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I was three years old, playing a copy of FFIII (Everybody here knows that FFIII on the SNES was actually FFVI, right?). Granted I probably couldn't understand much of the plot, I seemed to enjoy it, so my mom just let me be. A few days later, I started screaming my guts out and kicked the SNES while playing the game. My mom couldn't figure out why, and I wouldn't do anything but screech.

Many years later, I found the cartridge of the game that traumatized me as a toddler, and not knowing why it would (I at the time assumed it was actually FFIII, with Onion Knight), plugged it in.
Because the cartridge was old and not well taken care of, whenever I started a new game, it froze. Deciding to just load my save data, it brought me up as Terra outside Figaro Castle. After going in and talking to Edgar, the cutscene where Kefka and his lackeys were approaching the castle played. Then Kefka played his laugh.
I knew I was skittish of "scary" noise when I was a toddler, so I had to just laugh at myself.
Also explains why I've always been wary of clowns...

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

Okay, I might as well say it. Suplexing the train. From the time it first happened (my 7 year old step brother's first playthrough of it), I didn't really think anything of it. It wasn't for another year or two when I realized just how whacked out wrong it was to see. Now, on every playthrough, the train must be suplexed.

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"So, are you a fan of the Fett?"

"Nah, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

My first experience with this game was getting it via previews in all the gaming magazines leading up to its release; having played the first two games released in the States for hundreds of hours, I pored over every bit of info I could get from Nintendo Power, EGM, and GamePro. If I looked hard enough, I probably would even have a Squaresoft newsletter with preview info. I have to assume that counts as a first experience!

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

A review in Game Players giving it a 98%, the highest score they'd ever given a game. Super Metroid didn't get that high dude. Super. Metroid.

Dude.

Then playing the thing in our living room for the first time, it brings up that screen with the white text of the title and no music or anything. Considering I'd played the previous one and it immediately started with the FF theme, I was sitting there for those few seconds thinking...



But theeeen, it goes into the 'actual' title screen and I'm like, "F**kin RETRACTED!"



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Arts

Farts

Twarts

As many members here know, I had a particularly wonky way of playing through the series. Having played FFX, FFVIII, and FFVII (in that order), I was looking for the next Final Fantasy to play and somewhat amazed at the idea that there had been an entire SEVEN preceding entries. My first encounter with FFVI, then, was on the google machine, evaluating it against its old school brethren FFV and FFIV to determine which I should play before jumping back to FFIX. That search involved, primarily, a lot of time on old IGN review pages and here at CoN; those pages, and the excel doc I built from the info I received, are my "first" memories of FFVI.

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Great stories, you guys! I know what you mean about the train!

Let's see... after that incident I had at 3 years, the next I ever heard of FFVI was from my girlfriend, who was explaining the baddies from Final Fantasy. However, I was playing Animal Crossing, and so was only half-listening. As a result, when she explained Kefka and Kuja, my brain associated the name "Kefka" with the image of Kuja.
So I'll bet you can guess how disillusioned I was when she flashed a picture of Kefka in my face saying something like "Isn't he so cute?"

...I have never been very fond of clowns, so my brain shut off for quite a while.

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

My very first experience with this game was when I would watch my older brother play it on an emulator on our Window 98. I actually got it mixed up with Secret of Mana a lot. The only thing I actually remember from my brother playing that game was Locke saying, "Terra can use magic and we can't." Isaac didn't like me hovering over his shoulder while he was playing, so I didn't catch the next bit. I assumed Locke was trying to figure out why she could use magic. Five years later, when I beat Mystic Quest, I decided to try some actual FF games for myself. I was actually going to play II/IV first, but I got stuck at Valvalis; Isaac told me III/VI was easier, so I tried that, and it became my favorite. I remember being really impatient for Terra to get over her amnesia so I could Morph. Wow, this really takes me back.

My first experience was at a family get-together, maybe 1998 or 9. My cousin showed me different parts of the game from different save files. The first thing I ever saw was either the opera scene or the Jurassic Forest, and I remember having no idea what I was seeing. He also showed me either Phoenix Cave or Cave to the Sealed Gate and Mt. Koltz. He had renamed Edgar and all the other characters after my relatives, and I was Sabin. That was why Sabin was one of my favorite characters when I first signed up here. The funniest part was that he tried to explain the story to me, but I just couldn't understand, but for years before I played the game it still entered into our pretending sessions, where my basement became the deck of the airship.

My dad is a musician. He works at Dollywood, but he also would sell music a flea markets so I would spend a lot of time there. Now, I should probably explain, because I'm not sure about other places: flea markets in East Tennessee were not only a place to shop, they were social meeting places where you'd find friends and family. They were also great time capsules. You can look through and find movies, books, etc. from your early childhood that you couldn't find anywhere else. One day I found a place filled with old NES and SNES games. It was there that I found it. It was $50, and for my family at the time, we barely bought new games for $50, let alone a 10+ year old game. But I had to have it, so I screamed (just kidding), I paid for part of it and we talked him down to $40.

I was completely excited. I couldn't wait to get home. I put the game in the console. I knew I was finally going to play the game that had built up in my mind... and it wouldn't play... blank screen! Did the old SNES cartridge blowing game that everyone's done in the past, put it back in, and... a bunch of pixeled flickering green lines! It was terrible. Not only did we just blow $40, but I wouldn't play the game. But as I was about to head down the stairs and tell the bad news, I tried it one more time... and it played! The rest was history.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 8th March 2015 12:34)

My first experience was at a family get-together, maybe 1998 or 9. My cousin showed me different parts of the game from different save files. The first thing I ever saw was either the opera scene or the Jurassic Forest, and I remember having no idea what I was seeing. He also showed me either Phoenix Cave or Cave to the Sealed Gate and Mt. Koltz. He had renamed Edgar and all the other characters after my relatives, and I was Sabin. That was why Sabin was one of my favorite characters when I first signed up here. The funniest part was that he tried to explain the story to me, but I just couldn't understand, but for years before I played the game it still entered into our pretending sessions, where my basement became the deck of the airship.

My dad is a musician. He works at Dollywood, but he also would sell music a flea markets so I would spend a lot of time there. Now, I should probably explain, because I'm not sure about other places: flea markets in East Tennessee were not only a place to shop, they were social meeting places where you'd find friends and family. They were also great time capsules. You can look through and find movies, books, etc. from your early childhood that you couldn't find anywhere else. One day I found a place filled with old NES and SNES games. It was there that I found it. It was $50, and for my family at the time, we barely bought new games for $50, let alone a 10+ year old game. But I had to have it, so I screamed (just kidding), I paid for part of it and we talked him down to $40.

I was completely excited. I couldn't wait to get home. I put the game in the console. I knew I was finally going to play the game that had built up in my mind... and it wouldn't play... blank screen! Did the old SNES cartridge blowing game that everyone's done in the past, put it back in, and... a bunch of pixeled flickering green lines! It was terrible. Not only did we just blow $40, but I wouldn't play the game. But as I was about to head down the stairs and tell the bad news, I tried it one more time... and it played! The rest was history.

What an emotional story. It made me smile I'm glad it worked out for you

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

Quote (Ker @ 8th March 2015 16:21)

What an emotional story. It made me smile I'm glad it worked out for you

Thanks, and I should say it also led me here also. I actually think I still have printouts of the CoN guide back in 2006!

See, because I had only really played it when I was 15-16, I had thought that I really didn't have nostalgia the way that other people do about things. But as I look back on it, the game was strongly connected to me even before I first bought it, and that has most definitely influenced my opinion on it. For many reasons, I compare FFVI to the Godfather. Not only are their stories both epic, but like FFVI, I had the Godfather built up in my mind as the "movie you've gotta see." And it delivered; it was everything it was hyped to be and more!

(By the way, your story reminded me of watching Sleeping Beauty when I was younger. I still have an irrational fear of the fire scene from that movie!)

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Praise Be To Helix!

Flowed smoothly and didn't find it extremely difficult. The rising action kept me in the game. Happy to eventually beat it. The rest is history.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/Greatermaxim

Terra - LV 99 - HP 9999 - MP 999

Equipment - - - Abilities

Illumina - - - - - Fight
Genji Shield - - Morph
Oath Veil - - - - Magic
Minerva - - - - - Item
Ribbon
Economizer

Quote (BlitzSage @ 8th March 2015 15:04)

(By the way, your story reminded me of watching Sleeping Beauty when I was younger. I still have an irrational fear of the fire scene from that movie!)

It's funny how those things stay with us, isn't it?
A few years ago, I watched a play through of "Sonic.exe", probably the worst creepy pasta in existence. But lo and behold, they used Kefka's laugh several times in it, so I was very jumpy by the end of it. Still to this day, it kind of bothers me.

That fire scene never really scared me, but I can definitely empathize with you. Stupid Maleficent

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

Quote (BlitzSage @ 8th March 2015 15:34)

My first experience was at a family get-together, maybe 1998 or 9. My cousin showed me different parts of the game from different save files. The first thing I ever saw was either the opera scene or the Jurassic Forest, and I remember having no idea what I was seeing. He also showed me either Phoenix Cave or Cave to the Sealed Gate and Mt. Koltz. He had renamed Edgar and all the other characters after my relatives, and I was Sabin. That was why Sabin was one of my favorite characters when I first signed up here. The funniest part was that he tried to explain the story to me, but I just couldn't understand, but for years before I played the game it still entered into our pretending sessions, where my basement became the deck of the airship.

My dad is a musician. He works at Dollywood, but he also would sell music a flea markets so I would spend a lot of time there. Now, I should probably explain, because I'm not sure about other places: flea markets in East Tennessee were not only a place to shop, they were social meeting places where you'd find friends and family. They were also great time capsules. You can look through and find movies, books, etc. from your early childhood that you couldn't find anywhere else. One day I found a place filled with old NES and SNES games. It was there that I found it. It was $50, and for my family at the time, we barely bought new games for $50, let alone a 10+ year old game. But I had to have it, so I screamed (just kidding), I paid for part of it and we talked him down to $40.

I was completely excited. I couldn't wait to get home. I put the game in the console. I knew I was finally going to play the game that had built up in my mind... and it wouldn't play... blank screen! Did the old SNES cartridge blowing game that everyone's done in the past, put it back in, and... a bunch of pixeled flickering green lines! It was terrible. Not only did we just blow $40, but I wouldn't play the game. But as I was about to head down the stairs and tell the bad news, I tried it one more time... and it played! The rest was history.

Well told! If you hadn't already posted that here, I would say that this would have been a great story for http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/forums/ipb/in...showtopic=16968

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I was over at my friend rob's house and he was playing it after having told me about it. He was raving because blitz and swdtech don't use MP.

It was really cool. Shadow left while we were playing.

We ended up playing the shit out of some final fantasy VI baby.

It was awesome

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X is blue.

Quote (Death Penalty @ 23rd February 2015 09:52)

As many members here know, I had a particularly wonky way of playing through the series. Having played FFX, FFVIII, and FFVII (in that order), I was looking for the next Final Fantasy to play and somewhat amazed at the idea that there had been an entire SEVEN preceding entries. My first encounter with FFVI, then, was on the google machine, evaluating it against its old school brethren FFV and FFIV to determine which I should play before jumping back to FFIX. That search involved, primarily, a lot of time on old IGN review pages and here at CoN; those pages, and the excel doc I built from the info I received, are my "first" memories of FFVI.

Don't worry, I also have a weird order of playing the games.

The first Final Fantasy I really got into was actually Tactics Advance, when I was ten-ish, having stopped avoiding FF like the plague since I forgot why I was doing so.

Then came Kingdom Hearts, which although it isn't a FF game, features a gaggle of FF characters, primarily from VII. Then I met my girlfriend, got into VII, and from then on, I was into Final Fantasy. I've gotten to play more of the newer games than the old ( XII and XIII being major letdowns for me, given what VII set me up for) but I'm hoping to play all of them eventually.

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

Quote (Ker @ 11th March 2015 19:46)

XII and XIII being major letdowns for me, given what VII set me up for

That's a shame. I really liked FFXII, and I have high hopes for FFXIII, which is just waiting for my thesis to be done with. How can you not like Balthier, and Fran, well, I shouldn't write about that here..

But you also got to keep perspective, in my opinion: FFVII is one of the greatest games ever made. I've said this before here, but a lot of people talk about FF declining. But when you think about it, Final Fantasy from IV-X went on a legendary run. How many of those games will appear on any given person's list as one of their favorites ever? Everybody seems to have one of those Final Fantasies as a personal favorite. But it's because each of those games were great during that run, and a few of them were all-time great.

Quote (Spooniest)

He was raving because blitz and swdtech don't use MP

That was awesome for me too. Auto crossbow was also a killer. Even when the game really wanted me to learn magic, I said no, stop bothering me, I'll just Pummel and chainsaw!

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 11th March 2015 22:23)

That's a shame. I really liked FFXII, and I have high hopes for FFXIII, which is just waiting for my thesis to be done with. How can you not like Balthier, and Fran, well, I shouldn't write about that here..

What I disliked about XII was mainly two things; First, it took the world of Tactics Advance and, in my personal opinion, royally screwed it up. Second, the story starts off well, and it's interesting and then... Enter Vaan. How is Vaan even relevant? He's not. Like, at all. Other than that, it was playable. It wasn't a bad game overall... It just wasn't Final Fantasy material. If it got rid of Vaan, or at the very least just made him actually relevant to the story, it would have been a lot better.

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

I was around eight the first time I played FFVI, I had just returned from a holiday and as a treat was allowed to choose a game from our local game shoppe. I bought it purely because all of my friends at school at the time lauded FFVII and while I wasn't very good at the game (I've grown somewhat decent at it) I enjoyed what I saw. Edgar remains to this day my favorite character from FFVI.

p.s. It was bought by a very close relative of mine for me and for this reason it remains very valuable to me for both sentimental value, and the fact that it is my favorite final fantasy game.

Welcome to the forum!

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X is blue.

Thank you!

Second on the welcome. Do you still had the original cartridge?

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Praise Be To Helix!

I was nine years old (1995) and decided I wanted my mom to rent me FF3 from block buster.

Reason: it was more expensive than the other games. (Like $6)

I load the game up, and there is a saved game already in use, so I jump in that slot just to find myself standing in front of the fanatics tower, not sure how to play I hopped in the airship (Thought it was awesome to fly around) landed at some random house with some old guy complaining about a repair man.

Brought the game back to blockbuster and forgot all about it for four years, when I saw it in a pawn shop for $15 (This is when I actually played the game).

This post has been edited by Bestia455 on 4th June 2015 01:33

I still have the disk and still use that same PS1 disk.

Quote (Bestia455 @ 3rd June 2015 20:32)

I was nine years old (1995) and decided I wanted my mom to rent me FF3 from block buster.

Reason: it was more expensive than the other games. (Like $6)

I load the game up, and there is a saved game already in use, so I jump in that slot just to find myself standing in front of the fanatics tower, not sure how to play I hopped in the airship (Thought it was awesome to fly around) landed at some random house with some old guy complaining about a repair man.

Brought the game back to blockbuster and forgot all about it for four years, when I saw it in a pawn shop for $15 (This is when I actually played the game).

That's actually a bit funny. I mean, of all places to jump in... that's just awesome.

I first played this game shortly after finishing FFIV and Chrono Trigger, when I was in high school.

I got to the end of the first half of the game, and went to university. I completed the game at university, and shortly thereafter joined a couple forums related to FFVI.

CoN is one of those forums.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Well, I was born in the late eighties so I did not get the opportunity to play this (somewhat) seriously until later on. I think it was 2000 or 2001. However, my initial experiences were amazing. I absolutely fell in love. Everything about it was incredible. I went back and played it when I was older and could understand more of the adult-oriented themes, such as Celes' attempted suicide.

It then struck me even deeper. It's one of the few titles where I returned and got as much as I did when I first played it, which is difficult to do with linear RPGs. Well, at least for me personally.

Mine was around three years ago, when I first started getting into the classic FF games. Of all the old-school FFs VI is my favourite, and is actually one of my top-3 games of all time.

It must have been the summer of 1994, so I would have been 13... kind of difficult to remember, my memories of those days all blend together the way only nostalgia can.

I had recently played through Link to the Past, having gotten tired of all the hop-and-bopping I'd been doing since I was 7 and the supposed 'mature' themes of Mortal Kombat had begun to wear thin with me and my bestie. This RPG thing really seemed to be delivering though, so on my next rental I went for the most RPGish looking thing I could find.

I played it entirely cooperatively with him, going so far as to leave my game and SNES at his house over night so as to share the experience with him. I would also frequently sneak out of my house at night and play while his parents were at the casino, so it wasn't so great a sacrifice.

My first real memory of it, though, was on one of those late night adventures.

We'd just finished at Zozo, which had been brutally difficult.

To this day, I remember being awestruck and humbled by the incredible narrative of the Opera Scene as we played through it. It brought me to tears. At the age of 13. With my best friend in the room with me. It takes some powerful brew to work that kind of magic and, indeed, to this day, during every play thorough, it destroys me. I am 13 again and I am helpless at the power of the narrative delivered by some sprites and text.

It's a very subjective thing, but this is why I feel the series peaked there. For all the full-motion video cut-scenes, side-questing, mini-games gigabytes of data they've added, they've never come close to delivering the same depth they did with so few tools at their disposal and I think it's those very limitations that forced them to be so creative about the story they tell and how they tell it.

You can show Aerith being run through in HD on an Occulus Rift. It'll never hit me like that brief moment the bouquet hangs in the air, and all the hope and promise and potential it represents, before falling away into the darkness of the night.

For as much as we're supposed to relate to Cloud's loss, we will never be Cloud.

However, we will always be the bouquet, even when we wish we didn't have to be.

That's some brilliant story telling.

Fall of 1994. This was MY Final Fantasy... for the first time I actually got an FF game when it came out instead of behind everyone else and I loved it. My AOL screenname made in early 95 was "FF3Kid" though there's no record of any of the posts or anything I made there as it was long ago.

I loved the music and the characters. But as I played the game again years later as a teenager and a young adult I realized I did not understand all the sarcasm and puns, they went over my head when I was 9.

To be honest I didn't beat the game for quite some time. My brother and I were always moving between mom's and dad's houses and we had two SNESes and we lost our first FF3 cartridge somewhere.