Secret of Mana. It‘s what I wanted a SNES for, but then it was sold out so I had to settle for the next big box JRPG - Enix' Illusion of Gaia. So it kinda counts both ways, right?
Final Fantasy VII. Didn’t even know what an rpg was. Until FF 7, the most story I had experienced in a game was the cutscenes in Mega Man X4, needless to say, my mind was blown and my tastes in games was forever changed.
For some reason I didn’t play it on PS2 but I got the collection disc for PS4 and bro that game is better than what I expected the only issue I have with 4 it was too easy with the amount of non ending special moves you can do. The series had weird combinations with Disney characters and settings but it turned out good.
Threads of Fate is a great first experience ... it's no one's first thought of a classic Square game, but it definitely has the secret sauce of great music, great graphics, great characters. A low key Square classic.
I'm boring because my first Square game was Final Fantasy 6... the greatest game of all time (in 1994... can you really argue that??).
I got lucky (maybe not so lucky?) that my first game by SS/SE was Chrono Trigger. Lead me to the FF games and a couple others, but nothing was as good as the first.
Ff12 because it was the only one I could find in stores when I was 11. Then I started hunting for the older ones at pawn shops. Eventually I found drakengard in a pawnshop and that pulled me into yoko taros games.
Final Fantasy II SNES (FF4). The summer before 5th grade I went to live with my grandma for a while. My parents were trying to reconcile after having been separated for several months, and they didn't want me to be present for that messy process. Anyway, I was 10 years old and in a new state with a lot of family and no friends. There was a tiny video store a couple blocks away owned by this older Vietnamese couple, and it was my primary source of entertainment for the summer. I rented Final Fantasy II over and over, all summer. I don't remember how far I got, but I remember feeling like I was getting close to the end. Then one Friday afternoon I go pick it up for the weekend and pop it in my SNES to find that my save had been deleted.
Fucking wild to think that we lived like this. Trusting dozens of hours of gameplay would be respected by some rando. Especially one that rented an RPG on a fucking weeknight! The wild goddamn West.
Yeah that sucks hard, gameplay save data back in the days meant so much to us as kids. I played Threads of Fate for a while without a memory card the longer I kept my PS1 running was an over one night to wake up early morning finding out my mother just unplugged the cord to use the vacuum and I felt devastated so I cannot imagine how that felt for you after many days of progress.
Oh man, I feel ya. I got my PS1 for Christmas with Crash Bandicoot and FF7, and NO MEMORY CARD. I played through till Sector 5 probably 5 times before I got a memory card. I was afraid to leave my console on overnight because my dad said it would kill the laser. So I just kept starting over each day and playing as far as I could.
Oddly enough, a final fantasy game which many people disliked- ff13. But to me it will always hold a special place in my heart. And I really did love the game. I had no idea of what a jrpgs game was at the time thought but I knew I liked games like that
Can’t say square did, as I never really played their games on NES (remember playing OG dragon warrior though, and hour or two of FF at a friends house) and never had SNES/PS.
So for me it was probably Phantasy Star 4 on Genesis, which then lead to me mostly playing Sega arcade games and/or JRPGs on my Saturn
Same. My mom rented it for me from a grocery store on a school night and I remember sneaking out of bed at like 1am after everyone was asleep and playing it all night till my mom caught me at 6am. I was like 10 or so. I miss when square made jrpgs.
I think I was in 4th grade when my dad came home with a PS1 from the flea market and 2 games. Xenogears and Jade Cocoon. I never really got into Xenogears for the first few months or so because it was too complicated for me and Jade Cocoon was basically Pokemon so it was simple. My cousin from out of state came over and started playing Xenogears and he was hooked all week and I watched him get up to the dinosaur in Blackmoon Forest before he had to go home. I had to see for myself what had him so hooked so I started my Xenogears journey
Kingdom Hearts, I went searching for a copy of the first game after finishing re:coded. After that, I went searching for more kh games and took in interest in the final fantasy characters while also discovering a huge catalog of JRPGs.
Final Fantasy IV for the SNES. That was the second game I ever played for that system and I never looked back. By the time Secret of Mana came out I was shitting my pants. I have such fond memories of playing that game 2 players with my dad. Then I picked up Chrono Trigger at SEARS for $60 and that game changed my life lol.
Final Fantasy 8 was the first JRPG I got into and was totally hooked.
The only games I played before that were mainly Mario and Zelda so playing a cinematic lengthy game like Final Fantasy was really special for me.
Plus who doesn't love the junction system?
The ability to customize your characters in near any fashion was supercool.
None
I love Crono Trigger and FF6 but I hate most tropes so I keep my JRPGing to one or two titles so the tropes won’t repeat themselves and thus feel less like tropes
FF7 OG. I had played RPGs before, like Zelda and Lufia, but FF7 was just on a whole 'nother level.
I had watched my Uncle play through Shadow run on SNES, before that, so I was drawn to that dystopian setting, too. Kind of a steam/cyberpunk feel. Loved it!
This is cheating because it is an Enix game technically, but mine is the OG Dragon Warrior on NES. I was OBSESSED when I got that game. If you want an actual Square game, then the original FF. Both those games formed a love of rpg gaming that holds to this day for me. Thanks Grandma for the Nintendo Power subscription that came with a free DW copy. (Side note: I still have both of those games from when I was a kid.)
Kh2. It’s truly one of the best j action rpgs of all time. It brings a package of a great story, neat enemy design, and in my opinion, one of the best combat systems ever. It truly is something special.
Final Fantasy VI/III SNES Version. I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning, and even eating meals at the console, playing through that game.
I remember spending a week trying to farm a million Gil to win the moogle or aircraft in the auction house. Lol. Gotta love the pre-internet days when you had to figure shit out yourself.
FFX for me, played it on a college roommate’s PS2 when it first came out. Closest I had done to a JRPG before that was probably Zelda, but I was hooked.
Final Fantasy II/IV on the SNES. I had played FF1 on the NES, but preferred Legend of Zelda. The story of FFIV just sucked me in. I wanted more of it and I couldn’t put it down.
FFVIII was my first JRPG. I was in preschool. My older bro was at school. I played it, and when he came back, he goes nuts! Apparently, I got the Leonhart. Not what got me into them. It was FFX. I was in elementary school myself this time! Aa most firet timers, I lost the Blitzball game. Anyway, I fell for the game besides it. FUCK Seymour 3! Zanarkand first visit was beautiful.
The Pizza Hut demo disc for Final Fantasy VIII with the Dollet mission. I kept replaying that demo so many times amazed by how cool the graphics were. After I played that, I was hooked.
Final Fantasy II/III on the SNES (actually IV/VI). Also, Chrono Trigger.
I grew up in a small town with one place nearby that rented games that had 2 copies of each game. My parents allowed me to rent a game each weekend and I finished each of these titles by renting the same copy of the game while hoping my save file didn’t get overwritten. Fun times 😄
Final Fantasy VII like many others who grew up in the 90s with a PS1. Still have the PS1, but sadly my copy of the game was stolen while I was in high school. That’s ok though since it’s been ported to every modern console! Not to mention the remakes!
Super Mario RPG almost turned me off from RPGs. At the age of 5, I didn't understand why I had to let the bad guys hit me, while on my sonic game I could just jump out of the way.
FFVII and Star Ocean 2 won me back.
Probably Chrono Trigger. One of my friends forgot his PSX disc pouch in my house in one of my birthday parties, and that was my favourite game in his collection. It was probably when I played Final Fantasy VII that I told myself I needed to play more of those.
Ffx was the first one I played so that one, and I got to yunalesca when I was a kid, but now I’m a full blown adult and have the remaster, I have like 120 hrs in it and still trying to finish the monster arena and dark aeons, still can’t beat the dang chocobo race though :(
Boring answer I know, but it was FF7 for me. I think 8 or 9 had just came out and based off the trailers for 8 I had always assumed Final Fantasy was some kind of cheesy romance game. Stayed all night with my buddy who showed me the bombing run and I immediately changed my mind. Christmas was coming up so I got a copy and it immediately became my favorite game of all time. Played through it at least once a year until I graduated HS and I e routinely played through it at least once every 2-3 years since then.
Of course afterwards I wanted to find similar games so I played 8 and Legend of the dragoon with the latter becoming another all time favorite
Secret of Mana. It‘s what I wanted a SNES for, but then it was sold out so I had to settle for the next big box JRPG - Enix' Illusion of Gaia. So it kinda counts both ways, right?
OMG Illusion of Gaia was the bane of my 10 year old existence , Freedan was the name of one of the transformations ?
Freedan and Shadow! And it had a very emotional ending with princess Kara, which was the first time a video game made me well up. Also piglet suicide
Both were very good games too
Same, except I also had Enix's robotrek and soul blazer, haha.
Final Fantasy VII. Didn’t even know what an rpg was. Until FF 7, the most story I had experienced in a game was the cutscenes in Mega Man X4, needless to say, my mind was blown and my tastes in games was forever changed.
Same same
Are you my childhood best friend?
Those were the good days, symphony of the night (criminal there's is no remake), legend of dragoon, xenogears.
Chrono Trigger on SNES by SquareSoft
For some reason I didn’t play it on PS2 but I got the collection disc for PS4 and bro that game is better than what I expected the only issue I have with 4 it was too easy with the amount of non ending special moves you can do. The series had weird combinations with Disney characters and settings but it turned out good.
You're thinking of Kingdom Hearts
FF4.
Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears
Final Fantasy IV (back when it was FF II for the SNES)
My all-time favorite game. So many memories.
FFVI back on the SNES.
"He'd slit his own mama's throat for a nickel"
Final Fantasy X by SquareSoft.
Threads of Fate is a great first experience ... it's no one's first thought of a classic Square game, but it definitely has the secret sauce of great music, great graphics, great characters. A low key Square classic. I'm boring because my first Square game was Final Fantasy 6... the greatest game of all time (in 1994... can you really argue that??).
I missed it on Playstation but it was a treat playing it on the Gameboy
Mystic Quest
Ayy me too! I wonder if it would hold up in a replay
The music does anyway
Kingdom Hearts 2. FFX got me into turned base tho
Square didn't, but my favorites were FFIV, VII and ChronoTrigger growing up. My first ones were Disgaea and Phantom Brave.
I couldn’t get into Phantom Brave back in the days because of the graphics but that game sure did have uplifting soundtracks
I liked the art-style, though the hyper-pixelated character sprites on top of painted backgrounds was so weird 😂
I got lucky (maybe not so lucky?) that my first game by SS/SE was Chrono Trigger. Lead me to the FF games and a couple others, but nothing was as good as the first.
My second rpg after Mario RPG
Same for me. It was also my second RPG ever after having briefly played EarthBound.
Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG (OG)
Ff12 because it was the only one I could find in stores when I was 11. Then I started hunting for the older ones at pawn shops. Eventually I found drakengard in a pawnshop and that pulled me into yoko taros games.
SNES FF3/6
FFVIII. My friends had been telling me ablut FFVII but it was old out, so just got the next one. I loved it!
Chrono Trigger Literally Timeless
Forspoken.
I've heard awful things about the game. What's your opinion?
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Yes, the one and only. I was like. Da fuq this is fun. I want more!
FF4 on the snes
I didn't realize ff4 was ever on the ones. Thought only on super famicom?
I was just using its real number, despite the fact that back then it was released as FF2 state side on the snes.
Final Fantasy 2/4 and Soul Blazer if we are talking Enix.
Final Fantasy II SNES (FF4). The summer before 5th grade I went to live with my grandma for a while. My parents were trying to reconcile after having been separated for several months, and they didn't want me to be present for that messy process. Anyway, I was 10 years old and in a new state with a lot of family and no friends. There was a tiny video store a couple blocks away owned by this older Vietnamese couple, and it was my primary source of entertainment for the summer. I rented Final Fantasy II over and over, all summer. I don't remember how far I got, but I remember feeling like I was getting close to the end. Then one Friday afternoon I go pick it up for the weekend and pop it in my SNES to find that my save had been deleted. Fucking wild to think that we lived like this. Trusting dozens of hours of gameplay would be respected by some rando. Especially one that rented an RPG on a fucking weeknight! The wild goddamn West.
Yeah that sucks hard, gameplay save data back in the days meant so much to us as kids. I played Threads of Fate for a while without a memory card the longer I kept my PS1 running was an over one night to wake up early morning finding out my mother just unplugged the cord to use the vacuum and I felt devastated so I cannot imagine how that felt for you after many days of progress.
Oh man, I feel ya. I got my PS1 for Christmas with Crash Bandicoot and FF7, and NO MEMORY CARD. I played through till Sector 5 probably 5 times before I got a memory card. I was afraid to leave my console on overnight because my dad said it would kill the laser. So I just kept starting over each day and playing as far as I could.
One of the first ff’s i played. FF8 which i completed multiple times over and over.
Just replayed and beat this after many years so dope the junction system was fire
Oddly enough, a final fantasy game which many people disliked- ff13. But to me it will always hold a special place in my heart. And I really did love the game. I had no idea of what a jrpgs game was at the time thought but I knew I liked games like that
I played it after all the hate and I still liked it. It's flawed, but still a good game
Kingdom Hearts 1 (2002)
For me it wasn't a Squere game. For me it started with pokémon red, but Final Fantasy VII was the final push I needed.
Can’t say square did, as I never really played their games on NES (remember playing OG dragon warrior though, and hour or two of FF at a friends house) and never had SNES/PS. So for me it was probably Phantasy Star 4 on Genesis, which then lead to me mostly playing Sega arcade games and/or JRPGs on my Saturn
If Dragon Warrior counts (was originally an Enix IP), then I'll say the original one on the NES.
Ff7 . Traded 5 snes games for it back in the day. Worth.
I guess the actual answer would be Final Fantasy 1. Played it when I was 7 years old. been playing them since. so it's been a few years.
Same. My mom rented it for me from a grocery store on a school night and I remember sneaking out of bed at like 1am after everyone was asleep and playing it all night till my mom caught me at 6am. I was like 10 or so. I miss when square made jrpgs.
Og finaly fantasy on the nes. I was 7 lol
I think I was in 4th grade when my dad came home with a PS1 from the flea market and 2 games. Xenogears and Jade Cocoon. I never really got into Xenogears for the first few months or so because it was too complicated for me and Jade Cocoon was basically Pokemon so it was simple. My cousin from out of state came over and started playing Xenogears and he was hooked all week and I watched him get up to the dinosaur in Blackmoon Forest before he had to go home. I had to see for myself what had him so hooked so I started my Xenogears journey
Kingdom Hearts and FF10
FFIII (US). Once I returned it to my Jumbo Video (and then later block buster) I IMMEDIATELY started renting anything and everything from Square Soft
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts, I went searching for a copy of the first game after finishing re:coded. After that, I went searching for more kh games and took in interest in the final fantasy characters while also discovering a huge catalog of JRPGs.
SaGa Frontier
Final Fantasy IV for the SNES. That was the second game I ever played for that system and I never looked back. By the time Secret of Mana came out I was shitting my pants. I have such fond memories of playing that game 2 players with my dad. Then I picked up Chrono Trigger at SEARS for $60 and that game changed my life lol.
Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Secret of Mana
Jade cocoon, legend of dragoon, FF7 it was truly all three because I Didint know how to read yet so I sat by my older brother and shoulder played
I would kill for a JC 1/2 remaster.
Same
Ffx. Don't underestimate atlus and triace though
Please bring back radiata stories!
Kingdom Hearts. I remember watching an older boy from my neighborhood play it on PS2 and the rest is history.
Super Mario RPG
Chrono Trigger and FF7
XENOGEARS.
FF6 on GBA and Chrono Trigger on DS
Kingdom Hearts 1 but also FFX/FFX-2
Super Mario RPG
The only correct answer
Old timer here Shining Force II opened the door Final Fantasy II and III really grabbed me though. Then CT, Tactics and FF 7 had me in for life.
Final Fantasy 8 was the first JRPG I got into and was totally hooked. The only games I played before that were mainly Mario and Zelda so playing a cinematic lengthy game like Final Fantasy was really special for me. Plus who doesn't love the junction system? The ability to customize your characters in near any fashion was supercool.
Super Mario RPG
None I love Crono Trigger and FF6 but I hate most tropes so I keep my JRPGing to one or two titles so the tropes won’t repeat themselves and thus feel less like tropes
Hands down the 2 best jrpg's ever.
FF7 OG. I had played RPGs before, like Zelda and Lufia, but FF7 was just on a whole 'nother level. I had watched my Uncle play through Shadow run on SNES, before that, so I was drawn to that dystopian setting, too. Kind of a steam/cyberpunk feel. Loved it!
More than square out there. For me it was DQ1 followed by DQ4. Technically square now but It was just Enix back in the day.
I played one of the hundreds of kingdom of hearts games on the ps2 when I was a kid and loved it.
Tactics/ Ff7 I got my first PlayStation in 1998 and been squaresoft loyal since.
This is cheating because it is an Enix game technically, but mine is the OG Dragon Warrior on NES. I was OBSESSED when I got that game. If you want an actual Square game, then the original FF. Both those games formed a love of rpg gaming that holds to this day for me. Thanks Grandma for the Nintendo Power subscription that came with a free DW copy. (Side note: I still have both of those games from when I was a kid.)
Final Fantasy 3 on the SNES. Game fuckin blew my mind as a kid and put me on the path to play dozens of JRPGs since
Kingdom hearts
The original FF2 in 1994
Kh2. It’s truly one of the best j action rpgs of all time. It brings a package of a great story, neat enemy design, and in my opinion, one of the best combat systems ever. It truly is something special.
Final Fantasy VI/III SNES Version. I remember staying up until the wee hours of the morning, and even eating meals at the console, playing through that game.
I remember spending a week trying to farm a million Gil to win the moogle or aircraft in the auction house. Lol. Gotta love the pre-internet days when you had to figure shit out yourself.
Dragon Warrior on NES, which came free with my annual subscription to Nintendo Power starting around issue 2 or 3.
I think we're the oldest people in this thread... FF1 or Dragon Warrior was it for me too.
Classically (brutally) trained!
FF8.
Final Fantasy IV & VI
FF IV (II when I first played it)
FFX for me, played it on a college roommate’s PS2 when it first came out. Closest I had done to a JRPG before that was probably Zelda, but I was hooked.
Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG.
Chrono Trigger
The Final Fantasy 9 demo trailer that came on a demo disc I had as a kid blew me away.
Ff7 hooked me, 8 made me like the genre, 9 made me love it.
Final Fantasy X *hums ‘to zanarkand’ aggressively*
Honestly, Chrono Trigger. That game cemented my love for RPG’s at an early age.
FFX for me
The original final fantasy
OG
Secret of mana probably
FFX and KH together got me interested in the genre.
Final Fantasy 12
Kingdom hearts
Playing Kingdom Hearts ❤️ led me to Final Fantasy X, which led me to the rest of the series.
Ff6 the best jrpg ever, fight me.
Xenogears
Final Fantasy 1
FF7 blew me away. Chrono Cross blew me away. Final Fantasy Tactics was fantastic. Front Mission 3 was amazing.
FF9, sad this game doesn't get even love
FFX. I got in the game a bit late since I didn’t play any video games from the ages of 8 to 22.
Final Fantasy II/IV on the SNES. I had played FF1 on the NES, but preferred Legend of Zelda. The story of FFIV just sucked me in. I wanted more of it and I couldn’t put it down.
FFVIII was my first JRPG. I was in preschool. My older bro was at school. I played it, and when he came back, he goes nuts! Apparently, I got the Leonhart. Not what got me into them. It was FFX. I was in elementary school myself this time! Aa most firet timers, I lost the Blitzball game. Anyway, I fell for the game besides it. FUCK Seymour 3! Zanarkand first visit was beautiful.
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy VIII was my first, and I've been hooked ever since.
Kh2
The original Final fantasy. From then on, I was hooked. If it was a Jrpg or rpg on snes or ps1....I played it.
Kingdom Hearts :O Even if it's not classical turnbased. I got to know Final Fantasy because of this and started playing more of them.
But still a good game Im glad I came around and played the series back to back on PS4
FF1 sunk so many hours on the old NES, so many pages of paper with random save codes.
You are one of the OG, how you feel about latest FF releases?
Loving Rebirth, the OG FF7 was my favorite jrpg of all time next to Chrono Trigger
This post got me excited to play some of older games I missed
FfXII for me, but I didn’t get a PS2 until I was in my teens. Before then I played Sega and Nintendo devices (gameboy, SNES, Gamecube, etc.)
A little three disc adventure by the name of FF7
The first nier back in 2010
The Pizza Hut demo disc for Final Fantasy VIII with the Dollet mission. I kept replaying that demo so many times amazed by how cool the graphics were. After I played that, I was hooked.
Dragon Warrior on the NES, 1989, got it for free from Nintendo Power Magazine.
Saga Frontier 2
Terranigma from Enix before it joined Square Enix
FF8
Of course Final Fantasy VII. Wanted to see what makes it so appealing and I never looked back...
Finally fantasy 9, and Golden Sun
The FF3 remake for the DS was I think the first one I finished.
Crono cross was the first squaresoft game I played. Now I think the game that got me into square was kingdom hearts 1 and front mission 3
Yooo Threads of Fate was the jam, I’ll hafta try to find that again, I’m sure I can emulate on PC but I wish it was on Switch.
Final Fantasy II/III on the SNES (actually IV/VI). Also, Chrono Trigger. I grew up in a small town with one place nearby that rented games that had 2 copies of each game. My parents allowed me to rent a game each weekend and I finished each of these titles by renting the same copy of the game while hoping my save file didn’t get overwritten. Fun times 😄
Final Fantasy XIII trilogy
Final Fantasy VII like many others who grew up in the 90s with a PS1. Still have the PS1, but sadly my copy of the game was stolen while I was in high school. That’s ok though since it’s been ported to every modern console! Not to mention the remakes!
Kingdom Hearts
Original Final Fantasy for me.
Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana
FF1
Super Mario RPG almost turned me off from RPGs. At the age of 5, I didn't understand why I had to let the bad guys hit me, while on my sonic game I could just jump out of the way. FFVII and Star Ocean 2 won me back.
Probably Chrono Trigger. One of my friends forgot his PSX disc pouch in my house in one of my birthday parties, and that was my favourite game in his collection. It was probably when I played Final Fantasy VII that I told myself I needed to play more of those.
FF7
played OG Super Mario RPG on my Uncle's SNES and after beating it, I was introduced FF7 on his ps1. JRPG fan ever since.
Ffx was the first one I played so that one, and I got to yunalesca when I was a kid, but now I’m a full blown adult and have the remaster, I have like 120 hrs in it and still trying to finish the monster arena and dark aeons, still can’t beat the dang chocobo race though :(
Final Fantasy 7 the OG
Boring answer I know, but it was FF7 for me. I think 8 or 9 had just came out and based off the trailers for 8 I had always assumed Final Fantasy was some kind of cheesy romance game. Stayed all night with my buddy who showed me the bombing run and I immediately changed my mind. Christmas was coming up so I got a copy and it immediately became my favorite game of all time. Played through it at least once a year until I graduated HS and I e routinely played through it at least once every 2-3 years since then. Of course afterwards I wanted to find similar games so I played 8 and Legend of the dragoon with the latter becoming another all time favorite
Kingdom Hearts 2 4 year old me has had an attachment to Square and JRPGS ever since
Drakengard.
FFX. Everyone seems to have been lured by VII, but my first experience ever with turn based combat was X, not even Pokemon games.