Compilation of Final Fantasy
During the Compilation of Final Fantasy article series, my goal is to tell the story of my experience with one of my favorite series of all time. This likely multi-year endeavor will span from my introduction to the series with Final Fantasy VIII, to all mainline entries in the series. Instead of replaying the games in chronological order, I will play them in the order I, personally completed them. For games with multiple ports or adaptations, I will pick my personal favorite rendition and re-play through that one.
I hope everyone enjoys my story and review of one of the most influential series in video game history.
Introduction
On one fateful day in 1999, a 9 year-old me and a group of friends came across a shady character on the corner hustling outside of my parent’s store. Despite our ingrained inclination to avoid such individuals, there was something particularly special about this man. In his limited collection of mostly useless, and likely stolen, wares laid a beacon of modernity and splendor: a collection of PlayStation games.
Despite being 9 year olds, our level of skepticism was incredibly high, and our trepidation in dealing with strangers incredibly healthy. Needless to say, we were hesitant to interact with this individual. Considering the potential sketchiness of the situation, and the nearly magnetic pull of the PSX games on our pre-pubescent attention, we were forced to act: get my dad.
Being a store owner in an urban environment, he had many a time dealt with the bootleg peddling “entrepreneurs”who generally barged through the door in an attempt to peddle their merchandise to his customer base. As long as they weren’t a nuisance or overtly aggressive in their sales approach, he normally let them make their pitch and leave. On occasion, when the quality of the good was particularly high, and they actually spent money in our own store, he would even give them some play and buy a bootleg here and there. It was for this reason he was consulted in this particular scenario.
As the salesman made apparent his inventory, I was shocked to see one copy each of two fairly new releases: Final Fantasy VIII, for $30 and Syphon Filter, for $20 BRAND NEW. My dad agreed to get me one game as a reward for both my scholastic achievement at the time, and the undeniably good price. I was unsure what direction to go in; my GamePro magazines raved about Final Fantasy, but I wasn’t sure what it or RPGs were, despite being an avid gamer since 1992. I had almost rented Final Fantasy III for my SNES a few years prior, but ultimately ended up settling for Super Mario Kart.
In that moment of indecision an older, and much wiser, friend of mine FIRMLY suggested I get Final Fantasy VIII, even stating if I didn’t like it he would buy it off of me. He clarified what an RPGs was, stating it was like Pokemon, but better and more Adult-focused. From there it was decided, after my father opened the packaging to verify there were actually games in there, and to double check with my friends and I that the disks looked appropriate, payment was made and I quickly abandoned my friends to go try out my new game. As I popped in disk 1 of my first ever multi-disk title, I was transported into a world that forever matured my tastes in games, and opened up an entire new genre to me.
Continue reading “Final Fantasy VIII (PSX) Resource [Compilation of Final Fantasy #1]”