Me with Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt

I can't say enough about how wonderful this experience was.
I had been wanting to meet Yuri since I saw him in Tales of the Abyss when it came out eight years ago. One of my favorite things about that game was his performance as both Luke and Asch. He nailed both of the parts so well and I knew that I had to meet him.
Then when they cast him as Cecil in the Final Fantasy 4 DS remake two years later, that just brought it to a new level. FF4 was a great childhood memory and was the first time that a video game really gripped me. It had such an amazing story and cast and I really connected with the main character, so after experiencing Yuri's performance in Tales of the Abyss, of course I was excited when hearing he was cast as Cecil, which he not surprisingly nailed.
When I meet convention guests for the first time, I don't normally record the experience, but I made an exception with this one and was glad that I did. Meeting him and Tara was such a thrill and they are two of the greatest people that you'll meet. I met them at their Saturday autograph session and Tara thought it was cool that I had a mix tape for him. I told her that I hoped he liked Final Fantasy 4, which she said he did, obviously adding to the excitement. When my turn in line came, the first thing I said to Yuri was that I had been waiting eight years since I saw him in Tales of the Abyss. I gave him a two-tape set of songs relating to events in FF4, mostly of Cecil, which he was psyched about and I had him sign my FF4 DS box along with my FF4 soundtrack (which also includes signatures from Liam O'Brien, Sam Riegel and Michael McConnohie).
Seeing Yuri and Tara was definitely one of my best con memories and hopefully, I'll see them at more cons in the future.