Ho Ho Horticulture

We have, of late, been preparing for, and, increasingly, hotly anticipating that most celebrated event set to occur a few days from now. My sister's excitement has already reached boiling point, and my own, while considerably more tepid, is at least at the level of a pot that has been set on medium-low for about fifteen minutes- albeit one with occasional stirring.
I am referring, of course, to the Nondenominational Day of Greater Gifting and Merry-making- that most beloved day of celebration, as hallowed as any secular "holiday" has any right to be. We buy gifts for each-other, wrap them primarily in recyclable materials and place them under a tree to signify our liberal values and dedication to the environment and our fellow humans. We may or may not actually hug the tree, but I assure you that it is entirely possible that it will cross at least one of our minds.

Dear god, that felt good. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy writing this crap.

Sooooo..... Final Fantasy VII. To be honest, I'm still having trouble cementing my general thoughts about it. I go for hours and hours steadily building up my appreciation for the game, and then, just when I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, it's deserving of the exorbitant amount of praise that's been heaped upon it, it slaps me about with some ugly, unpleasant flaw. It's no bad game; to be sure, it's certainly among the better RPGs I've played. I do not think, however, that it ranks among the best.
Easily the biggest offender is the game's experience point system. It works fine for the immediate party (which is always composed of the main hero and your choice of two other characters), but falls pancake-flat with your reserve party by only giving them half of the experience the main members get. This (alongside the fact that you are required to have the main character in your fighting group at all times, gaining full EXP all of the while) makes it more or less impossible to raise a balanced group unless you choose two specific allies and never swap them out with anyone else.
Funny. I always thought that RPGs of this nature were all about getting to know all of the characters, but the downright idiotic system presented here forces me to cast most of my allies into some dark pit of oblivion and obscurity. Vincent, Cait Sith, Aeris, Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII are all great characters with unique abilities, all deserving attention and recognition. It's a pity they're so underleveled I'll hardly ever use them.

I've been really taken with Advance Wars DS lately, and so, to my never ceasing astonishment, has my sister. This is a girl, you know, who often won't so much as touch a game that doesn't proudly advertise on it's case some form of user-made content as it's primary focus (Harvest Moon being more-or-less the sole exception). The game's hearty level-editor certainly has something to do with it, but her interest in this matter has actually stretched over into actually playing on the courses she's designed. There have been days when she has actually shown a far greater interest in it than I, which is something that happens only once in a great while.

I'd better go. Sleigh bells are ringing and children are singing, and I can't help but feel that I've forgotten something.

-S.B.