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.