Death

Here’s a little-known fact: excessive exposure to Final Fantasy games - in particular Final Fantasy VII - may lead you to go on a psychotic killing spree. Or at least that’s according to the German tabloid press. In January of this year, a pair of German teenagers massacred the parents of a former friend in a frenzied double-homicide. The father - identified only as Peter E. - was stabbed over 66 times; his wife Antje was slashed so horribly coroners were initially unable to identify her.

And the self-confessed perpetrators of this horrific attack? A pair of Final Fantasy-playing 17-year-olds so obsessed with the game they dubbed themselves Reno and Sephiroth. With no other clear motive for the attacks - the killers were neither drug-takers, Satanists nor, alas, Marilyn Manson fans - the press turned their attention to FFVII, an “endlessly gory game” that had fueled their murderous rage.

All of which is something to think on before you embark on yet another “harmless” 12-hour FFXII marathon. Or not.