Hm, I think mainly because I hadn't played many games beforehand, and therefore had a very small amount of knowledge about games and gaming as a whole. Back then gaming was much less of a big public thing, I didn't have many friends, and I didn't have the internet. Not at all at that point I don't think. I think that was possibly before we even had the noisy dial-up (I remember the first thing I ever downloaded on that was a Final Fantasy VIII image, when I was completely new to the concept of being able to download images and was like wao - you can do this? - there's Final Fantasy VIII stuff on here??). So my only knowledge of gaming and game genres was my own experience, which at the time was limited to only Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, Double Dragon III, Tomb Raider II and III and a bit of Gran Turismo.  I hadn't heard of Final Fantasy at all. This was also the first time I had heard of "Role-Playing games", and didn't actually know what that meant. I remember being at a friend's house and watching them play a bit of Metal Gear Solid. I don't remember which part - it might even have been a demo. But I found it really weird and new that it had cutscenes and sections that were like on rails. I was like wat, this is more like a film, why aren't you completely controlling it, it's a video game. The only cutscenes I'd ever seen were the rare little ones between levels in Tomb Raider II and III. Those two Tomb Raiders were the only knowledge of games having a story that I had at that point. That's it. Then I played Final Fantasy VIII and was blown away, because it was so different, so immersive, so epic, and so story-driven. And it had such a wonderfully imagined and implemented world that I loved. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. And it was so beautiful, compared to any game I'd seen before. Those pre-rendered backgrounds still are gorgeous and amazing. Also, Tomb Raiders 2 and 3 have hardly any music in them. Only tiny, short bits that usually make you shit your pants because you think some shit's gonna go down - and it probably is. So other than that the only game music I was used to was from the NES, with Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3, and Double Dragon 3. So I was suddenly greeted by this masterpiece of a Nobuo Uematsu score throughout the game, on top of everything else. It was mindblowing. It really broadened my mind on genres of games, how videogames can be art, and how they can have such an in-depth story and characters, and how you can connect with them on a deep level. That's how it changed my perspective on videogames. Other than that, simply put, I connected with it so much because how I was and felt at the time I played it. I related to Squall on a deep level, and other than it being a world that I loved and wished I could be a part of, with great characters and a well-written story that evoked a lot of feelings, that's why it became so important to me. 

maiofthetiger (Dec 2009)