The thing is, willing self sacrifice is a fairly common element in any fantasy genre. FFIV had The Twins/Cid/FuSoYa/, FFV had Galuf and both games came before SoM. Celes attempted suicide because she was of the assumption that they had lost the fight and that there was no saving the world. Afterall, even if she wanted to do something, what could she have done as a single person against a person with the power of a god? She wasn't delusional and she knew how absurd it would be to even try, falling into depression until she finally tries to take her own life. There's a distinct difference.
FF VI had a lot of characters and was the first RPG I know, and maybe the only console RPG at that, to have no 'main' character. A character you spend the most time with, yes (in the guise of Terra/Celes) but they weren't main characters. They did not control the wheels of the world nor did they gather a rowdy bunch of miscreants together to save the world. Neither of them had any say in the military movements of The Returners, they didn't have any political power at all or have any super power that would stop the big baddie. (Terra's Half-esper state is, while a power, not a necessity against Kefka.)
Not to mention that this is the first bad guy to have ever really gotten his goal which is to rearrange the world according to his design, which is very Art Nouveau meets fuckyourshitup.
Another pivotal difference between FFVI and it's 'save-the-world' ending in comparison to everything else was, for once, the world NEEDS saving. There was no impending doom, no evil plot to take over the world to stop or any good versus evil battle in mind: They had already lost the entire world to Kefka's infantile like joy in destruction and what they want is their world back. They want another chance to live.
Sadly, not all of the protagonists shared the hero mentality. Terra, Strago and Cyan for example...
Terra didn't want anything to do with the heroics anymore and simply wants to be a mother to all the orphaned children and can't bring herself to fight knowing that there's a chance that she may die as well, leaving them with no one to care for them. If she had to live and die in the wasteland, it's okay as long as she can protect the children for as long as she can. She wasn't about to give up her place and only chance to be part of a family she never had just because someone has the crazy idea to fight a god. Only when she realizes how weak she is on her own does she accept your proposal and even then, it's tentative.
Stragus goes completely batshit insane knowing that he's probably lost Relm, the only thing that he's lived for as long as she's lived and resides to praying to Kefka for salvation. He didn't even give a shit if any of the other characters tried to convince him, without Relm life wasn't worth living. It was a literal 'Fuck you and your heroics, you're the reason why she died!' and only when you prove to him that Relm was indeed alive did he start caring again.
Cyan's family and lord are poisoned in cold blood. In a blind rage, he storms off into the enemy camp with all guns blazing and doesn't stop until you beat some sense into him. Even then the memory haunts him and he becomes delusional and believes they're still alive, waiting for him to just come home...
I doubt that anything this depressing was ever really written into a videogame back then.
If I were to begin ranting about the music, we'd be stuck forever. (Terra's theme? Dancing mad? Aria de Mezzo Caratarre? Jesus christ, these three songs are better than almost any other song in RPG history, but that's just personal opinion and what does that matter, right?)
All in all, Final Fantasy VI had done a lot more for videogames than anything else before it. Possibly even more so than a lot that came after it.
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FF VI had a lot of characters and was the first RPG I know, and maybe the only console RPG at that, to have no 'main' character. A character you spend the most time with, yes (in the guise of Terra/Celes) but they weren't main characters. They did not control the wheels of the world nor did they gather a rowdy bunch of miscreants together to save the world. Neither of them had any say in the military movements of The Returners, they didn't have any political power at all or have any super power that would stop the big baddie. (Terra's Half-esper state is, while a power, not a necessity against Kefka.)
Not to mention that this is the first bad guy to have ever really gotten his goal which is to rearrange the world according to his design, which is very Art Nouveau meets fuckyourshitup.
Another pivotal difference between FFVI and it's 'save-the-world' ending in comparison to everything else was, for once, the world NEEDS saving. There was no impending doom, no evil plot to take over the world to stop or any good versus evil battle in mind: They had already lost the entire world to Kefka's infantile like joy in destruction and what they want is their world back. They want another chance to live.
Sadly, not all of the protagonists shared the hero mentality. Terra, Strago and Cyan for example...
Terra didn't want anything to do with the heroics anymore and simply wants to be a mother to all the orphaned children and can't bring herself to fight knowing that there's a chance that she may die as well, leaving them with no one to care for them. If she had to live and die in the wasteland, it's okay as long as she can protect the children for as long as she can. She wasn't about to give up her place and only chance to be part of a family she never had just because someone has the crazy idea to fight a god. Only when she realizes how weak she is on her own does she accept your proposal and even then, it's tentative.
Stragus goes completely batshit insane knowing that he's probably lost Relm, the only thing that he's lived for as long as she's lived and resides to praying to Kefka for salvation. He didn't even give a shit if any of the other characters tried to convince him, without Relm life wasn't worth living. It was a literal 'Fuck you and your heroics, you're the reason why she died!' and only when you prove to him that Relm was indeed alive did he start caring again.
Cyan's family and lord are poisoned in cold blood. In a blind rage, he storms off into the enemy camp with all guns blazing and doesn't stop until you beat some sense into him. Even then the memory haunts him and he becomes delusional and believes they're still alive, waiting for him to just come home...
I doubt that anything this depressing was ever really written into a videogame back then.
If I were to begin ranting about the music, we'd be stuck forever. (Terra's theme? Dancing mad? Aria de Mezzo Caratarre? Jesus christ, these three songs are better than almost any other song in RPG history, but that's just personal opinion and what does that matter, right?)
All in all, Final Fantasy VI had done a lot more for videogames than anything else before it. Possibly even more so than a lot that came after it.