I came across Final Fantasy Record Keeper in the summer of 2020. You can tell, because my most powerful character in the game is Locke, and at the time I was knee-deep in FF6 obsession.
I tried out FFRK, FFBE, and DFFOO all at around the same time, and my impressions were as follows:
Those impressions changed a bit over time, and once I learnt that ✨✨ a certain High Summoner ✨✨ would be coming to DFFOO in (checks calendar) like two weeks omg, I obviously got a lot more invested in that one, but for a long time Record Keeper was my go-to. In fact, it was what I turned to to keep me sane in the first perplexing year of my new job; I would run through a couple of dungeons when I needed a quick break. So thanks, I guess.
When I downloaded the game, it was just before they ended support for languages other than English. My phone is in French for bants, so I had a few pleasant weeks of learning the French characters’ names (Linoa 👀), but starting to get into it at a time when that was about to happen did kind of suggest the game was on its way out. The official end of service announcement the other day wasn’t really surprising, but, you know, it’s kind of sad.
Once I’d levelled up enough characters, my go-to party in FFRK was effectively “fave from each game”, with those games being six, seven, eight, nine and ten. That made my lineup Locke, Cid H (problematic fave), Fujin (absolute icon I wish I could get away with only saying one word at a time), Freya, Auron. Over time, Auron grew to be the one I favoured most (ahem), and despite being a free-to-play evangelist, I managed to get all his soul breaks … a mere few days before they released, like, another four of them and I only pulled three. But, you know, I have all his soul breaks but one, that’s not bad going. (Perpetually disappointed that I was never playing at a time when the young Auron wardrobe record was available, though, because that’s something I actually would have spent money on … same goes if they ever release a young Auron costume in DFFOO … yes I will give you thirty-two of your English pounds for some slightly different pixels, if those pixels are “my boy with two eyes and slightly longer hair”.)
Once I started playing some of the harder content I realised I, er, actually needed someone in my party who could do white magic, and by this time I was knee-deep in FFX so I swapped out problematic fave for Yuna, and that’s been my main party since. For posterity:
Also, I appreciate how this game allows me to stare at a nice picture of young Auron. I mean, I know this is just taken from FFX, but it’s like basically the highest-quality (and yet still terrible) image of him that exists? Amazing.
(Also, again … why is Jecht referred to as “young”? He’s five years older than Auron at the absolute minimum, lads, come on.)
Anyway, the FFBE WotV FFX collab is back on, so I guess I’m downloading that now? Just want Auron in all possible formats tbh. Life comes at you fast.