Happy 25th Anniversary Final Fantasy

[Holy_Dragoon]

I honestly do not remember how old I was when I first played FF at my friend's house. He was older and told us the game was too hard for us most likely, so we were forced to watch until he left. He was right, we got schooled, too young and not smart enough to even kill the initial Garland.

That just gave me all the more reason to want to learn to play. =)

[Renala]

My first game ever when I was 4(Just a tab before mario even!) was FFIII(US version, so was VI). I didn't even know what the game was until years later, when I found it for myself! After that, I played 7, 8, 9, 10 in order, and then devouted many a years in 11. Somewhere along the lines, I had gone back and played 1-6, via roms if I had to. I also played other things, tactics, crystal thing on GC, ext. I think by this day, I've played almost every FF!

Ever since then, I have been a FF fan, even when it was SS, now SE. To have so many years of my life, nearly all I remember, loving one thing.. Thats something.

Cheers, SE, for 25 years!

[Zehira]

Happy Birthday! You are still 1 year younger than me and I am still proud of you! I love you!

[Eekiki]

I'm gonna start gushing right now, so stop right now if you don't feel like reading the ramblings of a fanboy.

I was seven years old, and I got the special bonus issue of Nintendo Power that was nothing but a big Final Fantasy strategy guide. I'd never played or heard of the game, though at the time my favorite game was Dragon Warrior (Quest). I was blown away by Final Fantasy. It was Dragon Warrior times four. The world was huge. There were so many different characters to play as. So many weapons and spells to use. I must've read through every page of that guide at least 50 times without ever playing the game. The only present I asked my parents for that Christmas was Final Fantasy.

And for what seemed like years afterwards Final Fantasy was the only game I played. It became part of my dreams. In school I started creating my own Final Fantasy game. I drew a world map, and designed monsters, spell charts, new character classes (I totally invented the Blue Mage), and weapons. Then I got in trouble because what I was supposed to be doing was reading the book, "A Cricket in Times Square", and my desk got moved next to the teacher's desk so she could keep an eye on me and make sure I "stayed on task". Nothing crushes childrens' dreams quite like the American education system. We also had to read "Sarah, Plain and Tall" that year. That was just about the most boring book I've ever read. Who cares if people from Maine or wherever say "ayuh" instead of "yes"? There are orbs that need their light restored, man!

My parents wouldn't buy me a Super Nintendo. My mom didn't like it because it wasn't backwards compatible with NES games (having a mom with degrees in computer science and electrical engineering sucks sometimes). After spending a night at the house of a friend who had a SNES and Final Fantasy II (IV), and subsequently staying up all night playing it while he slept, I would return home to my NES, pop in my Final Fantasy cartridge, and pretend I was playing Final Fantasy II. I distinctly remember re-enacting the scene in Kaipo after the attack on Damcyan, where Edward is mourning the loss of Anna and is attacked by a Sahagin. I would dim the brightness on my TV to make it look like nighttime, hum the battle music to myself while fighting. I guess it was easier for me to be satisfied with my own imagination back then than it is today. One time, I was able to rent a SNES console from a video store, and the only game I rented with it was Final Fantasy II. I had the console for only three days, and I played FFII for almost 72 hours straight. I think I had made it to the sealed cave before I finally had to return the game.

Eventually my parents caved in and bought me a SNES, because by that time there was Final Fantasy III (VI), Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger, and I was not letting them make any more excuses, dammit. FFIII was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It's simply a masterpiece, and when it comes to story and music it's the best in the series in my opinion. This is when the Final Fantasy franchise really started to take off in popularity. Finally, I wasn't the only one playing it--all my friends were playing it, too. We'd take notes on our character builds and compare them with each other's at school. I showed my friends how to rescue Shadow on the floating continent. They showed me how to get the chainsaw in Zozo (it was kind of a numbers puzzle, and I suck at those).

By the time I got Final Fantasy VII, I was a couple months away from turning 18. This was a more mature, futuristic story, almost like Final Fantasy was becoming an adult right along with me. It didn't occur to me at the time that I needed separately sold memory cards to save my game, so my PlayStation had to stay powered on 24 hours a day for the first couple weeks, because all the stores had sold out of memory cards thanks to Christmas.

It seems like every new game in the series has in its own way impressed me beyond what its predecessors did. Even XIII, which a lot of people panned, impressed me with its slick interface and outstanding graphics. And I even liked the faster paced, streamlined gameplay of the Paradigm system. What's impressed me about Final Fantasy XIV is its metamorphosis. It was a complete wreck when it was released, but Square Enix didn't give up on it. Today, seeing what FFXIV has become, and trying all the alternatives, I say this is the best MMORPG out there right now. I only see it getting better from here.

And of course, there's Final Fantasy XI, a game that changed my life. FFXI was my first online game besides Diablo II, which I only really played with my co-workers. I was a real awkward, anti-social guy as a young adult. I'm still awkward, but I've learned to live with it, and even use it to my advantage. About two weeks before the game was released, I was laid off from my job I'd had since high school. I had nothing and no one. In Vana'diel, I learned more about human interaction and being a member of a community than I ever had in my previous 24 years. Over the course of the next eight years, I formed friendships that are still going strong today, and that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was my friends on FFXI's Ragnarok server that kept me lifted up through bouts of unemployment, multiple failed attempts at college, and the death of my father. We're all gonna be getting together in Seattle next Labor Day weekend for PAX Prime, since SE isn't doing Fan Festivals anymore. (hey, Bayohne, Rukkirii, and Camate--tell your boss to send you up there. I wanna meet you!)

As you can see, I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a die-hard Final Fantasy fanboy, and I always will be. It has been and continues to be a very important part of my life. So thank you Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nasir Gebelli, Hiromichi Tanaka, Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshitaka Amano, Nobuo Uematsu, Naoki Yoshida, and everyone else who's ever worked on a Final Fantasy game over the past 25 years. Some may say it's only a silly game, but don't forget the true purpose of entertainment. It's to inspire us, spark our imaginations, and make us think beyond our normal everyday lives. For centuries, people have gotten this inspiration from pictures, music, books, plays, and movies. Final Fantasy combines all of those. It truly has been an ultimate source of inspiration.

Here's to twenty five more years.

[Lurex]

Happy Anniversary Final Fantasy! I played FF1 in 1987 on Nintendo. I was 25 years old. I'll be 50 this January to see FFXIV! Btw, my first ever video game was PONG ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong . And I'm not OLD, I'm WISE ^^ Thanks again Final Fantasy for some of the best times! FF7 and FF11 being among my favorites! Thank you!

[Akira_Tenshi]

I'm 26 so FF isn't much older than me. I didn't play it until FF VII though. I remember not really liking the game and moaning about having to read everything the characters said. I didn't play it for long though before everything seemed to fall into place and I realized how special and unique the game was.

[Eekiki]

And happy 25th birthday to Mega Man!

How cool that my two favorite video game franchises were first released one day apart from each other.