I’m a cartoonist who lives in Lansing, Michigan. Visit my shop to buy original art and more. Follow me on Instagram, @danieljhoganart.
[dc]O[/dc]ne of the wackier points of the games when Cloud has to cross dress to save Tifa, aka Potential Girlfriend A.
Aeris, Potential Girlfriend B, suggests this course of action, as it is the only way the pair can rescue Tifa from the lecherous Don Corneo . Continue Reading
(Originally appeared on danieljhogan.com)
Recently, my safety streak just about came to a disastrous end—all because of a bowl of soup. I enjoy making soup in my slow cooker—you just dump in the ingredients and leave it alone.
Simple, right? When I cook, I have a sort of sixth sense about what I should, or should not, include in a recipe, and it typically never fails (although it did lead to my infamous BBQ Bay Leaf Stir-Fry Pasta).
My Cooky Sense tingled while I threw chunks of veggies and scoops of lentils into the slow cooker. In my freezer, I had bones from a rotisserie chicken. I took a page from the Carl Weathers School of Cooking (as seen in Arrested Development), and kept the bones, because, to paraphrase Carl, there was still plenty of meat on the bones and could be used to get “a stew goin’.”
I pulled the collection of bones from my freezer, which resembled something from The Thing (the old The Thing, not the new The Thing), and hurled a few into the slow cooker.
After a few hours my soup, like a Kardashian marriage, was finished. Each spoonful tasted great, and also brought me closer to my own doom. I was watching Burn Notice an educational program while eating, so my eyes were not on the contents of my spoon.
Then I felt it (no, not presence of my old master)—something like a rock in my mouth, which rolled its way to the back of my throat. I hacked and gagged, and after a spit-take any Stooge would be proud of, a chunk of bone sailed across the room and plinked against my TV screen.
While I had meant to only use the larger leg bones, I had apparently grabbed a few of the smaller, easier to swallow bones too. In this case, a vertebra—and thankfully, a chicken vertebra (you never know).
I told this story to Stephanie [girlfriend – Ed.], and she merely shook her head, as she is prone to do when I explain Anything to her. “Why didn’t you just boil the bones in a separate pot and pour the liquid in the soup?”
I only shrugged, and went to work de-boning the remaining gallon of soup.
[dc]O[/dc]ne thing is clear from the start: Final Fantasy VII doesn’t mess around.
The game throws you right into the action. There isn’t a lengthy prologue intro like some other games (*cough* Zelda *cough*). Our hero, Cloud, jumps off a train and starts fights with Shinra guards. Bam. Let’s go.
It reminds of a story telling technique: “Start the story as late as possible,” also known as in medias res. We don’t need to see Cloud meeting Barret and talking about the plan, nor do we need to see them boarding the train in the first place.
Dropping the player into a fast-paced action scene first thing in the game is a great way to lure them in—what do I do? Where am I going? What will happen next?
Look at the opening of the film The Dark Knight as a comparison.
It starts with the bank robbers breaking into the bank, not with them planning it out or preparing. It sets the tone and allows for character development via their actions within the intense scene (in this case, the Joker’s cunning and ruthlessness).
In-tense.
And in 1997 they had no problem using the word “terrorist” in the game. And that’s what Barret is—an eco-terrorist. He’s blowing up mako reactors (which lead to death of innocents) to send a message to Shinra.
What I also liked is that there wasn’t a twenty-minute tutorial on how to play the game before you got to even play. This is something I’ve noticed more and more in recent games—they show you how to play before you can do anything. C’mon—I just wanna play.
I decided to keep all of my character names at their defaults, but my follow FFVII blogger Andrew over at The Idler has a great set of naming rules.
The level design of this game still blows me away, and now that I’m older I get some of the visual references. I see a lot of influence from the 1927 film Metropolis in the layout of Midgar, namely the “rich” city above ground with the slums below (as well as the city relying on dangerous machines for power).
Man, I love that I can just hold down the OK button to auto-select FIGHT in battles. It speeds things up, considerably.
I’m the kind of player who will spend a day or so getting into random encounters to level up early in a RPG (aka “level grinding.”). Sure, boredom sets in—but the work up front saves me a few headaches later on when I can beat baddies with ease. Plus, it helps pad the wallet and level up materia faster.
After the reactor explosion, Barret wants to blow up a second. This guy is nuts. But, he is also a devoted father, which we learn post-explosion back in the slums. He’s one complex dude.
We also meet the first part of Cloud’s eventual love triangle, Tifa.
Oh, Tifa. A fighter woman with uh…”huge tracks of land.” What more could a sixteen year-old boy hope for in a video game in the 1990s?
Before heading out for the second terrorist attack, I did a bit of level building in the train grave yard. I also earned enough gil to equip each of my characters (Cloud, Barret and Tifa) with Restore materia. I’ve played way more Final Fantasy games since I last played VII, so I know that being able to heal is a good thing.
After the second reactor explosion, we meet the rest of the love triangle, Aeris. Two woman fighting over Cloud? This was like crack to a sixteen year old boy, I tell ya. Years later, it still makes for great story telling.
I forgot how much I loved the music for this game too.
Starting with the next post, I’ll try to list my location, Cloud’s level and the time.
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I originally wrote this series in 2010 for my other site, Ginger and the Geek, as well as guest writer for The Idler. It appears here as a back-up with some minor edits.
Many years after Final Fantasy VII’s release, I decided to play through the game again, and blog along the way.
OK, but this is the FINAL fantasy. Image via Amazon.
[dc]A[/dc] RPG (or role-playing game, for you Normals) is perhaps my favorite type of video game. I’ve certainly spent the most hours playing them over any other type of game.
Why?
The story. The characters. I get sucked in, and I don’t want to leave.
This is why I won’t go near World of Warcraft–it would be the end of me. Someone would find me at my desk six months later, dead from starvation and dehydration, a mouse still in the grip of my cold, bony hand and my ivory fingers resting on the keyboard’s W-A-S-D keys.
No one needs to see such a thing.
Even though I’ve shied away from World of Warcraft, one series of console RPGs has claimed more hours of life than any other: Final Fantasy.
I love the Final Fantasy series, especially Final Fantasy VI, released as Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo outside of Japan, and VII for the original Sony Playstation.
I’ve completed the first Final Fantasy, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X. Not to mention Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Advanced. And I’m currently playing through the Nintendo DSi remake of Final Fantasy IV now (released as II for Super Nintendo in the USA). You could say I’ve earned my Final Fantasy stripes.
I remember when Final Fantasy VII came out.
It was a big deal. I had just leveled up from the Super Nintendo to a Sony Playstation. Games were changing. Two dimensional games with cute, colorful sprites were on their way out. Three dimensional characters and realistic backgrounds were starting to take over.
