Ep 108: Final Fantasy 6 (Part 3) - Moments and Memories of the World of Ruin

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, quick trigger warning for this episode. Now during our conversation about Celis, my guests and I have a very frank and honest conversation about the topic of attempted suicide, both fictional and from personal experiences.

[00:00:18] So if that's not a topic you'd like to hear about then I recommend not continuing with the episode. Check out another show, but this one gets really real in a lot of places and I wanted to make sure you were prepared for that before continuing on.

[00:00:33] Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. A former general of the Empire cares for an elderly engineer on a solitary island. He wants boastful treasure hunter yearns to awaken the love of his life from an endless sleep.

[00:01:15] A half human half esper plays surrogate mother to a town of children. And a collection of heroes face off against an adversary with almost limitless power. If Final Fantasy 6's opening half is a rock concert of moments, action and intrigue, the world of ruin is a funeral dirge.

[00:01:41] With Kefka sitting on high, reigning destruction from the heavens, the player is tasked with picking up the pieces and building something from the wreckage. Intensely personal with many missable moments,

[00:01:58] the latter half of this legendary title is more a series of short stories than the epic novel of the world of balance. The result is a contemplative desperate adventure of rediscovery in a world that already seems lost.

[00:02:14] Time to gather our friends, find a new airship and take to the uncertain skies as we explore Final Fantasy 6 Part 3, moments and memories from the world of ruin. Now, as we start this trek through the desolation, it's important to spend a bit of time

[00:02:40] discussing how we got here and the jaw dropping moment when everything falls apart. The talk about the world of ruin as a concept and theme is Greg Seurat of the Player One podcast and Generation 16 series of videos and then James and JJ of the Retrofits YouTube channel.

[00:02:59] Do you remember how you felt when you first were encountered that and even how you felt most recently when you played it? I didn't get there most recently when I played it, but I do remember that happening.

[00:03:10] If I remember correctly, I thought the scene was played out really well because of course your whole party gets scattered everywhere. I seem to remember there being a really great scene when that was happening with Shadow. Yes. Which I loved.

[00:03:27] But honestly, coming to it, I didn't expect it, which was the I had not been reading up on the game. I didn't know what was coming next. And it reminded me a lot of discovering that there was a whole world underneath the overworld in Final Fantasy 4.

[00:03:46] Right? When you go down and you find the the dwarves and things like that in Final Fantasy 4. It reminded me of that. But on a much larger scale, which really is is how I feel about Final Fantasy 6 in general. It's sort of take what they introduced in for

[00:04:01] ratchet everything up to 11, put it on a much grander scale. And that's Final Fantasy 6. And so it kind of felt like that moment to me where it's, you know, it's not weird at that point. I don't think it was weird for RPGs, even the sort of this mattering

[00:04:18] we were getting in North America to have that moment where the party split apart and you have to go find everybody and maybe your your levels are knocked down, your abilities are knocked down. Like that alone wasn't really the thing that was important.

[00:04:31] It was again, that we're destroying the whole world and reorganizing the whole world and and good luck. Now you have to set out and do this all over again. Like you're basically starting at zero. But for what a cool reason, right? No, it's totally right.

[00:04:47] And and starting over at zero is a rare thing, especially in that game. You feel like you won. You do all the things that the game requires you to win. And then you end up not winning. Yeah, it's not a victory, which is really interesting

[00:05:08] and a real interesting subversion of that expectation. Hey, I beat the big monster at the end. I should win, right? Hurray. No, there's nothing you can do to stop what's coming. And that's again, another really masterful stroke to kind of divide that game

[00:05:22] into those two halves. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And then it's cool to rediscover. Sorry, and then it's cool to rediscover the places that you've been before. Oh, so much fun. And to see how they've been affected. Right. Right. Exactly.

[00:05:34] Like when you read up with Tara again in I guess it might have been mobiles, I can't I think that might be where you meet with Tara again. And she's caring for all the young, the young people and the kids that are in the

[00:05:46] she's mama Tara, you know, and she's taking care of those kids like she doesn't want to leave because she has responsibilities now. And that is just a again, another really touching touching moment. Yeah. And I liked I liked how that worked because again,

[00:06:02] I don't know how many times I'd seen that in a game before or I've seen it since. But, you know, how often while actually I was playing I've been playing through Lunar 2 on the Sega CD lately. And there is a scene now this it happens very quickly.

[00:06:18] It happens pretty early in the game where the whole you're in an avalanche and you have to go at one point you wake up and you have to go find the different characters and that's happened in the first lunar and other games as well.

[00:06:28] And, you know, you find them and you might get a little bit of introspection about how they're feeling about what happened. Then they join up again. And I think the thing that they did in Final Fantasy six six

[00:06:42] that made such a big difference was a year passes between the world being destroyed and Celeste being on a deserted island and you taking over again. And so it makes it more interesting to go and find the characters

[00:06:57] that you were you were that were in your party because they rebuilt their lives to a certain degree in the ensuing 12 months. And yeah, I mean, it just it it adds again, a layer of characterization to them that I think waking up on a deserted island

[00:07:15] five minutes after it happened and just finding everybody and that trauma is fresh. You know, doing it this way from a story perspective, has let it sink in to the characters in the character's psyche now.

[00:07:29] I think I make a lot of sense in that there's a lot of intentionality in the way that the world is presented in Final Fantasy six, especially when we go from that world of the world of the present to the world of ruin, right?

[00:07:48] The world of I think it's yeah, I think it's the world of light. Is the world of light? I can't remember what it's called now, but it's I feel like it's world of light and world of ruin or no, it's world of balance.

[00:07:58] That's it. Thank you. World of balance. Thank you because you knocked the spat out of it. So the world of balance and the world of ruin, the way that you can they recontextualize those environments to work for both sides

[00:08:09] more than just destroying a few buildings and you can't make this so you can't go in there, which I think is effective in itself. But just the way that they're able to take those settings and we can recontextualize it

[00:08:22] after this disaster, I think is really masterful and good. And Final Fantasy games have been eking toward that. You know, three and two and four. They all had different areas, right? At the underground, you got the moon, you have the floating continent in three.

[00:08:37] But Final Fantasy six really takes it and turns it on its ear and really creates something pretty special. Yeah, well, especially because when you go from balance to ruin, when you're finally at the point where you can

[00:08:51] you get the sense that like the world outside of that desolate island actually still exists. The first thing you notice is that all the continents are different. Oh, I've got a got a squealy kitten. It's OK. Come say hi. She wants attention. It's OK. You're allowed.

[00:09:11] She's and of course she's off on cat business. But yeah, if you look at the map and you're like, wait, everything is different, right? Wrong. Every single town, city and castle is in the exact same place. Yeah, but the world is warped.

[00:09:27] So and it destroys like your perception of how you knew where to go to get to where you needed. When I when I say we got lost, I meant it was during that part when we first got the airship back or not back. It the original airship.

[00:09:46] We found a new one, the Falcon. Yep, that's it. And we were like, OK, well, we need to fly here, right? Where is there? Because my my context for what to look for to get to the right place on the continent is gone. So creepy. Mm hmm.

[00:10:03] So it's not just that it's not just the colors and like the dying vegetation and the expanding deserts in the ocean looking like weirdly dirty. It's also just literally where am I? That's cool. Yeah, because on a on a map scale, you don't have any clue.

[00:10:24] Yeah, no, 100 percent. You're right. There's really no set frame of reference. There's this no frame of reference to where you're supposed to be. And I never thought of it that way. Here's your right. The places are in the same place, but the continents are different.

[00:10:36] I never contextualize it like that. That's interesting. Yeah, the only I think I forget if it exists in the world of balance because you're not really allowed to go there and do anything if it is, but the Colosseum doesn't open until the world of ruin. Correct.

[00:10:54] I always forget if it's actually there in the world of balance and watch. Yeah, no, it is because we went there. Oh, yeah, I was just about to say, like, watch somebody go on to our channel and find that episode where we literally walk in and we're like,

[00:11:06] oh, cool, this is here, you know, now that all of that is there for out of context embarrassment. But I mean, the only two things that you can find just by looking at the ground and recognize are the Colosseum and the Opera House.

[00:11:21] The Opera House is the only like really, really other unique looking building. You know, so those are the two anchor points that you can use to kind of pinpoint. Oh, it's the same point in the world. Gotcha.

[00:11:37] And that in like the world of ruin opera house stuff is very, very interesting. Oh, yeah. Continuing our overview of the world of ruin is John Trenbeth of the B. Crohn's Foundation, followed by Trevor and Jeff of New Dad Gaming and finally music producer, Muston.

[00:12:03] Six is absolutely amazing. Until Kefka wins once you reach the world of ruin, the game becomes a fetch quest. All you're doing is gathering up your party, your party. Like the story basically stops. Yes. Now there are some individual characters, like some things keep going.

[00:12:26] But overall, the story progresses up until that point and they kind of falls off at least to me, to me. Six is amazing. I love six to death, but story wise, it kind of falls off. Now, I know you could maybe say, well, yeah,

[00:12:42] but the story in six is 10 times better than anything in four. OK, I can appreciate that. But in my mind, like the last like basically like the last two thirds of the game and six, all you're doing is rounding up your your characters and grinding for levels

[00:13:01] and trying to get your, you know, your grinding to get spells so you can get like Ultima or Flare or whatever. You know, get those powerful spells and, you know, all you're spending half your time in the little dinosaur forest trying to get levels or fighting

[00:13:23] cactiars in the desert. You know, like that's what you're spending most of your time in in the last half of six, half to two thirds. She's right. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think that's an interesting way of putting it.

[00:13:38] I never thought of it that way as a fetch quest, but you are. You are you're getting the band back together. Yeah. And and I for me, there's something very I like that because I've spent so much time with those characters. I want them back together,

[00:13:51] but I can definitely see that alternate side of it for sure. That's interesting. Yeah. And again, like that's one of the things I like about four so much is that again, it's streamlined. Yeah, you don't have as much open world stuff.

[00:14:04] It is kind of like A to B to C to D for a lot of it. And then at the end, you do get to have some options that go into doing some other things like getting the extra summon creatures and the summon spells. But.

[00:14:21] I sometimes I don't want all the options to go and do all the things and customize my characters in every single way. It's like, no. Cecil was the the Dark Knight and then he's a paladin, and that's what he does.

[00:14:39] And Rydia is the summoner, and that's what she does. I kind of like that. Any other thoughts on Final Fantasy six or recollections? Any big moments, Jeff, that you remember from we talked about the train and the suplexing to train and the ghost train,

[00:15:13] which I think is one of the more surreal moments of that game. And that whole sequence, I think is fantastic. Oh, that's great. Right. And again, it didn't take itself too seriously at those points.

[00:15:23] But again, there is like a serious tone and where it kind of goes with things. But another like just crazy moment that lives in my mind was like, hey, you have this world and then all of a sudden completely different.

[00:15:34] Like it's totally like cracked in half, like all different. All the land masses are screwed up, everything. And you have to relearn this world map. And you're I thought I was at the end of the game when I was playing. I'm like, oh, that's it.

[00:15:47] Like I'm going to have to go fight him, Kefka in this big tower or whatever. And we're done. Nope. It was just like, this is the world map now. And you got to rediscover all these places and they're all kind of moved round or demolished or whatever.

[00:16:00] And you have to relearn and grind and go. And that was half the game. That was like end of disc one thing. And you serve this next like whole 40 hours worth. So like that again was one of those things that up the up the game

[00:16:15] up everything every expectation I had was blown at the window again as a kid. Right. It was just. Totally unexpected. This was the one game, though, that I eventually got a player's guide for like the old school like paper ones, but I had already been through

[00:16:31] like three quarters of the way and not to spoil anything. I don't know how far Trevor's got. That's not a good. That's like a barometer. Don't worry about it. I didn't rescue Shadow. I didn't miss him on the islands like you're on the floating island.

[00:16:48] And that's when the world changes. And like if you don't go get him in the time limit, I see a timer. I go for the asset. I'm sorry. And then again, that's one of those. And you have to wait until the last second to you have to wait.

[00:17:00] And it's yeah. And it's one of those things you just don't do without a player's guide by your side. Yeah, I agree with you. No, because it gives you that option, right? Like you do you want to wait and you're like, OK, I'll wait once.

[00:17:10] And then it comes up again. Like, well, I don't know. Would it come up? What you do is just standing there and you're watching a timer tick down and then you're just how long am I going to wait here? Whoops. You want to wait?

[00:17:23] I love to, but it's this. Are you are you trolling me game? Like what are you doing? This is not. Yeah. And what's weird with the floating continent, too, is. Again, the game according to the language of games, you've won. You according to the game design, you won.

[00:17:42] You got to top of the tower. You beat the big bad guy. You got the you be at the weapon. You beat the big monster and you lose. You still lose. You make it to the end of the time, make it to the end before the timer.

[00:17:56] Like you do all the right things and it doesn't matter. And that is so effective as I'd never few games will let you do that. Like, you know, you just lost. And now you have to spend the next half of the game rebuilding what you had lost.

[00:18:15] You used a great word to describe the whole thing and wrap it up. And it's just humility. It is you, you are humbled by what just happened and the idea that if you keep going, you you're you're starting over kind of.

[00:18:46] And that is humbling and it is very awesome. It is very motivating. And when you start to put it back together and you start getting the band back together and you get the the Falcon. Oh, my goodness, man.

[00:19:01] It's so like you feel like you could take on the whole world. And that's that's that's what's so great about it. It's what a great thing. I guess it's like it's got a real never ending story kind of vibe. It's like this book. Sure.

[00:19:17] It is so magical that you feel like you're really a part of it. It is impossible to discuss the latter half of Final Fantasy six without bringing up Celas, Sid and the Solitary Island. One of the most touching moments in the entire franchise.

[00:19:42] This is when Final Fantasy grew up and grew out in the eyes of gamers everywhere. To talk about this sensitive topic, an incredible moment is Phoebe, a K A to let's play Princess and Seth from the All N podcast.

[00:19:57] The one that broke me, I remember where I was. I was in my dad's pickup. He was doing something. So I had to stay in the truck for a while and I'm playing through the game and there's

[00:20:10] we're at the point where it's gone from the world of balance, the world of ruin. And Celas is stuck on an island and she gives up hope. And when that scene happened, and she jumps, I was like, no way.

[00:20:25] And I started crying because I used Celas a ton. But also I had never seen a character willingly do something that dark before in any type of game. It's terrifying. And it's one of those things where and I'm glad we just jumped into that

[00:20:42] because that's a scene I've been talking about a lot with a lot of people, obviously very impactful. It's I I think I'm going to be able to say I didn't think I was emotionally mature enough to really understand what Celas was going through.

[00:20:58] But I understood, I think like the despair and looking back, I definitely knew it wasn't right. You know what I mean? Like there was something wrong, I guess, but something desperate about it. But I don't think I would have connected those dots.

[00:21:12] Were you able to connect those dots? Like, oh my gosh, she's actually attempting. Oh yeah, this was around the time when I was also pretty much on and off. So was I a depression? So yeah, I saw it. Celas was like, I was like, oh, that's me.

[00:21:28] But even funnier was the fact that I used to grow. I grew up on G4. So I remember the shows like Blister, Filter, Cheat. And I remember they did an entire episode of Filter based off of Final Fantasy and they had one of the lists was

[00:21:42] top five or top 10 most iconic scenes or most depressing scenes in a Final Fantasy game. And number one was, of course, Aerith's death in Final Fantasy 7, which I had seen a bunch of times because I played it. But nowhere on that list was Celas if memory serves.

[00:22:03] That's surprising. So when I saw that, not only was it this big hit of, oh, I get what she's going through, but also, wait, how did I get no warning about this? Right, right. And I think that's very interesting. You're that's a very good point

[00:22:17] because I've been starting some Final Fantasy 7 conversations this week. And when we talk about the Aerith moment, it was one of the worst kept secrets in gaming because that is FF7 was everywhere. Like it will talk about it later, you know, probably a little later.

[00:22:33] But Final Fantasy 7 was huge deal media event and Aerith, if you spend any time in games, you learn that. Yeah, it's what I did. That gets spoiled for you kind of story. It's not the same seeing it in action and when in the moment. But you get spoiled.

[00:22:52] Final Fantasy 6, we were not at that point yet. So it was still something you had to experience in real time. That's very interesting. That wasn't in there because that is. Oof, it's rough. Yeah, I I definitely don't remember it being in there, which was again so surprising

[00:23:09] because I think Final Fantasy 10 ending is in there. Yeah. Like you used that word earlier, cinematic. It is cinematic. Like it just has those those scenes are so well considered. And frankly, you could tell that the the development team

[00:23:41] took a certain responsibility upon themselves when it came to tackling a scenario like that, right? It was it's so carefully done. And as I'm thinking through it and as I'm kind of I'm really trying to put myself in in that chair in the basement of my mom's house,

[00:23:57] watching that CRT screen doing it. I'll be very honest as I as I try to be on this show. I have had thoughts like that since I was eight. As a friend, my first my first recollection of what would it like if I wasn't here anymore?

[00:24:14] And again, being very careful with language on it because this is obviously very sensitive. And I'll probably put a constant warning before we even wrote a subject on the show. But it's I've had thoughts like that since I was eight.

[00:24:25] That's my first recollection of a desire to do that because I was gotten trouble and I was feeling guilt and shame and all that. But even then to see it visually. Yeah, I don't know if it fully got in my brain. I knew something was wrong.

[00:24:43] And this was this was horribly sad. But I don't think I had the emotional intelligence to process it properly, I think. Yeah, I wish I could be I wish I could say, oh, my God, I totally identified. I don't I don't think I did.

[00:24:58] And I think that's such a wonderful testament to what the developers tried to do because it affected me as being completely memorable. I remember sitting there watching it and I know I felt uneasy and I felt weird, but I don't think I put those two things together.

[00:25:18] Very interesting. It very interesting time and place, obviously, things like depression, you know, there's ups and downs, who knows who knows where I was when I was in that? You know, who knows where I was mentally at that point? But yeah, it's such a.

[00:25:32] Yeah, it's just a very carefully considered scene. It is beautifully carefully, carefully crafted. Man, you and I are so alike. I I recalled when you were saying that this is a bit of a funny story and I don't want to make light of of this topic at all.

[00:25:51] But like you, I very clearly remember the first time I had a thought like that. And it was not it was for something that is so stupid in hindsight. What it was is a bit of a funny story.

[00:26:08] My sister, I have a younger sister who's a few years younger than me. She tricked me into. She did the whole thing. My parents were out of town and we had it was like right around Christmas time.

[00:26:21] And she was like, hey, like I bet if we open like just one of our presents, they'll never know you open one. If you open one, I'll open one. It's OK, you know, we can get away. That's just a small one. We can do it.

[00:26:34] And she goes, OK, you go first. And so I opened mine and it was a it was a DVD of Steve Martin's The Man with Two Faces, I think. Or two heads or whatever it is just like a I don't even know why I was given this.

[00:26:53] I was like I was like eight maybe. And I and then my sister goes, OK, I'm calling. I'm calling mom and dad. And she like manipulated and tricked me and she told mom and dad about there.

[00:27:05] You know, we're on the phone with them like you're in so much trouble, blah, and that was when I thought I better do something about this. And the way that I thought to do it was I'd always heard that if you

[00:27:18] like sweat too much, like you could dehydrate and whatever. So I went to my closet and put on all of my jackets. And when my parents came home, it must have been so stupid,

[00:27:31] but they just come home and they see me in the closet with like 12 jackets on. Oh, you know, thinking I'm going to like sweat myself to death or something. And that was like that was my my first like it's silly and I can like laugh about it now.

[00:27:46] Yeah, no, no, no, yeah. But but like that was I'm like eight years old and that was my first like attempt, I guess. But to your point, like when when you see a scene like this in Final Fantasy

[00:27:59] Six, like that's somebody in this thought process for like a real reason. Not because they opened up a Steve Martin DVD a little bit early, but because they've lost everything important to them. You know, so it can sort of like, you know,

[00:28:16] I don't know that I understood the gravity of what was happening, but I do think that it may be reframed my my own like perception of like of what that kind of means maybe a little bit. But yeah, I don't know.

[00:28:29] Like, yeah, I wish I could say like, oh, yeah, that was like an earth shattering moment. I think I maybe had that like later on when I was older playing it. Yeah, but but yeah, that's that's a powerful, powerful seeing man. Yeah, I'll share mine real quick.

[00:28:43] It's I remember exactly exactly again. And it was it wasn't quite as silly. I got I was in my room for I got yelled. I probably yelled at my brother or sister for something or I yelled at my parents for something.

[00:28:55] And I remember sitting in the corner of my room back against the wall just seething with like this anger and this shame and embarrassment. I think I had like family members over. So I think I was like publicly, you know, not shamed,

[00:29:08] but probably was disciplined in some way. And I thought I grabbed a pencil off my desk and I tried to jab it into my neck. But the pencil wasn't was not sharp enough. So all of it was like hurt and left like a mark.

[00:29:24] But so luckily it wasn't like even if it was a very sharp graph, I don't think it would appear to my skin. Right. That that was my that was my that was my choice. That's what I thought was going to do it in for me.

[00:29:38] And again, obviously, I was fine, obviously, and there was no issue. And I don't even notice the mark, you know, right? Not not nearly as a I guess humorous as Steve Martin, David. But so interesting, though, that we had like kind of similar experiences around the same age.

[00:29:56] Yeah, eight. I was eight. I remember exactly and I can I can picture it today as like it happened yesterday. Same. So yeah, man. So let's let's I don't know where that would ever go into any podcast.

[00:30:09] I might just sit that in the drawer somewhere and I don't know. All good. All good. Yeah, man. But anyway, I appreciate you sharing our story, man. That's a it happens. And I think other people, I think obviously,

[00:30:19] I don't think we're the only ones who've who've experienced that, you know? And I think I think it's to look back on that and recognize what that was. Right. So being able to look at it and examine it. And yeah, and yeah, I recognize.

[00:30:30] I mean, I don't think I've talked with the exception of like my my parents and like my wife. I don't think I've ever talked to that. Yeah, I've never met anybody who had like a similar experience of like,

[00:30:40] yeah, I was actually pretty young the first time I had a thought like that. Like this has actually been with me for a long, long time, you know? So yeah, I appreciate you sort of bridging that gap. Continuing this challenging but cathartic conversation is Muston,

[00:31:09] followed by Julian of the State Select podcast, then Ryan, AKA Games with Coffee. And then following him is journalist Aidan Moore, followed by more comments from Seth. And plus when you're on the island with Celeste, if you said has that

[00:31:25] like he could die or he could live Holy Cow, like that whole sequence where if he lives, it's nice, but it's hard to do because it doesn't really tell you how. And then she goes to this effort to unalive herself only to

[00:31:42] you know, find some kind of hope and figure it out. I mean, that that's hard to come back from when you're twelve, thirteen year old like just like, oh, man, this is your this is your the notebook. This is your the fountain. You know, this.

[00:31:59] It really is. This is it really is. Yeah, it's it's hardcore. Now you're in a situation where you are trying to keep an old man alive. Like it's it is and you who knows, you may be the only person left. And it is such a daring, sad

[00:32:17] and just heartbreaking moment. And that moment where she does try to unalive herself, she is. Yeah, it's tragic. Tragic and you hear you. That's the first time you hear the rest. Or like the opening part of her of her theme, which is a very tragic introduction.

[00:32:38] But I just remember that very clearly. And also, you know, going back to the opera thing or or or Celis, right? Like for some I ever saw somebody try to kill themselves in a video game. Right. Yeah.

[00:33:00] That that is that is a powerful moment that sticks with you. And especially when you're when you're fifteen. Obviously, like Final Fantasy four, right? Like characters are dropping left and right, or at least you you're led to believe that they're dropping left and right.

[00:33:13] It turns out that actually only one person dies for real. But at the same time, it it it definitely pulls on those heartstrings. But there's something something a lot that hits a lot harder about a main

[00:33:22] character, you know, like just being so distraught with the way of things that she's just going to jump off of a cliff. And I have, you know, it's something that. I don't think the series has ever even come close to getting to that.

[00:33:37] That level of darkness other than Final Fantasy 16, but we'll we'll we'll get there eventually. We'll get there. We will we will make our way there solution. I still have to play 16. So I still have to. I might be the next one I jump into after I finish eight.

[00:33:51] Not nine, eight I gave up on. I keep up on it. Fair. I couldn't do it. Nine is a lot of fun. It's adorable and great. I'm enjoying it anyway. What a parallels to six also. But I'll play that for. Yeah, we'll save those.

[00:34:03] Yeah, because I do want to finish it before we talk about it. Yeah, man, I sell the cello scene is is one of the harder ones to talk about for obvious reasons. There's a lot of personal stuff that goes into that for me.

[00:34:17] I've again, I wish I could say I could identify with what I was 14, you know, 14 ish. Probably when that came out when I played it, maybe 15 when I actually played it. So same as you. And I definitely have had situations in my life

[00:34:33] and I've had a history of having those kind of thoughts. I the first time I attempted anything was I was eight, right? So I kind of knew what that meant. But I don't think it fully resonated until later on in my life.

[00:34:46] I wish I could say like, oh, yeah, no, I told you, I totally made that connection as a 15 year old. I probably didn't. That's giving myself way too much credit. And also, you know, like that Nintendo, like translation censorship, right?

[00:35:00] Like they kind of really, you know, fuzz it up a little bit to make it, you know, like if you're paying attention, you'll get it. And I remember getting it at the time. But I also my memory is that I didn't get it in the moment.

[00:35:15] It was like thinking about it after the fact. I was like, oh, oh, right? Because, you know, there's things that Sid tells cellists where it's like, oh, yeah, people used to just like take a leap of faith off of the cliff, blah, blah. You know, it's like bull.

[00:35:29] That that is not what they were doing. Yeah, that's not what they were what they were up to. Always playing those those opening that opening half and but then the world of ruin comes around and you have this it's a much slower, it's much sadder.

[00:35:58] I mean, obviously then opens up with cellists, you know, making a tough decision. Let's just say we obviously been spoiled. How did that hit you? And you saw that at 16? Oh, man. I mean, at 16, you know, you're you're you're already going through a lot of

[00:36:18] tough, tough moments because, you know, like high school and friends and your own mind is blazing, is playing tricks on you and stuff. And seeing that scene where or Sally's loses said and, you know, has to make that really tough choice, whether to keep going

[00:36:45] or just end it all. It's just like, wow, that really that really hits home, you know, in my sense as, you know, as a kid, like with as a kid with like going with a lot of tumultuous emotions going through your head, it's like,

[00:37:01] dang, you know, even someone as powerful as cellists can still have a moment of weakness. Granted, she survives, but and but a letter and a letter from said like gives her the gives her the strength and the willpower just to just to keep going, you know?

[00:37:19] And it's that moment where she chooses to just stand back up and say, you know what? Let's let's go. I can't just my story does not end here on this deserted island. Like that gives me life. That gives me strength to to keep going myself, you know?

[00:37:41] No, I and it's it's very it's very it's very inspiring. It's very powerful. And it's probably one of the one of the reasons why I also love Sally's character. Yeah, I mean, feeding said fish is really interesting. Like, again, as that player agency, it has no real like

[00:38:05] no real stakes. But do I make sure to feed them like healthy fish every time? Now that I know what I'm doing, like for sure. But nobody playing the game fed him healthy fish the first time. And so that's another no failure, right?

[00:38:18] Like Final Fantasy six is just like it's just like you just fail over and over again, right? And like that's just wild to me that it doesn't have this linear sort of like upward progression of success as you get stronger and stronger.

[00:38:33] It's like you will crash and you will burn. And that is just the reality of Final Fantasy six. And it's stand out moments, I think are stuff like that. A lot of it was kind of like, you know, I remember

[00:38:55] we would talk to other friends who had played the game. I didn't know that there was an option where Sid doesn't die. Like I didn't know like I didn't know that. I thought that that was just written in there and the, you know,

[00:39:09] the scene, the very iconic cliff side scene that follows. Like I thought that was all just part of the plan. I didn't know that, you know, another famous thing is like, you know, on our first play through, we didn't save shadow. You know, like we didn't go back.

[00:39:25] And, you know, stuff like that is kind of still unprecedented, like the amount of like kind of missable work in that game, like the amount of stuff that is in there, like games today wouldn't do that, you know, especially not on that scale.

[00:39:41] Games today are like, hey, we spent the money making this. So like by God, you're going to see it and you're going to experience it. Yep. So the notion that like a game of this like epic scale would have those

[00:39:54] little tiny missable or optional or, you know, moments that like if you don't perform it correctly, they're not going to go the way you think. Do you know what's more satisfying than, I don't know, a breathing seed at the end of the solitary island?

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[00:41:10] pot player of choice is always welcome and appreciated. Let's jump back into the episode. Like I've been saying all year, the magic and Final Fantasy games often lie in the margins to talk about some of the small but impactful moments in the world of ruin

[00:41:35] is coffee, followed by the return of James and JJ. And finally, cause a player, Yurick. Well, go for it, man. I mean, because what other moments of Final Fantasy six? I want to think about Final Fantasy six.

[00:41:47] I will say that I really love is that it's not just the big moments because in the world of ruin, it's a lot of very small moments. I think there's so beautiful. Those little moments in the world of ruin are just so, so, so beautiful.

[00:42:00] One of my favorites is when Locke tries to get the fee like goes into the Phoenix cave, we have to split into three parties. And the whole purpose was it was for him to try to resurrect his true love.

[00:42:14] And I'm like, oh, my God, this is so powerful, man. Like Locke is like you think Locke is just like this simple treasure hunter that such thief, you don't tell him that he'll he'll he'll rip your eyes out.

[00:42:28] But like you see his motivation as to to become a treasure hunter is to bring back somebody he cares about a lot. Sets her and reclaiming the reclaim the airship where he had an on colon competition between himself and another fellow airship user until a tragic

[00:42:49] death happens and he rebuilds the airship leaves it leaves it hidden. And wouldn't you know what they need that airship now so they can go round up the rest of the Avengers and avenge the hell out of Kefka?

[00:43:03] That's just again, those little these little powerful moments just make six just so endearing and so. Memorable and so beautiful and so wonderful and just a perfect package of everything about Final Fantasy distilled into a five by five by three point five by one point something in cartridge.

[00:43:28] You're right, you're 100 percent right to 16 bits as they would say. I finally. Yeah, I love the world. I never whenever I played as a kid, I always played the fun stuff. Like, of course, I finished the game when I was a kid. Of course.

[00:43:43] But I always every time I had to replay a Final Fantasy six, I stopped at the world of ruin. I stopped. Like, all right, now this is when this is getting really sad. And it's when it gets really slow.

[00:43:52] And as I've gotten older, I appreciate those slower moments way more than I did when I was younger, which is again the sign of good art and good media. It ages with you as opposed to against you. Yes.

[00:44:04] And Final Fantasy six definitely ages well with you as you grow older and experience it. Yeah. Now, my favorite moment with Tara was whenever she's protected in the world of ruin, whenever she's protecting that that village. And then she basically has to get her confidence back.

[00:44:34] If I remember right, we named that episode because we named the we named Tara Juniper for random reasons. I exist. And we did. We did that episode that would help Juniper got her groove back. Yeah, pretty funny. That's pretty good.

[00:44:49] Well, because it's such a it's such a big moment because the first time you find her in World of Ruins, she does not rejoin your party. She goes out. She does like a power stance to face off what's what's his name? Humbaba. And she fails.

[00:45:03] She fails really badly actually. Humbaba like decimates her and she just kind of like but she saves the kids. She sort of pulls herself like back underground and she's you know, is talking about like how, you know, it's kind of that that gifted and talented complex

[00:45:20] where like when you're really young people build you up and it's always like, oh, well, what's the next best thing you're going to do? Like what's the next great big thing that's going to top what you just did? And you're like, I am 12.

[00:45:31] Let me let me just have some fun with this thing that I did that's cool and see where that goes and not necessarily have that pressure. And you sort of see the aftermath of that in that part of the story where she's

[00:45:43] like, cool. So I guess I can't really save anyone. Yeah. You know, even though she just saved the kids. I have one that is very missable is a gauze father in the yeah, like it because you can bring them there and like people don't even know

[00:46:14] that's a scene that you can do that you can bring him there and they do the whole getting him dressed up all nice and everything teaching him that to me is like. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:24] And like that to me is like I because I miss that like, I don't know, first few years I played the game and then I just randomly came across it like as an adult and was like, wow, this is this is wild.

[00:46:35] That is a really intense moment because it's Gauze a character I never liked like this from a gameplay perspective and from just I just found him annoying. Never I didn't want to run around the belt, you know, leveling and doing that thing.

[00:46:51] But when I learned that that was a possibility as a side quest, I it definitely gives the character some depth and it creates this little very tragic little story. That's what I mean about like the character not being like a bad character is

[00:47:05] like I kind of didn't care for Gau either till I got that scene. And then I was like, oh, now this guy has like development. Yeah. Keeping the conversation rolling with some chat about the auction house is Greg

[00:47:21] Seward, followed by James of retrofits and then Ryan Lindsey of one of five point nine Kiss FM in Ottawa and then Julian again, return to talk about small but memorable moments. Do you remember the auction house? Vaguely. OK, I don't know.

[00:47:37] I got to talk about the auction house. It's OK. That's fine. Vaguely, remember it's not a big deal. Again, there's another one of those weird side things that I really, really dug from just a story perspective and this like kind of world perspective where

[00:47:50] Judo or I think is the town where that you would do that. And it's like they're all very affluent, like the last last the last hoody toody town in the world that hasn't been torched by Kefka. So there's still like auctioning off toy airships and stuff.

[00:48:04] I don't know why I just some reason that just came to mind as like a fun moment in the game with those smaller moments. The absurdity of it. Yeah, just the absurd trying to survive. Yeah, everyone's trying to survive. Half of mobiles is destroyed.

[00:48:16] Terrorist taking care of 12 kids in the basement of a hovel. And you have the the elite in Jidor bidding on Magisite. It's kind of wild actually when you think about it. I think also it was six that introduced the idea of the. I almost said gambling hall.

[00:48:49] The auction house. Yes. The old auction house. I love it. But unlike Final Fantasy IX auction house, which allowed you the opportunity to win whatever they were throwing out, whether it was a key item or a regular item or anything. Final Fantasy VI likes to throw in little

[00:49:10] ringers that are like you will never ever be able to win this because the kid wants the airship and his dad has more guilt than you have spaces for numbers for Gill in your inventory. Those things are like 10 I think it was like 10 million.

[00:49:28] Yeah, 10 million for a toy airship. Very toy airship. Real airship. A toy airship. And 10 million Gail and the game will let you just plunk money away at that. It will let you attempt. It'll let you try.

[00:49:44] You could keep you could keep bidding upwards and trying to like beat the other people to get it. And then I think I think when I was first playing it, it was only the third time around that I realized, oh, that little brat just wins

[00:49:57] these things because they're not for me. There's this not for you. The game designers is Tee he laughing all the way to. Yeah, laughing all the way to the Gail deposit box. That might be why in nine you actually can win the airship. That's true.

[00:50:14] Yeah, you probably have a point there. I'm pretty sure you can win one of them and then a few of them you have to find as like a key item search nine had a lot of fun with like just key item hide and

[00:50:26] seek because I remember well, especially the when I was a kid on my initial playthrough of nine, I didn't actually know what the Stilazio coins were for because I hadn't gone off that one path to find, you know, the chicken lady and her weird coop. Yeah,

[00:50:49] but love it. Yeah, it took me it took me a couple of years of playing that game to realize, oh wait, there's a path over here. Oh, this is weird. What is these coins I've been collecting? There were things like a coliseum as a concept is

[00:51:18] perfection, a system to put in to give people something super dumb to go back and play with the little moments for me. We're just finding out all the different attacks, honestly, like the first time you actually use slots, which deep down, if you're

[00:51:33] using it like it was on a Super Nintendo is the most frustrating thing you're going to have in any game because you're like, yeah, no, I got it. Bar bar. What is it? Mugu, Mugu, come on. Those little things were great.

[00:52:05] So one of the smaller things that I always think back to and we can definitely talk about some bigger ones, but teenage pregnancy. Oh, yeah. Right. Let's have a let's have a plot about teenage pregnancy at the end of the world.

[00:52:20] And it's not done in a judgmental way or anything like that. Dwayne and Katar and they're in love. But that's kind of a heady subject. Yeah, it is like Tara is ostensibly like the caretaker of these kids and teenagers.

[00:52:35] And while that's happening, these teenagers over here have gone and hooked up and gotten pregnant and, you know, it. And so not only is is it like, well, how do we bring new life into this broken

[00:52:49] world? But, you know, how do we also protect these kids from this monster that comes to bully this town on a regular basis? I don't know. I always think about that. It's like, man, they really they went there.

[00:53:04] I think some of the like stuff that you can do in the world of ruin, like to kind of resolve certain characters' stories is really great. Like I like the fact that you can you can you can do like a little like my

[00:53:17] fair lady type of thing with Gal and try to like, you know, like gussie him up and teach him manners and teach him how to eat properly to introduce him to his father, which then which is very funny. But then ends in like just a very sad

[00:53:32] bit where, you know, it like it again, like really threading that line. Right? Like very silly and wacky. And then like, oh, there's the gut punch, right? And that's the end of Gal's, you know, story for all intents and purposes.

[00:53:56] Next up, Mike of Major Rage TV joins a show to talk about Cyan, followed by Ryan Lindsey's favorite end game item and our friend and Redditor Xerxes. There are a couple of smaller character moments that I actually kind of

[00:54:11] I like and I think are more poignant than the big like big topic ones that you've mentioned before Cyan and his letters impersonating the dead soldier. Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. And and just the the hints at Saban's enter inner sensitive side, you know, his flower arranging and stuff.

[00:54:38] Oh, yeah. The big the muscle head of the group who does things as brash as to jump off a raft to try to suplex a squid. He's sensitive. He's he does things that are, you know, kind of considered, you know, typically

[00:54:53] more feminine, you know, he's got sensitive, you know, you know, sensibilities about the tea and the flower arranging and stuff. And, you know, those are traditionally associated with thin amenity. And I think it was cool that they were able that they were willing to show a

[00:55:10] character having both those sides, having kind of a duality and it being OK. I mean, he's he's arguably one of the strongest party members in six. And he's got that kind of, you know, unusual at the time, you know, duality to his character.

[00:55:29] I mean, things weren't that progressive yet by 1994. And, you know, usually you stick to the archetype of the meat head, the big strong one, he's he's he's macho. You know, he's all the things that a manly man should be. But they were willing to paint

[00:55:49] Sabin in a more complicated light. And I think that that's one of the way that's one of the areas that the series stands out is its willingness to show things as shades of gray.

[00:56:03] And like oftentimes key themes of a plot will be that things aren't just white or black, that that the truth lies in those shades of gray. No, I think that's super accurate. And I love the fact you brought that up.

[00:56:22] I had neither forgotten about it, but it had not been top of mind until you brought it up. Same thing with with Sian. Writing those letters, I mean, and especially knowing his backstory of loss and grief and the fact that he is

[00:56:41] doing this, I would say questionable thing like what he's doing is of a good motive. It's a it's honestly a bad thing done with very good motive and intentions. And I think he actually realizes that at a certain point.

[00:56:57] He can't keep up the facade like he can't keep it going. And I think that turn is I think science, one of those characters I identified a lot with, especially as an older saying, you know, definitely identify with Sian and that idea of family and responsibility.

[00:57:16] Yeah, man, I'm so glad you're on that failed. Yes. Yeah. The protector that failed. That's exactly right. And failure is big, fat, center theme of six. Poof. Isn't it though? And and and the living living the consequences of that failure.

[00:57:36] It's not just turning them around and then what you do with the failure. Yep. And that is so beautiful. And it's such a wonderful expression of that. Yeah. The first economizer. That's the economizer. First economizer you pull is such a beautiful, beautiful thing. What it happens.

[00:58:16] I cannot tell you right now. There is not a person alive currently today in this technology that does not take a screenshot or picture when they pull an economizer and post it on socials to be like, yes, yes. How many damn dinosaurs I fought for this thing?

[00:58:34] Economizer, let's go. I need more. For those who may not know that is what is the economizer? Come on. If you don't know what the economizer is, they may not know. It is probably the most important piece of technology, I'll say. Piece of equipment that you can get

[00:58:54] that will make you the happiest person ever, but I don't want to spoil it. I don't know. I want people to find it. I wanted to walk around that teeny little patch of forest that looks like dinosaurs head from an actual NES that most people somehow didn't notice.

[00:59:09] It looks like a dinosaur even though it's got nostrils. It's more of an alligator. And when you find it and you take them down, I don't even care for you. Here's the cheat method. Go ahead. Vanish, I don't care. You can vanish and do all you want.

[00:59:24] You get that economizer. It is a beautiful. It is it is the most empowering. Relic, it might be the most empowering relic in the game. I mean, I it's it is so good, but so hard to get and such a pain in the ass. And it is.

[00:59:41] But but boys, it worth it. And that's why I love about Final Fantasy 6 and I love when games in general do this, when there's an annoying thing to do, please make it worth it. Yeah. And man, it does like Final Fantasy X, for example,

[00:59:55] like getting those celestial weapons, a lot of those are a royal pain. And a lot of those weapons not worth it at all. Like, oh no, I wasn't worth playing a season of Blitzball for this ball for

[01:00:07] Waka. No, it was totally not worth it as much as I love Blitzball. But I've never finished ever because yeah. I've played Blitzball and suddenly like three years have gone by. I have a beard down my ankles. I don't know what happened.

[01:00:21] That's a player that's ever been seen. Jeffrey, I got him. I I love me some Blitzball, but I do love you. But but in six when the things are a pain in the neck to do, the rewards are always worth it. And that is such a great feeling.

[01:00:39] Yeah, an economizer is an awesome example of that. I'm so glad you pulled that out. That's a really good. Try and tell me there isn't a better moment than you managing to double cast

[01:00:49] Ultima for one MP per cast back to back and then have go go do it. Come on, come on. I mean, it's it's it's literally feet up on the table, hands behind your back. Just sunshiny day. It's amazing, amazing.

[01:01:08] I love that as a really good rage as a leap concept in the rage concept is so brilliant to me. It gives you so many options and the awful truth is you're going to use none of them.

[01:01:22] Like you might use maybe three like I think I'll stick with Stray Cat all the time. That's basically all. I got them all. It's fine. I fought everything in existence and went back and leapt and spent hours and hours going. Go go go go go go go.

[01:01:39] Baa baa na na na na na na na. And by the time I was done, I'm like, cool, I'm still going to be a Stray Cat all the time, but that was fun. It's having to having to do the tower with only magic.

[01:02:05] You know, like the magic tower in general. That was a that was a fun one. At least until you realize that you had to have life three or yeah, let's let's see. Or you could or you could

[01:02:26] or if you actually like bother to do the math on and everything, you could hit him with enough damage and then use the I forget the I forget the Esper, but there was one that allowed you to

[01:02:41] send your entire party up in the air and then they'd all use jump on their return. So I did it right. Yes, Tritok. Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah, the bird. Yeah, you shoot the cat. So I didn't you can drop. Yeah, I didn't think of that either.

[01:02:55] So that was like the only way I could really get around that. That's really cool. And you don't know you need it until you actually end the battle and you realize, oh no, someone needs to be. Yeah, those are two.

[01:03:20] Now, before we leave the world of ruin and continue our quest through Final Fantasy six, we'd be remiss if we didn't discuss the game's incredible final battle against the clown prince, Kefka and the game's all time great conclusion to talk about the end is set followed by Mustin.

[01:03:40] Just some of the themes of the game, I think were important to me. I've always felt that art has a way of like taking something that should maybe be obvious, like taking something that that should maybe be a lesson

[01:03:53] that like a video game or whatever piece of art shouldn't like necessarily have to teach you, but it can just present it and just hit you the right way at the right time and like it can just like, you know, grow alongside you.

[01:04:08] You can revisit it and take different things away from it. And I remember like the feeling of like determination that that comes in with Final Fantasy six, especially like going into the end because we made sure that we recruited everybody Oh, yeah.

[01:04:25] Going into the final sort of confrontation and when you do that, you know, it's a pain like it's not easy to do. And and like when you when you get to that that moment and it actually becomes

[01:04:39] kind of like this like long scene of Kefka who's like adopted this like very nihilistic mindset and and then if you've chosen to recruit like all of them and kind of get the band back together, you know, Kefka has this big monologue where he talks about like,

[01:04:55] you know, like what is like what is the purpose of life? Like what is the purpose of this world? We're all just going to die anyways. It's like just textbook nihilism and he's just ready to destroy it all because what's the point of any of it?

[01:05:07] And they all just one by one like list off what they're fighting for, you know, and like what the meaning of their life is. And I remember like even as a kid, like like seeing that moment being like, oh my God, like this is so powerful.

[01:05:23] And like I I would flash back to to not only that, there's been a couple of touchstones in my life of like art that has helped me deal with like like nihilistic thoughts in general, everything everywhere all at once

[01:05:38] comes to mind and and this comes to mind like all the time. And that, you know, that that moment there, you know, struck me like that that's sort of like hopeful determination, fighting for what you believe in, even when everything seems it could not feel

[01:05:55] more hopeless and in some ways like it doesn't even necessarily end on a super hopeful message like when you when you do defeat Kefka, like he wasn't necessarily wrong. Like you the world is coming back, but there's no magic anymore.

[01:06:10] Like Tara doesn't have like access to that side of herself anymore. It's not necessarily a happy ending. You know, but they know they did it anyway. And yeah, that that always like, yeah, I think that just that that place

[01:06:25] that art can have of like reframing maybe thoughts or things that you've had in your real life that's always really powerful to me. I really love that when a game can do that. Now, it's an incredible moment. And let's talk about let's talk about that final battle.

[01:06:50] Let's talk about the ending too, because I love when a game and this maybe just old school gamer build talking, but I really do love when a game takes its time to craft a good ending.

[01:07:01] Like I'm not not good as in like it's a good ending or bad ending, but a quality conclusion to what you went through, especially the longer the game, I think the more in depth and involved the ending has to be.

[01:07:13] And the ending for Final Fantasy six goes on for, I want to say 20 minutes. Like it's a long ending. 18, 18. OK. Yes, it's a long ending. What's your how do you what was can you remember like thinking back what that

[01:07:28] sense of accomplishment was like when you finished it for the first time and going through the ending and seeing all the little trinkets? Like you said, for the characters, like, yeah, let's talk about that a bit. Well, I remember being

[01:07:47] I was a big leveler, so I was able to beat it the first time. But the stress of that and then when it moved from the tears like oh gosh, the bottom tier escapes me. The middle tier is purgatory. The third tier is

[01:08:09] is what do you call it? La Pieta La Pieta, the heaven. I think that's yeah. And then finally, Kefka comes down and it's that same organ from the very beginning when you turn the game on.

[01:08:24] And it's like, OK, you know that it's the end because it's the beginning. We started at the beginning and then hearing that music, all of that music. It's it was it changed my whole life. It really did that piece of music. I had an arrangement in my head,

[01:08:43] the same thing for 30 years and was finally able to bring it to life thanks to a bunch of really sweet people at the beginning of this year. And I'm really excited to have finally done my amazing, like in my mind version of this

[01:09:02] dancing mad of this final battle. And then when this battle ends and it gives you that moment where Kefka is falling apart, very much like Seromis and Final Fantasy 4. I think it's really smart because my adrenaline was through the roof, you know? And when you beat him,

[01:09:23] you just imagine as a kid, you just like, you know, throw back into the futon and you're like, oh, oh my god, I beat it. And you just start, you know, your blood pressure goes back down. You know, it's really I think it's really smart to do that.

[01:09:39] And then it fades and then it starts in on this ending. And at first, I was really confused because it was listing the characters. And then what they had last names? What? What did that then? Like it was so weird to see last

[01:09:59] names and and and it was like doing it as if it was movie credits. Like, you know, Tara as Tara Brandford, Brandford. What the heck kind of last name? You know, I mean, her name is Tina. Her name is Tina in in Japan.

[01:10:19] But the American team was like, Tina's not got to do Tara at least that's cool means Earth. Anyway, so they all had names. But then seeing that it really blew me away because the graphics,

[01:10:35] even though it was such as I mean, we're talking like two frames of animation, but the book moving looked like a book moving and and then move through and have those like those trinkets, those chachis there, like

[01:10:51] of what the people were and what the represents and then give them their moment in the in the shine to shine. You know, even Go Go got their moment where they had to mimic. Yeah. I can't remember who it was. They had to mimic someone. And to.

[01:11:12] I just and then to intersperse like, OK, you got the music. You have this amazing arrangement of everybody's themes that's going on. It's one piece of thing. But then, you know, oh, yeah, we've got to get the fudge out of here.

[01:11:23] And then it ramps up and and we got to fly. I mean, it's just so cool. It was I had never seen anything like it. Even Final Fantasy four was more kind of like a pop up picture book, which is not a bad thing. Right.

[01:11:43] Coolest thing about that was the moon flying at you with mode seven. And you were like, whoa, yes. But on this, there was like tons of stuff where like the ship was dropping down and the clouds overlapping and all these things are happening.

[01:11:58] And oh, no, we're going to Terrigan live. And even though the game was over, the stakes were still high and it was still wildly entertaining. It was just such a. A warm big hand on the on the middle of your back. Good job, kid. Like you did it.

[01:12:21] This is your reward. This is your this is your Oreo cream pie and RC Cola. Yeah, that's your RC Cola. There's your that's your that's your strawberry lemonade. I it's really a it's really I just it's wonderful. I'm actually looking at old screenshots of the ending

[01:12:45] and how as you're descending and leaving the final battle, you're getting those little vignettes of each character. And everyone you say gets their moment. They all have the little trinkets that means something. Umar has like a little skull and bones.

[01:12:58] You know, Go Go has his mask that he can turn into something. Gau, of course, has the the diver's helmet that you get when the first things he wants you to get for him. And the fact that everybody gets a little bit of time is really special.

[01:13:12] And and so just well done. Even shadow, if you don't save him, shadow gets a like a visual eulogy. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah, yeah, you get it's like a that's like a little yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Like a visual eulogy.

[01:13:33] Yeah, because it's the way that he did it was so genius that the Umar and Go Go themes can just cut out and it can just keep going. So if you got one or the other or none, you wouldn't miss a beat to say.

[01:13:55] So if they would still be a secret to you, you know, for you to find later, which I think is really cool. Totally very cool. And I love the final page of the book says and you. Yeah, that was a real real cool. What's the real? Earthboundy moment.

[01:14:14] Yeah, yeah, it has an earthbound vibe. Exactly. When did Earthbound come out and Earthbound was before? I want to say it was before, but I think it might have been after. So 94 August 27th, 94 was released initially. Yeah. So a little bit before.

[01:14:34] Yeah, there's no way there's any sort of influencing overlap. It's just a wonderful sign from the universe. But it did make you feel like you were a part of the game. And that's what's great about video games is different than movies or listening to music.

[01:14:58] You put it all together. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to this edition of a gamer looks at 40. We have a lot more Final Fantasy six to do and then we have a lot more Final Fantasy

[01:15:16] to do, but I will be breaking up these Final Fantasy episodes with other things that are not related to that franchise just in case you're listening and can't stand Final Fantasy and thinking when will we talk about something else?

[01:15:30] There are some other episodes coming up that will break up the monotony a bit, but we're going to keep on trucking next week with a conversation about, arguably, the finest villain in all of Final Fantasy, the Clown Prince himself, Kefka. That's right.

[01:15:46] We will be embarking upon the Kefka so that next week. So if you dig that evil maniac by all means, this is the place to go. Thank you to my editors, Pete, Harney and Kevin from the Discord.

[01:15:59] They cut up the interviews to make it super easy for me to put together these main shows. Thank you to my patrons once again and thank you for listening to this episode of a gamer looks at 40. And until next time, just be kind to yourselves and each other.