I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!
Despite my anxiety about ever finding a job again after being out of work for so long, I kicked ass at both interviews and got a job offer almost immediately following the second one :D I honestly can't wait to get back to selling sex toys; there's a reason it was my career for nearly a decade. I really do love it!

Anyway. I don't have a whole lot to say because I've been having bad depression following being sick. I fell out of the habit of being on dreamwidth/icon making/etc while sick, I've been really struggling to get back to it ;w; I hate when my brain is like "oh here's a thing you love, no you don't get to do it :)"

bluh bluh bluh

I finished my OG FFVII replay and it was even better than my memories, which is impressive considering how much I loved it as a teen. I have a lot of thoughts and feels that I need to put into words but I'm not feeling with it enough to do so also I don't want to go through the massive amount of screencaps I took to make a coherent post lmao

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh what else is coming up in my life.........

The Double Face climax, aka Last Mission, is coming up in ENG soon!!!!!! Can't wait to cry about their divorce unit breakup all over again ;w; Depending on how competitive it is, I'm debating going further than just maxing Madara's 5* card and actually tiering...since who knows when/if there will be another DF event...sobs.

OH RIGHT!!! I am delighted to admit that I'm wrong about something: The Project SEKAI x Ensemble Stars!! collab is coming to the world wide servers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's running in CN right now and will be running in ENG in......late August, literally over a year before its regular slot in the schedule XD idk what they're gonna do about Raika's feature scout that's supposed to run at the same time, because ENG hasn't gotten the new children yet :T

STILLLLLLLLLLLL!!! I'm so fucking excited, both for the overall event and the really good promo card of Leo where he's holding up the VOCALOID app on an iPad. It's so cute and also the best promo 5* they've ever given out, so that'll be nice ;D

I don't have anything smart left to say :T I'm still recovering so like...brain not fully online...

WAIT YES MY KITTY CAT NUIS FINALLY MADE IT FROM CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!


they're soooooooo much bigger than the bear nuis I gotta take a family picture, but for now plz enjoy them with a lavender matcha frappe I got at a newly opened bakery~
And we're finally getting our car repaired this weekend!!! It's been a long time coming of saving up for it, but now it's happening!!!!!!! And just in time for me to start my new job, too. Liz and Pat can carpool cuz their jobs are nearby and both are 9-5, but mine is completely different. Fingers crossed it doesn't need more repairs than expected!!!!

I'm really hungry but don't feel like cooking yet, so here's me trying to make a bit of a catch up post from the past week or so.

Friday
BUSY DAY. I picked up my PS2 from the store and they did an incredible job (as always). The top loader has been warped since I installed it in 2007, and they fixed that without me even asking??? The whole repair was only $30, because they're fucking amazing. I ended up chatting with the employees for like two hours because we all love to talk, but I managed to avoid buying anything extra...this time XD


I cut through Round1 on the way out, so I just had to take a pic of Madara on one of the rhythm games~
And then I got to be disappointed by the BIBLION scout box - aka the rate up box for the Crazy:B climax - because I guess Tsukasa has betrayed me???? idk I was exhausted and hadn't eaten yet, so the world was ending. After I got lunch I felt a lot better XD

idk what I did the rest of the night...OH!!! I picked Liz and Pat up from work and then we (unsuccessfully) tried to pick up meds for Pat before driving off to Petco. Lumos and her expensive food is killing me but I love her...anything for baby ♥


also I put Tsukasa on my homescreen in an attempt to entice him home...tune in next time to see how that went!
Saturday
Crazy:B climax babeyyyyy!!!!! I can't believe the climax events are finally here OwO I'm kinda sad I'm only going for one copy of Rinne, but the Double Face one will be here before I know it. I'm also excited for the TRIP album cards in a couple more months!!!

Liz and I went to Arundel Mills, because I guess I go there every few weekends??? I finally remembered to bring the right nuis with me, so I have some very good pictures at the Egyptian movie theatre.


FINALLY BROUGHT THEM!!!! AND THEY LOOK GREAT!!!!!!!

( a few more pics of the mall and dinner )

And then we went home so I could get on the grind- the grind for more dia, because I was determined to bring Tsukasa home. Both for the event rate up and because I have this card in JP & CN, so I'm used to seeing him around. I also just really like the outfit. Also Tsukasa USUALLY stalks me!!!! And so...I had to wring a bunch of dia out of my account and try just one more 10 scout...


SWEET SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the story for the scout box is legit really good...and also is kinda the reason Nagisa has an account for writing RPF in Ougonten XD So that's delightful. I love when thinks interconnect like that (sometimes in silly ways).

Saturday was also the end of The Legend of KAGETSU on the CN server and I did manage to snag Keito from it, as well as use my hoarded memorial coins to pick up some Kohaku and Madara cards I'd been missing. Next up is Mika Goes To Space the event, and then I can maybe take a break from focusing on CN for a bit.

( snip snip for even more enstars screencaps )

Sunday
Writing this entry is really challenging me to think about what I did the past few days....mostly just lounged around the house and played video games, I think???????????? OH. Josh made it back from the bachelor party he was at down in SC, and he stayed over for another night to break up the long drive. And I made a bow for Genevieve to send home with him, since she's living a very spoiled life as an only cat and thus needs an adorable bow, too.

.....I should have taken a picture of the finished product before sending it off :T

Monday
Pat went up to Pittsburgh with Josh, leaving me and Liz alone for a little staycation! We mostly just vibed around the house, but we managed to pop out for some groceries in the afternoon. We got the stuff to make tantanmen + a few other meals but forgot gatorlyte again, because my life is suffering XD I've just been really dehydrated lately ;w;

I started patterning some outfits for nuis, but burnt out kinda quickly because doing tiny stuff is soooooooo taxing for me D: I'll try to get back to it soon, I just...idk. It's a lot. Plus I think I have to get slightly different pleather that's thinner, and uhhhhhh joanns is just about gone so I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon.

bluh.

And then I played a bunch of FFVII and accidentally reached the point of no return with Aerith without remembering to make an extra save file with her, so I feel stupid ;w; I do at least have to replay basically disc one to get the trophy for taking Barret on the Gold Saucer date, so...I guess I'll make one then...

BUT WE GOT THE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT AND I WAS RIGHT IT WAS SWITCH WITH NATSUME AS THE CENTER, EVERYONE ELSE WHO DOUBTED IT CAN DERELICK MY BALLS XD

plz cowboy Wataru, I take back everything I said about "no more cowboys" plz I need the rate up support for Natsume!!!!!!

Today
Woke up early to drive Liz to work, got home, tried to work on graphics/writing/coding/this entry...I started this like 5+ hours ago D: I did take a nap in the middle because Lumos got in my lap and put me to sleep, but I also fed myself. I'm not still starving XD

Anyway!!! I have to pick Liz up in like half an hour, so I'm gonna cut it here. I probably have even more pictures I haven't posted yet, but 1) this is long enough and 2) I don't feel like sorting through everything to see what I have and haven't posted.

Another day spent playing FFVII all day.......I can't help it!!!!! I feel like it's easy to forget how gripping older games can be- even for me, a person who loves retro games. But damn if the PS1 version isn't still so fucking fun. I spent a solid hour grinding for gil because I was gonna buy the lifetime pass for the Golden Saucer only to not end up doing that lmao and it felt...I mean, not like no time at all, but like the time flew by.


real talk the most embarrassing part is that I wanted to quit but I got peer pressured by Liz and Pat into getting MORE than 30k gil (you know, to have an extra buffer lmao)

( don't worry I have even more gameplay pix from the past couple days )

So that's my entry about my day XD

jk jk I have a little more~

I'm trying to fix my sleep schedule, since I've been staying up until 4am (or even later) every day/night/whatever you wanna call it. So I woke up when Liz did (around 8 am) and...damn I'm wiped XD

HOWEVER.

Pat's brother is coming down tomorrow because he's traveling to a bachelor party further south, and it's far enough away that it would really help if he stayed at our place for a nice. Which is totally fine! But he was really unclear about when he was actually coming; we thought it was Thursday or Friday. BUT NOPE. We found out today that it's tomorrow. So we've been doing a lot of SUDDEN CLEANING to make sure he has somewhere to stay.

Liz is currently kicking ass cleaning out the living room couch...I love them....

OKAY. The image hosting software still isn't working properly, but at least it's being worked on by the support team. And I can still upload things through my FTP client and the in browser control panel, it's just the convenience of the specific image hosting that's lacking- for now.

Cool things I did this week: more hand-sewing projects! I made a big bow for Lumos and matching-ish ones for my Judal & Hakuryuu nuis! :D


SHE LOOKS SO PRECIOUS the bow is soooooo cute on her + it has a bell and it makes such a good sound, I keep dying from how cute she is ;w;

( more pictures of Lumos + the bow itself )

making bows for my Madara and Kohaku nuis definitely inspired me, and I'm sooooo excited to have some for these little shits, too ♥
Besides that...it's mostly been playing enstars, stressing about my website, and watching Liz fucking crush it at Queen's Blood in FFVII: Rebirth XD I've played some more of the OG, too, but...idk I haven't been feeling great so I've been sleeping a lot. I would really love if this could stop happening ;w;

BUT!!!! I wan to make more cute things!!!!! I have a bunch of YouTube videos open on how to make rosettes for pins/ita bags, and I wanna use that knowledge to make things for my nuis. The Kohaku & Madara ones that I usually carry around are a unique size for nuis - basically only the company that makes them makes outfits/accessories for them - so I also wanna make them some more clothes. I just gotta keep inspiring myself!!

Also I promised myself I was done buying Chinese enstars merch because of the tariffs - even though I love most of it, hence why I've got a bunch I preordered - but they just teased the new collection of merch and it's REALLY FUCKING CUTE!!!!!!!! Everyone has fox ears and fluffy kimonos for most of it, and then they're making fox nuis of all the characters.

AS IF THE KITTY CAT KIGU NUIS I ORDERED AREN'T CUTE ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's killing me XD I guess I'll have to see how all the tariffs shake out/how feasible buying from a reseller in Japan or else is, but damn if I don't want basically that whole collection ;w; Life is hard!!!

Oh, right...on Madara's birthday I did a single scout on his birthday box because I didn't have much else to spare, and this fucker gave me a third copy of his demon 5* XD


I'm not even mad, just surprised!!!!!
.....and then in ENG I did multiple 10 scouts and got NOTHING OF HIS. I did get some 5* cards, just not his. Which like. Okay. I'm glad to have them, but I'm also kinda desperately hoping to max out his first feature scout and get the secret color...maybe someday.

Lemme finish this off with a great pic I took the other night: Double Face in their pristine unicorn kigus...on an old pay phone.


I love putting them dumb places~

I guess I'm starting all my posts with a self-own this week XD

Or I could finally beat FFVII: Remake but I got stuck at the final fucking motorcycle fight and even Liz hasn't been able to beat it so like. FUCK ME I GUESS!!!! I'm just bad at anything involving vehicles in games...

TAKE THAT YOU HORRIBLE PIECE OF SHIT YOU TOOK ME TWO FUCKING YEARS TO FINALLY CONQUER BUT I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway.

It was honestly right after I posted yesterday's entry that I was like "no, I can't let the stupid mechanics of this fucking fight win me, I can do it!!!" The Price of Freedom from the Crisis Core soundtrack is largely to blame/thank, since it's tragic and uplifting and, most importantly, full of determination, and that's how I beat the stupidest boss in all of Final Fantasy.

And I was right, it was the penultimate fucking fight in the game. Sephiroth was easy in comparison; I basically chewed through him and all the weird Whisper monsters before him. In general though, he was loads easier than his end of Rebirth fight, so maybe that was part of it? He was REALLY FUCKING HARD in Rebirth, so I went in expecting that and kicked his ass sooooo quickly, lmao.

But let's talk Remake vs Rebirth. I got Remake on release day back in 2020 and was so disappointed by the gameplay that I put it down within 24 hours and went back to Animal Crossing...which is particularly bad for Remake considering I'd never played an Animal Crossing game before and I'd been waiting for an HD remake of FFVII for nearly 15 years at that point. Basically since Advent Children came out, I'd been like OKAY BUT WHEN DO WE GET A FULL REMAKE OF THE OG GAME????? This was a frequent discussion during my years working at GameStop, both with coworkers and customers.

All that excitement, and it just fell so flat for me ;w; I know there are plenty of people who liked it, but it just didn't hit for me. I think the final insult was finding out that you don't get to leave Midgar in Remake, and like...come on. Getting through Midgar is the biggest slog of disc 1 imho, so the idea of an entire fucking game being set in it without the catharsis of leaving? Count me out.

I finally came back to it in 2023, in hopes that I'd enjoy it more now that I had basically no expectations, and I did! It didn't necessarily grip me the way the original had or how I'd initially hoped a remake would, but I got pretty invested. Looking back at my trophies on PSN, I got through the whole game in a little over two weeks...up until I got stuck on the fucking motorcycle fight.

However, I took about the same amount of time to beat Rebirth and enjoyed it much more thoroughly. Though maybe saying it was the same amount of time is misleading- I spent just over two weeks playing both Remake and Rebirth, but let's take a look at my playtime...


final saves of Remake (top) vs Rebirth (bottom)
I put 60 more hours into Rebirth and real talk, it didn't even feel like it. I just had so much fun running around and doing quests and exploring that I couldn't put the controller down. Every day was "wake up, turn on the ps5, play Rebirth, sleep" with the occasional snack break XD Save for the Corel region, which, between Costa del Sol and the Golden Saucer, was pretty much entirely minigames...so I got a little burnt out on them. Liz and I took turns on minigame hell to get through them all. I just feel like it could have been balanced better, since Golden Saucer has always been a lot of minigames, so adding a bunch of Costa del Sol is kinda poor planning. Especially after the Queen's Blood tournament on the cruise ship...

But this both is and isn't about the little things. I just had almost no interest in digging into all the side quests and optional fights and everything that wasn't the main thread of plot, because Remake wasn't fun for me. I didn't want to run around in the beautiful world they created - and not just because it was all fucking Midgar - and thus, I didn't do most extra things. Going through my inventory on the way into the final fight I was like "I'm gonna fucking die" because nothing had been worked on. My materia is basically leveled up from the amount I used it in battle to get to the end, but nothing was actually focused on. None of my weapons had their weapon proficiency skills mastered, and while I'll admit I didn't do all of them in Rebirth, I didn't just blaze through without trying.

And that's the thing!!! Final Fantasy games are meant to be long, both in the amount of time the story takes and in how much fighting gameplay there is. But while it was a bit more of a traditional turn-based JRPG grind in the OG (which I love, don't get me wrong), Rebirth manages to make "level grinding" a natural and fun part of gameplay. Remake doesn't quite get there, and the actual fighting feels more clunky (despite the two being VERY similar, I had more trouble controlling my characters when I jumped back into Remake right after beating Rebirth) to the point where it's not an "easy" grind the way I find the OG is. Because you can't zone out at all but also it's not fun. Why level grind more than the bare minimum?

This is coming from someone who one-shot the final bosses in Final Fantasy X and .hack//G.U. because the gameplay was legitimately so fucking fun I lost track of time doing it to the point that I was massively overleveled. I didn't quite hit that point in Rebirth (but I feel like I could on subsequent replays tbh), but I was still engaged in the battle system in a way that I never was in Remake. I'm gonna have to do some more digging - maybe when I'm not being thrown directly into the final fight lmao - to figure out exactly why the two feel so different to me, despite being largely the same controls.

I really do think they took feedback they got from Remake and integrated those changes into Rebirth. They're clearly both made with love, but Rebirth just takes it to another level. It's the beautiful, streamlined version that Remake wanted to be but couldn't quite reach. Rebirth honestly feels like the HD remake of my teenage dreams, except it's even more than I could have imagined. And that's because of something that Rebirth does that other games have failed at:

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth feels like a PS5 game. I've never played a game that so fully uses the capabilities of the system, even if that came at the cost of having to install an entire fucking disc worth of data to the PS5 before I could pop in the main one and play the fucking game. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this, it was worth it. Rebirth basically doesn't have pre-rendered cutscenes. Once you get out of the opening, you are the cutscene. Whatever equipment your party has is visible within it- no more defaulting back to the initial weapons for "fancier" cutscenes, even the ending ones. When a cutscene ends, the camera pans behind Cloud (or whoever you're controlling at that point), the onscreen menus come back, and you can walk forward. All without no drop in quality!!!!

THIS IS FUCKING VIDEO GAME WIZARDRY!!!! I don't think that "better graphics = better game" but Rebirth uses its graphical capabilities to further immerse the player in the world. It doesn't feel like they've made things look more real just to look nice; it's all done with such purpose that I can't help but see it as a huge plus. It's not that I couldn't dream big as a teenager- this was just unheard of. Rebirth is like walking through a beautiful cutscene, but it's the whole game!!!!

Remake does look beautiful as well, don't get me wrong, but it's like...it looks like Good Video Game Graphics. Rebirth crossed the uncanny valley and now everything is so effortlessly well-rendered, it's no longer distracting. There were parts of Rebirth that Liz, Pat, or I would point out as being particularly gorgeous, but that's more like... "oh this looks really good, holy shit!!!" not......something that looks really good but still a little bit noticeably uncanny.

It's so cool. It's truly immersive and fun and god, I could pick it up right now even though I'm hungry and really need to eat something. Rebirth makes me be like "okay, no this was worth using a system as powerful as the ps5, and it's using it well" which makes my grouchy ass upset but ALSO: worth it.

....okay but no everyone got home from work and I have to take my ps2 to the retro game store for repairs, so I'll end this here. I cannot wait for the next (final?) part, and I have high hopes that they'll actually do it the justice it deserves.

Also like. FFVII is overhyped but also worth it. If you've somehow made it to 2025 without at least playing a little, plz pick it up!!! The OG is on basically every digital platform (I know it's on Switch and PSN for sure) + Remake is on the PS4/PS5/probably some others? and Rebirth is on PS5/PC. It's relatively accessible nowadays!!!!!! PLEASE I LOVE THE IT ♥

I did some grinding in the JP event but tbh I don't think I have it in me to get Hokuto....I'm supposed to be playing for fun and I don't wanna burn myself out on a game I really like D: Which is kinda disappointing but also like, it is what it is you know?

SUCK IT, PAST KILLIAN!!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU STAY UP PAST 5 IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!


I don't even have the pieces to unlock him but whatever, Hokuto is mine :D
I just didn't wanna miss out on the first event of the "new year" (since enstars rolls over when the anniversary is, aka the end of April) and I'm stupid. This is why my sleep schedule is shot XD I'll say I'm not as impressed as last year's, but last year's was Ringing evil phone so that's a tough act to follow. In general I tend to enjoy enstars events, though I'm still withholding judgment on this next round of main story events...I guess I'll see what the next part of that holds in a couple weeks.

Also it's this asshole's birthday next week, so I switched up my engstars profile some for him~ I'm also delighted that we finally have the unit banners for "I have too damn many fans of all the characters in this unit" so I can flex my love of Double Face ;D


I guess I could change my featured cards to match the color story better, but I like them too much so they're staying ♥
I've had the Crisis Core soundtrack on repeat still, because it's just really good okay ;w; I was gonna work on grinding out more trophies in Rebirth or running around in the OG FFVII, but I'm torn...what if I just replayed the Crisis Core remake instead?????? IT'S REALLY GOOD AND I LOVE ZACK A LOT. LOVE ME A TRAGIC HIMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or I could finally beat FFVII: Remake but I got stuck at the final fucking motorcycle fight and even Liz hasn't been able to beat it so like. FUCK ME I GUESS!!!! I'm just mad at anything involving vehicles in games...

Also also I need more icons of Zack...I have a decent amount of FFVII ones backed up from what I had on GJ, but that was slightly before Crisis Core came out originally...so I only have a few of him. I'm gonna have to go through the depths of LJ in hopes of finding not dead links and/or make my own, I guess!

I FINISHED FINAL FANTASY VII: REBIRTH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I say "finished" because I had to get my big strong gamer wife to finish off the final fight for me; Sephiroth was kicking my ass ;w; I'M A REAL GAMER, I SWEAR, I'VE BEATEN THE PS1 VERSION A BUNCH I JUST SUCK AT DODGING.

Also we stayed up until nearly 2 am last night finishing it, followed by me, Liz, and Pat going on a celebratory Taco Bell run at ass o'clock in the morning XD Someone shot the menu screen since we'd last been there??? Which is really only shocking because it's a slightly more suburb-ish part of Baltimore, not the city. idk. I'm unfazed because that's just living in the city, babeeeey. I grew up like this~

Anyway I have a lot of feelings about it, just, in general and also as a remake of the original. I don't have all the brain power to put them down and if I wait until I do, I'm never gonna write another entry XD LIFE IS HARD. I just. It's such a good game and the original was formative to me as a teenager, so I had VERY HIGH STANDARDS for a remake that's made as many changes at it has. I was also incredibly disappointed with the first remake, so I went into this expecting nothing and was completely blown away.

tl;dr final fantasy good, ff7 is overhyped for a REASON, I'm about to go play through the ps1 version again while I wait years for the next part of the remake (which is perhaps the worst part of the remake, ngl)

And then my ps2 was having issues - probs because it's over 20 years old, was used as the family DVD player for years, and is modded - and didn't wanna read ps1 games D: Thankfully we also have Liz's ps2, so that's good!!! But I'll be taking my ps2 to the local retro game store this week for a tuneup and/or laser replacement.


anyway the first thing I did to my save file from 2004 was make it gay pride XD
Besides FFVII basically consuming my life for the past few days weeks, I've been on a bit of TOO MUCH IS HAPPENING in enstars because all three servers have anniversary stuff going on (because that's how anniversaries work) and it's kinda overwhelming. I'm enjoying the 3k fans for every character thing in JP, but I kinda don't like that you can't play the songs with stamina/towards the event. So I'm basically playing 9 songs a day that don't count towards event grinding...which is to say I'm super behind on the event. I wanted to get the 5* from it because 1) I like Hokuto and 2) first event of the year, but idk if I have it in me.

bluhhhhhh

BUT!!! It was Leo's birthday this week, and that was exciting!!! I bought a couple of his old event cards in eng and unlocked some of his cards in jp, and all around was very excited for my big dumb orange cat of a man XD

( some Leo-related screenshots~ )

a final parting gift: the ps2-specific HDMI cord we use has to be configured when you first use it on a ps2, and we hadn't used it on Liz's ps2 yet, sooooooo..........ff7 be lookin' a little more green than usual XD

THE ENSTARS MAINTENANCE WAS EXTENDED MY LIFE IS OVERRRRRRRRRRR

okay now that that's out of my system...I'm not gonna lie, I'm very sad to have to wait an additional 24 hours to play around the with the new UI...at least there's a lot of good stuff going on in the ENG and CN servers - particularly my favorite anniversary event!!!! - so I can play with that, but still ;w;

Anyway, all I did today was play FFVII and get lost in enstars on my phone. Uh. I live a productive life, I swear XD


Cloud went on a chocobo date with Aerith (and kept fucking it up in very autistic ways, not helped by all their friends tagging along)

( more ff7 screenshots in here! )

tbh I feel like I accidentally burnt myself out on icon making for the next week or so. I entered a bunch of challenges for like...a month straight? Which was a ton of fun!! But now I'm kinda overdone on it I guess? Or more like my creativity is fried, probably because I made so many in such a short period- for me at least. idk I know some people make a lot more faster, but not me! The fact that I've made around 200 icons this year is a lot for me, and it's something I'm quite proud of! I guess I just need to chill out for a bit.

BLUH.

ANYWAY. Ending this on a more positive note: I managed to get Kohaku's newest 4* in CN!!!!


I love that he looks so fucking cute and it's all because it's Mayoi vision XD thx Mayoi, for making Kohaku seem so precious ♥


also, the newest worldwide mission outfit dropped in CN today, and it is delightfully fruity- it looks like a mix of "gay sailor" and "little Victorian boy", and I'm here for it ;D

After buying all the ribbon and shit a few weeks ago, I finally finished one of the projects I bought it for!!!!!! I made a big cute bow for my Madara nui!!!!!!!!!!!!!


lookit him and his big dumb bow he's so cuuuuuuuuuute
It was very frustrating at times, because I'm actually terrible at making bows- this has been a problem since I was trying to make lolita outfits in my late teens and apparently I still struggle with them ;w; BUT I DID IT!!!! I conquered my fears and pushed through to make something adorable ♥

ALSO LIZ GOT ME A GIFT!!!!!!!!!


adorable kohamada pins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're so sweet *w* They're also playing the horrendous card game mini game that's part of FFVII Rebirth, because we needed more mini games????(We didn't) But it hits in the right part of their autism brain, so they've been having fun.

"I don't wanna shell out $50 for the next part of the FFVII remake" I said, fully believing the lie was telling myself.

Anyway.

I picked up FFVII Rebirth on Sunday and I basically haven't put it down since XD It's so much better than Remake it's honestly incredible; they very clearly took feedback into consideration with this one. The gameplay is tightened up and modified just enough that it's fun instead of clunky, and while I still prefer the traditional turn-based experience, this is massive improvement over the last one. I still think Crisis Core feels a bit smoother because it leans more into the hack and slash nature of it, but I'm not dying in every fucking fight like I did in Remake.

ALSO THE FEW SECONDS OF ZACK IN THE OPENING IN AN ALTERNATE(??????) TIMELINE GOT ME RIGHT IN THE FEELS. I think because I just finished playing Crisis Core it hit particularly hard, but holy shitttttt, I was about ready to cry ;w;

Cloud looks so good too, like...they really have nailed "anime spiky hair bullshit" mixed with realism...it looks so soft and fluffy and also well spiked. It's just. idk. It manages to nail a lot of the stylistic things that fell short in Kingdom Hearts 3, and while I'm delighted it did...it also makes me sad for what could have been in KH3. It was ALSO an amazing game, but I'm still fussy about the style changes between KH3 and literally every other KH game ever :T

MOVING ON!!!

For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm playing a game that was made for the PS5. Besides Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, everything else I own for the PS5 is on at least one other system (usually a fair amount), because everything is made for every damn system now!!!! It makes it feel like.....why do I have this system if it's just like everything else on the market?

BUT NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FFVII REBIRTH FEELS LIKE IT'S USING THE FULL CAPABILITIES OF THE SYSTEM!!!!!!! And not just like, oh the graphics are fancy, isn't that enough? No!!! There are so many little details that pull it all together and make it a richer experience *w*

I have a lot of other thoughts about it, but tbh I just wanna go back to playing....


so here's a majestic picture of Cloud with a dolphin XD

( few more screencaps under here! )

OH ALSO!!!! We had to go out to get more food for Lumos, because she's currently on "only the fanciest food money can buy" for her sensitive tummy...which is definitely hitting us where it hurts (the wallet). But we also picked up some groceries, including this absolutely necessary ceramic figure of a balloon animal. What animal? I have no idea, but I love him ♥


I put him on top of the TV with my son who has every disease (the green pumpkin)
BACK TO MORE FFVII I have a mini game I actually like (rhythm game)~