Even just looking at the boxart of this game instantly gives me nostalgia. Something so incredibly simple just a red background and gold lettering and using the sword for a 'T'. This game & it's US sequel (Final Fantasy III or Final Fantasy VI) are probably my top two favorite Final Fantasys. They hold a special place in my heart. A place of child hood dreams & goals while playing these games. To be honest I would've loved to have this as my first Mastery but given time & other games that I just ended up randomly playing and mastering I guess this had to take spot 14. Now I am not about to bore you and try to explain why this game is so great, you can find a ton of articles or extremely detailed information on these games online literally almost anywhere, but what I will tell you is my history of this game & running through the Achievements.
Growing up in the early/late 90's was great. Seeing the rise of the internet, the revival of video games, weird candy, crazy colors, and the evolution of the cellphone. I was never very good at school work, most of the time when I got home from school I usually played games most of the time. Growing up with 3 older brothers & a one working Mom (Which she busted her ass for us which I love greatly to this day) this game fell on my lap when I borrowed it from one of my best friends when I was younger. His uncle would often play these type of games (RPGs) and really was my first introduction into the genre. Being a fan of fantasy type stuff when I started playing this game I instantly loved it. Just the screenshot above is like ingrain into my memory. Just the awesome color palette, the character design, the battle system, the music everything was just so incredible to me when I was younger. The only thing that really held me back when I was younger was my inability to read it. Don't get me wrong, I could read by the time when I started playing this game but it was fragmented. It wasn't until I really started playing this game until I started to really learn how to read. The love of this game made me do my homework (really just with reading) just to get farther in this game. I know inevitably I would've learn how to read but my love for this game & it's music pushed me to learn, so often I regularly recall saying, "If it wasn't for RPGs I wouldn't be able to read". Granted it's a overstatement to say the least but this game & it's sequel really helped me shape who I am today. (Final Fantasy III/VI holds a different more special place in my heart lol)
For those of you who don't know this game tells the tale of a dark knight by the name of Cecil as he is beginning to doubt the actions of the kingdom he serves. Punishment for his questioning he is sent on a quest which he assumed was delivering a package but was actually a bomb to blow up a neighboring village that housed very strong wizards/summoners. After surviving he begins his quest to save the kingdom he once loved and eventually the world. The story continues to follow Cecil where he will met friends, enemies, & faced with crazy boss fights, betrayal & even his darkest feelings.
Even writing this post I am engulfing myself listening to Nobuo Uematsu's music to this game. After borrowing this game from my friend when I was younger I remember playing his uncle's file which was at the end of the game & I remember beating it. I was so excited, even though I didn't do any of the work but it was just so cool to see the ending to a game (Before this I really only beat maybe Megaman or Kirby by this point). Even renting this game from blockbuster I often played other people's files...Yes if you can remember back when you rented a RPG from blockbuster normally your game would be erased by the person who rented it before/after you. Unless you're like me & just lied about returning it then keeping it another week, sorry Mom. I still remember at one point I gave up renting it or borrowing it from my friend it was time to buy the game. Truth be told I don't remember how I got the money I might have just asked my mom if we could buy it. I remember calling a handful of different places to see if any store had it in stock. One of the local stores I called said they didn't have it in stock but the person on the phone was willing to sell his copy. I remember being scared but excited on the phone and cautiously asked how much he wanted for it. He came back saying "$40" which at the time was a great deal in my opinion. (Even though today they still go for close to that price range lol) I was so excited to finally get my own copy of the game, I anxiously awaited my mom to come home from her long shift at work only to bother her to drive me back out to get a game. If my memory serves me right it was winter time & it was already dark out & my loving mother took me out to the store after a long day of work just to get this game. (I am really thankful for her. I often tell her this story too lol) I remember finally arriving and walking into the store, it wasn't a place I too often went too but wish I did after seeing all the games. The gentleman at the desk was a heavier set man & looked like what you would perceived to be a typical dungeon master. Not making fun of him in the least bit, looking back on it now we could have been great friends if it wasn't for the jarring age gap. And so I bought it Final Fantasy II, just the game itself, no box, insert, or manual. To this day I still hold that game in my collection....without a box, sleeve or manual.
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| I do have a copy, but right now my whole collection is in boxes since we lost my display shelves in the move. Didn't want to dig it out yet just for a picture. I will update when I buy a new display shelf. |
Earning the cheevos (RetroAchievements) for this game was a easy and simple task. The whole set consists of just story progression, which rightfully so should be. For those of you who don't know but the US release of this game was massively tampered with. The original Japanese game was harder, had more abilities, more side-quests and overall was a much more completed game. This game being released to the US being easier was in a attempt to make RPG's in the US more popular. Debatable if it really did or not I usually tend to lean more on the side that it didn't unfortunately. (Final Fantasy 7 on the other hand...) So the cheevos for this game was a much easier batch to mimic the US game version. I casually played through this game for the cheevos because of that reason. It was a blast to run through this game again, counting the times I beat my SNES cart & the other times this game has been released I have probably beaten it like 10 times. Ironically enough when I tried beating it again recently I had the achievements off on RetroArch so I beat the game without the cheevos on. I wasn't really mad that this happen to me, just more of a facepalm moment. But beating it a second time wasn't that much more difficult especially since my save was still at the end of the game & everyone was pretty stacked. Not to mention again this is the easier version.
I also took my time mastering this achievement, not intentionally but was because this was all played on my NVIDIA Shield + RetroArch. So many times when I would pick up and play this game, it was normally done on our main TV in the house. I started the achievements on this game back in April 2020, and finished it in May 2022. This also marks my first Final Fantasy game Mastery. It wasn't entirely intentional for I kind of wanted to go in order. But let's be real here, I should start my mastery the way I started the Final Fantasy series as a whole.
P.S. My next Final Fantasy Mastery probably won't be FF III/VI. I want to sit down and play that one with Megan so she knows the story of my favorite RPG/Final Fantasy game of all time.
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