Not long ago, I was debating with a buddy about what game was the peak of the Final Fantasy series, of all things. Contending my Final Fantasy VI against his VII, I realized I'm no authority (right as I may be, ha ha!) on the series, but in this day and age, erm, it wouldn't hurt, or it might build up my debating arsenal, or better yet, make a delightful Planet-project to pass the time until this shiny new console comes out.

So, to get right to the point, here's my proposition; I play through the whole series and you lucky readers follow along in the forums. Heck, even play along with me as I stumble my way through wholesome, bonafide role-playing goodness.

As aforementioned, I don't really know too much about this here series. Playing through I, VI, and VII pretty much sums up my experience. (Including stuff like Tactics and the GameBoy series in this little project would be overkill, I won't be going there.) Yeah, that's right, I've never played IV and I'm a looser. But we'll fix that, now, won't we?

I've already made my start, as a matter of fact. About halfway through I, actually. I recall playing through this once or twice in the golden 80's... but not clearly enough to remember where that gawd-damned heal rod is. Man, I spent forever looking around that water shrine for it, when it was in plain sight at the Castle of Ordeal all along.

Er, to hop off of that tangent, something that strikes me about the original FF I is that it's hard. Outright difficult. Don't get me wrong, I think that's great, after that cakewalk called FF VII (beat it the first time without dying once! What is that? Man alive!) and the almost-as-easy FF VI (Kefka and the statues chewed me up a bit... the first time I played through).

In this golden oldie, you're expected to occasionally park your ass and actually build levels. Add character level complications with limited healing capacity, and one would find it's very important to make carefully planned trips into the dungeons. On top of that, you can only 'hold' a handfull of spells per 'trip' and can potentially waste attacks on dead monsters. All but the easiest battles require attention and planning a couple turns into the future.

As for my progress, I've finished the water shrine and gotten my character promotions courtesy of my good buddy, Bahamut. Ah, yes, no character development for team members allowed; it's a bare-bones role-playing challenge. And that suits me just fine, heh. I chose two Fighters/Knights (probably putting me slightly out of the norm), a White Mage/Wizard, and a Black Mage/Wizard. Now, I'm preparing to head out into that big desert and take on the Mirage Tower. Or maybe I should check out that waterfall cave first?

So, dear reader, do check out the forums. You'll find four delicious sections: