Top 10 Most Memorable Scenes/Moments
Top 10 Final Fantasy VI/III Moments
Whether you love it or not, this Final Fantasy was definitely a cut above the rest. There were plenty of reasons to love it: unforgettable characters, a great epic story, a magnificent soundtrack, the magic spells, incredible CGI for its time, etc. Here I will be counting down the top 10 moments and scenes from Final Fantasy VI/III. For this list, I have chosen scenes from the game that were significant to the storyline, funny, and flat out memorable, and trust me, there are plenty of them. So sit back, and relax as I nostalgically reflect on the top 10 moments from Final Fantasy VI/III.
Before we begin, here are some honorable mentions that didn't quite make the cut:
The Empire's Meeting and Betrayal
The Death of General Leo
Sabin vs. Vargas
Chaos In the Magitek Research Facility
Surviving the Phantom Train
The Battles With Ultros
Getting the Falcon
Fighting For Life In Cyan's Dream
The Final Battle
10. The Introduction-The Storming of Narshe
Okay, I realize it may be clichéd to kick off the list with the game's opening scene, but how could you not? Terra and two other soldiers from the Empire storm Narshe in magitek armor, annihilating everything in their path to reach the frozen esper hidden within the mines. Although we know nothing of Terra just yet, not even her name, we can feel that she will be a huge focus in the story. When the three reach the esper, it forms a strange connection with Terra, makes the other two soldiers vanish, and causes Terra to both pass out and black out and wake up in an elderly gentleman's house. Talk about opening with a bang. This scene definitely let us know what we were in for, and it didn't lie.
9. Kefka's First Appearance
At around a half hour into the game, we get our first taste of the maniacal clown that is Kefka. Curious about the whereabouts of Terra, whom he is trying to retrieve and get back to the Empire, Kefka is accompanied by two soldiers and goes to the kingdom of Figaro, where he questions King Edgar about where Terra is, which he replies he does not know, but we all know he is lying. Not fooled, Kefka sets fire to the castle and refuses to put it out unless Edgar tells him where Terra is. Edgar, Locke, and Terra manage to narrowly escape Kefka, and Figaro goes into its submarine mode and burrows underground. Throughout this scene, we get to see Kefka's sadistic, destructive nature, as well as his iconic cackle, which was actually the first audible line of dialogue in the entire Final Fantasy series. This scene let us know that Kefka was an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, and that his future intentions would only mean chaos and death for the rest of the world.
8. Locke's Shenanigans In South Figaro and Saving Celes
A lot of the game's humor revolves around Locke, who is adamant about being called a "treasure hunter" as opposed to a thief, despite some of his conniving skills calling that into question. This scene serves to be funny, clever, and memorable at the same time. After the Empire takes control of South Figaro, Locke does his best to stymie their efforts. But eventually, he finds every exit blocked, and realizes he must escape somehow. Thinking on his feet, he steals a merchant's outfit and a soldier's uniform to access certain parts of the village and gain access to a rich man's house via a secret tunnel.
While traveling through the basement of the house, he finds an interrogation room, where General Celes of the Empire is in shackles and is being tortured by two soldiers due to questioning the Empire's actions. She is then told that she will be executed for her treachery the next day. However, after one of the soldiers leaves and the other falls asleep, Locke unlocks her shackles, and tells her to come with him. Celes continually asks why he rescued her, but he either doesn't say why or he is vague when answering. It is not revealed until later that Celes reminds Locke of his deceased girlfriend Rachel, whom he failed to protect. After sneaking out of the house, they manage to escape the village, and make their way toward Narshe to meet up with the rest of the party.
This scene does three things: it gives us a display of Locke's quick thinking and quick wit that we know and love about him, it gives us a better idea of what kind of person Locke is, and it kicks off the romance between Locke and Celes, who have more chemistry than any other two characters in the game.
7. Terra's Transformation and Origin
Shortly after defending the frozen esper from the Empire in Narshe, the party goes to check on the esper, which is unharmed. Terra suddenly connects with it again, but instead of passing out again, she transforms into an esper-looking being and hurriedly flies away, much to the shock of the rest of the party. The party finds her in ZoZo, and Terra is eventually able to recall that she is indeed half-human, half-esper, as her human mother, Madonna, had accidentally got sucked into the esper homeworld, where she was befriended by the esper Maduin, who eventually became her lover and conceived Terra with her. But Emperor Gestahl and the Empire eventually found the homeworld, and while they were eventually sucked out, so were Madonna, Maduin, and Terra. Gestahl realized that Terra was a hybrid of human and esper, and took her, hoping that her magical abilities would vastly help the Empire. This scene confirms what we suspected about Terra, and it makes her that much more of a memorable character.
6. The Espers Run Rampant
The Returner's leader, Banon, formulates a plot to attack the Empire. He asks Terra to communicate with the espers at the portal and convince them to attack the Empire. The plan is to have the Returners attack from the north, and the espers to attack from everywhere. The party gets Terra to the portal, but as she attempts to communicate, Kefka and a few soldiers appear, revealing that they have been following them. As the rest of the party holds off Kefka, Terra succeeds in getting the espers to attack, but they go haywire and nearly gets the party killed. When one of the espers damages the airship, the party crash lands the ship a few miles from Vector. When they reach it, they find it in flames, meaning that the plan worked, but Gestahl now wants a truce and peace, and we all know how that goes.....
5. Locke Comes to Terms With His Past
In the World of Ruin, the player finds Locke in the Phoenix Cave, where he is seen holding the magicite Phoenix, said to be capable of raising someone from the dead. Not surprisingly, he takes it to Kohinglin in an attempt to revive Rachel. When it seems as though it fails, Rachel suddenly opens her eyes, much to Locke's amazement. However, she only has a few minutes before she must go back to the afterlife, and cleanses Locke of any wrongdoing, telling him she was happiest when she was with him, and does not regret one day of being with him. Rachel then tells him to give his love to the one who is now in his heart (Celes), and to love her as much as he loved her. With her last words, Rachel gives the power of the Phoenix to Locke, and departs. A heavy-hearted, but rejuvenated Locke accepts Rachel's words, and rejoins the party, determined to help bring down Kefka. This scene was the last bit of character development for Locke, and it cemented him as one of the best characters in the game.
4. The Apocalypse
Shortly after the betrayal of the Empire, Kefka has turned all the espers into magicite and has thus taken their powers. Gestahl and Kefka have also taken the three statues known as the Warring Triad and use them to create the Floating Continent. When the party reaches them, everyone but Celes is held down by the magic of the statues. Gestahl and Kefka hand her a sword and tell her to kill her friends and rule the world with them, but Celes refuses and instead stabs Kefka. After seeing his own blood spilt, Kefka goes into a berserker rage, killing Gestahl with the power of the three statues in the process, and starts to move them out of balance, which creates catastrophic effects. However, Shadow intervenes and manages to free the party, and tells them to escape while he holds off Kefka. The party (including Shadow if you wait for him) makes it to the airship and flies away, but it is torn apart when the statues unleash their power on the earth and essentially destroy it, creating the World of Ruin. The party is then all separated, and Kefka absorbs the statues' power and becomes a god, as well as the source of all magic in this new desolate world and creates a massive monument in his image made up of debris.
3. The Poisoning of Doma
Arguably Kefka's most despicable act and defining moment. The Empire is working on a strategy to attack Doma Castle, but all attempts have failed thanks to the efforts of Doma's finest soldier, Cyan Garamonde. When the general in charge, General Leo, is summoned back to Vector by Gestahl, he leaves Kefka in charge, but warns him not to do anything drastic, which Kefka brushes off. When Leo departs, Kefka orders poison be spilt in the nearby river, which is Doma's water supply. The soldiers are hesitant as it seems morally wrong, and some of the Empire's soldiers are being held captive in Doma, but Kefka says to do it anyway. Sabin, who is staking out in the nearby bushes to see what the Empire is up to, tries to stop Kefka, but soldiers get in the way, and Kefka gets to the river. As he dumps the poison, he says his iconic line, "Nothing can beat the sweet sound of voices screaming in unison. Uheeheehee!!" The resulting poisoning results in a swift victory for the Empire, as all of the residents of Doma except Cyan and one other sentry perish, including Cyan's wife and child. This scene truly encapsulates the degree of how truly sick and twisted Kefka is, and how he will stop at nothing just to cause pain and suffering merely for his own sick pleasure. If this scene doesn't convince you of how awful a human being Kefka is, I don't know what will.
2. The Opera Scene
The scene that many fans pinpoint as the most memorable scene in the entire game, the ever famous opera scene. Locke, Celes, and the party travel to the opera house searching for clues as to how to find Setzer, the owner of the only airship in the world. The opera man, called the "Impresario", knows that Setzer wants to come for the opera diva, Maria, and is terrified that the day's performance will be ruined if Setzer makes an appearance. Going off of an earlier comment made at Celes, in that she closely resembles Maria, Locke proposes a plan: Celes will impersonate Maria in the performance, including singing all of her parts, and if/when Setzer arrives and takes her, they will follow him to his airship, to which the Impresario agrees. Celes is reluctant, but goes along with it when she finds that she can impersonate an operatic voice. After making Locke blush in her gorgeous outfit, Celes takes to the stage and delivers a powerful, convincing, and unforgettable performance that is assisted by the player in remembering her lines. Moments later, after the rest of the party fights off Ultros and his plan to ruin the opera, Setzer arrives and takes Celes to his airship, believing she is Maria, as the rest of the party follows, and the opera ends. Truly a memorable spectacle, and one that fans will never forget.
1. The Death of Cid and Celes' Suicide
The odd part about this scene is that it is entirely up to the player as to whether it will happen or not. One year after the end of the world, Celes awakens to find herself with Cid on a deserted island. Cid has been taking care of her, and tells her that there were other people on the island, but they either died or committed suicide. Cid becomes ill, and Celes offers to catch some fish for him to eat. Now, depending on how the player does this, Cid will either live or die. If the player continuously feeds him fast moving fish, Cid will live; if the player feeds him no fish or slow moving fish, Cid will die.
If Cid dies, it becomes what I believe to be the most memorable, emotional scene in the entire game. When Cid dies, Celes finds him lying on the bed, believing him to be asleep, but she eventually realizes that he has died. In anguish and despair, Celes heads to the highest point of the island: a high cliff that overlooks the ocean line. She deduces that all of her friends must have died, including Locke, and that the world is continuously sliding into decay and ruin. Having lost the will to go on living, Celes leaps from the cliff and into the water below. Her body washes up on the shore soon after. A wounded, but healing seagull revives her, much to her chagrin, but she notices a bandana similar to Locke's is wrapped around its wound. Realizing that Locke must be alive, she gains a newfound hope and leaves the island thanks to a raft built by Cid, who had been building for the last year.
I have never felt so emotional after seeing a game scene as I did after seeing this scene. While a lot of the scenes in this game are memorable, this scene captures that hopelessness that only a lone survivor can feel, and when Celes takes the leap, we really don't want her to, but in the end, we understand why she did. And because she's one of the most beloved characters, it just made it that much more emotional. If a scene can elicit genuine emotions from deep within you, than it is truly memorable, and that is why I believe this is the most memorable scene in Final Fantasy VI/III.
Agree with the list? Which scenes from the game did you think were the most memorable? Leave a comment!