Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9, my moments

FF7

Gentle soul, gentle one. Gentle voice of the group, her life a mystery,
her past linked to a long dead culture. Her friends looking for her,
finding her in an old city, her wish to the Life Stream, her ending
closing in on her. Aeris listens to the voices of the Planet, of her
mother and her people, she listens and knows what she must do. Her
hands together in prayer, her voice as a whisper in the quiet stillness
underneath the dead, quiet city. A wish to make, her friends to save,
and only a short time left in which to make the wish heard. She can
hear them nearing the altar in which she is praying and wishing, she
can hear him jumping the steps towards her, worry clearly on his face,
her eyes do not need to be open to see that. The sound of metal being
drawn from it's sheath tells her that he is trying to fight the control
that He has on him, she can hear his footsteps as he slowly walks
towards her, doing his best to resist the voice of Him, Sephiroth,
trying so hard to resist. Tifa's voice stops him though before he can
bring the blade down and she opens her eyes and looks up at him. Her
smile is gentle and loving as she looks into his green eyes, her
feelings for him are strong, she knows that she has fallen in love with
him, yet she can't be with him, not here, not now. Tifa will look after
him, as she always has, has she always will, Tifa is not his soul mate,
but she does care for him. Aeris can feel the wish being answered and
then she hears Him, Sephiroth, this is it, her final goodbye. She
starts to say something, she starts to tell Cloud her feelings for him,
but she is too slow as Sephiroth lands behind her and with a smile and
his cold eyes locked on Cloud, brings his sword forward and into her
back and out through her chest, a silky movement and then he pulls it
out as slowly as she falls and she falls forward into Cloud's arms. Her
eyes close and has they do, she watches as her materia bounces down the
steps into the water below. Her final view is of Cloud trying to help
her in vain, his tears actually only glistening in his eyes, yet not
falling. As she dies and falls into her mother's waiting arms, she
mouths three last words, 'I Love You' and then with a final breath,
falls into her mother's arms in the Life Stream. Her wish is complete,
her life is over. She is of the Planet once again.

FF8

The wind is gentle in her hair as she turns to see him, her lover, her
protector. His face is one that shows a life of loneliness and quiet
thoughts, his eyes are beautiful and penetrating, the scar making him
even more handsome as he would be without it. He smiles gently, a
lovely smile that makes his otherwise stern face brighten up to show a
young man who just wants to be loved for once in his lonely life.
Forever hers, forever there for her as is known by only them and
destiny, soul mates from the first second together during the dance
which seems so long ago in the past. She points up to the stars in the
night sky and he hugs her and then gently and softly kisses her, making
her feel wanted and loved in a way she has never felt before. Together
forever, in love from so much troubles and now entering a future
together that is whatever they make it, in love and in each others
arms. Her brave knight Squall, his beautiful angel Rinoa.

FF9

Her kingdom destroyed, her mother and her step-mother both dead. Alone
and unsure of her future now, her friends afraid to help her for fear
of harming her now that she is the ruler of the Kingdom of Alexandria,
it was once a proud castle and kingdom before the attack from Bahamut
that had destroyed everything and then the destruction of her Kingdom's
guardian Alexander that had been the final blow for the structure of
the castle and had caused a huge amount of damage to her home in the
process. If only she had been strong enough, if only she had been able
to save her home and her step-mother then she wouldn't feel so useless,
so torn up. She feels like a failure in so much ways that it would take
a lot to make her feel like she used to. Footsteps break her from her
thoughts and she turns to him, her 'knight' in worn clothing,
Zidane.
"I wasn't sure where to find you at first and then I thought of here, I
guess I was right. You've had to take quite a burden in the last few
weeks and I understand that, but you can't keep pushing your friends
away like this, we want to help you. Let us help you Dagger, please."
His words are gentle and caring, yet her sorrow just can't understand
him, she's lost everything and now she's losing her friends to
responsibilities of Royalty and honour, and then something clicks and
his words begin to make sense.
"Why do you care for me? I've brought you nothing but trouble the whole
time we've been together as a group, I ran off and even with Steiner's
help, put myself in great danger and near death. I'm useless Zidane,
USELESS! Please go now, before I make your life even worse than it
already is, I'm useless and a failure to everyone, leave me be." But
instead of nodding and leaving, he stands there and then he waves his
hands over everything around him.
"Get over yourself 'Highness', wake up and smell the roses, you're not
useless, you're not a failure. What happened is done now, it's the past
and you're living in it. Grow up girl, grow up and enter the world,
stop feeling sorry for yourself all the time, because if you keep this
up, you'll never live life. Can't you even get it through your pampered
head that your friends need you, care for you? Can't you see that I
care for you as well? That I will do anything for you to protect you,
even if it means dying for you, I'll protect you. I promise you Garnet,
I promise you with all my being that I will be your knight, your hope
in the future, I won't leave you alone, ever." And then she walks up to
him, not sure if she should yell or just kiss him and then she makes a
choice.
"Give me your dagger please." Zidane looks stunned, is she going to
kill herself in front of him?
"Don't go doing anything stupid like that, you know I won't let you."
She puts her arms around him as a hug and then removes her arms from
around his waist and he sees one of his daggers in her right
hand.
"Just stay there and I'll show you what I'm going to do." She pushes
her way past and walks over to the lip of the river that surrounds her
castle and then brings the dagger to her hair, she cuts it with one
slice. As her hair falls to the ground, she turns to Zidane and the
wind blows her now short hair away from her face and he smiles and
nods, fully understanding what she's done. Dagger smiles back for now
she is no longer one person, she is now one of her own choice, she is
both Dagger and Garnet, Queen of Alexandria, she is a friend to few and
the one of her making. Her sorrow is now in the past, it is time to
step to the future, together.

*These are my views on three scenes in the games, Final Fantasy, 7, 8
and 9 that I found to be highly moving to me because of the sudden
Human feelings they showed. Aeris's death scene surprised me when it
happened as it was so sudden, so unexpected and even now six years
later, it's still one of my moments in a game where I was surprised at
everything that had happened in so short a time. In FF8, it was the
ending that made me feel good, the future was saved, even though the
war with Galbadia was still going on, it was the last minutes that made
me feel so good when Rinoa pointed up to the sky, a smile on her face
and then Squall finally feeling truly loved and wanted for the first
time in his life. In FF9, it was the moment when Garnet, or Dagger if
you want to use that name, returned to the castle after the events with
Kuja at his palace. She was so low, so unhappy at everything that had
happened lately, she had even stopped speaking after the destruction of
her home at the hands of Kuja and the Invincible. The scene in which
she went back to her step-mother's grave was moving because she was
unsure of her life, her destiny. Everything in her life was gone, her
friends were worried about her and Zidane went to find her, which he
did easily. After telling her that she was needed and was cared for,
she had asked for one of his daggers and after he had given it to her,
she had cut her hair, and it made one of the most beautiful scenes in
the game when she turned to him and smiled, the wind blowing her hair
and he had smiled and nodded, she had become herself at last, her own
life, her own person. Those three moments are what I feel are the most
moving scenes in the three games, the scenes when it shows that games
are no longer games at that point, but stories telling of everything in
life. You might think seeing Lara Croft's breasts bouncing are gaming
moments, which means you're a very sad person, but I find scenes of
pure human feeling and emotion to be the best ones, well I guess I'll
stop now, my views have probably made you think and I guess you don't
like to think. Bye.

Tony Watt.*