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The Way Of Things
Posted On September 13, 2007 07:03 PM by Steak
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The Way Of Things
The other day, I was sitting on the couch alone. No wife, no kids around. The house was quiet, just like I like it. I started thinking about life. What was life like before Final Fantasy XI? I tried to remember a time when I didn't even know of it's existence, or of it being in production. I remember working at GameStop as a store manager a while back, and learning that Square Enix was producing an MMO based on the Final Fantasy universe. I remember reading about Tarutaru, Galka, and Mithra characters. "Interesting" I thought to myself. I remember telling myself because I’m a Final Fantasy nut, I'd play the MMO whether it be good or really bad. I was a fan of the series after all.
The first Final Fantasy game that I ever played was Final Fantasy II (ffiv). LoL I was in middle school. I had a friend who would sleep over at my house, and we'd rent video games, eat pizza, and talk about girls =>. My buddy picked up the ominous red box and suggested we try it. I said "no", because it was a single player game, and typically we chose games that I could pwn him at. (or at least that's how I remember it). I gave in and let him get it. we rented Final Fantasy II, and Pilotwings for the SNES. Well, I don’t think we ever even played Pilotwings, because we were too busy being engulfed by the Final Fantasy splendor. (great game btw). Final Fantasy II is the reason we have Dragoon, Paladin, and Dark Knight in ffxi. We stayed up all night that night, and I don’t even remember how far we got, but it was pretty far.
After FFII, I went solo, and rented FFIII (ffvi) when it came out, and played it until I beat it. I think it took me 2 weeks, but when it was over, I remember standing up from my chair, and clapping because it was so good. When asked what my favorite FF game is, sometimes I say that it was this one because of the richness of the story (gawd that game was good). From that point on, I played the rest of the FF series as they came out.
FFIII was followed by Final Fantasy VII which I played, and conquered. Great game, but (fan people kill me here) I feel it is over rated, and has it's leg humped by so many people who say it's the best game ever when they haven't even played any of the other FF games. Srsly, you can't play FFVII and FFX-2 and say it's the best of the FF series.FFVIII: Loved it. FFIX: ZOMG was thrilled to have just been a part of it. When asked which my favorite FF game is, I USUALLY say this was the best one. FFX: ....... Well, it was good, but I felt like I was watching more CG than actually playing, and something about the actual spoken words turned me off. Maybe because I'm just old school, and like to imagine what each character sounds like in my head; or maybe I just wasn't a fan of the voice acting. Who knows. FFX-2: um..... It was neat for what it was, but kind of like a corny version of FF Charlie’s Angels. And finally FFXI.
When talking to people about FFXI, I often get "well it's an MMO thing, and I'm just not into that." I usually stare blankly at someone who gives me that BS and say "You're the same age as me, and we've been playing video games since we were kids! We've been playing games alone forever! This gives you the chance to change that! EMBRACE COMMUNITY!." I'm sure you all know what my FFXI experience has been like. Wonderful of course. It's gotten to the point that as I sat on the couch, it was hard for me to remember what life was like before it.But what about when it's gone? Have you thought about that? What will you do when Square finally says "Thanks for all of the good times", and shuts the servers down for good? Take a look at your game time (play time). Do you think that this was time well spent? What could you have accomplished in life with that same amount of time? For me, as I sat there thinking, I could have been a medical doctor or a psychiatrist in the same time. I could have started my own business. I could have learned to fluently speak 2 languages. I don’t regret it however. The experience of being a part of this community has been a joy to me. Being able to meet all of you, and make so many new friends, has made every moment worth it for me, and that's the way of things.
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© 2001 - 2007 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Title Design by Yoshitaka Amano. FINAL FANTASY, Vana'diel and Tetra Master are registered trademarks of Square Enix Co.
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November 15, 2008 08:26 AM
