MARREND'S PROFILE

My suggestion would be not to concern yourself overly much about getting Luxaren Allure to the Steam platform right now. Focus first on Izrand Allure. Then, maybe after a break, concern yourself with Luxaren Allure.

*Edit: Rainbow text time? Rainbow text time.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Last time, our trio of heroes were getting side-tracked by the spooks of the train graveyard along their way to the Sector 7 support pillar, only to find that it's under attack. Not even a minute after Tifa rushes forward does she stop in her tracks, the way forward blocked by a gaggle of ghosts. Those dealt with, the trio moves forward. They see a platform above them with Barret firing off a clip, or three.

An explosion later, Wedge falls off a platform, but tries to use a grappling hook to stabilize. However, the surface he latched onto didn't last long, and he was send tumbling the rest of the way. His injuries could be worse, but, it's pretty obvious that Barret and company are here because they heard about Shinra's plan to drop the pillar.

Tifa and Aerith will stay behind to take care of Wedge, leaving Cloud to regroup with Barret and Biggs. Sounds like an opportunity to check/upgrade equipment and materia.

Cloud meets up with Biggs first, though, Biggs has certainly seen better days. Sprawled on the ground, and coughing as he speaks, Biggs asks Cloud to ensure that Avalanche's fight has merit and meaning before passing out. Who knows how long he'll be out, or if he'll even recover, given the situation at hand?

A few floors above is a cut-scene of a helicopter manned by Turks, using a loudspeaker to announce that Shinra is here to stop Avalanche from destroying the pillar. Which, yeah, is totally a PR stunt, but, thinking more seriously, who would believe that Shinra would do it themselves? Avalanche makes a perfect scapegoat.

The focus moves back to the ladies and Wedge as debris falls down. Tifa's swift kick sends the debris flying out of the way before landing on the pitiful Wedge. However, Tifa is no longer willing to stay put. She's going topside to join up with Cloud and Barret. As she moves off, the game gives control of Aerith to the player and has her follow Wedge as they trek to Seventh Heaven for Marline.

For full disclosure, there have been instances, at least in Chapter 9, where Aerith was the lead character outside of combat, rather than Cloud. Personally speaking, in I kinda would have liked to follow Tifa, even if that would mean retreading ground. Oh well.

Regardless, Wedge convinces a guard to open the gate to evacuate as many people as possible. At this point, there's no telling if the plate will drop or not, but, it's the best precautionary measure he can do for the worst case scenario. Aerith, now alone, moves to Seventh Heaven.

Or, at least that's the idea. I wouldn't call the streets crowded, but, she yells for people to move out of Sector 7 as she moves toward her goal. However, a helicopter goes down, and lands right smack dab along the shortest path to the bar. Of course it does. Moving down a different path, Aerith is distracted with another explosion that cuts off more paths, and her attention moves to a kid that she helps out of town. Trying to double back, another path gets blocked off, so, there's basically only one path out now.

Not that said fact is of any consequence, as a Turk appears at the door. Aerith states that she would like to make a deal with him. He stands aside, and Aerith moves hand-in-hand with Marline towards the helicopter that landed outside as the camera zooms into it.

This cues a shift in focus back to Cloud, with Tifa joining him in short order. The pair climbs the pillar, being assaulted by both soldiers on the ground, and a Turk-operated helicopter in the air. After a few floors, a cut-scene ensues of Jessie tossing a grenade at a group of soldiers, then confronted by a helicopter. When Cloud and Tifa meet with her, debris had fallen from the blast on top of her, and she doesn't sound long for this world.

All Cloud and Tifa can do is clench their fists, and move forward. There's a bench up ahead, so, one might forgive me for using it, and thinking there might be a boss ahead.

Which turned out to be correct. He's as tough as when we last fought him, which as was after Cloud fell into Aerith's church. I also manage to down the helicopter during the fight, but, it's pilot, another Turk, survived to join the fight, and becomes an even bigger mess. The party beats them pretty soundly, but, have no idea how to stop the plate separation from happening. After a bit of distraction by the ghosts, one of the Turks takes the opportunity of the chaos to confirm the operation.



Well, Futch-and-Bright. A short video conference with the Turk who captured Aerith explains that, at this point, there is nothing that can be done to stop the process. With only a half-minute left on the clock, the trio search for a way out. Barret finds a wire that they zipline down from as the upper plate explodes behind them. The line holds long enough for them to make their escape, but, both Biggs and Jessie were left behind. A cut-scene shows Wedge fending off ghosts from a gathering of cats as debris falls inevitably down on him. This matches up with their fate in the original FF7, but, these three were also much more minor characters as well.

The president of Shinra Incorporated looks down from his office at the spectacle...



...while the party was able to barely escape into the Sector 6 playground. Without a headquarters, and without handy and capable allies, where will they go from here? Find out next time on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake LP!

The purpose of this thread is to track 2023 Misao nominations on a monthly basis, and maybe throw a few notable games down for a basis of conversation.

Results are available! You can find them here!

January
Total nominations: 0
Notes/Events:
-Nominations closed due to being the voting period for 2022 Misaos
-Kids Design the Darndest Things 3

Notable Games
-Leafko
-Pawn Beach: Sal Goes to the Store to Buy Some Milk
-THE WATER IS WIDE
-DIRT EMPIRE
-Droste Effect (Commercial)
-Oscar's Mid-Life Crisis VX
-Our Barren Earth
-Squid's Manslaughter
-Earth Mechanica
-Catherna's Destiny


February
Total nominations: 13 (+13)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games
-Regenerated Venae
-Gobble Fantasy 2003
-Connection is broken
-The Lonely League
-POC: Random Loot System
-Spring Eternal


March
Total nominations: 14 (+1)
Notes/Events:
-Event Event

Notable Games
-Dakota the RPG
-Shadows
-Jessie the Fisher
-The Block
-Anima Reprise (Commercial)
-The Collector


April
Total nominations: 19 (+5)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games
-Beautiful Umlaut Game
-Titenic 2
-I'll InvaliGate Your Aid
-Core Crossing (Commercial)


May
Total nominations: 22 (+3)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games
-The Curse of Utaho (Utahonotatari) English Translation
-Thrall


June
Total nominations: 32 (+10)
Notes/Events:
-Sweet Sixteen
-The Legend of Gaymak - Queer Awakening

Notable Games
-SWOLLEN TO BURSTING PRIDE UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE
-Evershade
-Kanalmanac
-DZ and Riggy Versus the World(s) II
-Lily's Sugar Rush
-Wonder Girl! Nikoashi Otome
-Kale's Adventure


July
Total nominations: 32 (+0)
Notes/Events:
-Cozy Places

Notable Games
-Echos of the Scourge
-Red Room
-Piero's Pilgrimage (Commercial)
-Heroic Tale - VALUE+ (Commercial)
-BIT MAN
-SOLEIL
-Final Fantasy Provenance
-God of Overlays
-MUSO: DEMO
-A Flame of Hope


August
Total nominations: 40 (+8)
Notes/Events:
-None

Notable Games
-CatJam
-Mello the Cat's Adventure in the Computer World: Purrfect Edition?
-Into Samomor
-Vindictive Drive 2 (Commercial)
-Forest Life
-The Stairway
-Omen of Rain
-Auld Lang Syne: Cat and Mouse
-HetaOni: Another Loop
-Haato's diary
-The Curse of Utaho 2 (Utahonotatari 2) English Translation
-Alfalone: Tower of Demise (Commercial)
-Call of the Dreamer
-cirrus
-FEMUR56 (Commercial)
-Undershadows (Commercial)


September
Total nominations: 47 (+7)
Notes/Events:
-Boulevard of Broken 2K3 Dreams

Notable Games
-Hymn to an Earless God (Commercial)
-Kissed By A Star
-Kazak (Commercial)
-Astral Fantasy
-Ronin
-Rubi: Fire Spirit
-Turn by Turn Villan (Commercial)
-Epilogue Adventures
-Naruto RPG Maker 2003
-The Sparrow and the Phoenix
-Way/Spell
-GW Chaingame 2022-2023
-Dragon Ball Z RP
-Price of Flight (Commercial)


October
Total nominations: 66 (+19)
Notes/Events:
-They Walk Amoung Us

Notable Games
-Ruins of Provolone
-Red Tide
-stuff: my 1st projet (Commercial)
-Theatre Rythmic
-MaskQuest Pink
-Sleeping Gallant
-A Cruel Moon
-MECHNITE
-aunt EMILY
-Call of the Archon R


November
Total nominations: 112 (+46)
Notes/Events:
-The Simple Times

Notable Games
-eyes over greenless
-Mario and Luigi ATPC
-Sweet
-Indescribable Horrors
-Valora
-Melissa
-Adventure Unlimited
-Goodbye Tired Stars


December
Total nominations: 186 (+74)
Notes/Events:
-Secret Santa 2023

Notable Games
-The Emperor of BlueFire
-An Essay on Insipidity III
-Laughing Warawau
-Tilt Me Up!
-BadApple.lmu
-Forest Life: Christmas Edition
-Dual-Wielded ABS]
-Super Jolly RPG
-Alex in Doodle Land
-A Riggy 2k3 Christmoss
-Huneral
-ReDownloadible Game
-Onward and Upward! DX

Congratulations

painotm
Do I get an "I voted" sticker?

Last time, our three heroes had just surfaced from the sewers, noticing a Shinra helicopter flying by. After calming Tifa down, the group pressed forward into the train graveyard.

While Aerith doesn't seem to mind the spookiness, Tifa is trying her best not to be creeped out. At one point, florescent graffiti appears out of seemingly nowhere. Aerith playfully clings to Cloud, which ticks off Tifa, who then also clings to him. This puts Cloud in a rather...



...interesting situation for a brief period. The room ahead houses a ghost that Aerith tries to commune with, but, it ends up in a fight. The ghost moves a train to nearly crash down on the party, if it were not for Cloud's quick acting.

With their way forward blocked off, the trio moves about the train graveyard. Now, call me crazy, but, the background music here...


...is kinda reminiscent of...


...this ditty? In any event, the trio reaches a room, and while Cloud attempts to use a console, a gaggle of ghosts fuse together...



...to form the next boss fight. Aerith has been able to hear the cries of the spirits, and understands that all it wanted was for somebody to play with. Meanwhile, Cloud has no idea what she's even on about, and I'd imagine Tifa is the same.

A bit further in, they find another spirit, and this one takes the form of Barret's adopted daughter, Marline. This triggers a flashback for Tifa, and when she comes out of it, telling the others they should push forward, her tone wavers between scared and determined.

The bench nearby this scene makes me think something big might be coming up. This usually translates to a boss fight, which might come later, but, the revelation caught radio chatter that Shinra is actually planning to drop the pillar floors Tifa's mood.

As an aside, doesn't anybody else find it more than a little convenient that a radio that's located in a place called "the train graveyard"...
-still functions, like, at all, despite the condition of the trains here
-happens to be tuned in on the frequency that was used by members of the Turks (Shinra's special covert operations squad)
-said Turks happened to be talking about the release the upper plate on Sector 7

Video game logic, right? Anyway, getting back to the situation at hand, Cloud manages to activate a few more trains to allow passage forward. However, the spirits aren't going to just let them go at that. They kidnap Aerith, and she sees it's last memories, before the others catch up to her, and it becomes the next boss...



...and it perishes for good. As per the screencap, I noticed that there was a note about stealing, but, I don't care to go back to the last checkpoint, or hard-save, to get this piece of equipment.

The trio moves forward, and through a grated fence, Tifa sees the pillar, part of which is lighted up by the fire of small arms. Aerith puts a hand on her shoulder as a show of support, then, a cut-scene ensues entailing various combats on the pillar, then moves back to Tifa. Her face is one of worry, then turns to one of fierce determination. That look tells me somebody is going to get served several heaping helpings of Seventh Heaven's Knuckle Sandwich Special.

However, this marks the end of the chapter. Things are getting pretty tense. How will it resolve? Maybe we can find out next time, on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake LP!