Final Fantasy has always been my favorite RPG franchise. I started playing Final Fantasy back in school (around 7th grade). Ever since then I have done a lot more than playing the games.
My first Final Fantasy was part seven. I got a copy of the game after I helped my uncle clean his motorbike wheels and rims. Before that I had only played the game once at a friend’s place. When I had my own copy I started playing non-stop. I beat the game after a couple of weeks and was so proud, that I told all of my friends. One of them I realized was pretty serious about Final Fantasy 7, and he asked me if I had beaten the optional monsters Emerald Weapon and Ruby Weapon. I said no. Then he asked me if I had bred a golden Chocobo and I denied again. He asked all sorts of questions regarding the game secrets and I had to realize that though I had beaten the game I was far away from finishing it. Lucky for me David (that was the friend’s name) lent me his copy of the official Final Fantasy 7 walkthrough. So I started the game all over again and got all the secrets done. I went so far as powering up my characters stats with potions.
That's what the German official walkthrough looks like.
I think it was one or two years later that Final Fantasy 8 was released. I really wanted to have the game, but couldn’t afford it. So I tried to get it from a friend at school. I have to admit, I wanted the game copied. I managed to get him convinced. But lucky for me, the copies didn’t work plus my mum had to reveal to me that I’d get the game for Christmas. Lucky me! So, that winter I played Final Fantasy 8. And to be honest, I wasn’t too happy. The game was nothing like part seven. I didn’t finish my play-through at that time.
From left to right: Selphy, Xell, Squall, Rinoa, Irvine and Quistis. Facing the final Boss Artemisia (Ultemisia I think in the US version).
Next up was Final Fantasy 9. By then I had beaten Final Fantasy 8 once and ditched it in a box, never to play it again. Final Fantasy 9 turned out to be a whole different franchise (at least to me). I was shy to play it at first and it took me about six months to finally give it a proper go. I played the game and did all the side quests and secrets, and I had to admit Final Fantasy 9 was a way better game than Final Fantasy 8 could ever be. I loved the fantasy-only feel of the game. The soundtrack was amazing too. Final Fantasy 9 had everything that Final Fantasy 8 lacked, a good story, proper characters, which develop during the journey, some really sick graphics (the game made my Playstation slow down, when I used some of the more bombastic spells), and one of my favorite villains. Anyways, Final Fantasy 9 was a really good part of the franchise.
The character drafts of Kuja. I really liked that guy!
With the Playstation 2 Final Fantasy 10 was released. Once again I had to borrow the game. My cousin gave me his Playstation 2 and the game and I played a thorough play-through within two weeks (about 125 hours). It was around that time (2003) that I started using the internet to browse for help with the Dark Aeons. I came across a German Final Fantasy website called X-Maillennium. I started reading some message boards and registered at X-Millennium, as well as Final-Dragon and a smaller website called Final Fantasy Sky. Final Fantasy Sky was to become a long time home of me and my passion to play Final Fantasy, and other RPGs. I started out as a regular user, but within a year I applied for a job as moderator. I got the job and helped them keep the message board in good order. It was a lot of fun and I got to know a lot of really cool people: D-N-A, EvilSephiroth, Kairi, Seraphim and CyberKlon for example. The latter two were the creators of the website. Some time passed and it became clear that Seraphim and CyberKlon wanted to quit. They had moved on and Final Fantasy had become just another game to them. I offered to take over and so I became Administrator. At first I was just assistant administrator, as long as Seraphim still managed the website and message board contents. But after he quit, I took over and also paid the fee to keep the forums clean of advertisement (it was a rapidforum message board). One of the worst things that happened, before I completely took over, was that Seraphim wiped out over 80% of our regular user base. We had this rule of purging every inactive account after a month or two. Inactive meant that the user was registered, but had never contributed to the forums. What Seraphin did though was clicking the button “purge inactive users” in the administration menus. The result was that every single account got lost that had been inactive for the last six months. Final Fantasy Sky was never the same afterwards.
That's the kind of feeling I had after the purge.
From 2005 to 2010 I tried to keep Final Fantasy Sky together, but it was not working very well. Anyways, I deleted the forum archives early in 2010 and left it behind as a thing of the past, though I never stopped thinking about the good old times.
R.I.P. Final Fantasy Sky.
Images courtesy to Google image. Also, if you liked the contents of this blog entry, please leave a rating. This way I got some additional feedback.
It's ncie to see someone with a love for games like this. FF8 was my first one, on the PC, which actually lacked a 'Quit' option so you had to Alt + F4 to get out of the game. Since then I've owned copies of all but the last two FF's, even going so far as to play the MMO for over a year. Definitely recommend you to play FFVI and the Tactics series.
I'm sorry that your community died, but I applaud the effort you put into the FFSky boards. Anyone with that level of dedication and passion adding to a community surrounding a game is good by me.
It seems like everyone that likes ff9 doesnt like 8 and vice versa. Personally 8 is one of my favorites from the awesome card game ive spent hours on to the sweet cinematics. 9 wasnt too bad though.
just beat ffvi on the snes and i have to say, for all the hype i found the game lackluster.
ff8 was my favorite, ive played it so many times. i love how you never have to level up your characters too. the card game was straight up addicting as well.
On August 31 2011 20:38 esla_sol wrote: just beat ffvi on the snes and i have to say, for all the hype i found the game lackluster.
ff8 was my favorite, ive played it so many times. i love how you never have to level up your characters too. the card game was straight up addicting as well.
ff9 was kinda meh. felt a bit off by it.
I don't know, man. Your taste is a bit odd. I think the general TL community can agree that FF6 is arguably the best FF; also FF9 is extremely good.
On August 31 2011 20:14 ragingfungus wrote: It seems like everyone that likes ff9 doesnt like 8 and vice versa. Personally 8 is one of my favorites from the awesome card game ive spent hours on to the sweet cinematics. 9 wasnt too bad though.
Honestly I really liked both, for different reasons. FFIX's limit break's were more than a little retarded from what I remember, so compared with VIII's junctioning system, it couldn't even come close to holding a candle. The story was far more fleshed out in IX, which I honestly think is what hurt VIII so much, but then again VIII had some super moments, + Show Spoiler [especially when] +
you found out Laguna was Squall's dad
it just lacked the proper execution. etc...
On the not liking FFVI thing, I think with younger gamers it can be attributed to two things. Well this doesn't just apply to VI but every FF game that had sprites. First, there's a lot of grinding which is something that doesn't happen almost at all anymore and second, because of technical enhancements gamers don't rely on their imaginations nearly as much as they used to, as a lot of what we needed to do in order to fill in the blanks is largely taken care of today.
I never understood all the hype around 6. It wasnt bad or anything but it was just a well made rpg nothing awe inspiring. Something like chrono trigger blows it out of the water imo.
That's an awesome story. Final Fantasy was my childhood game, 8 was my first actually but I pretty much rate 7-10 around the same. I'm playing through 13 now for the first time (just got an xbox360) and I'm so sad that my childhood was butchered. I mean, I played 12 and that was disgusting but I thought it would be a one off thing.
The original FF was the first video game I ever played. I was around 5-6 years old so it was impossibly hard but it forever shaped my video game tastes.
I personally hated FF8 and loved FF6. I really don't understand how anyone could not love 6. Huge cast of awesome characters, tons of amazing set pieces and areas, one of the best villains in video game history. 90% of the 2nd half of the game is completely non linear and optional. Just having the freedom to explore the entire world without being forced to go anywhere is so fun. In ff13 the game might as well be on rails it's so linear.
I just finished beating FFVII for the upteenth time last week. I love these games. Im someone who never really spent money on the itunes apps but I went and spent the money to get some of the FF games. the first was decent, didn't like the other two haha. Nine is probably my favorite one though. I loved the characters. I started to get a little disappointed in the most recent releases though. I donno if Im the only one thinking it, but they were just not as good as the originals.
On August 31 2011 22:05 ragingfungus wrote: I never understood all the hype around 6. It wasnt bad or anything but it was just a well made rpg nothing awe inspiring. Something like chrono trigger blows it out of the water imo.
im not sure chrono trigger "blows it out of the water", although I personally liked chrono trigger better(considering its one of my all time favs and have played it like 20+times). they are both from a similar age in rpgs that I really miss. they have that old 2D charm but with abit more sophistication than some of the earlier years.
On August 31 2011 20:38 esla_sol wrote: just beat ffvi on the snes and i have to say, for all the hype i found the game lackluster.
ff8 was my favorite, ive played it so many times. i love how you never have to level up your characters too. the card game was straight up addicting as well.
ff9 was kinda meh. felt a bit off by it.
I don't know, man. Your taste is a bit odd. I think the general TL community can agree that FF6 is arguably the best FF; also FF9 is extremely good.
Personally, I loved Final Fantasy 8. Perhaps it was because it was the first one I owned and played, but I still prefer FF8 over FF9. I couldn't bare the fact that you were playing as an annoying monkey(or rather, that's the way it seemed to me when I first played. You have a damned tail and you look human-like. Therefore, monkey). I HATE monkeys. Having to play as a damn monkey for all of FF9 was simply frustrating. Not to mention the knight(Rusty is what the main character calls him, I forget his actual name) was also annoying, and just... dumb.
I guess I just feel that FF9 is too childish. It didn't feel like a Final Fantasy to me, considering how serious FF7 and FF8 felt, and now the following sequels(10, 12, and 13). Just seemed like one big joke. :/
Still need to play FF6 though, heard nothing but good things about it; just never got around to playing it!
On August 31 2011 22:05 ragingfungus wrote: I never understood all the hype around 6. It wasnt bad or anything but it was just a well made rpg nothing awe inspiring. Something like chrono trigger blows it out of the water imo.
im not sure chrono trigger "blows it out of the water", although I personally liked chrono trigger better(considering its one of my all time favs and have played it like 20+times). they are both from a similar age in rpgs that I really miss. they have that old 2D charm but with abit more sophistication than some of the earlier years.
i played both to hell and back probably played each one about a dozen times and grinded to 99 and everything in both. i do miss 2D rpgs from the age of SNES when things were quite simple compared to today
On August 31 2011 20:38 esla_sol wrote: just beat ffvi on the snes and i have to say, for all the hype i found the game lackluster.
ff8 was my favorite, ive played it so many times. i love how you never have to level up your characters too. the card game was straight up addicting as well.
ff9 was kinda meh. felt a bit off by it.
I don't know, man. Your taste is a bit odd. I think the general TL community can agree that FF6 is arguably the best FF; also FF9 is extremely good.
Personally, I loved Final Fantasy 8. Perhaps it was because it was the first one I owned and played, but I still prefer FF8 over FF9. I couldn't bare the fact that you were playing as an annoying monkey(or rather, that's the way it seemed to me when I first played. You have a damned tail and you look human-like. Therefore, monkey). I HATE monkeys. Having to play as a damn monkey for all of FF9 was simply frustrating. Not to mention the knight(Rusty is what the main character calls him, I forget his actual name) was also annoying, and just... dumb.
I guess I just feel that FF9 is too childish. It didn't feel like a Final Fantasy to me, considering how serious FF7 and FF8 felt, and now the following sequels(10, 12, and 13). Just seemed like one big joke. :/
Still need to play FF6 though, heard nothing but good things about it; just never got around to playing it!
sounds like you just have problems with monkeys and not the game
On August 31 2011 23:53 SageFantasma wrote: Personally, I loved Final Fantasy 8. Perhaps it was because it was the first one I owned and played, but I still prefer FF8 over FF9. I couldn't bare the fact that you were playing as an annoying monkey(or rather, that's the way it seemed to me when I first played. You have a damned tail and you look human-like. Therefore, monkey). I HATE monkeys. Having to play as a damn monkey for all of FF9 was simply frustrating. Not to mention the knight(Rusty is what the main character calls him, I forget his actual name) was also annoying, and just... dumb.
I guess I just feel that FF9 is too childish. It didn't feel like a Final Fantasy to me, considering how serious FF7 and FF8 felt, and now the following sequels(10, 12, and 13). Just seemed like one big joke. :/
Still need to play FF6 though, heard nothing but good things about it; just never got around to playing it!
sounds like you just have problems with monkeys and not the game
ahah, perhaps. Still though, the game had no serious feel to it at all(besides maybe one or two parts in the end). It felt so kiddish: the design was really cartoonish, the characters had ridiculous features, and the cheesy storyline. Not to mention the Trances... So bad. :X
Final Fantasy 8 was my favorite. I loved it so damn much. IV, V, VII and IX were fantastic as well, but I wasn't a huge fan of X. Great games all round. Don't know why you didn't enjoy VIII, to me it was the pinnacle of story telling in a game.
FFX was the first I played (and still my favorite) and after that I went back and beat 7 through 9 and tactics. Easily my favorite RPG series of all time. I enjoyed 9 slightly more than 8, but only because 8 was such a departure from the series in terms of the draw system and junctioning. I'm surprised not too many people here are mentioning 12 and 13. Most people have mixed feelings about the newer entries, but I really liked them (although I admit they lack the nostalgia that 7-9 had).
On August 31 2011 22:05 ragingfungus wrote: I never understood all the hype around 6. It wasnt bad or anything but it was just a well made rpg nothing awe inspiring. Something like chrono trigger blows it out of the water imo.
im not sure chrono trigger "blows it out of the water", although I personally liked chrono trigger better(considering its one of my all time favs and have played it like 20+times). they are both from a similar age in rpgs that I really miss. they have that old 2D charm but with abit more sophistication than some of the earlier years.
i played both to hell and back probably played each one about a dozen times and grinded to 99 and everything in both. i do miss 2D rpgs from the age of SNES when things were quite simple compared to today
I love listening to the chrono trigger OST because I just play through the game in my head. its ridiculous how good the soundtrack was. still cry when I hear this song.
otherwise final fantasy 13 was pretty terrible. I actually liked 12 okay. the story was abit too political to get deeply invested in IMO. 10 had a decent story and was pretty fun. never finished 9. never played 8. 7 had a good cast and story but the materia system was boooooring. also dem graphics >_< id rather they just put out a high quality 2d one than the polygon graphics TBH. but then again progress has to start somewhere.
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