The game I took 23 years to finish.
I just recently played through the ending of Final Fantasy I for NES. The game is almost as old as myself, having been released in 1987. Despite having been introduced to the game at the age of four at a babysitters house, playing it off and on for many years and restarting it many times, I only just finally beat the game for the first time. It was a nostalgic experience unlike any I've had for some time. I read an article recently about a guy drinking a can of coke that he had kept for 20-some-odd-years since he was young, and how it was the last experience he would have of his childhood that was not a memory. In a very similar way I can now never look back on Final Fantasy I as a game that I still had yet to finish, and a game that was an ongoing experience even though I had left it for many years at a time. While I can replay the game with different character combinations, it would be just that now, a replay. The experience of a saga of playing that game is now over and something I can only really look back on.
Though somewhat bittersweet, I am happy to say that it is mostly a sweet memory now, as I was surprisingly fully satisfied with and somehow connected to the ending in a way I did not expect. The game was relatively simple (though surprisingly detailed too) in that there was no voice acting, dialogue was of course all text that needed to be read, and there was very limited character development. There were no backstories as such, only a prologue in the form of a prophecy. This prophecy said that your four light warriors had appeared ready for this quest ahead of them with Orbs that would be lit as you defeated the fiends ahead of you and restored order to the world. Despite that limited backstory and that I had restarted the game many times with different characters, I think because I had played the game for so long I still felt intrinsically connected to the characters in a way that only well-designed modern games achieve after hours of voice-acted dialogue and emotional scenes.
[Spoilers follow, though I doubt anyone else has not beat the game by now who wishes to.]
Why did the game take me so long then? Depending on the characters you selected, the NES version could range from difficult to actually impossible and the only chance to save your game was in towns or on the world map if you had the right items. The final dungeon had your characters travelling into the past through around 10 different floors with enemies that could cast instant-death spells on your characters, 4 sub-bosses, 1 final boss battle, and no chance to save throughout; an epic feat.
I fully expected the ending to be a short bit of explanatory text, essentially ending with “Congratulations, you've won! ... The End.” However, true to an earlier generation of games where complete and happy endings were still what everybody wanted after a hard-fought quest, I was rewarded with an ending that seemed to fit not only the game but also my 23-year journey. It spoke of how your warriors, having travelled 2000 years into the past to defeat the final enemy, would re-emerge in their own time (the world in which you played the majority of the game) only to have the people of that time remember little but whispers of your warriors' story 2000 years in the past. Time had been altered, and the people would no longer remember the peril you had saved them from. In a way I feel like I too had travelled back, into my childhood to finish this game and that coming forth having completed a childhood memory I am in a world where that game has long since past and in the world around me there is no one with whom to directly share the intensity of my experience. (Perhaps, hence this blog.) The ending went further to say that the characters, as I will, would carry the memory of their quest in their hearts forever. Finally, it culminated in urging one to “Never forget the good and the true...” and finished with “The warriors who broke the 2000 year Time-Loop is truly a LIGHT WARRIOR.... that warrior is YOU!” It might seem lame to some, if not many, and I did for a moment imagine a kid in the late '80s and early '90s yelling “I'm the light warrior!” after beating the game; however, some part of me did connect with everything in that ending, and a part of me did feel it was addressing me, that I was indeed the warrior who after 23-years had travelled back and bested a foe from his own childhood.
For the one of you who is interested, here is the unabridged ending of Final Fantasy I for NES. Each line is one screen of text that played to music with a colourful background:
“The Time-Loop is now broken! The 2000 year long battle is over. Peace Prevails.
Control of the four elements, the Earth, the Wind, the Fire and the Water again belongs to the Earth.
Garland's hatred burned for 2000 years. That hatred led the Four Powers to this world.
CHAOS was created from those four.
Evil dominated the world and covered it in darkness.
But, it is over now, wrong has been set right!!
The LIGHT WARRIORS are returning.... As they travel in time, the world returns to normal
Sara and Jane wait for them.... Of course, Garland does too.
But, when did it ever happen?....
Everything went mad in a day. The reason lies in the 2000 year Time-Loop.
The Four chose to become one force, and fight against the four evil forces that set darkness upon the world.
When the Four return, it will be to their past. All signs of the battle with the Forces will be erased.
But the legend will live on. Passed down the by Dwarves, the Elves and the Dragons...
Passed on my peoples unsure of where the story came from.
The LIGHT WARRIORS return from their journey back in time 2000 years.
The memories stored deep in their hearts will protect the world.
Never forget the good and true....
Never turn the Four Powers to the dark side....
And truth will always live on in the hearts of the people.
The warriors who broke the 2000 year Time-Loop is truly a LIGHT WARRIOR.... that warrior is YOU!
May the ORBS always shine!!....”