had, I kid you not, 1HP, was blinded, and everypony else dead. Decided I was dead anyway, so I used my strongest Blitz, and barely, and I KNOW it was BARELY, killed it. I wept tears of joy, until I found out that Espers = crap for level ups. Then I raeg-quit for awhile, because there was then no reason NOT to level-grind very early on in the game... ; ;
627553
Not sure if you're still having issues, but here's what I got. Was playing around with a fresh copy of the ROM recently and tested this looping issue. When you start the ROM fresh, you go through these sequence of scenes.
#1 - Title card w/ no sound
img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/elfirw/PonyFantasy6/01-01.png
#2 - Intro title w/ sound and thunderstorm
4.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ50eiC-yDI/T6zqAqjKdqI/AAAAAAAApX4/hEluiWcUCiA/s1600/Capture.PNG
#3 - Opening cutscene (lore and Twilight's intro)
i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/Cappabitch/snes9x-x642012-05-2808-40-15-52.png
#4 - Opening credits
lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-VI-%28by-Blastinus%29/Update%2001/8-05062011_214210.png
If you watch this sequence without pushing any buttons, at the end of #4 you'll loop back to #1 and never get into the proper game.
And, here's what happens when you push the A button at different stages:
#1 - No response
#2 - Fades to black and skips to #3 immediately. At the end of #4, the game will begin.
#3 - No immediate reaction, and doesn't seem to work 100% of the time, but at the end of #4, the game might begin.
#4 - Fades to black and skips to beginning of game
So, you want to hit the A button ideally at #4, though #2 should work just as well (or hit A at both locations). If the screen doesn't fade to black when you hit A at these points, you should probably confirm that your inputs are properly set up. Hope that helps!
I liked how you get the Unicorn magicite real early in this version, and it teaches Osmose. Really makes using magic damn viable, which is important for Twilight and Celestia.
I also like the Twilestia nods, haha. Like when Twilight winks after using magic in front of Celestia and Bloom, and they swoon. Also in the Republic HQ: "Twilight, don't let her talk you into anything... weird." "Haha, sister, do they still call you Mol-?"
I remember this mod and i thought it was hilarious, but it is most defiantly harder then the original game by far. I remember spending weeks trying to find "Umaro" before i gave up and watched a walkthorugh. (it is totally unfair since it doesn't show on the world map and you wouldn't know of its existence unless you fail the WoR fishquest) I don't recommend going in blind and having never played FF6 to anyone thinking of playing it unless they feel masochistic as I would have never beaten a few bosses without abusing some obscure FF6 quirks. (FlameEater has max health and casts flare now. who thought that was a good idea? I know he was a joke before but man that fight lasts forever now.) I am pissed that he made Steal miss ALL THE FUCKING TIME, Theivery is totally not "Locke's" talent anymore. also "Cyan" is a lot less of a benchwarmer endgame if you use her with "Locke's" Debillitator and whichever doublecast Unicorn you have at the time. (the final Swordtech now casts quick, and since the Swordtech's are elemental and multihit she ends up doing more damage then anything "Sabin" could throw but it is trickier to pull off.)
sorry for ranting but i have literally noone i can talk to about it
65,535 is now my most hated number and you would know why if you scan all the bosses.
635895
Ahaha, see, I see scenes like the wink, and my thoughts immediately go there, but then I immediately feel bad for my inability to remove the shipping goggles. Then a scene like that Returners HQ scene hits, and I choke on my drink. So yes, I was most pleased by those nods. Most pleased indeed.
i.imgur.com/TrJ99l.jpg
639495
Ah interesting! Clearly I hadn't played around with the new Sword Techs enough. Even lvl3 - lvl4 were putting out some impressive numbers when I first learned them, but I got all leery about using her in the later game. But Zap Apple / Quick sounds pretty promising, considering a few abuses you can get out of it, plus the fact that only a few ponies get access to Quick anyway.
Gonna have to look more into this, study a few more advantages I could take advantage of... *whistles innocently*
642124
On that note, Trollestia makes an appearance when Celestia mentions giving a soldier the "sympathetic mother" routine in order to get intel on the Empire's betrayal.
642124
On the Floating Continent, and finding great amusement in the once-feared Dragon monster. Used to be, they were a tricky challenge to beat, considering their High HP and Revenge attack, and their counterattack sending your best warriors out of the fight instantly..
Now, Fluttershy uses Stare. Battle over.