Topic: Place your bets! Will Que finally beat FFVII?

[Quemaqua]

That's right, I'm trying again.  For the FOURTH time.  There are a variety of reasons I was never able to finish it, mostly due to playing on a buggy PC version and having my HDD crash and demolish my save.  But with the release of Crisis Core on PSP, my interest in the game has again been rekindled just because I really enjoy the world in which it all takes place, so I'm hoping to dive in on the Playstation version on my PSP using CFW 3.90 MM and the magic of popsloader.

The odds aren't exactly looking in my favor after having finished half the game three times, but I suppose time will tell.

[Ghandi]

I voted no, but only because I love to see you suffer. I can already envision a post a few months from now where you curse the gods for not letting you finish. I'll have my popcorn ready.

[Quemaqua]

It will be interesting to see what random crap they throw at me this time.  Perhaps my PSP will explode?  Perhaps popsloader will do some horrible magic trick with its intestines and refuse to work properly?  The latter is actually happening to me right now, but I think I know what the problem is.  I think...

[Xessive]

Yew can do eeet!!

[Cobra951]

I didn't get very far into VII.  I did little more than test it on ePSXe, really.  You have all kinds of time in bits here and there to sink into it, at work and traveling, right?  Why not?  Go for it.  I have X an X-2 barely played on the shelf, and I think I'd go for those before trying the very dated VII again.  Hell, I should finish VI (III US) while I'm at it.  Come to think of it, XII is the first FF I ever stuck with till the end.  Weird.

[gpw11]

Pssssst.....don't listen to the anime kids, FFIX is better.

[Quemaqua]

Okay, I've put in about 21 hours now and I just got off the first disk.  THANK GOD.  I'M FINALLY GOING TO SEE SOMETHING NEW.

That said, I'm surprised at how engaged I was just going through the stuff I'd seen 3 times.  It's still interesting and still manages to give you momentum... it really is a damned good story.  Dark, too.  If only the translation didn't suck... that alone makes me think that a straight remake of the game would be amazing. Pretty new graphics and fix the fucked up translation, what more do you need?  But they'd probably censor the hell out of it now.  Which would suck.

Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun.  Cheating a bit and using a FAQ pretty heavily just to get me through the beginning stages quicker, especially during parts where it's easy to get lost and spend too much time getting stuck in random battles.  Yes, I still fucking hate them.  My hatred for random battles will never diminish no matter how cool the game is.  Jeez.  Also, the game is seeming remarkably easy.  I'm not really using the FAQ for enemy information and such, but I found some stuff I missed the first few times (a couple summon materia and some enemy skills), and they just make the game a breeze.  Virtually no challenge at all so far.  I imagine it'll pick up a bit now that I'll be playing it blindfolded.

I also got the chance to listen to the Crisis Core OST at work today, and I've gotta' say that I'm really impressed.  As usual, all the fucking Uematsu fanboys whined that the reinterpretations of the classic tunes were the best parts, but I'm in near complete disagreement.  And that isn't a knock on Uematsu... I think I really prefer the original tunes most of the time.  I'm not as much a fan of the reinterpretations.  But I think the OST's best parts are the new material, and that isn't because a lot of it is metal.  Yeah, I said metal.  WTF?  There's like... a lot of it.  And actually, while I'm not completely in love with it or anything, it's a lot better than the usual "metal" garbage we get in games.  It's a little too... wanting to be hip.  You know, throwing in techno breakbeats and stuff in back, cutting out the guitars for a quick measure of drums with the lows and highs ripped out so it fades back in the mix, then come back in with full guitars again.  So it's a bit angsty and too predictable, but they actually really nailed the sonics the way you're supposed to.  It's got that sort of digital, bassed-out crunch to it that either totally works if you do it right or completely fails if you fuck it up, and some of the little riffs, while nothing terribly special, aren't as crappy and repetitive as I was expecting after hearing a few.  Think Celldweller and his ilk.  All in all, I think it actually adds to the layers of the OST in general, and I don't find myself wanting to switch the tracks when they come up.  So while it isn't Daisuke Ishiwatari, it isn't half bad.  But that stuff aside, I'm really enjoying the OST as a whole, especially the non-metal original material.  It's really high quality stuff, and I think I'll be listening to this thing for a while.  If you haven't had the pleasure and need something to listen to, check it out.  I'm looking forward to the game even more now.

[Quemaqua]

Well, I made it to the third disk and have done all kinds of optional questing.  I basically just have the final dungeon to go, but I'm also sort of itching to destroy the Ruby and Emerald weapons, so we'll see whether or not I go for that.  I did the chocobo breeding and got all the schmancy stuff you get from that, so I'm pretty heavily decked out now.  My big problem is that I took a break to try out The World Ends With You and I can't stop playing it.  But there isn't much more FFVII to go, so when I next pick it up hopefully I'll be able to just power through it.  At any rate, at least I finally got through the majority of the game after so many tries.  It was cool to finally see some new stuff, and I realize now why this game was such a big deal to so many people.  I mean, I kind of knew that before, but I just wasn't able to quite see the whole picture.