When I first played Final Fantasy VI back in like 2004, it was because my best friend had recommended it to me. He didn't play many console rpgs, but it was his favorite of the ones he had played (and I had played many Final Fantasies before it), so I went in with higher expectations. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of things I loved about Final Fantasy VI, but its shallow plot (in a plot-heavy game) and poor character interaction (I'm talking part 2 here) were a huge turn off. What mostly kept me going was the music, a few lovable characters (Ultros!), and the games relative ease.

Although, I should note that he also recommended Chrono Trigger and I fell in love with it. It is my second favorite SNES game, Dragon Quest VI being my favorite :)

Because it was a fantastic game.

In my opinion, what makes a great RPG (whether it's a JRPG or a WRPG or any type of RPG at all) is the characters. Final Fantasy 6 had the best characters out of any of the games in the series. And each character had their own abilities or special uses, so no character was truly useless (*cough* Cait Sith *cough*). Additionally, Kefka was an incredible villain. There was nothing tragic or emotional about him, he was just a cruel, heartless bastard who wanted power. Combine that with a plot that has a lot of interesting twists and turns, and you have one of the best Final Fantasy games (if not the best).

BEcause it WAS the best Final Fantasy game in my opinion & obviously in the opinions of many many fans

why?

Well the music, story, characters were some of the best in an FF ever.

The game really touched you on many levels.

No FF will surpass this one.

But... in my opinion it has already been surpassed... several times.  *prepares for brutal clubbing* D:

I take my opinion and I challenge you to a duel! (not really)

I can agree with claims like "best wise-cracking octopus"; there's no doubt that FF6 is superior in that department. But lack of useless characters? Nani?

And Cait Sith gets a lot of bad press on account of the fact that he sucks, but he has catchy theme music and he does have uses...

i thought final fantasy 7 was the fan favorite lol??

It was a good game, but i think VII has the most fans in the long run.

In terms of numbers, yes. But FF6 fans make up for it with intensity.

FF6 is my all time favorite. The characters are just amazing. In the first half of the game it feels as if Terra is the main character but it begins to fade away and leaves you with every character getting the spotlight and being fully developed.

Aside from the characters and the amazing storyline, there's Kefka, famazing music, Ultros, lots of moogles, and many little things that just add to the fun (Relm & Shadow's questionable past, Lone wolf, the two semi-secret characters, the opera scene, etc)

I agree. I played the PSX version some years ago and I thought it was a very good game for its time, but not as good as some people say. I also played Chrono Trigger and I think it's far better, I agree with people on this one.