Let's Play Final Fantasy VII: At the same time!

[Shademp]

Oh yeah picked up Yuffie. For years I thought the name was pronounced Yuhfee not Yoofee.

I pronounced it as "Yaffi", until Kingdom Hearts arrived and corrected me.

 

[Tetsujin]

Fuck, I'm way behind again.

 

[Cthulhu]

Lulz, so apparently, you can already get Yuffie at this point and I didn't get her 'cause I'm not using guides right now, .

/me backtracks and considers looking up a guide again just for the heck of it.

 

[Octo]

She'll always be Yuffie (as in Puffy) to me! Its another thing thats pissed me off. If it was YooFee they should have spelt it Yu-Fi or something suitably oriental sounding

Bah! Well at least I was right about Tifa and Reno, I had a friend who thought it was Tiffer and Reh-no, and every time they said that I wanted to stab their eyes with a spoon

 

[ForceStealer]

I loved the people that said You-fee and Tiffa. I mean do you just know nothing of English phonetics? Come on.

"Reh-no" I never heard before, same problem though: a single consonant surrounded by vowels makes the first vowel long, two consonants make it short. Yeah yeah yeah, 'baww English is hard with a lot of exceptions', but I don't know how any English speaking kid without knowledge of Japanese could EVER have gotten "you-fee" from the way they spelled it.
And Reno is a city in Nevada.

 

[Tennyo]

I said You-fee AND Tee-fah. Do I get a cookie?

 

[Tetsujin]

No.

Spoiler

You get two.

 

[Beckoning cat]

She'll always be Yuffie (as in Puffy) to me! Its another thing thats pissed me off. If it was YooFee they should have spelt it Yu-Fi or something suitably oriental sounding

I loved the people that said You-fee and Tiffa. I mean do you just know nothing of English phonetics? Come on.

"Reh-no" I never heard before, same problem though: a single consonant surrounded by vowels makes the first vowel long, two consonants make it short. Yeah yeah yeah, 'baww English is hard with a lot of exceptions', but I don't know how any English speaking kid without knowledge of Japanese could EVER have gotten "you-fee" from the way they spelled it.
And Reno is a city in Nevada.

I always got the names right, dunno if it's because my native language (Finnish) is accidentally similar to Japanese phonetics. Give me a Japanese text and I can read out perfect Japanese.
In latin alphabet though, can't read any kanji or syllabic writing sadly.

Btw, still noobing around here trying to figure out navigating the site and how to properly quote reply to more than one people in the same post. /goes to the corner ashamed

Anyways, I remember getting Yuffie for the first time was a pain. Running around in the bushes and encountering her was already an achievement for an underleveled player since there were those mandragora-looking plant monsters that humped you to death easily in their large groups D: Then many times I messed up getting her because I tried being polite to her, even tried saving at the save point to make sure she doesn't get away... Well, later being a bit more experienced I realised that the forests near Forth Condor and Junon were great places for some fast leveling and getting limit breaks just because of the large plant groups.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

"Reh-no" I never heard before,

You would have heard it if you watched the Japanese version of CC and ACC; that's how it's pronounced there. That was the version of CC I watched first and it influenced that way I pronounce 'materia', 'Jenova', 'Reno' and 'Gongaga'.

Chapter 4

I climbed up the tower by the stairs first until I got to the Elixer, and then I went all the way back down and up the elevator for the ExP. I think it's crazy how easy it is to find the back stairway though. You would think that with all the robots guarding the halls Scarlet would be able to spare a few to guard the stairway.

Yeah, I explore the tower. I thought the "Mayor"s puzzle was funny because you would think Shin-Ra would be more careful with who could access to some of those books (Materia production and its military uses, Reactor Construction Chart). I kept retrying until I could get the Elemental materia because I needed it to get Beta. I really like this part because it highlights that the majority of the people who work in Shin-Ra are normal people who are just trying to make a living and don't have the ambition to take over the world or something. Also, how does Barret fit into an air-conditioning duct?

Did anyone else wonder exactly how President Shin-Ra managed to keep his company afloat? He comes across as completely crazy. I think I did the Tifa answer about ten times.

Jenova's escape. Very creepy. I got the feeling she left then because Cloud was there so it was finally time for Reunion to start in earnest. Rufus! I think he's the only enemy in the game that has any grip on reality whatsoever. Also, his boss fight, completely random.

The motorcycle chase. This was one of the more realistic elements as for once Shin-Ra is acting like a "real" company. You do have to wonder where the freeway goes; they're aren't any exits. And Cloud finds his love of motorcycles!

I tend to prefer speed (dexterity) over defense so I pick Tifa and Nanaki.

 

[Octo]

I always got the names right, dunno if it's because my native language (Finnish) is accidentally similar to Japanese phonetics. Give me a Japanese text and I can read out perfect Japanese.
In latin alphabet though, can't read any kanji or syllabic writing sadly.

I salute Finland....and uh...the Moomins (I really need to learn more about the world)

Btw, still noobing around here trying to figure out navigating the site and how to properly quote reply to more than one people in the same post. /goes to the corner ashamed

I only figured it out myself the other week. What you do is see, is click the button next to the quote button, the one with the " and the + sign, then click 'quote' on the last message you want to reply to. Did that make sense? I don't know if the multiquote button will appear for you yet though, some features only become available after you've made X amount of posts

Anyways, I remember getting Yuffie for the first time was a pain. Running around in the bushes and encountering her was already an achievement for an underleveled player since there were those mandragora-looking plant monsters that humped you to death easily in their large groups D: Then many times I messed up getting her because I tried being polite to her, even tried saving at the save point to make sure she doesn't get away... Well, later being a bit more experienced I realised that the forests near Forth Condor and Junon were great places for some fast leveling and getting limit breaks just because of the large plant groups.

I feel kind of bad that I knew from long before I got the game that Yuffie was a tricky customer. There had been a game guide for the Jap import version given away with one of the gaming mags, and I read it cover to cover before I even bought FFVII

 

[ForceStealer]

You would have heard it if you watched the Japanese version of CC and ACC; that's how it's pronounced there. That was the version of CC I watched first and it influenced that way I pronounce 'materia', 'Jenova', 'Reno' and 'Gongaga'.

Well I meant from an English speaker

 

[Beckoning cat]

I salute Finland....and uh...the Moomins (I really need to learn more about the world)

Thanks =) I salute erhm Tseng's angry face too I'm impressed! You know the trolls

I only figured it out myself the other week. What you do is see, is click the button next to the quote button, the one with the " and the + sign, then click 'quote' on the last message you want to reply to. Did that make sense? I don't know if the multiquote button will appear for you yet though, some features only become available after you've made X amount of posts

Tyty, will try it out when I get the chance <--- Please don't feel intruded when a stranger is using your dear TLS mascot

I feel kind of bad that I knew from long before I got the game that Yuffie was a tricky customer. There had been a game guide for the Jap import version given away with one of the gaming mags, and I read it cover to cover before I even bought FFVII

That works too =D I've always tried playing most FF-games without checking any guides on the first playthrough, makes it more exciting

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Yey! Caught up with up with the rest of you.

Chapter 5

Kalm. One of the things I like about this town is how the residents point out how useful mako energy is. It gives a reason for why the company exists and why more people aren't making/joining organizations like AVALANCHE. In hindsight, their concerns about what would happen if they stop using mako prove to be all too accurate. I don't end up buying too much here because it's so much easier to break into people's houses and steal their stuff and I've stolen Hardedges, Atomic Scissors, Striking Staffs, and Carbon Bangles from previous monsters.

Cloud's flashback scene. Very vague. It starts with [I joined SOLDIER.
After working with Sephiroth on several missions, we became friends.] and ends with a fade out screen in the reactor and Sephiroth still alive. In between is a bunch of transitions that don't make much sense. Cloud's interactions between the villagers feel forced. It is cute that you the player can still explore the village and do things that will affect what happens when you go there. Sephiroth here is very mysterious because we know nothing about him. All we know about him is that he was a successful general who saw his mom's name engraved in a reactor, somehow comes to the conclusion that he is a monster and burns down the town a few days later before facing Cloud down in a reactor. Huh? This makes no sense with what we've seen of him so far (stabbing the president with his sword). How did Cloud get from the reactor to Midgar? Cloud definitely has some mental issues going on.

Extra stuff! I love the Enemy Skill materia. Matra Magic is my go-to spell for taking out large groups of low level enemies. I do get Lv4 Suicide and Chocobuckle even if I don't use them all that often. And Beta! This spell is so fun to use; it makes everything so much easier.

Mythril Mine. There's an awesome glove for Tifa to steal here and the Long Range materia (for Cloud). What is that doing lying on a shelf? I swear, the places you can find random materia... I really like the music theme here.

Fort Condor. I fight the first battle here always for Nanaki's Magic Comb. I do use the "trick" that makes you win if you can clear the field of all enemies. Incidentally, it has a free inn as well, so I don't see why you wouldn't go there. Another music theme I really like.

I do go into all the trouble of recruiting Yuffie at this point. I think I got up to Lv 19 when I was trying to find her. I also ended up stealing a bunch of Boomerangs for her.

 

[clowd]

I'm so overpowered now, everyone is level 27, Cloud is almost 28. I'm usually not level 27 until outside Corel. Just for a challenge I decided to fight the Midgar Zolom solo with Cloud. I've played ahead a bit and left Junon when they ask you to climb the tower. Just let the Zolom build up the Metorean limit break, hit it, dont hit it again until the Zolom builds up the limit break and boom its dead with two meteoreans. 250xp and 25 AP is pathetic for killing what amounts to a an overpowered boss this early in the game.

Tifa has all level 1 and level 2 limit breaks with the first level 3 limit. Barret has both level 2 limit breaks.

I got 55,000 gil which is unheard of for me in any previous playthroughs this early in disc 1. Play time is only 12 hours

 

[Dana Scully]

Good fucking game firefox I had all my shit written out for this and then it decided to crash and lose it all.

SIGH alright here we go again

- The music in Kalm is so calming relaxing.
- I didn't know about the window thing either. Neat!
- Good use of music (or lack-there-of) when the flashback starts and that nice, soothing Kalm music just fades away and leaves you in silence. That's when you know shit's about to get real.
- Knowing now that the Cloud in the truck is not actually Cloud but Zack helps make him seem a lot less bipolar, as I don't think Cloud is ever portrayed like the energetic 'puppy' Zack is, even when he's a kid.
- The white flashes and staticy noises and Cloud going all 'I can't remember' at certain points in Nibelheim is very disconcerting and well done.
- "Cloud, did you play my piano?" YEAAAAHH, I JAMMED A BIT. Played me some MAIN THEME BITCHES.
- Orthopedic underwear always makes me lul.
- I find the use of Anxious Heart rather interesting. It's not the kinda music you'd expect for someone who's about to reunite with his home and family and friends, or who's excited about killing some monsters. I find it helps make the whole flashback feel 'off'.
- "We're short a bed." THAT'S OKAY CLOUD AND ZACK CAN SHARE AMIRITE
- "I'll always be your mother." Did anyone else find this an odd thing to say? Also, I've always wondered how Cloud's dad died.
- You really gotta work on your bridge maintenance, Nibelheim. That's just inexcusable.
- "This reactor is full of the secrets of Shinra's technology." Yes, like your shitty, shitty walkways which are nothing more than two parallel pipes. Or your 'ladder' which is nothing more than two chains dangling down. I mean really, it's not like you took a side entrance or something. You walked right up the front stairs and in the front door, you'd think they could have some sort of proper walkway, maybe a coat rack or two.
- Sephiroth strikes me as so mentally unstable during this whole flashback, it's awesome. He does the random, crazy laughter, the sudden tantrums, the head grabbing. Dude's got issues like woah.
- Okay, I really gotta comment on the use of Those Chosen By the Planet in this part, because I think it's some of the best use of music in the game. The way that the actual melody never kicks in - only that pulsing, beat/bassline repeating over and over again - makes shit really creepy. And then finally, when Sephiroth decides it's time to visit mother - that's when the melody finally appears, in all it's ominous chanting glory, and it's so damn effective.
- Again with the lack-of-music, once you hit the reactor - I love how it goes completely silent for Tifa's moment in the spotlight (from when she's crouched over her dad to when she gets slashed by Seph). The only sound effect is the slashing noise of Sephiroth's sword in that entire scene, and then Tifa goes slow-mo ragdoll down the stairs and it's adklfjldf top notch sound direction.
- The Cloud Sephiroth Cloud Sephiroth Cloud Seph Cloud Seph CloudSeph CloudSephCloudSeph THE END always makes me laugh. It's like super climactic and thennn NOPE can't remember the rest trololol
- The chocobo waltz is one of my favourite parts in the game just because it's so random.
- Hah, I was all I GOT MAH CHOCOBO SNAKE'LL NEVER TOUCH ME but then ran straight into him when he was just offscreen and proceeded to get my ass kicked.
- I like to think that Sephiroth didn't actually kill the Zolom, but that instead it was a freak accident involving getting swept up in a tornado and an unfortunate landing place.
- Aww, Rude hates public speaking. It's kay, I can relate.
- I don't think I've ever actually had Aerith in my party at this point before, and I wish that I had because her and Tseng's interaction makes me :3
- Yayyy, Yuffie. She's my fave, though I think I'ma stick with Red and Aerith for now.

Saved just outside of Junon. Currently Cloud/Red/Aerith at level 16/16/14 with 7:47 on the clock.

 

[Sprites]

Hoooo Boy this is my longest post to date, I actually made a rough draft of it before posting this as there was so much I wanted to say and didn&#8217;t want to forget anything especially as there&#8217;s a lot to do until you reach Junon. I went back to my old method of making different sections as there was just far to much to write about for this chapter

Spoiler: Flashback

Finally we get to see what Sephiroth is all about. I always thought it was quite tragic because on first impressions Sephiroth does seem a little cold but clearly not a bad person. Looking back on it I also thought it was strange that Tifa never commented on Cloud&#8217;s version of events. At the time I figured she maybe didn&#8217;t wanna talk about it because it was so upsetting but it&#8217;s now more clear that it&#8217;s to do with her shock of realising that Cloud knows things that as far as she is aware, he shouldn&#8217;t, the constant tucking her hair behind her ear action during the parts you see the group in the room is a nice little touch I think, almost like it represents her fidgety-ness and desire to say something about Cloud&#8217;s version of events.

I always liked the flashback of Cloud visiting his mother but found it very weird when the fragmented flashbacks happened. I stole the underwear from Tifa&#8217;s wardrobe&#8230;because we all know how much Cloud loves to get in touch with his feminine side , reading the letter, you kinda get the sense of how popular Tifa was and how lonely Cloud must&#8217;ve been considering it mentions how no one was really close to him, makes me feel sorry for him, a lot. Oh and on the way to Nibelhiem Cloud got murdered by the Dragon and Sephiroth kicked it&#8217;s ass . On another note when I first played the game and saw Sephiroth&#8217;s level and his mastered material, I was astounded and very impressed by him, how could anyone get to that level and master all that materia&#8230;nowadays its actually easy enough with a bit of grinding to reach level 50 before even attempting Temple of the Ancients, how do I know that? I have another save file with a level 50 Aerith It took me ages to also figure out that Cloud plays the main theme on the Piano in Tifa&#8217;s bedroom, there&#8217;s also a nice little reference to Zack, which makes more sense now with CC being released &#8220;Don&#8217;t blow you chance to become a hero&#8221;. The two little kids in one of the houses make me laugh, especially that one that refers to Soldier as Salsa but then a horrible thought occurred, when you visit Nibelheim later on, in the same house in the attic area there are two child sized clones, something tells me these two children were rounded up and experimented on with the rest of the massacre survivors . Another little interesting piece of trivia is that on the far wall of the inn the picture of the girl on the chair is there, that same picture plays part of the seven wonders side-quest in CC, I just thought it was a nice little feature to come back to.

I would love to know also what happened to Cloud&#8217;s father and how if he&#8217;d still been alive might have changed the person Cloud became. During the flashback, I noticed Sephiroth walks with a kind of stomp, I just thought it looked kinda funny, considering how serious he&#8217;s meant to be. The Masamune also happenes to be a non-growth weapon for materia if you look carefully at it. If you look at the empty slot and compare it to other non-growth weapons the slots are a darker colour to say normal or double growth weapons, if you don&#8217;t believe me have a look at the slots of everyone&#8217;s final weapons, which are all non-growth weapons for materia and all darker coloured than normal growth weapons

Mako-fountain is puuuurrrttttyyyyyy. Honestly I don&#8217;t think there was a need for Genesis in CC during the Nibelhiem scene, I understand it was to flesh out the story more, but the original has that air of mystery about it that makes us curious as to what made Sephiroth snap so suddenly. The Makonoids (that&#8217;s what they call them in CC) easily one of the creepiest looking things, my reactions was kinda similar except instead of falling backwards onto the ground like Cloud/Zack I nearly fell of my chair. I didn&#8217;t bother saving in between, just no point to it.

The iconic moment of Sephiroth in the flames, ok when I first saw this, it was during a fantastic trailer for the game and because Cloud featured so heavily and Sephiroth&#8217;s hair was all blonde looking because of the flames, I assumed it was an older version of Cloud or something&#8230;&#8230;boy was I wrong in that department. How Tifa managed to actually survive getting struck the whole way across her body with a long-ass sword and then bouncing the whole way down a large amount of stairs when she was just 15 years old still eludes me&#8230;girl&#8217;s got one hell of a will, it&#8217;s no wonder she didn&#8217;t contract geostigma. Jenova&#8230;.ewwwww, also I really believed when I was younger that at the time she really was Sephiroths mummy.

When I first played FFVII I too never questioned why Cloud couldn&#8217;t remember facing off against Sephiroth, but looking back on it I now always wonder why no one ever really questioned him fully on it, you don&#8217;t forget facing off against the person who massacred your hometown that easily.

I love Red XIII&#8217;s reaction to the end of Cloud&#8217;s story, everyone is like &#8220;shit this is really serious now&#8221; and all angsty about it and he&#8217;s just like &#8220;Best Story Evar &#8221;

Spoiler: Kalm

Kalm is one of my favourite starting towns, there&#8217;s actually quite a bit to explore despite it being such a small, quaint little town, great use of soundtrack almost contrasting against the technologic hustle and bustle of Midgar. Did anyone notice you can look out the same tower window that Marlene does during the ending? Just a fun little trivia fact.

I love that Cloud can just walk around and take people&#8217;s carefully stored items and kick furniture in order to get megalixirs and not one person bats an eyelid. Does anyone else ever go awwww at the poor doggy in the cupboard under the stairs? There is also a chest that says &#8220;locked can&#8217;t open it&#8221; in one of the houses, didn&#8217;t that play to a rumour of it original housing a scripted item that was eventually removed? I purchased, Earth and a Heal materia, both very useful and now it&#8217;s time for some chocobo chasing

Spoiler: Chocobos!!!...and Mythril Mines

I officially love &#8220;Electric Chocobo&#8221;, best chocobo theme tune in the whole series in my opinion. Chocobo dancing is adorable with the added bonus of the equally adorable summon they give you. I did of course buy my Chocobo Lure materia and some greens as I&#8217;m not stupid enough to attempt taking on the Midgar Zolom just yet, I will later though as Beta is such a kick ass enemy skill. I forgot to hunt around and have Cloud learn the Lvl 4 suicide enemy skill but I&#8217;ll come back for it later. Midgar Zolom on a stick was always quite a scary image as a kid.

The Mythril Mines, well I like this place a lot, it&#8217;s a nice place to level up, I also stole a Grand Glove from Madouge and learned Flame Thrower enemy skill from the Ark Dragon. Does anyone ever actually use the long range materia, I mean I know it&#8217;s handy if you wanna put one of your stronger fighters in the back row, but where&#8217;s the fun in that? Still it&#8217;s in my materia inventory anyways. The fact the Turks aren&#8217;t looking to capture Aerith, shows again just how different Rufus does things to his dad. I like Elena, I find her naivety adorable and her crush on Tseng cute, in fact they were a couple I always really wanted to get together, come on Tseng, less moping over Aerith more gettin&#8217; it on with Elena

Spoiler: Yuffie Time, levelling and Fort Condor

I&#8217;m swapping out Red XIII for Yuffie this playthrough, I love Yuffie&#8217;s character and if they ever remake VII I hope they&#8217;ll have the sense to have the group encounter her canonically rather than optional, same with Vincent, like the group could realised they&#8217;re being followed by her the same way that Zack does in CC, it would be a nice little sense of deja-vu events. Getting Yuffie these days is never hard and you have to be pretty stupid to not get the responses correct but how many of us made a mistake during early playthroughs, I know I did and she bolted of with loads of my gil&#8230;.that was fun.

I went for Fort Condor after getting Yuffie, dear god that child is obsessed with materia, speaking to the old man in the place pretty much tells you that. I know some people aren&#8217;t keen on the mini-game but I happen to be a fan of it, I love the strategy, kicking the commander&#8217;s ass without needing to get into a proper battle and the Magic Comb is a nice little weapon for Red XIII early on if you have him in your group.

Now then I decided to do some levelling in the forests around Junon because I hadn&#8217;t done any for most of the journey from Kalm to Junon. That grand spark attack and blue impulse attack can be a total bitch if the monsters decide to gang up on you, I had to use a couple of Phoenix Downs on both Aerith and Yuffie a few times. But levelling&#8217;s paid off as Cloud is now on Limit Level 3 and has only to learn Omnislash, before I changed party members, Red XIII, learned Lunatic High. Aerith has learned Planet Protector however I&#8217;m keeping her on Level 2 for the moment as Fury Brand is fucking epic and Yuffie needed to catch up in the limit level stakes, she is currently now on Limit level 2 however and is ready to go for level 3. As for materia to make it short everyone equipped with a Fire, Ice and Lightning has received a level up, Aerith&#8217;s restore materia levelled up and everyone&#8217;s All materia also increased a level. With that in order I believe its time to move on

Spoiler: character and materia set up

Cloud: Level 24
Hardedge: Lightning+All, *Enemy Skill
Carbon Bangle: Ice, Poison
Accessory: Protect Vest
*Enemy Skills: Matra Magic, Flamethrower
Limit Level 3: complete

Yuffie: Level 22
4-point shuriken: Fire+All, Earth
Carbon Bangle: Steal, Sense, Ice
Accessory: Star Pendant
Limit Level 2

Aerith: Level 23
Striking Staff: Restore+all, Heal, Fire
Carbon Bangle: Lightning+Elemental, Choco/mog
Accessory: Talisman
Limit Level 3 (Is currently being kept on limit level 2)

Gil Remaining: 14400
Time Clocked 11hrs33mins

I like to think that Sephiroth didn't actually kill the Zolom, but that instead it was a freak accident involving getting swept up in a tornado and an unfortunate landing place.

rofl, I'd like to think that too now you've said it, btw your commentary on your playthrough amuses me, I don't mean that in a rude way its just the way you put things unintentionally amuse me and make me laugh like said quote above.

 

[ForceStealer]

I never catch a chocobo. It's expensive and a pain. It's so much easier to just wait for the Zolom to be up in the northwest corner of the swamp and break for it

Okay, I really gotta comment on the use of Those Chosen By the Planet in this part, because I think it's some of the best use of music in the game. The way that the actual melody never kicks in - only that pulsing, beat/bassline repeating over and over again - makes shit really creepy. And then finally, when Sephiroth decides it's time to visit mother - that's when the melody finally appears, in all it's ominous chanting glory, and it's so damn effective.

I LOVE this bit and I remember talking about it before. I agree.

 

[Tetsujin]

I'm still in the Shinra HQ.

Not sure if I'm going to continue tbh.

 

[Sprites]

You know I'd say everyone is pretty much ready for the next chapter, I know I am at any rate so I think it'd be good if we could continue again soon

 

[Sprites]

OK is this actually being continued or what, because I'm looking forward to the next chappie, yes yes I know I'm double posting....if anyone has no objections then I say the next chappie should be all of Junon until the group reaches Costa Del Sol I'm guessing everyone is pretty much ready for it at any rate.

 

[Dana Scully]

Sounds good to me. Looks like Mog's disappeared so might as well get going before we all forget about it.

Where exactly in Costa Del Sol do you wanna end? Just outside it (aka finish Costa as well) or as soon as you get there?

 

[Sprites]

Would anyone have any objections if I made the call on this one, I'll PM Mog of course and see if he's ok with this.

Ok then why don't we make it to the end of Costa and then we can get stuck straight into Corel seeing as Costa is quite short and I assume nearly everyone is ready to rock and roll.

As for thoughts and opinions I'm crap at making these up so, I'll let people give their own opinions on what they think of Junon and Costa Del Sol. I suppose the more obvious things to discuss are of course the re-emergence of Sephiroth and the first Jenova battle.

There's quite a bit of humour in this part of the story, we've got Cloud dressing up again, the Turks getting plastered, Barret and his "Marshmellow" costume, Red XIII and the direct music reference to him whilst on the cargo ship etc. I'm sure people can find a lot to discuss about this before moving on to the more serious stuff.

Costa Del Sol: Great place to recover after the events of Junon. Hojo has upped and left Shinra, thoughts, was anyone suspicious of his intentions at this point in the game?

There's some nice and funny moments of interactions between the characters at this point, does anyone have a favourite bit *Cough*constantlybeingabletokickaballatRedXIII*cough*

Anyhoo, I'll leave the rest to peoples imagination, timewise if you're still not through Junon I'm guessing about a week for everyone to get their opinions out in the open

 

[ForceStealer]

I'll add more later, but I always loved that Barret is trying the sailor suit out in the mirror after the girls claim to like it

 

[Sprites]

OK moving onto the next chapter Junon, another long post from me but you guys already know that, happy reading at any rate.

Spoiler: Junon, the city below

So my first impressions of this place were that its very run down and that clearly Shinra has had a severe impact on this town. I imagined it to be a very cute little seaside resort town, the kind that you maybe would go down to for a weekend during the summer with your family when you were younger, at least before Shinra took over. The music playing here is the same as Kalm, but unlike Kalm where it seems like a kind of tranquil atmosphere the music I think adds a rather melancholy feel to the town this time. Priscilla is very cute and at the same time has every right to be suspicious of these new people that have come to her town.

I haven&#8217;t much to say about Bottomswell I really didn&#8217;t have to do anything here. I used Fury Brand to bring Yuffie and Cloud&#8217;s limits to the max, used Bloodfest and Meteorain, one Bolt2 spell and he was gone, simple as that. I don&#8217;t particularly like the CPR minigame mainly because when I was younger I kept taking forever to get it right because I didn&#8217;t know the correct time to have Cloud breathe into Priscilla. I love that Cloud&#8217;s reaction to being told to give her CPR is &#8220;But&#8230;she&#8217;s just a girl&#8230;&#8221; Jeez Cloud any chance you could, oh I dunno worry about that after you save her life? Good to know you&#8217;ve got your priorities right, although I also love that whoever else you&#8217;ve got in your group is like &#8220;Cloud just shut up and do it&#8221;. Incidently if this were real life Priscilla would more than likely be brain dead by now. I mean look at it this way by the time they pull her out of the water, talk about how to do CPR and Cloud finishes blowing up like a balloon before he breathes into her she would more than likely be dead by this stage, but that&#8217;s the beauty of FF for ya. Priscilla&#8217;s little crush on Cloud is cute, here&#8217;s an interesting thing though, how the heck does she find out things about the group later on in the game. If you go back to her after the lifestream incident in Mideel, she knows that Cloud was in the lifestream and yells at him to be more careful&#8230;how the heck does she find that out? At this point I haven&#8217;t decided who to give my newly acquired Shiva materia to and as there aren&#8217;t really any enemies until the Cargo ship and Cloud is on his own it&#8217;s pretty pointless to equip it yet.

Like Cloud I kept trying to figure out who the hell the voice was the kept trying to remind him of things that happened 5 years ago and I like how Tifa dodges the question and quickly changes the subject without Cloud noticing. The next part of the game is probably one of my favourite bits because Junon has so much to explore, it&#8217;s quite entertaining and a bit more light hearted after the more serious recent events that took place. Sometimes if I want to be really mean to Cloud I constantly make him bump into the pylon and electrocute himself over and over agan before he jumps onto it, no particular reason except that it&#8217;s fun Again I love how all the other characters are like &#8220;hmm danger, electric pylon&#8230;.looks like it&#8217;s a job for our lovely chocobo-head leader&#8221; and then they just leave Cloud standing there

Spoiler: Junon (City above)

So we&#8217;ve arrived. Apparently the FMV artwork of Aerith during the change discs bit caused a bit of confusion to people as to whether or not she could be revived due to her looking at the Highwind. Personally I never found it strange I assumed she saw it as the group were sneaking into the above city, she pretty much says to Cloud that she saw it during the Cargo ship bit so I never got how people assumed she could be revived from that&#8230;anyways moving on.

First things first I laugh everytime you see Cloud hopping up and down just off screen while putting on the infantry uniform, nice little touch of realism there because most people react like that while pulling on trousers of some sort while standing up. I also like how you find out that Cloud clearly wasn&#8217;t always a member of SOLDIER because he mentions about first putting on the infantry uniform, but it&#8217;s done in a way so that you don&#8217;t question it. I always assumed when I was younger that members of SOLDIER were already in the army and worked their way up first before becoming what they were later, so I never questioned about him not ever being a member of SOLDIER. The mini games and the two soldiers offering to help Cloud always cracks me up. Does anyone ever get the mini game right, apparently you&#8217;re supposed to really bash the circle button but I never get any higher that between 20 and 30% in the ratings section, this time I only managed 24%. Poor Cloud though taking abuse from everybody, look at Heidegger beating him up The only thing that annoys me is I wish you could ignore the demonstration of the send off bit, after having performed it so many times you really don&#8217;t need a constant reminding of how to do it.

Exploring time, this is the thing I love about Junon there&#8217;s a ton of different places to explore and items to grab including the ever confusing and rumour filled item &#8220;1/35 soldier&#8221; but anyways. First of all I purchased a Seal and Revive materia to add to my collection, I should point out I rarely ever use these two materia but I like to have them in the collection anyways. I love that you can also meet the infantry that Cloud stole the uniform off. In this same area I picked up the enemy skill materia, which I will be giving to Aerith and went through the intermediate beginner&#8217;s hall stage. As I said previously I love going through the beginner&#8217;s hall stuff so I always make a note to go a visit it, nice little reference about returning to the planet from the Slum guys is pretty cool too. Picked up 2x 1/35 Soldier&#8217;s, a mind source, power source and luck source in the Barrack area also. I like how once you come to the last area before the send off you can catch a glimpse of the others dressed in uniforms heading to the Cargo Ship. I always find it funny that whenever the Turks aren&#8217;t chasing Cloud and co. or Sephiroth, they&#8217;re busy getting drunk somewhere, now that&#8217;s dedication to your job . In another Barrack area I picked up another Speed Source and another 1/35 Soldier, there&#8217;s that poor Shinra manager again who always gets so much stick from people lol. I bought the Boomerang weapon for Yuffie but I won&#8217;t get much use out of it as her Wind Slash weapon will be equipped as soon as I grab it on the Cargo Ship. Well time to move onto the send off and Cargo Ship.

Spoiler: Send off and Cargo Ship

I want the Force Stealer for my prize, at this point there&#8217;s no need for the HP+ materia and I can buy it later anyway whereas double growth AP on the Force Stealer is always good in my eyes. I used to always want the HP+ materia but nowadays it's the weapon. An interesting thing I noted was you never get points for either left or right facing only for putting in the other commands, also Rufus&#8217; commentary on the send off changes depending on how well you do, this time I went all out without making any mistakes so my final total was 180. I like that Red is peeking out during the entire send off.

The Cargo ship: Poor Yuffie I know how she feels about travel sickness, I&#8217;m horrible for it, sleeping is really the best thing for it, I would take travel tablets a lot but they make you feel pretty drowsy. After shuffling my materia round a little I decided to give Cloud Shiva for the time being anyways and of course equip him with his nice shiny new weapon, I&#8217;ve also equipped him with the Power wrist accessory acquired of Bottomswell. I always choose the option for Cloud to take Aerith on the Highwind someday just out of sheer poignancy that we know she&#8217;ll never board it . Poor Red XIII he goes through crap in the next couple of bits, first with the business on the Cargo ship and then with the heat at Costa Del Sol and the fact that Cloud can kick things at him Also for some reason watching him Shuffle makes me think of the &#8220;shuffle&#8221; dance in LMFAO&#8217;s video for their song &#8220;Party Rock Anthem&#8221; so I put the song on while watching Red move and it actually works

I&#8217;m still sticking with Aerith and Yuffie as my other two party members for the time being, so no major changes except to shuffle accessories and materia around a little bit. One of the things I usually forget to do is climb the ladder in the engine room and grab the Wind Slash for Yuffie another nice little double growth weapon, at the moment I want to keep Steal and Sense materia equipped on her so I had to remove the elemental materia that I&#8217;d briefly put on her in order to have enough slots.

Here it is then Sephiroth reappearing, I must admit the whole thing was confusing when he did reappear as well as leaving behind icky tentacle arm of Jenova. One of the things that keeps it interesting is that Sephiroth doesn&#8217;t appear to remember Cloud in the beginning but as the party progresses more and more his intent towards Cloud becomes stronger and stronger, Sephiroth also appears to act kind of Zombie-like in the beginning, he doesn&#8217;t seem human at all compared to the Sephiroth we know later. I know that the ultimania files state that Sephiroth&#8217;s will dominates Jenova&#8217;s before this point but is it possible at this point that Sephiroth&#8217;s will was still on some level trying to dominate Jenova&#8217;s hence the broken speech, I always wondered because this Sephiroth doesn&#8217;t feel the same as the one we see later, just food for thought.

Spoiler: The Jenova Battle:

I love this, the music gets you really pumped and her laser attack can be a total bitch when it wants to be, no major strategy for the battle except to whack her with level 2 spells, and keep an eye on HP levels. Something very interesting and very rare about this battle for me was that I got a pre-emptive strike on Jenova, never had that before, naturally the first thing I did was have Cloud smack her with his sword, the camera angle seemed a little different which I assume might have something to do with the pre-emptive strike and she also used her Gas attack which again was a first for me, in any previous battles she&#8217;s either used Stop or her w-laser attack this time she only used Stop once. I made sure to pick up Ifrit before I left, there&#8217;s been many a time I&#8217;ve forgotten to do that.

Spoiler: Costa Del Sol

Several very humour-filled moments in this bit, Barret talking to himself in a Sailor Suit and the group teasing him about it, I find Cloud&#8217;s description of him being a &#8220;Bear wearing a marshmellow&#8221; really funny and kicking the ball at Red XIII, which as mean as it sounds, if he&#8217;s in my party I immediately swap him so that I can do this at least once per playthrough. I dunno I just always get a kick out of it I do feel sorry for him though when you seem him kinda crawling off to go find shade somewhere, I usually have him in my group so this was the first time I&#8217;d ever seen him crawl off screen my reaction was just to go &#8220;awwwww&#8221;. Heidegger really is the most abusive man punching up poor sailors and pushing them into the water, still a funny moment though.

Hojo getting a tan on the beach and surrounded by women is a very WTF moment, because he seems to me and I&#8217;m sure people will agree; a perverted, slimy git, so my question is how and why??? I like how he sorta drops hints that he knows more about Cloud and why he&#8217;s following Sephiroth than he lets on, also interesting is his reaction to the news that Ifalna is dead, part of me wondered did he ever have romantic feelings towards Ifalna, he seems to ask about her in a way that says she wasn&#8217;t just an experiment to him, or maybe I&#8217;m reading into it too much.

We all know about the mistranslation with Johnny at this bit so I really don't think I need to go into detail about that however, I dunno but this bit with Tifa is a bit weird she seems a little cold, I know where she&#8217;s coming from wanting to catch up with someone who actually remembers their past and the times they spent together but her interaction with Cloud just seems a little out of character almost sarcastic, that's always the tone I got out of it.

Normally once I have the Gil I usually buy the house, just for fun I know you can&#8217;t do much with it but I still like to buy it anyways. I picked up the items in the basement of the house, the fire ring is actually a pretty nice addition particularly later on during the Jenova death battle and I purchased a few softs for the road, other than that there&#8217;s not much else to do except rest up and head on

Spoiler: character and materia set up

In terms of this there really isn&#8217;t much change in terms of character levels as there&#8217;s not much levelling to do around Junon at this point apart from the Cargo ship which I really didn&#8217;t spend much time on. Cloud gained a level after the Jenova battle but there&#8217;s not much change in that, the bigger change is in my weapon, materia and accessory line up, the extra All materia that I got during in the cargo Ship, I unfortunately don&#8217;t have room for with my current materia line up.

Cloud: Level 25
Force Stealer: Lightning, Ice, Shiva
Carbon Bangle: Poison+All, Enemy Skill
Accessory: Power Wrist
*Enemy Skills: Matra Magic, Flamethrower
Limit Level 3: complete

Yuffie: Level 22
Wind Slash: Fire, Ice, Earth
Carbon Bangle: Steal, All, sense
Accessory: Protect Vest
Limit Level 2: complete

Aerith: Level 23
Striking Staff: Restore+all, Heal, Fire
Carbon Bangle: Lightning Enemy Skill, Choco/mog
Accessory: Talisman
Limit Level 3 (Is currently being kept on limit level 2)

Gil Remaining: 2440
Time Clocked 12hrs41mins

 

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APOLOGIES FOR THE DOUBLE POST!

Sooooo, it's been a over a week and no one else has posted anything.....I'm just wondering if anyone is still interested in doing this, I really hope so because I'm enjoying reading about people's experiences while playing, looking at their different stats and methods and their own opinons, I know people are busy, but it's just looking at the interest in the beginning and how it seems to be dwindling now...its a little disappointing.

I'd like to keep going and do this as a sort of blog of sorts if no one else is still interested in joining in...but I'd really like to hear more from everyone else just so I know whether I should if it's ok.....there's not much of a point doing it if no one is gonna read it after all but I'd still like to keep going even if no one else wants to