Everyone has those stories of hiding a Gameboy under their pillow or sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night to play a game. I've been thinking a lot about Final Fantasy 7 again and remembered that it was actually the first game I became so enthralled with that I actually snuck downstairs to pull an all-night session with it. I'd love to hear what games piqued your interest in such a way that you felt compelled to play it no matter what rules your parents tried enforcing on your curfew or general playtime.
Like many others, Final Fantasy 7 was my very first RPG and coming from playing mostly platformers it felt impossibly huge. It's so easy to suspend that disbelief as a kid and really feel like there is an entire living, breathing world sitting on that little disc you put into your PS1. I'd mostly just replay the Midgar section over and over again, restarting whenever I'd get stuck or take too long of a break and forget what I was supposed to be doing. Eventually though, after months of owning the game and replaying the familiar opening moments, I made it through Shinra HQ. What greeted me when I exited Midgar for the first time was beyond my wildest imagination. You're telling me that massive, sprawling city that felt incomprehensibly complex was just ONE section of the game? You're telling me this world is so large that Midgar could be represented as a spec on its total map?
I was dumbstruck, it was the first game I had ever played with that kind of overworld system, with the closest parallel I had at the time being Crash 1's level select showing Crash walking across the islands you played on. What struck me most is that in my dozens upon dozens of Midgar playthroughs as a kid I was always uncovering new dialogue options, hidden interactions, alternate story beats or tucked away items that had eluded me prior. For a game that already felt so mysterious and epic to be housing what I could only assume to be dozens more cities not only excited me, but it outright terrified me! As I walked around the overworld I'd encounter Kalm, a chocobo ranch and the terrifying shadow of a beast known by many as the Midgar Zolom that blocked me from exploring the caves ahead. The endless possibilities of what could lie ahead coupled with the mystery of Kalm's cutscenes showing me that Cloud might not be all he says he is convinced me that I just HAD to play more, I couldn't wait until the next day for another hour or so of parent-sanctioned playtime!
And so, at age 6 or 7, for the first time ever, I waited until my mom went to bed and snuck downstairs to play more Final Fantasy 7. I figured out how to catch Chocobos, explored Mythril Mine and eventually Fort Condor before deciding finally feeling too tired to play some several hours later. Ironically, I was deathly afraid of the dark and so the idea of having to turn off the TV to scurry upstairs at what must have been 3-4 in the morning was far too demanding a task. I ended up just leaving the TV on as a nightlight with Cloud on the overworld to keep me company. To this day more than any other piece of music, the overworld theme of Final Fantasy 7 is the quintessential sound of staying up all night. It is the sound of mystery, of tragedy, of triumph and of limitless potential.
Not sure how to end my ranting and raving but yea, Final Fantasy 7 is amazing c:
Like many others, Final Fantasy 7 was my very first RPG and coming from playing mostly platformers it felt impossibly huge. It's so easy to suspend that disbelief as a kid and really feel like there is an entire living, breathing world sitting on that little disc you put into your PS1. I'd mostly just replay the Midgar section over and over again, restarting whenever I'd get stuck or take too long of a break and forget what I was supposed to be doing. Eventually though, after months of owning the game and replaying the familiar opening moments, I made it through Shinra HQ. What greeted me when I exited Midgar for the first time was beyond my wildest imagination. You're telling me that massive, sprawling city that felt incomprehensibly complex was just ONE section of the game? You're telling me this world is so large that Midgar could be represented as a spec on its total map?
I was dumbstruck, it was the first game I had ever played with that kind of overworld system, with the closest parallel I had at the time being Crash 1's level select showing Crash walking across the islands you played on. What struck me most is that in my dozens upon dozens of Midgar playthroughs as a kid I was always uncovering new dialogue options, hidden interactions, alternate story beats or tucked away items that had eluded me prior. For a game that already felt so mysterious and epic to be housing what I could only assume to be dozens more cities not only excited me, but it outright terrified me! As I walked around the overworld I'd encounter Kalm, a chocobo ranch and the terrifying shadow of a beast known by many as the Midgar Zolom that blocked me from exploring the caves ahead. The endless possibilities of what could lie ahead coupled with the mystery of Kalm's cutscenes showing me that Cloud might not be all he says he is convinced me that I just HAD to play more, I couldn't wait until the next day for another hour or so of parent-sanctioned playtime!
And so, at age 6 or 7, for the first time ever, I waited until my mom went to bed and snuck downstairs to play more Final Fantasy 7. I figured out how to catch Chocobos, explored Mythril Mine and eventually Fort Condor before deciding finally feeling too tired to play some several hours later. Ironically, I was deathly afraid of the dark and so the idea of having to turn off the TV to scurry upstairs at what must have been 3-4 in the morning was far too demanding a task. I ended up just leaving the TV on as a nightlight with Cloud on the overworld to keep me company. To this day more than any other piece of music, the overworld theme of Final Fantasy 7 is the quintessential sound of staying up all night. It is the sound of mystery, of tragedy, of triumph and of limitless potential.
Not sure how to end my ranting and raving but yea, Final Fantasy 7 is amazing c:
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