Something I have not done before reviews a game that has been modded in any way. However, I decided I wanted to playback through Final Fantasy VI, but found this from the hack and decided to give it a go. It uses aspects of the original FF VI released in the US, the GBA port of the game that revised the script, as well as some aspects of one of the biggest fan translations all in the hopes of giving us the most accurate version of the game's script. The hack also includes various bug fixes that the original release had as well as removing the censorship present in the original US release.
It's hard for me to know if it truly is the most accurate version, I kind of have to trust what I read about it since I don't know Japanese at all, but what I can say is this version of the game reads incredibly well. Here are some screenshots of the Opera Scene just to give you an idea.
That said, FF VI was always one of my favorite games. While at first Terra is seen to be the main character, it quickly becomes apparent that there isn't a single main character in the game. One of the great things here is the game quickly becomes about a united front of people facing off against a common threat. There are indeed some odd characters out, like Gau, who seem to just join up to fill out a full roster of characters. With a total of fourteen characters, you only get to leave two out in if you want a full party for the final dungeon, as you end up using twelve characters to progress (You can always run a party of smaller than four people, but we'll get to that).
There are some things to like mechanically about the combat system. Every character gets some kind of unique skill, and largely they are fun to use. Sabin has his Blitzes, selects it and uses the correct input to perform an attack, Terra has the more straightforward Morph to boost her magic, and Gau has the rages that allow him to mimic the attacks of any monster you encounter on the Veldt. Not all are created equal, sadly, with moves like Cyan's Bushido that just require you to sit there and wait for a meter to fill after selecting it. Even if some are less interesting, it doesn't make that character useless though. Cyan in particular has some unique weapons such as Tempest (I forgot the re-translations name for the sword), which can randomly trigger a group wind attack, as well as a couple different really strong weapons near the end game if you want to give him the Genji Glove/Master Scroll combo to so he gets several attacks. With the fourteen-character roster, you do have a lot of room to play around with character builds and make some really fun parties to play with.
Overall dungeon design is pretty solid as well. Most areas are pretty straightforward, but there do exist a handful of more interesting dungeons as well, specifically when you switch between multiple groups. It only happens a handful of times, but there is something to having to swap between multiple groups to traverse a dungeon. I wouldn't put FF VI on par with games like Lufia 2 in terms of how fun the puzzles are to solve, but it still does the job. I can't think of a single dungeon that just feels like a slog to get through.
Something I want to bring up with this game is that impactful visuals don't require high-end graphics. These little sprites show a lot of emotion that a lot of games have come out since failure to do. I'm not saying higher-end graphics can't do this, but I feel a lot of developers rely too much on tech to do all the work for them. Between the tonal shifts in music, the pace characters moving at slowing down, and the small changes in the sprite do wonders at conveying emotions. The creative direction will always matter more than the number of polygons you have to work with.
On the other hand, there is no getting around certain moments of the game being pretty unbelievable in execution. I will not diminish the emotional impact the Opera Scene has, I adore it, but the actual story around it is kind of silly. Here we have a lifelong soldier and general who struggles with her emotions suddenly becoming an actor for a day, and just so happens to look exactly like the actor someone is coming to kidnap. There may only be a few moments like this in the game, but if you think about a few things in too much detail you are going to notice bits of sloppy writing sprinkled throughout the game like this.
If you want to see where the game shines, it's once it hits that second half. Reset back to one character, Celes, you journey a ruined world to reunite the former Returners and takedown Kefka. Why this works so well is the building themes of the game. Even in the face of an apparently ruined world, everyone is still able to come together and unite in the face of dread. Despite not being a deep villain at all, Kefka works perfectly as the foil to what your team is. I honestly don't think he'd work if you tried to put him in just about any other game, at least not as the main villain. It's that and seeing the world as it looks now, though I won't spoil what exactly happens.
Final Fantasy VI is among my favorite games of all time. IV may have been my first RPG, but VI is the game that made me love the genre. It has everything you could want. Great characters, fun combat, a good amount of customization, and one of gaming's best villains (Even if time has kind of ruined the twist of him becoming a villain). Yes, there are some flaws in the writing and some characters that feel a bit tacked on to fill out the roster, and there are some characters whose abilities feel a bit redundant, but these flaws just don't compare to everything the game does right. Overall, I think this version of the game reads the best of any I've played (Of any official release, the GBA is probably the best version), and I recommend any version of the game that isn't that ugly-ass Mobile version they did.
Slightly related, I am planning to Cosplay as Kefka for Anime Matsuri this coming July, so look out for that in six months.