My New Video: Vincent's Time To Shine

It's Vincent Valentine's birthday today: October 13th.  Cenzo (Vincent) is feeling egotistical today so he blocks Cloud from view on the poster.  He wants us to know that he is a Final Fantasy VII hero too.

Happy Birthday Vincent Valentine!

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!!!

Finished Crisis Core!!!!!!

A-WHUUH?  OH, THAT IS SOOOO

NOT FAIR, CLOUD!!!

Yes, I FINALLY finished Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, six minutes into Christmas morning.  So that was 12:06am.  Gosh there's something wrong with me :P just kidding!

I will write my reflections on the game play towards the ending of the game in the next post for Crisis Core.  It was quite the experience, I gotta tell you.  This has been one of the best video games I've ever played.  And I finished this game before even finishing the original Final Fantasy VII.  I still have one more disc to go on that one!

Now I have to remove Crisis Core from the " Video Games I've Yet to Finish" List because I beat the game.  It's just that I still would like to play more of the side missions.  I only got through 39% of those.   This way I can still play as Zack ^,^.

So again, more on this later.  I want to write the reflections on this game carefully.

Finally Uploaded Videos to my Channel

I finally got to uploading my Noseless Cloud plushie videos for my YouTube channel.  I can't do it on my computer because the computer in my bedroom is not compatible with the Flip Camcorder.  The software is too new for this old thing.

Anyway, these are only two of the videos, in which I make fun of my Noseless Cloud doll.  There is more, but I will submit them to my channel later.

Enjoy!  ^,^

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmethystAnne001

EDIT:  The videos are a bit stop-and-go at the moment.  Sis says I'll need to compress them and re-upload.

This is what a Noseless Cloud is...

The title of my channel AmethystAnne001 is called "Home of the Noseless Cloud."  So, this is what I mean by that:

I think most anime/video game character plushies are not given a nose,

adding to their adorableness.

I bought this Cloud Plushie at this Japanese pop store called Sugoi Life, and it's

within the Northridge Fashion Center area, just outside the movie theaters.  Once I saw this plushie

I had to pick it up and  hold it until I was ready to pay.  There were only two

of them there and I held on to the one with plastic wrapping that

didn't look so beat up.  I was going to get a Cloud Plushie at the

Anime Los Angeles Convention next year, but it might be sold out like last time. 

 I thought,"While I'm here, I better buy one now." 

So this is the Nose-less Cloud.

Because he doesn't have a nose.

What about Final Fantasy VERSUS XIII?

Isn’t the game play for this title supposed to be something similar to Kingdom Hearts? Well, it hasn’t been seen by anyone in the U.S. at this point, I’m sure.

I wonder if the Tokyo Game Show 2010 is going to show anything about Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Hah, no Keyblades here, folks. I like this whole “magical sword” thing going on. I also wonder how Noctis got those powers. Was he born with them, or did he acquire them between his birth and the throne?

At an Anime Los Angeles convention I saw two cosplayers, one dressed up as Noctis and the other dressed up as Cloud. They were walking together. Together! O M G   FAAAAN   FIK-SHUN!!

So like what if Cloud Strife and Noctis were in the same, uh, story? They wear similar clothes, similar hairstyles, they both hardly smile…And hey, it’s Cloud’s big-ass Buster Sword versus Noctis’ many magical swords, and uh, other things I don’t know about yet. Sigh. Where did I read it? I learned that character designer Tetsuya Nomura is doing the character design for Versus XIII, which is another reason…what am I rambling about? I think after a while of not playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy, and then getting back to it again (after MMX drove me nuts), I start wondering what would happen if THIS character were to be up against THAT character. Man, I guess D:FF has a sneaky way of doing this to Final Fantasy fans. Okay, here’s another one: Lulu versus Lightning. Or…Tidus versus Jecht? Ha ha ha, that one’s already being done. And then the winner of the fight gets to, uh, I dunno, eat some cake or something. Gosh, I’m random this time….

DISSIDIA on March 23

Yayyy, I played Dissidia Final Fantasy on a Bonus Day!!! I started Cloud’s Destiny Odyssey VII.  It was time for Cloud to level up some more anyway, and the best day to do it is on a bonus day.  More Gil, more PP, more AP and more, uh…yes, more Experience Points definitely!!

The first battle I did in DO VII-3 was against the Ephemeral Phantom, so it was Cloud versus Jecht, DP +1: Win the battle.  Hur-yayyy!  Easy, cuz Cloud was close to level 20 and the fake Jecht was level 13.  I left off at DO VII-4.  I did a few battles and then halted level progression.

Firion is  now level 11, Onion Knight is level 4, Cloud is level 21 (from 16) because of his DO during Bonus Day. I enjoyed watching Cloud talk to Firion, Tidus and Cecil about the reason to fight.  Nyaww. It’s like, Wow, they are all having a conversation with each other (I should do a blog post specifically about this conversation... a mini essay, maybe).  I cannot hear Cloud having any other English voice other than Steve Burton.  And then the Cloud versus Firion battle was easy for me, only because I leveled up Cloud plenty before even starting his DO.  I like their conversations about the reason to fight, and I like how Cloud responds with a blink every other time, and then speaks.  So quiet and shy ^,^

"Uh...unhh...I dunno...I just..."

Best Cloud line ever!!!  o,0

 

I started playing as Jecht, Tidus'  overly-masculine daddy.  I’m more comfortable playing as Jecht than playing as Tidus…I don't have to be nice to Tidus all the time, why should I?  He's annoyingly cheerful and creating an imbalance in the mopey mood everyone else has...except for Zidane and Bartz, cuz their cheerfulness is adorable.  Tidus' cheerfulness is, um...exaggerated?  So as Jecht I say,  “Wipe that smile off yer dam face, son!”  Kicked his sunny ass twice in a row as Jecht. Yeyah!  Then later I gave the Onion Knight equipment, and gave Kuja some leather armor.  No sword for Kuja though, since she he doesn’t fight with swords.

Cloud said some new victory lines as I played his Destiny Odyssey:

• “Can’t smile about this one.”

• “I won’t sleep well tonight.”

• “Man, I need a shower…” (Actually, he didn’t say this one, but I want him to.)

He also said for a new encounter voice, “Guess I have to…”

Anyone wonder why Sephiroth can be shirtless, but Cloud can’t? [sings the chorus to John Mayer’s “Your Body is a Wonderland…”]

RETURN TO CRISIS CORE: FFVII on March 5

Yaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!

So I finally returned to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and let me tell you guys, it was well over a month since I last put this game in my PSP.  I checked the previous file and it indicated 1-30-10 was the last time I played it.  Well, it’s about time.

(SPOILERS Probably...)  I really like how Zack is handling Cloud. He could probably put him over his shoulder and carry him, but he helps him walk.  Buddy bonding…Nyaaww, how nice.  They are still trying to get out of Nibelhiem.  Once they reach the area in Nibelhiem where there are houses, a group of soldiers try to stop Zack, and Zack has to fight them.  One of them tries to take Cloud away.  I can’t get to him until I take out all the other soldiers. Poor Cloud, they’re just dragging him like he’s some bag of….something.  Another soldier tries to take Cloud, then another…

After all that fighting, they “regroup” back to the Shinra Manor.  They go to the bedroom and that is where they rest for the night, and also that is where Zack gives Cloud his change of clothes. O.0…Nuff said about that :3 Then Zack decided he should go to Midgar cuz he remembers about Aeris’ tiny wishes. He asks Cloud, “You wanna come with me?”  Uh, as if Cloud has any SAY in the matter, Zack, jeez!   He can’t move or say worth a sh** while he’s poisoned with Mako.

There was different music playing in the background while Zack was fighting the soliers earlier.  As they are leaving Nibelhiem, there is yet again different music playing, unlike the other songs that played in any of the areas.  It could be because it’s an area that Zack never went to before.  Okay, that makes sense.  So then Zack comes across these patrol machines that he has to use sniper rifles to destroy.  I think, “Oh no, I am usually not good at these things…I mean, I was below par in Dirge of Cerberus for any missions that needed sniping.”  I think I had about 7 FLED points total, so I couldn’t use those to upgrade the sniper rifle. But I definitely did very well in the enemies that appear on Zack’s field.  Those helped me upgrade the rifle to Attack Power LV4, Steady Aim LV 3, Wide Area LV 3 and a Smart Bomb.

Roughly an hour after I started playing the game, I found a save point.  I knew one was coming because I looked at the map for the area and saw the symbol for it, and I’m like, “Okay, that is where I am going to stop for the session.”  There is an ocean view and the full moon at night.  How romantic, isn’t it?  Anyway, I have a feeling that the next time I get to Crisis Core I am going to finish it.  Friday was not a good day to do it.  I’d be returning to Mega Man X later that day.  At least I moved on a little further into the story of Crisis Core, and that’s what I wanted to do.

My Interpretation of my Crisis Core poster

Back in January 8-10, I went to the Anime Los Angeles 6 convention. This was my third anime convention, and I didn’t get a regular poster yet (I got wall scrolls in the past, though) until this third time. This time, one poster I did pick up was one with three characters from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII: Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, and Sephiroth. I thought I’d never have this image as a poster. But now I do. ^,^ Here’s a LINK to what it looks like (even though this image is from the cover of an import book in Anime Castle and there is Japanese text on it).

After some time passed, I started to look at the poster in a different way. I have it placed on the back of my bedroom door so I see it every morning and every night. Then at some point, I came up with some sort of interpretation of the way the characters are standing and positioned in the poster.  They are each looking at a different direction, and I believe this has a significant meaning, which I will get to little by little.

Let’s start with the lighting. The light source seems to be coming from the left side. It doesn’t seem that there are other main light sources. It doesn’t seem to be sunlight, but it can be seen that way.

Now let’s look at the positions of the characters. Sephiroth is standing facing the right, behind Zack and Cloud. He is holding his Masamune sword. Zack stands closer, holding his Buster sword behind his back, facing the left, and Cloud is in the foreground looking the other way.

After deducing where the light is coming from, I looked at what Sephiroth is doing. He is facing away from the light. He is facing the darker side. He is holding his sword, ready to kill anyone who gets in his way.  He has his mind on fulfilling Jenova's goal.

Now let’s look at Zack Fair. He is fully facing the lighter side with confidence.. He is holding the Buster Sword (honor sword) behind him and has a serious expression on his face, a proud expression, perhaps reflecting on his SOLDIER Honor. Though his heart is heavy with the loss of his mentor Angeal, it is also light with the desire to reach his dream of becoming a hero, and being successful in the world.

Last but not least, let’s look at Cloud Strife. Cloud is in the foreground, with his body facing the left, but his head turned to the right. His eyes are downcast; he is reluctant to face the light. He is looking back at the times he was weak and not able to be his best whenever it was his time to fight. Also, this is Cloud after he and Zack escaped from Nibelhiem on their way to Midgar (he is wearing his FFVII outfit, not the FFVII:AC outfit). He is reluctant to face this light because he is full of guilt for not being able to be strong enough to protect Zack in the past. He feels guilty because of this weakness. Cloud worries if he will ever be strong enough. He is in between the light and the darkness (implied by the left side of his face in the shadow), and his facial expression is that of sadness, as he is lost in thought.  So saaaad...

Now everyone go: AWWWWWW.  :3

So how does that sound? I may be over-doing the interpretation, and also I could be wrong. It’s just my personal thoughts on how to see these three characters in the poster. Let me know what you think.  Or don't.  I just thought it would be interesting to share.  :) 

Crisis Core on Jan. 30th-31st, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the post "Crisis Core on January 30th-31st."  ^,^ <3
    

The second part of the battle against Sephiroth is about to begin. The screen says "If you are driven to the edge, the game is over."

• "The fight with Sephiroth is not quite finished, so I'll see how it goes.  Oh, and 'One-Winged Angel' is playing, too."
• "31,000 HP now!!"
• "Ha ha, you didn't get me!.....How did my DMW go back to normal??"
• "At least he doesn't have to get behind me anymore.......Take that!.......Nooo!... He was getting me with the 'Angel' attack again."
• "Oh, I...I see what's happening!  I have to finish him before he knocks me off the edge.....[gasp!]  NO YOU DON'T, NO YOU DON'T!!" (Sephiroth does his Octoslash attack, and then Zack falls back to the floor).  "Aw that didn't hurt me much."
• "[gasp] NOO! (Must've been his Heartless Angel spell again  ):< ........Tseng, please help me out here!  (Then Blizzaga levels up.)
• (Watches the scene--------Tseng: "Is this the end?"  Zack: "I'm trying, I'm trying!!"  And then I say "I'm really trying heah!"   Tseng attacks Sephiroth and then I say "Yeah, like Sephiroth is in the middle of a desert!"
• (Another Heartless Angel attack) NOOOOoooo! (At least the Cura spell works) "That f***ing saved my life."
• "Oh no, please!........IdontthinkImgonnamakethis........I don't think I'm gonna make this round...Oh no, I did NOT make it."  Zack screams as he falls to his death, and I said "NOOOooo."
• Sephroth is like "I did what I had to do" (and then he walks the same way that he does in the fire)
• In a sad voice: "Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VII.  It doesn't say Game Over, it just says the title.  I think I have to fight from the beginning of Sephiroth's battle!"  [fake sob]
• "That look that Sephiroth gives Zack before this second part of the fight says: 'I'm going to enjoy this.'"

So, all of that (plus the ones in Part 1) was what I recorded with my voice recorder.  I'm glad I did, because I said some things I never would have remembered during the gameplay without recording my exclamations. :3

     I did have to replay the Sephiroth battle.  But I did so differently; I unequipped the Blizzaga and the Poison Twist materia, and replaced them with the very powerful Thundaga and Vital Slash materia.  Those helped a bunch...they took a whopping 2000 HP or so out of Sephiroth each use.  And Osmose materia saves Ethers. Yeah!

     So, to summarize the rest of the session, I got passed the part where it was Cloud who finished off Sephiroth, and now, after five years had passed, Zack is helping Cloud escape with him from the Shinra Lab and on their way out of the Shinra Manor, where the save point is on the lower floor.  Zack clears the way before he goes back to Cloud and helps him walk.  Poor Cloud  :( 

      I went crazy when an unconscious Cloud fell into Zack's arms in the Shinra Lab.  I screamed, and I squealed, and the sweater I was wearing was very unnecessary ^,^;;  Zack freed Cloud from the glass pod, and after he caught him he said Cloud's name.  It was like a reunion with an embrace.  I liked that.  It was a touching and bittersweet moment. They are so darling... :3  <3

     Zack is now level 41, up from 40.  After all that fighting, scene-watching and fan-fiction-inducing visuals, I wanted to play just a couple more Easy side missions.  So I did "Fun in the Sun: Vacation Time" and "Mysteries of the World: Kactuar?"

     There are still munnies, leveling up and items to pick up.  I believe there still might be some gameplay involving Zack and Cloud's escape from Hojo and Nibelheim.  Come to think of it, Nibelheim is some ways far from Midgar.  At least I'm closer to finishing the game, but I am closer to crying too.  I have a new poster on my bedroom door (I bought it at Anime Los Angeles 6 con) that has Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud ( :3 ) and now that I have it, well...I hope it won't be too painful to look at after I do finish the game.  Cloud looks sooo saaaad  3:  He needs kisses...

Next for PSP is either Sonic Rivals 2 or Dissidia FF (for Tuesday Feb. 2).  Gosh, I really need to return to my console games, like Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier and Sonic Unleashed.......and don't forget, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams!

@,@

Dissidia again, Jan 21st

7:26pm on Thursday, I played Dissidia Final Fantasy again because it was my Bonus GIL day, so I wanted to get some more munnies.  I played some Quick Battles with Firion to level him up.  I played as him in his Alternate form, with his hair up, so that was neat.  And he sounds like Ichigo from Bleach.  That's Johnny Yong Bosch, the voice actor.  "I have to get stronger, still!"  Yep, that sounds like Ichigo.  '__'  I played as Firion in an Arcade Mode as well, against Cecil, then Zidane, then himself.  Then the fourth opponent was Sephiroth.  Gosh, uh-gain!!! But for the first time in like ever, I won the first battle against him!  Yay!  And it helps that Firion fights with long-range weapons like bow and eros...I mean, bow and arrows.   Yikes ^.^;;  Anyway, fighting Sephiroth at close range is a bad idea, because he's a fierce fighter.  Finally, Firion fought The Emperor from FFII.  Makes sense, since The Emperor is the main villain of the FFII game.
To cool off, I did some Quick Battles with Warrior of Light to level him up to level 13. It's not enough; the Cloud of Darkness is level 19 in I-4, so WOL needs to be at least level 15.  Zidane is now level 9.  Cloud is level 5.  Sorry, Cloud, you're still my fave <3
9:25pm I finished my session with Dissidia Final Fantasy.  It was less frustrating since it was just accumilating GIL and leveling up characters without DP worries.  Shweet.  Saturday is my Bonus PP day, so I 'm charging the portable unit for that.

When playing as Zidane in Quick Battles, I always seem to choose Tidus as my opponent.  Huh.  I wonder why.
The lamest line (and funniest in my opinion) for Zidane after he wins:  "Easy-peasy!"     '__'???
Favorite winning line from Zidane: "Yup!  That's how you do it."   ^,^
Favorite winning line from Cloud: "My reality...is mine alone."     ^,^

Crisis Core on Dec. 18th, continued =P

Sorry for the delay, so here it is, Part 2 of Crisis Core on Dec. 18th.

On this post I wanted to focus more on Zack Fair and Cloud Strife.
I reached the part in the game when Zack watched the injured Cloud sleep in the inn.  When Cloud woke up, they had a conversation, and it was so fun to watch!!  Squeeeeeeeeeeeaaalll!  But it was a very important scene.  In fact I fear that it is one of the last conversations Cloud has with Zack before the next major event on the fateful day in Nibelheim.

    Zack watches Cloud sleep in the inn because he's a comrade and he cares about him.  I don't know who else, besides Kunsel and the other guys at SOLDIER, that Zack knows and became close buddies with, but with Cloud, it's a really special relationship.  Some time ago, Cloud e-mailed to Zack about how the SOLDIER Honor pep talk gave him courage.    Both guys are "country boys", as they found out about each other back in the Modeoheim mission.  In fact it was when they both revealed to each other that they were country boys that their buddy bond started.  Nyawww, so cute!  So it's no wonder that they have a kinship.  One even thinks the other's hometown's name sounds funny.  Zack is from Gongaga.  Cloud is from Nibelheim.  Ha ha haha.  Funnnnyyy.
    Players of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII who have played the orignal FFVII know that the Buster Sword will belong to Cloud.  We've always known that Cloud is the one with the Buster Sword, but Zack has it in Crisis Core, and even before Zack, Angeal carried the sword first.  So, again  that is the trinity of men who hold the iconic Buster Sword.
    SPOILERS, probably... Zack gives advice to Cloud in the Nibelheim Inn scene.  "SOLDIER is a den of monsters.  Don't go in there."  Zack says this because he wants to protect Cloud.  He doesn't want him to be caught up in the web that is Shin-Ra and SOLDIER.  Zack learned from his experience in SOLDIER that it's not all it's cracked up to be.  He says, "I'm in SOLDIER, so fightings all I do." But then he starts going into how the whole system of it is corrupted.  It is as if the members of SOLDIER are tools, or muscle hired to do whatever Shin-Ra tells them to do.  He can't get all the answers from that guys at the top.  There are secrets being kept that Zack is frustrated about not knowing, like "who is the enemy," he says.  I am guessing that one thing he might be talking about is Angeal, about which side he was on even if he was a "monster" of a sort.  Angeal's mysteries and reasons for being in SOLDIER still confuse Zack, and he tries to calm himself down and he does that thing that Angeal did with putting his forehead to the Buster Sword.  Nyawww!
     Cloud tells Zack that he never saw him use that sword, and it takes me back to when Angeal was talking about the sword when he possessed it.   I knew that Zack said the same thing to Angeal, so it was absolutely reminiscent of that when Cloud said it too.  A funny line from Angeal: "Your a little more important than my sword.  But, just a little."  And then later Zack told the other members to "always protect their SOLDIER Honor."  He was passing on advice from his personal mentor onto Cloud and the other soldiers.
     So Zack remembered that and felt renewed.  It is as if Cloud helped Zack believe in SOLDIER Honor again...
     [Sigh] I don't want to play past those wonderful moments, but I have to.   -___-

Crisis Core again, back in Dec.18th

 

This post is waaaaay overdue.  Sorta.

Friday night December 18th (and into Saturday morning ^.^;;) I played Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII again because I had to. I shouldn't be afraid anymore to getting closer to finishing the game. I might finish the original FFVII before I finish this one, although that is not necessary.

     To sum it up, I finished finding a couple more of the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim, and then I played into the part when Genesis talks to Sephiroth about the Jenova Projects.  My details are below.  Enjoy!!

     I was still stuck on finding out if the girl in the painting was really walking around.  I made another futile search around Nibelheim and found some more gil, killed some more monsters, and stole some yummy items Zack can use...and I think I got another Thunder materia.  I have a few of those, I can sell this one.  I almost gave up on this little side adventure, when I returned to the inn checking the painting again over and over.  The girl is there, the girl is missing, the girl is there.  I went down stairs.  All of the sudden the male clerk at the inn started making his way up the stairs.  I had Zack approach him, and he says something like "Oh, you scared me!  Well, uh...your room is ready, you are welcome to use it."

     Huh.  I wonder what's up with him.   What could he be doing upstairs?

     Later after catching him going upstairs again, I thought about something.  I should wait until he goes into the room himself and see what happens.  So when he walks up the stairs again, I follow him and stay a little farther behind than usual.  The clerk goes into the room.  Of course, Sephiroth is oblivious, staring out the window and brooding, nostalgic ( I remember Sephiroth looking out the window in the original game, so I know where this will lead soon).  After the man enters the room, Zack runs after him and catches him  lifting the painting and reaching his hand into the wall-safe.  The clerk explains that he has a "nest egg"  he keeps hidden from his wife.  He uses the money for gambling and the painting changes depending on his money situation.  If there's money in there, the girl is in the painting.  If it's the opposite, the painting is flipped to the side without the girl.  For finding this out, Zack gets 2,000 gil!!!  Yay!!!!

     The third Wonder was already found: one of those Gold Bombs or something, I might be wrong.  And then the boy told Zack about the fourth wonder, the "Laughing Safe" ( in the Shinra Manor)....ehhh.  Besides the one piece of paper Zack found that had one clue for each digit of the

     So I gave up on that Wonder and went to the save point in the inn, saved my game (since I fought more monsters and got more gil) and went right to Sephiroth.  So yes: Sephiroth says that the "landscape seems so familiar" to him.  In the following scenes, I learn more about Sephiroth because before he became the villain of FFVII, he had his own human emotions.   After he wonders what these monsters are doing in the mako reactor, he wonders if this was also how he was created.  Just watching him look at his hands, as if trying to reassure himself those are human hands, was so interesting to observe.  He asks himself : "Am I a human being?"  Those are the moments when he struggles with his own identity.

     Sephiroth always believed that Jenova was his mother, a human mother.  Well, I don't remember Genesis being in the original game, but in Crisis Core he reveals to Sephiroth that Jenova was an alien life form.  Genesis says, "I don't know what images of her you've conjured up in your head..."  and then I think to myself, Get ready, here it comes...o-0.

     What is ironic when Genesis calls Sephiroth a "perfect monster" is that Sephiroth doesn't look like a monster at all.  LOL.  But the fact that he has a high level of mako in his body and extraordinary fighting abilities makes him a huge question mark.  Even Angeal called himself a perfect monster, which leads me to believe that he realized he wasn't like other SOLDIER members long before Sephiroth did. Unlike Genesis and maybe Angeal, Sephiroth  doesn't "degrade," as Genesis calls it (his own body is degrading, aka deteriorating), and he asks Sephiroth to "share your cells with me."  Uhh... O__O  But he wants to take advantage of Sephiroth's Jenova-infused cells.  I should say "wanted to" cuz it's in the past.  And somehow, Genesis knew about the Jenova Project G and Jenova Project S (the "s" is for Sephiroth I assume) before Sephiroth did.  But maybe Sephiroth wasn't supposed to know about Jenova and the projects.  [Sigh]  Gosh...

     I dunno if I'd call myself a fan of Sephiroth even if he's from Final Fantasy VII.  But it is nice to be reminded that he never started out evil.  :)

TO BE CONTINUED...

(Next is the buddy-bonding of Zack and Cloud ;] )

    

Crisis Core: FFVII--Why am I not done?

There is a number-one reason why I believed I shouldn't miss out on playing Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

     Cloud Strife is my #1 favorite video game character (Sonic the Hedgehog being my childhood fave).  I've read previews and reviews about Crisis Core from Playstation the Official Magazine and the now-defunct Electronic Gaming Monthly.  These previews and reviews made me want the game more each time.  I knew already that Cloud wouldn't be a playable character in this game, but because of what I saw and learned in the original Final Fantasy VII and the special anime Last Order: FFVII, I became more curious about Zack Fair too. 
     Zack is as much an important character as Cloud is.  The trinity of characters in Crisis Core--Angeal, Zack and Cloud--all come into contact with this Buster Sword.  In fact I find myself calling this weapon the "Honor Sword."
     As it indicates in my list of Video Games I Have Yet to Finish, Crisis Core is there.  I realize this game was released on March 25, 2008, but I didn't get my PSP until this past late April.  By then, Crisis Core was $19.99.
     So, why am I not done with Crisis Core: FFVII?  It is the same reason I am not done with the original Final Fantasy VII, and that is, I am almost done with it.  For FFVII, I already know, being a fan of Square-Enix too late, that Sephiroth is defeated (for the time being =P).  For Crisis Core, I already know Zack's fate.  And I know I am going to cry.  Before I load the game, the background image has text on it besides the title: "Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades." 
     (SPOILERS Problably...)  Some time ago I reached the part in the game when Zack had to confront Angeal and then fight him when he merged with a few nearby monsters.  Zack had no choice but to fight, and in a way, it was sort of a test of student versus mentor.  Zack won, of course because he's Zack.  Angeal was defeated, and the following scene was very emotional.  And it started to rain, reminiscent of tears.  I got emotional too.  The music makes me more prone to crying. =''(
     So Zack cried for his comrade.  And I already know what's going to happen to Zack.  I think Cloud will cry for Zack, his own mentor and comrade .  I believe that is what the quotation from the pre-load screen is referring too.  I want to know all the events that lead to the last moments.  Maybe I am savoring the time that I don't see the final scenes in detail.  I wonder what music/song is going to play during then.  The flashback was very short in the original game, but in Crisis Core, Zack and Cloud's relationship is shown in more detail (I mean the conversations they share, and what happens as they escape from Nibelheim).  The trinity of these three characters--Angeal, Zack and Cloud--it's fascinating!  I am enjoying the concept of the line between human being and monster (Angeal's one wing, calling himself a "perfect monster"...I should include Sephiroth's questioning his own existence as well, but I'll get to that later).

     *,*!!!  I'm going to play this game within the next two days.  Stay tuned for more Crisis Core rantings.

Crisis Core November 13

     I finally got back to Crisis Core: FFVII last Friday a little after 9:30pm.  I used my recorder, but I didn't want to record while I was playing.  I put the portable unit in sleep mode because, y'know, battery power.  Plus, if I was recording the audio during gameplay, I'd forget to stop recording and I'd run out of room on the mini-casette.  I can be sooooo into this game ;) ...
    Where do I begin?  The last time I played this game was on October 17th--and that was just a session for Zack to level up.  I also realized that Zack's next mission might be that fateful one in Niebelheim (did I spell that right? Oh, it's Nibelheim... ^.^;;), which of course is Cloud's hometown.  So when I did get back to the game Friday night, I warmed up (refreshed my memory for the controls) with a side mission, one that involved finding remnants of Genesis on this boat.  The final enemies for this mission were two degrading Genesis, uh, guys.  I got a chance to use my newly fused materia the Dark Blizzara, which not only poisoned one of the Genesis bosses, it stuned him as well.  Plus, I (I mean, Zack) got a Lucky Star from Cissnei and the rest of the batttle went smoothly afterwards. 
     (SPOILERS!! Probably...)  So then, Zack talked to Kunsel to let him know he's ready to go on the mission with [gasp!] Sephiroth.  And then, JOY!!!!!  Zack met Cloud again!!  Oh, how wonderful this reunion is!  They will be on the mission together, those buddies  :)    Anyway, in Nibelheim, Zack met this boy who knows about the seven wonders of Nibelheim and tells Zack to look for the red drinking water.  "Is it blood?" the boy asks.  It turned out that there was a red materia in the water, which actually is the Phoenix summon materia.  Sweet!  Then I allowed Zack to talk to Sephiroth (who told him to get plenty of rest...awww, he cares [for now]!)  Cloud was standing right by Zack so I made Zack talk to him.  Squeeaaalll!  Then I explored the town for a short while.
      Unfortunately I will have to skip a lot that happened in the game and say right away that I stopped playing at 10:30pm (an approximate hour and a half).  I meant to do some more exploring when I had Zack talk to Sephiroth when he was looking out the window at the "familiar landscape."  But then ten minutes of cinematics played, which was very nice...but I felt like I didn't do enough exploring in Nibelheim yet.  I did a soft reset and loaded an earlier file, and I ended up at the first save point in Shinra Manor.
     So, I don't mind having to see those scenes again (there is so much revelation within those ten minutes).  I recognize much of it because I played the original Final Fantasy VII.  But of course, Crisis Core: FFVII is the true, complete story of how things happened before the events of the original game.  There is plenty to recall and reflect upon at this point, so I will have to save my feelings about them for another post.  Stay tuned.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII crazy at the moment...

     I don't know if I'll ever get a PS3, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to know more about the upcoming games for that console, namely the game Final Fantasy Versus XIII.  I can't help it; I'm fascinated with the main character for FF Versus XIII because the character design is also by Tetsuya Nomura, as he was for Cloud Strife.  Also his hair style reminds me of Cloud too.  Those mopey boys!  Er...men.
     I recently visited FF-VersusXIII.net to find out if this main character has a name yet.  It wasn't revealed for a long time, but I found out there that his name is Noctis.  [Squeals!]  His entire name is in Latin, and when it's something like this I go CRAZY!  These Final Fantasy makers love to come up with odd names for our heroes, huh?  I mean, the main character's name for Final Fantasy XIII is Lightning, which is a code name according to FF XIII.net. 
     What would happen if Cloud and Noctis were in the same story?  Would they be friends?  Tetsuya Nomura has a thing for mopey male characters with black clothes with zippers, doesn't he?  Hm...
     I won't say Noctis' full name here, so if you are curious enough then check it out for yourself.  Then stay and enjoy reading on more information about this game.  I dunno if there will be many more updates, but it's still fun to read.