It doesn't seem like that long ago at all to me. I was 28, I'm with the same company and hanging out with the same friends... life got pretty stable a couple years before that. And it was around that time that FF just kind of got to be too much of a time-sink. I didn't have the kind of time I had as a college student or like it was when I was in middle or high school. The need to grind like you always had to in Final Fantasy games (except VIII, the least grindy FF game) just sapped my patience and free time too much. So I wasn't really even paying attention to FF at that point.
But I was 9 when the first was released. I loved it. Ran all the way through it twice. First with my F/T/BM/WM, and second time I had looked at the "4 white mages" run on Nintendo Power and made a pretty easy go of it with a BB and 3 WM. Loved FF 2 and FF 3 on the Super (well, American 2 and 3, really what, 5 and 6 I think?) Liked 7 but it got ruined for me. Was in College and was on the last disc. I got back to my dorm one day and my roomate was just a minute away from winning the final boss battle... Watched him win and I've never actually played 7 since. 8 became my favorite, but I enjoyed 9 a lot, and 10 (even 10-2 a bit) but when 12 came out I just had no more Final Fantasy to give. I'll always remember the good times, but rpg combat becoming so complex that you have to set AI behavior so the game can play itself??? I perfer the old micromanagement systems.
