MARREND'S PROFILE

I've decided to keep track of my game-playing this year, and will post from time-to-time in the 2023 gaming diary. This should not effect this LP going forward, as I wasn't intending on playing this on a daily basis to begin with. Nor should that have been an expectation.

Anyway, last time, after an attack by a throng of spirits at Seventh Heaven, our local chapter of Avalanche has decided to go ahead and attack Reactor #5. Biggs had gone on ahead, as mentioned previously. With Jessie injured, and Wedge looking after both her, and the fort, the task falls on the heads of Barret, Tifa, and Cloud.

An advisory was issued by Shinra regarding the eminent terrorist attack. How long that advisory has been issued is unknown, nor how long Barret sent the message in the first place. However, regardless of what was known to the general populace, and when, train is practically empty. Are people calling in "sick", hoping to avoid the coming catastrophe?

Anyway, things seem to be running smoothly, until an ID scan-sweep detected the fake IDs, and drones were sent in a feeble attempt to take down the threat. The group decides to ditch the train, and go the rest of the way on foot. Tifa hits the emergency brake to slow the train down so they can jump off in safety. However, the train doesn't seem to slow down all that much before Barret makes his jump, with Cloud and Tifa making theirs shortly thereafter.

After recovering from the landing, the pair find themselves surrounded by drones, and make quick work of them before running to join back up with Barret. I promised a screencap of the scan screen, so...



...here one is, with the stagger conditions/hints being the yellow text on the right side. I didn't mention this during the post where I talked about it, but, staggering enemies helps the Limit Break gauge grow. This fight made Tifa's Limit gauge fill to completion. Unfortunately, my timing in using it was off, and she ended up hitting nothing, as the battle had already concluded.

Let me go off on a brief aside here about limit breaks. Now, I've heard that, in FF6, if you select the Attack action when a character's health is low, there is a chance that character can perform their Desperation move. I've never attempted to verify this on my own, but, limit breaks certainly became more visible in the original FF7. In that game, characters could learn, or earn, more moves as the game progressed. I don't know if that's true in this game, or if characters will only ever have one limit break. We're still early enough in the game that whatever conditions to learn a move might still be a ways off yet.

Anyway, after Cloud and Tifa fell a group of guards and drones to reconvene with Barret, they use a conveniently placed railroad map to discuss how to proceed with the mission. Luckily, the way forward was marked with graffiti, but, is also the spawning grounds for some nasty bugs. A Scan tells me that a Blizzard can do wonders for staggering them, and allows Tifa to dish out yet another Limit Break because of that.

Along they way, the party comes across a bench, which serves as a resting place to restore HP/MP. This is maybe the second time I've seen one of these. While you can save pretty much anywhere in this game, I can't help but to look at these as a kind of save point, marking places where it may be a good idea to break from the game, reconfigure your materia, or whatever.

There's a string of tough fights as the tunnel commences, with benches between then, followed by a boss fight at the end. This boss lasts long enough for Ifrit to be summoned, and for him to unleash Hellfire. I at least tried to screencap some part of Hellfire's animation, but, didn't quite like the resulting image. Also, things were getting a little frantic. Tifa was taking a lot of damage, and took a Raise and Pheonix Down during that last fight. Though, on the flip side, she was able to perform her limit skill once, or maybe twice, during that string of fights.

However, after all that was said and done, the party comes up on a lift, and interacting with that ends the chapter. However, as a cute aside, the grafitti the party was following was that of a dog, with it's nose pointing in the direction they should go. Hence, the chapter's name. As for what lies ahead, well, that's for next time, on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake LP!

Valkyrie Elysium

There's definitely moments I find myself unable to see what the hell is going on because of how the camera in the game, works. Which I kinda knew about from the reviews I saw. It's definitely frustrating when it happens, but, for the most part, the game provides areas where that isn't too much of an issue.

The game structure feels similar to Castlevanina Lords of Shadow and/or Mega Man X in that the game has this stage-based format, and you might not necessarily get everything in a stage on your first go. There was one collectible in the very first mission that seemed to ask for an ability I didn't have yet, but, all it required was a double-jump, and using the hook-shot in mid-air. Though, the double-jump is, technically, an ability you don't start with, but, can be acquired early enough. Though, I did find another collectible later that I actually can't get to, so, there is that.

The dip into Metroidvana territory comes in two ways. One is the aforementioned hook-shot. That's mostly used as a tool in combat for Valkyrie to close the distance between her, and the poor sods who dare to stand against her. The number of places where it's used to get from Platform A to Platform B isn't terribly numerous from what I've played so far, but, absolutely exists. The einherjar in the game also provide methods to open up otherwise unreachable locations. For example, one can remove large boulders blocking your path, while another can create ice platforms for players to, well, platform with.

One thing I find odd is how quiet the game is. Like, the in-game settings indicate that the music and voice volumes are near-max, but, outside of Valkyrie's battle cries as she attacks, I can barely make out anything. Modifying my system volume is an option, but, it just feels so awkward that my system volume is set to 16%, and I can hear things in other games just fine. Apparently not this game?

The areas are beautiful and pretty to look at, but, it also feels incredibly dead. Which, I guess, makes a certain amount of sense, since the backdrop of this game is "Ragnarok is coming!" However, having more people to interact with, or at least a way to get rid of unnecessary/unwanted consumables, feels like it should be a thing.

I don't really understand why this game takes a page from Devil May Cry, and gives players a rating on how well they performed in a stage. Maybe I'm just annoyed that the game shows a penalty for using items when your score is evaluated. I'm aware Devil May Cry does pretty much the same thing, but, it's also true that the item limit in that series is probably more than freaking 7.

Well, to be more accurate, the item limit seems to be a case-by-case basis (which is, itself, kinda odd in my opinion), but, the basic heal potion has a limit of 7, or thereabouts. I dunno. I just have to question the design decision of limiting consumables that much when it seems like the expectation that is placed on the player is to not use them. Then, follow that up with not being able to sell them off, or get rid of them in any meaningful way, and I can only shake my head.

Despite my complaints, I'm mostly having a good time here. I wouldn't call it a great game, but, it's serviceable enough in it's own right. The reviews I saw made it a point to say that this game is more a reboot, or re-imagining, of the original Valkyrie Profile than anything. I was ready to accept that, and from what I've seen of the story, it pretty much holds true.

New year, new featured game! Now, we might be able to feature the winner of the Game of the Year Misao in February, if it hasn't been featured yet. This month is a little more up in the air.

First off, happy new year! It might be a little early in this LP, but, I want to set aside some time here to thank those that have been following my LPs since the beginning. If this is your first one, either because of the game, or because it's in the recent post history section of the site, then I hope you continue to follow along.

So, last time, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, and Cloud were going to go topside. The idea is that Jessie wants to use a less potent blasting agent for the mission tomorrow, and her usual supplier isn't going to make it in time. However, raiding a Shinra warehouse for the stuff would suffice. The last train for the day has already left, so Biggs and Wedge obtain some motorcycles, and I kinda have to wonder if they stole them. Which brings us to why the player is locked out of the menu screen.



Yep! It's the bike race mini-game! This works pretty much like the original, with maybe a few additions. I took the above screencap in "photo mode", which disables the GUI, but, there's a charge meter at the bottom of the screen, and when it fills up, you can press Triangle/Y to use a special move. It can either be a long range attack, shooting a beam of light from Cloud's sword. Which, gee, Cloud, why weren't you using that before? The other option has Cloud performing a whirlwind attack. After performing the move, the gauge empties, and refills over time.

For full disclosure, I made it as far as getting into a boss last time, but was defeated by said boss before calling it quits. This time around, while I still took some damage, I did clear the gauntlet, and beat the boss. At least, for now. He'll probably be back.

Jessie visits her parent's house. At first, I thought this was because she's keeping up appearances, since Biggs and Wedge were of the opinion she wanted to visit them. However, she asked Cloud to temporarily borrow steal her father's Shinra ID, and had asked him to stay outside as a cover for this task. Her father is out cold, hooked up to machines to observe his health, and the plan goes off without a hitch.

That done, Jessie's plan is to infiltrate the warehouse while the other three create a diversion for the Shinra military in the area, and get them away from their posts. As the three get into position to see Jessie's signal flare, they notice a guard post is already empty. Or, rather, the gaurd has been knocked unconscious. They don't think it was Jessie, and decide to scout around a bit to investigate the matter.

The game gives the player access to a vending machine and a training ground, which kinda suggests to me that things might take longer than the characters might think. Which isn't too good, because these people are on the clock. Tomorrow marks an attack on another reactor, yet, Jessie hasn't even build the explosive that they will use for said mission. I won't pretend to know how long it might take her to built it, but, certainly, she's cutting things a little close here. However, games tend to have their own sense of time, so, maybe we shouldn't worry too much about whither or not Jessie will have the explosive made in time. For now, the focus should be on the investigation.

Or, at least that's what I thought was going to happen, but, Jessie's signal flare fired off. Change of plans. Time to make some ruckus. Which includes our first instance of...



...using a Summon materia. A brief aside on this, summon materia can only be used in certain situations, which I read to mean boss fights, and needs to be charged before being used. Of course, it also requires a full ATB bar to use, like most other abilities, but, once the summon gets thrown down, it acts as another NPC in the fight, and can be given commands through the battle menu.

Anyway, with the mechs on fire, more gaurds come, altered to the situation, brining even more mechs with them. Just when things were looking a dicy, the boss from the race makes another appernace, tearing up his own lines of defense in the process. He demands a duel with Cloud. With everyone giving them space to do so, they go at it for a number of bouts. The game might have given this guy a name, but, you might have noticed that I haven't done so yet. Even if I did give you his name, there would be no question as to who would come out on top of this duel.

After the boss leaves, the gaurds and mechs move back to surrounding the party, and it's right back to dire straights for Cloud and company. As they attempt to fend themselves off, Wedge gets captured by one of the mechs, but, a troop of friendly soldiers appear on the scene. They resue Wedge, and cover the escape of Biggs and Wedge.

On their way to the rendevous with Jessie, Biggs explains that the troop that came to cover their escape are also members of Avalanche, and have been active for much longer. Since he's heard rumors of them offering all of the materia in Midgar to Wutai, my guess is that they've been active since around the time of the war between Wutai and Shinra. This is the first time the event was even mentioned in this game, and I cannot recall if there were too many mentions of it in the original FF7. Or, if it does get mentions, it's just a referral to "the war", and all the characters in the game just automatically knows what the speaker is talking about.

Either way, Wedge eventually re-joins the others, and the group sneaks their way past a barricade. However, they can't exactly get back to the ground floor the way they came. Jessie's plan is to get some parachutes, and use them to skydive down to the slum level. With Biggs and Jessies sharing one 'chute, and Cloud sharing his with Wedge, the pairs land in two different locations. Cloud sees Wedge home, then goes back to his apartment to call it a day.

The next morning, something...



...is up. Well, maybe that wasn't the best screencap, but, the whole sector is swarming with ghosts. After defeating a group of them, Tifa and Cloud move to Seventh Heaven, where Barret and the others are holding their ground. The ghost do their best to hinder their movements, and make a difficult fight for Tifa and Cloud, but, they eventually escape, leaving everyone to wonder what the heck they were.

Jessie was injured during the fight, and calling off the operation isn't going to cut it, since Biggs was sent in ahead. So, Barret has no choice but to include Cloud to his assault team on Reactor #5. This time, Tifa's also coming with. Which is certainly a boon, and, soon, the game allows me to manipulate Barrent's equipment and materia. Which is good, because he had a Healing and Lightning materia on his person that I couldn't touch before hand. That, and we can now mod his weapon as well.

That done, plus a little shopping, and with no additional side-quests available at this time, we engage the next mission. An announcement on the train blares that the terrorist group Avalanche has issued another threat, which Barret mentioned before hand, that all of Midgar is under alert, and to expect delays. If train delays are the worst of it, then that's a minor inconvenience to the city's citizenry at best. However, one doubts it will be limited to only that. To see how smooth this operation goes, tune in next time, for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake LP!

December numbers are up! This month saw a surge of 188 nominations, bringing the annual total to 309! Last year, the overall total was 419, making this year be only 110 nominations less. Which doesn't seem too bad, considering how the year started? If nominations were open in Febuary this year, the gap would likely be even less, but, it is what it is.

As far as I'm aware, voting is to be done off-site this year as well. Stay tuned for information regarding that!