Over the past week, I was pleasantly surprised by having the chance to revisit one of the most important games of my formative teenage years in the form of the demo for Final Fantasy 7 - Remake. Oh boy, did that hit me harder than I anticipated. Not only was this another of those games that has a combat system that feels fantastic to play, but it was more of my actual memories that were drawn forth from playing it.
What I haven't had the real breadth of platform to express, though, is just how central Final Fantasy 7 truly is to who I am as a creator/storyteller. Allow me to share that with you now.
As with the rest of my current personal projects, "Fated Edge" began as a fanfiction take on the world of FF7. The early concepts of the majority of the characters being directly referenced from FF7's cast. As my own sensibilities evolved and I grew to find more of my own identity as a person, the characters and the world evolved. Here's some examples:
The lead protagonist of Fated Edge, Daniel Sage, was my "Cloud Strife proxy." Messy blond hair, green eyes, swordsman. To differentiate him from Cloud, however, I went to great lengths to rework his personality. Funny enough, the closer approximation would be Zack during the later events of FF7 - Crisis Core.
The martial artist/brawler character that joins Daniel on his adventure is a plucky, young goofball by the name of Damian Ramirez. Right off the bat, swapped gender to separate him from Tifa. I made him more of the comic relief when outside of combat and as time goes on, he and Daniel will forge a friendship akin to brotherhood.
The healer/mage, my "Aerith proxy," Crystal Ellis. Firstly, don't expect her to die. Secondly, she still has elements of a playful personality combined with the outlook of a sheltered girl running away from home to see the world. Hence, how she meets Daniel and Damian.
I could go on and on about the specifics, but the main deal is that this is a project I always revisit to gauge how far I've come in both my character design and my storytelling. There's also the fact that this project wouldn't really exist if not for the time I spent playing JRPGs in the 90s and Final Fantasy 7, in particular.
To sum up, when that flood of nostalgia washed over me at the end of my first playthrough of the FF7 - Remake demo, it was more than just the time spent with my friends IRL. It was the time I spent creating and honing a whole cast of characters, the post-apocalyptic world they inhabit, and the ever-evolving story that I will, one day, finally get to tell.
Until that day arrives, I'll keep gaming, working, and evolving. Here's to hoping you'll stick with me. In the meantime...
~Stay Good, Neighborhood
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