Final Fantasy VII, in my opinion, is one of the best games ever made.  For its time, the graphics rocked.  The storyline kept you hunting for answers with great twists.  I’m sad to admit, however, that the game became an obsession for me.  Looking back, I can see how it helped me escape reality and how that became addictive.  It came at a time where I needed to face reality and God and make my faith real.  I was participating in the first in-depth Bible study of my life.  There were times where I had to consciously make the decision to go read my Bible.  At the time, reading the Old Testament in my study seemed rather dull and boring compared to the vivid storyline of FFVII, which I’d consider to be more of a visual and interactive book rather than a video game.  The plot of FFVII has its redemptive value which I hope to write about more at a later time.  Video games are not bad in and of themselves, but in my specific case, they took a negative turn because it took God’s place in my priorities, thoughts, and heart.

I remember when there were commercials on tv for FFVII.  My entire focus became immediately glued to the tv screen every time I as much as thought I heard the music.  I still remember it pretty well.  An announcer described the daring feats, brutal combat, insurmountable odds, “a love that could never be” (that always got me!), and dashing honor you will encounter as you play.  He said something about how you must save the world!  Everyone is counting on you!  And if you fail…  “you can always hit the reset button.”

Wouldn’t it be great if we had one of those?  Ah, to have a reset button!

“Oh man, I shouldn’t have said that!  Let’s reset.”

“Wow!  I can’t believe I did THAT!  I’ll just reset.”

“Now things will never be the same …unless I don’t save today.”

Nope.  We have no such option.  This life is the only shot we have.  We can’t go back even a few seconds to undo anything.  In fact, you’d be surprised to realize how little control you have over your life.  The only control you have is over what you say and do at this exact moment in time.  Sure, you can plan, promise, and make provisions for the future.  Those endeavors can even be wise, keeping in mind that God’s plans stand more firm.  The fact is that the only thing you can change is now.

What shall this sobering reality mean for us then?  That we have to make sure we do everything perfectly and in perfect timing?  No.  Like I said, you’d be surprised at how much you can’t control.  We live in a fallen world and we’ll be blindsided by circumstances we never could have prevented.  I don’t mean for us to become obsessed about every second on the clock, but I do mean for us to consider how much we are allowing ourselves to be taken by mediocrity.  How many Godly things have we put off to do later?  How many times have we tried to do something to better ourselves but haven’t taken the time to complete them?  How much time do we waste doing things that will count for nothing when this life is over?  In essence, how many times have we said to the Lord, “not now.”

Perhaps we fool ourselves thinking our “not now” approach isn’t so bad because it’s not telling the Lord “no.”  We have the intention to do what He’s asked of us.  After all, doesn’t He look at the heart anyway?  If we’re going to lean on that idea, we better take a good, hard look at our hearts.  Do we really want to do that thing for the Lord?  Do we truly desire that as deeply as God desires it?  If not, this message is for you.  Stop putting God off.  No more of this “I can’t do that now, Lord” attitude!  Even if you know you’re not ready for the tasks, He knows your faults and His power is made perfect in weakness.  He will do amazing things with your surrendered heart if you desire Him above all other things.

If your heart is indeed in line with God’s desires and His plan, please don’t let this message freak you out and make you rush God’s timing. Perhaps He is asking you to wait.  But if He’s waiting on you, you may have a problem.  I just ask that we take the time to question ourselves to see if He’s pushing us and whether or not we’re budging.

Consider today.  This is the only today you have.  What have you not done that you need to do?  Be advised – you have no reset button.

Tom bought a PSP last week and we were having merry fun playing Wipeout Pure on link up the other night. After those few races Tom showed me what else he had downloaded onto his memory card. It started with that well familiar bleep noise and then carried on from there. My heart sank.

He’d gone and downloaded Final Fantasy VII.

My relationship with FF7 started out so well, I’d read about it in all the gaming magazines at the time and saw that it was being hailed as possibly the greatest thing ever. It looked amazing, the thing came on four discs so it surely had to be amazing. I took the bundle of money I’d saved into Carlisle on the day of release, picked up the box from the shelf of the local games shop and marched confidently to the till. This was going to be the greatest gaming experience of my life. It was not to be so and to this day I still meet people who have no idea why FF7 and I were so uncomfortable in each other’s company. I tried so hard to get into the story which was indeed epic but it’s the gameplay that stuck in my throat so much.

It’s the random battles that annoyed me the most, a simple act of trying to get across a map from point A to point B was wrecked because a wandering rat had decided you’d looked at him funny and wanted a fight. The swooshing sound effect that drew you into such battles ended up being the bane of my life at one stage. The other side to this is the fact that such fights, although avoidable, need to be done in order build up your stats needed to take on the bigger rats who think you’ve looked at them funny. So you sit, wait for the enemy in question to attack you, respond by having one of your team charge, swing their weapon and then knock a tiny chunk off their energy before repeating the whole process until one of you dies. It’s gaming’s equivalent of trench warfare only without the lice.

I never got out of Midgar because it seemed so far away and such a grind that I gave up completely. I’ve often heard it said that I missed out on the moment the game really opens up and gets good but I’d decided that FF7 didn’t want me around and wasn’t about to return my calls either. The game was put away and traded in during a house move in which I needed to rid myself of a few games to save space.

I should maybe go back, maybe 12 years is enough time to pass for FF7 to somehow work its way into my affections but I have doubts about it as our first meeting went so badly. The story might well grip me but let’s face it, it’s not like one of the main characters dies or anything is it?

Let’s do a quick music rundown then move on to something else:

1. The new Converge is blowing my fucking brain with the dentures removed and a satin hand cupping the metaphysical balls located in my minds eye.  Converge is one of those bands that I appreciate within the genre of hardcore and its offshoots because they’ve been doing their own thing for nearly 20 years, yet I’ve never been a big fan (don’t ask me why).  Axe To Fall is an album that infuses more metal into their familiar sound than I have heard before and it puts a big dumb smile on my big dumb face.  The later track Cruel Bloom features Steve Von Till from Neurosis doing vocals and I was convinced for this last week that it was none other than Tom Waits.  That song solidified my love for this album.  I’m a sucker for heavier bands throwing in something slow to the mix, yet still retaining the atmosphere and edge that at any moment they can break back into a breakdown, solo, or something that just makes me want to stomp a foot and slam my head around; this is one of those songs.  This album has also worked the magic of making me want to trek back to their earlier work and chronologically move forward until this release.  That doesn’t happen too often in my book, therefore I need to present a sacrifice to the Gods of Rock for bestowing me with this treasure.  I figure some corndogs and porno mags I found in the alley will suffice.  I’m so glad my Gods aren’t jealous Gods, just SUPER easy to please.

2. This is kinda old hat because I’ve been ranting about it for the last few weeks, but the sophomore release from Doomriders has been musical Viagra for me.  I’ve had this fit of impotence when it comes to new music in my life and Darkness Come Alive has brought the “umph” back for me.  It’s an album that makes me want to get up and do something.  I listen to it and wanna get into a fight, chug a damn tall beer, kiss some random hard on the mouth, or fight demons with a broadsword.  It has tracks that yell “FUCK YOU” at those helping hands out there that just want to assist in order to make themselves feel better (Knife Wound) and others that urge to keep a head up in a shitty world that just wants to take everything good and positive from you (Lions).  If I like something I’ll try to keep up to snuff with it – whether it’s a band, film, or the next release from Joose – and sometimes that ends up biting me in my succulent ass.  When you follow so closely to an interest in your life you’re bound to place it on a pedestal, hoping it’ll be the next best thing… that rarely holds true.  I’d been waiting for the next full-length from Doomriders since ‘05 and in no way, shape, or form was I let down with this new one.  Daddy like.

3. So much awesome has been oozing from Vol. 3 of the Comadre Mixtape I wrote about a little while back.  I’ve been taking every possible chance to play the fucker for friends and whoever lately.  From the track list I’ve been stumbling over some great new acts like Hour of The Wolf, Finest Dearest, and Glasses, but the group Heartsounds has nicked a place in my heart that rarely gets any attention:  pop-punk.  I remember buying Blink 182’s Dude Ranch in 7th or 8th grade and not wanting to leave my room as long as that album spun about in my twitchy CD player, the cordless house phone had enough battery to call a girl I liked, and there was Final Fantasy VII or Tekken 3 in my Playstation.  Heartsounds has that comforting sound I remember jamming along to in my middle school sanctuary, yet it doesn’t feel like I’m displacing myself to far from the person I’ve grown in to, which is nice considering they play music in a genre that typically works more like a time machine for me these days.  Broadway Calls is another recent band that has had the same affect on me.  Is this a sign that I’m getting sappy in my years?  Nope and to prove it I’m gonna go snort some razor blades.  Why?  Because I lost a bet with Nick Nolte.  That bastard doesn’t screw about when it comes to gas-huffing competitions.

After doing a wee spellcheck I remembered that this was supposed to be a quick little blurp about music and then I was gonna go on about something else.  Huh…  I guess I lied.

What I was going to post at first has completely changed.  The reason why it has changed is because while searching for certain lyrics for a song, I stumbled across an orchestra version of that song.   After listening to the full song, I was astounded by how good it sounded and decided that I wanted to listen to another song.  As I have listened to these songs, it brings to the front feelings and emotions that I felt a long time ago.

Anyways, the point I am trying to make here is what exactly makes a game story great.  More importantly, even with all the great storytelling, awesome plots, and everything else involved, would a game be AS good if it didn’t have the music that ties in with the feelings the story arouses.  What would happen if storytelling in a game didn’t incorporate music that gives you that sense of strength when fighting a big boss, or that sense of desperation when all seems lost.

My focus is the relation between music and stories in a video game as you probably already figured out because of my bad habit of repeating myself. I plan to write a story for a game, and the game that I think is most notable for its music has to be Final Fantasy 7.  I was listening to aerith’s theme and also one-winged angel and I have to admit they brought up emotions from the game.  The scene where Sepiroth kills Aerith is engraved in my brain when I hear her song, and I remember the shock that hit.  Then, as her music came on, I remember the great rush of emotions come over me, as if I was Cloud and what I was fighting with was not only my sadness, but also my anger.

Music can really captivate and make a story that much deeper, as long as the music is composed in a way that really brings the hairs on your arm up.  I was going to write part of the story for the game my friends and I are going make, but instead I made sure to write down the importance of music and what it brings to really captivate the feelings associated with plots in a story.

By the way, if you have no idea what Final Fantasy 7 is, you can probably find a PSXE torrent and download it.  It’s an awesome game.  Besides the story, most people will talk a lot about the music from it, showing that great games have great music.  Here’s a link to two of the songs, and respond to emotions you get when listening to each one.

(Aerith’s Theme)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UODCxAtyDo

(Sepiroth’s theme)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn71hIsm0U8&feature=related

Have you ever played a Final Fantasy game and thought “Gee I wish I could do all those cool things they do in the cut scenes!” Well wish no more wishful thinkers, because now there is Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

First off, Dissidia is not a new addition to the series of Final Fantasy, but it is more of a spin-off fighting game.  Created by SquareEnix, the creators of the Final Fantasy series, and exclusive to the PSP, though we’ll see how long that lasts considering how well the PSP did.  As the story goes, Cosmos, God of Harmony, and Chaos, God of Discord, are battling in a dimension diffrent then those of the other Final Fantasy stories and are recruiting soldiers from other worlds to fight.  The main characters from the first ten games of the Final Fantasy series appear along with their main villain from the respected game. The story mode begins with Cosmos and her last few warriors fighting a desperate battle against the forces of Chaos.  If your a story buff, which you would kind of have to be in order to really play a Final Fantasy, you’ll want to begin with the story mode.  You’ll play one of the ten heroes in their story to retrieve their crystal from their nemesis.  You can also play regular story mode where you can play one of the twenty characters to earn experience and items for your characters.  I’ll include a list of characters in another post coming soon.  I would include it now, but honestly it’s a lot for post.

The next question is how well does a Final Fantasy based fighting game play?  Despite a difficulty curve that’s more indecisive than A.D.H.D. kid in store full of shinny pebbles, the game plays really well.  Well it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they game uses a level system that allows you the character you play more to grow stronger after each fight.  This can be really nice to when you need to conquer some of the portions that will beat you senseless.  There are two types of attacks, ones that steal “Bravery”, which effects both attack and defense, and there are the regular damage attacks.  As you fight, you will collect EX which when you’ve filled your EX meter, puts you into EX Mode.  Ex Mode basically give you a instant victory as your character will use their limit break they are know for.  I would say it’s made of win, but then I would have to strangle myself.  The controls can be a bit stiff, as trying to click to many buttons can cause your character to forget what they were doing.  Like I said before, the difficulty curve is a annoying as one battle it seems like you’ve mastered the game and the next the AI didn’t even break a sweat.

All together, Dissidia is an exceptional game and Final Fantasy fans will not be disappointed.  With excellent graphics, an orginal and interesting story and superb game play, Dissidia is a must have for any PSP owner.

título: photo box (caja de fotos)
autora: sabriel41
traductora: jicalazuxil
fandom: final fantasy 7
género: drabble
pareja: cloud
disclaimer: cloud y compañía pertenecen a Square…
nota: ‘photo box’ es una colección de microfics o drabbles donde vemos diferentes momentos, ideas diferentes, ‘fotos’ diferentes si queréis llamarlo así, del ff7…

photo box

“…heard your voice through a photograph;
I thought it over and brought up the past
And once you know, you can never go back…”

“Otherside” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Ojos azules se suavizaron cuando levantó una fotografía, y se acordó… luces brillantes, amigos extraños, y pertenecer. Dedos encallecidos tocaron la memoria de cabello color chocolate; había mantenido su promesa para con ella. Había hecho algo con su vida, aunque quizá no era lo que él esperaba.

SUS ojos verdes le atrapaban, incluso ahora seduciendo sus pensamientos, aunque SU promesa estaba tan despezado como SU cuerpo y el alma de Cloud. Era un héroe; con su amor, había salvado el mundo.

Sin ellos, ni siquiera el mundo entero podía salvarle.

The Joker had taken over Arkham Asylum. I was hot on his trail when Harley Quinn tried to drop an elevator on me. Determined to put a stop to the clown’s scheme, I found an alternate route. Everything was going fine until I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

Oracle: Batman, have you found my father yet?
Batman: I’m still working on it. Harley tried to kill me with an elevator.
Orcale: Are you okay?
Batman: Uh, yeah.
Oracle: Okay, just wondering. You’ve been in the same room for, like, 20 minutes now.
Batman: I know, I’m just, uh.
Oracle: Please hurry.
Batman: Yeah, It’s just.
Oracle: What?
Batman: There’s a Riddler trophy behind a fence up here and I’m trying to figure out how to get to it. 

Where the F*** is the last piece of the Arkham story?

There’s what, Riddler trophies, interview tapes and Arkham bug-stone thingies? That is a lot of shit to be looking for when you’re trying to stop the Joker.

Sure, you can ignore all of this stuff, but then you’re missing out on all sorts of nifty game content. 

Maybe I’m the only one with this problem. I’m a big fan of storyline and the “feel” of a game. In recent years, games have so much stuff packed into them that has nothing to do with the main storyline, I find myself getting lost in all of the extra content and losing the “feel” for what I am supposed to be doing.

A good example I can use is Final Fantasy XII. It started out great, but as more things became available for me to do, I started to lose track of what the hell I was supposed to be doing.  Instead, I spent all my time bounty hunting and doing little side-quests to get special items and Espers. At one point, I played the game for a whole month and hadn’t done a damn thing to progress through the story line. I realized, when I started to get back to playing it, I just didn’t care anymore. The “magic”, so-to-speak, of the storyline had been lost to me.

I still haven’t beaten the damn game.

Now, of course I know we can’t go back to linear gameplay and beating a title completely in one night of hard play. Modern gamers demand more, and extra content; min-games, side-quests, hidden items and additional content is becoming increasingly popular.

It is a little overbearing though. I miss the days when you could explore an old castle on the map or a sunken ship to find the “hidden” content. Things like the weapons in Final Fantasy XII were fun to try and beat after you finished the game. Sometimes, I remember, characters actually gave you hints, like “punch the box on the fourth floor for something good”. It seemed a bit more natural than having to poke your head into every nook and crannies in a game because you are afraid of missing something you can never go back to. 

Nothing like finding out you can’t do half of the cool shit in the game because you didn’t grab the purple orb from the statue after the second boss.

Wow, I opened a treasure chest in the very beginning of a game and now I can’t get the ultimate weapon? Thanks Final Fantasy XII! I should have figured that one out on my own, no RPG ever has treasure lying around in the beginning for new adventurers to grab. I could have at least done with a message afterwards.

Treasure Chest:“Awww, snap! You done messed up now boy!”

No soy fan de los vídeojuegos pero he jugado bastantes que han sido inolvidables y la saga Final Fantasy no es la excepción siendo Final Fantasy VII (FF7)uno de los juegos acústicamente mejor elaborados y memorables a mi gusto gracias al trabajo de Nobuo Uematsu. A continuación comparto un vídeo con una interpretación del Tema de Tifa en Piano, algo que me pone nostálgico al escucharlo y posteriormente enlaces a otros vídeos de interpretaciones de otras melodías del FF7.

Aerith’s Theme (Piano)

FF7: Advent Children – The promised land

JENOVA (Piano)

One-Winged Angel (Piano)

One-Winged Angel (Synthesia)

Boss Battle Theme (Piano)

Final Fantasy VII Music (5 en 1 Piano)

Battle Theme (Guitarra eléctrica)

Chocobo Theme (Guitarra eléctrica)

Main theme (Guitarra acústica)

Vincent’s Theme (Guitarra acústica)

Prelude (Guitarra acústica)

Prelude (Guitarra eléctrica 24 trastes)

One-Winged Angel (Guitarra acústica)

Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons. Puede copiar, redistribuir y modificar el contenido siempre y cuando mencione ésta entrada como fuente original.

Final Fantasy 7 Boss Battle
Rafa Quiroga on de Drums

I love Final Fantasy music and some of the games, sadly I can’t say the same for them all. Final Fantasy had some of the more catchier stuff than I’ve heard from the others. Loved FF8’s and FF9’s soundtrack, but my ears go out to FF7 from the series. Music student I know had mentioned that a theory professor played the fairy theme from Legend of Zelda in a class I dropped, so I’m looking forward to any cool things like that next year. That was erratically mentioned, how about we go back to Final Fantasy.

Recently I’ve been listening to Final Fantasy 9 music and finding it to be pretty decent, but not everything I would hope for. I see the directions where it was going, but ehh…not something to make me buy the soundtrack. I thank youtube and other places for the free hearing. That’s all I need really now of these days, not so much the downloading. I’ve been deleting most of my stuff anyways, I don’t find it very enriching to the soul  by having this music on reserve and not even liking 80 percent of the albums/soundtracks. Uhh, what was I talking about again. Final Fantasy! That’s it.

I wanted to choose  a drumming (Drummer’s name is Rafa Quiroga) cover rather than a guitar one, because I honestly don’t want to hear another one unless it’s in person. Youtube has been my hero for game covers, but I want to look for quality covers in person or good recording, not from Youtube’s streaming. I digress.

Like free music? http://trace-of-mechanical-movement.tumblr.com/ Random I know, and completely unrelated. But I like plugging other composers and musicians music if they publicly acknowledge it’s free. Back to the theory books for me.

I’ve found my self pretty wrapped up in a lot of Final Fantasy recently.  I’ve been replaying Final Fantasy 7 and I’ve also been really wrapped up in Crisis Core, which is the prequel to 7.  You play the energetic Zack Fair, who will eventually pass along the iconic Buster Sword that Cloud is so well known for.

Zack Fair, along with Cloud, Aerith, and Genesis

But my escapades into the Final Fantasy world doesn’t end there.  Oh no, I had to be a fanboy and purchase Dissidia: Final Fantasy.  Perhaps I’ll review in the upcoming days but I want more play time until I can really judge.  In brief explanation, the Cosmos and Chaos are at war and have recruited mostly all the main character and villains from all the Final Fantasy games up to FF X.  So on the good side you’ve got Terra, Cloud, Squall, Tidus and more against Garland, Exdeath, Sephiroth, and Kefka.  Call it the best FF game ever, or nothing more than a big fan service, but I have high hopes and I’ll be giving it my thoughts soon enough.

I’ve also found myself occupied by another game, thankfully not one of the FF series, but a game I think most people pass over when looking in the games section.  The game was Eat Lead: the Return of Matt Hazard.  Its parody third person shooter about a former video game superstar, Matt Hazard who fell from the top, and his fight to top again.  When I first saw the cover, I thought it was going to be another generic, gun metal grey shooter with nothing.  But then i was informed that Neal Patrick Harrison was off the character voices and I was sold.  In first impressions, it really uses the duck-and-cover style combat that Gears of War used, not to mention the game uses a lot of humor.  I’ll let everybody know how it goes Moneday

Ever since the birth of the internet we’ve been given the ability to transfer information with our fellow man and in turn it has opened our eyes to a brave new world. Sadly; the harsh, cold, and stupid truth is that, as humans we love to beat a dead horse and thanks to the internet that fact is illuminated for the whole world to see. In this top 5 for today I’m going to list off all of the video game trends/memes that I believe should die.

5- Atlas is who?!

Yes we get it, big Bioshock twist, “Atlas is Fontaine!”. It was funny then but after a while you get completely sick of hearing about it. I have to note that you don’t hear it very often anymore but at the time of release it was a stupid device people used to make fun of others. What bothered me is how high and mighty people acted when they used this minor spoiler and then acted like jerks to people who got angry about it. Sure, it wasn’t a big spoiler but just because one person is bothered by spoilers doesn’t mean they’re stupid in any respect. Some people just can’t help but sit on their high horse about not caring. I say bullshit, these things do have the potential to ruin a player’s experience in a game, if you end up losing all interest in something when you already expect it to happen then that’s fine. I personally don’t worry about spoilers, I like to enjoy the journey of the game, but I do understand how a minor spoiler can ruin a person’s interest. There’s no reason to act like a dick about that.

4- Aerith dies?!?!?

Yes, she’s dead and she’s not coming back.

3- 3rd Person “Stop and Pop” Gameplay

When Gears of War first came out the concept of “Stop and Pop” gameplay was only explored in one other game (Kill.Switch) but now its found in nearly every 3rd person shooter. Here’s my problem, this mechanic was interesting when it was first done in Kill.Switch and then improved upon in Gears of War, but now its become over done and boring. I want us to be able to move on, go on a see new things, meet new people, but no we get this, we get the same trite with every other release .

2- Portal Memes

I once had someone say to me that, “The internet ruined Portal”, I wouldn’t go as far to say that memes ruined the game but it definitely hampered my enjoyment. I want to mention that I’m not really a puzzle game fan, actually I despise them, but I did want to give Portal a chance. After hearing “The cake is a lie” the umpteenth time I ended up growing sick of the damn game. I just want the memes to die out so I can stop thinking about them, I want to enjoy the game!

1- Mini Game Compilations

Since the Wii’s launch mini game compilations have been topping the charts in sales, this bothers the fuck out of me, because of the “Casual Market” developers have been churning out iteration after iteration and making bank. I’m starting to fear the market saturation might lead to something bad occurring in the future. Its the same reason why I’m bothered by the overuse of “Stop and Pop” gameplay, everything is starting to feel boring, people don’t want to innovate because they don’t think innovation will sell. There is so much good that can come out of the Wii but as long as we continue to churn out the same old garbage we’ll never see it.

Its done, its over, Final Fantasy 7 has been completed. I’m surprised by how little time it took to finish the game, when I first played FF7 3 discs of content seemed like a hurdle I could never get over. It’s an odd feeling actually finishing the game, I’ve spent over 8 grueling years battling with myself, trying to force myself to reach the end, but each time I ended up unsuccessful. Now, I’ve done it, its over and it feels…like I achieved nothing.

You know that feeling when something has become so over hyped that when it finally comes its extremely underwhelming? Yeah, that was the situation here with the ending of FF7. I’ve always wanted to finish this game. So much so that once I did, I ended up thinking to myself, “That’s it?”. It was just another game, and that’s it. Not some life changing experience , no grand finale…Well in all honesty I didn’t expect it to be life changing but with all this time leaving it undone, the ending feels like it falls short.

The last dungeon in FF7 bothered me, the foes you encounter tend to be a lot more difficult than what you’re used to. Many enemies would use strong one-hit moves and overly powerful skills. Here’s what bugs me about this, throughout the bulk of the game the enemies are fairly forgiving, you begin to understand how they all think but by the last dungeon they ramp it up two folds. My problem is that there isn’t any gradual build up, they just spike up. I wasn’t prepared. This last level was a shock to me, out of nowhere I was getting hit with attacks that have only been used against me in a boss battle. After my frustrations levels increased I nearly quit all together. I was ready to drop the game, I was done for good.

I think this is where, what destructoid writer Jim Sterling calls, “Final Dungeon Syndrome” comes from. Its when people drop a JRPG when they reach the final dungeon. I find that they end up becoming too overwhelmingly difficult , to the point where a player may be too uninspired to continue on with the game. I had to muster up a lot of persistence in me to continue playing FF7.

But yeah, bitching aside, the game was still time well spent. I’m glad I’m able to knock a game off the list.

Speaking of which, I realize I’m completely moving away from the games I put on my list. In retrospect the list thing was a bad idea in general, there’s no way I’m going to dedicate my time to the same 10 or so games. My mind changes, you know?

Which also bring me to my next point, next week I’m going to be updating on two games, Persona 3 and SMT:Devil Survivor. Yeah I know, two games, I don’t think I can do it either. We’ll see next week.

In other news, I figured out what I want to do on the whole daily article thing. I’m going to do daily articles but there’s going to be a twist. I’ll be doing a certain theme each week. For example, the first week I’m planning to do are daily lists (Lists I know sorry, I wanted to start with something easy). So yeah, be expecting one of those…today.

Its been a slow week. I’ve ended up having to do real life stuff so the gaming has been hampered slightly this week. Good news is, I still made some good progress in Final Fantasy 7 and I have to say, I’m really starting to enjoy myself.

You know what I said about the materia system last week? Yeah, I take that back. I’ve learned that even though you can put apply role to any character you feel like, it doesn’t mean that its the best idea. I knew this before but each character has stats that cater to a certain role. Turns out that’s making all the difference for me. I set up Cloud as the main fighter and he tends to excel much more at that then as that, I just didn’t think he’d be this effective.

I’m starting to get into this groove that I normally get into when I play JRPGS. Its the groove where I’m able to grind for hours on end. I’ve managed to hit the sweet spot and now I find myself grinding for 5-6 hours.

There’s one thing that’s bothering me about the game so far. I’ve picked up the two optional characters: Yuffie, and Vincent. Now, out of the fact that they are optional characters they don’t really have any impact on the main story. They have sidequests but when its time for dialogue to go on with the main characters for the main story, those two characters tend to add nothing. Yuffie’s dialogue consists of her talking about how she wants to find some materia. The weird thing is, Yuffie ends up saying that at inappropriate times, during a dramatic scene if you go talk to her most of the time she’ll comment on being bored and wishing she could get her hands on some materia.

I’m grinding through it but I’m hoping to have it done by next week. After I’m going to finish Metal Gear Solid 3 and then Yakuza, so stay tuned!

Also, I’m planning on doing a new feature for this blog. I’m still not sure on what I want to do but I think its going to lean towards doing something on a daily basis. I’ve been reading this small blog (DownWriteFierce.com) and they do a daily feature and “One Paragraph Game Reviews”. I think it might be fun to do something like that to help update this blog more often, as it stands all I’m doing is updating the blog weekly. Who knows, I’ll update on that topic a little later into the week.

Last week I mentioned that I probably would be changing up the list this time around and well, I did. I added Final Fantasy 7 and decided to play it this week. Only about 12 hours were spent on the game so this will probably be a short blog.

Final Fantasy 7 is…well, its Final Fantasy 7. That’s almost all I can say. Its really hard to make any comments on a game that is so widely talked about and as old as FF7; nearly everything I have to say has already been said. That’s really part of the problem I have with Final Fantasy 7. Its been talked about so much to the point where the game almost feels uninteresting to me. It doesn’t excite me anymore, I’m bored of it. Every character and story point has been discussed so much that its reached this point where I, first off, know everything there is to know about the game, and I’m already so utterly sick of hearing about these characters that I don’t want to see them.

That being said, I’m still finding the persistence in me to keep going. I’m even starting to enjoy the characters a lot more than I originally thought I was going to. The characters have a certain charm to them, a certain aesthetic appeal to them. Squaresoft really had a good vision of what an aesthetically pleasing character is supposed to be. Each character in the game has a certain feature that is memorable: Barret has a Gatling gun in place of his missing hand, Cloud has his iconic spikey hair and Buster Sword, Red XIII is…a talking lion thing. These characters are what people consistently reference when they talk about FF7 because of their amazing designs. I admit the graphics are extremely dated but the idea still stands as it is.

The last thing I want to comment on is the Materia System. I hate it. Since the game is so dated I wont go into full detail as to how the system works. You can probably check it out somewhere or I’m assuming you know how it works already…also I’m a lazy writer. The Materia System holds many similarities to Final Fantasy 8’s Junction system, in that it allows you to apply any skill you choose to any character that you want. Sure, certain character’s stats cater a certain set of skills but it still feels like it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. I find it very easy to turn every character into a magic user and spam magic attacks. I tend finish fights with this method just as efficiently as putting characters into their proper roles would. Cloud doesn’t need to be a front line melee fighter, I get the same affect from using magic with him, sometimes even a better affect. It begins to lose its challenge and it feels cheap after wards. I prefer Final Fantasy 9’s combat system where it applies certain roles to characters, that way I actually am making some differences in my character choices. In FF7 my characters are just stock characters, I can make them what ever I want because their roles in the party are completely flexible. I REALLY don’t like that.

Okay I guess that’s it for now, like I mentioned its a short one, not much to say in regards of the game. I’ve found myself buying too many games as it is. I’m having a hard time catching up with my back log…I should stop doing that, maybe just a bit.

Today, video game music is much like a movie score, featuring real orchestration, hours of tracks and sometimes composed by the very same men and women writing for film. Gone are the days of midis or 100% computer-generated, simple tunes, which some would say is a very good thing.

Some, but not all. There are those like myself who miss a lot of the video game music we grew up with and enjoy the sounds of all the games we used to love. I remember Donkey Kong Country and its beats, unique at the time and a blast to listen to as you explored the jungles. Then there was Super Mario RPG, which brought the drama and triumph of Squaresoft’s usual tracks to Mario’s usual sound. And, of course, one can never forget Sephiroth’s theme from the epic Final Fantasy VII.

Now, thanks to a few DJs and mashup geniuses, though, the songs you know and love are back with a modern pop or hip-hop twist. Here are two awesome mashup albums you can download for free that bring the VG past into the music of today!

First up, here’s Valley of Walls’ Super Smashup Bros, a compilation of various hits from video games like Sonic the Hedgehog and FF7 mashed up with songs from the likes of Lady Gaga and Beyonce.

The track-listing includes songs like “Crank Dat One Winged Angel”, “I Know You Want Wario Stadium”, “Smithy Puts a Ring on it” and “99 Problems Zone”. It’s definitely worth a listen, so you can click the pic above or just click here to check out Valley of Walls’ site.

And for something more specific, check out Norweigan Recycling’s DONKEY BUSINESS!

Featuring music from the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, this album boasts some pretty impressive tracks from the likes of Michael Jackson, Timbaland and Usher. Songs like “The Way Blast Barrels Are”, “I Wish I had Life Balloons” or “Billie Jean Kong” aren’t just cute mashups, they’re quality on their own. If you were a fan of the game or if you’re just seeking a neat addition to your iPod, look no further! You can download it right here. Plus, check out some of his other musical works on the main page.

(imagen de http://www.cafepress.com/cloudstrife)

el día en que cloud dijo woof!

Cloud Strife, mercenario por denominación propia y el hombre más (bueno, mas o menos, quizá Vincent Valentine le ganara en eso) estoico del mundo, abrió los ojos adormilado. Se sentía muy bien, calentito en su camita. Nada podía molestarlo en esta mañana dominguera, nada, ni siquiera la pesada de Yuffie con sus condenadas llamadas al móvil.

O eso creía.

De repente un estruendoso ruido lo hizo levantarse de un salto y caer en cuatro patas al suelo. ¿Cuatro patas?

Aquí había algo raro.

Cloud levantó su hociquito y olfateó… ¿olfateó? Que me estáis contando. Las personas no olfatean. Por lo menos, no las personas dentro del canon de la normalidad generalmente aceptada, dentro del cual Cloud definitivamente no entraba, así que… quizá Cloud si olfateara. El caso es que algo raro pasaba aquí.

El estruendoso ruido no paraba y Cloud se esforzó por cubrirse los oídos, pero no pudo, porque no tenía manos, sino patitas y llenas de pelo blanco.

Oh, no.

Quizá fuera algo relacionado con los genes de Jenova dormitando en él. Sabía que debería haberle comprado esa poción al imbécil de Hojo. Pero no, no podía ser.

De repente, el ruido cesó. Cloud volvió a olfatear el aire y cuando supo que nada pasaba, suspiró y pensó que mejor se iba a la cama, porque su perfecta mañana dominguera estaba resultando ser muy rara y no quería arruinarla más estando consciente para cualquier otra eventualidad que pudiera ocurrir. No, gracias. Mejor se iba a dormir otra vez, porque cuando llegara Tifa ya habría tiempo de averiguar qué había pasado. A él no le podía importar lo más mínimo. Su cama calentita lo llamaba.

Y si se había convertido ‘mágicamente’ en perro, vale. Mejor, así no tendría que volver a salvar al estúpido mundo que siempre lograba meterse en líos. Que se salvara a sí mismo por una vez.

Y en un lugar del mundo muy lejano…  

“¿Cloud?”

Denzel y Marlene miraban boquiabiertos a su amigo/padre adoptivo, normalmente tan silencioso y estoico, olfatear el trasero de Barret, quien entraba en el Seventh Heaven con una expresión de asco y horror.

“Óyeme, pelo-pincho, ¡esas cosas raras las guardas para otro!”

“Maldito chiflado, finalmente se le subió a la cabeza todo eso del desorden de personalidad,” dijo Cid entrando detrás de Barret.

“Creo… que no es Cloud.”

Todos miraron a Marlene sorprendidos, menos Vincent, quien nunca puede poner cara de sorprendido.

“Claro que es Cloud, Marlene, ¿no ves esos pelos de Chocobo que tiene?” le preguntó Barret.

“Pero… es que está muy feliz.”

Tifa sonrió. “Bueno, ¿no te gusta más así?”

Marlene lo pensó un momento, luego asintió energéticamente.

“… Tifa, ¿qué le pasa, en serio?” preguntó Cloud en voz baja, una vez que Marlene se hubo alejado para tirarle la pelota a su nuevo amigo Cloud-actuando-como-perro.

“No sé, pero no dejen que Yuffie se entere-,”

“OMG, ¡un perro ha poseído el cuerpo de Cloud!”

“Demasiado tarde. ¿Qué tal pequeñaja?”

Yuffie entró en el bar, seguida de Reeve Tuesti y al ver a Cloud jugando con Marlene, se quedó pasmada. Reeve simplemente puso los ojos en blanco y llamó a Shinra, para ver qué podían hacer para resolver el presente… dilema.

“¿Alguien tiene otra teoría, más… coherente?”

“Fue secuestrado por extraterrestres que hicieron experimentos sobre él.”

“Demasiado presión hizo reventar su cerebro.”

“¿Un hombre-lobo lo mordió?”

Todos callaron, quedándose quietos al oír un ladrido de la boca de Cloud. O algo que parecía un ladrido.

“Yo sigo creyendo que los genes de Jenova se le subieron a la cabeza.”

Vous conaissez surement la légendaire saga des Final Fantasy, ces jeux ont toujours un scénario très travaillé. Si travaillé qu’une personne en a même fait un récit ! Cette personne se nomne Menecia et c’est un véritable roman au format PDF qu’elle nous donne. Je vous fait partager cette petite pépite et je vous invite a aller télecharger le roman sur son site