Your Overall Final Fantasy Experience

[kaynide]

I started with FF4 not real,y knowing what I was doing. I loaded my bro’s save file and derped around in the BlackMage town (Mysidia?). I found this well, dropped a key down it causing an earthquake and some rupture of the earth.

7? year old me, who should not have been touching his brother’s game, freaked out and thought the game was broken. Unplugged it and ran!

...after some years I did 4 and loved it. Eventually did 6, then 7 8 and 9.

....7 I played on a pc that could barely run it...so the entire game was in like...1/3 speed. Knights of the Round clocked in at like 2 minutes on that rig...

I also did 11 for years! Met my wife in Ff11, and learned to speak her language through it,

[Keramory]

I played FF7 and FFX lightly as a child and remember them being staples as a beginner gamer when both came out. I rate them probably the top games I played as a kid, going just below random gems like Star Ocean III.

My real Final Fantasy experience though was in FFXI in the early 2000's, which I completely wasted my teen years on. Never really got much accomplished in the game as I was really more social then anything and didn't get a lot of the short cuts available in the game to take advantage of.

I of course since then played FF13, 14 and 15 after. As well as going back and playing Tactics and 1-3. Last game I played was the 7 remake.

I think of all of them, FFX and Tactics were my favorite single player games. Final Fantasy for me in general is such a strong love/hate relationship however. Nearly every game was mostly amazing and technologically breaking upon release, but my god the amount of glaring issues each newer installment that was close to making them all busts. For example 15 having one of the most beautiful game worlds with zero content in it. Or FFXIV 1.0. Or Tactics control/cam. Or FF13's too linear path. Or god, the FF7 remake. The list goes on.

I could definitely be accused of putting them to a higher standard. And that alone suggests they're a cut above the rest over all for me to do that.

For what game had the most impact. FFXI by far. Obviously had it's issues but there hasn't been such an online community like it since it's peak. Classic FF jobs. Less then classic ones. Every accomplishment feeling (a little too) real and having a heavy weight behind it. Feeling small and the world being large and terrifying. I'm guilty for sure of expecting FFXIV when it came out to be FFXI 2.0. And while I'm happy about a lot of changes from that from FFXIV 2.0 on, there are still a lot of elements I wish they kept. Like elements for example!
I think what made FFXI such a unique experience compared to other MMOs was the accountability kept a lot of people in check. Everything, both large and small, was community based to be completed. There were no instances or multi servers. If you were a jerk or thief, people knew you and avoided you. If someone helped you when you first started, you felt a real obligation to help others later. Not because it was expected but because YOU remembered what a nightmare it was yourself being that person and how much it meant when someone helped you. As kind as FFXIV can be some times, I don't think the community as a whole holds a candle to FFXI. You can run into just horrible people in an instance and never see them again. Everyone knows that. There's not much making people fear social repercussions on the same level.

[SilverObi]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

FFX was my first foray into the series, though I'd dabbled in RPGs before with Super Mario RPG and Pokemon. It was quite difficult to play games involving summoning and/or gods in a strict religious household until I was a bit older.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?

Also X, it did take me a while though due to losing interest somewhat with high school starting but I picked it back up and got to the end and subsequently floored by the turns the story took.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?

Yes when a friend recommended FFXI to me in gym class lol. That was around 2004-2005 and it took a lot of convincing for my parents to get me the FFXI box with the HDD for my birthday. Then I got XII when it came out and fell in love with that setting. After that I've played at least every main series title and some spinoffs but have to admit I have yet to finish a majority of them.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?

FFXI bar none. I've been playing that game for going on 16 years now and I'll never forget the experiences with that game and its community. From my first character, my first party, seeing my slightly more experienced friends roll up on chocobos with their AF gear, the first Level Down..., first NM, first boat ride to Selbina, I could go on and on lol. I log in less often than I used of course as the years have gone on but I still keep that sub active to visit what's become practically a second home.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?

Oh geez this could be a book but I'll try and pick some highlights.
- Getting the final blow on Promathia to clear CoP after my entire party had died. Just one ranger hail mary'ing an Eagle Eye Shot.
- Getting my first job to cap in XI (75 at the time)
- The fight against Yiazmat in XII, I was no stranger to drawn out fights thanks to XI and this was a seriously fun achievement to get
- Is it fair to put "the entirety of FFIV"? Cause yeah that game is in my top 5
- The Fall of Dalamud. Me and my friends had a sleepover just so we could all be in the same room and online together to see the moon fall. That cutscene that kicked in right as the servers died had us all in tears.
- Beating the Coil of Bahamut, even if it was an expansion after it "mattered" it was an amazing experience and it felt great to get closure.
- Heavensward. Shadowbringers. Yeah.

[Bright-Flower]

What was your first Final Fantasy? For me this was Final Fantasy III on the SNES, or Final Fantasy VI as it's correctly known here nowadays.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished? Final Fantasy Mystic Quest on the SNES was the first one I ever beat. The first mainline FF I beat was FFVII on the PS1.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards? Yes. I played 6 (eventually coming back to it and beating it on the ps1 port), 7, 8, 9, 10. I tried to get into 12 but it didn't click with me. Same with 7-R. I played some of the spinoffs, like Type 0 which I really love, and of course 14 here as well.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)? Probably 14 because unlike the single player games, I've played it off and on for actual years, and have RP/community aspects to it that have kept me engaged. Runner up is probably FFVI.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years? I really like Type 0, and while I was a bit put off by the final chapter, the ending after the final boss I really loved. In FF VI, the 'oh crap' factor of the workd getting wrecked was a big one. I also remember, years later playing through the game yet again, saving Cid BY ACCIDENT after always having assumed he had to die and that saving him was always supposed to be an exercise of desperate futility. VI had a lot of great stuff.

[RotoLoto]

I'm really dating myself, but my first Final Fantasy was Final Fantasy Adventure on the original Game Boy. Technically that's the first Mana game though, so my first ACTUAL FF was III/VI on the SNES.

The first one I finished was Adventure, but the first mainline game I finished wouldn't be until VII hit the Playstation. After that I've played pretty much all of them, beating most of them. VI I got to the end as a kid but got stuck and eventually gave up. VIII I got to the end but my save corrupted and I couldn't be arsed to play through again.

My favorite moment from FF was beating Ruby Weapon in VII. I had Red XIII counter-mimic using an elixir, which won't take items out of your inventory, so I just let the game play itself while I was at school. When I got back Red XIII was still alive, but the boss had used all of it's PP (energy for big moves), so all it had left was a standard attack and a fire attack that Red XIII was equipped to absorb.

Favorites mainline single player titles are VI, IX, and XII, so those would be the "live rent free in head" games.

[Wolven_Essence]

My first was Final Fantasy 6, or 3 as it was called back in the day. Great game, probably the one that I would still call the best to this day. When I could not remember the number I would refer to it as, The one where the world breaks.

The first one that I finished though was seven.

I could not really say that any of them live rent free in my head, but my favorite of the series is easily 8. Probably because of the romantic story behind it with Squall and Rinoa. I guess I have always been something of a hopeless romantic. Probably the most amusing moment was when I went to fight....oh hell I can't remember what it was called. It was one of the optional bosses in 8, one of the Weapons I believe. Or maybe it was one of the summon bosses. You had to go down into this building to reach it that I think was on a cliff on one of the coasts. Man it's been so long. Anyway, it was a fairly tough fight. My brother had done it previously and he was watching, in anticipation of the frustration I would go through after he had such a tough time of it. Anyway, I get down to the fight, I use Quistis' ability to allow everyone to use their limit breaks. I use Squall's, hit Lionbreaker, and one shot the boss. My brother gets ticked off by this and actually shuts off the playstation before I can save. Pissed me off back then but...I can look back and laugh now. :P

Edit: So I looked it up, and I am pretty sure it was Bahamut, in the Deep Sea Research Center. I would like to say that it was Ultima Weapon, who you fight in the same place after Bahamut, but I seriously doubt I one shot that, even with Lionbreaker.

[Vyrerus]

This thread's rather heartwarming as people recall their first memories with the series. I'm really loving it! Especially seeing other people who loved FFXI come out of the woodwork, but also some people reminding us that the series isn't perfect and has had some bumpy roads, hehe.

I'll gush a little bit about FFXI myself. I started playing it in very late 2003 after the PS2 version finally came out. It didn't go very well, since we only had Dial-up. It took a full day and a half to download the patch, and then when me and my brother first got into the game, it was laggy as all get out. Plus, we had to get off the game each time my mom needed the phone. We spent from December until he left in April, convincing her to upgrade the internet to DSL. She decided to do it at the very end of March, and we spent the first week or so of April trying out races, servers, and making plans for how to approach the game.

I remember we had the BradyGames hand book or whatever it was, and it suggested stuff like WAR/drk being a super deadly powerhouse. I remember wanting to be RDM/drk so that I could be a really beefy melee oriented RDM... of course, the game never worked out that way, hehe. I wound up being a WAR main after trying Elvaan, Galka, and Hume to level 34. I'd tried becoming a DRK on the Elvaan and Galka, and I didn't quite understand that stuff like Souleater and Last Resort were actually generating enmity due to developer oversight/intention oversight. They had that happen with a lot of FFXI jobs. "We intend for Ninja to be a premier damage dealer that has endless amounts of magic via Ninjutsu tools, and hits twice as fast as anything else!" --> Becomes one of the best tanks in the game, via playerbase optimization and defense/VIT being bugged. Hehe.

I'll also never forget my first trip to Castle Zvahl, with an escort of friends ranging from levels 60 to 75, most in the 60s.

Lion's rocker hair.

Prishe's Nullifying Dropkick.

Aphmau and her silly puppets.

Lilisette meeting her alternate world self, and being flayed from existence. What an odd quest for recovery.

I went back a few years ago and finished up Rhapsodies and Seekers of Adoulin, and going into the deeper parts of Ra'Kaznar gave me the same vibe as Castle Zvahl, even though I was escorted by Trusts this time.

[Ariel_Valmont]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

Final Fantasy, I still love this game.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?

Final Fantasy, my neighbor and I would write down our damage dealt so we could keep track of our totals to see how close we were to getting to kill bosses.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?

Yes, I’ve played many of them through to the end.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?

XIV, play it daily, IV & VI snes glory days, IX and the original crystal chronicles.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?

Not really, lots of fond memories but nothing that needs to be posted in the forum.

[Voltyblast]

What was your first Final Fantasy?
Final Fantasy VII. I'm European.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?
Final Fantasy IX. I didn't know English, this game was translated.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?
No: After XII I practically shelved the series as I lost all interest in it. FFXIV was my first FF in almost a decade, more or less

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?
Probably IX, because it felt like a throwback to the original games (I played 4 and 5 before) and I liked the fantasy style it had. Plus I liked Zidane/Gidan a lot, especially after playing 7 and 8 which had those moody MCs who cared about nothing (and my rule thumb is: "If they don't care, why should I?")

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?
Probably when Zidane/Gidan gets countered about how he doesn't want to get helped and everyone now helps him instead, I forgot the actual scene, but what I remember most fondly is the music "You're not alone".
It reminds me of someone on youtube who said something like this: "You need to master the art of happiness, in order to master sadness"

[ReynTime]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

Final Fantasy VI

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?

Final Fantasy VII

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?

Yeah. During the year VIII came out I went and gave I through IV a shot. Didn't go very far in none of them back then until I finished VIII, then played V til the end. Then IX, then X, X-2 and then XII which before VII-Remake was the last offline Final Fantasy that had grabbed my interest. I also finished I (Dawn of Souls) later, and III (DS).
Not long ago I almost finished VI on Wii.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?

IX. Even with the combat pace issues and broken stats, it has most of the things I want in a Final Fantasy. I don't think SE has ever topped IX's art direction and creativity in world design since going full 3D with their environments. Soundtrack was/is simply divine and apart from Amarant every single character is just great.
IX was also the last offline Final Fantasy I enjoyed enough that I'd feel like playing it again. I didn't hate X but I didn't care to ever replay it. And while I liked XII at the time, I didn't like how broken Gambit could be, and I couldn't go back to XII's combat after experiencing Xenoblade.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?

Mocking Tidus during my entire X playthrough. Leaving Midgar for the first time in VII. Laughing during the first time I discovered I could have XII play itself during combat with the right gambit setup. Unlocking Espers in VI and all the broken builds that become possible later. The entire intro of IX, or going to Terra and Kuja's development.