So, it’s been an interesting two weeks. Thanks to technical issues, we lost the first versions of this week’s episodes, and they were comedy gold. But we recorded some new commentaries, sadly losing Lex’s commentary, but gaining the Voice of Trainer Red alongside more regular contributors Soak and Carlie. I think our second go was just as good as the first, despite Carlie’s continued technical issues with episode 15, but I’ll let you listen in for the details there.

Wondering what you can expect this episode?

Our regulars join up with some blowhards.

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Continuing our theme of making Final Fantasy VII a more multi-player experience here on The Lifestream, we’ve just re-started a Community Playthrough of the game, in which our forum members play along at the same time and all discuss it together. If that sounds like your kind of thing, read on…

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The first ever Final Fantasy race on The Lifestream took place over the weekend, with Prince Lex comfortably beating Flintlock to the end of the game.

Here we take a look back at how it all unfolded and get the thoughts of the players.

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Update: the race finished on day two! That means there will be no broadcasts on the third day, Sunday. Look out for a report on how it all unfolded on TLS in the next few days.

If you thought Final Fantasy VII was only a single-player game, think again. This weekend on The Lifestream, two of our members will play the game head to head as they race from “New Game” to “The End”.

There is a dedicated page for this race, which contains both players’ streams, so you can watch their progress, and a chat room for discussion. Both players will be in the chat room and will be able to field questions during their breaks.

The playing sessions will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 14:00 to 21:00 UTC each day. You can check what that is in your timezone here. Those seven hours include five and a half hours of playing, a few breaks, and around half an hour at the end to discuss it and answer any questions you might have.

Read on for the rules and the players.

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It’s been two weeks, and that means it’s time for another two episodes of our increasingly silly Final Fantasy Unlimited commentaries. This week, I’m joined by just Carlie, on the occasion that we officially redub the series Final Fantasy Unlimited Penetration.

What’s that expendable giant monster? You’re complaining about how little screen time you get?

These two episodes mark a noted change in the series, the part where stuff starts getting real, if not any more coherent.

So what can you expect from this week’s episode?

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It’s been two weeks, folks, and our delays were even longer this time, but my turnaround was quicker, so it’s time for another few FFU episodes. This week I’m joined by Soak, Carlie, and longtime lurker and FFVII LP participant Jocalyn, as we cover episodes 9 and 10 of this increasingly insane series.

What’s in store this week?

Lou is still inappropriately clingy towards our ultra angsty hero.

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Stop that Lou, you’ll scare people.

Hey folks, sorry for the delay, I’ve been busy, and we’ve had technical issues, but we’re ready with another set of two FFU episode commentaries. This time I’m joined by commentary regular Force and Tennyo, as well as a newcomer, Tennyo’s friend Lindsey.

So what can you expect in these episodes?

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Article Index

Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison

We are speeding through the world of FFVII, hence why the article titles will read as “Location A to Location B” for a good while from now on. In this case we start with the Chocobo Farm, move on to the intermediate areas of the Mythril Mines, Fort Condor, Junon, Costa del Sol, Mt. Corel, North Corel, and Gold Saucer, and then we end with a visit to the cosy desert spot of Corel Prison.

On the way we will, among other things, analyse a scrapped mechanic for the Fort Condor battles and see more unused scenes left behind by Motomu Toriyama.

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The latest On the Way to a Smile Novella from TLS is now out for your listening pleasure: On the Way to a Smile: Case of Barret! As previously, the Audiobook is available for you to be able to download in MP3 format for easy listening and transportation at the link below.

If you’d rather, we also have the audiobook in two segments via the embedded YouTube clips, which have captions included so that you can read along while you listen. You can see the first one at the bottom of the article, and the second half can be viewed by clicking “Read the rest of this entry.” As always, we are very proud of all the hard work by the individuals that went into making this. We hope that you enjoy this latest presentation and look forward to your comments.

Length – 39 minutes 29 seconds

Written by Kazushige Nojima
Produced and Narrated by Joseph Knight
Featuring music by HypochondriacPiano and Roy Todd

Starring
psylentknight as Barret Wallace
Jonathan Waters as Cid Highwind
nuggetsoftruth as Old Man Sakaki
Michael Lloyd as Boilerman
Elephantologist as Junon Mother
Ryushikaze as Sakaki’s Nephew
The3rd23790 as Young Father
The Pawt as Oil Derrick Engineer
Tennyo as Shera
ForceStealer as Rocket Town Engineer

Music
‘Missing Score’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘Sad Reflections’ by Roy Todd
‘The Promised Land’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘A Tinge of Sadness’ by Roy Todd
‘A Time to Heal’ by Roy Todd
‘The Pilot’s Dream’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘Tears Inside’ by Ripley7

All characters and scenarios copyright © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Some visitors may recall last Christmas when it was announced that a certain “HARSHREALM” had managed to get each playable character (excluding Aeris) to their natural max HP/MP at level 99. However, after providing save files to prove said achievement it was discovered that he had actually tampered with the file data.
This individual, who appeared very suddenly on GameFAQs with no prior public documentation of his supposed way to the top, was nothing more than a liar and a cheater.

The event, as unfortunate as it was, however spurred the GameFAQs community to take up this never-before-completed challenge yet again. One of the most respected posters on the FFVII GameFAQs board, songsengnim, has now on March 7th 2012 achieved this daunting task.
As he has documented his progress for a very long time, plus added that he has contributed to info and methodology for the Perfect Save File challenge in the past, there truly is no other member whom we could trust more to honestly have completed the challenge!

See GameFAQs Thread

After thousands and thousands of resets we finally have it confirmed that at least in this line of HP & MP progression songsengnim went through the charts provided in Absolute Steve’s guide work! A big round of applause for songsengnim!

For those who want a more in-depth explanation of the Natural Max HP/MP Challenge and its history, I now repost the same presentation from my now deleted Christmas post about the challenge.

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TheLifestream.net has long struggled with its identity. With no FFVII news, what is there to do? Well, quite a lot actually. I have always seen TLS as being in a good position to become a great hub for FFVII content and it is my wish to help the site become just that:
A Final Fantasy VII Hub.

I draw much inspiration from the spectacular site Chrono Compendium. If you want to find any information about the Chrono series, there is where you can find it.
(It should be mentioned though that while the site at present do not plan to include a wiki-style encyclopedia, like the Chrono Compendium has, such a feature may become an option later on when TLS has grown significantly.)

I have written a series of mission statements or Site Goals. But for those who don’t like reading fancy definitions, what is the short story?
To be a guide and resource to the FFVII franchise in terms of its narrative, titles, products and fan-made content.
TLS is very willing to grow, but we need more work power. We need YOU to help fulfill the site goals!

We are always on the lookout for translators, hackers and people who enjoy documenting and analysing the many facets of the FFVII franchise. So even if you do not belong to the two first categories, there is still a good chance you can contribute!

Browse the assignments in the aptly named Project List. If anything catches your interest that you think you can add to, join the forum and post in the thread to enlist! Or if you have an idea for an additional project that suits the written goals of TLS, tell us!

Speaking of changes, the front page will see more renovations of its content and layout, so be on the look-out for that!

This has been a message from Shademp, the newly assigned Content Coordinator of TheLifestream.net.

On January 31st 1997, the seventh (roman numeral) installment of the Final Fantasy series was released in Japan. This old PlayStation title remains one of the biggest video game obsessions of all time, as proven by the still active fanbase.

Though this is indeed the game’s fifteenth anniversary, the FFVII as we know and love it was not released until the latter half of 1997. In Japan it was titled “FFVII International”, while in the rest of the world it became the standard edition of the game. But despite the original’s glaring lack of Weapons emerging from the Northern Crater or the inability to use Exchange to instantly swap materia between party members, this release was still considered an awesome experience and instantly spawned a huge following in Japan while the overseas gamers were still drooling over Sony’s ad campaigns for this epic game.

Our gratitude extends beyond the re-release it spawned, as in recent years it has been revealed that this first edition is the possessor of many exclusive, deeply hidden secrets such as the now classic Honey Bee Inn lobby scenes. Whether it be in story or gameplay, this game truly is more than meets the eye!

The Lifestream.net wishes Final Fantasy VII a glorious fifteenth anniverary!