Hey everybody
I am glad there is an introduction thread, I really like it if I am able to properly introduce myself first.
Much of what I am going to tell you can also be found in my profile, where I wrote in great detail as well.
I am 30 years old, are from Germany and have been a FINAL FANTASY fan since 1999. Although FF is my greatest gaming passion of all time, oddly enough its the only RPG I am playing. I tried a few others but none of them could evoke the feeling and emotional power that I love so much about FF. So while I am a die hard FF fan, I am not a RPG fan in general.
Besides FF I am a huge fan of action, adventure, fighting games and horror with my most favorite games (besides FF) being the Resident Evil series, the God of War series, The Batman: Arkham series, Injustice, Tekken and the Tomb Raider Trilogy (Legend, Anniversary and Underworld only!)
I started being a gamer in 1994 (with Street Fighter II) on the SNES before getting the PSOne for my 16th birthday in 1998. Back then Tekken 3, Tomb Raider II and III were my favorite games before I discovered Resident Evil in early 1999 and became a huge fan of the series (and have been ever since). Shortly after that I got my hands on Final Fantasy VII for the first time and was extremely captivated by it, though it did not make me a fan yet. That would finally happen in Fall 1999 when I got Final Fantasy VIII, which become my greatest gaming passion of all time (At that time) and made me a total die hard fan of the series until this day. Though after getting more thoroughly into FF VII and eventually also FF IX and most importantly FF X (which still is my most favorite game of all time) I love these games even more than VIII today. While I wasnt too crazy about FF XII (which is a supreme and massive RPG but severely lacked the emotional power and feeling of the Final Fantasy I love), I DO like the FF XIII series a lot despite its flaws. I think its mythology is the best since VII and especially Lightning might be one of my most favorite FF characters of all time.
I have several other passions besides gaming. On top of that list would be Marvel and DC superhero comics which I am reading and collecting for 20 years by now. I am also a huge movie buff, especially superhero movies, epic fantasy spectacles (such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, I am SW fan since 1997), horror films (especially slasher and splatter of the 70s and 80s), actionfilms and the movies of Whedon, Tarantino, cameron and Bay. But I also love many more movies from very different genres as well. way too many to name them all.
I am also fan of several TV shows, mostly fantasy-dramas or superhero shows such as Joss Whedons shows Buffy, Angel, Firefly, superhero shows like Smallville (besides Buffy my most favorite show of all time), Arrow and vampire-drama The Vampire Diaries.
Besides games, comics, films and Tv shows my greatest love of all is music. german veteran punkrockband DIE ÄRZTE (The Doctors) who exist since 1982 are my most favorite band of all time since 1993. Since 2008 I also a huge fan of fellow german veteran-punkrockband DIE TOTEN HOSEN (The Dead Pants). Generally I am a huge fan of Punk and Rock (and the whole ideal of Punkrock that comes with it, which has greatly influenced my life philosophy, attitude and outlook on life) and am drummer in a punkrockband myself.
To balance my love for Punk/Rock, I also love Pop and Poprock. especially Avril Lavigne who is my most fav singer since 2008. In contrast to that kind of music I am also a huge fan of orchestral movie scores, particularly the works of John Williams, Howard Shore, Hans ZImmer and Steve Jablonsky.
And of course I am a huge fan of the FInal Fantasy music, particularly Uematsus works. I have all the soundtrack albums of FF VI - XIV as well as several arranged albums, all of the live concert albums, the piano albums and the albums of Uematsus rock band "The Black Mages" who cover FF songs as rock versions (Awesome stuff!)
I have been following novacyrstallis.com for a long time, its my most favorite source for all things FF and so when this forum was created, signing up was a no brainer for me. What I really value about the NC community is that they are respectful to another and dont put someone down, ridicule him or question him as a "true fan" for liking or loving a game that many others might not like that much (e.g. FF XIII which has some of the most aggressive, intolerant and disrespectful haters I have ever met and they are practically to be found on every damn website). I always noticed how in the NC community there was always a much greater level of tolerance and respect then on other websites, so I am glad you finally created a forum for yourself. Glad to be part of it now. And thats something I sadly cant say for other forums I joined.