A Green Mushroom

I got out of Midgar and took a metaphorical breath of fresh air.  Finally!  The open world lay before me and I was going to explore it.  And explore it I have. Compared to the last time I posted I'm having so much more fun with Final Fantasy VII.  I love the feel of an open world to explore in a JRPG.  It's a different feeling from an open world game from the west like GTA, Assassin's Creed, or Skyrim.  It's more abstracted and not as detailed, but it has it's unique charm. I've been having fun wandering the overworld map and battling random enemies.  I've actually started hunting for enemy skills to acquire, which is something I don't typically do in Final Fantasy games.  Blue magic typically seems boring to me, but I'm interested since it's contained in a Materia this time.  I haven't really been grinding so much as exploring more than I strictly need to.  I just want to take in the world and poke at it's boundaries. I also...

I'm currently about 8 hours into my playthrough of Final Fantasy VII and my feelings are mixed.  This is the third time I've played this game, and it will be the second time I've played it all the way to the end.  The last time I played was over ten years ago on the original Playstation.  This time I'm playing that same version, but through the PS1 classic option on my Playstation Vita.  I still have memories of all the major characters and plot points, but the nitty gritty details are slowly coming back to me as I play. My first reaction with the intro sequence was, "Wow! Here we go!"  I love the very beginning of the game where Cloud leaps off a train and charges directly into a raid on a Mako reactor.  What a way to start!  Get the player engaged with no downtime or preamble.  This is done extremely well. My second reaction, after the Mako reactor raid, was one of surprised frustration.  I had forgotten how linear and scripted Mid...

After recently seeing Video Games Live with my brother I've had a crazy itch to play an old school RPG.  I want to play something that I look back on with fond memories or have heard great things about.  I'd really like to play something with good music too. I know it's sort of ironic because one of the reasons I'm bored of WoW is the grind.  The difference in my mind is that old school RPGs reward grind with story where WoW rewards grind with gear.  I absolutely love a good story and that makes the overall feel of the game different. Final Fantasy is tempting because I've always loved FFVII, FFVIII, and FFIX.  They are my top 3 Final Fantasy games ever.  I've heard fantastic reviews of FFVI but have never actually played it, so that's definitely an option.  Two games in my backlog are copies of FFIII and FFVI to play on my DS.  FFVI is actually GBA but it'll play on the DS anyway.  A few months ago I also impulse bought FFI and FFII on...