PixlBit

Final Fantasy VI! I could seriously talk about this game all day. It's my favorite video game of all time.

 

The first time I ever saw it was at my cousin's house as a teenager. He had a Super Nintendo as well, and invited me to play the game with him. I had never played an RPG before, and I was in for a real treat. He was at the Floating Continent, and I didn't know what I was doing. He set up the second controller, and I controlled a couple people in battle. Anyway, I was amazed at the cutscenes that followed, and we got to the Serpent Trench on the second map. To this day, I can still imagine what it was like to wander a dead world. Those bells still get me.

 

Since I couldn't stay long, he let me borrow Final Fantasy II while he finished that game. I had a good time with it, but really wanted to play the other one again. I borrowed it a couple months later, and loved it. It became my favorite.

 

After I got a part time job, it was one of the first games I ever bought. I got the Nintendo strategy guide for it as well. I played it in depth again and pretty much memorized it.

 

I don't know why, but I started writing the game as a story. It was an amateurish endeavor, but one that brought me pleasure. I had done it once before with another favorite, Ninja Gaiden 2. To write out half the game took me 6 months, as I recall. I think that the other half took me 8. I did it all in notebooks throughout my last year of high school. I ended up with a dozen or so of them. Afterward, I put the world away for awhile.

 

I came back to it after I was in the Army. I bought my first laptop in 2002, and discovered the internet. I found a place called Fanfiction.net, and started reposting my story on there. It wasn't well received because my writing style was lacking. I had written the whole thing in present tense, and I learned that you're not suposed to do that with multi-chapter fics.

 

So as I started rewriting it, I got inspired to do a sequel. In between converting my old story and writing new chapters, my laptop died. So I lost everything and had to start over. Regrettably, I never did finish converting my adaptation from notebooks to fanfiction.net. Although I did make it halfway through my sequel. Everything that I have online is still under my old profile. My author name is Furysetzer.

 

As far as the game goes, I played it again the PSX in the Anthology edition of the game. And again on the Game Boy Advance, and really liked the new translation and new content, even though some of the classic lines from Ted Woolsey wasn't there. Before that, I had started getting into emulation, and played a mod for it called Expert Version. It was great as well.

 

Last year, I found the import version of FFVI for the Super Famicom complete in box. I also snagged a mint copy of the strategy guide for cheap. I had the OST already, but I also got the ultimate sound version, which included the piano collections and Grand Finale. I have everything displayed in a cabinet, kind of like a mini shrine. I'm hoping to get the original game CIB again as well one of these days. Call me crazy, but I even have a FF tattoo.

 

That brings me to the mobile release of Final Fantasy VI. I am still seriously on the fence about this one. Even though the environments look better, the characters look really ugly to me. They are washed out and pastel colored. I also heard about the game having drm to where you can't even play it offline. I hope the iOS version doesn't have that. Even though I will probably get it when I get my iPad Mini back.

 

I can't tell you how much this one little game has influenced me. The world and characters are so interesting to me, and it is the coolest fantasy world that I have ever experienced. If I could program, the only thing I would ever do is mess around with the game. Maybe even fully realize the sequel in my dreams.