Day 53

Game - Final Fantasy 8, Day 53
Hours Played/Hours Total - 4-1/2 hrs / 4-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Beginning of Final Fantasy 8.
Current Goal - Start Final Fantasy 8. Beat Final Fantasy 8.

What Happened - And thus I continue the journey...through Final Fantasy! I've arrived at another beginning, and let us hope it goes well. You see, I've attempted to play through Final Fantasy 8 about 3 times now. My last attempt almost got me to the end, but something happened and caused me to quit. This time I really plan to see it through, so without further ado...let's do it!
     The game opens up with a couple minute cutscene. During the cutscene, it shows of three different people: two men and a woman. I'm going to be honest...this just starts up a list of questions! This is even before the game actually starts. The two men are sword fighting, but it all ends when they come to a clash after scarring one another. Now here is where the game begins. One of those men wakes up to find himself in an infirmary. The doctor there talks to him, asks if he is okay, and reveals him as the first and main character...Squall.

Ladies love a good scar!

Before I go any further, the first big thing to notice here is...this game looks a LOT better. Seriously, Final Fantasy 8 looks insanely impressive if you compare it to Final Fantasy 8. The people...look like people! For its time, it looked pretty good, and I was told by a friend that it kind of shaped how the rest of the series looked. I wasn't sure what to think of that at first, but then it's pretty obvious that it was true. This title started what is the basic look for the rest of the series (the more realistic-ish looking characters and such). Let's move on.
     She scolds him for fighting and getting hurt. She proceeds to walk away and call his instructor named Quistis. The game sits there for a moment, but then a small cutscene plays showing a woman walking into the infirmary and into Squall's room. I'm going to go ahead and partially ruin it by revealing this to be the next character in line...Quistis!

Imagine her with glasses for the sexy librarian look! 

She says that she figures it was either him or Seifer (obviously the other guy in the opening video). She grabs him up and tells him they need to get to class. Along the way, Quistis teases Squall and gives us a small insight into his character. He's not the biggest people person...for sure. While heading that way, I get a small view of this building I'm in. Apparently, it is some form of academy (has students in uniforms and such). In the classroom, Quistis talks about some sort of exam that the group will be taking. She also tells Seifer that he needs to be careful with his practice partner in the future. (The game then shows Seifer being all angry-like in the back of the class. He's sitting next to Squall, and I might as well throw his image in now!)

"Look at me! I'm Seifer! I think I'm sooo great!"

     As soon as the class ends, Quistis asks to talk with Squall really quick. Upon approaching, she asks Squall about the exam coming up. It's some sort of mission for something called SeeD (I'll get back to what it is). However, he hasn't done the prerequisite so that he can take the SeeD exam. With that said, Quistis asked me to meet her at the Front Gate. Before that, she suggested I look over the information at Squall's desk terminal. So I went ahead and looked it over. The machine contained a lot of information about the game and my current surroundings. The current place is something called a Garden. It's a university of sorts that helps people from age 10 to 20 learn about things and such. However, some people end up staying there (after they graduate and/or leave) to become school mercenaries of sorts (aka the SeeD thing). Members of Seed go out and perform services or missions for the school or people that hire them. There are three Gardens in the game, and the current one I'm at is called Balamb Garden. The headmaster here is a man named Cid (Woo! Welcome back Cid!). Apart from that information about the Garden, I also learned about the gameplay system.
     Now we come to the biggest chunk of Final Fantasy 8....the Junction System. It's probably the most interesting thing about FF8, but it's a bit harder to grasp than the previous systems. Basically, each character can equip (known as Juction) a Guardian Force. Guardian Force (known as GF) is like the summons of the previous titles, but they play a MUCH bigger part this time. By equipping a GF, a character is able to summon the GF, but more importantly, the GF allows them to gain certain abilities and actions. The GF's have their own set of levels that they can gain! As they level up and grow, they learn more and better abilities. Aside from that, they also allow you to Junction magic to a character's attributes.
     In this title, Magic works more like items. However, you gain magic by "drawing" it from enemies. When you draw magic from an enemy, it can either be stocked on that character or immediately cast for its effect. By collecting magic, you can junction it to a character's stats to improve them. The Junction System also serves as a character's main form of status growth. Without a GF, a character won't gain much as far as stats go, and you honestly can't accomplish a lot without the GFs giving you your abilities. To put it simple, you can't even use items or magic without having a GF equipped. There are lots of different abilities and things that go into making the Junction and GF system as it is, but overall, it's a fairly interesting way of doing things. I hope that more or less explains it. It's not as complicated as I acted like it was, but it is nothing like anything that has been done before (or even done since).
     This is probably the first (and only big) complaint about this title. I spend so much time in my battles trying to draw magic off enemies. It takes a lot of time out of the overall game and can make it somewhat boring at times. Sure, I could just limit how much magic I draw off an enemy, but some magic/enemies are harder and rare to find. Therefore, I try to get what I can while I can. Again, this is probably one of the few complaints I have about the title for this time. Once you get past drawing, it's a really enjoyable game and system...Let's get back to the post!
     After absorbing the knowledge from the terminal, I was given my first two GF's, Quetzalcoatl and Shiva. Quetzalcoatl is the electric replacement for Ramuh in this title. With those in hand, it was time to meet Quistis. However, before getting too far, a girl bumped into Squall and asked him to show her around. (It gave me the choice, and I chose yes.) While helping her out, a guy gave me a set of cards, so I now had the ability to play the in-game card game. I'll get to that later. Going downstairs, Squall showed off terminal and talked about all the different locations in the Garden. After that, I had some time before meeting Quistis near the front gate. Technically, I could meet her at any time, but I didn't really have anything I could do in here...besides the card game.
     Final Fantasy 8 features a fairly well done and addictive card game known as Triple Triad. It's fairly simple yet it offers a lot of challenge and fun! There are a large assortment of cards based on monsters, characters, and GFs. Each card has 4 number values (arranged in a + pattern). You then place the cards on a 3 by 3 grid. When placed down, the card flips over any card with a smaller number and converts it to your color. The end goal is to have more cards than the opponent. There are also other variables like a card's element or rules that vary by continent and location. Depending on where you play, you can win/lose a single card per battle or multiple cards! Overall, it's pretty fun to play, and there are a lot of benefits to playing. You can refine cards into different items, but I won't be able to do that for a while. I challenged a couple different people to a game or two and managed to earn some cards. I also lost one here and there, but I still got some good cards out of it. After doing enough card battles, it was time for the prerequisite test!
     As I was leaving the Garden, I spotted my first Draw Point. Draw Points are visible and hidden points in locations and on the World Map where you can draw out a specific magic (based on preset types). This Draw Point contained the Cure spell. I drained it and left the Garden. On the outside, Quistis joined up with me and pointed me north to a cave. (She also gave me a tutorial...which I JUST covered in the damn classroom!) I left the Garden and explored a bit...which ran me into my first battle! Before anything happened, Quistis mentioned that I could use R1 to pull the trigger. (Keep reading!) You see, Squall's weapon of choice is a Gunblade. It's exactly how it sounds...a blade with a gun! In this case, the handle of it resembles a revolver while the barrel of the gone lengthens out into a large blade. If you time your shooting of the gun right, you can do quite a bit of extra damage. It's pretty awesome actually. Aside from that, the game uses the basic ATB (Active Time Battle) system. Limits are a bit different though, but I'll talk about that when I actually use one.
     Before heading towards the cave, I spent some time drawing some magic for myself. This used up around an hour of time. Minus the time wasting, it's still a really well done system and game. After taking too much time for Drawing magic, I decided to make my way to the cave. Once there, Quistis gave me ANOTHER tutorial, and this time it was over Junctioning magic..which I already learned in the classroom! (THANK YOU QUISTIS.) From here, I approached the cave and talked with some of the Garden personal. Quistis had come along as my support (a requirement for this), and we entered the cave. I was given a choice of 4 time options to get complete the task in the cave. A little insight and knowledge of this part told me that ten minutes was more than enough for this part (the other options were 20, 30, and 40). I entered the Fire Cavern and proceeded to the center. The test was for me to make it to the center and defeat the Guardian Force Ifrit. It wasn't a very long walk, and thanks to the training earlier, I didn't have any trouble with the enemies here. I approached the middle, Ifrit jumped out, and I began my very first BOSS BATTLE TIME for Final Fantasy 8!
     For my very first boss battle, I was to face off with the dastardly fire monster known as Ifrit! He was a formidable foe. There wasn't really too much strategy to do here though. The biggest thing I had to do was just constantly cast Blizzard on him. I did summon Shiva one time, and that worked very well. The more interesting part about Shiva was that after I used it, Ifrit commented on it! (He said "You have SHIVA?!) The battle did take some time though, and I came in REALLY close under the mark. I managed to beat Ifrit with less than a minute on the clock! After his defeat, he surrendered his power to me, and I had a new GF on the team. With Ifrit defeated, the test was officially done. I was allowed to walk and look around the cave at my leisure. Of course, this was fairly pointless since there wasn't anything to do. I did get in a few battles and gain extra experience, but that wasn't really worth much. I did make use of my newly obtained Card skill though! It allows me to convert an enemy into a card. Of course, I have to weaken them first, but I gained a few new cards this way. After that, I left the cave and returned to Balamb Garden.
     Once I was back at Balamb, it was time to prepare for the SeeD test! Quistis told me to change into my SeeD uniform and return to the front. I ran around for a bit and played a few card games, but then it was business time! I ran to the dorm, changed my outfit, and went back out. Once there, I was informed that the test was being taken as part of a team. Besides Squall, there was two other members. The first one that was introduced is the next character in the main crew lineup...Zell! (LOOK BELOW!)

Did you see my tattoo? It goes great with my hair! DID YOU SEE MY HAIR!?

That's Zell all right...that guy. Look at his smile and the tattoo! And the hair that is somehow standing straight up all like that...Square sure loves them some spiked-up hair. Anyways, Zell is a hand-to-hand fighter. He's loud, proud, and easy to anger! He introduces himself and tries to shake Squall's hand, but Squall...denies. Yeah, I'm already seeing that Squall is going to be Mr. Not-Social. After Zell, I'm introduced to the team leader of our little group. Unfortunately for us, it's Seifer. He shows up along with his little posse of punks. It doesn't introduce them direction, but it's a man and a woman named Raijin and Fujin (hope I spelled that right). They take off in their own direction, and our group is greeted by the headmaster.
     Headmaster Cid talks with the group and gives a brief speech. There will be four squads of three. We'll be thrown into a real battlefield where danger is a possibility. He also states that there are 9 SeeD members going out into the field to complete the job in case we fail. He wishes us luck, and then we all take off. Using the garden's car, we head to the nearby town of Balamb. From there, we jump aboard some sort of gunboat  and head towards our mission. As we are travelling, a girl named Xu explained the mission to us.
     We were hired by the country/city of Dollet. They were under attack by Galbadian forces. They had tried to fight back, but they ended up retreating into the nearby mountains to regroup. The G-Army (as the game calls it) is wiping out the remaining Dollet forces in the mountains. Our goal, if we choose to receive (technically have to), is to go in and wipe out the remaining G-Army forces in the city. After liberating the city, SeeD members will intercept any remaining forces that try to make their way into the city from the mountain range. The group talked a bit, and then I was given a brief cutscene as we were reaching the land. It was pretty action-y. It showed our boats shooting towards the beach and landing down. Once landed, we were ordered to secure the Central Square. Along the way, we fought off several Galbadian soldiers while making our way to the Square. Once there, we were to wait around and simple keep it secure. Of course, the three guys weren't quite satisfied with this and started to feel bored.
     While waiting around, a large group of soldiers made their way out of town and into the mountains towards an old communications tower. Seifer decided the group should chase after them and figure out what they were up to. Zell disagreed with this action, but Squall was going to follow the group leader's orders. In all reality, the group was just bored of the current situation and looking forward to some action. I made my way out of the town and up into the mountains. The first thing we came across were some defeated Dollet soldiers. One of them warned me about the monsters on the mountain...as he was being dragged off! SOMEWHAT BOSS BATTLE TIME! I really only say that because it was somewhat presented as a boss although it really wasn't. It was a giant snake monster, and it was quite menacing...looking. I cast Scan on it for a weakness, and then let loose with what Blizzard magic I could! At the beginning of the battle, Seifer demanded I let him have the last hit...so I did. With this battle finished, I was able to proceed through the mountain.
     Once on the other side, we spotted the soldiers going into the tower. Seifer ran further down the path and after them. Squall and Zell went to go after him, but they were distracted by someone else entering the scene. The girl from earlier was chasing us down with a message for the Squad Leader (Mr. Seifer who just ran off). She also gave her name...Selphie, the next character in the FF8 lineup!

MY HAIR IS ALL LIKE UUUUUU

She joined with the group as we made chase after Seifer. She was determined to give him the message. I followed around and into the Communications Tower. Once there, Seifer popped out briefly as he was chasing off more soldiers. I entered the tower and used the elevator to reach the top. Once there, I came face to face with a certain memorable duo...It was Biggs and Wedge! They return once again in Final Fantasy to play the parts of two Galbadian soldiers. The group had caught them off guard for BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     The battle began with me only fighting against Wedge. As for the party, Seifer wasn't part of it, so I was currently featuring Squall, Zell, and Selphie. Wedge wasn't too much trouble though, and I actually spent most of this part drawing Esuna magic off of him. After taking so much damage, Biggs showed back up and was helping him out. I fought with the duo for a bit, but it didn't end with them. Just as victory seemed to be coming in, the two of them got blown away by a giant bat-demon looking monster named Elvoret. Before getting too far, I immediately used Draw to grab the Guardian Force Siren off of him. I'm really hoping that there aren't a lot of GFs attached to bosses. After that, I wasted some time trying to draw the Double spell off of him. The Double spell (once cast on a character) allows them to cast TWO spells in a round as opposed to just one! Seeing as this was the first sign of the spell (and assuming it is rare), I began to draw as much of it off him as I could manage. Of course, this was starting to become a hindrance as he wasn't going to just sit there and let me do it. I had to start attacking with my group. I cast Double on a couple of them to allow myself to heal easier. With that done, I just threw anything I could at him. I avoided spells since he didn't have any major weaknesses though. I mostly kept to physical strikes while using a GF summon or two. It took longer than I thought it would, but he did finally fall in the end. VICTORY FOR ME!
     With Elvoret defeated, the mission seemed to be finished. Although...we never did see what they were doing here. They got the tower activated, but we didn't see what happened after that. There wasn't any time to figure it out either. After the battle finished, Selphie approached Seifer and delivered her message. The order to Withdraw had been given, and they would be leaving there at 1800 hours. According to the group in-game, they only had thirty minutes to make it back! Therefore, I only had THIRTY MINUTES to make it back! Seifer took off immediately, and the rest of the group had to follow swiftly. The trip back wouldn't have taken a fraction of that, but then..bad things happened. Just as we were about to leave the tower, Wedge had sent a little gift after us. It was a gigantic robot spider! It wasn't about to let us go without a fight either! BOSS BATTLE TIME!...sort of.
     I added "sort of" because it wasn't a boss battle that I had to finish. You see, after doing so much damage to him, I was forced to run away and keep making my way back to the beach. There really wasn't any good way to defeat the spider, and on top of that, we were quickly running out of time. I sped on through the next couple of areas while doing my best to avoid the damn thing. Thanks to a little luck and some tips from a guide, I managed to make it back to Dollet without any trouble. However, the robot spider wasn't about to let us get away that easily! I quickly ran ahead of it through town as it crashed its way through. It was destroying just about everything as it chased after us. Things were looking bad as we got to the beach. It then cut to a small scene. Squall was doing his best to get away, but the robot was still on his tail. Just as it started to look bad, Quistis used the mounted gun on the boat and unleashed upon the robot spider. She managed to hold it off long enough for Squall to get on the boat. The boat then shot off and made its way back to Balamb. Once there, Quistis congratulated us on a job well done and told us to head back to Balamb Garden to hear the results. We would have taken the car, but Seifer (being a stupid prick) took off with the Garden Car, so we had to walk back. Quistis said we could take our time heading back since the evening would mostly be our free time.
     I took this opportunity to...close up the post here. Seeing as I have more than enough for my first post, I went to the nearby inn, healed up, and saved the game there. There's not a lot of time or story so far, but I've got more than enough here to satisfy my post needs. I'm making small but meaningful strides in beginning FF8. Let me tell you...I like what I've played so far, and I greatly look forward to playing it some more! Stay tuned for another post hopefully in a couple of days.~

Ending Point - Balamb Hotel in...Balamb.
Current Party -

• Squall - Level 10
• Zell - Level 9
• Selphie - Level 8

Goals Accomplished - Started Final Fantasy 8. Gained my first two Guardian Forces: Shiva and Quetzalcoatl. Finished the prerequisite for the SeeD exam and gained the GF Ifrit. Completed the SeeD mission/exam. Played card games and such.
Next Goals - Return to Balamb Garden and hear the results of the SeeD exam.

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Final Fantasy 7 - Final Thoughts

Woo! I'm keeping with my goal~
I've beaten another Final Fantasy, and I even have a week to spare!
Let's not draw out this foreword...

Final Fantasy 7 - Final Thoughts
Here come the game stats.

Final Fantasy 7 - Game Stats
Hours Played - 70 Hours
Final Party Levels

• Cloud - Level 75
• Barret - Level 68
• Tifa - Level 68
• Red XIII - Level 69
• Cait Sith - Level 64
• Cid - Level 68
• Yuffie - Level 69
• Vincent - Level 69

That's a pretty decent level grouping! Much better than I've done for several Final Fantasy titles. I'm pretty sure the only one that comes even close to that is the first one, but that's besides the point. As always, I'll be partially reviewing the game. The aspects to be covered this time are the same ones as I'll be doing for the rest of the series: game play, story, and characters. Let's start up with the gameplaying!

The gameplay takes the Active Time Battle and basically just makes it great. It doesn't do anything super to really change it, but it does add in some good bits. The first really good sign is the Limit Breaks. These are a great way to make specials both awesome yet limited. Unlike FF6, you can't just use them all of the time. This is a good thing...it keeps it from being TOO easy. Although, FF7 is fairly easy overall, but I supposed most RPGs aren't too challenging outside of extra bosses. The Materia system is by far one of the better and most combo-able magic system of all the games. That's saying a lot if you ask me! It is easy to use, and there are large number of possibilities to come out of it. Different types of materia allow for all assortment of character customization. Anybody can use anything as far as it is concerned. Although each character has their own build of sorts, you can technically make anybody into whatever you want. Overall, it's probably one of the easier FF titles to get into. It helps that it is 3D instead of 2D. If there was a complaint about game play, I really don't have anything. It isn't anything new or brilliant, but it does what it does very well. That counts for something if you ask me. Next up...let's talk about characters!

Ah the characters! Final Fantasy 7 sure has their supply of them, but I'm sad to say...they are pretty bad. I realize I'm opening up a bit harsh, but let me continue. Comparatively to just the last game, FF7's character lineup is very weak. The strongest and best characters are Red XIII, Barret, and Cid. They each have a fairly large amount of story behind and with them. That's not to say nobody else has a real backstory, but it feels like everyone outside of these three don't really measure up as much. Cloud's whole backstory feels a bit silly at times, and I feel like it could have been better. It's a big twist, but it's almost stupidly confusing. Tifa just sits around being all hung up and worried about Cloud. If you build Cloud right, he honestly doesn't seem to care about her that much (compared to Aeris). I was sad when Aeris died, but she's really not much besides that. She's the not as hawt chick that seems to excel past the others. Cait Sith is a big pile of plot device. All it/he does is be there to be able to fix the plot! Hell, they even try to make you feel bad when the first one dies, but then they throw in a second one like 30 seconds later! 

The two secret characters (Yuffie and Vincent) aren't too bad. Yuffie is really hard to like by most standards though. I enjoy her, but I think most hate her simply for all the shit she causes for ONE side portion. Vincent's story could be interesting, but anything past his basic story is not given out very well. He's one of the cooler styled characters, but all you get is "mysterious past" and "changes into monsters." If I had to comment on Sephiroth, I'd probably just say...Kefka was better. Sephiroth's part was interesting and all, but he feels like a more serious and toned down Kefka at best. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think it really shows. Regardless, he's one of the more known classic villains in the series. Not the best, but he isn't the worst. I'll end it with that. However, despite my opinions of them all, the characters do accomplish one thing. There is enough variety among them all that anybody could easily pick out one character to like. Overall, they aren't a bad lineup, but I think they could have done better. Next up, I attempt to glance over the story without typing the entire thing up here. 

The story of Final Fantasy 7 is overall...pretty good. It tends to get overshadowed by its characters, but at its base, they have a lot of great ideas and twists behind it all. We start off as a group of terrorists trying to help save the planet, but that story evolves into something more. Tragedies happen, people die, and everybody learns a little something. Had I not played it before, the twists and sudden changes would have been more surprising and crazy! The game really tries to touch down on the idea of modern society versus nature. The idea that "mako" energy is extracted from the planet. That modern society is slowly but surely killing the planet. It's obvious they are trying to hint at certain things (oil stuffs...if you didn't catch my drift). They even touch down on the separation of society with Midgar itself. The people living on the plates as opposed to those in the slums. They certainly tried to cover a lot about our modern society throughout the game. 

The idea of the planet trying to defend itself is pretty cool too. The WEAPONS arising from the planet to help protect it in its time of need. It's a cool way to use it all. The Lifestream theory of how the planet takes and gives life as it lives and dies. It's an interesting way to put it all. One might even try to apply it to our real situation (referring back to their whole hinting at our world). I also enjoyed how they explained magic early on. Near the beginning, they explained that materia gave people the ability to use magic in a sort of different way. It granted them knowledge of the Ancients and therefore...they could perform magic. This might question as to why more people DON'T use it but yeah. 

Although I didn't love the characters, they each played a role in how it all went down. Aeris's death (despite not affecting me GREATLY) was a huge deal. The game makes it feel like she is going to solve everything, and just as it all seems to be okay, she is taken down. They all truly feel her loss, and at times, they aren't sure what to do or where to go. Hell, before it is all said and done, they aren't even sure if what they are doing is right. They want to defeat Sephiroth, but tut they are clueless if his defeat will even save the Planet. It was a different idea for the time. The thought of...despite their best efforts maybe it would all be for nothing. The story should have outshone the characters, but it tended to be overshadowed. In this game's case, it should have went the other direction. Overall, a lot of great ideas and things went into the story, but it didn't come up as strong as it should have. 

This hasn't been my best Final Thoughts, but I've certainly tried to cover what I thought I should. It's a great FF title, but I wouldn't label it the best...yet. Once I play them all, I'm going to try and name what I'd call "the best", but I realized that will still be my opinion. Regardless, FF7 is a great FF title that's easy to get into and play. I'd probably suggest is as a good starting point for anybody wanting to play an RPG for the first time or as a great middle ground for RPGs in general. There's plenty of things for someone to get into so...why not? It's a great title and a classic game. Anybody with a liking for RPGs should definitely go for it. And thus I will end my post there. 

Well...minus this last bit. What comes next? Probably the biggest challenge for me so far, Final Fantasy 8. I've tried to play this title on two or three different occasions and could never get into it. It's a much harder title in the series, and it can be harder to really get into it, as opposed to previous titles. Let us hope for the best! Expect my first post on FF8 soon!!!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 52

Game - Final Fantasy 7, Day 52
Hours Played/Hours Total - 16 hrs / 70 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby Junon.
Current Goal - Return to the City of the Ancients and figure out what Aeris was doing. Stop Sephiroth at some point. Save the world!

What Happened - Hoo boy! I am closing in on the ending. If I don't wrap it up on this day...I'll be wrapping it up on the next! Expect a lot of side questing going down during this post. Enough with the foreword, on with the...rest of the words!
     Despite my current need to head for the Ancient's Capital, I felt like exploring for a while. I took the submarine and searched the depths of...the planet. Not too much to see down there really. The biggest things are Emerald Weapon and a downed Shinra airplane. So I set my sights on the downed plane. Once inside, I am treated to a plethora of new fun items!...It also houses some of the hardest encounters in the game. Before getting too far in, I met up with everybody's favorite! The Turks! Reno and Rude were here to recover some of the cargo it was carrying, and they weren't about to let us take off with it. BOSS BATTLE TIME - TURKS STYLE!
     Yeah, they get a lot of repeating battles, and I whoop them every single time. That and they tend to just run off after I beat them. They are just big pansies, and this time wasn't different. Reno and Rude approached and started attacking. I don't really have any details of their abilities though...because it ended fairly fast. I gave my recently acquired Bahamut ZERO a try! (Yeah, I forgot to mention it in the last post. My bad!) It's the ULTIMATE Bahamut for the ULTIMATE player (although one might question the even remote need for THREE Bahamuts). The game zooms out into space. From there, we see a giant silver dragon shooting through space. It takes position above the planet and blasts a giant angry dragon blast! How it manages to pinpoint them without hitting us...who knows! However, the effects were quite devastating. With the damage taking its toll, I managed to finish them off quickly and easily.
     With them out of the way, I was allowed to claim all the goodies located in the cargo room. The items of greatest value and notice was the Hades summon materia and Cid's 4th Limit Break item, Highwind. Can't wait to see it! Because funny enough, despite multiple playthroughs, I've never actually seen every single person's 4th Limit. I quickly changed that while exploring the downed plane though. I had Tifa and Barret at first, and I got to see both of their Final Limits (Final Heaven and Catastrophe respectively). Once I had seen those, I was actually just down to two people needing their 4th Limit Breaks...Cid and Vincent! I had to go retrieve Vincent's final limit item real quick though. I got out of the plane and traveled back to the waterfall cave where we met Lucretia before. She was gone now, but she left behind Vincent's Ultimate Weapon (Death Penalty) and Final Limit Break (Chaos). With these in hand, I made my way back to the Gelinka Plane for some training and farming! This was a loooong spree of farming too. I spent quite a bit of time down there, but the overall benefits were astounding. By the time I left, I had over half a million in Gil, and I had mastered several new sets of materia (mostly the regular, green kind). Thankfully, when I finally left the plane, I had finally gotten everybody their Final Limit Breaks. Woo! New goal achieved! I don't think I had all of them last time. Anyways, with my business on the plane done, it was time to make way to the City of the Ancients.
     Once there, I simply needed to look around and try to figure out what Aeris was doing here. There was only one section of the capital that I had not explored yet. So I made my way to this giant circular area. In the middle was a large crystal of sorts, Bugenhagen started talking about something with the planet. He said that it mentioned Holy. It seems there is a Holy materia, and that if we were able to use it, it would protect the planet from Meteor. The only thing is...Holy had a chance of wiping out everything. Apparently it was up to the planet what Holy saved and eliminated. However, the bigger problem is...where would it be? Cloud remembered Aeris having a materia with her when she died, and he said that Holy was gone. However, further inspection of the crystal platform revealed something about a Key and Music box. Bugenhagen figured the key we found was such, and that it would do something with this crystal and a nearby platform. He inserted it for us, and then a tunnel of water appeared around the crystal. Going inside this tunnel revealed that the crystal was some form of projector. It needed the water to be able to project the image. What it revealed is that Aeris had managed to pray for and activated Holy to protect the planet. Question is...why wasn't Holy gone off and destroyed Meteor? Cloud and group figure that Sephiroth is the one stopping Holy from happening, so they definitely have to deal with him. Before we get to him though, something else was starting to unfold...
     Cait Sith gave the group a call and revealed that things were going down at Shinra. They had moved the giant cannon from Junon over to another location. He hints at it being relocated to Midgar, and then the game SHOWS its new location at Midgar. The group at Shinra are shown discussing the plan for it. They plan to use the cannon to attack Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. With this in mind, I was getting ready to head back to Midgar, but just as I was leaving the Forgotten Capital...Disaster strikes! Nearby Midgar, one of the Weapons appear out of the water and is making its way towards the city. The group asks Cait Sith if the Sister Ray (name of the cannon) was ready. It didn't seem to be, so the group decided to intercept Weapon (Diamond Weapon to be exact) for...BOSS BATTLE TIME! For this battle, my lineup consisted of Cloud, Yuffie, and Red XIII. My first action (as always) was a round of Big Guard. After that, I set off to attack him, but I quickly found out that physical attacks were completely worthless. Thus, I had to follow up with whatever magic I had on hand. I was a bit limited since I was focused on mastering all the Green Materia I could. Thankfully, I made sure each character had at least ONE of the top tier Green Materia (Contain, Comet, Ultima, etc). It took a bit, but with the Big Guard up, I managed to defeat Diamond Weapon...sort of. It wasn't really defeated, it was simply "over." Upon its defeat, Weapon started moving in a different direction. It had sensed something and was focused on that. The group followed after it with the Highwind, and at that time, the Sister Ray finally shot off.
     The cannon's attack was a massive laser blast that flew all the way from Midgar to the Northern Crater. Along the way, Diamond Weapon attempted to stop the laser blast with...energy blasts of its own. Obviously, it isn't that smart, so its efforts were futile. The laser blast tore through Diamond Weapon and made its way to the Northern Crater. The attack managed to shatter Sephiroth's energy barrier around the crater. So...it was finally time for the group to assault Sephiroth directly! However, the final battle was to be delayed a bit further. Cait Sith reported in some new happenings from Midgar. Turns out...Weapon's attack had some effect. The blasts hit all across Midgar, and one of them struck the place where Rufus was. As it seemed, Rufus was dead, but even worse than that, the reactors were starting to overbuild energy (I believe...it was something along that line). After the giant cannon fired, they were needing to cool down and hold back for the moment. The remaining heads of Shinra (Reevus, Heidegger, and Scarlet) were trying to figure out what was going on. Hojo had overridden their control and was planning to force the reactors to blow. Around this time, it is let known that Cait Sith is Reevus. He pleads with the rest of the group to help save Midgar. Otherwise, it would blow up soon and kill everyone there. (There was also some discussion between Cait Sith and Barret about his first reactor hit. I forget where it timed in with all this, but it was basically pointing out that he killed people when he blew it up.) Despite their dislike for Shinra, the group planned to head to Midgar and save it from whatever Hojo was planning.
     Before heading into Midgar (which I know to be about the end of Disc 2), I ran about stocking up on some items and trying to get in some last minute levels and quests. Many things are still available on Disc 3, but I wanted to get a bit done here first. While running the errands, I finally decided to break down and start working on getting the legendary Gold Chocobo! Now, this isn't really that hard of a quest, but it is very much a time suck to do it. I'm not going to go into details because this took me around EIGHT HOURS to fully complete. The basic idea is breeding select Chocobos to get specific results. On top of this, you have to race them all to improve their quality. Before the process is said and done, you have to race EIGHT chocobos around TEN times each! The guide said I could get away with less, but I didn't want to take a chance. So it was a giant process of catching, feeding, racing, breeding, and then repeat. After all of this time, money, and effort wasted, I finally came out with a Gold Chocobo! AAAAWWW YEAAAH! With the Gold Chocobo in hand, I was able to access some of the games well hidden treasures. Among these, I was able to get the HP<->MP Materia (swaps their values), the Mime materia (repeats the action of the last character), and the all-powerful and awesome Knights of the Round summon materia. The final item is really the only reason to even GET a Gold chocobo. It does like 10+ attacks from these random nights (each doing quite a bit for me...at LEAST 6000!). That's about it for Gold Chocobo business...or so I thought.
     There was one other place I was able to get to with my Gold Chocobo (named Gold). There's a small place really close by Cosmo Canyon, but it is located atop one of the mountain/plateau areas. You might ask about the Highwind, but it can only land on grass areas and the entire top of these parts are forest. Oh well, I climbed up with Gold and explored the ANCIENT FOREST! Oooooo! It's a small place to explore, but the trick here is that it is a puzzle of sorts. There are strange plants all around and a couple of different animals and objects. Basically, you throw the animals or objects into the strange plants and use this to cross the forest. I could explain the entirety of how and what, but I feel like this is mostly unnecessary. If you are just super curious, you can look it up in a guide. Remember! It's called the Ancient Forest! Clearing the forest earned me a few petty items as well as a weapon for Cloud (with TRIPLE growth!) and the Typhoon summon. With these in hand, it was finally time to assault Midgar!
     After spending more than enough time on my side business, I finally made way to Midgar and parachuted in. My team choice for this missions...Cloud, Vincent, and Barret. Once down on the ground, we had to go underground to make our way to the Sister Ray. While exploring the tunnels, I found a couple of items including a special materia called W-Item. This allows you to use two items a turn rather than just one. However, the TRUE benefit of W-Item is that you can use it as part of a trick. The trick (known as the W-Item Trick of course) allows you to quickly multiply your items through use of a error in the game. Basically, you can take any one item and multiply it during battle. I don't plan to use it a whole lot, but I might take some advantage of it. Moving along, before I could go any further, I had to deal with BOSS BATTLE TIME! It was time to fight our old friends the Turks...for one last battle. It was our final match of Cloud, Vincent, and Barret versus Reno, Rude, and Elena. This could have been a challenging and interesting battle, but I'm tired of fighting all these people. I summoned Knights of the Round (after stealing their equipment) and defeated them in one attack (persay...). After that, the Turks ran off, and it was time to find that cannon.
     Before running straight to the cannon, I made a little detour to a place I haven't seen since the beginning of the game...the Shinra HQ building. There wasn't anything really extra to do there, but there were a few items to pick up from earlier. One of which was Cait Sith's Ultimate Weapon, HP Shout! I gathered up what I could from here, and then I made my way back underground. From there, I was just a short distance to the Sister Ray. However, I wasn't about to get there without at least ONE more boss battle! Just as we were getting close, a giant robot comes in to crash the party. Heidegger and Scarlet had brought around their ultimate anti-WEAPON weapon, and they were going to give us a taste of its power. BOSS BATTLE TIME! This giant robot, known as the Proud Clod, was a huge opponent. He looked to be quite formidable...and he was! I didn't kill him very fast at all. It took me a bit longer than I thought, but it was also not really dishing anything out. I used my best spells (I didn't use Knights this time though) and was easily able to topple this anti-WEAPON weapon. He was an awesome looking boss, but he didn't have much behind him. Upon defeat, the Proud Clod went up with a massive explosion (assuming it killed both Heidegger and Scarlet).
     It was time to confront Hojo!...after a small set of stairs. Thanks to a guide tip, I knew to bring Barret along. You see, as you are climbing the steps, there is a chest that only appears if you have Barret. The chest contains his Ultimate Weapon, Missing Score. I grabbed it and ran on up to face off with Hojo. You see...he was here trying to give Sephiroth all the power he could from the Mako Reactors. The group questioned why he was even doing it. It is then that Hojo reveals that he is Sephiroth's father! Dun dun duuuuuuun! (That's what I would be thinking, but I kind of already knew this...Seriously. I'm pretty sure the game mentions it earlier on OR at least hints at it so much that it is obvious. Whatever...back to the post.) The group finds this shocking, but it doesn't matter...because we are about to have BOSS BATTLE TIME! Hojo warns the group that he has injected himself with Jenova cells. I'm assuming this means we will have a challenge, but I didn't. Again, this boss battle didn't really prove its worth at all. I didn't even try to use Knights of the Round! I just kept with general magic and abilities. Hojo is composed of three different forms. His initial form looks like himself but with odd skin. All this form does is throw monsters at you. I waste him and his monsters...time for Form 2! This one is a giant monstrosity blob thinger! It looks quite menacing, but it really didn't get a chance to attack since I smacked it around with powerfulness. Then it was Form 3! I saved up Vincent's Final Limit Chaos for this. His final form was some sort of alien-looking thing. It had an attack that allowed it to lash out with 4 separate attacks on one character, but that didn't end up doing a much. A few rounds later, Hojo was done for, and Midgar was safe...for now.
     After that, the group re-grouped on the Highwind. It seems we were finally ready to go and face off against the final threat...Sephiroth. There was only a few days until Meteor would hit the planet. Cloud stood up and gave a speech at this point. He told everybody to return home to figure out what they were fighting for. He wanted them to have a reason to fight because he had his...destroy Sephiroth and save the planet. The group split up to figure out what they needed to. Cloud and Tifa stayed because they had nowhere to go. They spent the night together (one might think in a certain way, but there aren't any details). The two awaken and find that everyone has returned to take part in the final battle. However, Cid got curious about a switch on the Highwind and hit it. Turns out...the Highwind could transform into a jet mode of some sort. All the propellers fell off and jet engines burst out for speed and power! The crew of the ship returned to help out as well and control was finally returned back to me. Before taking on Sephiroth, I had a few small goals in mind...First of those goals was defeating Ultimate Weapon!
     As far as Ultimate Weapon is concerned, he's a fairly easy extra boss. The problem is that you have to fly all over the damn planet trying to catch him (similar to Doom Gaze in FF6). You have to crash into him multiple times just so he'll find a spot to land. Once he lands, you can finally challenge him, but he'll just run away after taking so much damage. However, his HP stays the same even if he runs off. Eventually, he made his way to a spot above Cosmo Canyon for...BOSS BATTLE TIME! Ultimate Weapon was nothing to scoff at. He only had a few attacks, but they were all fairly powerful. I did my usual Big Guard opener, but then I slipped in with whatever magic to chip away. When he was flying, I couldn't attack him physically with most characters (minus ranged weapons of course). I just threw Ultima, Flare, and anything else I could manage his way, including summons as well! I finished him off with Cloud's Limit Omnislash. As Ultimate Weapon was about to die, he unleashed his final attack of Shadow Flare on Cloud. It killed Cloud, but I gained the Enemy Skill out of it. With Ultimate Weapon dead, it dropped Cloud's Ultimate Weapon... Ultimate Weapon (Yeah, they went really clever on that one). It also returned to the planet and left a small crater in its death. The crater would have given me access to the Ancient Forest had I not already gotten there with Gold. After that, I made a quick pit stop at Cosmo Canyon for another Ultimate Weapon.
     Taking Red XIII along, I entered Cosmo Canyon. The guy at the entrance said something about Bugenhagen not feeling well, so we went up to see him. As I entered his house, Red XIII went on ahead, but the other two went back outside. /begin sad time Red XIII went over to his grandpa. They talked for a bit, and Bugehagen encouraged him to not just stay in the valley like he had promised to. Bugenhagen told Red XIII to go out and explore the world, and that by doing so...he might find a mate. He handed Red XIII his Ultimate Weapon, Limited Moon, and he... passed on. Red XIII didn't tell the group about it, but it was obvious by the way he talked. /end sad time With that sad task out of the way, I decided to pick up and challenge a few more side bosses. This game has three big side bosses: Ultimate Weapon, Ruby Weapon, and Emerald Weapon. The first one is fairly easy and rewards you with an Ultimate Weapon (already mentioned). The other two offer a massive challenge, great experience, and special items that can be traded for some pretty powerful stuff. However, my previous experience with both of those monstrosities was pretty bad. I have yet to beat them in the past, and unfortunately, I failed to beat them this time as well. My first try was against Ruby Weapon.
     This post is getting on, so I'll try to keep this section short. Ruby Weapon is a giant red bastard who swims in the sand around the Gold Saucer. The first thing before you even fight him...you have to kill two party members. If you go in full force, he stays invincible as long as his arms are up. So I go in, he throws his arms down, and I revive everybody. I tried a few strategies suggested by the guide. The easiest one for me was constantly stunning him, but that fails if you can't keep everything stunned. On top of this, he has super powerful attacks that easily wipe out one character. EVEN WORSE, he casts Ultima as a counter to summons, and this ends with everybody dying unless they are maxed out. I tried 3 more times to beat him. On my fourth try, I actually managed to deal some decent damage to the guy. With the use of Knights of the Round and Mime (allowed me to keep doing it for free), I put quite a dent in him...but then he killed me. I gave up on Ruby Weapon at this point. I went ahead and made my way under the ocean to attempt Emerald Weapon. Emerald Weapon has its own loopholes to jump through. First off, if you don't use Underwater materia, you are limited to 20 minutes under the water. Past that, he has a special move that does 1111 damage per materia on your character. This means I have to limit myself on materia. Once I figured I had a good enough setup, I went in the water and attacked Emerald Weapon! However...this went even worse than Ruby. He killed me in a matter of no time, and I forgot the Underwater materia. At this point, I was kind of frustrated with the game. I was ready to beat it, so I gave up on both Weapons and went straight to the North Cave.
     At the North Cave, I fully equipped everyone with their Ultimate Weapon and a set of materia. This proved pointless later, but I'll get to that. With my final party set (Cloud, Yuffie, and Red XIII), I began my descent into the vast deepness of the planet. It wasn't super complicated, but there were a lot of items to be found on the way down. Too many if you ask me...There were even some exclusive materia down there! (Honestly, that kind of makes me mad. It's on the doorstep of the ending, and I'd have to LEAVE that doorstep to get it leveled up and such.) The majority of the items included super items like Elixers or power-up items like Power Source and Magic Source (they boost your stats). Eventually, I hit a splitting path. I had to split the entire group up and send them down different paths. I sent them in all directions and continued downward. Several caverns later, I found myself and the rest of the group at the bottom of the cave. They handed over some items they found along the way, and I was ready...for the final area! We were right next to the core of the planet, and just as we tried to move in further, monsters started coming out from all directions. The group covered me as my select party continued downward. We faced several powerful monsters on the way down. I even gained a new Enemy Skill! (Literally... like 20 minutes before the end) Once at the bottom, it was time for the first of three FINAL BOSS BATTLE TIMES!
     The first in the trio of BOSS BATTLES was with the final form of Jenova: Jenova Synthesis. It was easily defeated with Knights of the Round and a few super powered spells (namely Comet and Ultima). Next up was a crazy scene where everything around the group started to fall apart. Cloud passed by a bright light that he identified as Holy. However, when he finally came to, they were all surrounding a strange orb that seemed to contain Sephiroth. He was throwing the group all around with his power or something. At that point, I was given the choice to create two parties for the upcoming battle. I picked my main group (Cloud, Yuffie, and Red XIII) for the first party, and the second party was comprised of Barret, Tifa, and Cid. Thus began FINAL BOSS BATTLE NUMBER TWO! This round was against something known as Bizarro Sephiroth. It was a massive statue-like figure with several parts. (When I fought this before, I actually was allowed to have THREE parties. No idea what I did wrong...) As I destroyed its parts, I was switching back and forth between the two groups and slowly destroying him. It wasn't long before this form fell and gave way to FINAL BOSS BATTLE NUMBER THREE! THE END OF IT ALL!
     This final form is the most infamous one. The most memorable part of this battle is the legendary theme song...One Winged Angel. You should look it up and give it a listen. It's pretty cool actually. Anyways, it was a fairly rough battle. He opened up by casting Wall on himself (a combo of Protect and Shell). I followed shortly after with Big Guard and Knights of the Round. This dealt out a decent portion of damage to him, but then I had to follow up with whatever I could muster (I only had one use of KotR). I was dealing some decent damage, and I wasn't even that bad off. But then...he crashed it down. He unleashed his infamous special move...Super Nova. The infamous part of this move is that the animation is two minutes long. It shows a large meteor of sorts shooting through all the planets (it destroys Neptune and Jupiter among others). That meteor flies into the sun and causes it to explode. This explosion takes out more planets and reaches this planet causing everybody a huge amount of damage. I'm curious how this little attack doesn't seem to DESTROY EVERYTHING EVER, but it just causes a large amount of damage to our little party. No big deal... After that attack, I was able to finish off Sephiroth shortly after. I just threw all the summons I could at him, and then I ended it all...with Omnislash! Safer Sephiroth (the name of this boss) was defeated, but that left the question...Would Holy activate to save the planet?
WARNING SPOILER STUFF AHEAD! It is the ending after all...
     The group started clearing out of the hole, but then Cloud had another mind breaking situation. He sensed that Sephiroth was still alive, and an image projected from him and proceeded down into the Lifestream. At the core of it all, he saw Sephiroth again. STORY BOSS BATTLE! This is actually a pre-scripted battle event of sorts. You will always win, and Cloud will always end it with Omnislash (even if you didn't get it). Upon his defeat, Sephiroth was finally gone. And Cloud was helped out of the Lifestream by Aeris (or it suggests it at least). He awakens back with Tifa as everything starts to crumble around him. The rest of the group hadn't left yet, and they were all sitting there...wondering what would happen next. Just as they said that, the mako below began to erupt. The Highwind came flying down the shaft. They all climbed on it, and the Highwind was expelled out of the North Cave. It was falling apart, so Cid pulled the emergency switch. This changed the Highwind into a jet plane of sorts. They all watched on as Meteor was mere moments from hitting Midgar. Just as things looked bad, Holy erupted from the planet to stop Meteor. Everything seemed to be going well, but then it took a turn for the worse. Holy had stopped Meteor at first, but then it began to accelerate it. The group was starting to worry, and there was fear that the Meteor would destroy the entire planet, not just Midgar. All hope seemed lost...but then the Planet actually responded. The Lifestream shot out of the planet and put itself in the way of Meteor. Using its power, it seemed to be stopping it. Then the screen flashed white...and credits. (Yeaaah, just wait)
     After the credits went by, the game showed "500 Years Later." It goes back down through the clouds and we see a group of creatures that look like Red XIII (One large one and a pair of cubs). They were running about and jumped onto a cliff. As the camera tilts upward, we see a glimpse of an overgrown ruins of Midgar in the distance. The End.
     Well, that's all folks! It was a hell of a long post (too long! I apologize!), but I've finally beaten Final Fantasy 7. It feels good to get back through this game...It may not be the best Final Fantasy, but it certainly leaves an impact on you. I won't say anymore for now, but you will be reading more when I get my final thoughts put up here soon! That's it for FF7! Stay tuned for more.

Ending Point - End of Final Fantasy 7.
Current Party -

• Cloud - Level 76
• Yuffie - Level 69
• Red XIII - Level 69

Goals Accomplished - Discovered and explored the sunken Gelinka plane. Obtained everybody's Final Limit Breaks! Learned about Holy in the Ancient's Capital. Stopped Diamond Weapon from attacking Midgar.  Acquired a Gold Chocobo! Used the Gold Chocobo to get several things, including Knights of the Round! Made it to and through the Ancient Forest. Infiltrated Midgar and stopped Hojo's plan. Defeated Ultimate Weapon and obtained Cloud's Ultimate Weapon, Ultimate Weapon (Yeah...). Attempted both Emerald and Ruby Weapons but failed horribly. Made it through the North Cave. Fought and defeated Jenova and Sephiroth. Saved the planet! Beat Final Fantasy 7!
Next Goals - Start Final Fantasy 8!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Side Post!

Wooo! It's been quite some time since I last did a side post, but I can blame most of that on a very simple thing...I had NO idea what to make a side post about. However, I was listening to some stuff today, and I finally got an idea! I've posted about the Final Fantasy music before, but I think I mostly just talked about it. So, for today's side post, I have decided to post up some great remix albums about the Final of Fantasies.
Without further ado....

Recurring Fantasy Presents...
SIDE POST! - Remixing the Fantasies~


     You see...there are a lot of Final Fantasy fans out there (I realize this is a DUUUH moment but please continue), and many of those fans are musically talented! (Not me) As I said in the previous post, Final Fantasy is probably one of the top video games as far as music goes. They all contain what could easily be the most memorable music you could ever think of. In one way or another, it really moves you and gets to you. Hell, if nothing else, a lot of it is catchy and addictive. The victory theme they all have...I have to hold back from not doing it constantly in what I deem "appropriate" situations. Anyways, let's...try to take it from here.
     Basically, my idea here is to hopefully share some easy to get albums (if not free) that are Final Fantasy remixes in one way or another! I'm not fully explored on all the different options out there, so I'll mostly be posting the ones I have heard before. I'll try to round up a few extras for ones I have heard of/seen as well. First thing I'd like to link though is the following site: http://ocremix.org/
     I believe I have linked it before, but if i have not...there you go! OCRemix (OverClocked Remix) is a fantastic site for awesome video game remixes spanning all game consoles! It's mostly older stuff like NES or SNES, but they have plenty of love to go around. Anyways, the site has a plethora of generally good music, and best of all...it is FREE!!! Everything is free to download (although they recommend you torrent any of the albums if you can). It's got a pretty strong base of great musical talent that (I'm assuming) love to remix the musics. Plenty of stuff to browse through there. Feel free to browse there a while before coming back to finish the post. No worries! I'll wait...
... ... ...
     Are you back? I'm going to assume you left for good, but I'm typing this post up regardless of YOU! (Take THAT loyal fanbase that possibly exists! Although if you do, I probably just lost you. Damn it!) There is a lot of great stuff to get there, so I'd highly recommend checking it out. What you might have noticed while browsing is that they have quite a selection of Final Fantasy remixes mixed up in all that! I'll link a search of it here for ease, or if you didn't check the previous link:

OCRemix - Final Fantasy search

You should check it out. There is quite a bit to select from there, and on top of those, you might also have/have not stumbled upon a group of Final Fantasy remix ALBUMS. That's right. They have entire remix albums over several Final Fantasies. As best I can, I'll be linking each and every one below. I have not quite listened to all of them, but I'll at least go over the couple of ones I have! Starting with...well, we might as well start with Final Fantasy 1.

     This album was just recently released on OCRemix, and it's lots of great metal-esque versions of Final Fantasy 1 classics. So...first and foremost -> http://encounter.ocremix.org/
It's called "Random Encounter", and according to the site, it is the first in a trilogy of albums planned for Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3. Random Encounter is a pretty awesome album for covering a NES title though. A majority of the album is great metal covers of the classic songs (Really love Secrets Abound - Matoya's Cave). Honestly, the songs were pretty good on the original game as well. It's surprising how well those people were able to program on those little systems with basically no power to work with. Would definitely suggest this album if you like the metals!
     If you enjoy that, you should also check out the Black Mages. It was a band with the highly well known composer Nobuo Uematsu playing Final Fantasy songs in a rock-like way. Lots of great redone songs, and they have at least one song from each game! I've got their Last.fm page linked on the side, but I'll go ahead and put it in the post. (Yes, I know I have mentioned them before in a previous post, but they are good!)
The Black Mages Last.fm - You should give them a listen. I have no idea how you'll get the albums easily though. That's on you buddy. Next up is a continuing list of other OCRemix albums! Following that will be anything else I can scrounge up for this side post.
     As to keep in numerical order, we'll go with the next album at....

FFIV - Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption

I'll be honest. I didn't know this one existed until I started looking up all the different albums on there. This means I can't really describe it, but I'm linking it regardless! FF4 had some really great music in it, and I can imagine it'd be a really great listen. Interested to hear the remix of the FF4 Love Theme. It's a fairly touching song every time they play it. I realize it's kinda shitty to link and recommend something without giving it a listen myself, but hey!...listen? I got nothing. I'll be downloading it soon myself, and I can imagine it'll be very much worth the effort! Next up is...

FFV - The Fabled Warriors

     This project is sadly unfinished, but I would like to see it finished! Basically (if you didn't read the page), the plan is to have FIVE different albums for the game with each album being a "Crystal" with the songs being about the jobs and characters. The only problem is they haven't finished any of it really, and this project was "started" like two years ago. The only album they have up is the first one, I.Wind. And yet again, I'm linking this up without any form of listening to it. In my defense (last I checked), the torrent for this particular album was dead, and I can't easily do any direct downloading here. However, I might go ahead and give it a shot so that I can obtain what is most likely a really good album. As far as the site goes, they've done nearly every Final Fantasy up to 7, and I could see them eventually doing FF8 and FF9! (I would be excited about both.) Let's move right along to...

     Final Fantasy 6!...or I most definitely would. However, they are actually working on this album RIGHT NOW! They even started a Kickstarter for this album. I'd gladly link it up, but every time I try to look it up, it keeps saying that it isn't there now. This is kinda worrisome. Regardless, they'll be doing the album, and when it releases, it will be free! I'll make a post when they finish it so everybody can enjoy! I felt I might as well list this fact since you might want to know, and also possibly didn't know about it. Again, I don't know if you have clicked any of the links and/or read them yet. So I assume nothing! Let's go ahead and move onward to...

FFVII - Voices of the Lifestream

     Of course! They had to do the Final Fantasy Fan Favorite! Like many of their albums, this one goes all over on the genre list. To briefly quote the OCRemix page - "From jazz to techno to rock to classical". That's a pretty big jump around! But like I said, a lot of their albums tend to do this exact genre jumbling about. This isn't a bad thing either, since many of the songs tend to work on different levels and need the difference in remix. Unlike the others, I've actually listened to this one! My favorites are somewhere between Serenity (Main theme remix), Lunatic Moon (Red XIII's theme), and Black Wing Metamorphasis (One-Winged Angel). The last one is all chiptune-y and cool. Damn you One-Winged Angel! It's one of the better songs of the game, and it's probably one of the most memorable tunes too. It's a big download, but I think it is well worth it...namely if you like the FF7 soundtrack. There isn't a whole lot left for the list, but I got at least two more albums that I can think of.

HURRY! A Final Fantasy X Impossible Remix album

     Now this album is pretty different from the rest of the OCRemix stuff. This is just one song done in 8 different ways. Apparently it was some sort of challenge made by random people. They like questioned OCRemix's ability, and thus they made this album. That's one way to go about it I guess. The only problem I have with this is...I haven't played FFX in forever, so I'm not really sure what song they are talking about. I'll still download the album and listen it up, especially once I find out what song it is. Considering the snarky remarks made, it's bound to be pretty good. Now for the last featured album...

Final Fantasy 7 - Black Materia

     Now, this is a pretty cool album. The concept alone is kinda interesting. It is a rap album (let me finish) about Final Fantasy 7. It covers a majority of the songs while raping about the story. Normally, I'm really not much for rap, but I did greatly enjoy this album. If nothing else, you can get just get the instrumentals of it....for cheaper! (I'll just place this link right here -> HERE!) Anyways, it's pretty well done and lots of fun to listen to. My favorite is by far AVALANCHE. The only warning to give here would be that the songs spoil a large portion of the plot if you are paying attention to the lyrics...like you should (since that is like half the point of rapping and all). It's a fun and enjoyable listen even with the rapping! (I'm sorry! I generally dislike rapping completely and all together, but this album was different for me I guess.) If nothing else, give it a listen on his page. It's free to listen, so it isn't like you are losing anything!
   
     And that covers all I've got. I would have posted more, but I can honestly say I don't have anything else. Hell, half of what I shared are albums I haven't listened to. (I apologize. I do feel kinda silly doing that XO) This is just a small handful of the greatness that is Final Fantasy music. It's fun, addictive, and generally very touching. Gotta love that battle theme! That's all I have for this post so...
/END POST (Thanks for reading as usual!)

~May the Crystals Guide Me~

Day 51

Game - Final Fantasy 7, Day 51
Hours Played/Hours Total - 11 hrs / 54 hrs
Starting Point - Nearby Wutai.
Current Goal - Try to find Cloud. Save the world from Meteor!

What Happened - Day 51 is here to say...that it's Day 51! Oh yeah! (I'm sorry. That was horrible, but now it has happened so get over it!) Let's not dilly dally anymore....time for POST!
     So, with the world as is, I figure it's time for some side stuff. Sure, I've already done quite a bit, but there is always more to be done! I began by getting more Enemy Skills. Well...I was actually getting old Enemy Skills for new Enemy Skill materia. Some skills are harder and more select to come by though, so I really only grabbed the best ones out of the bunch (namely Big Guard and White Wind). I might take time for a lot more later, but I figured the basic ones would be more than good for now. With that done, I began searching around the world for any places that I could now access. The Highwind opens up quite a bit of the planet for your exploration. On top of this, you can easily go back to anywhere with little time or trouble required for regular backtracking. Loooove airships! After all the monster battles, I made my way back to Wutai for a little side quest for Yuffie.
     At Wutai, I made my way to the Wutai Pagoda for Yuffie's side quest of sorts. Basically, you have to climb this tower and defeat multiple bosses using Yuffie only. The last time I did this, I remember having quite a bit of trouble with the last couple of bosses, but this time around...things went really easy. MULTIPLE BOSS BATTLE TIME! For these battles, (as I just stated) I was forced to use Yuffie only against these bosses. Each boss is a reincarnation of previous monsters I fought (powered up of course). The first was a man named Gorki who changed into a flying demon monster of sorts. He was...easy. I started with Big Guard, and then let loose with mah magic! He went down, and it was time for Round 2! Next up was a kid named Shake who changed into a penguin monster. He was too easy, and no fight was even necessary. Round 3! Next up...a taller, thinner man who changed into...a purple lizard demon thing. (Yeah, my descriptions suck, but I don't plan to fix it for this part. I literally did it in like 15 minutes for ALL the battles.)  A couple uses of Magic Hammer coupled with Big Guard made him basically useless. Smacked him around with physical attacks and magic. Time for Round 4! We met another older man named Staniv. He changes into...a rock creature with a wrecking ball on a chain...Trust me. It's something close to that. Anyways, He went down just as easy as the rest, but after him...comes Round 5! This is the final boss of the Wutai Pagoda. He's a devious man who is the strongest of all of them while combining their different strengths into one massive warrior. It's also Yuffie's father Godo. He basically challenges Yuffie to beat him in battle...or DIE! Thus begins the only remotely challenging battle! Godo changed into a giant three-faced warrior with a sword and such. Despite his massive and powerful appearance...he was almost as easy as the rest. He was able to heal though, so he lasted like 1-2 minutes longer than the others. He went down...and thus I beat the challenge. For defeating Godo, I was awarded Yuffie's 4th Limit Break item. For defeating all of them (accomplished when defeating Godo), I received the Leviathan summon materia. Yuffie shared a moment with her father and his fellow warriors. After that, the group headed on out. Of course, Godo asked Yuffie to try and get all the materia once the adventure was over. Nice touch there guys...
     With the Wutai Pagoda quest done, it was time to...I got nothing. I decided to move on with the story. The next stop was the little town of Mideel. One of the few places I couldn't get to without the Highwind. Once there, I was looking about town when I came across a dog. Somehow it was relevant enough to continue the story. Tifa was petting the dog when she overheard some men talking. They mentioned something about a pointy-haired man washing up on the shore. Of course, the group immediately jumps to the conclusion that it is Cloud (Hey! It could be someone else...can't be the only dude with that hairstyle.). They point her to a nearby clinic, and she rushes over. The other two follow behind her (at this time, it was Yuffie and Vincent). Upon entering, she went to find out that Cloud..wasn't quite right. The doctor said that he had extremely high exposure to mako and was experiencing mako poisoning. They were surprised he was still alive. Apparently, he had ridden through the Lifestream! All the way from the North Crater...to this spot waaaay south. Hoping that Cloud will get through this, Tifa decides to stay here. The rest of the group goes back to the Highwind and tries to figure up a plan.
     Barret comes forward and elects Cid as their new leader. Simply claims that Cid runs the Highwind, the Highwind is necessary for their saving the world, and therefore, Cid is the most qualified leader. He disagrees with this but takes the job nonetheless. Cait Sith, now playing the spy for us, lets us in on Shinra's next move. They're next objective is some large items called Huge Materia. They plan to collect all the Huge Materia they have been developing in Mako Reactors and launch that at Meteor to destroy it. That...just sounds like a horrible, horrible plan. Their first target is the Corel reactor. Obviously, things aren't going to go down very well, so I had to head them off. I flew straight to Corel and made a beeline for the reactor. Once there, I defeated a group of Shinra soldiers, but it was too late! They had the Huge Materia on a train, and they were going to plow right through Corel. Cid and company weren't about to let that happen. We grabbed another train (that was just sitting in the reactor I guess...), and we gave chase. I managed to haul ass and catch up. We then jumped over to the train, fought our way to the front, and successfully stopped the train from destroying Corel. Aaaaah yeah! With the town saved, I was allowed to claim the Huge Materia as well as Ultima Materia. They gave us a free stay at the Inn for saving their little dirt spot. Before leaving, I talked with a few people and received Barret's 4th Limit Break item. Woo! Next up on the Huge Materia list...Fort Condor!
     For this Huge Materia, I had to fight another RTS battle of sorts. I believe I covered these battles earlier on, but this one was for all the marbles! Honestly, any other battle in this place up until now was basically pointless! THIS IS THE ONE THAT MATTERS! (Doing previous battles netted you free items though) I didn't place any soldiers down though. I let them just come straight at me, and I had to fight a BOSS BATTLE TIME! It was the evil and monstrous Grand Horn CMD! He was super extra...not that hard. With my team of Cid, Barret, and Vincent (same group I used for the Corel bit), I smacked him around for a number of turns, and he went down. With Shinra finally defeated here, things were at peace. And then crazyness happened! The Condor on top fell off (dead I guess), and its egg hatched finally! I went up to check on it and earned myself the Phoenix summon materia (Woo!). On the way down, I met with the leader at Fort Condor. He handed over the Huge Materia and explained a bit of the story. Shinra had forced them to work on the mako reactor, and once he saw what they were planning, he stole the Huge Materia. However, they did all the fighting purely to protect the Condor and nothing else. Alls well that ends well I guess. At this point, Cid suggested (to me) that the group go and visit Cloud and Tifa in Mideel. So...off I went!
     However, before that, I spent a little time gaining some extra experience and limits. I spent around an hour or so doing this. Not a long time, but the benefits were most definitely worth it. By the time I was done, I had a few new limits, huge amount of Gil, and several new Mastered materia. Finally reaching a decent point, I proceeded into Mideel for the visit. Of course, we all know how this goes. It wasn't just a "visit", it was a story-based visit! Cloud didn't seem to be making any kind of recovery at the moment, and to make things worse, the town was getting a little visit from a big friend. Who? Ultimate Weapon. Cid and the gang ran out and started a fight for BOSS BATTLE TIME! Now this battle was the first truly challenging boss battle for me. He was able to deal out some fairly impressive damage..even with Big Guard up! Unfortunately for him, I came prepared with super magic! I flung spells and enemy skills at him. I did have to keep up with healing though. Lucky for me, White Wind! Nuff said. He wasn't staying around to die here of course. After dealing so much damage, he took off and flew away (PANSY!). With Weapon gone, things seemed okay now...but they weren't. The ground started to rumble, and things just got worse. The town began to evacuate. Tifa was trying to get Cloud out, but they were a bit too late. The two of them fell into the Lifestream, and now this is where things start to finally be explained.
     This next paragraph is super spoiler time, so if you don't want spoilers, you should stop now. OMG! SPOILERS AHEAD! LOOK OUT! Continuing on...I gained control of Tifa and found myself in a very strange place with images of Cloud all over. She realized that all of this was about Cloud trying to realize who he really was. I went around talking to the various Clouds and tried to help him discern the lies from the truth. First off, Tifa admitted that Cloud did NOT come back 5 years ago. The person with Sephiroth was a different man. The next thing was their memory of a moment out by the well in Nibelheim. Tifa said that he remembered it, and that it was exactly how that night was. She was convinced that this was definite proof of him not being a Sephiroth clone. Next up on the list...turns out was the kid version of Cloud. He came to reveal a secret to Tifa. The big secret? DUN DUN DUUUUN! It's kind of complicated actually. When Cloud and Tifa were kids, they didn't actually know each other that well. Cloud wanted to be wit her, but he had to hang around her group (who he didn't like). Tifa's mom dies, and somehow this leads her to go along the dangerous path to Mount Nibel. Her friends only briefly followed before abandoning her, but Cloud kept after her. Then...they had an accident. They fell off at some point. Cloud was barely injured, but Tifa was in a coma for seven days (awful lot of sevens in this game...WE GET IT SQUARE!). This caused Cloud to want to become something stronger and better..like Sephiroth. With that in mind, he left town to join SOLDIER (when he was older of course). The actual secret is that he never made it into SOLDIER. On the day five years ago, he had come to town, but he was one of the Shinra soldiers with Sephiroth and Zack (it's told his name by now). When Sephiroth went to the reactor, Zack gave chase while Cloud followed later. When Cloud got there, Zack and Tifa were both down. He told Cloud to go kill Sephiroth. Cloud managed to hit Sephiroth while he was distracted, but Sephiroth knocked him away and kept going. Cloud made chase, and Sephiroth stabbed him. Now here's the funny part...despite being impaled by Sephiroth, Cloud managed to fling Sephiroth into the Lifestream below the reactor. HUH, I realize he might be running on rage and despair from his town burning down, but how did this guy NOT get in Soldier when he just tossed Sephiroth into the Lifestream with a giant sword going through him? Whatever, not important I guess. But basically, this proves that Cloud is most definitely real. With this in mind, Cloud is able to reform his thoughts and become not-crazy again.
(Side note! I couldn't think of any photos for this, so I threw in the following. It is a picture of Zack. It's actually from the PSP title FF7 Crisis Core, but who cares!)

     The two emerge from the Lifestream unharmed (more or less), and the group regathers on the Highwind for informative time! After Cloud took out Sephiroth, Hojo came by and gathered everything up from the reactor (Cloud and Zack mostly I guess). He began to perform experiments. This included giving them exposure to mako and injecting them with Jenova DNA. Apparently, this is done to all members of SOLDIER. Thus explains why he has the SOLDIER look, and the possible reason that Sephiroth was able to exert his will over Cloud. As for his stories, he heard them all from Zack (the actual SOLDIER member), and probably due to the experiments, he began acting and thinking that he and Zack were one in the same. So...with all that out of the way, Cloud decides to go after Sephiroth in hopes of stopping Meteor somehow. The group agrees to join up with him, and the story continues. Cait Sith informs us that our next goal is the Underwater Mako Reactor near Juno.
     Before heading that way though, I made several side trips all over the place. I was ready to get some ultimate weapons and final limits. First off, I traveled to Bone Village for a certain key. Digging around there, I managed to find the Key to Sector 5. With the key in hand, I could finally re-enter Midgar. Of course, there wasn't a whole lot to do inside of Midgar outside of one spot. In the Wall Market, there's a store with a strange machine of sorts. If you tried to access it early on, it would just shoot at you. However, with Cid and Tifa along, I was able to use the machine. It still messed up, but this time, it spat out an item...Tifa's ultimate weapon Premium Heart. With that obtained, I had nothing left to get in Midgar. I immediately left and set course for Nibelheim. Once there, I ran to Tifa's house and played the piano for...Tifa's 4th Limit Break item! Woo! At this point, I had 4th Limit Break items for Barret (already taught him his a while ago), Tifa, Yuffie, and Red XII. Most of them were barely up to the 2nd Level of Limits, so I had to start farming up some limits. And thus...began a 2 hour journey of farming. I spent quite some time doing this, but the benefits were well worth it. By the time I was done, I had the 4th Limit for Tifa and Yuffie. I also gained several more Mastered materia out of it. Bored of the farming, I did have one last thing I wanted to do before moving along with the story.
     I made my way back to the Gold Saucer. Earlier on, it had been closed down on account of Meteor, but Dio had opened it back up again. My goal here...get Cloud's 4th Limit Break! He's been ready for it since Disc 1, but I couldn't get enough Battle Points to earn it then. This time...I had more than enough gil (and therefore more than enough GP!) to earn it! It took like 8 battles, but I finally had enough points. I taught Cloud his 4th Limit Break Omnislash, and it was finally time to continue. I flew off to Junon and began Operation Underwater Trouble (my name for it...it's not great). We had to infiltrate the underwater mako reactor and stop Shinra. They were transporting another Huge Materia from here for use in their kinda stupid master plan. Our mission (if we chose to receive it) is to get the Huge Materia before they can get away with it. I rushed though Junon and made my way underground. Turns out they have a cool underwater tunnel connecting Junon to the underwater mako reactor. Along the way, I remembered a random yet somehow necessary fact. In the water tunnel, you meet with this enemy that looks like an old wooden ship with a skeleton as the front decoration. There is only ONE of these available in the game (outside of the Battle Square), and you have to morph him into a special item. What you do with said item...I don't know. I'll have to look into that later. After taking the time to get it, I finally proceeded into the reactor. I had to fight through some rather pathetic soldiers, but I did make my way to the core. Unfortunately, they were slightly head of us. They had already grabbed the huge materia and were loading it into a submarine. I tried to go after it and ran into Reno. He said he didn't have time for us and sicked a giant robot thing on the group instead. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     For this Boss Battle, my team lineup was Cloud, Yuffie, and Cid. I'll be honest. The first time I did this, I wasn't paying attention, and he wiped the floor with my group. TWO ATTACKS! Two groupwide attacks that just tore them to pieces. I reloaded, didn't give him any time, and he was a pushover. Basically, I immediately drained his MP, and this eliminated his special attack that was so devastating. He wasn't completely out of the fight though. He had his main body and two grabbing arms. He used the grabbing arms to pick up a party member (he always went for Cid). While grabbed, he would slowly kill them, and he did succeed on Cid...twice. Despite these minor things though, he was mostly easy. Unfortunately, the battle was enough time for the submarine to get away, so I had to find an alternate solution. Lucky for us, there was a second submarine in the underwater reactor. I ran over, defeated all the soldiers on board, and then claimed myself a shiny new submarine. (Pictured below BUT grey instead of red)

With the sub in hand, I gave chase after the red one...and was treated with mini game. The point was to chase after the red submarine to destroy it while avoiding hazards like mines and other subs. This should have been challenging...but it wasn't. You are given 10 minutes to chase the red sub and destroy it before it gets away. I did it in 15 seconds. Yeaaaah, not a challenge at all whatsoever. On the plus side, I had myself an awesome new submarine, and the 3rd Huge Materia was more or less in my grasp (had to go retrieve it). However, while moving around underwater, someone from Shinra contacted the sub and mentioned something about moving the 4th Huge Materia via the airport. I had to hurry up to Junon airstrip to find...We were too late. The plane took off and was transporting the Huge Materia to Rocket Town. Blargh! Time to make ANOTHER trip...after I take a spin in my new Submarine! Woo!
     The submarine opens a whole new world under the water. That world comes with some new places to go and lots of items to find. However, it also features one of the optional super bosses...Emerald Weapon. Despite my attempts to beat him in the past (not on this playthrough), I never really put even a small dent in the guy. I won't go into details, but I will say...He's hard as shit. He is easily 5 to 6 times harder than any of the final bosses, and he isn't the only one! There is also Ruby Weapon, and that one is somehow WORSE! Basically, the side bosses in this series are crazy as shit. Getting back to the game, I explored a bit of the ocean floor. Found the red submarine and picked up the 3rd Huge Materia. From there, I looked around a bit and managed to locate a few interesting bits. One item was some strange key that was dated to be thousands of years old and simply labeled "Key of the Ancients." Not sure what the point of it is, but I figure I'll need it later. I also located a strange cave, which led inward into one of the continents. Rising up, I found myself next to a mysterious waterfall. This waterfall proved to be important to one person...Vincent.
     Luckily, I had him with me at the time, and thus I got a glimpse into Vincent's past. It showed off several scenes of young Vincent as a Turk escorting Shinra scientists. One of them was the love of his life. Her name was Lucretia, but she loved someone else...Hojo. Vincent accepted this at first because he wanted her to be happy, but then things changed. As I learned earlier on in the game, Hojo and Lucretia gave up their child to science for experimentation. Vincent disagreed with this, so Hojo shot him. He then proceeded to experiment on Vincent which resulted in Vincent's strange and horrific abilities. (This is related to his Limit Breaks where he changes into a monster.) Anyways, Vincent met with Lucretia there, and she asked if Sephiroth was still alive. Vincent simply denied his living status and confirmed that he had died five years ago.  She then disappeared not wanting to hear or see anymore. Well...okay then. With nothing left I wanted to do, I made it back to the Highwind and set...air for Rocket Town. Once there, it seemed we were almost too late! Shinra was getting the rocket up and running. I rushed to it and attempted to board, but there was someone in my way...BOSS BATTLE TIME!
     It's not what I'd call a true boss though. It was the Turk Rude plus two Shinra soldiers. They weren't any real challenge, and I easily disposed of him. With him out of the way, I was able to make my way into...more fights. I had to fight three more groups before I could board the rocket. Once there, I met up with the rocket technicians that were putting the finishing touches on the rocket. They were going to use the Autopilot to launch the rocket (now loaded with the Huge Materia) straight into Meteor. Cid volunteered to pilot the rocket instead, so they all left. However, the group was greatly opposed to this considering the consequences. Before they could say anything, the rocket launched! Turns out, they had finished the Autopilot, and Palmer forced the rocket launch. We were quickly shooting up towards Meteor. Cid was quite excited to finally be in space. I picked up the Huge Materia from its locked container, but now what? Cid mentioned there was an escape pod, so we made our way down. Then...bad things happened! One of the tanks below exploded and had trapped Cid. He told us to abandon him, but they weren't going to. Then...Shera walked in! She had stayed on board to make sure the Escape Pods were ready to go. Lucky that she did, we jumped in and got out of the rocket before it hit Meteor. Floating back down to earth, Cid was still admiring the vastness of space. And then...we saw the results of Shinra's plan.
     Despite their best effort with the rocket, it seems it wasn't enough. The rocket caused a massive explosion, and despite its impressiveness, Meteor simply began to repair itself. This was kinda depressing. Despite their dislike of Shinra, the group was kind of hoping that would work. They knew that it was all up to them to finish this. Cid gave a good speech that perked the group right up! However, they were still unsure of what to do. Red XIII chimed in and said we should go visit his grandpa, Bugenhagen. With no other clues in mind, I made my way to Cosmo Canyon. Once there, Bugenhagen simply suggested that we think on it. He said that we were bound to have the answer already. The group gathered to consider what could possibly be the solution. After some thinking, the only thing they could come up with was...Aeris. What had she figured out? Why was she so determined and fearless when heading for the Forgotten Capital? With that being the only clue, the group decided to pack up and make their way to the City of the Ancients. Feeling interested, Bugenhagen decided to tag along. And thus, I set course for the City of the Ancients...
     But seeing how I have so much, I figured it was time to check in and post this baby up! It's been a pretty big post and lots of things happened. Most of the time involved was farming though. Regardless, it will have great benefits before the game is done. Looking over my progress, I figure at least two more posts until I beat FF7! Once I beat 7, it's onward to 8! But enough about that, let's get this post up. You should stick around and wait for my next post! It's going to be chocked full of...side quests and getting to the last disc. Yeah, I can tell it's super exciting for the three people who read this! Out~

Ending Point - Nearby Junon.
Current Party -

• Cloud - Level 59
• Tifa - Level 52
• Barret - Level 53

Goals Accomplished - More Enemy Skills! Finished the Wutai Pagoda side quest. Found Cloud in Mideel. Stopped Shinra's plans of acquiring Huge Materia. Gained the Huge Materia for myself. Defended Fort Condor and earned another piece of Huge Materia. Returned to Mideel and watched it get destroyed. Rescued Cloud from himself. Lots of side stuff getting 4th Limits and an ultimate weapon. Infiltrated the Underwater Reactor to take the 3rd Huge Materia. Chased after a Shinra Sub and obtained the Huge Materia from it. Followed the 4th Huge Materia to Rocket Town. Retrieved the Huge Materia from the rocket and got back to the planet. Talked with Bugenhagen to figure out the next step.
Next Goals - Return to the City of the Ancients and figure out what Aeris was doing. Stop Sephiroth at some point. Save the world!

~May the Crystals Guide Me~