CYBORG HAVEN 2.0

CYBORG HAVEN 2.0
5 YEARS ON THE INTERNET

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Should I Play Final Fantasy XIII? Also: Versus XIII Game Play

I recently found out from the Final Fantasy Union website that there is going to be a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, and it’s apparently named for now Final Fantasy XIII-2.

I have a demo of FF XIII that comes with the Blu-Ray for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. I’ve never tried the demo yet. But I want to, because I don’t want to at least miss out on that. I haven’t finished FF XII, but it is a very different story so I am not going to worry about that (I should still return to it though. I mean, I bought it, I have to finish it at some point :D ).

Now that I know that there is going to be a sequel to this latest FF, I am curious as to how it turned out in the end that made it seem like it should have a second part.

I also decided to check out another one of my favorite websites, http://www.ff-versusxiii.net/ and I found that there is some new game play footage released. This is the new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII for 2011. To be honest, I am relieved that the subtitles for the dialogue are still in Japanese kanji; I don’t want the dialogue/plot stuff to be revealed right away anyway. I got a big kick out of the game play content that the trailer included. It looks so fun to play—probably because the workings for it are very similar to the game play action from the main Kingdom Hearts titles. There is some real-time stuff that happens during the game-play (like explosions) and Noctis reacts to them simultaneously. So cool!! This video game is THE REASON I wanted to have a Playstation 3.

Here is a direct link to where I found the 2011 trailer for FF Versus XIII:
http://www.ff-versusxiii.net/index.php?page=article&article=Final-Fantasy-Versus-XIII-HD-Trailer--643

Monday, January 17, 2011

New Year, New Habits

The New Year has started and I don’t think I even touched my PS2 or my PSP so far. Maybe I needed a break from gaming? I dunno. It is still one of my favorite pastimes. I guess after finishing Crisis Core near the end of last year, I feel like, “Gosh is there any other video game as good as this?”

I need to return to the list of games I started but haven’t finished yet. That should get me started. Of course, that will include Mega Man X: Command Mission and Mega Man X8.   I probably shouldn't buy any more new video games until I finish at least five of the ones I already have  :D !  And Dissidia: FF is going to keep me busy on the PSP for a long while.

Other Video Games I Haven’t Played in a Long While That I Should Return To

Sonic Unleashed (the latest Sonic Game I have)

Final Fantasy XII (I’m supposed to be in the Stilshrine Miriam now…)

Sonic Rivals 2 (Stupid elusive Chao…stupid Sonic…LET SHADOW WIN!!)

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Why do I neglect NiGHTS so?)

Devil May Cry 4 (Yeah…because I only just started it.)

Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (uh, yeah…this game too)


Lately I've been having dreams that included Cloud Strife, even Zack Fair,  and/or Vincent Valentine.  The graphics were as good as FFVII: Advent Children Complete.  I feel like even though I've sort of already finished Dirge of Cerberus: FFVII, I should give the Extra Missions a try.  The extra missions in Crisis Core seem more appealing to me though (more than the ones in Dirge of Cerberus).  That could be because I am not that good at aiming Vincent's Cerberus at things.  I just make him shoot and hope that the target mark stays where it's supposed to so that he gets a hit.    I should just go for it and give Vincent's game a chance again.  That mysterious Vincent...I am all of a sudden interested in his mysteriousness again.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

In a Final Fantasy VII Mood ^8^

As I’ve said, I am in a Final Fantasy VII craze phase. I found my copy of the FFVII OST and imported my favorite tunes from the game into my iTunes library. My number one tracks are “Holding My Thoughts in my Heart,” “Anxious Heart,” “Life Stream,” “Tifa’s Theme,” “Highwind Takes to the Skies,” among others. I like “Aeris’ Theme” too; I just avoid it most of the time. “Cait Sith’s Theme” always makes me smile and snap my fingers! “Sandy Badlands” has been stuck in my head multiple times last year.

Aside from listening to music from the original Final Fantasy VII, I am thinking about buying the OST for Crisis Core: FFVII, maybe within the next couple of months. I have some new iTunes credit, so I won’t feel guilty buying it. I’ll see.

Now the more interesting part: I have been watching funny videos/dubs of either game on YouTube. The guys at The Lifestream.net are doing a play through of the original game while providing commentary at the same time. It’s interesting listening to what they have to say about the story and characters. But what I really enjoyed though is the hilarious videos on YouTube coming from a group of young comedians SonsofSatire.  I noticed that they have a parody dub of Crisis Core. I watched up to Chapter 12 of that series, called Crisis Core Dub Parody. Then I found out that SonsofSatire also are working on a parody dub of Final Fantasy VII, called Final Fantasy VII: The Abridged Series. I’m like Hell yeah I wanna check that out! And I’m glad I did. I LOVED episode one. Every intro is slightly different (Kyol who voices Cloud sings different lyrics for the beginning song each episode).

I found out SonsofSatire also did a parody dub of Last Order: FFVII, but I think I should stay away from that until I’ve seen it one more time. I’ve seen it twice already, but that was maybe over a year and a half ago.

Also I am curious about the CloudxZack doujinshi scans on YouTube. ‘Nuff said about that.

Noseless Cloud is getting more attention from me. I always keep him on my bed, but for two nights so far, I found myself holding his plush hand for comfort. I give him more squeeshy hugs.

Here is the first episode of both the Crisis Core Dub Parody and Final Fantasy VII The Abridged Series.

 
 

 
I almost died laughing after this one XD!!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

My Reflections on Finishing Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

THERE ARE SPOILERS.  So if you haven't finished the game, skip reading this post.


So, it’s been eleven days since I finished this game. I had to give myself some distance from watching the ending since I was still a bit sensitive about it. Yes, I cried, I believe I said that already did I? I didn’t sob, but the tears kept coming during the ending scene and through the end credits.

I left off right before Zack was to enter the Portal called the Light of Doom. So I ended up going ahead and going to where Zack felt Genesis was. First there was a scene, and then the battle begins. Even if Zack has the Libra materia equipped, the number of Genesis’ HP doesn’t show. I just had to keep attacking and attacking. And not at Genesis directly: for this battle, his sword is the weakness. He doesn’t have it low enough for Zack to hit it all the time. And if that’s not enough, there are minions that try to slow down Zack’s progress of defeating Genesis. Sigh, this battle is going to go on forever, is it?!! I wouldn’t even know how finished I am since his HP won’t show. I kept using my Dark Firaga spell and Cissnei gave Zack the Lucky Stars ability multiple times. I used up my magic points quickly because Dark Firaga takes around 32 or so points at a time. Luckily I had plenty of Ether I gathered over time to help me out. I used an Elixir to save Zack’s life as well. Cloud was a good boy and helped out Zack as well, along with Angeal and, uh, Aeris.

Genesis actually helped out Zack in the DMW. How IRONIC is that for this battle?

After some time that I didn’t take into account, I finally won this fight against Genesis. But I only thought I was done; there was yet another fight Zack needed to win against Genesis. At least this time I can see his max HP: 99,999. WOW. The battle was speedy because I used Dark Firaga. I forgot if Graviga was effective or not. I would have to play the battle again and see. But the fight went very fast for me, too fast in fact.

I realized to my horror there were no more save points since the point right before the battles with Genesis. At this point I believe I’d finish the game that night. Looking back at it now, I see that it was not necessary to have any more save points. There would be no more game to play afterwards. It turned out I was right.

After another few scenes come up, and before I knew it, Zack was on the truck already. I said out loud, “Oh no, ohhh no, here it is.” All I could do was watch on. So I did.

Turns out, there is one more battle Zack still needs to do. And the developers (and Tetsuya Nomura, I have to guess) decided that he’d give players the experience of fighting Zack’s last battle, the one against the Shinra soldiers. This battle was very different though. As Zack fought, his DMW seemed to be malfunctioning. I thought that was really weird, but then I think it makes sense what the developers were trying to do making the DMW unavailable. I mean, it still appeared, but some characters were missing and there were no matches. Pretty much the only thing that the characters in the DMW did to help was Zack’s memory of them, saying to “hang on” and “don’t give up.” I believe it was Cloud who said “hang on,” but again I didn’t take notes.  :(  I think Zack was too distracted for the DMW to work properly, not to mention that he fought bunch after bunch after bunch of soldiers with no end in sight. I found a really good comment from someone on The Lifestream.net who explained the significance of the DMW’s malfunction. I responded to his comment, agreeing with him and thanking him (I put myself there as “Sara,” by the way).

LINK:  (This is the title of the post in which I responded to a comment in The Lifestream.net)

I knew what was going to happen, but I wanted to have Zack fight as long as he can, because I wanted to fight as long as I can. I used my most powerful materia, slashed again and again, healed Zack again and again, and dodged attacks. I did everything in my power. There was just too many of those soldiers, and I felt as overwhelmed as Zack must have felt. I personally was fighting for Cloud, but as well as for him, Zack also fought for SOLDIER honor. It was just so touching to be involved in that part of the game, in this part of the story.

The last wave of soldiers was very difficult, with the DMW almost gone. I lasted as long as I did, and then it was the end of it. And then this rookie infantryman just had to walk up to Zack and look down at him, like “I’m going to fill you with more bullets,” and I was so angry. I saw it happen in the original game, but in full FMV from Zack’s point of view, it was so frustrating. There was nothing that could be done. Zack was trapped.

As for the finishing scene, well, I don’t have to tell you much about that at the moment. I always cry when best friends are separated by death, and that was the most painful example of it.   Maybe I’ll do an analysis of the ending scene of Crisis Core sometime in the future, after watching it again. There is so much to say about it and this post is long enough already :D Sigh.

Thus I am in a Final Fantasy VII craze phase.

@,@