Media Monday: Final Fantasy III (aka VI)

A meme from me!  At least as far as I know…

I decided today we would go a bit retro.  I think every gamer has the game that started it all.  I can’t tell you the year, my gaming life is very out of sequence with the rest of the world.  I used to sit and watch Lisa play this game like it was just as good as my Saturday morning cartoons.  The summer before college I had a summer stock friend who was a fan of Final Fantasy and she wanted to watch me play… she was horrified by the terrible graphics and the bubble conversations.  Yes, I still loved it even into 2005.  I think the last time I had the SNES hooked up on a regular basis was in my first apartment 2006-2007.  Yep, I’m that kid.

When I used to watch Lisa play she occasionally let me “help” in other words when she had leveled up to 99 she would let me sit there and hit A A A A A and kill things.  I loved it.  I was a budding fantasy nerd so I loved the magic system.  I loved the idea of this other world and poor Terra torn between the two.  I loved wandering across the world.  Even when I had gaps of years between playthroughs I could still talk you through how to get to that city that you always overshot or through that dungeon.  I was very proud of that.  I loved the characters.  They each had such personality which was impressive for the limited amount of animation you can do in that number of pixels.  I also cite one of these characters with my love of roguish men.  Let me introduce you to Locke Cole.

Oh yeah I had the biggest crush ever on that little guy.  He may be tiny but he has attitude.  There is a portrait but I never really liked it as much.  It better matched the Sprite then several other characters but well here he is…

He was the beginning of a long line of fictional crushes.  Gambit of X-Men (definitely the cartoon of my childhood), George Cooper of Pirate’s Swoop (the character created by Tamora Pierce).  I don’t think it was just him though.  I think in someways ever since when I look at characters as a certain type, this game is the foundation for all of those definitions.  My opinions have also changed over the years.  I used to think Celes was a silly blonde, but she is a General who rebels and decides to fight for what is right.  I could probably gush about them all at least a bit.

So what game started you down this road?