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!!!

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)

The Most Memorable Moments of the Compilation of FFVII - Part 2

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.

@,@ 

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.

Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII on December 22

Yay, I returned to Crisis Core again, and I made some progress! The last time I got to the game it was November 19th. Before I began, I played through one side mission and was able to level Zack up to level 50.  I earned a Crystal Bracelet as a reward.

Then I ran around the maze of the Depths of Judgment fighting battle after battle with monsters. I had two more Goddess Materia to find, since I had only five of them.  I needed seven.  After getting lost and refreshing my memory as to where different areas of the cave were, I had Zack Butt go to the Lake of Oblivion.  He was there some time ago, and I remember finding one of the Goddess Materia.  Apparently I didn’t look hard enough, because after doing a thorough search, I found the last two Goddess Materia items: the Sabbath Materia and the Being Materia.  I felt so good about finding these two key items that I decided to fight one of those powerful monsters that appear where those mako fountains are.  I used Graviga like last time and the battle was speedy.

After that, I wanted to check that Zack had good equipment.  I equipped him with the new Crystal Bracelet and the Dragon Armlet. This way he has a high number of magic points.

So then I quickly went to the Portal of Severance and put the final Goddess Materia into the pedestal.  So the portal opened up, and out came this sub-boss, (the same kind of creatures that ate Zack’s hair back in the highway).  This battle turned out to be very speedy because I chose to use the Graviga on this monster too. Heh heh, I can’t say I was cheating; I just had a very powerful gravity materia with which to fight it.

I didn’t get that key for the jail cell that has that giant animal-like monster.  I thought that sub-boss was gonna give it to me.  Zack says before going into the portal, something like “Genesis is just up ahead. I can feel it.” And it gives me a choice to either go on or go back and do something else.  So I went back.  I would have wanted to find out what I get after that beast behind bars.  But I also wanted to go to Genesis.  Who knows? Maybe he has the key to that cell.

I had to stop there anyway because the PSP’s green battery light was flashing.   >.<  Oh well…

More on my progress in Crisis Core FVII on November 19th

I didn’t have the patience that day to advance further in the story by getting lost thousands of times, so I just had Zack complete some side missions to level up and get more items.

I had Zack return to the missions titled “Hojo’s Experiments” and tackled the missions Experiment 107, Exp. 108 and Exp. 109.  Last time, Sephiroth’s Heartless Angel attacks weren’t very nice to Zack, and Sephiroth sliced at Zack before I could get him to use the Cura materia.

All of the materia Zack has equipped was MASTER stage.  I wanted to change some things around, so I went to Materia Fusion and created a Dark Firaga using Firaga and Poison materia.  This fusion works great because not only is it a powerful fire attack, but it causes status ailments on the targets, such as Poison or Silence (can’t use magic).  It makes me feel more in control; lately Zack has been hit multiple times with Stun and Curse.  I switched a couple more materia so that my equipped list goes like this:

• Dark Firaga (lv 2)

• Curaga (lv 3)

• Barrier (MASTER)

• Libra (MASTER)

• Drainra (lv 2)

• Graviga (MASTER)

I added the current levels of the new materia in the list.  I did a few more missions to see if I could level them up somewhat and make them stronger for the next time I get to the game.  I finally equipped the Curaga, even though it might be too early for Zack to equip it in the level he’s in.  Curaga heals about +7,000 HP.  Zack has maybe 5, 600 HP or so.

I always have the Cure materia right after my main Offensive Magic attack, in case I need it right away.

Zack is currently level 49, from 47.   ^8^  

Crisis Core on November 8th + I hate those darn Anti-Action Missiles

I wasn’t able to play a game in the den like usual (where the PS2, the PS3 and the Wii are) so I had to play a game on the portable unit, which, of course as the title of this post suggests, is the very neglected-by-me Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

I didn’t go further into the story this time. I played the side missions to try to level up Zack. He went from level 46 to only 47.  Fourty-freakin’ seven!  Sigh.  At least he leveled up once.  He got a Curaga materia in one of the missions, and so far it is the only Curaga he has. Unfortunately I had to use a Phoenix Down in one of the missions in order to stay alive and keep that Curaga.  As long as I knew that the particular mission had a Curaga materia in one of its treasure chests, Zack needed a little more help staying on his feet. It was a mission in which Zack had to fight these machine weapons and collect data on them.  But these suckers had Anti-Action Missiles, and when Zack gets hit by one, he gets the Stun effect. I used a phoenix down and didn’t want to, so I reset. Then I went to the exact same mission and the same thing happened. But you know, I had to let that Phoenix Down go, because it gives Zack a chance to continue that mission. He gets his life saved once during this mission, and then he has to keep his butt safe (or at least keep a few HP leftover) before I frantically press the X button for him to cast Cura on himself.

I should use that Curaga.  I usually don’t like to equip a materia unless I have at least two of them.  Oh, but I have my only Graviga equipped now, don’t I? Yeah, I forgot. Oh well. Zack currently has a maximum of 5,406 HP. With help from Aeris Aerith and Angeal, Zack had 9,999/5,406 HP at a couple of instances. But they were very brief, however >.<   The last mission I played for this session was one where Zack had to go into the Shinra Building and fight these degenerating Genesis clones and this other one-winged monster every other time.  That white haired Genesis is a tough one!  Zack almost died in many of those battles.

Anyway, about Zack’s HP, I am guessing I will have to level him up some more if he is going to need a cure material like Curaga to keep him alive and kicking during the battles.

Hey, ever notice that the degenerating Genesis Copy is reminiscent of Dante from the Devil May Cry series? White hair, red clothes?

Crisis Core on November 4th

I finally had some patience to play Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII again. I left off last time at Banora, Genesis’ hometown, and Zack Fair entered the Depths of Judgment which is some sort of cave or something. The way it looked, I figured Zack would get lost, and I had played the game for a while, so I went to the first save point I could find and stopped playing. So for this latest session with Crisis Core, I wanted to focus on exploring the area and getting any treats (translation: treasure chests) lying around.

Zack kept being interrupted by these winged monsters and these egg-shaped heads that looked like baby Ike from South Park. Sometimes these guys pop up right after defeated the last bunch of enemies.

I had to use the map a whole lot this time. It’s like a maze in there!  Zack kept getting lost, and when I thought I knew where I was going, I checked the map and Zack would be completely turned around. What gives?! I wanted to go to this area that I thought I didn’t check out yet, and it’s another chamber in the cave with a lake inside.  There were a couple of mako fountains.  I had Zack take the treasure that was near it, and then had him examine the mako. It turns out it was a trigger for a sub-boss fight with this creature that used to be human but isn’t anymore.  This guy had +58,000 HP, and it just was not easy to fight.  I think I had the wrong set of Materia: Thundaga, Cura, Barrier, Libra, and Vital Slash.  I needed another offensive magic materia.  So before I ended up fighting another one of those boogers, I unequipped Vital Slash and equipped Graviga.  It is the only Graviga material that I have, and I didn’t try it yet, so I thought it would be very helpful.

Damn right it was!  I should have had Zack equip the Graviga materia several sessions ago (so like, six months ago).  That thing reduces the enemy’s HP down to one half.  I tried that on the human/beast sucker, and it took off 9,999 HP several times! And this guy had +68,000 HP; I was worried I’d struggle during the entire battle, but the new materia made things so much easier. It really helped that Zack casts Barrier on himself and defends himself constantly until there is an opening for him to attack.  I did that with the first sub-boss there, but it was tedious without Graviga equipped.

I think I have over 12 unused Thunder materia… O___O 

Speaking of Materia, Zack found some funky materia in this place; Light Materia, Heaven Materia, and others.  I couldn’t find them in my materia list, and then realized that they must have been Key Items, and found I was right.  I found the area where I am supposed to gather them together and put them onto this thing that might open the big door ahead. I needed seven; I only had five.  So I had Zack try to find the last two.

I ended up in this jail/prison place where there was a key that is needed to open the gate.  Behind the gate is the Howling Fang, an eventual boss. I examined the gate, and Zack says “I need a key…”

Gosh darnit. I got lost several times, fought loads and loads of interrupting battles (I had Zack escape a couple but had to fight the rest) and after all that and finally getting somewhere he realizes he needs a key. Where can I find that f***ing key?!!!!

Well, there are a couple of rooms with elevators in this general cave area. Maybe I have to check those out. But next time.

Crisis Core on August 19th

Yeah, I finally returned to Crisis Core, only to not finish the darn game. Yet.

It was a long while ago…June, was it…that I left off with Zack walking into Gongaga and meeting Cissnei there. They have a conversation about Zack’s folks, and then Cissnei gives Zack and Cloud time to run.

I didn’t explore too much around Gongaga since I left off there last time. This time I gave Zack a chance to run his butt around the town and get some goodies like, uh, I should have noted what they were, exactly. It was nice not needing to do any fighting for a short while. Then I took Zack to the end of the Gongaga hills and well, Genesis returns and there’s more plot. Genesis seems to have silvery white hair, and for a split second he might remind one of Dante from DMC fame.

Zack has to return to Cloud, so I had to have him retrace his steps back to where he left him. He had to face group after group of monsters along the way, though. When he reaches Cloud, he’s surrounded by the bad guys, and then another familiar character comes in. Gosh, why am I so afraid to tell the details of these events????  I don't like to be the jerk that spoils major plot items.

Zack is in Banora now, Genesis’ birthplace. I reached the underground area, and I was lucky to have a save point when I did. Wow, a damn lot happens before their last stand. I paused moving further along in the story of the game and just went ahead to level up Zack again, to see if I could.  I did: he is level 45 now, from 44. I am guessing Zack has to fight Genesis again, so maybe I ought to level him up a few more levels, no?

Crisis Core: FFVII on April 11th

I haven’t played Crisis Core since March 5th, so it was about time to get back to it. In a nutshell, I moved a little further in the story but didn’t finish the game. I left off at Gongaga. Of course I know I am pretty close to the end.

-----SPOILERS, PROBABLY…-------

Zack reached the end of the Nibel Plains. I stopped at a save point and a night of a full moon. Cissnei found Zack and realized he was one of the lost samples. Zack got away, but after returning to Cloud, Cissnei found him again and learned that Cloud is the other sample. I can tell she has really mixed feelings about this. She calls Tseng and says “I lost the target.” I have to say that I liked the way that Zack had his sword ready in front of him and then he lowers it ever so slowly when Cissnei lies. It reflects his surprise in Cissnei’s mercy. I wouldn’t call it a change of heart on Cissnei’s end, though. She wants to do a good job as a Turk, but she used to be friends with Zack in the past.  This gives her a conflict of the heart.

Zack uses a motorbike from Shinra to travel the road. Cloud is in the side cart, like he has a choice in the matter. Awww. Anyway, the red guy…er, Genesis, just has to come back and recite more of that epic poem LOVELESS, and one of the two guys that hold Zack by the arms pull some of his hair out and eats it.

“He…he just ate my hair!”  Hmmm, I wonder what Zack's hair would taste like?  Hair gel...? 0.o

So then Zack has to fight that guy because the hair that he ate transformed him to some kind of mechanical monster. I think. Cissnei in the DMW helped out a lot, since each attack was a critical hit. The battle wasn’t even that hard, considering Zack’s level 42. That boss had 63,000+ hit points.

Zack still thinks about Angeal, that there is a possibility that he is still around. Some time ago before the Nibelheim mission, there was a monster with Angeal’s face that appeared in Aeris Aerith’s church, but he wasn’t a threat. Zack still has faith that Angeal is out there somewhere. “Angeal, where are you? What should I do? Tell me…”

They continue on the road and stop at Gongaga. Before going in I made sure Zack checked those treasure chests that were near the abandoned Mako Reactor. Those treasure chests were trapped behinds gates or barrels, but there was a lone guy standing near them that told Zack he can probably use his sword of his to cut those down. So that’s what Zack did (I mean...that's what I made Zack do, hee hee). Two of those chests, however, were shaking, and out came one Griffin each. One of those Griffins provided Zack with an Osmoga material, which I had Zack equip immediately ^,^. This is why I make it a habit to explore an area thoroughly before moving on.  I love the Osmose materia because rather than using ethers, I can steal MP from a monster or person so that I can keep using Thundaga, my most powerful materia right now.

I looked at the map and there was no save point too close to where Zack was located.  I realized I wasn’t ready to finish the game yet because there is more that will happen first.  Jeez, is it gonna be Zack's whole escape chapter I'll play through?  Huh...anyway there was a next zone symbol on the map, so I followed it after I finished exploring.  Then Zack got email form Kunsel.  He was warning Zack that infantrymen were sent to find him. “Make sure you make it back alive, buddy. Promise me.” Ohhh, Zack can make that promise but I know he won’t---can’t---keep it. It’s so cool that Kunsel still wants to maintain their friendship. Kunsel is on Zack’s side.

I found a save point in Gongaga Outskirts. I played a little after that, but I’ll tell more about that later, maybe on the next Crisis Core post. I decided to just save on another file and then play some side missions.  Blechh, I even played the side mission "Experiment 107", in which the opponent was Sephiroth.  Damn that Heartless Angel attack; I never planned to use up my Phoenix Down on one side mission!   Those life-savers are meant for the story-mode missions.  Stupid Sephiroth...

@,@

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!

@,@

Crisis Core: FFVII on Jan. 30th-31st...Part 1

After another 2 weeks, I returned to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.  This time though, I finally resumed the story.  Back in December I left off at the point where Zack is running to the Nibelheim Reactor to get to Sephiroth.  He had burned down the town, and Zack is mad.  That time, the battery power was low and within the half hour I was able to find a save point and stop the game.

     So,  my PSP's battery was fully charged last night. I wanted to play at 10pm, but my calico cat Kallie wanted my lap.  I call it her "Kallie Time."  I was nice to her and switched my PSP to sleep mode to give her my lap.  While on my lap, she burped. It was the first time I heard a cat burp.  And no excuse me, LOL.

     Anyway, finally at 10:30pm I warmed up with a couple of Easy side missions for Zack.  Didn't level up, but it's okay.  Then I went into the Nibelheim Reactor, and Zack found Tifa, and then went into the Jenova room.  Gosh, I've never seen Sephiroth so happy before...or is the word "nutty?"  The expression on his face was so unlike him...he never smiled like that ever, not earlier in the game, not in FFVII: AC either.  So it was just weird.

     "Mummyyyyyyyyyy," Sephiroth must be thinking o.0

     So at around 11pm, Zack had to fight against Sephiroth.  Sephiroth had over 46,000 HP for this one battle, and 9,999 MP, it's too much!  I could tell it was going to be an interesting battle, so I recorded myself playing it the first time around.  I was equipped with Blizzaga, Cura, Barrier, Libra, Osmose, and Poison Twist materia.  So here are a lot of my exclamations; they can get funny:

• "You get Blizzaga too!" (Sephiroth hit me with the spell, so I give him one back.)
• "What do those crystals (gems) do anyway?  I think they're like tokens (like in Yu-Gi-Oh!) and act as a shield."
• "No you don't!  Ow.  I didn't guard myself agsinst his Cross Slash.  Guard!  Good boy."
• "Ha ha!  Null physical, there ya go!  Poison Twister attack!!"
• "Whoa!  How did he get behind me? ... He turned around again!  He's gettin' desperate..."
• "None of the slot things (the DMW) has helped me yet.......Owwwwwah! (Zack got hit)"
• "Oh, look who it is, it's Sephiroth on the Deeeeeee, MW....Ah, it's my turn to do the Octoslash.  Taste of your own medicine, buddy!"
• "Nooo!  Now it's Sephiroth's turn to do the Octoslash! .........He's all like floating o.0..."
• "I can't even get behind him!  What is he doing... OOOOOOoooooahh (long gasp), I have only one hit point left, whatever he did!"
• "Sephiroth again, DMW...[laughs after watching the memory of Zack with Sephorith, "Your opponent was too weak.  Try another."
• "No, the Heartless Angel!  That's what he did!! It's the Heartless Angel that took Zack's HP down to 1 (from +4300HP ; Cura saves my ass so many times), so that he can have the pleasure of finishing me off physically (in other, more appropriate words, finish me with a physical attack)."
• "Cissnei, go go go go!  Yay!  Lucky Stars Lv. 1, That's good enough for me!........Critical hits the rest of the battle!"
• "I can kinda tell when he's going to attack.  Just like that, when he like kinda...okay like DUCK, or something!......RUUUUUUUNNah!"
• Aww, puppy Zack (DMW memory trigger).....And Genesis saves the day!"  (As Zack does his Apocolypse limit attack, I say, "Take that, Sephiroth!  You and your shampooed hair are done!"

So I (uh, Zack ^,^;;) won the battle against Sephiroth.  However, that wasn't all of it.  It continued into another separate battle, in which Mr. SilverHair had 31,000 more HP.

     I had to divide this post into two parts.   So this is part 1.

Part 2 is next...

@.@

Crisis Core level up session, Jan. 15

On Friday 6:30pm I played a level-up session for Zack in Crisis Core: FFVII.  I played for roughly an hour and ten minutes.  Zack is level 40 now, with Cloud's help from the DMW ^.^. I did a Materia Fusion with the Thundara and Poison materia and created the Dark Thundara + 20% MP.  I equipped it already.  The Thundaga is very powerful now, but I wanted to use status ailments on my enemies so Dark Thundara will be very helpful with that, plus Zack can use more MP.  I also equipped Zack with Osmose materia so he can steal MP from enemies and use his most powerful magic attacks on those sonsabitches if need be.  I have plenty of Poison and Thunder materia ready for any Materia Fusions coming up soon.

     Forgive me for only spending time with Crisis Core and Dissidia lately.  These games (full of Square-Enix goodness, mind you) have been dominating my gaming time, probably because of the convinience of the PSP and being able to play it in any room rather than only in the den.  The next time I get to Crisis Core, I need to move on, because the game has been out now and I want to be able to talk about the events in the game with my friends without getting myself spoiled.  I mean, I know how the game is going to turn out (also what happens to Zack) but I want to see the events for myself.  I am considering joining the forums in The Lifestream.net because I want to talk about Final Fantasy VII-related stuff with other fans who are so crazy about it like me...o.0.  Uh...yeah.

Crisis Core on Jan 5th

So I played Crisis Core on Tuesday night and I played deeper into the story.  I knew it... I reached the part when Sephiroth goes mad and reads about the Jenova Projects and burns down Nibelheim.  So not too much new happened because I saw this in Cloud's Past and another part in FFVII.
     I played only for an hour because the green light was flashing on my PSP, which meant the next time I saved I'd have to stop playing.  It took me a half hour or more to find a save point, so I was getting scared and yelling at Zack to run run run!!  I even escaped a couple of battles in the Mt. Nibel Trail.  Luckily there was a save point at the end of the trail.  Then I saved and quit the game.  I have to recharge the battery -_- .

Crisis Core on Jan. 1 (and into the next day)

Last NiGHTS (I mean, last night ^.^;;), I wanted to play a level-up session on Crisis Core and then play a few Quick Battles as Zidane in Dissidia Final Fantasy for a half hour afterwards.  I did bring Zack up to Level 39 and got more gil and items, which I am happy about, and new Thundara and Osmose materia.  Within this session I decided to play one more mission, the Master Tonnberry mission, and it took almost another half hour to finish!  Those Tonnberries are tough little guys (are they turtle fish, or what?  They're turtles with fish tails...I almost think twice about killing them because they are cute, but they can kick Zack's butt very quickly and they are mean, so I'm like, Why not?  Slice they a$$es!!)  Zack gets a lot of gil for each one he gets.  I made sure I explored the cave thoroughly because there are other treats to look for, like materia or an X-Potion.  I think I found a Phoenix Down too.  I have very few of those.
    I ended up not playing Dissidia with Zidane =(  because it was 12:30am and I already played CC:FFVII for 30 minutes more than I wanted to (so total: an hour and fourty minutes or so.  It was that darn Tonnberry mission!!  ARGH...).  I try to limit the amount of time I spend on the PSP so the battery power doesn't run out so fast.  I even had to skip some of the small little scenes during the DMW because those take battery power too.  I watched a few of them that I didn't see before to the end.  [Sigh]...

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 ;] )

    

Cyborg Haven Update: Upcoming Crisis Core posts

I actually played Crisis Core: FFVII again a couple of days before I played Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.  But I am not done with the post for it.  I'm still working on it because it's a long section, and I've even decided to split it into two parts.  I want to be careful with writing about Crisis Core because of it's complex themes and characters.  So, stay tuned... 

@.@

Crisis Core: FFVII on Dec. 12

I finally returned to Crisis Core: FFVII on Saturday.  I meant to play a little more into the story but I didn't get the chance to, unfortunately.  I sort of forgot the controls, so I wanted to play a few extra missions to refresh my memory, and also possibly level up Zack.  ^,^
     I started with an easy mission, and then I wanted to do a Normal mission next, which was in the category Seeking Precious Items.  It was called "Desert Island Surprises."  Hmm.  I thought it would be a piece of cake, but in minutes I had to use a Phoenix Down, because one of the bird enemies got me with two powerful attacks that took half my hit points each.  WHAT??!!!  I don't want to lose my Phoenix Down in some friggin' extra mission!  Those life-savers are hard to come by!  So what I did was, I reset the game, and tried again.  Again I failed to avoid using the Phoenix Down.  So I reset again, loaded again, and this time, I decided the best thing to do was to cast barrier at the beginning of every single battle in this mission.  For a Normal extra mission, it was pretty difficult.  Zack had to keep casting barrier (since it doesn't roll over to the next battle) and cast Cura every other minute.  If I needed to, after a battle I used a Potion, since I had 95 of those.  (I should sell some of them, hehehee ^,,,^). 
     Cloud helped me out in the DigitalMindWave, increasing Zack's level to 36.  Squeeeeeaalllll!!
     So next I went to an Easy extra mission to take a break from slashing at those fiends and keeping Zack's a** safe.  Nyaw.  I put my Dark Blizzara materia to good use, and my Thundara too, which leveled up nicely to Level 3.  Then I wanted to continue the search for the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim.  I went back to the kid and he reminded Zack about the painting of a sad girl in the inn.  I examined it once already.  But then I went back there (leaving Sephiroth alone, letting him stare out the window and mope) and entered the bedroom again and saw that only a chair was left in the painting.  The chair the girl in the painting was sitting on!  She really did leave the painting!   O__O  So where is she now?  I went back to the kid and he said the same thing over again.  "Sometimes she leaves the painting and enters our world."  Or something similar to that statement.  Well, I don't have a strategy guide for Crisis Core, so I am totally on my own for this one.  Where can I look?  I tried to look for her in the mountain trail, but it's the same three kids staring at the mako well, and then I came across the Wonder Bombs they were talking to me about.  None of them mentioned the sad girl.  During those battles in the trail,  Zack leveled up to 37.
     I've been wondering if I should find all the Seven Wonders before I talk to Sephiroth or if there will still be a chance afterward.  This little girl is the second of the seven.  [Sigh!].  I'll have to look more thoroughly.  I know what's going to happen if I talk to Sephiroth because I played though that part once before.  I just thought I'd do some more exploring in Cloud's hometown.  (Can Zack go into Cloud's house?  Please? : P )