Date played: August 27th
Platform: PS4
You know what? This game still fucking holds up. A lot of people say FF VII has aged badly, and while that's true of the graphics and some of the interface, the story is still as engaging as ever, the characters are still as lovable, and the combat is still great.
Last time I played, Cloud, Barret and Tifa were trying to find Marlene after seeing Aeris get kidnapped by Shinra. I thought I was headed for Tifa's bar, but I was confused because when I went inside Aeris' house while I was travelling, I found Marlene!
There was a LOT of story exposition here... I learned all about Aeris' childhood, how she's an Ancient that can use magic, how she met her adoptive mother, how she was as a child, etc. It was a really good scene. After a brief reunion between Barret and his daughter Marlene, we rested then headed out towards Shinra headquarters to fuck shit up.
We went through Don Corneo's town again and got some batteries from the weapons shop, which we would need to reach the higher levels of Midgar apparently. There was a short dungeon here where I had to climb to the top by navigating some debris, solving simple puzzles and fighting random enemies. Once at the top, Shinra headquarters stood before us, challenging us.
I had the choice of sneaking in or barging in. Every time I've played this game, I chose to sneak in, so this time, I chose to rush the front doors. It's probably the simplest option, since all it means is a few more battles and less running around.
I spent the rest of my time fighting through the tower. There were about 5 or 6 floors that are were available to explore, and I had to find a key card for each of them. This led to a series of battles, conversations and puzzles so that I could make it all the way to the top. I also picked up a few nice accessories and materia along the way, including "Sense", which reveals information on enemies and another "All" materia.
At the top of the tower, I found a lab and a couple of mysterious containers. That's when we met Hojo, a Shinra scientist who has been doing lots of crazy, impressive research. Inside the container, we saw Aeris, as well as a bizarre, giant feline, maybe a kind of lion. In the other container was Jenova. At this point in the story, there's very little information available about Jenova, except that it lives in a vat, doesn't have a head yet, and is somehow really important.
During the conversation with Hojo, Barret lost his nerve and started shooting the container with his gun, causing some electrical problems. This forced Hojo to open the door... That's when the feline jumped out and attacked Hojo! This gave us an opportunity to go in and get Aeris.
Weirdly enough, the feline has a name, Red XIII, and it speaks! He didn't reveal much about his origins, but I think it's safe to assume that Hojo's experiments had something to do with it. Red XIII wants to save the planet as much as we do, so he agrees to join our party!
I now have 5 party members, and battles are limited to 3, so I had to start splitting up my team now. I sent Barret with Aeris, while Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII stuck together. There was a boss battle here against one big monster, and 3 smaller ones. The smaller ones were in the front, but as soon as they died, the monster revived them. I decided to focus on the boss, but since he's in the back row, physical attacks didn't work that well.
We then decided to meet up at the elevators to escape, but of course, things weren't so simple. We were captured and brought to Shinra's president for an audience. I got a lot of information about Shinra and it's operations along the way, including how they are using the planet's energy, known as Mako, to make profits. Unfortunately, we were then thrown into a jail cell on one of the lower floors.
We spent some time in jail, just chatting and stuff, including some intense awkwardness for Cloud as Tifa and Aeries both seem to be romantically interested... After spending a night in the cell, things got a little crazy. When Cloud woke up, his cell door was open, the guard was dead and there was a giant trail of blood all over the floor. Fucked up.
We released our friends, then followed the blood trail to see where it came from. It seems that Jenova was released from her special container and has been on a killing rampage. This led us to the Shinra president's office once more, but this time, he was lying in a pool of his blood, with s a giant katana stuck in his back. The Shinra president was dead, and all signs point to Sephiroth being a key player in these events.
Sephiroth has been mentioned a few times throughout the game now. Cloud knows him, that's for sure, and they worked together in SOLDIER at some point. It's pretty early in the story so far, but clearly, Cloud doesn't consider Sephiroth a friend. With the president dead, his son Rufus took the reigns of the company. This guy isn't a smooth criminal like his late father. No, he's just pure evil. He plans on raising prices on Mako energy and other, similarly nasty activities.
The group was split up again. This time, I put Barret, Aeris and Red XIII together, leaving Cloud behind to deal with Rufus and Tifa as backup. The group of three found an escape route via the elevator, but were attacked by a big machine. The battle against it was really cool because there was a gap in the battlefield, between two elevators. This meant that I couldn't use short range attacks and had to rely on magic, limit breaks and Barret's long range gun.
Next, the game cut to Cloud, who battled against Rufus man to man. With no other party members, I focused on physical attacks and healing. Rufus had a guard dog with him, but one "Bio" spell and he was dead. Rufus went down rather quickly. but it was a really cool battle. He escaped by hitching a ride on a helicopter, leaving Cloud behind. I stopped playing there, but I think I'm close to getting out of Midgar.
Platform: PS4
You know what? This game still fucking holds up. A lot of people say FF VII has aged badly, and while that's true of the graphics and some of the interface, the story is still as engaging as ever, the characters are still as lovable, and the combat is still great.
Last time I played, Cloud, Barret and Tifa were trying to find Marlene after seeing Aeris get kidnapped by Shinra. I thought I was headed for Tifa's bar, but I was confused because when I went inside Aeris' house while I was travelling, I found Marlene!
There was a LOT of story exposition here... I learned all about Aeris' childhood, how she's an Ancient that can use magic, how she met her adoptive mother, how she was as a child, etc. It was a really good scene. After a brief reunion between Barret and his daughter Marlene, we rested then headed out towards Shinra headquarters to fuck shit up.
We went through Don Corneo's town again and got some batteries from the weapons shop, which we would need to reach the higher levels of Midgar apparently. There was a short dungeon here where I had to climb to the top by navigating some debris, solving simple puzzles and fighting random enemies. Once at the top, Shinra headquarters stood before us, challenging us.
I had the choice of sneaking in or barging in. Every time I've played this game, I chose to sneak in, so this time, I chose to rush the front doors. It's probably the simplest option, since all it means is a few more battles and less running around.
I spent the rest of my time fighting through the tower. There were about 5 or 6 floors that are were available to explore, and I had to find a key card for each of them. This led to a series of battles, conversations and puzzles so that I could make it all the way to the top. I also picked up a few nice accessories and materia along the way, including "Sense", which reveals information on enemies and another "All" materia.
At the top of the tower, I found a lab and a couple of mysterious containers. That's when we met Hojo, a Shinra scientist who has been doing lots of crazy, impressive research. Inside the container, we saw Aeris, as well as a bizarre, giant feline, maybe a kind of lion. In the other container was Jenova. At this point in the story, there's very little information available about Jenova, except that it lives in a vat, doesn't have a head yet, and is somehow really important.
During the conversation with Hojo, Barret lost his nerve and started shooting the container with his gun, causing some electrical problems. This forced Hojo to open the door... That's when the feline jumped out and attacked Hojo! This gave us an opportunity to go in and get Aeris.
Weirdly enough, the feline has a name, Red XIII, and it speaks! He didn't reveal much about his origins, but I think it's safe to assume that Hojo's experiments had something to do with it. Red XIII wants to save the planet as much as we do, so he agrees to join our party!
I now have 5 party members, and battles are limited to 3, so I had to start splitting up my team now. I sent Barret with Aeris, while Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII stuck together. There was a boss battle here against one big monster, and 3 smaller ones. The smaller ones were in the front, but as soon as they died, the monster revived them. I decided to focus on the boss, but since he's in the back row, physical attacks didn't work that well.
We then decided to meet up at the elevators to escape, but of course, things weren't so simple. We were captured and brought to Shinra's president for an audience. I got a lot of information about Shinra and it's operations along the way, including how they are using the planet's energy, known as Mako, to make profits. Unfortunately, we were then thrown into a jail cell on one of the lower floors.
We spent some time in jail, just chatting and stuff, including some intense awkwardness for Cloud as Tifa and Aeries both seem to be romantically interested... After spending a night in the cell, things got a little crazy. When Cloud woke up, his cell door was open, the guard was dead and there was a giant trail of blood all over the floor. Fucked up.
We released our friends, then followed the blood trail to see where it came from. It seems that Jenova was released from her special container and has been on a killing rampage. This led us to the Shinra president's office once more, but this time, he was lying in a pool of his blood, with s a giant katana stuck in his back. The Shinra president was dead, and all signs point to Sephiroth being a key player in these events.
Sephiroth has been mentioned a few times throughout the game now. Cloud knows him, that's for sure, and they worked together in SOLDIER at some point. It's pretty early in the story so far, but clearly, Cloud doesn't consider Sephiroth a friend. With the president dead, his son Rufus took the reigns of the company. This guy isn't a smooth criminal like his late father. No, he's just pure evil. He plans on raising prices on Mako energy and other, similarly nasty activities.
The group was split up again. This time, I put Barret, Aeris and Red XIII together, leaving Cloud behind to deal with Rufus and Tifa as backup. The group of three found an escape route via the elevator, but were attacked by a big machine. The battle against it was really cool because there was a gap in the battlefield, between two elevators. This meant that I couldn't use short range attacks and had to rely on magic, limit breaks and Barret's long range gun.
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| Rufus vs Cloud |
