A to Z Challenge: Zidane from Final Fantasy IX and Zack from Final Fantasy VII

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, all of you who suffered through this 26-day geek-out for Final Fantasy characters! I'm so glad I got to do this, so I really hope you all enjoyed this and may have possibly found a game you want to play. There are way more FF games than the ones I have mentioned in this franchise, so feel free to explore! There are simpler RPG games, spin-offs, MMORPGs, whatever you may fancy!

So we come to two of my favorite gents in the entire franchise. They are by far the two most lively characters for Final Fantasy, and its their spirits that make me love them so much. Let's start with Final Fantasy IX's Zidane Tribal.

We meet this little guy (his face makes my sister laugh, first off lol) as he is staging a kidnapping of the Princess Garnet (see Dagger). Little does he know, she wants to be kidnapped. We go on a long journey, and honestly I don't think there's a purpose for it for a long time, but we learn a lot. For instance, Zidane is from another planet of Terrans (see K for Kuja, the failed prototype) who were supposed to be taking over the main planet Gaia, but things went south.

Through it all, Zidane has a huge heart, which is ultimately stolen by Dagger, and their love is just so adorable (probably also because of how they were drawn).

As FFIX was the last game on the original Playstation, I would like to think that Zidane embodied the spirit of our final character for this countdown: Final Fantasy VII and FFVII: Crisis Core's Zack Fair.

This tall, dark and handsome was anything but dark. Zack was a bright eyed, bushy tailed SOLDIER, First Class, that we only hear tell of in the original FFVII via Cloud's messed up memory. It's revealed through the game that Cloud wasn't who he thought he was, and that someone else was doing about 90% of what he said. In his defense, Zack told him to live for him, and live he did!

Zack broke himself and Cloud out of a research facility where they were trapped after Cloud wounded Sephiroth, who burned down his hometown. After tracking down a rogue Sephiroth protoype named Genesis and cutting him down, Zack gets Cloud out to a desert mountain range where he is gunned down mercilessly by SOLDIER operatives, leaving behind Cloud and his girlfriend Aeris.

Yep, Aeris all the way back in A. (This is the moment she realized something was wrong.)

Zack's death is extremely tragic because, even though as an FFVII fan you know about it, in FFVII: Crisis Core, you are forced to not only watch it happen but play it as it happens. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to sit through, and I sat through it on a van with a bunch of choir members, so I had to hold myself together. Of all the characters in Final Fantasy, Zack did not deserve to die. He was a hero's hero, and Square Enix might have to work really hard to make a better character than him.

And there you have it! My Final Fantasy Edition of the A to Z Challenge! I can't thank you guys enough for stopping by. Unless I have a psychotic break, I will probably take a break next year (haha). I leave you all with the only consolation I have for both Aeris AND Zack dying: they are reunited. The perfect bookends to this challenge.

A to Z Challenge: Nanaki from Final Fantasy VII

We are in the second half of the challenge! How is everyone coming along?

As stated 13 times before, I am using the challenge this year to geek out on Final Fantasy. 26+ characters from my favorite games for you to enjoy. As we are now at N, who better to talk about than Final Fantasy's Nanaki!

Introduced to us first as a beast added to Aeris's lab tank after she's kidnapped by SHINRA Inc., we meet Nanaki as Red XIII, the name Hojo gave him as a specimen. He was trying to interbreed him with Aeris (gross), but they both got out safely. Nanaki joins the team and takes us to his grandfather, who not only shows us that the mining and manufacturing of materia is killing the planet, but that Nanaki's father, whom Nanaki thought deserted their people during a crucial time in war, actually saved the townspeople by fighting their enemies until their poison spears turned him to stone. His body remains perched roaring at the entrance to their land.

As seen in FFVII: Advent Children

Nanaki is a teenager to his people, but if I recall, he's at least a hundred years old. He's a very mature creature, a voice of reason at times, especially with the motley crew we have in this game. I just love his design.

Tomorrow, we battle the Omega Weapons.

A to Z Challenge: Jenova from Final Fantasy VII

This year for the A to Z Challenge, I have decided to highlight some characters from my favorite video game franchise Final Fantasy. I apologize to those of you who were reading my nerdiness.

Today's letter is J, and even if I could think of any other J character, I would still be highlighting the harbinger of the skies, the infamous Jenova from Final Fantasy VII.

There were a lot of cool things in the original video game, but when Sephiroth said, "I'm going to see Mother," and the music dropped, MAN. The image above is the Jenova Doll covering Jenova's tank inside of the Shinra reactor in Cloud's hometown. When Sephiroth reaches this, he pulls it away to reveal Jenova...

Definitely not human, let alone an Ancient. Jenova is actually an alien who feeds off of planets and then rides their dead shells onto another planet to do the same thing. She can mutate to look like creatures or the people of the planet, and her cells can also mutate them into beasts and superhumans like Sephiroth.

This is presumed to be Jenova's true form, which makes sense. I can see the way she would attach to a dead planet to sail it across the universe. Reading about her just makes you realize how messed up the whole situation really was! It still freaks me out.

Honorable Mention for J:

I believe when Tidus gets the news that his father Jecht is the monster Sin in FFX, you start to realize this game isn't going to have a happy ending. The man was already a bad father, but he sacrificed himself to become his summoner's final aeon, and then told his fellow guardian to take care of his son, the son who would help bring down Sin for good. So he had some redeeming qualities.

Tomorrow, we will be looking at the last Final Fantasy villain on the original Playstation: Kuja from Final Fantasy IX.

A to Z Challenge: Prof. Hojo from Final Fantasy VII

We are officially into the second week of the A to Z Challenge!

What all have you seen so far? I know I'm enjoying what I've read.

I am forcing some of you to listen to/read about characters from my favorite Final Fantasy games. We are at H today, and so that means it is time to look at the man behind all the crap that goes down in Final Fantasy VII:

Professor Hojo.

Hojo is a scientist brought in by Professor Gast Faremis to work on the Jenova Project, the goal of which was to create a new Ancient to lead Shinra Inc. to the Promised Land and gain more mako to manufacture for power. While researching the "Ancient," and interviewing the last living Ancient, Ifalna, he learns that Jenova is not really an Ancient, but an alien. Unfortunately, this was after Hojo had injected his unborn child with Jenova cells, and Sephiroth was created (more on him later, but if you've followed me so far, you've seen me mention him already). Hojo is also responsible for killing Professor Gast and taking Ifalna and their daughter Aeris to do more experiments.

This man has NO redeeming qualities. He only sees people as lab rats and cares about his research. He's the reason Sephiroth became the monster he was, and the reason Cloud was so screwed up. But all for science, right?

Monday, we will visit two of my favorite summons, Ifrit & Ixion!

A to Z Challenge: Cloud from Final Fantasy VII

Happy Monday!

For the A to Z Challenge, I am highlighting characters from my favorite gaming franchise: Final Fantasy. And as today's letter is C, I wouldn't dare talk about any other character than Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife.

"ME?"

Yeah, you, Cloud.

A dreamer from Podunk (well, Nibelheim), Cloud wanted to grow up to be big and strong and join SOLDIER, the elite task force created by Shinra Inc. (*ahem* also the same people who mistook an alien for an Ancient, as mentioned Friday). Cloud only made it to, like, gunny sgt. or something before all Hell broke loose and Arcade Sushi's 4th greatest video game villain of all time (Sephiroth) started killing everyone (more on him later).

But Cloud overcame, actually injured Sephiroth to the point where he had to hole up in the planet, and managed to have a slight dip into Multiple Personality Disorder due to mako poisoning (the planet's magic and the reason his eyes are so blue) and most likely PTSD (more on all of that when we get to Z).

Look at the pout.

He's the ultimate underdog and the face that launched a thousand cosplays. If you've heard even a little bit about Final Fantasy, it's probably because of Cloud.

Honorable Mention for C: 

General Celes Chere from Final Fantasy VI. She was badass and beautiful, and that she found love in the end was just so sweet!

Tomorrow, we talk about Final Fantasy IX's "Dagger".

A to Z Challenge: The A's of Final Fantasy

Welcome to the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge of 2016!!

This year, I decided to highlight characters from my favorite game franchise, Final Fantasy, so this year, my blog title is tagged with the A-to-Z abbreviation for gaming (GA). I also plan to see what the other gaming bloggers are on about. I can't wait!

So today's letter is A, and at first, I only had one character, and then, I forgot a summon, and then, I remembered someone else, so we have a three for three here.

But ladies first! Here is Final Fantasy's sweetheart: Aeris Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII.

If you follow my normal blog, you've seen me discuss Aeris's heart-wrenching story already. For everyone else, Aeris was the last living Ancient. The majority of her race was killed or mutated into monsters by a shape-shifting alien that scientists mistook to be an Ancient, and they used it to create super humans and by accident, a bunch of monsters. Smart people, right? (More on that thing later in the alphabet.)

We meet Aeris as a flower girl in the slums and fall immediately head over heels for her sweet spirit and can do attitude. She's basically the most powerful character in the game that we never get to really use. She is brutally murdered early on and still manages to save the world in the end with a prayer and a white materia she thought did nothing.

Arcade Sushi ranked Aeris's death as the 3rd most shocking death in video game history in 2013, and indeed it was.

The mysterious Auron is walking around Final Fantasy X with a great big blob of water following him and destroying things as it goes when we first see him, so we don't know what to expect. A guardian from the real world of Spira (this gets explained a couple of times during this challenge), Auron is actually a good guy and brings together our main character Tidus (coming later) with the rest of the cast to save the world.

He is an awesome swordsman, and spoiler alert: HE'S DEAD!! Killed by the evil summoner Yunalesca when he realizes something is amiss (more info on that later), he holds on so he can help bring her and her psycho father Yu Yevon down.

The aeon Anima in FFX is possibly the scariest aeon you can summon in any Final Fantasy game (and this reveal still gives me chills)! You only see the top half until Anima does her (yes, Anima is a woman!) overdrive attack, and then, you see this thing!

AHHHHH!!!!

Speaking of crazy summons, stick around for Bahamut tomorrow! (I promise most of these posts won't be this long!)