One of my favorite aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is how it gave extra focus to smaller character moments that weren’t necessarily tied to the main quest. After recently playing Final Fantasy 6, I couldn’t help thinking about some character moments I would like to explore in more depth were the game to be given the same remake treatment as Final Fantasy 7. While I was by no means disappointed by the original version of FF6, I think fleshing out these moments would help justify remaking the game.

Contrary to popular consensus, I enjoyed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s inflated runtime. I enjoyed spending more time with characters I love, especially those who likely won’t play as big of a role in the next game. While there seem to be some reservations from Square Enix about an FF6 Remake, I would be just as excited to spend hours with the game’s cast of characters if it does happen. In particular, I can think of a few characters who I would love to see get more attention from an extended remake.

An FF6 Remake Could Solve This Shadow Mystery

Players Have Long Speculated That Shadow Is Relm’s Father

Final Fantasy 6 players have long speculated that Shadow - the enigmatic Assassin who drops in and out of your party throughout the game - is Relm’s father. In flashbacks to his past, you can learn that Shadow spent some time in Thamasa (Relm’s hometown) where he fathered a daughter before leaving with the family dog, Interceptor. Upon arriving in Thamasa, Interceptor takes an immediate liking to Relm, a young girl without parents. Shadow is also the only other character besides Relm who can equip Relm’s mother’s Memento Ring.

All these hints seem pretty explicit, so a Final Fantasy 6 remake confirming Shadow as Relm’s father wouldn’t feel like overt fan service or a departure from anything set up in the original game. Instead, it would be a nice confirmation of what the game heavily implies, and create some opportunities for more dramatic moments in the remake. The addition of voice acting and more detailed character models would allow for more subtle nuances in moments like when Shadow saves Relm and the party from the burning building in Thamasa.

Compared to some of the other additions I’d like to see in a Final Fantasy 6 remake, this would be pretty easy to implement. It wouldn’t require changing too much of what was already there, instead simply adding some more explicit hints in the dialogue and how the lines are performed. The confirmation wouldn’t even have to be said aloud, the game could simply show Shadow’s wife wearing the same ring as Relm in a flashback.

Terra's World Of Ruin Arc Should Happen On Screen

Terra’s Character Arc Happens Partially Off-Screen In FF6

Terra’s role in Final Fantasy 6 is unique. Although she is set up as the protagonist in the early hours of the game, she spends a significant amount of the runtime separated from the rest of the party. After Celes essentially takes over as the main character in the World of Ruin section, Terra is found taking care of a village of children. She initially refuses to re the party, only reing after you return to the village later on, and she decides she needs to fight to protect the people she cares about.

As is, the moment is nice, but I can’t help feeling like it would land better if we got to see more of Terra’s arc happen on screen. A good way to do this would be to give Terra her own playable section of the game in Mobliz that takes place while Celes is assembling the rest of the party. We would get to see Terra developing her relationships with the children there, which would make these relationships land better as her main motivation later on.

I could see this being a similar section to when Cloud meets Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and spends some time helping out around the Sector 5 slums. That section similarly saw the game’s protagonist separated from most of the party, and opening up a bit emotionally while developing new relationships. Though it may sound somewhat repetitive, Cloud and Terra are different enough as characters, and the settings are distinct enough that I don’t think it would be an issue.

Locke And Celes' Romance Deserves A Better Conclusion

An End That Does The Characters Justice

Both Locke and Celes are Final Fantasy 6’s deuteragonists, with there being a solid argument for Celes being more of a protagonist than Terra by the end of the game. Aside from both being prominent characters, their budding romance also gets a significant amount of focus throughout the game. As their connection grew more explicit, and their final lines to Kefka even seemed like references to their relationship, I was convinced that their end credits scene would give a satisfying conclusion to the dynamic that was built up between them.

Although it was nice to see Locke and Celes billed together during the end credits, while all other characters were billed separately, this was far from the satisfying end to their relationship I had been hoping for. Their final scene together shows Locke saving Celes from falling and promising not to let her go, but Locke would have saved anyone in that circumstance. It would have been nice to get a scene that felt unique to his and Celes’ relationship.

It would be nice to see a potential remake explore this romance a bit more, similar to FF7 Rebirth’s extended Golden Saucer scenes. I don’t necessarily need to see the pair be physically intimate - I think Cloud and Aerith’s almost-kiss plays better than his explicit one with Tifa - but it would be nice for Locke and Celes to end on a stronger note than him saving her from falling. I would even be happy if the moment at the end was reversed, showing that they’ve grown to rely on each other since Locke saved Celes when they met.

General Leo Should Get More Screen Time Before His Death

FF6 Didn’t Make Me Care Much About General Leo Before His Death

There are plenty of Final Fantasy 6 characters I’d love to see get more screen time in a remake, and I’d especially love to see a fully voice-acted Edgar hamming it up in his Gerard disguise. However, there aren’t many characters whose potential I would say was wasted in the original version of the game. The only exception is General Leo, who I would have liked to get some more of before his death.

Leo’s death at Kefka’s hands was somewhat less effective than I’d have liked for a few reasons. For one, it happens very quickly after the Empire pretends to work with you again, so I didn’t even have time to stop being suspicious of them before they betrayed me. It also fell flat for me because Leo hadn’t done much to make me like him. I get that I was supposed to like him because he didn’t want to poison Doma’s residents, but I need a bit more of a reason to like a character than them not being completely evil.

If FF6 got the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth treatment, I would hope that General Leo got a bit more characterization and gave me more of a reason to care about his death. It would also be nice to spread out the Empire’s supposed reformation a bit longer, so their betrayal actually hits like a twist instead of being completely expected. While lacking these moments doesn’t ruin the original FF6, I think a remake would benefit a lot from including them.