Julius

Taken a break from watching anime these last few months to focus on games and other hobbies after watching Haikyu!! S1 & S2, K-On S1 & S2, HunterxHunter and Anohana for the first time, as well as revisiting some of my favourites: Steins;Gate (2nd time) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (3rd time). Got back into the swing of things today with Haikyu!! S3 on HIDIVE, watched all 10 episodes in one sitting and absolutely loved it. The animation is incredibly fluid, I've learned a lot about a sport I would otherwise have little interest in (volleyball), the music is great and the characters are incredibly likeable! Imagine it's going to be a while before S4 is dubbed, but I'm happy to wait, and would heartily recommend the show to just about anyone who wants a bit of a longer, ongoing series to dig into; for anyone interest, both the dub and sub of S1 and S2 are on Netflix! Looking forward to catching up on some of the seasonal shows when they finish next month, might dig into a few shorter ones for now until then

Looks like more info is potentially on its way soon, with a stream announced for 20:00 JST on April 22nd (next Wednesday) to mark the 10th Anniversary of the original game's release in Japan.

Stuck a podcast on earlier today and spent nearly two hours completely levelling my island so that I can redesign it from the ground up, after a few days of struggling to rearrange around what I already have in place. Work on the river starts tomorrow. On the one hand, I think that they should really make large changes to the island much easier to apply. On the other hand, what's more relaxing than listening to a podcast as you level an island?

I hope so, but I'm not too sure. Even behind Mickey's iron curtain, it seems like the production on both The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker was something of a mess, and Disney have done an interesting job of covering it up so far, but I think the biggest hint of the potential mess, at least with TFA, is strongly alluded to with the "Making of" books (which I adore) by Rinzler being cancelled after he had already been on the set, production was virtually completed and pre-orders had been up for months. TLJ is the only one of the sequels to have a smooth production (and unsurprisingly is the only one with what I would remotely identify as a BTS documentary). There's definitely a bigger story there about what happened with the production of these films, but it could be decades before we really hear about the truth behind them. Regardless, I do think we'll get more BTS stuff as you mentioned, just nothing close to what we'd seen before with the other films. I think it'll be a sequel in a similar way that I would consider Rebels a sequel to The Clone Wars, but beyond that, my lips are sealed. I'm sure we'll discuss this more once you've finished Rebels @Ronnie Oh and @Ike

First post here in a while, unfortunately have had a very busy few months outside of gaming in my personal and professional life, but I'm hoping to catch up with my Gaming Diary entries over the next few days. Let's start with February... YAKUZA KIWAMI | 2016 Originally released in Japan in 2016, Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the original Yakuza released for the PS2 in 2005. Opening up in 1995, the game follows Kazuma Kiryu, a fast-rising yakuza who is Lieutenant Advisor in the Tojo Clan’s Dojima Family known as the “Dragon of Dojima”, as he is on the brink of starting his own sub-family. However, one rainy night, thunder rocks the dark skies above the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurocho, as flashes of lightning illuminate the scene in the Dojima Family office: having kidnapped and forced himself onto Yumi - a childhood friend of Kiryu’s - a Family associate now lays in a pool of his own blood, gunned down by and now at the feet of Akira Nishikiyama, Kiryu’s best friend and sworn brother. Kazuma arrives, and makes a decision which will change his destiny, and that of the Tojo Clan, for good: picking up the emptied gun, Kiryu sends a trembling Nishikiyama and a traumatised Yumi out of the room as the police arrive to arrest him. 10 years later, Kazuma Kiryu is released from prison into a changed world. Yumi is missing. Akira Nishikiyama is changed. And ten billion yen has gone missing from the Tojo Clan, putting the organisation on the brink of a war of succession. As Kiryu starts to find his feet again, he meets a young girl named Haruka in a blood-sprayed bar, and what follows is an epic narrative which will shake Kamurocho to its core. The game takes place mostly in the small but detailed open world of the Kamurocho district realised in the same engine as 0, with plenty of distractions on offer, ranging from nearly 80 substories (side quests) of varying length and hilarity to a wide range of minigames (batting cages, pocket circuit racing, karaoke, bowling, pool, traditional tabletop card and strategy games to name just a few!) to Majima Everywhere, a new feature where the crazed Mad Dog of Shimano, Goro Majima, appears just about everywhere you can imagine to challenge you to a fight, which can help you to upgrade your Dragon Style abilities (a style Kiryu fell out of touch with while behind bars). The fighting in this game is for the most part a whole lot of fun, as you punch and kick your way through enemies in third-person brawler fashion, and besides the newly introduced Dragon Style, the Brawler, Rush, and Beast Styles from Yakuza 0 also make a return. Brawler is pretty barebones and is what you would typically expect from this type of game, but the other styles are much more unique and fun to play around with: Rush allows you to quickly weave between opponents and tightly shooting off some quick punches, whereas Beast has you sweeping your way through enemies with wide motions, grabbing just about nearby potential weapon (be it a sofa, a sign, or a knife) to take the battle to your opponent. As you make your way through fights, your Heat Gauge will fill – once this is filled, you can unleash a devastating Heat Action on your opponent to deal tremendous damage to them in what normally plays out as an almost always brutal cutscene-like animation. Winning fights is one of many ways to earn many in this game, which can be used to upgrade your Style abilities. Battles are everywhere, whether it be in one of the many substories, the main story, or just when walking around in Kamurocho, so it’s definitely worth investing in Kiryu as you play through the game. What I really appreciate about this series is that, unlike games like Grand Theft Auto and Just Cause, you cannot harm random members of the public, an omission which is just as much a mechanic in that it organically deals with the moral code of the yakuza through gameplay. However, as fun as the battles are, due to there being so many, it can certainly get repetitive at times, and can even start to grate and break your immersion somewhat if you’re rushing to the next story point only to be interrupted by some nobodies. Towards the end of the game, more and more enemies will be equipped with guns and knives, and if hit by a bullet or stabbed, you’ll find that you’ll be down for a little while. Though okay in small numbers, there are sometimes large groups equipped with these weapons, and you won’t be able to deal out more than a couple of punches before falling to the floor, then getting up and having the cycle repeat. Boss fights at times come down to having enough health replenishing items to hand, and a lot of them are hit sponges with a ridiculous number of health bars to work through, so do expect some battles to drag on for quite a while. In the place of normal Heat Actions, sometimes bosses will hunch over and start regenerating health while glowing an aura matching one of your Styles. Change to the corresponding Style and deal some more damage than you’ll be able to with other Styles, or, if you have your Heat Gauge filled, you can unleash an incredibly over-the-top Kiwami Heat Action. Though these can be fun to begin with, they don’t bring a whole lot more to the table than normal Heat Actions, and so can wear thin pretty quickly. Like in Yakuza 0, what Yakuza Kiwami manages to do so well is balance a great and varied cast of characters with an intriguing narrative, all while remaining fun. There is a smart balance of silliness and seriousness in this game, and as is the case with the rest of the series that I’ve experienced so far, one moment you could be on the brink of tears, and the next you could be laughing your guts out. Chapter 12 in particular is a highlight at roughly an hour long, as it is almost entirely story-focused, and the few fights that there are in this chapter feel much briefer and purposeful than elsewhere in the game. There are plenty of emotional, soap opera-style twists and turns that you see coming, but at least just as many that you don’t. Though I don’t think that the story is as tight or as focused as Yakuza 0’s, and experiences some pacing issues around the offset, it deals with a lot of important themes such as family and friendship in an engaging and intriguing way, and is still well worth the price of admission. However, having a foundational familiarity with many of the core cast from playing Yakuza 0, I can’t recommend playing this game without having played through that game first. In short, I strongly recommend playing this game. It took me around 17 hours without dipping too much into side content. And, if you want to get into the series for the first time, though, it’s well worth checking out Yakuza 0 first, as it will greatly enhance your experience with this game. After finally continuing my Yakuza journey since completing Yakuza 0 for the first time in October last year, it only seemed right to move onto... YAKUZA KIWAMI 2 | 2017 Taking place one year after the events of Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remake of 2006’s Yakuza 2, and once again lets players take control of the stoic Kazuma Kiryu. After a close friend calls Kiryu out from his illusion of peace to stabilise relationships with the Tojo Clan’s western counterpart, the Omi Alliance, Kiryu quickly finds himself becoming the rival of the Omi’s “Dragon of Kansai”, Ryuji Goda, with the returning Kamurocho and Sotenbori caught in the crossfire of this grand retelling. Along the way, many familiar faces return and new faces appear to give Kiryu a helping hand (or vice versa) as he aims to calm the turmoil in the yakuza and in his own heart as he is challenged with questions of identity, family, legacy, and love. Kiwami 2 is a beautiful game to look at, with the settings this time being realised in incredible detail in SEGA’s Dragon Engine (also used for Yakuza 6). Transitions in and out of buildings on bustling streets are seamless, and the game also makes use of a first-person view. In case that level of immersion wasn’t enough for you, transitions in and out fights on the streets and throughout most of the game are also seamless, and the food and drink of Japan look as detailed as ever before. Don’t be surprised if you’re not allowed into an establishment after throwing a hooligan through one of their windows, though. The game’s fighting has slightly changed from previous entries that I’ve played, with Styles from previous games not making a return this time around. In their stead is a universal fighting style which can be upgraded through points acquired through eating and drinking, as well as through fighting, making the game seem much more in line with a typical RPG experience when compared with previous entries. Though it can be fun maxing out your stats, the lack of variety in fighting styles can make the game feel a bit less exciting than some previous entries, due to the lack of diversity in how to handle enemies. On the other hand, you can charge up a running kick which floors enemies and is almost always fun to use at the start of a fight. In terms of side content, substories once again make a return, with 75 of them being on offer this time around, ranging from helping out an old friend with his issues (including some fantastic cutscenes) to dealing with someone stealing your identity to even being a voice actor. Some of these substories are stronger than others, but almost all of them are guaranteed to make you smile (if you’re not already laughing yourself onto the floor or crying your eyes out). Other games and activities also make a return, and a Command & Conquer-style game which sees you helping out the always hilarious Goro Majima (who once again steals some of the scenes in this game) with his up-and-coming construction company makes for a nice change of pace, as does visiting the arcades to throw down in Virtua Fighter 2. The game also features a side-story which unlocks as you play through the main game called the Majima Saga, what turns out to be a short two-hour epilogue for Yakuza 0 which follows the Lord of the Night between the events of Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2. I would highly advise checking this out if you enjoyed Yakuza 0, but it would probably be best saved for after you’ve completed Kiwami 2’s main story (as it will all then be unlocked for you to enjoy in one sitting). Kiryu’s relationships and willingness to help others in this game is highlighted throughout much of the story, and I think a case could be made for him being one of the best protagonists to use as a role model in any media, for anybody. He is not a flawless character, but he and his never-ending struggles are far too relatable, and so seeing how he handles those with respect for himself and others is, I think, a great example of how someone should aspire to act. And I love this quote: “It’s easy for men with power to stray. They’re only human.” I really don’t want to talk too much about the story, because I think that even mentioning certain story beats or names from previous games returning in this one could spoil some of the fun for those who have yet to experience it, so instead, I will say give out some quick non-spoiler mentions to certain part that I did and didn’t like: Chapter 12 being the weakest in the game (an absurd setting which seems too much even for this series, with horribly cramped hallways which aren’t fun to make your way through, and easily the least enjoyable boss fight in the game), save for how it ends; Ryuji Goda being a well-crafted and relatable antagonist; and Outlaw’s Lullaby, the street fight music in Sotenbori, being the amazing jazzy backing track that I never knew I needed when throwing punches at some punks. I think that, besides some issues with pacing at certain points in the game, I hold this game in the same regard as Yakuza 0, which is to say that it is an incredible video game, with a great cast and an exceptional and hilariously melodramatic story. If you haven’t already, you should play Yakuza 0, then Yakuza Kiwami, and then this game – it is well worth the financial and time investment to have one of the most unique gaming experiences you’ll be able to find available today. Just make sure that you have some tissues to hand for some of those endings, because you might need them. I have loved my time with the Yakuza series so far and cannot wait to continue my journey with Kiryu and co. in Yakuza 3 next time around.

That's awesome! Always love the BTS stuff, feel like the sequels were a bit lacking in that regard to this point (especially when compared to just how much George put out for the prequels), so this is great to see. Lining up to be a big May 4th for Star Wars: the last episode of The Clone Wars S7 has been bumped up from the 8th to a worldwide premiere on that date too. Wouldn't be surprised if we see Rise of Skywalker added on that day also. I'm going to be greedy and hope for some info on the next animated series around that time too

Just got caught up on the first eight episodes of Season 7 of The Clone Wars. I already knew what happened in the Bad Batch arc (the first four episodes) having watched the story reel during Celebration 2015 (fully voiced, but nowhere near the finished product and with rigs and rough animation models to boot), and it was great to finally see it fully realised. It looked absolutely great, and you can tell that they've modernised the show's look with minor tweaks which make animations seem much smoother and more realistic. The following four episodes from the Ahsoka's Walkabout arc were great too, and it was so great to finally see that story realised too. The music and story were excellent in both of these arcs. So, starting this Friday is the final arc of The Clone Wars, the thing I've waited to see for over half a decade: the Siege of Mandalore. And it seems likely that we're going to get to see The Night of a Thousand Tears play out, and inevitably we'll also see how Order 66 plays out in this corner of the galaxy. I can't wait!

I haven't made use of turnips at all yet, but taking advantage of the Stalk Market seems like an interesting conversation. On the one hand, of course: play how you want to play. If you're going to play AC for a month and then put it down, if having a crazy amount of bells helps you get what you want out of the game, I say go for it. On the other hand, if you're going to play daily anyways and don't mind waiting to get to that position, well, by all means do that instead. Seems like the conversation changed from that though, so... Yeah, I get this mindset, and I appreciate it. I follow it when it comes to certain clothes shops and other brands being well-documented using unethical means slave labour, sweatshops, etc., to produce their goods (not saying that all of the clothes that I own are without this; unfortunately, it's pretty likely that some are). That being said, it's something that I take issue with, and because of that it's something that I would by all means complain about. I used an extreme example, but my point is: even if you vote with your wallet, I think it's important to voice concern and complain when something unethical is taking place. The scale and industry doesn't matter in the slightest. Yeah, microtransactions and the like are probably a much better example to use in this situation, and it's another case where I know plenty of us here take issue with it and do vote with our wallets when we feel the need to do so. Like you H-o-T, it's something that I don't pay mind to in my own bubble when playing games, simply because I never engage with them, but when something comes up which is unfair or unethical by my own standards (such as what happened with Battlefront II at launch), I'm definitely going to speak up. I think the issue with some of the Stalk Market things that are taking place is that it is immorally taking advantage of the system that Nintendo put in place. Help each other, get together on forums and such to do so, heck time travel if you feel like it'll help you get what you want out of the game - but I don't think that you should look to take advantage of others, whether that be for real life currency, a disproportionate amount of bells, or rare in-game items. I think it shows a level of immaturity and disrespect to fellow players if those are the standards which are being endorsed (to be clear, not accusing anyone here of that, but I mean by those playing the system in such a way).

First look at Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune. This film is still currently slated for December, and I'm worried for its box office performance if it ends up being delayed. It picked the best time imaginable: the December after the last Star Wars film for a little while, and the only December in the next few years which isn't caught up ping-ponging between Avatar and Star Wars. Tenet is still somehow holding out for a July release, the only blockbuster left standing now that Disney has moved Soul to November (which is now stacked). I'm sure Nolan would rather chew his arm off than have that film go to streaming, so a delay seems inevitable.

Was just reading about this...and there are like a hundred other ways to censor this which would be a) much easier and b) not damage the film. Also can't help but feel that it entirely goes against the point that it's trying to make by censoring? Haven't watched Splash before, but the actress was comfortable enough to agree to showing whatever is censored here, and now the director's vision/the actress's "sacrifice" (if you could call it that; I doubt that it would've been such a massive deal on set) have kind of been stepped all over. I think it's made even stranger by the fact that there's some degree of male nudity in some other films on the service, but I guess that's okay because it's comedic? To be honest though, I think the bigger issue here is less what they've censored and the fact that there have apparently been tweaks to quite a lot of stuff on Disney+ (though seemingly not as directly noticeable as this!). Seems to be becoming more and more frequent across the board, and some of the decisions definitely show an outright bias towards some of their bigger films (i.e. profanity in a tentpole release, not allowed in a documentary?) Anyway, I watched The Emperor's New Groove for the first time in over a decade last night with my family. Yeah, that film still holds up in an awesome way

Damn, some pretty cool updates in there. Button remapping is massive, as is transferring software data between the console and SD card. Definitely many QoL things I'm sure many of us still want to see come to the Switch (more themes/options for customisation, 3DS/Wii U-level of logging console activity, etc.), but this is - I think - the biggest step we've seen Nintendo take with one of these updates so far, and if so, that's pretty awesome.

I know I said the same thing yesterday about the Fishing Tourney music, but the song for Bunny Day is great too! If for no other reason, the music has me excited for all of the future events. Just a jolly time all around with the flutes and brass, and the background percussion sounds an awful lot like an egg shaker Happy Bunny Day/Easter N-E!

@Dcubed

Took part in a few rounds of the Tourney today, but got pretty tired of it very quickly. Would much rather be catching bugs, or doing just about anything else on my island. A few things I think they should think about doing to improve the Fishing Tourney moving forwards: - have points be based not just purely on the number of fish that you catch, but also the rarity of the fish. We already know that they have a scale for this from Nook's Cranny, just use that for each fish. - yeah, as everyone else has mentioned: put a hold on water eggs for Bunny Day, at least until 6 PM. It seems like they reduced the spawn rate, but still, I think it would have been better to just not have them turn up at all during the event. Weird decision to have the Tourney even take place at the same time, though. - drastically increase the spawn rate of fish during the competition. Do the same for clams. Speaking of which, why are only Manila clams used for bait? The game has giant clams too, why not have that be used for 3 or even 5 portions of fish bait? - not just for the Tourney, but for outside of it too: maybe slightly change how the number of nibbles to get a bite works. Perhaps have it correlate more directly to the rarity of a fish? - and, of course, as has been mentioned plenty of times before: mass crafting for items so we don't need to hammer 'A' for minutes at a time just to get a few bags of fish bait. I don't typically mind a grind, but I just wasn't having any kind of fun with this one. Hope they can change some stuff moving up and are open to that, as they seem to be!

Love the jazzy snap to the Tourney music

I've yet to watch Season 4, but I read the manga up to what's probably mid-Season 5 last year, so I know what happens. I was actually concerned about the show's potential pacing in S4 after reading the manga and having an idea of what it might cover, down to the season starting with the longest arc in the manga and likely having to end with some substantially shorter (and completely different toned) arcs. I watched the first few episodes of this season and it was absolutely unnecessary filler, and I think they should've just dived right in, because at a quick glance, there's a lot of stuff to drag out the Shie Hassaikai Arc too, I'm guessing to give us a mid-season cliffhanger? Again, haven't seen it yet, so idk. I quite liked the Remedial Exam Arc in the manga, but even there the U.A. School Festival Arc was a bit light and oddly paced. Ideally, I think it's something that you want early- to mid-season, because it's no way to or end a season, at least from what I remember. Was also concerned a bit about the animation quality potentially taking a dip too because they've been stretching themselves with the films, but I've yet to see anything that gives that impression. Glad to hear you enjoyed it on the whole, though. I'm probably going to wait until the dub is finished next month before catching up.

Potentially a silly question, but I haven't done any trading yet so I might as well ask is it possible to trade cherry blossom petals? Reason I ask is that I haven't been so fortunate and have only found one cherry blossom recipe so far, and have 20+ petals that I probably won't get around to using, and it seems like a bit of a waste for them to not be used. The recipe I did find is for the outdoor picnic set, so if you didn't want/can't trade the petals, I guess I could always build that?

Kitase put up a nice message for today's official launch: Also, the two different themes for the demo and for PS+ members are up today: Fastest way to access them is through the drop-down sub-menu for the game from the PlayStation home screen. Think I'll be going with the first one, as the Main Theme is certainly much calmer for looking around the menu than Let the Battles Begin! / Those Who Fight Still a great shame that the Tifa theme is US exclusive and stuck behind some silly promotional tie-in, Tifa's Theme doesn't get the love it deserves. And a shame that the Sephiroth theme got stuck behind pre-order incentives too. Shinra's Theme makes for great menu music:

Nice! And I didn't come across anything like that, no. The install (first) disc has all of the game's installation included, took about 45 minutes for me. Slip in the play (second) disc after and you're good to go. No update available yet from what I've seen, have to imagine that there will be one made available tomorrow or over the weekend, though.

I'm not the biggest fan of the look of it overall, but that might be down to the colours. I miss the coloured icons, and I'm not the biggest fan of the curve at the top, or the curvier lines in general...it's certainly lost the distinct look of the DualShock controllers, and looks much closer to the Xbox and Switch Pro controllers as others have mentioned here. I'm all for that in terms of the potential for improved comfort (though I've never had any comfort issues with my DS4 like I did with the DS2 growing up), and it will all quickly be forgotten if the thing is comfortable. Also love that the arrows have finally moved onto the D-pad buttons now, like with the PSP and Vita, that's the probably the biggest visual change I appreciate. Like others, I hope it lasts longer on a single charge. Much longer. USB-C and faster charging times will be great, but it means little if the range stays the same. The official range for the PS4 controller of anywhere from 4 - 8 hours is quite frankly unacceptable considering the battery life seen elsewhere, and it being my main console and getting the most regular use, it does become apparent at times. I'd love if this thing could last for 40+ hours on a single charge. The touch pad remaining is something I don't have a strong opinion about, but I'm not a fan of the light bar returning; at the very least, I hope that they finally give us the option to turn the damn thing off, instead of draining our battery life! Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback are something I'm looking forward to seeing utilised at the very least by some first parties, so it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. Also, based purely off these images, is it just me or do the "Creative" and "Options" buttons seem too close to the "Up" and "Triangle" buttons, respectively, considering that they're at an angle? That was the biggest thing that stood out to me besides the colours. Like I said, not the biggest fan of the colours, but this will be in my hand and not matter too much. Much more concerned about what this potentially means for the console itself, as I'm not totally enthralled by the idea of a two-tone black and white console, if I'm being honest. But hey, maybe I'll see it and they'll turn me around. I love all black/dark consoles, and something like what H-o-T shared would be the preferred controller colour bundled in the box for me. Really love the coloured PS logo and icons on that mock-up too. Excited to see the console itself and what PlayStation has planned to get fans on-board This generation is going out with a bang, and I can't wait to see where video games go next

Well, this came out of the blue. Key points: - haptic feedback confirmed - adaptive triggers - "Create" replaces "Share", more details to come - built-in microphone array for short conversations, headphones still recommended - lighter - improved battery life - light bar moved from top of the controller to either side of the touch pad - USB-C charging (faster charging times) (not mentioned, but implied from the shared images) Jim Ryan's last word still sticks to a Holiday 2020 release window for the PS5.

No worries! And yeah, it happens when I try to change the title of the E3 2020 thread

@Hero-of-Time

@Hero-of-Time

Okay, I'm awake. Going to do this quite briefly, and a bit messy, as I'm still gathering a lot of my thoughts. Worth noting that some of my problems with the game on the technical side of things which I mentioned before might end up being patched. Let's mosey, non-spoiler style. MUSIC: the music is great, which is almost par for the course for a Final Fantasy game, I know. There were a a lot of tracks which elicited a great emotional reaction from me, but I do think one or two of the tracks were over-composed, and one or two other tracks didn't quite have the same impact that I thought they had in the original. But overall, a stellar soundtrack, in particular with the battle music and Hollow, the game's theme/credits song, is surprisingly great. COMBAT: I don't have any experience with the modern Final Fantasy games, but from what I've read, heard and seen of XV, VII Remake's battle system seems to be a step above in every regard. It's fluid and dynamic, requires your full attention at all times, and the ATB gauge adds a dimension of strategy to combat that I think most turn-based fans will be pleased with. It reminds me a lot of Chrono Trigger, in a great way, with curated sets of enemies to be found and engaged, and seamless transitions in and out of battle. Boss battles are epic, as are there soundtracks, and I don't think there was a single one that I didn't love. It's worth mentioning though that were a number of times where battles were a little frustrating, in that some enemies have extremely good targeting and are guaranteed to hit you almost regardless of what you do, and you can actually be knocked out of using your Limit Break/a spell/ability if hit by an enemy in the small amount of time between selecting to use it and the animation starting, and it still spends your Limit meter/MP/ATB bars as though you'd used it. The camera can also be a little hard to control at times in battles, and while the sense of scale in the battles are spot on for the most part, there were some occasions where you practically just end up in the face of a boss, which makes it difficult to read the battle on the scale that they want you to. The game is very generous on the odd occasion when you do lose a battle, giving you the option to either back out to the last checkpoint or, much more likely, just retry from the last battle. CHARACTERS: Cloud Strife has taken strides in this game which will assuredly wash away the impression that he was some "depressed emo", as I have seen touted in other corners of the internet, in the original game. He's cool, calm, and collected, but knows what he's fighting for, and is every bit the character that you remember from the original game. His interactions with other characters, however, is what really pushes this game above for me, and it's an aspect of the game which I think they knocked completely out of the park. Hearing him banter with Barret, seeing him slowly open up to Tifa, and seeing how his relationship with Aerith grows from confused stranger, and most importantly how all of this changes as the game goes on, is a testament to an excellent script and is realised by an excellent voice cast. Special mentions to Cody Christian as Cloud, Britt Baron as Tifa, Brianna White as Aerith, and Erica Lindbeck as Jessie; they did a stellar job in particular and deserve to be recognised for it. The Avalanche cast is fleshed out and it's hard to not get emotionally invested in Wedge, Biggs, and Jessie, and I love how much you learn about them and get to interact with them in this game. Shinra, and the Turks in particular, are elevated from the mostly one-note characters that they were in the original to being a formidable and believable threat. Also, Marlene is friggin' adorable. WORLD: the city of Midgar is a site to behold and then some. From the oppressive, manufactured green-blue hue which envelopes the city at night, to the outrageous scale of the city and its buildings and sectors, I'm amazed that Square Enix realised this setting in the way that they did, and they did so with aplomb. If you pay attention, and like me lived the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original, there are some gorgeous ones to see in this game. Kudos to them. Traversing Midgar is what I would describe as a linear-open world experience: much like Dragon Quest XI or the latest God of War, the game's main story can be followed by just following the path up ahead, or you can take other paths to explore (this being a JRPG, exploring and finding secrets and hidden items is probably going to be your preferred way to walk around Midgar), which is great because it definitely feels like it gives you the choice, and the map is your best friend when it comes to making sure that you haven't missed anything out. However, there were one or two times where the map/destination marker didn't quite take me in the right direction, and one of my biggest gripes with the game's traversal should perhaps have been expected for a game of this size and appearance on these consoles: there's a lot of Uncharted-like world traversal, such as squeezing into a narrow gap, slowly passing across a narrow beam, and crouching below things, to allow the game to load. It's a fair trade-off for what you end up getting in terms of the scale and quality of the world, but it does slow the game down and make for some odd pacing at times. Overall, though, some technical issues aside, an amazing return to Midgar, and Square Enix have set a high benchmark with this game in a lot of ways, as they did with the original; hopefully, this is a sign of bigger and better things to come next generation with Part II and XVI, whenever they arrive. @Hero-of-Time, I'm still collecting some of my thoughts, but now that I'm finished, I definitely have some not-so-brief thoughts to share and get the discussion rolling.