Hi, I'm Naomi. I've been in love with Final Fantasy since my brother got Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo (which, if you don't know, is really the sixth one, they skipped some over here). Then Final Fantasy VII came out when I was a junior in high school and I pretty much disappeared for the winter. This site started as a place to put the answers to all the questions people asked me about it.

My Final Fantasy VII tips page is still here and still the most visited part of the site. But this month, VIII finally came out in English, so for now the front page is all about that.

Sunday, September 26, 1999
End of disc one. Oh my gosh. I'm not going to say what happens, but I sat there and stared at the screen asking for the second disc for a good five minutes before I could make myself get up. My roommate came in and asked if I was OK. I was not OK.

Timber was great, the Forest Owls are adorable and completely hopeless, and I love how Rinoa just drags Squall into everything. Squall still answers almost everything with one word and a shrug, and I still want to shake him, but I think the game knows that and it's on purpose. I'm starting to like him. Don't tell anybody.

Sunday, September 19, 1999
The SeeD exam in Dollet was so much fun. Running away from that giant spider robot had me actually screaming at the TV. Then the ball! The scene where Squall and Rinoa dance is so, so pretty, and the music is lovely. And then you fall asleep on the train and wake up as Laguna, this goofy soldier with two buddies who bicker the whole time, and I have no idea what's going on or how it connects, and I love it.

Also, I have a confession: I've spent more time playing Triple Triad than saving the world. It's the card game everybody in the game plays, and the rules change from town to town. I lost my best card to a kid in Balamb and I'm still mad.

Sunday, September 12, 1999
First weekend with it. The opening movie made me cry and nothing had even happened yet. The characters look like real people now instead of blocks with Popeye arms, which is kind of a shock after VII.

The big change is the Junction system. There's no MP and no materia. Instead you Draw magic out of monsters and draw points, and you stock up (up to 100 of each spell), and then you junction the spells to your stats, so 100 Cures on your HP makes your HP go way up. Your Guardian Forces are the summons, and they learn abilities as you fight, and you have to junction them to your characters to do anything at all. It took me the whole Fire Cavern to understand it. I think I get it now. I think.

Quistis is my favorite so far. She's Squall's instructor at Balamb Garden and she's only a year or two older than him, which seems like a lot of pressure.

• Better in VIII: the graphics, the movies, the card game, and pressing the button at the right moment to make Squall's gunblade hit harder.
• Better in VII: materia, for sure. And the Guardian Force animations in VIII are really long and you can't skip them. I've watched Quezacotl a hundred times now.
• Too soon to tell: the story. VII's is my favorite story in any game. VIII has a lot to live up to.
• Weird: the monsters level up when you do, so grinding doesn't help the way it used to.