Final Fantasy VII defined a generation of gamers, and as its remake releases, the world isn’t ready for the cultural influences to come.

I’m eight years old, and to me, the world of video games is everything. Little did I know, I was experiencing a golden age.

Games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Smash Bros. were my elementary school mainstays, but once I was done with Super Mario 64 and Spyro the Dragon, I was left wanting a grander, more challenging adventure.

Then, Final Fantasy VII found its way into my PlayStation’s disc drive. I marveled at the three discs of the game, gleeful that this would be the first time I was stepping into the adult world of video games.

Booting up Final Fantasy VII, I was immediately drawn in by the graphics. For that day and age, video game graphics the likes of which Final Fantasy VII had were largely unheard of.

Cloud rode into the Midgar slums atop a train, looking badass as he landed in a superhero pose with his spikey hair and buster sword.

This was it. I’d made it.

Cloud and Barret were my quick friends. They said cool words like “damn” and “hell” all the time, something only the cool kids on the playground could get away with. Now, with my video game friends, I could do the same.

Back in the early internet days, we didn’t have, or I wasn’t allowed to use, chat rooms with strangers. I had no way of raving about this cool new game (it wasn’t new) I had found, which is something I take for granted in our present-day Twitter-obsessed world.

How had no one told about this game yet? Final Fantasy VII had complex story beats, but having read the first two Harry Potter novels, I knew I was up for the task.

What really kicked my ass was the ATB combat. How was I supposed to think about the moves I wanted to use if there was always a gauge timing my choices? This wasn’t anything like Pokémon Red!

I scraped my way through the opening battles and was immediately rewarded with some beautiful cutscenes. After I saved the mysterious flower girl, who I later learned was adopted and part of a mythical race (cool!), I was introduced to Tifa.

Tifa was unlike any female video game character I had ever met. When I first saw her in the bar, I thought she was going to be a side character: a simple barkeep that would tell me tales about Midgar, but nothing more.

When she took it upon herself to go undercover at the pimp’s club to get some important Avalanche information (wow, this was a lot for an eight-year-old to handle), I was VERY impressed. She used her feminine wiles to take down the bad guys. She was like Zelda, except for in Final Fantasy VII, Tifa favored fists over magic to get the job done.

A beat I was unfortunately familiar with was the damsel in distress role Aerith often found herself in. At the time, I was enraged that Shinra would steal my healer. How else was I supposed to auto-heal in battle?

Caring less about the character than I did about the logistics of my battle style, I quickly learned of a new challenge that would stand at the front of my young gaming mind: platforming on a 2D painted set.

To this day, I have trouble navigating the streets of Midgar. I thought things would be a bit easier during the stealth mission in the Shinra building, but no, it was even harder. The guard detection was spot on, but my hiding-behind-statues skills were not.

At this point in my playthrough, I felt like I was reaching the end. But wait, what about the second disc?

I knew saving Aerith and Red XIII couldn’t be the end of the story, but it sure did feel like it could be. What lies before me from there on out is largely a mystery.

Apparently, the mind of an eight-year-old can only be entertained by a JRPG for a couple of weeks max. I climbed to the top of Midgar, but after that, I… never picked it back up again.

Just last year, I came upon my old copy of Final Fantasy VII (it was borrowed from a cousin). Apparently, eight-year-olds are also dirty rotten thieves because after I remembered I still had the game, I also recalled that it wasn’t mine.

Related: Kingdom Hearts series love letter: One sky, one destiny

I returned Final Fantasy VII to my cousin, apologizing to him for having taken one of his favorite games. “It’s okay,” he responded, “I’m just happy that you got to experience it.” Now, I can say the same to all gamers picking up FFVII Remake.

Final Fantasy VII Remake releases on May 10, 2020 as a PlayStation 4 timed exclusive.