5 Greatest Real-Life Rivalries In Video Game History

Level 99 Reactor Grudge Match [Final Fantasy 7]

As we saw in the EVE Online war, spite can drive people to do incredible things. And this might be one of the most insane challenges I’ve ever heard — getting to Level 99 in the first reactor of Final Fantasy 7. It all started when Gamefaqs offshoot forum user Dick Tree posted a topic claiming he would reach Level 99 in the starting area — a true herculean task. For reference, each battle in the Reactor gives the party in FF7 about 80 XP. To reach Level 99, you need 2,452,783 XP. So, that requires about 30,660~ battles.

If we assume every battle takes about 45 seconds to complete, that would take about 383 hours, or 16 days straight of grinding. And that doesn’t even factor in the time between battles — that’s JUST the time required for battles. No loading, running around to trigger random battles, or whatever else might slow you down. Basically, it’s a very, very long time. But it is possible if someone dedicated enough time to doing the deed.

And Dick Tree made big promises he couldn’t keep. He’d make progress, then disappear for months or make troll comments. The whole thing riled up one user called CirclMastr, who decided to take on the challenge himself purely out of spite. His first post says it all: “Fuck Dick Tree. I should do this.”

And so he did. Starting in Jan. 2015, it took CirclMaster until Mar. 2017 to complete the challenge. More than two years of grinding spurred by spite for Dick Tree and his weasel ways. We can all learn something important from the FF7 Level 99 Reactor Challenge — don’t talk big and refuse to deliver in online communities. Someone might just step up to the plate.

Rivals never back down. Learn more about the biggest rivalries in gaming on the next page.