Beside him, the shorter Naoki let out a massive sneeze and sniffed his frozen, red nose hard.
"Achoo! I should've worn a thicker down jacket. This wind cuts like a knife," Naoki complained, his body shivering uncontrollably.
"Stop whining. They're opening any minute—keep your eyes peeled!" Kenta stared intensely at the glowing sign of the game store, his eyes bloodshot. "I only have enough money for one day-one copy. Don't even think about buying one yet. Just come to my place later and watch me play."
"Why do you get to play while I just watch? What's the point of that?" Naoki's eyes widened.
"Because I saved up every cent by eating half-off, near-expiry bento boxes for two whole weeks! I even drank tap water to save money! You didn't contribute a dime, and you think you get to touch the controller?" Kenta rolled his eyes hard, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets.
The line was completely devoid of security, yet it remained eerily quiet.
No shouting, no shoving.
Everyone was suppressing an emotional eruption that felt like a volcano about to burst.
The sudden delay months ago, coupled with the relentless hype from every major gaming magazine and Sega's mysterious, behind-the-scenes marketing, had pushed the players' anticipation to its absolute limit.
Seven o'clock sharp.
The metal shutters screeched open, the harsh sound of metal on metal announcing the start of the day.
The queue, like a dragon stirring from its slumber, began to crawl forward—slowly, but with unwavering resolve.
"One copy of Final Fantasy VII! Hurry!" Kenta finally reached the counter, slamming a wad of crumpled, sweat-stained bills onto the surface.
The manager deftly pulled a box from a crate and handed it over. "Thank you for your purchase. Here you go!"
Kenta snatched it, his arm dropping heavily under its weight.
"So heavy—" he blurted out, a flash of astonishment crossing his face.
A standard single-disc CD game was light as a feather; even a double-disc set didn't weigh much. But this copy of Final Fantasy VII felt substantial in his hands, like a thick, hardcover encyclopedia.
Without even glancing at the cover art, he hugged the game tightly to his chest and shoved Naoki toward the exit.
"Move! Out of the way!"
They sprinted all the way home.
The cold wind whipped into their lungs, but they were oblivious to it, their blood boiling with excitement. The two high schoolers burst into Kenta's living room like a whirlwind, kicking off their shoes at the entrance without even bothering to set them straight.
Kenta flopped down on the tatami mat, his hands trembling slightly as he carefully tore away the outer shrink-wrap, terrified of damaging even a single corner.
He opened the thick, specially-made plastic case.
The first thing to greet him was a full-color manual, dozens of pages thick. The paper emitted the fresh scent of ink, its pages filled with exquisite character designs and world-building lore.
Kenta carefully lifted the manual, revealing two back-to-back CD trays. Four discs, each adorned with stunning artwork, rested there like masterpieces, their surfaces reflecting a brilliant, iridescent glow.
He noticed an incredibly minute detail. Between the discs and the plastic trays, a wafer-thin, soft white foam sheet had been placed to prevent any scratches during transport.
"This packaging..." Naoki leaned in, his breath hitching. "Square really went all out."
Before this, disc-based games—even those with two discs—were typically just shoved back-to-back into a single CD case. It wasn't uncommon to buy a scratched copy. Although Sega's distributors often allowed exchanges for such cases, it was still a frustrating experience.
A packaging design this meticulous and ceremonial, like the one for Final Fantasy VII, was unprecedented in the 1996 gaming industry.
With this single detail, Square had elevated the game's presentation to an entirely new level of prestige and sincerity.
The exorbitant price tag, which had once drawn the ire of countless players, finally found its most solid physical justification at this very moment.
Kenta took a deep breath, retrieved the first disc labeled "DISC1," and pressed the release button on the Sega Jupiter's disc drive.
He inserted the disc and closed the cover.
Power on.
With a click, the CRT television screen flickered to life.
The Sega logo flashed by, followed immediately by Square's familiar emblem.
Then, the screen went completely black.
There was no agonizingly long loading screen to make them squirm, no tedious progress bar.
Without warning, Nobuo Uematsu's legendary orchestral piece, Bombing Mission, erupted in the living room!
The frantic bowing of the violins and the thunderous roar of the brass section instantly seized their hearts.
On the screen, a starry sky shimmered as clouds churned below.
The camera plunged from the heavens in a breathtakingly oppressive descent.
Midgar, a cyberpunk steel jungle, was revealed in all its glory, bathed in the eerie green glow of the Mako Reactor.
Kenta and Naoki held their breath, their pupils dilating in shock.
The sheer visual power of this scene surpassed even the pre-rendered trailers they had seen on screens at E3!
Every rebar, every wisp of smoke—it was all so lifelike it made their scalps tingle.
The camera tracked the speeding train, finally settling on the platform as it pulled in.
With a piercing screech of brakes, Cloud, Buster Sword shouldered, flipped nimbly off the train's roof and landed firmly on the platform.
The next scene shattered the two high schoolers' worldview.
There was no fade to black, no loading screen transition, no jarring cut.
In the bottom-left corner of the screen, the control UI and character status bar smoothly popped into existence.
"It—it's moving—!" Naoki pointed at the screen, his finger trembling, his voice stuttering. "Kenta—you—you can control it!"
Kenta swallowed hard and stiffly pushed the controller's joystick forward.
On the screen, Cloud immediately drew the Buster Sword from his back and started running.
A seamless transition!
The boundary between pre-rendered CGI cutscenes and real-time gameplay was completely shattered, obliterated in this very moment!
Thanks to the underlying technical support from Sega and the insane engine optimization, Cloud's character model was absurdly high-fidelity. Even in real-time gameplay, the folds in his clothes, the reflections on his metal armor, and even the texture of his hair remained clearly visible, without any of the coarse polygon jitter or seam-splitting found in old 3D games.
The first battle began.
The instant an enemy was encountered, the camera stretched and rotated with extreme smoothness within the 3D space.
Kenta pressed the attack button.
Cloud swung his sword. The massive blade sliced through the air, trailing dazzling light and shadow effects as huge damage numbers exploded above the enemy's head.
No frame drops, no stuttering—the action was ridiculously fluid!
Kenta's fingers flew across the buttons. With a seamless combo, Cloud took down two Shinra soldiers in one go.
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