Finished playing Final Fantasy VII

Finished playing Final Fantasy VII (1997, SquareSoft, PlayStation) for the third time on 03/11/2017.
Hours: 85

The Lifestream. Life energy in its purest form flowing from the planet's core, giving life to all kinds of lifeforms on Gaia and even crystalizing itself into colored orbs that allow the knowledge within them to be used as magical powers. Shinra Inc. A company whose technology syphons the Lifestream, turning it into Mako Energy to fuel human civilization across the globe. And Jenova, a mysterious being of extraterrestrial origins captured and experimented on by Shinra to strengthen its military force. Caught in the middle of this trio of elements is Cloud, an ex-Soldier of Shinra who finds himself spiraling deeper down into the messy maelstrom Shinra has stirred in its hunger for power.

This is SquareSoft's most lucrative title we're talking about here and one of my favorite of the series without a doubt. And look at that! Over 80 hours to complete the game with everything unlocked and all items collected! Heck, I could've easily passed the 100-hour mark just trying to finish a couple of last few things that I sort of left half done, hahahah! Ahem, anyways, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how popular this game is or how amazing the story and characters are. What I will tell you is that I haven't played this game in a while and playing it again has made me realize how some of the scenes in the game would be a bit awkward to see Cloud in when the recently announced Remake finally makes its way to home consoles around the world. Among some of those funny scenes, I hope they at least keep the cross-dressing chapter and the one where Cloud infiltrates Junon city by jumping on a dolphin. I mean, think about it! A brooding, emo Cloud high jumping on a dolphin as the sun beautifully sets in the horizon. Magical! Hahaha! But there's also other things that don't quite fit the Cloud we're so used to seeing in HD. Like jumping in celebration of his first place victory in a Chocobo race, among other things. But anyways, I've read that the Remake will be a bit inconsistent with the FFVII Compilation so I'm hoping that means that they're polishing up some of the writing to be more consistent with the image Tetsuya has of the characters and other details that didn't quite make sense in the original. But getting back to the actual review, I think the only things that bothered me were the map and the battle controls. Sometimes it was kind of annoying trying to figure out which direction the D-Pad would take you on each different screen and as for the battles, trying to target overlapping enemies or characters got frustrating at times depending on the camera angles and even as characters moved around performing their attacks.

9/10 - Ultimately it's really a deep game in all of its aspects and I can't wait to see what the Remake is going to be like.

Finished playing Final Fantasy VI

Finished playing Final Fantasy VI (1994, Square, SNES) on 11/20/2016.
Hours: 85

A mysterious young sorceress named Terra finds herself under the mind-control of an Empire that rules over the land with Magitek, a technology that combines the power of magic and machines. After escaping the Empire's mind-control, Terra is rescued by and joins forces with the Returners, a rebel group seeking to put a stop to the Empire's dictatorship.

Quite possibly the most ambitious game of its time, Final Fantasy VI still stands today as one of the greatest RPGs in history. This being my third time playing this amazing game only reminded me how true that really is.
I really have no complaints about this game. The characters are great, their story is deep and well written and the music is exceptionally beautiful. The game even features an opera show with just as much emotion as the game's own story. Of course the gameplay is just as great as well with so many sidequests and hidden little things that will keep you playing and replaying for hours on end.

10/10 - Ten atta ten! This game is avaialble for dirt cheap on the iTunes store, Google Play store and Steam, so if you ever want to play an old FF game this would be it and there's no reason why you can't get it.

Finished watching Final Fantasy: Unlimited

Finished watching Final Fantasy: Unlimited (2010, Gonzo, 25 epi.) on 5/23/2016.

In an attempt to follow in the tracks of and find their lost parents, twins Ai and Yu sneak off to take an underground rumored ghost train that only appears at midnight and its only destination is a strange dimension known as Wonderland. In the train they meet a young woman called Lisa who uses psychic-like martial arts to defend the twins from the dangers of the strange dimension they're in. Along the way they also meet a mysterious man with a weapon that summons mythological beings to his aid, and also a large, yellow bird they name Chobi. Together they travel to find the twin's parents, but Wonderland is filled with danger. A danger they can't even begin to comprehend.

7/10 - This show was alright. It feels more like a SatAM show than anything, but it moves the plot along nicely. It is only 25 episodes afteral. As a Final Fantasy fan, it's not exactly what I expected. A lot of the series' elements are there, mostly the iconic creatures, and Cid, but there's still room for a couple of more familiar things. The story wasn't as complex as a Final Fantasy one, but you can tell that it's trying. I wish they couldn've explained more of Kaze's and Makenshi's backstory, but that's alright. The final episode was good enough with your mandatory final boss battle. But what I really enjoyed out of this series was the soundtrack. It is just so good! It really added to the show. And although it wasn't composed to Nobuo Uematsu, the opening theme was in fact by him. The animation quality is okay, and the art style is interesting in that it reminds me of the the first Digimon movie art style. You can tell by the way they draw fingers. But at times the quality did indeed drop and some character's faces looked awkward and cheap. Except for one character, Fabula. Her art style was different from everyone else's and she always looked gorgeous.

Finished playing Final Fantasy IV

Finished playing Final Fantasy IV (2011, Square Enix, PlayStation Portable) on 3/8/2016.
Gameplay Hours: ~60

A mysterious man named Golbez is wreaking havoc throughout the land, trying to obtain all the elemental crystals of the world for power. After having his kingdom fallen to the hands of Golbez, Cecil abandons his position as captain of the Red Wings to search for answers. Along the way he teams up with all sorts of people, also victims of Golbez's deeds and together they fight to bring him down.

7.5/10 – I've played different ports of Final Fantasy IV before and this is my second favorite. But although all the sprites were beautifully updated, I've found it odd that the overworld's sprites didn't match the battle ones or even some of the character's menu pictures, but I guess that's just a pet peeve. I love, love, love the fact that this port lets you play with either the original soundtrack or the arranged Nintendo DS one. And of course, let's not forget the updated translation, always a good thing. The post-game Lunar Ruins were really, quite the challenge with powered-up bosses sporting insane strategies that can be quite difficult to figure out. Thankfully the game gives you save points just before those battles, but I don't think I want to experience dungeon rooms like Edge's Trial ever again. Eesh! This port features some slightly cheap, rather short prerendered cutscenes, which I welcome any day over just the sprite ones, with an honorable mention going to the Giant of Babil one.

Finished watching On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel

Finished watching On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel (2009, A-1 Pictures, 28mins.) on 12/27/2015.

After the events of Advent Children, Denzel is inspired by Cloud's feats and decides to join the World Regenesis Organization. To do that, he meets up with WRO's head, Reeve Tuesti for an interview in which Denzel reveals his past and everything that drove him into this decision.

7.5/10 - This short movie shows quite an interesting side of the events of Final Fantasy VII and it helped me understand the mechanics of Geostigma a little better. The animation is great and so is the storytelling. And I think that perhaps, Denzel might just be the future of Final Fantasy VII.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix

Finished "playing" Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3)

Hours: ~3

King Mickey and his trusty subordinates try to figure out a strange, new message in Jiminy's first journal by digitizing it into the datascape, or as Maleficent calls it "date escape".

But they can't travel the datascape so they create data-Sora to explore the worlds within the journal, which are now suddenly filled with computer bugs and glitches, including the Heartless which data-Sora must fight.

6/10 – The story for this game is confusing and only half of it is necessary in my opinion. Heck, even the characters themselves are confused about the whole thing. But you can tell the game knows that and tries really hard to simplify it for you, albeit not a so simple and clean task to be honest. I still don't understand if all the stories that Jiminy wrote were actually restored as words on his journal. However, watching this without having to play the game helped me understand it a little better. I now know what the "hurt" is and where it's coming from. It all makes perfect sense. There's a reason why this "game" was bundled with KH2, and especially KHBbS. Still, I might have to review the story again. Maybe by playing the game again in the future I'll pay closer attention. I actually enjoyed the Nintendo DS game, it's just the story that's hard to grasp.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3) on 12/12/2015.

Hours: ~65

Three keyblade wielder apprentices see their friendship split up in the dawn of a new era of darkness. In trying to find each other again they travel to different worlds where they meet new friends and eventually learn of a most foul betrayal that might separate their hearts for eternity.

100/10 – This is my favorite video game in the world. It’s story directly prequels that of Kingdom Hearts. And it’s quite the emotional one. And this Final Mix version only makes it even more so. I really love the battle pace of this game. It’s faster compared to the first Kingdom Hearts installment. The soundtrack is extraordinarily beautiful… naturally. I think something that’s been really heavy in Kingdom Hearts is item synthesis. In this game you also have that aspect in form of ability synthesis. By leveling up and combining them, you end up with sweeter ones.

Finished playing Final Fantasy III

Finished my second playthrough of Final Fantasy III (2006, Square Enix, Nintendo DS) on 8/16/2015.

Gameplay Hours: ~85

Four youths are entrusted with light from four legendary crystals. With this light they hold the power to defeat the darkness that plagues the land. But is that enough power to fight the darkness?

8/10 – This is a great remake of Final Fantasy III, a game that was not released outside of Japan until this version came out in the US in 2006. Along with drastically improved graphics, the main characters were given actual names and distinguished personalities, along with individual character designs that also reflect in their job changes. The story of the game was also improved upon, especially the dialogue. A lot of detail was also put into the wardrobe of each job. With the exception of a few jobs, not one Black Mage character, for example will look exactly the same as the other. There's always some detail about the clothes that differ from character to character. I really enjoyed that too. And of course, there’s the soundtrack, I wouldn’t consider it a full remake if the soundtrack hadn’t be rearranged *coughocarinaoftime3Dcough* and I’m happy to say that it was and it sounds… well, pretty good. I guess the DS does have its limitations.

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix HD Remix

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix HD Remix (2014, Square Enix, PlayStation 3, 2014) on 6/26/2015.

Hours: ~100

After defeating Ansem and Marluxia, Sora, Donald and Goofy must now face off against the rest of Organization XIII as they invade countless other worlds. Along the way Sora makes new friends, reunites with old ones and meets someone who might be closer than he thinks.

9/10 – Absolutely amazing game with a colorful cast of characters and a complex, deep storyline that is just deliciously right up my Alley to Between. Sorry...

Although this is the first time I play KH2 Final Mix, it is also technically my second KH2 playthrough. So this time around I noticed something called Bonus Levels. Not sure if it's a Final Mix feature or not, but apparently every time you defeat a boss that level goes up instead of you gaining experience points. An interesting concept. And although I was only able to reach Bonus Level 59, apparently it caps at 60.

Now, having played in Critical Mode however, I found myself struggling to unlock the secret ending known as "Birth by Sleep", as defeating the Organization XIII members' data is quite the challenge. After spending a tiresome amount of time defeating Vexen and Xigbar, Zexion finally managed to deplete any motivation I had left to continue the task. And with Lingering Will breathing on my neck every step of the way, I felt even less motivated. But hey, doing the Mushroom Organization minigames was fun!

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Finished playing Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012, Square Enix, Nintendo 3DS) on 07/15/2014.

Gameplay Hours: ~50hrs - Proud Mode and 54hrs Critical Mode

Anticipating the return of Master Xehanort, Master Yen Sid tests Sora and Riku through the Mark of Mastery exam to prove themselves as true Keyblade Masters. The exam throws Sora and Riku to all sorts of familiar Disney worlds. But they find these worlds in their sleeping state ridden with creatures known as Dream Eaters. And to reawaken those worlds our heroes must partner up with the benevolent kind of Dream Eaters known as Spirits to fight back the not-so-nice kind known as Nightmares.

9/10 - I had been playing this game sporadically ever since it came out in July, 2012. I played it in Proud Mode to unlock Critical Mode to then finally unlock the Secret Movie. But let's get to the point, this is my second favorite Kingdom Hearts installment, my top favorite one being Birth by Sleep, also a handheld. I just love everything about it! Specially how the Flowmotion mechanic lets you move faster through stages and easily navigate over even town rooftops! It's even integrated into the character's battle moves! And then there's the Dream Eaters. This feature is screaming Pokémon, seriously! You turn wild Dream Eaters into tamed ones which you can train and then even battle through a card-game battle-system via local wireless with other KH3D players! There's one thing that this feature has that I wish Pokémon had, the ability to customize your Dream Eater's color. Can you imagine if you could change your Metapod's color to I don't know, let's think of a random color here, uhh, let's say, a flesh-colored Metapod! Huh! Right? No? Hahahah! Alright, alright, let's move on to the soundtrack. Yoko Shimomura. 'Nuff said. Amirite? Don't even have to tell you how great it is. I love all the tracks with my favorite one being the theme for La Cité des Cloches world. But this soundtrack is unique because the Symphony of Sorcery world features some of the original classical music used in Disney's Fantasia movie. And that's pretty interesting! I could really go on about how amazing this game is, but this review is getting too long so let me just leave you with one last thing I think is very important to mention and that's the realistic character faces in The Grid world. If there's one thing Square has always done right was faces. And they really did a great job considering this is a handheld console. The texture of the skin, even Jeff Bridges' beard looked amazingly detailed. Even the likeness of the characters were awesomely accurate! The facial expressions were amazingly done as well and expertly synchronized with the voice acting!