DUODECIM
I had always been a fan of Final Fantasy since X came out. I also enjoy the older ones ranging from the original to Final Fantasy XIII. Anyways, when Dissidia came out, I did not have a PSP and I was not interested in buying a spin-off anyway. A few years later when Duodecim came out, I tried it (a friend let me borrow his PSP) and I loved it. My favorite character to play as was Yuna because of course, I am a die-hard FFX fan and it was epic to use the aeons. So, I told my friend that I loved the game and later, I got an email from an anonymous sender with the following contents:
Hello.
Do you like final fantasy?
I'm selling my PSP and Duodecim for $5 each.
(Address omitted)
I was pretty excited, as the sender lived right down the street, but also confused as to how this sender knew that I liked this game. I shrugged it off as a coincidence and walked down to the address.
Huge mistake.
When I got there, I was slightly confused. This house was abandoned and had broken windows and there was no door. It must have been a mistake. Just when I was about to walk back to my house, a man that looked actually quite normal emerged from the monstrosity of a house.
He held the PSP box. I gave him the ten dollars and he ran to a nearby car, and speedily swerved out of there. Confused and excited, I sprinted towards my house, ready to play my new game. I plopped onto the couch and looked at the PSP box. In a large red font it said "PSP SPECIAL EDITION" over a black backdrop. There was a picture of a PSP slim on the front. When I opened the box, there it was. It was a black PSP Phat, model 1001 with a crack in the corner of the screen and a crack by the buttons. The top of the analog stick was also missing. I switched the PSP on and noticed that the analog stick still worked, it was just less comfortable. I looked through the box, and there was one more thing in there. A copy of Dissidia Duodecim. It looked bootlegged because it had "DUODECIM" in black font along with a screenshot of Terra and Firion fighting that didn't even fit the whole case in the background.
I stuck the game into the PSP, and a scratching noise sounded. At first, I was extremely disappointed, but then realized that I could select the game from the menu. Elated that it still worked, I pressed "x" and the normal PSP logo came up along with the little chime in the background. A few seconds passed, and a black screen came up. The black screen stayed for about a minute, and then a text box popped up, saying something about an autosave function. I pressed "OK". This is where it gets a little bit creepy. The Square Enix logo came up, and this weird beeping noise came up, sounding like a Dial-Up modern.
I thought of it as a mere glitch, and proceeded to the start menu. Oh God, the start menu. First of all, the only options were "PLAY' and "OPTIONS". There was just a white background with a picture of someone being tortured with a saw and some rope in horrifying detail (I won't describe it too much...). A little shaken, I chose "PLAY". The main menu seemed normal enough, except for a few things.
There were only three options: "STORY", "BATTLE", and "SETTINGS".
There was no mognet.
The background was just an image of Tidus's face, with little bubbles flying out of his mouth, and his eyes were closed.
I stared at the background for a while, and I realized that it looked like Tidus was drowning. Still a little shaken, I hovered over "STORY", and then went down one to "BATTLE".
I was taken to a black loading screen with the letters "LOADING YOUR FINAL FANTASY" in red and with blood dripping from them. I didn't remember this in the original, but I proceeded to character selection. There were all of the characters unlocked. When you hovered over their portrait, their full picture would be terribly gruesome. Here are a few examples not in any order.
Lightning's gunblade had been shoved into her throat by someone (or something) and blood was dribbling from her mouth. Her eyes stared at the camera with intense sadness, and her mouth was slightly open as if she wer whispering something.
Yuna's staff was on the ground next to her and her skull was halfway showing. One of her eyes were hanging out of its socket and her robe was torn, revealing rotten flesh underneath.
Tidus had no sword, and he had many wounds in his side. His face was covered completely in blood, and his entrails were hanging from him also. He had his arms up and he had a scared expression as if trying to guard himself from something.
Vaan's weapons were all embedded into random place on his body. He looked like a walking armory, and there was organs hanging off of him everywhere.
Reluctantly, I chose Yuna. The battle started without me getting to choose my opponent. When it was loading, I couldn't change the music. Where the music was supposed to be, it said "FF0- LAST DAY". When the battle started I noticed that we were in order's sanctuary, and Yuna looked exactly how her full-portrait looked on the character selection screen. My opponent was Feral Chaos. Instead of Yuna's regular entrance, it just showed her staring ahead, a few feet from the camera. It then showed Feral Chaos, and he spoke. The quality of the recording was terrible and grainy, and you could hear screams in the background. "It is your last day here in this world." It was a man's voice that sounded deep and menacing. After about a minute of Yuna staring at Feral chaos, I guess that "LAST DAY" started playing. It was a bunch of strange beeping sounds followed by women sobbing, children screaming, and a man humming a strange tune.
I couldn't control Yuna. She stood as still as a statue, and Feral Chaos dashed at her. It then showed Feral Chaos ripping out her organs, and leaving them all over the Order's Sanctuary stage. The water in order's sanctuary was replaced with blood, and Yuna let out a bloodcurdling scream. It then showed every single one of her aeons exploding in a bloody mess.
I got up and went to the bathroom. I vomited in the toilet. What the hell is happening here? I didn't want to play more, but it was so interesting. It was calling me.
I walked back to the PSP, where I could still hear Yuna's distorted screaming. I pressed start and pressed "Forfeit". It said "GAME OVER." And showed Yuna's organs strewn everywhere with parts of her corpse dangling from the objects jutting out of Order's Sanctuary. Maniacal laughter could be heard in the background. When I tried to save the replay, I was booted back to the main menu. The background in the main menu was now a picture of Yuna's body parts strewn across Order's Sanctuary. "BATTLE" was no longer selectable. I chose "SETTINGS", but there was only one option: It said this: Do you believe in the after life? Yes/no.
I never thought that this would be in a Final Fantasy game, but I chose "Yes". A text box came up with the words "You fool" and I was booted to the main menu. The only option left was "STORY". I chose it and held my breath, hoping for this madness to end.
It had all of the cosmos warriors chained up to a wall, and it looked like real life, like I could reach in and touch them. The corresponding chaos warriors walked in through an iron doorway and killed each of them in terrifying ways. For example, Jecht inched towards Tidus with a terrifying grin on his face. He slashed Tidus along the sides, making his entrails fall out. Tidus started coughing up blood. Jecht took the blood in his hands and spread it along Tidus's face. Jecht raised his sword, which made Tidus attempt to raise his arms, but his chain prevented it. Jecht dealt one final blow before Tidus was on the ground bleeding to death.
By this time, Yuna was already sobbing. In the background, some kind of classical music was playing. Jecht slowly crept towards Yuna. When he spoke, it sounded like a different voice actor, like someone had hacked the sound files and replaced them with a crappy microphone recording.
"Don't worry, dear. It was his LAST DAY." (The words Last day had a lot of emphasis.) He looked directly at the camera, as if he were staring at me. "And soon, it will be yours, too. We all have a last day. A Final Fantasy."
Then, the screen goes black, and you hear every cosmos warrior shrieking, and pleading with the Chaos warriors to stop. You hear the Chaos warriors' Amazingly terrible laughter as they slash their foes to bits.
Then, it brought me back to the PSP home screen. It was 11:59 PM. Had I been playing that long? I couldn't get back into Duodecim, and I ejected the game. The game was shattered into bits.
12:00.
I heard one last thing.
It was the man. Who sold me the game.
"Have you enjoyed your last day?"
"Turn around."
Credited to 123123sora
Originally uploaded on May 29, 2012
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