I think FFVII was the only FF I played more than a couple of times. Was my first FF as well, and I was in school at the time, so had the time to investigate every nook and cranny. Put the effort into what I feel was at least close to a 100% complete, except for filling out the enemy skill materia, which bothered me to no end. That and the boxing game in the Gold Saucer (which I think comes down to luck, don't it?), and possibly the hardest level in the snow boarding (may have completed it, but don't remember).
Final Fantasy VII I think was the first FF I played. That or FFX. It's a blur at this point. But FFVII was the first that I owned. In classic FFVII fashion, as I was playing things quickly took an interesting turn and I could not stop! I quickly became embroiled in Cloud's journey and especially his relationship with Tifa. I think I managed to get to level 99 on my first save file, but through many years and multiple files later (even on the PS3 version) I still have not managed to breed a gold chocobo. Lol!
^ Same on the chocobo, I caught one in the end and between saves it disappeared (I suspect foul play with my younger brother on my save file but nothing has ever been admitted).
Let's see....I didn't realise where this thread had gone so my favourite team was probably Cloud, Red XIII and Vincent/Yuffie. Favourite FF males are Cid followed by Vincent and biggest shock was probably Aeris, but finding out Vincent's backstory and how Sephiroth came to be and the fact that his birth mom was still alive but sealed away was rather grotesque, not really shocking though.
OFC my first FF was VII but now I'm playing the first game I've got a whole new appreciation for JRPGS, I mean the mindset of an experienced RPG gamer is to grind but when I first played FFVII I just wanted to do all the things, explore everything and talk to everyone (this is why it takes me so long to complete games). Right now in FF I'm blitzing enemies that should be mashing fuck out of my characters just because I've spent so much time earning gil and levelling up and buying upgraded spells. *sigh of contentment*
Ffvii was the first final fantasy game I ever played and remains my longest save file with around 200+ hours on an old memory card from grinding and trying to defeat all the weapons, get the golden chocobo and get all the hidden summons etc.
I got it on release and since then have owned it on almost every port its been made available to XD
Favourite male FF characters are Sabin (VI), Balthier (XII), Red XIII (VII) and Barrett (VII) in no particular order.
Most shocking FF moment: They're all shocking. I anticipate nothing because I play all games using walkthroughs (blasphemous). Finding out that Cloud was living through the memories of Zack in VII and, in VI,
the 'end of the world' in VI occurring in the middle of the game and mucking up the entire World Map comes to mind.
I concur with Renzokuken! I remember when I was a little boy, I mostly had to watch my brother play VIII, but then a bossfight went poorly, Irvine and Rinoa were down and Squall wasn't looking too hot so my brother decided to deign to let me play for a bit cause it seemed a lost cause to him. Then Renzokuken came along and I was turned the tables on the bossfight! It would happen once or twice again afterwards that my bro would let me do the tough bossfights afterwards too, impressed as he was. Left me with a special fondness for Renzokuken.
I'm gonna say for me, because I've seen clones of Omnislash from other Protagonists all day...
I actually like Terra's Riot Blade and Aerith's Great Gospel.
The former because of how difficult it was to activate, and the latter because of how difficult it was to actually get (I didn't get it until after I found out it existed).
OMG this reminds me, I do have a favourite! I always really liked Bahamut's overdrive (and his summoning in general) so much so that I'd always watch the entire animation.
But I can't fucking find a gif of the actual attack so enjoy this one
Day 4: I really liked the dynamic of Squall, Rinoa and Irvine. They're the only characters who didn't grow up in Esthar Garden with Squall which I find more interesting for RP reasons. It also helps the Squall/Rinoa relationship feel more natural as the two of them are around for most of the same events and you get to see both their reactions to them.
FFXIV doesn't have parties in the traditional sense, but HW did a great job in capturing the feeling of a party during the journey the Warrior of Light, Alpinaud, Estinian and Ysayle make to figure out what really caused the Dragonsong War. The whole story arc of making a journey with people to learn about a world crisis felt very old-school FF to me.
Day 5: "To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom - it is indolence." --Louisoix
"A heartbeat without harmony is moonlight without night." -- Sophia, Equilibrium
"I slaughter a gang of Qiqirn bandits for your precious goods and this is the thanks I receive!? You spineless sack of shite. I kill your enemies. I fetch your things. I do what you people can't or won't do yourselves. You're helpless. Weak. All you do is want and need. I should've left you all to drown in Leviathan's tidal wave. At least then I would've been spared your constant bloody whining." --
The Warrior of Light... when they've gotten really tired of all the expectations that come with being... the Warrior of Light
Actually... make that pretty much the entire Dark Knight Job Quests. They're easily one of the best (if not the best) Jobs to level just so you can experience their storyline... there's so much there that are my favorite FF quotes...
Day 6: Vincent, Rufus Shinra (in terms of what kind of character he is), Laguna, Alphanud (he benifits from FFXIV's long term story telling, whatching him grow up is fun).
Day 7: I got to the FF scene late and had picked up most things by cultural osmosis. But...
where it turns out Fray, the job trainer is actually you. Specifically a manifestation of all your frustration at being "The Hero" and all the losses you've experienced in the MSQ.
. I stared at the screen for a few moments and then deliberately died during the fight so I could watch all the cutscene/dialog all over again.
Day 8: FFVII. It's why I'm on these forums!
Day 9: Rinoa's Angel Wing. It's great to see major plot developments reflected in gameplay changes. I did quite a lot of preparation on her so that the only thing she could cast under Angel Wing was the Meteor Spell. Seeing all that preperation pay off was great. And by great I mean I was doing 99,999 damage per use...
FFXIV... Summoner's LB3, Teraflare. While everyone else gets Limit Breaks from famous characters in other games, Summoner casts Bahamut's signature attack. As in, the attack that broke the game and caused an Umbral Calamity!
. Runners up: