Greener Pastures

Already looking forward to how the games evolve within the PS1 era and then moving to the PS2!

The isometric perspective and static camera takes some getting used to, even though the backgrounds look nice! ...Still, the look is less timeless than the SNES games. (ofc the Pixel Remasters changhed a lot more than the FFVII remaster)

Huge spoilers regarding Aerith: She has a mum? 😱
...Anyway, one of the few missable achievements is to go on a date with Barrett, so operation "Destroy Cloud's budding relationship with Aerith and Tifa as quickly and efficiently as possible" is underway...

Not something super fancy - some quality of life stuff (autosave and options for making grinding easier) and apparently 5 less achievements? Strange! But guess it's good I waited a bit before starting! But also a sign to get going *now* XD.

Oh! Apparently there's a new version of Final Fantasy VII that was released one month ago (last Steam version was from 2013) and replaces the old version in the store - and you get access to the new version if you bought the old one. I was wondering why I had two versions in my library...

Well, what's next after 100%ing it... I could go for Omori 100%... Ooooorrr more likely: Finally get started on FFVII!

Anyway, I just really like how these games take the VN/murder mystery combo and turn the confusion you feel when you go "What info am I supposed to know right now?" into a gameplay feature.

I'm really glad for all these convenient flowchart systems in modern games. Autosaves, too, for when the PC crashes...

Now the question is whether or not I play No Sleep for Kaname Date - a game without Uchikoshi's direct writing input, hmmm. I probably will, but it's not a priority.
I feel pretty excited to 100% the game, hope I'll do that tomorrow - will use a guide for *that* at least.

I thought that was why Date reacted *that* way in *that* scene. I saw one review that said they enjoyed the Ryuki route, but that the Mizuki route "ruined" it, but I thought it went very well! NI certainly borrows quite a few assets from the first game, but I still liked it a lot...

One of those "To completely make sense of this, I would have to play through the whole game again, wouldn't I?" things, but you get the important stuff explained. Now that I've completeted the game, I can admit that I thought Tearer was Ryuki's twin brother for a large part of the game lol.

Well! The game has multiple routes and is *played* more linearly than the previous games, but of course Uchikoshi still added a twist that turned the whole thing on its head anyway.

Finished Nirvana Initiative! ...This time *before* looking up spoilers. Remember: The road to yaoi fanart is paved with spoilers, so resist the temptation until after the game...

ROT13 spoilers about multiple games (naming them all would itself be a spoiler)
V fvtu naq vaperzrag gur "Rneyl 2020f tnzrf gung ner nobhg urycvat gur cebgntbavfg erzrzore naq cebprff n ercerffrq genhzngvp zrzbel nobhg gur qrngu bs na byqre (cfrhqb-)snzvyvny zrzore vaibyivat fgnvef" sebz 2 gb 3.

Apparently, the routes are a bit more linear with only a big choice in the very first somnium - the other two had only one ending. Maybe the routes branch out more towards the ending. Let's see how it goes~

So far the Somnia are still pretty easy and almost seem linear, but I had to restart Tokiko's somnium because I got distracted by a bonus eyeball behind me at the very end and underestimated the distance you have to swim. XD

I remembered the villain's motivations, but not his name, and didn't remember the answer to the first question at all. I would like to actuqlly remember details about the games I play, but oh well!

Me looking up the answers to the trivia questions about AI:The Somnium Files at the beginning of Nirvana Initiative, because it's been ages since I played the first game.

Woooo, congrats~!

Hmmmmmm~~~
I think I'm extending my Final Fantasy break just a while longer and will play the sequel to AI Somnium Files next. I've heard that it doesn't quite reach the highs of the first game, but I won't let that discourage me!

and I don't think I have that in me. ^^'
At least I made plenty of saves in the endgame and got all 4 possible endings in the "canon" story fork.
The game's length is great for the impact of a first playthrough... but the replayability is... lacking.

For my next birthday, I want a shock collar that activates every time I look up a spoiler for a game I'm currently playing.
Anyway, I finished Omori! ...One route and not even that 100%.
I loved the game, but if I want to do *everything*, I need to do two more complete playthroughs

What a charming, nice and relateable little video game - perfect for playing alone in a dark room at 2AM. :)

Me with Legacy of the Duelist on Steam...

Oh, right:
Best location theme: Slam Shuffle (Zozo) - that city really surprised me, very nice gangster theming
Best character theme: All of them (The game has almost perfect leitmotif usage)
Best dungeon theme: Magitek Research Facility (Yeah, for similar reasons as Zozo XD)

Okaaaay, will I keep up the momentum? Probably not, back to work tomorrow...
But next up is Omori as a break between the FF games; after that FFVII for the first time - the original, not the remake for now. ;)

As usual, I finished by listening to the soundtrack and looking at the very nice art in the gallery with a surprising amount of moogle butts - there was a lot of fun in designing the moogles for this game~.

FFI-III were over before you could really get invested and FFIV had a great start, but fell off towards the end - FFVI stayed solid throughout! And Kefka is a better final villain than the previous ones, too - although I'd say that standards have risen enough that he's no longer at the absolute top.

I think doing a playthrough of the game with the "more gimmicky" characters probably adds some replay value, but less so than FFV - that one still has my favourite job system so far.
But while I have *some* gripes about the gameplay, the *story* is the best one yet - no surprise here.

Not used: Molyb (Gau) and Oof (Umaro)
Very thankful that you only need 50 Rages for the achievement in the remaster, not (almost) all of them - much more time-consuming to learn than Blue Magic and a hassle to use...