Greatest Moments So Far Part 1

Playing through a series of games that's been going as long as Final Fantasy, there are definitely going to be some memorable moments. I'm partway through Final Fantasy VI, my seventh game so far in this list, and have definitely had more than a few. Here are some of my top ones.

How is this not a meme?

1. You have legs! (Final Fantasy)

We're... what? Three months in now? I ran into this easily excited NPC on probably my second or third day into this journey and this still hasn't gotten old. Whenever I'm feeling down, thinking of this line instantly brightens my day. There was a lot of terribly translated dialogue in both Final Fantasy 1 and 4 (the fan translated games have been quite high quality) but this still takes the cake as my favorite piece of dialogue thus far.

All it needs is a sun with a happy face

2. Beating Final Fantasy (Final Fantasy)

You'll have to forgive the screenshot, I didn't realize how many of these I would need to take that early in my journey so I only have a few from the first game. This isn't just about beating Final Fantasy I, although that remains one of my proudest accomplishments in my 20+ years of gaming. The actual moment I'm referring to is when you reach Garland at the end of the game and you realize that this game actually has a storyline to it. Prior to this moment, you kind of just wander wherever you're told to go, killing baddies and grabbing crystals. Suddenly, you reach Garland, and in three pieces of dialogue, you learn that not only does everything you did have meaning behind it, but this is actually a pseudo-science fiction story! Seriously, mind = blown.

It's an EVIL... WALL!

3. Fighting the Evil Wall (Final Fantasy IV)

There are a lot of great boss fights in Final Fantasy IV: Dark Cecil, Dr. Lugae, Asura. While there were several meaningful and emotional fights like Dark Cecil or the battle against Edge's parents, none were quite as surprising and hilarious as fighting against this evil wall. Just look at the thing? Sure, it's bad looking but you can't help but laugh a bit. You know that when you die against a boss twice and still find it funny that it's a good boss.

At least he died like a true Jedi...

4. Galuf's Death (Final Fantasy V)

Okay, so this is really just a self-ripoff of Tellah's death from Final Fantasy IV. Basically, Galuf gets super pissed about Exdeath doing... something... to his daughter so he goes crazy and lays down the hurt on the final boss, costing him his own life. While in the grand scheme of things, this was just a cheap ploy to add some emotional attachment and shock value to the otherwise dull storyline (a rather unsuccessful one too, since it makes literally no difference to the game. Cara just replaces Galuf with all his abilities and stats right after this), it was still a pretty awesome moment since you get to control Galuf in the fight. Unlike Tellah's rage moment, you actually get to command Galuf and despite his health reaching zero, you can keep owning Exdeath while the dialogue goes in the background. It's a fun moment of redemption after your characters have literally failed at everything they've attempted thus far.

Way to undermine a guy sacrificing his life to save his comrades...

5. Josef's Death (Final Fantasy II)

Final Fantasy II did a lot to differentiate itself from its predecessor right from the get go. However, this is the moment when you really know things will be different this time around. A playable character actually died, sacrificing himself to save you from a marauding boulder. I wouldn't recommend trying this in real life since a huge stone boulder big enough to crush four people likely wouldn't be impeded in the least by one person standing in front of it but hey, Josef wasn't just any person. He was the first casualty in all of Final Fantasy. And it hurt, too, since he was probably the best fourth you got throughout the whole game.

Join us... Join us...

6. The Ghost Train (Final Fantasy VI)

If there is one thing that sticks with me after playing through all of the Final Fantasy games, it will be this. There is literally no part of this sequence that isn't mind-blowingly awesome. It's so mind-blowing that I have to make up adverbs to describe how candasciously awesome it is (yeah, that's right. 'Candasciously'. Look for it in the next edition of Oxford Dictionary, coming to a store near you, never). Basically, Sabin and Cyan stumble through the woods looking to join up with their friends at Narsche. If you look at a map, they are going in the opposite direction but hey, they can do what they want. After going onto an obviously haunted train, it starts moving and they see ghosts throughout the train as they try to find out how to stop the thing. 

Stopping there would have simply been cliche. Instead, they decide to go all the way with this and have ghosts in the main view as well as the battle screen. Some of these ghosts will fight you but some will sell you items and some will even join your party!

Nothing wrong with a couple of bros hanging out with a couple of dead bros. Nope.

Then, when the ghosts start going all Children of the Corn on you (or Evil Dead, take your pick), Sabin decides to look into the future, channel some Nathan Drake and just book it across the tops of the train cars. Seriously, the encounter rate in this area is ridiculously high and I loved it. Every second I got to use two ghosts fighting more ghosts on a haunted train was another golden moment in my life.

There are plenty more awesome moments that have come up. Going to the Moon in Final Fantasy IV, the timed castle run in Final Fantasy V, finding a House inside a chest in Final Fantasy... But those will have to wait for another time. Rest assured, I will post more of these in the future.

Game on!