A Whole New World

Lo and behold: Final Fantasy VII is now, quite indisputably, being played by me. I finally looked nigh up, you see, and it turns out I was misusing it- it means near, not here. Bummer.
My everlasting shame aside, Final Fantasy VII is, as stated before, being played by me- though not necessarily at this very moment. It has actually been played by me for a few days already, and will likely continue to be played by me well into the future. Yes, it has crafted time itself into a thick and durable rope, one that it is now using to restrain me as it robs me of every last second of my life.

I love italics so much. Don't you?

My early (read: first fifteen hours) impressions of the game are quite good, though it does take some time to really get going. The story actually felt pretty darn foreign to me for a game that is considered to have set the trend followed by most modern RPGs (several of which I've played). I suppose I was expecting something along the lines of Final Fantasy IV (one of it's more notable predecessors, and the only one I've actually experienced), i.e: X medieval kingdom has good relations with Y medieval kingdom until X is mysteriously attacked by Y, a dashing and quite noticeably conspicuous member of Y's army is caught up in the moral quagmire of it all, and eventually learns that he's the son of some ancient god, yadda yadda yadda, etc., etc. I have nothing against this philosophy towards storytelling in games, mind you. I actually find it rather warm and familiar- not unlike a nice cup of hot cocoa during a cold winter day.

But that is not how FFVII rolls. Your first act in the game is to assist a environmental terrorist group in the bombing of a reactor. An all-powerful energy company suppresses the people, drains the world's resources, and even does a bit of frightening bio-engineering on the side. And (in a flashback) a calm mentor-friend of the main character's goes insane upon learning that he was in fact created in an experiment, develops a god complex, and slaughters countless villagers before disappearing for five years. FFVII is, in other words, hardcore; the exotic and forbidding fancy French coffee to my traditional RPG cocoa. I spent much of the first ten-or-so hours grasping around for anything (besides the near-identical battle system and trademark victory music) that likened the game to FFIV- some scrap of familiarity that I could wrap myself in to ease the weight of this confusing and sometimes frightening new world. None was forthcoming, and eventually I began, slowly, to accept that this was, more or less, an entirely new ballgame. Then, right as I was finally coming to terms with this supposed reality, I found myself in a farm full of happily "bawk"ing Chocobos. Now I just don't know anymore.

My written impressions on Super Mario Galaxy are coming along at roughly the same pace as that infamous governmental money-drain that is the dodo revival project. Like with that project, you may see results sometime in the next hundred years, but, then again, you probably won't.

My little sister got married today, though as it was only in her copy of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody I don't think it warrants any kind of real fanfare- at least, not from musicians of any considerable skill. I'll tell you this, though; If that shrimp of a doctor she married is anything other than a perfect husband, I'll start my own game file and torture him (in, admittedly, an alternate reality) by giving him presents he hates. That's right, Alex. And I make good on my threats, too, so watch it, bub!

-Smashing Brother