The New Scene in Final Fantasy VI

It’s amazing how you can play a game for over a decade and still find new things in it. Take this scene in Final Fantasy VI, a game I have played a dozen times.

(Warning: if you don’t know FF6 this post won’t make any sense. Sorry about that. Come back tomorrow when I’ll have a new and completely silly Let’s Play series up.)

What you want to do is head for the crashed airship after the banquet scene in Vector instead of heading for Albrook. It’s quite a hike and you only have two party members for the journey, but you’re rewarded with a brief scene where Cid is marveling at Setzer’s airship, but insists he can make it go faster if Setzer would remove the casino. A cute argument ensues.

Forget Shadow’s seventh dream (or whatever). Why didn’t the internet tell me about this back in the day!?

The scene is nothing really major, but it does two things I think are pretty nice. First it puts a tenuous link between Cid and airships, upholding a Final Fantasy tradition that part six had seemingly dropped the ball on. And second, it offers some nice (if very subtle) characterization for Setzer.

We already know all about Setzer’s friend Daryl and how her airship was way faster than his. All of that comes at you in a mandatory cutscene just before getting your airship in the second world. What this “new” scene shows, though, is that Setzer knows how to make the Blackjack faster and has chosen not to. We know it’s not out of fear of crashing (he is way too flippant about the prospect in the “when things fall, they fall” scene earlier in the game), so it must be something else. Perhaps there’s no point in going for speed now that there’s nobody to race. Perhaps he just can’t bear to one-up his rival’s old legacy.

Setzer is such an interesting character. Comparing his motivations for helping the heroes in the first world versus the second already give us a good picture of how he develops as a character, and this new insight into his backstory just sweetens the pot.

What other scenes did I miss in this game? Edgar’s first wife coming back to claim child support? Cyan doing tae bo? Umaro saving Christmas? Come back and wow me again in 2019, FF6.

(Later that night…)

A little late, but here’s a transcript of the scene from the GBA version:

(Cid is watching Setzer tinker with the Blackjack’s engine when Terra and Locke enter.)

Cid: This is a nice ship you’ve got here!
Setzer: The shock from our crash really banged up the engine. It’s gonna take a while to fix…
Cid: Let me help you! I know my way around an engine!
Setzer: I think I’ll pass.
Cid: You know, we could really speed this baby up if we axed the casino and streamlined her a bit…
Setzer: …That’s not open to discussion. Now, will you please get out of here?
Cid: Oh well… Would have been at least twice as fast, too… Maybe three times…

(Cid leaves. Terra kneels next to Setzer.)

Terra: You really love this ship, don’t you?
Setzer: It may be hard to believe, considering how I live now, but I used to be a driven man.
Terra: …Really?
Setzer: I wanted to make this the fastest ship in the world, and fly it across the open sky… That was always my dream.
Terra: Is that any different from what you’re doing now?
Setzer: Back then, there was a person who kept me working towards my dream… The pilot of the Falcon, the fastest airship ever made. At times we were friendly rivals, and at times we were simply friends. We’d always talk about our dreams… Like which of us would be the first to sail beyond the sky to the stars. But then she vanished along with the Falcon, and that was the end of youthful dreams.

(Setzer looks depressed.)

Setzer: …Darill…

4 comments to The New Scene in Final Fantasy VI

  • Scott

    Would this live play be FF6 or another game such as wheel of fortune?

    Also IGN did this today: http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/105/1057630p1.html

    Finally did you finish FF4 the after years in the end?

  • dtsund

    Did you see the obscure scene where Banon throws a piece of paper in the trash?

    When you first reach the Returner’s hideout, go to the room where the big conference is held, and search the tiles of the table. Eventually, you’ll find a piece of paper there, and will be prompted as to whether you want to throw it away. If you don’t, at the start of the meeting, Banon calls you all slobs and throws it away himself.

    No, really! Heard about that one?

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