My plan, or goal, was to have both Lost Odyssey and Final Fantasy VII finished by the end of March. I just started the third disc on Lost Odyssey, so I'm at least halfway done, but I'm still at 17 hours on FFVII and I'm not sure I'll have it finished by the end of April at this rate. It doesn't help that Shawn usually goes out of town during the week I'm slated to play FFVII, so that means full-time parenting duty with no break and I usually crash early. However, that's not fully the reason. As much as I love the story to the game, especially all the little tidbits I'm learning about the characters, and it makes me laugh with all the hoops Cloud jumps through, the gameplay drives me crazy.

It's not the turn-based gameplay. I've long gotten over that. I haven't gotten over using the D-pad, but that's not the issue either. I hate that if I pause for a second to get my bearings and then take a single step forward, or if I get stuck behind an invisible wall and I have difficulty maneuvering around it, I get attacked. I get so frustrated at the little mini-games I have to do over and over and over until I get them right. And when I get it right, a boss attacks me, wipes out my party, and it's back to where I saved last. I usually have no desire at that point to tackle the mini-game or run through the maze of enemies again, so I turn off the game and try again the next day.

I get so excited each night when it's Lost Odyssey's turn, but I sometimes have to force myself to turn on the PS2 and play FFVII. Tonight was one of those times. I'm at Nibelheim, and I've decided to go after an optional boss so that I can acquire Vincent. I know he's an optional character, but I'd still like to add him and gaining the extra experience is not a bad idea either. Opening the safe to trigger the boss fight was an absolute chore for me. When I finally got all of the numbers, I had to run through the timed mini-game multiple times before I could enter the combination correctly. Within minutes, the boss takes down Aerith, then Tifa. Before I could even rummage for a Phoenix Down, Cloud was toast. I thought about trying again before I remembered where the last save point was. Oh yeah, there isn't one in the mansion... I had to leave the town to save. Not in the mood to run all that again. Turn off game. Turn off TV. Time to brew some herbal tea to grumble into.

I don't know if it's because I'm playing two RPGs at once, or if it's the game's archaic gameplay and visuals that is bothering me. Would I be as frustrated if I could use the analog stick? If I could understand the structures of the pixels so I could see and figure out where Cloud is going? I can see how this game was wonderful twelve years ago. But I got into serious gaming with the PS2, so I've never been trained to play with this style. I'm not saying I'm going to quit, but I think it will take me far, far longer to finish the game than I originally planned, especially if I have more frustrating nights like this one. And according to my friends who have played it, I definitely will.

I don't think I'll keep up readers over at a blog where I get paid to keep readers if I yammer about what games I'm playing right now. When I say yammer, I mean discuss everything that happened while playing the night before. More suitable for a journal than a somewhat professional blog.

So let the yammering commence.

Lost Odyssey is continuing to be the best game I have ever played. It's the FIRST game I have ever played where Shawn is glued to the couch watching. He gets bored during the battle scenes at times, but he is enjoying the storyline and the memories I unlock (when you unlock a memory, it is presented in a short story format, and I would kill to write anything as well as these are written). My favorite character is of course the spaz, Jansen. He's a magic user and he dies a lot because he's useful (although last night was the first time I fought a boss and he didn't die) meaning that he gets targeted a lot by boss attacks. I assume it's because he is so useful. As of now I'm not sure if he is good or evil, but I hope he's a good guy and stays with my party because he is a riot. My favorite line of his so far was when Kaim's grandson gets possessed by an evil spirit, and he acts well, possessed, and Jansen's response is, "Wow. Puberty is weird." He's my comic relief, and I'll be so sad if he leaves or if I have to fight him. I like making fun of Kaim's midriff armor, but it doesn't compare to Jansen's commentary.

Final Fantasy 7 is also proving to have some laugh at loud moments. I was afraid it would be more serious than Crisis Core since it's about Cloud's revenge, AVALANCHE's fight with Shinra, Aerith's beef with Shinra, and Sephiroth on a crazed rampage (I liked him so much better when he was sane), but it's made me laugh as much as Zack did in Crisis Core. The first time was early on in the game when Aerith talked Cloud into cross-dressing, which landed Cloud in a bordello pimp's bedroom. The second most memorable moment was Cloud's infiltration into the Shinra army at Junon Harbor. I could not get Cloud to sneak into the parade right (the lack of analog stick is killing me in this game at times) and when I did, I messed up on his presenting of arms during the march. My TV ratings were awful, and the TV producers' commentary and gift of a grenade because I bombed the show had me in stitches. Just as I finished laughing at that, Cloud had to learn the call signs (about face, turn left, etc) and then he was asked to show the army a new trick. When he twirled his rifle like he does at the end of battle, and the Victory Fanfare played, I snickered, but then the infantrymen all said, "Ooooooh!" and clapped. I lost it. If I'm going to donate 60+ hours of my life to something, it had better make me laugh. I am so happy that this game has some lightness to its serious overtones.

I wonder what zany thing Cloud will have to do next.

I've been neglecting this blog since I'm writing about rpg gaming for Today.com, and a lot of posts I would make here would be cross-posts. I think Today.com would frown upon that and well, I'd frown upon it as well. I may be closing this one down, but I haven't made a complete decision yet since my Today.com blog is specific towards RPGs and I do play more than RPGs. Sometimes.