I came here when I got home internet. It was like 13 or 14. I had seen TFF before on a school computer, and decided to visit again. It was going through some changes as Fuzz was revamping it. For some reason, I contacted him asking him something. I can't remember what. I ended up being on-board to update the TFF news for Squaresoft, but mostly FF games. I had just played FF7, a year behind when it was released. It was my first FF game, and I was hooked.

I found all sorts of communities where peopled gathered to talk about these games. TFF was the first one I saw, and I liked the colors. They were light blue and white. Reminded me of a Moogle for some reason. Then there was FF Shrine, it was dark purple/blue, Eyes on FF, really dark purple with light blue text I think (or hyperlinks were light blue?). FF Online was insanely popular because of the name I think, but very elitist. Black background with gold text. FF Alpha was brown/gold with bright gold links and white text. It looked metallic. I remember seeing TFF as the most friendly, and uplifting.

I became a member of the forums and FFVIII had come out. I wasn't really a fan at the time as it wasn't as cool to 15 year old angsty me as FFVII was. But we still had discussions come up and it was cool to see that people were talking about the same thing I was experiencing. The feedback+gameplay was absolutely enthralling to me. Then FFIX came out. I knew this would be my FF. I reported all the news before it was released, in JP and in North America and Europe. Everything seemed so...Fantastical! When it came out, I bought the game, had the strategy guide, had become moderator of the Final Fantasy IX forums, and actively helped any and everyone who had anything to ask about the game in the forums. I'm also pretty sure this is when Andromeda joined. Andromeda was so knowledgeable, and I was jealous. Because I I wanted to be the sole person that gave all the answers. As a 16 year old, or so, it was very important to me. It was great.

I became mod shortly after, simply because I posted so frequently and often and helped out in any way I could. Soon after, I realized I was too young to have all the power I had on the forums. I remember editing a color layout one night and another admin being logged in doing the same. We were messing each other's color schemes up so badly, and with a dial-up connection it was horrible. People complained, etc. I felt like it was too much. So I stepped down.

Somewhere in this timeline there was a TFF Chat on the website. A little code had you chatting with online TFF members while browsing the site. This became insanely cool to me, because you could chat instantly instead of waiting for a reply. Eventually AIM was there, and MSN messenger. We took our chats to that, as the TFF chat didn't have a log in and it's own interface like this did. I met tons of people, and got to know them somewhat-personally. StarSoldier, Whitney, Edgar-Figaro, Ranma (who was a member of the old TFF, slightly older generation than I was), etc. I'd invite everyone to a TFF chatroom named TFF. We advertised it, etc and it would usually have 20~ish people in it.

I took some break for a while, got a girlfriend who cheated on me, became angsty, hated everything. Typical teenager. Looking back I guess I was kinda Squall-ish. I wasn't pleasant. And I thought I was cool. I began trolling the shit out of posts here, instead of being helpful. I got many warnings, etc and somehow I made it out. Though being a troll, I still had feelings for the site that starting it all for me. I still cared and still offered my help and advice to moderators/admins here who asked. I wasn't such a butt on a messenger, as it was really me, but I wanted people to know I meant business when I posted.

I grew out of that. I started wising up, learning how the world works. Helping people was way cooler than trying to sabotage stuff. I gave much advice to new moderators from my own experience. It was truthful and genuine, despite how I'd acted in the past. They were very thankful and I continued to get asked for my input on situations. I wasn't running the show, but I was still giving advice on how to make TFF better. It was always in my interest to do so. I wanted this place to own the **** out of FF Online. FF Online was huge, and general, and had elitist mods. I remember DH, Dark Horse, who used to write news for them. It must have been so much harder for him, because the people that came to TFF were humble, while the people who went to FF Online were looking for help, or saw the popularity and just wanted attention. I'm so glad TFF rarely has that. We've always had a great, tight community here. Willing to accept new people, help them in their games, talk about cool ass shit that happens and FMVs! Play other games, etc. And when a new FF game is released, everyone comes together and has their opinions and shares the experience. And you seem to have a glimpse of the people you're talking to. You know why they would like the cutscene or particular part of the game they're enjoying and talking about atm. And that's what TFF has that some other places don't. It's like I'm stuck here because I know everyone, but I'm not stuck. I could just as easily go talk about FF games to another place, but TFF people are my people!

Who knows what the future holds, but I'll probably be around for a while. I grow with this site.