"I 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)~

Guess who drove down to DC to get a remaster of a video game? THIS GUY!!


it's nostalgia time babeeeyyyy
I'd been meaning to pick it up for years, but the price of a used copy finally dropped to something reasonable, soooooo~ TIME TO DRIVE TO THE ONLY GAMESTOP IN THE BALTIMORE/DC AREA WITH A COPY!!!! We got to the mall with approx. 15 minutes to get to the store before closing, which wouldn't be too hard if the mall wasn't so fucking massive. Seriously, there's both Costco and Target inside the fucking mall. It's too damn big.

BUT WE GOT IT!!! I'm delighted to have it on ps5 now - thus adding to my very small library of ps5 games, lmao - so that I can experience it again and show it to Liz and Pat. I played it when it first came out, so my memories of Crisis Core are hazy at best XD So it's exciting!!!!

.....except for, you know, the worst part of modern gaming:


WHY. CAN YOU NOT JUST LET ME PLAY MY FUCKING GAME???? WHAT MORE IS THERE TO INSTALL??????????
This game is over 21gb so it's taking forever to install for some god damn reason. I just want to keep beating up monsters!!!! sobs. It's still fucking working on it...hence why I'm making a dreamwidth post.

( mall pix + a throwback )

Anyway, this all started because I was making aeriseph icons for a challenge and so...they were on my mind ♥

OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY DONE BYE BYE