I wrote about it extensively in my LTTP, albeit scattered across many posts and, with there now being some distance since I played it, I don't feel like diggin
I know that I vastly preferred the World of Ruin both in terms of gameplay and story.
I remember thinking several characters had awfully soapy stories, in particular Locke losing his girl, decorating a weird shrine around her dead body, trying to revive her, etc.
I wasn't pulled into much in the first half. It almost seemed like the first half was plot, the second half was character. And character is where I live.
Despite my initial impressions, the game did something interesting to me--redeemed some of these stories, or paid them off in ways I hadn't expected, deepened them. The coin toss between the brothers is a good example. Celes' suicide attempt, botched in translation if I recall, Terra waking up on that island... that 'shot', with the bird wandering around, is stunning, filmic. The death of old man Cid. Terra's internal (and external) struggle later on, whether she'll find peace of some sort.
As is Shadow, is an admittedly simple, but I would say well-drawn portrait of a broken man. I may have felt the plot uninteresting and felt little for most of the characters, yet then why did shadow's suicide-by-tower break my heart a little bit? And here's where translation comes in, too: the SNES line doesn't match up too well with what happens on-screen. The line could give you hope, but the visual nails the coffin shut.
The translation also affects Locke at the end. I recall making a tally of where I preferred the JP language and where I preferred the English (SNES).
['And I have learned to celebrate life… and the living.'] while perhaps not entirely faithful, is by far what made his character for me. The implication isn't just that he needs to protect more people or some cheesy 'celebrate life'... it's the last part of the sentence that matters: 'and the living'. As in, not your dead girlfriend. He's finally moved on.
Kefka, too, when he goes full nihilist:
I prefer 'You sound like a bunch of self-help books!', whereas the JP is more 'Blah blah blah, you make me sick! Ahh!!'
I think it's funny, a lot more character than the generic evil villain thing.
In Japanese he then says he will erase everything that gives your life meaning. JP gets the nod, as opposed to 'for my next trick, i will make you disappear!'
If you're gonna go for the nihilist thing, go for it. Not to mention, he does what he says in Japanese, not what he says in English.
And finally, the English: 'I will create a monument to non-existence!' This actually makes some sort of sense from a madman standing on top of a pile of garbage, which is on fire, who has made a late-game pivot to nihilism.
In Japanese he just says he'll turn the place into a world of death. See above.
Anyhow... I never felt much for the old man or his daughter... except when he joined a cult. It made some sad kind of sense, an old man like that, walking in circles, averse to reason... dealing with his grief as so many do.
So yeah... this post is a mess and I guess I didn't really comment on the story, nor come close to covering every character. For me, it was those vignettes in the WoR, the small stories, the character bits that hit the hardest.
Part of my source material re: the various translations
https://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-vi/part-14/ (excellent read regardless)
