I was so excited about Madara that I forgot to share that I actually finished another mood theme: Ensemble Stars! Cards ;D I have no idea where all this inspiration is coming from, but I'll take it. I think this is the one I'm most proud of, since it required a bit more editing and going through soooooo many more images to pick moods.

Today, Liz stayed home for a much needed mental health day. We ended up playing some more Katamari Damacy - technically Once Upon A KATAMARI but I just kinda think of them as all one big fun thing - and did some light cleaning in the living room & dining room before napping on the couch. All in all, very restful (for me at least, and I think Liz as well) :D

And then after Pat got home from work, Liz made a very tasty dinner of pork loin and roasted baby red potatoes. It was so good *w* We used to get pre-marinated pork loins from just the regular grocery store, but Lidl has them now for way less, and they're easily just as good. So that's good to know!!

Since we'd gotten started earlier, Liz, Pat, and I did some more cleaning after dinner. We got the Christmas tree taken down, took a bunch of crafting supplies back up to the third floor, and organized the stuff we're keeping down here. The basement still needs to be fully sanitized after the waste pipe burst last month, so all the Christmas stuff is still upstairs, but at least it's now condensed down into boxes.

BUT IT'S LOOKING SOOOOOO GOOD DOWNSTAIRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pat's also gonna help me go through all my clothes and put them away, since laundry is where I stall out a lot. And we got a cat tree to put in our bedroom like two months ago, but Liz and I haven't been able to make the space for it so it's just.....still in a box in the kitchen..........

Anyway. I'm gonna think on the positive side and be proud of all that I did get done today!! :D


some great recent pictures of Pat: a sign he found on the side of the road that got knocked down by a snowplow and posing with part of the Christmas tree like it's a fish XD


the new Katamari is honestly soooo good and I've taken a decent amount of screenshots so far, but I think this T-rex might be my fave. the way the dinos are rendered is just delightful ;D


this steggy is a close second, tho ♥
I gotta go finish up the JP event tonight so I can be prepared for everything that's coming OwO And probably play more Katamari, since I am like a man possessed with it~

I have, and his name is Mayoi Ayase *w* Which is to say, the next event is not MaM, and is instead ALKALOID!!! AND MAYOI IS THE CENTER FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I just knew he was gonna be the center for the fanthanx, I knew it! I feel so validated ;D
ALSO JUST. HELLO. GOD HE'S SO GORGEOUS EVEN WHEN HE'S WEARING THE MOST QUESTIONABLE OF THE FANTHANX OUTFITS SO FAR. ALL OF THE FANTHANX OUTFITS HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE; WHY MUST ALKALOID GET A WORSE VERSION OF THE TRICKSTAR ONES??????? IT'S NOT FAIIIRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Me and the homies (friends in a discord chat) were crashing out last night because Mayoi is just so beautiful and we couldn't wait for the song to drop. Like, how dare they reveal the event and then make us wait 3 hours for the MV???? It dropped at 4 am my time, which is inconvenient when your wife has to work at 8:30 am.

....we totally didn't mean to stay up for it but oops we did anyway and holy shit it was worth it. The plaid outfits are (mostly) redeemed; the song is so fucking good that it made everything better!!!!! And the outfits honestly look better in motion, so there's that.

Anyway, in my defense, they did use possibly the most boring frame of the whole MV as the thumbnail, so what was I supposed to think?


like look at this shit!!! they're all just standing very still, despite 99% of the MV being incredibly dynamic :T
My other main gripe is that this isn't very Valentines, you know? 'Cause this is running in the usual time slot for that...I guess the Megasphere finale could be our Valentines event, but it's doubtful, especially since the holiday campaign is starting this week.

bluhhhhh

Though apparently Mayoi's first center event ran in this exact time slot despite being sky pirates, so???? What do I fucking know XD I should really stop trying to predict what the hell they're gonna do, because half the time they just do whatever the hell they want.

oh god right---

Speaking of Mayoi events, I cannot fucking believe he's overlapping with an ENG event where he's a 5* but he sure is!!! The Plum Blossoms event also starts on the 31st, though I guess the JP event starts about 12 hours earlier because of time zones. BUT STILL. Plus Blossoms was the first ever event I played in JP and I got two copies of the Mayoi from it, so he kept me company in green songs for the first year or so I played. So I was planning on maxing him in ENG, because I love him, but now his fanthanx is here. sobs.

plz let the SCR of his fanthanx outfit be bad. plz. I can't afford to max two different events at the same time I'll die

I'm determined to get Mayoi in the first 24 hours tho, so I'm probably gonna just stay up all night playing. Maybe gonna hop in the voice chat in the one of the enstars servers I'm in and stream me playing (probably badly esp once it's like 6 am lmao) so I have some company. idk. I'm just excited!!!

OH LOL SO ANYWAY. One of the enstars discord servers I'm in started as the chat for anyone interested in tiering in War Atop the Sugoroku Board event, but as since just turned into a small, chill chat. It's got some people who produce different units than other chats we're in, which means Liz and I finally have someone to talk about Eden with ♥


I did impulse tier in that event, but tiering in Last Mission was 100% on purpose and I'm still so glad I did ;w; Double Face forever!!!! also lol 67 *shot*
.....okay this entry is long enough, I gotta stop because I've kinda run out of things to rant about properly, you know? And Pat is currently trying to dig the car out enough that we can go to Home Depot, since our shovel is actively falling apart while he's using it.

You know what a foot of snow needs? Photoshoot in your backyard featuring a skirt you made in 2017 and then promptly forgot about!!! Pat very kindly braved the cold to bring my ~vision~ to life.


the skirt is so warm and the shirt was a poor life choice XD


I like to think I'm cute and funny, and I'm right~
At least now I know what I'm wearing to the ren faire this year ;D I made this skirt to wear to a vampire ball that Liz and I went to as part of our anniversary trip, and then just...never wore it again???? idk man, it looks good actually so I have no idea why I never found another use for it. Definitely wearing it in like, 9 months, when it's ren faire season. I've also just been wearing the skirt around the house because it's floor length, so it's keeping the warmth in. So yes, I'm wandering around with a black lace train like I'm living in the Addams Family, I guess XD

ANYWAY.

I did manage to make a few icons, so that's cool. I don't necessarily love them, but part of that is just...getting back into it...thankfully it's only been like 6 months so I'm not as rusty as I could be, but I still wish I could stay more on top of things and/or skip this stage.

And then the enstars event announcement is tonight and I'm sooooooo fucking anxious, since it's either gonna be MaM or ALKALOID, so my money is gone either way. If it's MaM, no one's gonna hear from me for a week while I grind out 22 mil points. sobs. It's just like.....some of my fave units have ended up last in the rotation and also why couldn't Madara have his event while I had a job and therefore more money to blow on a phone game? Like of course he waited until I had less disposable income. Bitch.

idk I don't have anything else to say, since I've been in the house all weekend. At least the snow is really pretty and we've had a fairly chill time just vibing. Trying to focus on the positives, you know?

Finally starting to feel better, which means I now have to fight the mental illness that says "since you stopped doing something every day, now you'll never be able to do it again!!!!!!" about things like graphics, updating my fucking journal, you know.....super helpful stuff like that ;w;

ANYWAY.

I've had this tab open for like a week and been unable to keep writing BUT NOT FOR LONG!!!!!!!!!! I have great news!!!!!!!

I HAD A JOB INTERVIEW TODAY AND ALREADY GOT A CALL BACK FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW IN A COUPLE DAYS I'M SO PUUUUUUUUUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway. Last week Pat had to pick up lube, so we went to Lion's Den, which acquired a different small chain of adult stores a few years back, and I just. idk man. I walked in and it was everything I'd been missing ;w; They weren't hiring at that location, but they were hiring an assistant manager at another location. So I went home and almost immediately applied to it.

Jump to today: I figured weekdays would be the best time to swing by and follow up with a manager, and I was right. The store manager was in, and she was supposed to interview someone today...but they didn't show up. SO. GOOD FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The interview went so well, it was everything I'm looking for in working in retail again, and just...idk man I felt like I really clicked with the store manager. And I did! She called me back less than two hours I left to set up a second interview, this time with the district manager. It's on Wednesday afternoon and I am SO EXCITED I want to go back to slinging dildos. I miss my stupid fun retail life ;w;

It would be evenings and weekends, which sucks but also I haven't worked in 2.5 years and I'm going insaaaaaane I need to get out of the fucking house. And this seems like SUCH a good fit.

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....

This weekend flew by!!!! Maybe because I was out of the house so much? idk. The unicorn kigus for my nuis finally arrived, so I just had to get them new accessories ;D


including a second miniature shopping cart to go with the one I already own, so they can each have one ;D
Seriously, it was a weekend of going places so I could get them things XD We went to Towson Towne Centre on Friday- partially to drop off my ps2 at the retro game store for repairs and partially to look at Claire's for accessories. The unicorn kigus are a different aesthetic than their other ones, so of course they need new stuff. I'm trying to go for more of a cutesy deco look to match the brighter colors, which is a little harder to make with just stuff I have sitting around the house.

We also swung by Ebisu (again) to look for cute stuff + get more snacks and then got bubble tea, because what is my life if not a quest for more excuses to get bubble tea? Gong Cha is doing a collab with Line right now and I got a free keychain with purchase, which goes really well with my ita bag imho.

On Saturday, Liz wasn't feeling well, so Pat and I went questing for nui accessories!!!! I had seen something cute in Claire's the night before but couldn't make up my mind before closing time, so we tried going to the Claire's in Security Square Mall by our house. Key word: tried. Apparently, that location has been closed for over a year but no one updated Google or Yelp :T

So!!!! Onwards, to perhaps the most overstimulating place in the world: Arundel Mills Mall. It's sooooooooooooo stressful and way too huge and I fucking love it XD I gotta remember to take my Bakura and Marikku nuis with me someday so I can take pictures of them at the Ancient Egyptian-themed movie theater...I just keep forgetting until I'm at the mall itself.

BUT FUTURE NUI ADVENTURES ASIDE. Liz wasn't there to watch us, so Pat and I were drawn in by the siren call of the Books-A-Million...the manga section called to us!!! I grabbed the newest volume of the P5 manga + Fangs volume 3 - someday I'll get a hold of volume 2, but Tokyopop fucking hates me I guess!!! - and Pat got the first volume of The Summer Hikaru Died (which I think I'm gonna steal and read too).

And then the fucking Lindt store got me!!!!!!!! They were handing out free samples and I can never resist a good piece of chocolate...plus I'd been meaning to check them out for awhile. I used to love picking up a few truffles + a decadent drink from the Godiva store, and I've missed it ever since they closed all their stores ;w; The Lindt store does have fancy drinks, but I hadn't eaten proper food before heading out so I didn't try them- this time. I did get a small bag of truffles, though ;D

I also managed to get all the way to the food court and feed myself without throwing a tantrum, despite being wildly overstimulated and achy...since of course I forgot to take my meds, too. Pat and I were both like "shit we should celebrate, this won't happen again" XD

OH WAIT I SKIPPED OVER THE MOST IMPORTANT STORE!!!! Rumi Life, aka the adorable stationary/accessories/home goods/etc store!!!!!!!! I got a miniature shopping cart there a year or so ago because I couldn't resist it, and I figured they might have some stuff for my nuis. And they did; I got a clip on bow for Madara and another shopping cart. This one is also a scooter! tbh the nuis are great because now I have an excuse for all the cute shit I always wanna buy ♥ I use it for them~~~~


you just know I had to take the boys with me, into the desolate wasteland of a dying store~
Today we all went out to Joanns....our location isn't quite closed yet but it's definitely winding down ;w; Since it's one of the last ones, they keep getting shipments from the warehouse/stores that closed already, which is how we managed to score a great deal on a Cricut EasyPress in its largest size :D Pat's wanted one for awhile and tbh I'm excited for it, since I'm still having nightmares from carefully ironing on all that gold heat transfer vinyl to Double Face's Last Mission coats. This thing has precise temperature control, so it'll make things much easier in the future :D

We grabbed dinner at Red Robin + more cat food for Lumos, since we now have to keep her stocked on expensive wet food. I love her dearly, but girl. She's killing my wallet XD

Oh and then we got ice cream!!! Liz had wanted a milkshake at Red Robin but they were kinda overpriced + we had many more errands at the time, so we ended up swinging by one of our favorite places on the drive home. I'm always ready to fuckin CRUSH one of those soft serve + butterfingers blended things, and they're the best place to get them (especially since Sonic stopped carrying butterfingers for some reason).


( come see more nui pictures from the weekend~~~~~ )

I'm also not feeling great today :T Liz has been feeling sick all weekend (and also the end of the work week, honestly) and I'm worried that I caught it. I know I'm a house spouse at this point, but ever since I had covid a second time I've had so much trouble with being sick. If I get sick, I stay sick for longer than anyone else in the household. I used to shake things within a couple days, and now it takes weeks- sometimes months ;w;

So basically I'm just nervous that I'm gonna be sick for the next month, since that's what keeps happening to me. I'm really not looking forward to it...FINGERS CROSSED I'm not actually sick, or I can at least get over it quickly.

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 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