• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Tell me about your very first Final Fantasy experience

BabyYoda

Banned
Not had one yet, kinda wish it really had been a final fantasy..I'm kinda kidding, glad people enjoy the series, but not for me, don't see the appeal really. My brothers nuts about them though, the main cast usually look too much like a j-pop band for my tastes.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
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.
Technically that is a Seiken Densetsu (Mana) game that was released under the Final Fantasy name in the US :)

although I guess they originally considered Mana to be a spin-off of FF so maybe it counts after all
 
Last edited:

alf717

Member
Back in the 90's me and my brothers would stay up late during the weekends and watch my oldest brother play Role playing games. Games like Act Raiser, Soul Blazer and Final Fantasy II come to mind. We loved watching him play through these games. It was around this time he bought us Final Fantasy for the NES. I had a lot of fun playing this back in the day. I knew nothing about how to properly play an RPG and was able to get as far as finding the canoe until the game became very tough for me to play. My brother took a look at my equipment and showed me how to actually equip stuff. How I made it that far without putting armor on seems pretty crazy to me looking back at it now. I eventually beat the game. I remember using the map with the bestiary on the back of it to track down enemies I haven't fought yet.
 

Imtjnotu

Member
It involves FFX and sex…
Understand Captain America GIF
 

Setzer

Member
First for me was FF1 on the NES back in 1990, when I was 17. I remember getting a Nintendo Power issue previewing the game and that the next issue would be a guide for it. I was mesmerized looking at the screenshots and reading about the story of this grand adventure of the 4 warriors of light that will save the world from darkness. I hadn't seen combat in a game like it before....the games I played on my NES were either platformers(i.e. Mario Bros., Castlevania, Metroid, etc.) or adventure games(i.e. Zelda, Faxanadu, Crystalis, etc.) but never a game that had a turn-based combat system. I bought the game from my local Software Etc. and then received the guide in the mail the next month. It was the only game I played for like 6 months straight, which is the longest I had ever played one game before. Needless to say I was hooked on RPG's from that point on.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
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.
You gonna have your sexual wakening there, bruh
 
FFVI. I was 16 years old. Played the whole game with an english dictionary by my side. I'd rent the game and play all weekend. Then some asshole would rent it during the week and erase my save file.
It's still my favorite FF. Amazing soundtrack.
 

Imtjnotu

Member
Brother came home one day with FF7 and my 9 year old ass could not out it down for all of 1997. I wasn't satisfied until I bred my golden chocobo and beat ruby weapon lol
 

UnNamed

Banned
FF7, like many.
At first, I didn't like it very much, I only used to real time combat systems, so the turn based system wasn't very exciting to me. Actually I tried some old FF via emulators, but just for few hours because I was like naah, they are not for me.
Also, my english skills were less than basic (...ok, even now are pretty bad), I had no idea what the game was about. I remember I had to use a vocabulary for the whole time, it was very hard.
After the Sector 7, the game improve a lot and begin to be interesting. I completed the game three times, thanks to a "leaked" complete strategy guide I found on a game magazine.
 
Last edited:

Orta

Banned
Like so many, FFVII upon release for the PS1.

And like so many couldn't make heads nor tails of it and returned it a few days later.

That was my first and last experience of rpg's.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Being in the UK it was difficult to get into JRPGs but thanks to the trusty super magazine play me and my best friend at the time got obsessed with final fantasy III (VI). We found an importer in Leeds and both got our parents to get it for Xmas along with Uk/Jap game converters ( that type you had to have a UK cartridge in the back) for our UK super Nintendos.

After playing for hours upon hours and falling in love with it we got so obsessed that we bought CB radios so we could talk to each other while playing from home. I went out and bought an American super Nintendo on my birthday (traded in my UK one and loads of games plus did chores to afford it) because we read in super play that the ending breaks on a pal machine through a converter and you can't view the ending passed Gogos eyes in the cave. That game started my obsession with 60hz gaming and sacking of UK machines in favour of import ones.

FfVI is an incredible game and glad I started with what I still consider to be the best in the franchise.

Playing Ff7 remake right now and I think they've done an pretty damn immense job with it. Nearly completed and will probs jump straight into integrade.

Good thread OP, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
 
Last edited:

Andyliini

Member
It was in late 90's, I was maybe 11 or 12. We were visiting my cousin, and they had a PS1. He showed me Final Fantasy VII, first later in the game, then the beginning. I could barely understand English at that point, but the visuals were something to look at. The TV was small as heck, though.

When I first played it myself, I did not know how. I had never played an RPG myself. I just knew I had to play that game myself. It was that mind blowing.
 
My neighbor. I was 6 he was like 10. I begged to play and I died instantly for him 😂.

My first actual FF was FFX though. I think I was like 11 or 12. Great times. Started my RPG fascination. Wasn’t until I played FF3 on the DS that it dawned on me that I had even played a FF game as a young buck all those years ago
 

lestar

Member
FFV emulated on zsnes late 90s, It was a fan spanish translation from the english one. I didn't finished it that time because was too hard for my young me. Then I tried FFIV, at first I didn't like it because the worse graphics compared to FFV and It was in english, so I was playing it with a dictionary (I legit learnt english with this game), eventually the story catched me, it was the first FF I finished.

Then beginning 2000s I played FFVII on PS1. Before I got the game I heard so many good things of this game from friends, magazines and Internet forums from that time, so I was hyped, and it didn't dissapointed me. Aeris turned my crush, so when I reached to THAT moment in the game I legit cried. I search from forums a way to bring her back, trying all those internet myths that were floating around that time. I completed at 100% (with a guide at hand of course)
 
Final fantasy 1...rented it before i ended up owning it. When i rented it i couldnt figure out how to get past the first area ...for some reason i missed garlands door. I then read the photocopied manual and it said something about ships going to harbors, so i walked around the harbor for 15 minutes hoping a boat would show up.

also blah blah sexual awakening...i also saw the movie crybaby in the same weekend...Amy Locane and Tracy Lords...yowza
 
Probably final fantasy 6. I had played RPGs before it. And granted secret of mana left a way bigger impact on me. But I remember not really knowing anything about what the deal was with final fantasy and I randomly saw the ff3(ff6) commercial which didn't explain anything and saw it just playing the intro at a toy store.

Didn't see any gameplay or wtf was going on just something about it made me feel like I had to have it. And honestly I don't really like final fantasy but that game did change things for me, it made me pay attention to RPGs more. Final fantasy has always been like a stepping stone like something you find and play and move on to better and bigger things from other companies
 
Last edited:
FFVII was the first I completed, played a bit of FFVI before but at that time wasn't a fan of static enemy portraits was accustomed to animated 2d enemies in rpgs.
 
Last edited:

K2D

Banned
I almost passed on Final Fantasy..

My first cross in with the brand was catching I of the uniquely solid white game cover with title and logo front and center - Final Fantasy VII, it must not have been full price, me being on a budget and all ending up buying this particular game. I think maybe I even did a double take, deliberating for a couple of days before putting the money down. I was 12 or 13 years at the time maybe.

English not being my first language and being unfamiliar with the 'rpg' genre, I put the game back up in the bookshelf fairly quickly, not getting through the first bombing mission. Much due to boredom probably. 6 months later, due just to happenstance, or maybe having seen the awesome opening cinematic of VIII, I game VII another chance. Probably the best game I've played, correcting for nostaliga.

FF8 is the first game I bought blindly, and FFXII is the last FF i bought blind. FFXIII was the last FF I bought for the longest time until remake came out.

Ended up a hard core fan of the Golden Playstation era (7, 8 and 9, with bonus chrono trigger, ff6 and Seiken 2).
 
I guess it depends on what you count. The first time I was introduced to the series was at a friends house when he was playing FFX. That turned me off immediately because the characters looked so ridiculous and the voice acting was bad (I saw the laughing scene). I couldn’t take it seriously and already wasn’t a fan of turn based RPGs after trying to play Pokémon games. I just found them very boring. So the turn based gameplay and story/characters seeming ridiculous didn’t sell me on it at all.

I think I just don’t like how the PS2 and onward games tried to make the characters look realistic, but they all have crazy anime hair that makes no sense. Characters with crazy hair make sense in anime to me but not in a semi-realistic style.

Then much later I was looking for a new DS game to spend some Xmas money on, and I saw Chrono Trigger. I had read something on it in Nintendo Power about how it was one of the best JRPGs ever, so I figured I’d give it a shot, and if I couldn’t get into one of the best the genre had to offer, then I would just not bother with anything else.

I actually ended up really enjoying the game due to it using an Active Time Battle System instead of being strictly turn based. I ended up getting through most of the game, but dropped it after getting stuck on a late game (possibly extra) boss and never finished it. Though I do really like the game and will probably replay it to completion at some point and it’s totally my favorite DS game.

A few years later I see FFXIII gets announced for 360 (which I got over the PS3), and I decide to rent it. Now at the time I didn’t look in to Final Fantasy that much and I had a few misconceptions about the series. Firstly I thought the games were supposed to all be in the same universe but different time periods, so getting into the story seemed daunting with how many titles there were. Secondly, having only seen FFX when the PS2 was still young, I was under the impression that all FF games were strictly turn based, and that Chrono Trigger was the exception/experiment with the ATB system.

FFXIII cleared up these confusions as it used an ATB battle system and had nothing to do with previous games story wise. And to be completely honest I actually really liked the battle system as it reminded me of Chrono Trigger. Overall I didn’t like it enough to spend $60 on the game after renting it, so I kinda forgot about it for a while.

Up until recently that is. I’ve been doing some modding to my 3DS, which also had me digging through my old DS games to see what I still had. I found Chrono Trigger and that made me want to try and replay both it and FFXIII. Then I did some research and saw that FFXIII got enhanced to 4K (with redone prerendered custscenes even) on Xbox OneX/Series X, and decided to get it for $10. I also found a copy of FFXII on Xbox for $10 as well.

I’ve been playing 13 for the last week and honestly I still like it. It’s not amazing and the story is really obtuse in the beginning, but the combat is fun and the early linearity doesn’t really bother me. For now my plan is to play the single player games in reverse order, while skipping some that don’t vibe with me. I’ve skipped 15 because I tried it at a friends house and honestly I think it’s shit. The combat is bad for an action and bad for an RPG and I think they should’ve stayed with something less actiony. I’ll probably skip 10 as well because my initial impressions still stand.

I was able to mod the GBA versions of 1,2,5, and 6 on to my 3DS as well as the DS versions of 3 and 4. Plus I have some Gamepass trials I can use to play 7-9, so I’m pretty well off. I may also get the 13 sequels at some point, not sure though. I do like how every number entry is a different story/universe; wish more series did that.

TL;DR:
I’m not a big fan of JRPGs but I’m putting in an earnest effort to see if the FF series will grow on me.
 
Last edited:
I almost passed on Final Fantasy..

My first cross in with the brand was catching I of the uniquely solid white game cover with title and logo front and center - Final Fantasy VII, it must not have been full price, me being on a budget and all ending up buying this particular game. I think maybe I even did a double take, deliberating for a couple of days before putting the money down. I was 12 or 13 years at the time maybe.

English not being my first language and being unfamiliar with the 'rpg' genre, I put the game back up in the bookshelf fairly quickly, not getting through the first bombing mission. Much due to boredom probably. 6 months later, due just to happenstance, or maybe having seen the awesome opening cinematic of VIII, I game VII another chance. Probably the best game I've played, correcting for nostaliga.

FF8 is the first game I bought blindly, and FFXII is the last FF i bought blind. FFXIII was the last FF I bought for the longest time until remake came out.

Ended up a hard core fan of the Golden Playstation era (7, 8 and 9, with bonus chrono trigger, ff6 and Seiken 2).
I think that’s one of the best feelings when it comes to games. You see a game on a shelf and you debate with yourself as to if you want it or not, and then later it becomes one of your favorite series.

That’s what happened to me with Metroid. I saw Metroid Fusion on a shelf and almost picked up some (probably crappy) Tak game over it, but at the last minute I had the guy at Walmart open the case again and swap it out with Fusion. One of the best gaming decisions in my life lol.
 
  • Strength
Reactions: K2D

Knightime_X

Member
My first final fantasy was ff1 nes and I thought it was hot garbage. I didn't play for more than 10 minutes before dropping it.

It wasn't until final fantasy 4 (ff2 snes) that i fell in love with turn based rpgs in general.
 

kiphalfton

Member
Only Final Fantasy games I've beat are FFXII and FFXV. I have played but not beat FF Crystal Chronicles and FF Crisis Core, both of which I did not enjoy (the former cuz it just flat out sucked, and thr latter because the combat was horse dooky).
 

Javthusiast

Banned
Got my first silver ps2, and only one since that baby still works perfectly, for christmas together with FFX when I was a kid. FFX was my first ff ever, since even though I had a psone I never got to play any ff game on it.

Still my favourite of the franchise. Was a glorious evening playing the first 2 hours of it. Too bad my parents didn't buy a memory card, so we had to wait for stores to be open again after christmas and then I had to replay the intro hours. xD
 

Sethbacca

Member
FF1 on the NES. I got the free strategy guide from Nintendo Power and then wanted to play the game, so ended up getting it.
 

Kaachan

Member
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!
Sounds like an amazing experience and a great introduction to the franchise :goog_love:
 

Ozzie666

Member
Final Fantasy III in North America, was my official entry. That beginning introduction, the music pulled me right in. But I seem to recall playing Secret of Mana first as my first Square game, which I enjoyed immensely. Chrono Trigger was the next, then I think I endured Secret of evermore, which was still enjoyable.

But honestly, if it wasn't for Shining force, I might never have given any of those a try. That game was my true introduction into Japan RPG, Strategy style games.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
FF7. Got it for Christmas along with my PSX. One of my favorite memories. The lore was so deep I assumed the previous 6 games all took place in the same universe. I don't think there has been a game since that took you on such an epic journey with so many areas do explore and deep mini games.
 
I still remember when I was like 8 years old, watching my uncle play FF VII on the og playstation. I remember being mesmerised by it and also the playstation too. What is this a magic box?
 

Shmunter

Member
Am experiencing right now real-time. 1st ever, FF7 Remake on PS5.

Nearly at the end, ch18. phenomenal.

Edit: just finished it. The Experience will continue….

What was that ending, lol. I do enjoy high concept, but I will need to get some insight. I assume there were glimpses of the future interwoven with the current timeline.
 
Last edited:

NikuNashi

Member
VII on PS1. Turn based fighting was ass, story was interesting, graphics good, On the whole I enjoyed. Nothing to write home about.
 

Traxtech

Member
FFVII was the game that made me the gamer I am today. Watched a friend play it after school but my family wasn't able to afford a PS1. Time went on and my uncle brought over a PS1, I rented FFVII from the store for what seemed like months on end until one day I opened a Christmas gift with my very own copy of FFVII.

Will always be my favourite game of all time, and my gateway game to gaming.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
my very first Final Fantasy experience is happening right now playing through FFVII Remake on the PS5. Impressions? Mixed, to say the least.
 
1999, I was 14. Playing on a modded PS1, as everyone did back then.
All my friends at school were gamers like me, so we shared our games (on pirated discs we had to buy at street shops). One of those friends, my best friend at the time, bought a copy of this game called "Final Fantasy VIII", which finally came in an understandable language (back then we were just starting to learn English) and he played it thoroughly after classes ended. However, he didn't like it, and as I coincidentally got a cold that week, he lent me the four Verbatim gray discs to pass time as I recovered. I fell in love with the game, the music and the genre itself that very week.

Before VIII I didn't play any JRPGs, mainly because, as my country is in the "North American Region" (even if it is in South America) every one came in English back then, a language I couldn't speak before '98. That made me prefer playing games that didn't need text nor knowledge of the storyline to be enjoyable (platform, racing and fighting games). But with VIII it was different. It was in Spanish so I could understand what was going on storywise, I enjoyed the gameplay (even if I didn't really get the Junction System at that age) and as I was bedridden by sickness and had nothing else to do, I could give it all the time I wanted, and as a silly teenager I had a lot of time in my hands. Playing it was a magical experience for me. Since then I fell in love with the Final Fantasy franchise. I became what you could call a "Final Fantasy zealot" (or "fanboy", whatever you prefer).

Unfortunatety, as the game was pirated, it came with a copyright protection that prevented me from finishing it, as the game always froze at Ultimecia's secont-to-last transformation. It happened with every PS1 copy of the game I got my hands on. I couldn't finish it until four or five years later, when I got a copy for PC (pirated, of course). By that time I had already played VII and IX, and then the SNES ones, as my English improved (by emulation, by the way *ahem!*).

They say you always love your first Final Fantasy, and I love Final Fantasy VIII, with all its failures. I've played it a dozen of times and I know there are more re-plays of that game in my future.
 

Duchess

Member
I kept seeing the PlayStation in game stores, HMV, Virgin, etc., but was never really bothered.

Then I saw the ads and reviews for Final Fantasy 7, discovered (at the time) that it was only available on PlayStation, and eventually caved. I used to love playing the Goldbox Dungeons and Dragons games, as well as other RPGs (Eye of the Beholder is another). FF7 just looked ... so different. It mixed fantasy, magic, and science fiction. These guys were using guns, swords, motorcycles, magic, demons, and all the rest?! What was the cyberpunk stuff all about? And the battle - they were conducted in 3D?!

I went to the shops, bought a PlayStation and FF7. I remember it costing me £130 at the time. A lot of money to me back then. No regrets, though. Loved every moment of that game, and I became a PlayStation gamer from then on.

Yep, so I literally bought a PlayStation just to play FF7.

Fun thing: being used to playing Dungeons and Dragons, when I first saw that Cloud started with 300HP my mind was blown. Most Dungeons and Dragons character peaked around 60 - 70HP!
 

Garnox

Member
Like, legit first ever experience, I was in 6th grade (1999) and a friend of mine had drawn the cast of FF7.

Never heard of the game or series honestly, up to that point. I asked him what the drawing was and he told me, encouraged me to try playing the series.

Borrowed a copy of FF7 from a friend and played it like a year later when I was in 7th grade. Really enjoyed the game, but that same friend told me that if I liked 7, then I should play 9 because it's even better. That's how 9 became my favorite and still is.

After that I went back and played all the others in the series starting with 8 and right around that time 10 had just come out as well. Great time to get into Final Fantasy really.
 

xion4360

Member
it was FF8. saw the box on a store shelf and was so intrigued.. then I saw a magazine ad. This was back when I didnt even know what an RPG was and never played anything like it. Then I got the game and the intro blew me away. I slowly figured out what kind of experience the game was and when I finally got into combat I had no idea why people were standing in a line and taking turns.. But I figured it out and in no time at all I was hooked.

I think many people had the same experience as me but with FFVII instead.. I played 7 after 8 so it just didnt have that for me, it felt like a step back but I still enjoyed it.
 
Last edited:

VulcanRaven

Member
My brother bought Final Fantasy 9 when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I played the first few hours a lot but never got very far. I really liked the setting and characters.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom