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Tell me about your very first Final Fantasy experience

Kaachan

Member
My first ever Final Fantasy game turned out to be a very special experience for me, VII being my first one and so far the only one I've played (together with my gaming husbandy). One of the many reasons I fell in love with the game was because of its mature (and sometimes very quirky) storyline, the characters and their developments and obviously the game's fantastic music and visuals. I think VII had an amazing opening sequence because it threw the player right into the story's core plot elements that later developed into something even more deeper. As the game continued on it kept on blowing my mind with its turning plot points.

I just love this game so much and VII really gave me an insight of why Final Fantasy is consider one of the greatest video game franchises of all time. I honestly cannot wait to play more! I think my next one will be Final Fantasy X.

Now, I'm really interested to hear about you guy's first Final Fantasy game. Please, share your story! How old were you, how did it impact you, what were your initial and final thoughts?
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I feel super fortunate to be able to say that my first FF experience was the original game on the NES. Game was probably a year or two old. I'm guessing I was 7 years old.

I was at my buddy Eric's house with my old brother and he was going nuts over this game. He was telling us about it, that you could choose a party, and explore castles and fight monsters, etc.

It was pretty wild and seemed so insanely epic. Being able to cast spells, seeing your comrades die in battle, having to gain experience and level up. I had no idea what he was talking about but it seemed really cool. I can still vividly picture it. The small CRT tv in his room, the music, action figures and those small portable pinball machines all over the place. PEAK LIVING, lol.

On a side note, he also had the Earthbound/Strategy Guide combo and I can still remember the way the scratch and sniff "fart" smelled, lol. It was pretty awful.
 
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fart town usa

Gold Member
My first ever Final Fantasy game turned out to be a very special experience for me, VII being my first one and so far the only one I've played (together with my gaming husbandy). One of the many reasons I fell in love with the game was because of its mature (and sometimes very quirky) storyline, the characters and their developments and obviously the game's fantastic music and visuals. I think VII had an amazing opening sequence because it threw the player right into the story's core plot elements that later developed into something even more deeper. As the game continued on it kept on blowing my mind with its turning plot points.

I just love this game so much and VII really gave me an insight of why Final Fantasy is consider one of the greatest video game franchises of all time. I honestly cannot wait to play more! I think my next one will be Final Fantasy X.

Now, I'm really interested to hear about you guy's first Final Fantasy game. Please, share your story! How old were you, how did it impact you, what were your initial and final thoughts?
Try to get your hands on FF3 (6) via an SNES emulator. That game is amazing. I personally think it's the best one in the franchise. It has the materia system but it's called something else. Just such an awesome game with some of the best characters ever in the history of JRPGs. I personally think it's better than FF7 but I still adore FF7. 6 is really just that good.
 

Kaachan

Member
I feel super fortunate to be able to say that my first FF experience was the original game on the NES. Game was probably a year or two old. I'm guessing I was 7 years old.

I was at my buddy Eric's house with my old brother and he was going nuts over this game. He was telling us about it, that you could choose a party, and explore castles and fight monsters, etc.

It was pretty wild and seemed so insanely epic. Being able to cast spells, seeing your comrades die in battle, having to gain experience and level up. I had no idea what he was talking about but it seemed really cool. I can still vividly picture it. The small CRT tv in his room, the music, action figures and those small portable pinball machines all over the place. PEAK LIVING, lol.

On a side note, he also had the Earthbound/Strategy Guide combo and I can still remember the way the scratch and sniff "fart" smelled, lol. It was pretty awful.
Love this! Sounds like you had an amazing experience. Peak living, alright!
 

Lupingosei

Banned
I'm really tired after work, mistakenly read the title "your first anal fantasy experience". I'm not joking.
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Hey Kaachan Kaachan , lovely thread! Was myself thinking of doing a similar thread, but you beat me to it! :messenger_tears_of_joy:

My first Final Fantasy was FFX, and I didn’t know what to expect and I was about 21-22 years. But I instantly fell in love. FFVII was the second one and both are definitely favorites. FFX really captured me and I never wanted it to end! The silly and serious story, the amazing characters, the voice acting and the beautiful music. I’m thankful I got to experience the game and played it a few times. It was at this moment I realized that I love FF and games. There was so much to look forward to and still is.
there’s so much to say but don’t know where to begin, haha!

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s experiences!
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
FF1 on NES asnd it was pretty mind blowing at the time. but I was kind of sad th ey didnt keep the "CHOOSEW YOUR PARTY" after the first one.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
First tried FFI at Nintendo Power Fest (1990 I think although it might have been 1991). Shortly thereafter my friend on the block got it and we played the hell out of it.

it was also something of a sexual awakening for me because we named the party TITS ASS BOOB DICK
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
My dad owned FFI. He loved it but thought Ultima 3 was better. I would watch him play and he would read all the NPC text to me.

I deleted his save file one day. He was at the end. I decided to try. Created a party of 4 black mages because it looked like Orco. Saved over at the inn.

My dad was not happy
 
Final Fantasy 1 on the NES was my very first RPG. At first I wasn't impressed or even sure I understood well the gameplay. I had a friend who had played it a little bit and he was more knowledgeable about turn-based RPGs so I watched him play and I started to like it. I remember the very first time the class select screen was on and that was a first for me, it opened up a lot of interesting possibilities and things to discover for each of those classes. I believe the only other game I had played up until then where you would choose a "type of warrior" was Gauntlet, and I had fond memories of that game, so the ability to have a party with differently skilled warriors was very exciting.
 
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Kuranghi

Member
I messed around with FF7 on PC back in the day but I don't think I understood how to play a JRPG back then and obviously never got into it enough to learn. I'm looking forward to playing FF7R soon though.
 

Beer Baelly

Al Pachinko, Konami President
Played the series through emulators back in the day. Couldnt be bothered with them. Chrono Trigger on the other hand...
 

AJUMP23

Gold Member
I played the first FF on release day as a kid and loved it.
My brother and I took turns and had teams. I had a fighter, knight, white and black mage.
He had two fighters and a white and black mage. When his fighters upgraded to Madlsters my brother was unstoppable.
 

sircaw

Banned
I am extremely late to the final fantasy series, in fact, it was only a month ago that I decided to try the ff7 remake I got it on ps now. on my ps4 pro.

My initial thoughts were not good at all, in fact, I hated the battle system so much that at the first boss, a was considering just deleting the whole damn thing.

I also hated the cringe aspect of it, too many hums and uhh's in the conversations. The materia system was also confusing to me at the start.

Saying all that, the more I played the game, the more i liked it, in fact, 45 hours later and after finishing the entire game, i was absolutely in love with it all, the characters, the combat system, the boss fights were just so much fun.

The music also was just incredible.

The only aspect that did not like was the level with the sky lamps? I think there were called, I found that section a bit long.

The truth is I never looked or bothered about the Final Fantasy games, all I can say is final fantasy 7 remake it's now a top ten game of mine and if and when they make a sequel, i will be all over it.

They did a wonderful job.

According to a good short arse friend of mine yewles1 yewles1 there is still so much to come.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
FFVII, PS1. Already had the Aerith stuff spoiled a year earlier by an article on a Zelda fansite ironically enough, comparing OoT and FFVII. (It was kasuto.net if anyone remembers that) Anyway, I was like ten, so I completely just sucked at everything. I played up to the Shinra building without understanding any gameplay mechanics, and without using any Materia. I got my ass repeatedly stomped by those red Armored security guys in the ground floor. Quit for like six months. Came back, apparently had fostered enough electrical connections in my pre-pubescent brain in that time to fire a few extra synapses and figured out Materia. Got to the flashback in Kalm and was hooked till the end.

OG FFVII remains my second favorite game to this day, slightly behind OoT.
 

Orenji Neko

Member
In Okinawa in 1980s my Father brought FF1home for FC not long after release。We enjoyed it however still liked Dragon Quest more。I did enjoy style and music Amano-san very well known even then so I loved the cover。

FF3is the game when I felt it became a pillar next to Dragon Quest。Love that game and FF4was not long after and still my favorite。Loved the years of hungry FF trying to catch DQ and both making fantastic games。

These days I do play FF14and like it but do not care for modern single player FF without Sakaguchi-san。Still happy with Dragon Quest and still happy to re play classic FF as still own FC and SFC cartridges。Will get pixel master on PC and glad Shibuya-san did the new dot art。

Favorites still 3456。Also 11and 14online。
 
first game i played was Final Fantasy XIII. too much reading for a corridor simulator.

had also bought XIII-2 but didn't even touch that. afterwards my next game was XIV and it got me into MMORPGs but i soon ditched it for others. i can't take it serious with all the emo hair, creepy little hobbits, catboys, silly big swords, and riding around on chickens.
 

cireza

Member
It was FF VII and I really did not like it. Ugly and ridiculous characters in a world that tried to be dark and serious ? It did not work for me.
I tried VIII when it was released, and I loved it. Back then I did not have a PS console, so I was playing these games at a friends house.

A few years later, I discovered emulation and played FF IV, V and VI. I enjoyed IV, it felt a bit basic but it was nice and well done. I loved V, it was FANTASTIC. Hated VI, visuals were dark, the villain was ridiculous and the tone simply didn't work with me.

So overall, my best and oldest memories are with VIII and V, and I think I would enjoy replaying these even today. I tend to still accept and enjoy old gameplay mechanics. Recently I was playing D&D on MegaDrive as well as the Mega-CD game, and they were a blast. I loved it. Completed both of them. I had already played Phantasy Star games prior to Final Fantasy, anyway.
 
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RareJordan

Member
My first FF experience was when I was about 8 or 9 and I bought Final Fantasy Mystic Quest from a swap meet, but my mom didn't let me play it because she said role playing games were demonic.
Several years later, my cousin and I bought FFVII for PS1 from a pawn shop for $10. We walked home, excited to play it, reading the instruction book along the way. However, our parents made us return it, because role playing games were still evil.
Years later, I was a teenager and I had a PS2. I got FFX from my nephew, it was too complicated for him. I completed it and it's still one of my top 5 favorite games of all time.
 
Final Fantasy at release on the NES. I actually preferred Dragon Warrior at the time.

With the release of Final Fantasy "II" on the SNES, I became obsessed with JRPGs, especially Final Fantasy. I have played every numbered Final Fantasy games several times, with the exception of XV, which I only played once and was incredibly disappointed in.
 

kunonabi

Member
My initial experience was the first one and I hated every second of it. I also couldn't stand Dragon Warrior and Ultima. It wasn't until FFIV that I started to enjoy FF and RPGs in general.
 
OK, so I’m the only one here who started with IX? Was very young, maybe 10 and had to use the guide from old Croatian gaming magazine but I beat it in the end! Pirated version with 4 discs, never forget. Loved it thoroughly and to this day, it stuck with me that real FF should look like that: fantasy medieval with little towns and such.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
It was FFX. I was 15 years old.

The game was fun. I got it for my birthday I think.

I still don't think I've ever finished the game.
 

Sleepwalker

Gold Member
Tactics advance is still the only final fantasy game i've ever beaten lol. I never had a ps1 as a kid and had no interest in FF when I had my PS2.

I played like a couple hours of 15 and dropped it, played like an hour or so 7's remake last week, we'll see if I ever get to playing it again
 

Rinnegan

Neo Member
My First FF was XV and its the biggest dissapointment of my gaming life. I never bought games day one and went to work to be able to afford it (was 16 at the time). The game was awful with the only redeeming quality being the music. The hype machine certainly did its part with this game, so much build up, trailers that were entirely cut, events dedicated to it, promising insane things for such a wet fart of a game lol. My next one was 7remake and I loved that one, completely different league.
 

dezzy8

Member
My dad bought me FFVII when it came out as a surprise. I had just got my PlayStation and I had never played an RPG in my life. The only games I played were platformers and fighting games.
I absolutely hated the game because it was turned based and I didn’t understand it. The random battles also got in my nerves. I blew up the first reactor and never played it again.
 

TheMan

Member
Technically it was ffII on snes. I think I played like 20 minutes of that at a friend's house. First real experience was probably FFVII on release. Good god I was excited for that damn game
 
Final Fantasy Adventure on the Gameboy in the mid 90s. Pretty fun game. It was released under a different title in Europe, so I never knew it was a Final Fantasy game until over a decade later.
 
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