Rules of Engagement

I'd like to take a moment to make it clear just exactly what I do, and do not, intend to do here, and by what rules I plan to abide during my quest.

Starting with Final Fantasy 1 I plan to play and complete each game in the series, in order, to the fullest extent possible including side quests and additional content. I do not intend to play FF X-2 as I don't truly consider it a part of the series and its storyline is extremely achievement based, meaning that you can only fully experience the various branching paths by playing the game over repeatedly. I also don't intend to play FF 11 because, as an MMO, it has no clear ending. Oh, and I won't be playing any of the spin offs - no FF Legends, Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, etc. As much as I love these additions to the FF world, I need to be at least partially realistic in this endeavor.

The allotted timeline is 365 days, beginning on 9/14/09. That said, I am a student and currently enrolled in an MA program. If at any point adhering to this timeline endangers my studies I will have to amend it.

Strategy Guides: As a general rule I don't use strategy guides until I'm about 90% of the way through I game. I used to use them from start to finish and eventually realized that doing so eliminated all of the surprise and much of the challenge. I prefer to play the game, and then go back right at the end and look for anything that I've missed along the way. That said, I'm also committed to achieving 100% completion of each game. This causes something of an internal conflict. My solution is to reserve the right to consult a walk through if I feel I'm in danger of missing something that I won't later be able to go back for. For the games that I've played before this will likely result in my usual 0 walk through consultations prior to the end of the game. For the games that I've never played I may sneak a few peeks along the way. Either way I'm likely doomed to failure on the 100% completion goal, but all I can really do is try.

Playtime: A couple of my friends have expressed interest in joining me on my quest. With that in mind I disclose that I may not always be the person in possession of the controller during given points. I fully to expect to be playing 80% of the time at minimum, but 11 games back to back is a lot of game play, and it might be nice to hand the controller off for an hour every now and then. I do, however, vow to be present and engaged for 100% of the time.

This is not an inauspicious quest, as those of you who have played some or all of these games will know. Many of the later Final Fantasy titles require upwards of 100 hours of game play apiece to complete in their entirety, and I have graduate course work and a regular life to consider. Its more than possible that I won't succeed in this quest, but I appreciate your support while I try. Thank you.

Disclaimer

Some of what you read here will be fact, but much if not most will be opinion, conjecture, speculation, supposition, inference, or loosely drawn conclusion. I am not and never have been an employee, representative, or affiliate of Square Enix, nor do they in any way endorse this project. Likely they're completely unaware of its existence. Neither am I any kind of accredited game historian or any like expert with the least credibility. While I may provide history or information regarding the Final Fantasy Series or strategies for game play I have no intention of citing my sources and should not be considered an authority. Please take what is written here only for what its worth, which is a lot, but not that much. Thank you.

The Origins of this Blog

I believe I played my first Final Fantasy game when I was around 9 or 10 - it was Final Fantasy 7, for PC no less. I've been following the series faithfully since then. I'm now 24.

A few weeks ago when Final Fantasy Dissidia was released for the PSP and I picked up and began playing my copy it dawned on me just how much of the series I was missing, in spite of 14 years of play.

I've never actually played Final Fantasy 1 or 2, and have never beaten 5, 6, or 9, though I've played each at one time or another. Additionally, my memories of the story lines for such epic installments as Final Fantasy 4, 7, 8, and 10 have dulled over time, and I recall only the major plot points of each work. Staring down at my PSP I was astonished to consider, for the first time, the true scope of the series. Twelve games, not including many, many spin-offs, each with its own unique, elaborate storyline.

I found myself wishing that Square Enix would release a series of books or movies detailing each story, so that I could experience one after the other in a short enough span of time to have a complete mental image of the epic. Then I realized that such an image could in fact be attained by playing all 12 games, if I did it quickly enough.

The recent release of the movie Julie and Julia, wherein a young woman decides to cook her way through the famous Julia Child cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cuisine, and to blog about her experiences along the way inspired me to begin my own quest - to play my way through the entire Final Fantasy Series (excluding FF X-2, and FFXI) in a single year, and to record the experience here for any who are interested. Thus it begins.