Final Fantasy

It started with a company called Square Co., Ltd, heading toward bankruptcy due to failing interest in the Nintendo Entertainment System. Hironobu Sakaguchi, a designer for Square, inspired by Enix's release of Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior, began work on a new fantasy role-play game.  Because this game was planned to be his last game to design (and Square's final game to release), he named the game "Final Fantasy."

The rest, as they say, was history.

Final Fantasy turned Square's financial problems around, and soon became their 'flagship' game, each game different from the last, unrelated to the previous games -- save for little hints and the like that only those who have played each game might recognize.  Common themes within each game, however, are very present.  They are as follows:

Chocobos
Moogles
Tonberrys
Magic
Status Effects
Airships
And... a character named Cid. Or two.

There is far more to the Final Fantasy series than just these things, though.  And though you could read everything there is to read about each Final Fantasy game, there really is nothing like actually playing them.  To quote a friend of mine (if she wishes, I'll give her full credit for it, though I'll refrain in respect of her privacy until otherwise notified), the games are "Awesome...Captivating...engaging...Life."

And indeed, they are.  Each game throws you into a different world, where magic is everywhere, airships rule the skies (well, most of the time), and chocobos entertain, provide transportation, or ... well.. attack you.

I recommend everyone play at least one or two of these games, if they can.  Most are available on Playstation One at this point, with Ten and Twelve on the PS2, and Eleven on most game platforms, as it's an online game.  You can buy them from GameStop or EB Games, or you can try to find them on Ebay, if that's your thing.