There have been many games bearing the name "Final Fantasy" From Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System to Final Fantasy IX for the Sony Playstation we've seen the series develop and the adventures expand. There would be a vast empty area in the history of gaming if it was not there. All of the systems that Final Fantasy has graced were successful, so that may say something about this glorious series.

Recounting the history of Final Fantasy, in the beginning there was "Final Fantasy" produced for the Japanese Famicom, and was subsequently followed up by two sequels on the Japanese equivalent of the NES, Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III. In america Final Fantasy 1 was released in 1990 and became one of the best games to grace the insanely successful era of the NES. When the Super Famicom released in Japan, Final Fantasy IV was made and it too became a success. This game incorporated various challenges that kept gamers playing for sometime after it's completion. When the Super Nintendo appeared in the United States Final Fantasy IV appeared as Final Fantasy II in 1991, a rather easier game than it's counter part across the Pacific Ocean. Squaresoft went on to produce Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and Final Fantasy V in Japan, a game that was never released until 1999 outside of Japan. In 1993 Squaresoft completed Final Fantasy VI and it appeared as Final Fantasy III in the United States. Ahh yes, I can remember those commercials with the Mog now, and how he had these special powers to destory all these monsters. This game was an avid success amongst RPG afficianados and those gamers clamoured for more Final Fantasy. During this timeframe, Final Fantasy Adventure, Final Fantasy Adventure II, were released on the GameBoy handheld. Then mysteriously the series faded into the background as the SNES began aging. RPG's were not a mainstream genre at this time, and fighting games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and various incarnations of these games took center stage. Nintendo and Squaresoft had a falling out, and these two companies parted ways, and it soon became apparent that they would have new territory. New systems boasting the capability of displaying a newly game associated word, "polygons" like the Sega Saturn, and Sony Playstation debuted. It wasn't until 1997 when Final Fantasy VII was released did the name Squaresoft become catapulted into stardom. This game single handedly blasted the Playstation out of sagging sales with the release of the Nintendo 64. It redefined the genre and created a benchmark for developers to follow. Subsequently spinoff games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Ergheiz came into the fold, and with the release of Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX, the series with humble 8 bit beginnings has ushered in the Age of the Contemporary and Neo-Classical RPG's.

I remember such a long time ago when I first laid eyes upon Final Fantasy for my Nintendo, a game I still own to this day in perfect condition. It was so simple really, you had mages, fighers, and thiefs. You had a row of characters on the right side and the monsters on the screen on the left side. As you defeated more enemies you could gain more experience. The plot was basic and the setting required more imagination considering the platform the game was made on. For it's time Final Fantasy I was innovative. I remember all that time spent fighting GrIMP's or MADPNY's and many various bosses. The music was horrid by today's standards but it did have the feeling of an adventure at times and there are even some things about it that have carried though to the modern era, like the Fanfare music. Items were bought from shops and spells were learned in two colors, black and white, and you had to buy spells for your characters. This game stands at the very foundation of a venerable succession of RPG's bearing this name that came after it. There have been many games since this time that follow the footsteps of the path already opened by this series.

Here's where I would like you to tell me what you remember about the first time you played Final Fantasy and you retrospective on how far the series has come and where you think it's going. There are so many fond memories of these games worth sharing. I invite you to take the time to express those memories and here is where those cherished pearls of though shall reside.

Brian Remembers: My first Final Fantasy (unfortunantly) was FF7. I loved this game all the way to the end. But once I got there It droped me in confusion. I remember everything about it. The great story, the tear that rolled down my eye when (spoiler) Areas was slain. All this in this game opened my eyes to a dictionary of games that are known as "RPG's". After spending many hours of playing this game and even trying to get the imagionary goos chase down Chocob's, I felt like I had closed a chapter in my video game experiences. Well, that's about all I have to say about my first FF. Oh yeah, down in the cave in FF7, you can morph those things that say "Gimme elixer" into some kind of odd ring that you can't get anywhere else.

This Gamer Remembers: Final Fantasy always was and always will be my favorite RPG series. The first time i ever played final fantasy was the very first one. I was a big mario and Zelda fan at the time, so this game was new to me. I wasn't good at because I had no idea how to play it. My friend's brother taught us how. I started to get good at it, so I bought my own copy. After I completed it, I was hoping that there would be a sequel. Unfortunatly I heard nothing about a sequel, so I went on to play other Rpg's like Dragon Warrior. Finally when the SNES came out I heard about Final Fantasy 2. When it came out I immedietly went and bought a copy. I loved it. It was better then the original to me. It didn't really take me long to complete it because my skill in RPG's had improved. I knew they would release another Final Fantasy soon, so I didn't worry. I got into many other RPG's like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger. Finally when FF3 came out I went and bought it. It was, and still is today my favorite Final Fantasy game. I have played and beatin FF7, 8, and 8. But 3 was always my favorite. I recently downloaded the japenese ff2 and 3. Those were pretty good. I also downloaded FF5. Now that was a great game. Now I am waiting from FInal Fantasy 10.

[email protected] Remembers: I still remeber the first time I ever saw Final Fantasy. It was nearly ten years ago in '92 or '93. My friend had a cool, relatively new system, the SNES. He had nifty games like Street Fighter II and Castlevania IV. But one day I went to his house and he brought out this game called Final Fantasy II (it was the American version, if you couldn't tell). It was a totally different game from what I was expecting, and the really cool thing about it was that it had that two player battle option, so I got to play too! Up to this point the only RPG experience I had really had was an old board game called Hero Quest, which I still have and play. This cool new game totally blew my mind and started my career of die-hard RPG playing. I remember being totally captured by the plot, and I nearly cried when the old man died casting Meteo and the twins turned to stone to save me. I remember most of all, though, this odd glitch that I have never been able to reproduce. In FFII you are never supposed to have the old man cast Meteo untill he dies, but somehow we got his magic level up to above its maximum and cast the spell, it took an entire three battles to gather the required power and did an unbelievable amount of damage (I find it interesting to note that the only FF game I have seen where more powerful spells take longer to cast and the "power up" time can extend beyond one battle is FFII). This experience with Final Fantasy changed my life. I am now a big RPG fan, and I own almost every Squaresoft American release. Final Fantasy ROCKS!!!!

A "Middle Aged Gamer" Remembers: Having gone through every system, starting with Pong, I had preferred flight sims.I wasplaying Wing Commander at the time, on my daughters SNES, but was getting a bit jaded.For Christmas oneyear, I recieved a game called "EARTHBOUND". This took me in a whole new direction. I began searching everywhere for anything called "RPG".I sent out to Manitoba for a second hand game called "FINAL FANTASY 3.I can't describe the feelings I had while I played this game,suffice it to say I practically went into seclusion to play it.The characters,story,music are still vivid in my mind.With every new "FINAL FANTASY" that is released, it just gets better. Ihave played all of them, up to and including FF9. All I can say is "thank you, SQUARE", for enriching my life.

Megan Remembers: My first FF game was FF7. I really liked it and thought it was cool (sadly I didn't get as involved in it as I did Zelda, FF8, or FF9). I got kinda bored with this and started looking for a sequel. I got online and looked for a new game and FF8 came up, and the first thing that almost got me to avoid buying it was the 'love' thing in it (I might be a girl but this doesn't interest me). I bought it to see since I had some money. I played it and got hooked real fast. I had to play it many times because I learned you can't race through this game and expect to beat Adel or Ultimencia without high levels. So I started again and spent days leveling up and making sure I had the best weapons. I now have 60 hours of game play on this. I did beat it easily once I did this. I just recently got FF9 and think its really good. I never thought I would EVER find a game better than Zelda, but I definitely did.

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