Memories are an amazing thing, getting more special (and nostalgic) the older you get. And many of mine, relating around video games, remind me of the best of the best. One such game is Final Fantasy VI.
It’s 1994 and I’m 15, still living in Greece. My mother and I are in a tiny one bedroom apartment, in which the small living room has been turned in a second bedroom (so that both my mom and myself would each have our own room). Through my other Generation Pong stories, you’ll have already realized my love for video games, and their importance on my life. But as I grew into my mid-teens, those in turn grew more important to me.
You see, I kind of went to a shitty high-school… fights breaking out almost every day, even some of the teachers having been jumped (expelled students galore). I never studied much and cheated on many of my exams. I was smaller in size than most kids my age, and a little more childish (not to mention a birthmark that stuck out like a sore thumb), so this obviously lead to me being picked on, bullied and made fun of. That lead to a lack of friends, which began to make me introverted and in turn even less friends. I had a couple good ones that lived in another neighborhood, so I would see them every other weekend, but that’s about it. I got to hang out with my cousins a lot, which was a plus, but it didn’t feel that… “real” (them being family and all), and I kept my school issues to myself… I ended up spending a lot of time on my own. And most of that personal time was with video games.
It was around this time that I was introduced to Final Fantasy VI, on the classic Super Nintendo. To clarify, at the time it was called Final Fantasy 3 (as it was the 3rd imported FF from Japan). What makes this game one of the most memorable to me is that during this time that I’m looking to loose myself in video games, it was possibly the most epic, grandiose, in-depth video game to have come out (and it’s still holding up even now, 21 years later).
My love for “fantasy” was all over the place, from Willow, to Zelda to Dungeons & Dragons, and when I played Final Fantasy Legend about 3-4 years before (see my story on that one here), I new I was in for a treat, but I had no idea how amazing it would truly be.
FF6 itself evolved the gaming industry on so many levels… multiple complicated characters, an enormous world (which you could fly around in a 3D perspective, one of the first games to do so), diverging paths, decision making, and more importantly the most in-depth, epic story to ever be told. I can’t even describe how amazing this game was, but for those of you who will get the reference, this game even put FF7 to shame.
The story took over 50 hours at the least (one of the longest game plays for its time). The characters evolved, grew, changed with the events. Some characters were lost. New friends were gained. Truths were discovered, and lies betrayed. Halfway through the game, in what felt like the end, an epic event literally changed the entire world. Suddenly, you begin playing in a new, post apocalyptic one. You felt for the characters, your grew to love them, hate them, then love the ones you hated and hate the ones you loved. Even the villains were in depth, sinister, scheming. The storyline split, and you followed the different characters each on their own path. They intersected and split again.
The intricacies of this game are indescribable. And to a kid who wanted to hide from the world, this game was the missing piece of the puzzle. I lost myself in a world so detailed, it showed me an entirely new way to look at my own life. It expanded my understanding of creativity and imagination. You see, Final Fantasy 6 was so important to me because when things felt dark, it renewed me and sent me in a new direction. Along with some other games, such as Super Metroid (also 1994, and you can read about that one here) it lead me on the path that eventually had me studying Creative Writing and Filmaking. It made me love and appreciate books, comics, movies and games more than ever. And it led me here, writing my thoughts, opinions, feelings, ideas and more importantly, my memories, for my friends Casey and Chris on this site we call Don’t Forget a Towel.
Until the next trip down memory lane. In the meantime, feel free to share you own… whether that be a game, a movie, a book or even a song. It’s these stories that make each person who they really are, and give importance to the memory more than ever.
~mozeus
