Why is Spotto talking about Final Fantasy

I like writing stories. READING them though? Depends. Maybe. Maybe not. What if they're incorporated into other media? Perhaps a movie? Occasionally I suppose. An anime? Quite obvious something like that needs plot. I mean unless people are looking to make slice-of-life series or shows with complete and utter senseless entertainment. What about games though?

Well yeah, tons of awesome games, considered best games ever to have graced our eyes, definitely have epic storylines. Oddly enough, if I'm supposedly a gamer...I've never played one with a storyline of that calibre.

Mostly because those games are on consoles, which I do not have. They are usually associated with RPGs, which I do not like. Starcraft is a nice exception...if I actually bothered to play the campaign. Either way it does have a pretty hefty storyline, but largely stuff I play I play not for the story, simply for the gameplay and the ability to play with others. Perhaps shoot my friends to death, or beat them up, but no one gets hurt (except their egos) since it is all virtual! :D Just like having a grand day playing soccer at the local field, except you're at home huddled inside a dark room gunning aliens down with your buddies. Scoring a goal, massacring one another? All fun and games!

There is one game with an unbelievable storyline I wouldn't mind playing though. It's called Final Fantasy X. I probably peppered the game here and there in a few posts in my blog, but I mostly never talk about it. The story though completely blows my mind. This is the type of story I want to write, be it for some casual fanfiction or an ultimate backstory to a ridiculous game. Growing up I knew of Final Fantasy first when my brother played IV, called II in America. He named this girl known as Rydia after me, and when she got eaten up by some sea monster I was so very sad. Then she came back and kicked ass. Alright! I was rather young at the time too.

Next? Well everyone knows of Final Fantasy VII. It has Cloud...and Aerith dying...and Sephiroth...and stuff. Actually the character I remember the most from watching my brother play (yes, again) over at my cousin's house was none of these characters, nor Tifa. I actually remembered Barret the most. I have no clue why. I suppose he stood out, being a different race and looking much more muscular and big. Oh well. This time though I don't think I cared too much about the game. I picked it up and played some myself, but it never pulled me in. I would've rather played Dynasty Warriors, Worms, or Marvel Vs. Capcom at this time, not FFVII. 

Of course the only real gaming "platform" I really had, if the Gameboy Color didn't count, was the PC. We received in the year 2001, and at that time I was ten. My first real experience of a computer however was on a Windows 95, before the cute little Mac I believe, where I loved to play Willy Wonka flash games on the girl downstairs' computer. So really, the first game I ever played? No it was not Pokemon or Final Fantasy or Mario. The first game I played was a Flash game. Willy Wonka flash games. Hilarious is it not.

So, my lack of consoles left me with simply my PC. Any console game I did pick up ended up on an emulator. Did I play Super Mario Bros.? Yes I did, on the Gameboy Color. However I played Silver, Crystal, Super Smash Bros., Harvest Moon, any Megaman, etc. all on emulators. I never really got a console. Also at the time of PSX emulators they were huge and their ROMs were huge, being CD ROM format, so I never really tried a PS1 emulator. This is why to this day I still want a PSone. I think if any console (besides my GBC) influenced my life the most, it was that one.

Anyway, back to the PC. See, with the computer comes something called the internet, and with the internet something called Youtube followed shortly after. I ended up, in sheer complete boredom (or what I assume, I don't quite recall exactly why I started) watching a Let's Play of Final Fantasy X. Now this game grabbed me, for sure.

But when I first watched it I was still a bit young, I got incredibly confused at what the plot was. Okay so basically...this guy, a sports star, is chased by this big....wave water thing, and this old man whisks him towards it so they suddenly teleport to some new world with his dad randomly there and uh...Yeah, I was pretty confused throughout the entire thing. So by the time I finished it I was a bit confused yet I still liked the game a bit. I didn't look further into it though, until now.

I decided to rewatch it (NOT in complete boredom actually...) just to remind myself again, and this time I figured out the story exactly. Of course now that I know the plot, I find it in my opinion, the best Final Fantasy game ever. Many of my friends will disagree, as for some reason despite FFX's popularity I don't know anyone else who enjoys it the most. They usually like FFVII predictably. Now I realize how epic that game is, but because when I played it I never really got drawn into it, I never really...jumped into the hype, similar with Harry Potter (I started reading it and got bored) and really plenty of other pretty big fandoms. I suppose one day I will invest in a PS2, but I doubt at this day and age I'd even find that game anymore. It's one thing to wait for something to get cheap, but then you wait too long...

I suppose the problem with the other FF games I've experienced is the lead. Cecil is not a particularly a happy person. When that game starts he was in deep regret, sacking villages and killing innocent people because the king said so. Anyway he spends like at least half the game atoning and then becoming a paladin and everything. I suppose it was the first time FF got any real story, so it was quite a breakthrough, but I was a kid at the time and he seemed depressing. FFVII's Cloud did not fix that either, lol.

Then in FFX we get this Tidus guy. Now I wasn't particularly fond of him at first, simply because at first you have no clue what's going on anyway, but as the game continues you realize you're supposed to feel what he feels, simply because he too is thrown into a new world knowing nothing, as you are. Of course this trope is probably overused by now in games, but back then was, I bet, a pretty good decision to do. Even better that they explained who he is and how he got there quite well, I think. I never realized how absolutely depressing FFX even is because I was always under the impression, using my poor memory, that FFX was more lighthearted than both FFVII and FFIV. Yet FFX, despite its ridiculously crapsack setting, still had that whole ray of hope, with a bit of a happy atmosphere, despite how dim it gets at every cutscene.

Of course there's also Rikku, who I like not simply because of her looks but when you're voiced by BUBBLES and act like BUBBLES and I am a kid then as a fan of BUBBLES that is HUGE influence going into the game. Since you know, at that time I was probably like...14-15, and also at the time I would be influenced also by MAX the awesome super happy kid from Beyblade so...

Oh, the golden age of golden haired characters. 

Nonetheless, a few years later I watched Dead Fantasy. Then while completely awesome I promptly forgot about it, simply because I always thought massive projects like those are always left unfinished. Later on I discover DFII, and it blows my mind harder than FFX itself. THEN I forget about that too and suddenly I find DFIII, DFIV, and DFV. Later on I forget yet again. On a spur of "wondering if they released more" I found it again, but alas was saddened that there was nothing new. Yet fear not, as the fan movie is so ridiculously rewatchable you can now rewatch it again and again and again and again! So because of that I suddenly recalled watching Let's Play of FFX itself once, and took it upon myself to take a peek....and ended up watching it all again.

This year really is the nostalgia year for me.

And now I want to try playing it. Sure it's an RPG and likely I'll end up not finishing it simply because I fail and despise RPGs, but this is a game where I feel all that work grinding would pay off for that unbelievable story, those breathtaking cut scenes. I always thought I never was part of the screaming fangirl clique on Final Fantasy, but I think I really am if only for Final Fantasy X.

Oh and about X-2, it looked fun and seemed fun, but FFX-2 to FFX is like Lion King 2 to Lion King for me. Lion King was the best Disney Movie ever. Lion King 2 was a decent sequel, but can never be compared to the likes of Lion King. Same for here. Final Fantasy X? Best Square-Enix (Yes I AM going there) game ever. FFX-2? Decent, but cannot compare. You'd think those two companies combining would make an awesome game, well I've played Kingdom Hearts and never got into it.

But who knows, maybe in 10 games I'll like one of them. If Kingdom Hearts ever makes that many...

And well, my opinion is obviously not too educated seeing as I never actually PLAYED Final Fantasy X, but the gameplay DOES look fun even if an RPG. Like, rather than levels as numbers there's sphere levelling, which looks far more customizable and I DO love customization. Also I can have more than like four people in my party, I can have all seven and switch them whenever I want. That is awesome. Oh yeah, and Rikku.

Welps, that is all from Spotto for today. My avatar is of a certain Sim in a certain....Sims game, lol. I loves him.