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Some very awesome person made a romhack of FFVI in which all the playable characters' roles are switched around. S/he changed all the sprites and pronouns and everything.
Final Fantasy VI Recast is an exploration of how narrative is effected by both audience preconceptions and what an actor brings to their role. All the playable characters have been recast. For example, the part of Edgar is now being played by Terra and the part of Celes is now being played by Setzer. The script is largely the same except for logic and gendered pronoun-related edits, but the statistics and equipment have not been changed. The only difference from the original game is, essentially, cosmetic.
...So while playing the game, think about how your reaction to the narrative changes with this new “actor” and their interpretation of the source material. How does your view of the noble thief change when he’s a big, barrel-chested bear of a man? How does your view of Terra change when its the story of a shy young boy learning to love himself through nurturing others and becoming a father? How does your view of the royal siblings, one a shameless flirt and mechanical expert and the other a martial arts master on a mission of vengeance, change when its a story of sisters rather than brothers? How is the love story changed by making it no longer heteronormative?
...So while playing the game, think about how your reaction to the narrative changes with this new “actor” and their interpretation of the source material. How does your view of the noble thief change when he’s a big, barrel-chested bear of a man? How does your view of Terra change when its the story of a shy young boy learning to love himself through nurturing others and becoming a father? How does your view of the royal siblings, one a shameless flirt and mechanical expert and the other a martial arts master on a mission of vengeance, change when its a story of sisters rather than brothers? How is the love story changed by making it no longer heteronormative?
I think the thing I like the best is that Sabin and Setzer get to play out Locke and Celes' romance. Uwee hee hee!
I found the romhack through the fuckyeahfinalfantasyvi tumblr, which is awesome for any FF6 fan.
And the romhack is part of the Video Games of the Oppressed blog, which seems very cool in general. Love the write-ups on Tactics Ogre, Earthbound and, uh, Benthic Love – An Anglerfish Dating Sim.
