What Was Your First "Uh-Oh I'm Hooked" FF Moment

[Ite]

Okay, so, obviously, we all like/liked one or more of these games quite a lot.

I wanna know when you realized you did. Example:

For me, it was about having no idea how complex a story video games could tell (2001) and then playing FF7 just cause a friend had casually mentioned it was pretty good.
The moment I knew I was hooked? There were three (FF7 is a great game to blow the minds of noobs).

The first was when

Spoiler

Shinra gets skewered by Sephiroth and Cloud says to Barret, "This is the real crisis for the Planet."

(after which I had to pause and say "Oh my god. This is really good.")

The second was actually not a climactic scene or spoiler. It's actually the scene where they are in Bugenhagen's machine, learning about mako. For some reason, probably a combination of the music, visuals, or the profound, narrative-based introductions to abstract concepts and Gaia Theory that illuminated an entirely new way to perceive the world, to a Westerner. After that, I saved the game and took a walk and was like "MAN. Dis fuckin' game."

The third was

Spoiler

the non-stop thrill ride from Cloud's "revelation" atop Gaia's Cliff and his betrayal of the party, to the Weapons coming out, Tifa and Barret are arrested Cloud is dead and Meteor is in the FREAKING SKY now they're getting PUT IN A GAS CHAMBER AND THEN WEAPON ATTACKS BARRET AND CAIT SITH ARE MAKING A LAST STAND TIFA IS CLIMBING DOWN THE CANON IS WHOA SLAPFIGHT MOUTH LASER AIRSHIP

...You can probably guess how I reacted to that one.

I had the same moments (in degrees) with every numbered title and Tactics, but 7 blew my noob mind.

You?

 

[Fangu]

I think the first *proper* one was seeing Terra in the magitek...vehicles? The first JRPG I played was Chrono Trigger, which blew me away, and then we went to FFVI - and I have to say, I was pretty much hooked from the opening scene. Of course I already sort of knew what I was getting into because I'd played CT, but I remember feeling really excited about it.

The second, which is probably the most memorable one, is the opening scene - or, the 'waiting movie reel' for XIII. I hadn't really been into 'Japanistyle' stuff since I read mangas and watched animes in the 90's. When I first saw Vanille and the architecture of the insides (vestige) of the Pulse fal'Cie, it was like coming home - I remember saying to my boyfriend AAAH JAPAN, WHY DID I STAY AWAY SO LONG? So that's probably the moment I knew this was for me, which might sound dumb as it isn't as much an FF moment as a modern game design moment - but it was the imagination, the visuals, and FF is Japanese, after all.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'll be honest (and I've told this story before) - it was Advent Children. My son wanted to watch it and I watched it with him because that's the kind of mum I am. He wasn't impressed by the film, but it cast the strangest spell on me: I couldn't make sense of any of it yet it seemed just... magical. I fell asleep thinking about it, and got up early the next morning to watch it all over again. Then I bought a PSP to play Crisis Core on. Before that, I hadn't really been a gamer.

Now that I've played many games, including the original FFVII many times, I can see why fans ab initio like Mr Ite feel that Advent Children was a betrayal of the game, and especially of Cloud's character development... But it will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[Octo]

Probably the escape from Shinra.HQ. Was quite a FUCK YEAH! moment.

 

[Ghost X]

My first FF game was FFVII, and I must admit, I was hooked from the get-go.

 

[Philco]

I spent hours watching my older brother play FFVII and FFIX when I was little. Mainly for the music and the battles scenes. Oh, and I was always waiting, hoping to see another pretty cut-scene.

It wasn't until years later, after watching Advent Children, that I suddenly became all OMGFINALFANTASY. Seeing all those characters again, but now in beautiful CG... it was amazing.

So yh, AC may have its flaws but it kinda changed my life

 

[looneymoon]

Cloud cross dressing because I was a gay little pre-teen.

Two hot chicks threatening to crush a fat pimp's balls.

Implied gay buttsex.

Implied beastiality.

Meeting a villain who looks like a dominant grandpa straight out of an erotic dungeon.

A hero who stole his love interest's panties.

...I was a perverted child.

 

[Abortedj]

When I first played FF4 (at the time labeled as FF2). That whole opening, with the army taking the crystal, and and fleet of airships, it all seemed so new and different. Made me go out and buy a copy of the original on NES, and get interested in the Gameboy games that shared the Final Fantasy title (later I would learn they had nothing to do with the franchise, god damn did Square fuck with the US market in the early 90s).

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

My first FF game was FFVII, and I must admit, I was hooked from the get-go.

Pretty much exactly this, only I was watching my older brother play it. I was hooked right from those first few minutes in the mako reactor sixteen years ago, me flipping through the instruction manual while watching him play through that sequence.

 

[Telcontar]

7 was my first ever RPG. I got hooked to it from the start.

 

[Splintered]

FFVII, my first RPG I was hooked almost immediately.

But if I had a memory of the first time I got blown away, it was the destruction of the sector 7 pillar. Or more specifically, talking to the train guy.

I was 10/11, the games I played before were arcade-ish in nature, I wasn't really into movies, had little access to tv, and the books I read were popcorn entertainment in nature. In general, I didn't really get into anything that made me think or inspire me.

So I come into FFVII, and there's this trainstation guy, and he's talking about how he feels nothing because his job made him numb, but now even if he is going to die- he can't bring himself to leave. And as silly as it sounds, because I hadn't read or watched anything really challenging, this blew my mind in a way no medium had before. I remember thinking, "wow, I wonder if this really happens to people."

I know I said this before but I'll say it again, I've played VII many times with different kind of playthroughs, but I always talk to the trainstation guy.

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

FFX was my first FF, but when I first played it it was so long ago I don't remember what(if anything) got me hooked. I do remember getting stuck on that one Blitzball match.(I refused to lose and still do)
My next FF, IV, I'm pretty sure I got hooked on at around the time you get Rosa and your party starts to really fill out.

 

[Joe]

When Sin attacked Kilika and the boat in FFX.

Something about this moment had me knowing I'd fall in love with that game, and had me itching to complete all of the others.

 

[Ite]

The moment I realized Tactics was an incredible game:

Encountering a chocobo on the battle map was one of the only times in the series that a chocobo has shown up on a battle screen without me taming it (or it being a summon). And I was given the option to attack it and I was like "Hell no! I'm not going to harm man's best friend" And then the chocobo killed one of my guys... and I experienced a very profound betrayal, followed by a grief for the permanent death of a character, and then a red hot revenge fury that denied me any remorse for my subsequent blowing-that-chocobo-the-fuck-away. And man did I pull out all the stops killing that thing. That poor bird didn't stand a goddamn chance.

And then I realized that I had a very moving emotional journey that was delivered to me via a system of battle mechanics. Man, they have made some incredible games.

I had a similar moment with FFXII on the Ozmone Plains, no surprises they are the same universe. My FFXIII moment was the moment my friend said to me "I was poaching wolves on the Windtrace Dunes when THIS CRAZY THING HAPPENED..!" And I totally knew that feeling.

 

[Ⓐaron]

I was hooked pretty much from the moment I started playing FFVI. The charming 16-bit graphics, the superb soundtrack, the strong character development, the intelligent plot, the amazing opening all pretty much contributed to ensuring that I had to find out what happened next. It remains my favourite in the series.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Hmm... wasn't so much that I got hooked on FF so much that I got hooked on '90s shounen manga and then went looking for well-plotted JRPGs from that era...

FFVII just stood out to me as a whole as it's probably the game that has the most in common with the real world and FFVIII's atmosphere also stood out.

 

[Keveh Kins]

FF7 was the first RPG I played so I had a few noobie "Holy crap!" moments. First was when you first reach the world map, jaw genuinely dropped. I thought Midgar was massive enough so I was mind blown to discover there was an entire world I'd get to explore and not just the city.

I knew I was hooked on the story from the moment during the Nibelheim Flashback when Sephiroth pulls away the statue/casket thing in front of Jenova, made me shiver the first time I watched it. Think Sephiroth's total change in temperament really freaked me out as a kid but at the same time I was loving it.

Diamond Weapon coming out of the water and charging toward Midgar still makes me grin like a goofy kid again every time I play through. Discounting the Dragonzord from Power Rangers, its my favourite "Monster rising from the sea" scene in film and games.

Zack's death scene in the OG also quite upset me the first time I watched it, the game was great at making you give a shit about characters who had minimal screen time or were even insignificant to the plot, like the Train Station Guard.

The entire atmosphere of Tactics also had me hooked right from the off, granted I've only played the PSP port with the new script.

FFX's big "I'm hooked" moment was Sin completely wiping out Operation Mi'ihen and Tidus' subsequent narrative, really drove home how big a threat Sin is and how miserable Spira is with that shadow looming over them

 

[Cthulhu]

Probably when there were advertsor shows on TV about VII and VIII. I was pretty young when VII's came on, but some images (logo, Seffiros, smokey train etc) stuck in my brain as being very impressive. That was an age when they still did pre-rendered CGI, kids, and it was still impressive, .

Was definitely hooked when the local library rented out video games. Got FFVIII and played the shit out of it. Got stuck at the final boss or something due to being horribly underleveled and not getting the draw system, off course,

 

[Drax]

Mine was fighting Culex in Mario RPG.

Then this, even though it was all I could just to get an N64, so I couldn't play VII yet:

Also, one of my friends had spoiled me with Kefka's fight long before I knew what FFIII was about. Just had it playing on the tv while I visted. :\ I wasn't used to RPGs back in '94 save for 15 minutes of Dragon Quest, so it looked really technical. Same friend also pulled a blurb from a gaming magazine in class, mentioning that they were working on "the first polygon Final Fantasy" and I kinda shook my head 'oh okay.' Foreshadowing!

 

[trash panda]

I think what got me hooked on FF was my brother.

I never really played the SNES until I was much older. It was actually my brother's toy so I didn't play any of the first generation games until...well...recently.

By the time the PS1 came along, everything in our life had changed including the fact that we no longer had our *own* things. Shared TV, shared clothes, shared this, shared that, etc. Usually on Christmas my dad would buy us one super ultimately awesome thing to share and one year of course, it was the PS1. By golly I'm glad that he bought that and not the N64.

My first game was actually a demo disc that came with the PS1. I played a lot of Crash Bandicoot and Tomb Raider for a while.
...Until we finally convinced dad to buy us an actual game. My first ever Playstation game was an RPG called Legend of Legaia, which I still have and will remain one of my all-time favorites until the day I die.

And then...one day...
...I saw my brother playing FF7 on the PC and I had to have it because he had it first and I needed to take it away from him somehow. But we were both of an age of hormones and pimply-arrogance which would not allow us to be in the same vicinity without claws slashing and teeth gnashing. And that is when I got my very own copy of FF7 for the PS1.
Very soon after, I became reclusive and skipped many school days. FF7 ultimately set me up to become the anti-social hermit that I am today.

 

[T@ctic]

this may be really corny to you guys but i was hooked as soon as cloud planted the bomb and he was running away before the time stopped. the player kept getting into so much fights on the way i thought it would be too late; i was on the edge of my seat.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

This is when I knew shit got real.

 

[Alice]

The first FF I owned was VII, but my disks got damaged before I even beat Guard Scorpion. Such luck. My first real experience with FF was with VIII. I had a copy of the PAL demo and the Dollet mission blew me away. It was the music that drew me in the most, I think. It was also very different to what I was used to at the time, which was mainly stuff like platformers.

Eventually, I ended up getting the full game. I now eat it alive at least once a year. I think it's an incredibly easy game no matter how I try to approach it, and some of the plot elements make me raise an eyebrow. Regardless, I still love it. I also ended acquiring a second copy of the demo, though I don't remember how. A family friend probably decided they didn't want theirs anymore.

I might talk about VIII a lot, but my heart is actually with VI, which is my absolute favourite. I was hooked on that game from start to end. I absolutely adore Terra, so if I had to pick something out of that game, it'd be anything involving her.