Game - Final Fantasy 7, Day 46
Hours Played/Hours Total - 3-1/2 hrs / 3-1/2 hrs
Starting Point - Beginning of the Game.
Current Goal - Start Final Fantasy 7. Find out what is going on. Beat the game!
What Happened - Here we are! As far as actual numbers go, I'm halfway through (13 will be the final, but I'm not playing 11 for obvious reasons). I've actually played through 7 two times now. The original time was the the PS1, and the second time was when FF7 was put up on the PSN as a PSOne Classic. I'm looking forward to the update to 3D, and I can't wait for the trio of PSOne Fantasies because I personally think they are the best overall. Anyways, let's get to the game!
The game opens on what is one of the most memorable cutscenes for all of Final Fantasy history. You can probably look it up pretty easily. To sum it up for those who don't care as much...game opens to a star filled sky. As it changes, we see a girl with a basket of flowers walking along a street which we find to be filled with cards and vehicles. The game zooms out to show us a giant technologically advanced metropolis and in comes the title logo with FINAL FANTASY 7.~ The biggest thing about this cutscene is that they recently-ish remade it as a PS3 tech demo. The fans went crazy over this and were almost DEMANDING a FF7 PS3 remake. Although Square would probably make bank on it, it wouldn't be the same game. People may think they want it, but they really don't. Trust me...remakes can easily ruin what was a cherished memory/thing. Just go replay the classic version. That is...except Final Fantasy 1. Play the remakes... Seriously, the old one is pretty slow and borderline broken. Play it for nostalgia and nothing else. Getting back to the topic. The game zooms back in on a train, and the story begins.
As the train comes to a halt, soldiers (I think...) look at the train and are immediately assaulted by people leaping off it. They all attack and then run off. Finally, the last character pops out, and I gain control of him. And thus...we have our main guy. I'll spoil the moment and simply reveal him as Cloud. Now let's try and get a picture in here. Going to see if I can get one of artsy Cloud and one of in-game...Cloud.
I also encounter my very first battle right here. It doesn't stray much from the couple of previous titles. It makes use of the ATB (Active Time Battle) system, but of course, it's all in 3D now! They do introduce a new form of specials though. Rather than specials always being available for use, each character has something called a Limit. You have a Limit meter, and it fills up a bit every time an enemy attacks the character. Once entirely full, the character is able to unleash a Limit Break. This Limit Break is basically the same as the special abilities from FF6. They're special moves that either do a super powered attack on an enemy/group of enemies OR they have some alternative effect like healing or stunning. Either way, they are really nice in a bind. There are different Limit levels, and one can assume that you gain new Limits over the course of the game, but I'll get to those when I get to them.
Moving right along, they start revealing minor plot bits as I continue onward. We're on a mission. Cloud was apart of some military thing called SOLDIER, but he isn't with them anymore. We (a terrorist group called AVALANCHE) are infiltrating a major power plant of sorts to blow it up. It also turns out that 2 of the people in AVALANCHE are named Biggs and Wedge. And so their names appear again! (Refer to FF6 opening) I was also introduced to the leader of their little group. A big guy with a gun for an arm named Barret! Look below for face image stuff! (You can also spot him in the background of the in-game image above.)
The first boss of the game is a giant robot scorpion centaur with lasers! How is that NOT awesome? Nothing too tough though. It IS the first boss after all. The only catch was you had to wait around when his tail would arch back. If you attacked him, it was supposed to unleash a super powerful attack. I didn't mess this up though, so I never saw it...Anyways, with the robot scorpion's defeat, I was able to run. Unfortunately for me, the game decided to throw a curve ball at me and give me a time limit. Time to run out of the mako reactor! I ran as fast as I could out of there, and I didn't encounter too much resistance along the way. So...woo! Just as we were running out of the reactor, it blew. Right after it blew up, it was time to split up and meet back by the train.
With the giant reactor going up and such, people were running about and freaking out. I ran into the girl from the opening video and told her to run on out of here. I did a little running myself and unfortunately came into contact with some soldiers. I fought a few off, but eventually, Cloud leaped onto the train as it sped away. The rest of the AVALANCHE group were worried about Cloud...until he popped in from outside Barret wasn't too happy about this, but he got over it. The group proceeded into the train, and we got off at Sector 7. Next up was meeting up again at the local bar, which was AVALANCHE's headquarters. Once there, I ran into the next character. She was one of Cloud's childhood friends, and her name was Tifa.
The Materia system acts somewhat like magicite did in FF6, but you don't permanently learn magic. Each piece of Materia is equipped to slots in a character's weapon or armor. This grants them spells, bonuses, or other special abilities. However, at the same time, most materia have a small negative effect decreasing a character's HP or other stats. Each materia has its own experience, and they level up by being simply equipped to a character. Higher levels equals more and better spells OR other benefits. Maxing out a piece of materia "masters" it and creates a new piece of THAT materia. Later on, you gain special equipment with better materia growth stats with the cost of fewer slots. It's a fairly interesting system, and it's pretty easy to use.
After learning materia, I got back on the train, and we made our way to the next reactor. However, the mission didn't start off well. To put it simply, the train system had an ID scanner that allowed them to check who was on board. The group were using fake IDs, and I don't really need to add anymore. They had kinda already planned for this and were going to jump off the train, but it got rushed and happened sooner. It was a bit hectic for a moment, but I managed to get off the train and headed for the next reactor. Once there, it was a pretty straightforward and almost EXACTLY like the last reactor. However, before the bomb was planted, Cloud had a small freak out moment. It didn't give much to go on, but can you say FOREBODING FEELING? He pulls through that, they plant the bomb, and we get ready to bail. Unfortunately, the company Shinra (people who made the reactors, organized SOLDIER, and owns all the important stuff) weren't THAT stupid. This time around, we were met face to face by the President of Shinra. He had set up a little trap and was planning to take out AVALANCHE here and now through the use of a robotic soldier known as Air Buster. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
This time, I got to do a split battle with Tifa and Barret on one side while Cloud was on the other. He kept turning about as we attacked him and performed his little Counter Attack. Despite this, he wasn't too formidable and a few Limit Breaks easily put him in his place. The game wasn't about to let us completely succeed though! As we defeated Air Buster, the explosion from its destruction blew apart the bridge. Cloud was separated and fell down from there while the other two escaped. Shortly after, Cloud wakes up in a strange church on a bed of flowers with a girl nearby. She asks if Cloud is okay (who is somehow despite the several hundred foot drop), and it reveals her as the flower girl from earlier on. Her name is Aeris, and she's the next character addition! (YES, I know the true translation is Aerith, but I didn't think about it at the time, and I went with how the game had it!)
She talks with Cloud for a bit, and eventually asks him to become her bodyguard. Cloud questions why, but his question is quickly answered by some following events. A mysterious group of people appear and attempt to capture Aeris. A bit of chasing, barrel rolling, and some fighting later, I found myself escaped from the church and hiding from the mysterious group. We find out that they're a group called the Turks. They work for Shinra, and their work includes finding recruits for SOLDIER as well as dirty deeds for Shinra. Anyways, Cloud escorts Aeris home and the story goes from there.
Once there, Aeris introduces Cloud to her mom, and she plans to show Cloud the way back to Sector 7. The mom insists we stay the night since it's late, but she asks Cloud that he sneak away early as to not put Aeris in danger. Morning comes, I sneak out but Aeris was already one step ahead of me. Not being able to change anything, we begin to make our way through the Sector 6 slums. The two eventually stop at a small playground and some more story happens. Basically, Aeris reveals that an old boyfriend of hers was in SOLDIER. Just as they get started chatting, the two of them spot Tifa on a wagon heading into another part of Sector 6. The two chase after her and learn that she's been taken to a Don Corneo. I tried to infiltrate his manor of sorts, but he only lets in pretty ladies. Now here is where the game gets kinda weird...
Aeris suggests that Cloud dresses up like a girl so they can go inside. Yeaaaah, this game is definitely showing to be a more mature...what with the drunks, a whore house, and the newest inclusion of cross dressing. I went about town collecting the necessary materials. I got a man to make a dress (only because it was for Cloud apparently...), and then I acquired a Wig from a group of crossdresing enthusiast gym go-ers. I won't say where or how they kept the wig...but yeah. With the necessary items in hand, I got Cloud dressed up and ready to go. Aeris gets a dress for herself as well. We enter the manor and immediately locate Tifa. It seems she was infiltrating the Don's manor to learn some information from him. Apparently, he had some dealings with Shinra, and that dealings included some information. The three of them are presented in front of the Don, and he chooses Tifa. The other two are given to his lackies, and the ones who got Cloud were in for a fun surprise. Cloud reveals himself to be a man and beats them all senseless. I then go and round up Aeris, who was being chased. We find Tifa with Don Corneo, and the three interrogate him to find out some shocking information.
After numerous threats to the Don's balls (yeaaah....classy), he gives up all the information he has involving Shinra. Apparently, Shinra paid the Don to find out where AVALANCHE was based. With that information in tow, they were planning to drop the Sector's plate on top of them to eliminate them all. Let me just say...DAMN. That's how you get rid of a problem. You crush it and thousands of innocents in a huge destructive and evil move. With this information, the group agreed they needed to run back to warn the others. Unfortunately, the Don had already had a plan ready. As soon as the three went to leave, he opened up a floor trap, and the three plunge into the sewers below. As they all get up, it comes to my attention that it is BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The group was attacked by a sewer frog-pig monster thing. It wasn't too formidable an opponent though. I just kept after it with all the magic and attacks I could. On top of that, I used everybody's Limit Break at least one time. Cloud had recently acquired a new one (called Cross Slash), and it dealt out some decent damage plus paralyzing the monster! A few rounds later, the beast went down, and we climbed out of the sewers. The place I came out on was a place known as the Train Graveyard. Tifa revealed that this would lead us back to Sector 7.
However, before going any further, I decided I put in enough time for now. That and this post is getting fairly long. Trying to keep them shorter and more concise. I also hope the couple of pictures I put in liven it up. They aren't anything to brag about, but it at least breaks up the plainness of text only. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm hoping to get another post up sometime Tuesday!
Ending Point - In the Train Graveyard.
Current Party - *Parties in this title consist of only 3 members.
- Cloud - Level 12
- Aeris - Level 9
- Tifa - Level 10
Next Goals - Make it through the Train Graveyard. Reunite with AVALANCHE and warn them about Shinra's plans.
*Side Note - All images from this post and onward will more likely than not be borrowed from Creative Uncut. You can check them out at ----> http://www.creativeuncut.com/
They have a lot of video game art and such. It's a fairly nice site, and I'd recommend it if you are looking for video game pictures and art!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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