<–The State of the Gamer: 4/23/20           The State of the Gamer: 5/21/20–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

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What I Finished

Title: Final Fantasy VII Remake
Series Title: Final Fantasy, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
System: PlayStation 4

Date Started: 4/10/20
Date Finished: 4/27/20

I don’t think I’ve ever finished a game so quickly, though I’m still not technically done.  I finished it, but didn’t complete it.  I still need to do the Chapter Select to pick up what I missed.  I never got Bahamut probably because I still have two Chadley missions to complete.

I’m sure people want to hear my opinion about the ending.  Well, initially, I was pretty pissed off, because yes, it’s different, and it’s pretty obvious Squeenix is cashing in on fandom power to make some things happen.  I was also annoyed because at first it seemed like a middle finger to the old school fans, but after talking to EWE I’ve calmed down a bit.  One, the original still exists; two, there seems to be some Twitter talk from SE themselves that they’re not changing the story of VII, which is…confusing given the end of this game, but whatever, and three (and probably most importantly), they don’t owe the fans anything.  Many of us often fall into this trap of thinking creators owe us either the story we expect and/or want, and they don’t.  Now, this in no way means we can’t say what we want and/or criticize what we get (have you heard what I’ve said about Game of Thrones?), but at the end of the day, it’s the creators’ story to tell how they see fit.  There is definitely a give and take interplay.  They can choose to do what they want, and we in turn can absolutely say what we like/don’t like; we can be disappointed, or even choose not to engage, but fans often get to the point where they think creators owe them something, and to be honest, I still struggle with this, but it’s more along the lines that both sides have both freedom and rules.  Best way I can explain this would be to have you all just to listen to this wonderful song.

I also made the mistake once of excoriating a book/series after reading the first one when everything I hated/bitched about was fixed in the second, so I had to get down on my claws and do the apology dance.

So this is why I’m going to hold off on any major critiques until the entire series/story is out.  What I do need to do is watch a Let’s Play of the game now, and luckily Olizandri has one (more on that later), while I replay the original or rather a port of the original on my Switch.  I also need to replay Crisis Core, though I really wish they’d just re-release that for Switch or something to make my life easier.  I think this might be the Year of Final Fantasy VII where I finally finish the OG myself, write my review, and maybe a few essays.  I still have so much more research to do, but I also don’t want to wait on writing things because I don’t feel like I’m good enough to do so, you know?  I can always go back and update when I find more information and/or have more revelations.  Idk.  Maybe I’ll try to amp up my researching of core texts/works.

If you’re played or finished FFVIIR let me know what you thought of it.  I honestly felt like it was a (near) perfect game, and it was just…fun.  Not only was it fun in and of itself, but you could tell the devs had a fucking BLAST making it.  The part where they parachute back to the slums was just proof of that.  The voice acting is ace (omg Brianna White ♥), and the game is just BEAUTIFUL.  Alright, I’m done gushing about it…for now 😉

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What I’m Playing

Title: Final Fantasy VIII (Remastered)
Series Title: Final Fantasy
System: Nintendo Switch

Date Started: 3/31/20

I’m just about to head to Esthar for the first time.  I did some leveling near Cactuar Island so my current GFs know all of the important skills.

Title: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
Series Title: Ace Attorney
System: Nintendo 3DS

Date Started: 3/13/20

Currently playing one of the theater cases.  I finished up the full length DLC about the time traveling bride.  That was fun.  The case I’m on now features Pearly so I’m not unhappy about that.  I love her so hard.

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What I Played

• Pic-a-Pix Deluxe

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Let’s Plays

Oliz finished up his FFVIII Remastered Let’s Play, and I’m not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears at the ending.  It always leaves me with chills, and I have to say it really is one of the best if not the best final boss sequences in the entire series.  Then today he did the fight with the Omega Weapon in Ultimecia’s Castle, something I’ve never done.  I don’t even know if I knew about it lol.  I also don’t know if I’m going to do it since it seems needlessly hard for very little reward outside of bragging rights.  I have plenty to brag about so….

I’m also still watching his Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Let’s Play, but I should be finished that soon, since he’s through the fore mentioned.  Next I want to start watching his FFVIIR LP.  I’m…not entirely sure why I’ve waited this long to start it.  I think I needed some breathing room from FFVII after I finished it myself to think about what I saw and how I feel.  My husband has also been playing it, so there’s that, too.

I guess i can consider Andromeda and Death Stranding on hold, but I will come back to them eventually.

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I wonder if I should just change my day for this post to Friday, but eventually the world will start spinning again; my husband will go back to bowling, and I’ll need the free Fridays for recording.  Until then it’s nice to have the wiggle room when I don’t feel like doing it on Thursday, and of course there’s always Saturday, too.  Eh, I’ll keep it Thursday.

What has been your quarantine go to game?  Have you played the new Animal Crossing?

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<–The State of the Gamer: 4/23/20           The State of the Gamer: 5/21/20–>