This is mostly a list of my general impressions of
FFVI fanfics,
focusing on Celes and Locke related fanfics. I'm not claiming to be a
great reviewer, because I'm not, nor am I claiming to be a great writer.
I wrote this fanfic review a year or so before I opened this site, and since
there hasn't been a great influx of
FFVI fanfics since then, I think
many of the observations are still true. I will note that most of the fanfics
I read were written many years ago, I guess mostly around the time
FFVI
was known as
FF3 for the Super Nintendo.
After reading over and skimming "FFVI" fanfics at
RPGamer
and other sites (many of which are now dead), I came up with a short list of what
is wrong with most of the fics:
- They're hokey. Okay, they're REALLY hokey. I suppose this is a trait of most
fanfics in general, but it's still valid for Final Fantasy VI fics.
- Celes is some sort of birthing vessel to fic writers. She ALWAYS becomes
pregnant, whether by Locke or by some other guy. And she always gives birth
to a boy. (I'm not sure why it's always a boy, but it usually is.) I do
realize women, by nature, are the ones having children, but I don't think
that means they *must* have kids; nor is it every woman's ambition to have
children.
- There's some new character named Alex in nearly every fanfic. I don't know
why Alex is such a popular name. I like the name myself, but I don't think
it fits with the names of FFVI. (In one fanfic, there's Alex, Celes'
brother, and in another, Alexander is Celes' new lover, in a third, Alex is
Locke's friend, and in another, Alex is a random new person.)
- All new characters have American names. Alright, so it's hard to come up
with names but can't one at least TRY to make something up that sounds, at
the very least, medieval European? "John, Pat, Joe, and Locke" doesn't really
flow well. At least, not to me. Names like "Rachel" have a sweet simplicity
to them that make them fit in, so if something like that would be appropriate.
- Celes always cries and weeps like she has permanent hysteria. It must be a
woman thing (like PMS) that kicks in once a woman has finished being a powerful
general in the army of an empire bent on world domination. I mean, girls, YOU
know how it is. Whatever. Celes is NOT going to break down at every little
thing. She may have changed throughout the game to become a more caring,
dependent person, but I don't believe she's weak.
- For some reason, several writers felt the need to warp Locke's personality
to make him more acceptable, to change him into an insensitive, constantly
swearing bastard who fights with his friends and/or Celes mainly over Celes.
This is okay when well done, but it doesn't work when... well, when it's done
badly. As interesting as OOC can be, it usually isn't acceptable to me as a
reader unless there's some rational explanation for it.
I've had a lot of problems finding good
FFVI fanfics focusing on Celes or
Locke/Celes. I don't think there are many, and I really could use some good
recommendations. The ones I do like, off the top of my head, include the
"Menage a Trois" series by Second Impact (incomplete) and "Celes Wipes the
Record Clean," this weird, comedic fanfic about Celes 'breaking' into a hospital
to steal her health records because she wants to run for office and is paranoid
about someone reading her files. "Menage a Trois" is very well written, and
"Celes Wipes the Record Clean" is just funny and unique, a good read.
