I remember my brother bought me FF7 when it first came out. He heard from some guy at EBGames (back in the day) that it was a great game and that I would probably enjoy it. At first, I didn't really understand it. I had never played RPGs and it just seemed like a lot of reading. After a few months of it sitting there, I put it back in and tried again. I was completely sucked in. I think I clocked like 90-something hours by the time I was done. It really kicked off from there...

After that, any news on future FF games had me completely enthralled. The repeating themese in FF games like crystals, good vs evil, magic, love stories, espers/summons all fascinated me. Squaresoft/Enix had created a world where references from previous games were abundant.

So, Christmas 2002, my gf at the time surprised me with FFXI. I had never been so addicted an MMO in my life. It was an incredible time. When FFXIV was announced in the future, I made a mad dash to get the 1.0 CE. I was ecstatic but, sadly, let down after a few hours of playing it. The rest is history, really. It's hands-down my all time favorite gaming series.