Oh my. There are not enough words you could rite Alex that would decribe just how seismic the launch of VII was in the west. Secret of Mana had introduced my friends and I to JRPGs proper but there had been nothing like VII before. I spent the full fortnight of the xmas holidays of 1997 playing the thing religiously. I then returned to school to discover everyone else had done the same!

In hindsight VII is actually my least-favourite PS1 FF game! I dislike the lack of defined character classes and the game world kind of falls apart if you give it any thought. Evil British Gas creates Captain America for..... reasons? But if I hear any of the opening bars to the OST I'm 15 years old again and

VIII is actually my favourite :) The game world is very believable with warring nations and politics. I loe the collegiate atmosphere. The locations are gorgeous; I often boot it up just to mill around and listen to the music. The game mechanics are open to lots of abuse and Triple Triad is probably the best long-term mini-game ever conceived.

IX is a close second. Proper character classes and the warring nations again.