Lurker > MartinFF7

I had forgotten about this contest for a while but was just thinking the other day how angry I was that the only loss the Chiefs had all year was the week I picked them

And I was thinking how I didn't take the Rams that one week early on because I'd take them this week instead

.... still plenty of time for the Jets to blow this though

U2 - Mysterious Ways

Ah damn, sorry to hear that (and sorry to have kept bumping this)... hopefully everything works out

Great Glacier (FF7)

(not to be confused with Gaea's Cliff which follows it)

24-8

Raka_Putra posted...

They should just IP ban anyone using pog, poggers, or pogchamp while they're at it.

pausechamp

Starcraft/Halo was a magical time.

....though Starcraft over Wind Waker was the real greatest and and I saved 2 pics people made back then which I still have, geez.

DoubleOSnake posted...

dancing scene?

Zion cave rave in Reloaded, most likely.

XIII_rocks posted...

Exactly this

Neo's chateau fight and the whole freeway chase is dynamite. Probably like a 20m-ish sequence? And it's some of my favourite action movie stuff ever. Everything on either side of it isn't particularly great

But that alone makes it better than Revolutions

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I watched Reloaded in its entirety, I'm sure the last time I did I skipped a good chunk of the Zion part (especially the rave scene)

But I'll watch the Chateau and Freeway segments probably once or twice a year.... hell just talking about it now, probably will tonight, hahaha.

Can't remember the last time I watched anything from Revolutions.... surely I did at least once after I saw it in theatres. I remember really digging the soundtrack and was listening to it all the time after the movie, but yeah.

The Chateau-through-Freeway sequence in Reloaded is pretty great. It leaves me looking on the overall movie more fondly than I should. Burly Brawl is also fun even if it (or more specifically its CGI) aged terribly.

Revolutions is just trash (good music at least, great setup to final fight moment, but yeah... just so disappointing overall)

I can only imagine how bad the 4th movie will be...

Can't let this purge without hearing the cat interaction update...

I'm hoping Seabass goes to FF9 next and does another playthrough topic to complete the PSX trilogy...

Though I've also been so busy with work I haven't even read any of andy's FF5 one yet, hopefully that's still ongoing (and doesn't purge before I get freed up!)

Also I always liked "The Legendary Beast" more than "Maybe I'm a Lion" from a pure song perspective, but also that's a legit epic part of the boss fight, the music dropping, the ground shaking, Legendary Beast kicking in while you get hit with Shockwave Pulsar. That and the Final Ultimecia intro def my two favourite parts of that whole sequence.

In honour of its Sound & Music win last night, listening to my curated "battle + select other themes" FF7R playlist, 6 hours 5 minutes

Currently at: The Red Zone

so good...

Square, as a company that desperately doesn't want to make easy money for some reason, finally gave in with 7Remake

I'll hope for a Chrono remake now but considering they did nothing with that IP since Cross 20 years ago (and that hardly counts), I won't hold my breath...

No new game, no chance for Crono popularity outside our corner of the internet.

Christmas-themed poll up next right

Maybe... Best "Day of Christmas"? (5 Golden Rings gets one of the byes, don't know which other)

andylt posted...

Seph bout to jump back up the NN rankings here?

Forget NN rankings it's more like SMFFFC XXIII championship run time let's fucking goooooo

HE WILL... NEVER BE A MEMORY

Oh damn I thought it didn't start until later?

.... I guess I can be happy and tolerate disappointment through the rest of the night with the one win I thought I could legitimately get...

-Tifa (or Sephiroth but another sword wielder... and how would the masamune even work...)
-7R Switch
-Teaser for Remake Pt2

My body is ready

(Sora would be neat too, I guess)

inb4 jokes about getting it in 2077

andylt posted...

Last bump before tomorrow's awards. Looks like the official Board 8 predix for GOTY is TLOU II.

Yeah, I mean, I know I tongue-in-cheekily predicted a "spread the love" approach on the awards but I would be surprised if TLOU2 doesn't sweep or near-sweep... I still just want 7R to get Score and Music though, damn.

Yes

20-12

bump for more cat updates and/or pictures plz

gimme dat Hellstar Remina funkopop

17-10

23-18

Did your other cats grow up with siblings/parents/other cats around generally?

I think I read somewhere that cats who grow up without siblings don't learn the "limits" of their biting/scratching ability so they go full bore all the time? Not sure if it's a real deal or applicable in this case but just something that came to mind. We had a cat growing up who was a solo cat her entire life and my dad was still getting "war wounds" all on his hands and arms from when they'd play around 15+ years later, hahaha.... and that's how I recognized the exposed tummy trap too.

Of course different cats having different temperaments based on their life situations makes sense too...

This topic reminds me of the best thing the Youtube algorithm ever did for me, recommending a vid from this guy's channel about how he took in a stray cat who was coming around his house. Now the channel's just him posting videos of him and the cat. "Lex and Cinnabon" is the channel name, do recommend (think the top few viewed videos are the very early days/encounters, and the first vet visit, lol). And hey, Cinnabon, Pancake, nice coincidence too.

Also hilarious how it starts where he says "I'm not really a cat guy" and then 2 seconds later "so I built this little cat house for this stray cat that's coming around" lol. Of course you have other cats so it's a bit of a different situation than his, but still.

Anyways. I like this topic and Pancake is indeed super cute, please keep us updated. I assume he's still being kept separate from the other cats and will be interested in seeing how that goes...

azuarc posted...

NFUN, have you...met FBI officers that seemed to invite belly rubs...?

He was probably thinking how it's pure entrapment.

Honey pot, venus flytrap, exposed kitty tummy... all appealing, all inviting disaster.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh

Simpsons

11-5

Nom:

Jade Urtebise

Sveta Bilyalova

"Spread the Love" winner approach imo

• GOTY: Animal Crossing
• Game Direction: TLOU II
• Narrative: 13 Sentinels
• Art Direction: Ghost of Tsushima
• Score and Music: FF7 Remake
• Audio Design: Doom Eternal
• Indie: Hades

ya go my FF7 remake

(it has no chance)

(it better f'ing get Score and Music though)

what did Hali do to be considered not good

I literally don't remember her doing anything in either season other than being good looking. She also didn't actively annoy or irritate me which i guess would've helped me remember her too, albeit negatively...

no way

Blue Fields is a pretty good track... but I'm not a fan of the Ragnarok airship music so what do I know.

Pretending like FF9 Disc 4 doesn't exist...

World Map: 7 Disc 1 >>> 8 > 9 > 7 Discs 2-3 (nobody get into semantics on how the beginning of Disc 2 still has the Disc 1 world map theme okay? Also I still like it but I always liked FF9's too)

Airship: 7 >> 9 >>> 8

ExThaNemesis posted...

The Airbuster is probably the best battle theme in any Final Fantasy game

I was debating the other day between Airbuster and Hell House and yeah, gotta be Airbuster, because they include the whole buildup from the cutscene into the song for the latter and it doesn't fit at all and it's like... ok maybe you want some buildup but why do that, it's almost a full minute before the actual song starts (and it cuts off abruptly). But when the chorus gets chanting in Hell House, oh man... there's not much better than that.

That is a problem I have with more than a few songs on the OST, and it's not too big a bone to pick in the grand scheme of things, but you have these great meaty songs that have parts I just wish weren't there but were in the cutscene so they are & feel out of place. Aforementioned preamble (and abrupt cut) on Hell House, ending of Valkyrie (this one is REALLY bad, it's an 8:50 song and the entire last minute and a half shouldn't be there), beginning of Ghoul, beginning AND ending of Rematch Atop The Pillar. Parts that feel out of place and really would've preferred the songs not including them so you can really listen to the actual song, you know?

Also off the top of my head here, Smash 'Em, Rip 'Em blends two entirely different songs together so it didn't even make the cut on my original "battle" playlist because of the latter half, whereas I was listening to 30 minute youtube loops of the first half part before the OST was released. A little frustrating!

(Though on that note, I guess it's also a symptom of the "songs" pre-OST that got released on youtube or whatever being more "clean" so I got used to them I guess. I probably should make my own unofficial edits of these songs so I don't have to deal with that... Hell House especially)

My only other gripe with the OST is:

htaeD posted...

Still sad that like 50 tracks werent on the official soundtrack release.

This, which I suspect, but I'm glad I'm not going crazy - they didn't include the best version of "Those Chosen By The Planet" and it was driving me mad. Though I figure it's also like you said, there's going to be a lot of repeats in the next games, so maybe it is holding some back until then...

Jukebox is pretty trash but I have a playlist of battle and battle-ish themes that I listen to pretty regularly when I'm working on intense-focus tasks at work. To the point where today, I was thinking I need to get a non-battle playlist going instead.

So gotta do that, but then the KH3 OST just came out so it might end up on the backburner for a bit... or I'll end up with a blended battle playlist, lol.

So many really great songs on that soundtrack, for real. Also I was planning to run a Best FFVII Remake OST Song contest someday if I ever get my free time back.

Oh that reminds me, I got my "GF Only" challenge coming up to play... whenever I'm next able to play video games.

> tfw only gf

(iirc there's only 2 battles I couldn't follow through on that with... 2.5 if we count first boss fight of Disc 4... we'll see how it goes)

Yeah I remember it getting really "watching for the sake of watching" for a stretch there, but even with that ending and the implied direction of Season 4 I was actually interested and would've watched it? But probably for the best it ended where it did.

The Barbie, Julia, Big Jim trio were great. I don't even remember chunks of Season 3 I guess, when you were posting about the baseball bat beatdown. I guess I only remember bits and pieces here and there really... but always remember Julia, mmm.

I have to recommend - even though I literally don't remember anything about it and maybe I'm overinflating it and surely it ends on an unsatisfying cliffhanger - but "Invasion" was another Lost-follower that ran one season before cancellation. I remember it starred William Fichtner and I didn't watch it when it aired, I binged it some time after and I remember really digging it... but I don't know if it'd still hold up today.

Also gotta recommend, and I don't even know if you can find this anywhere at this point, but "Siberia" was another summer show that aired when Under the Dome started too (so, 2013?). It was a show made to "appear" like it was a reality tv show set in the Siberian wilderness, but then strange stuff starts to happen.... you have to stretch belief a bit that they keep filming it reality-style after a certain point but still, something a little different and a nice twist on a reality tv concept (which I know is your fort!)

Just popped into the thread after watching the latest AR ep a 2nd time since I wasn't 100% focused on first viewing - I had NO IDEA how Michelle and Victoria were eliminated despite being so far ahead (or the blondes so far behind).

Like I was thinking this is one of those cases where there's something else that happened behind the scenes that didn't make it into the episode, an extra challenge or something? Even though there was a double roadblock so I guess that's unlikely but still. Just boggles the mind.

I like the blondes though, so I'm happy they're still in, though Michelle and Victoria were a pretty entertaining team... like I'm really wondering if there's something else that we didn't see or if it was really like, 6 1/2 hours in the car. Even though we saw them ask for help. That's like an all-time collapse.

17-6

was going to nominate Celine Farach but checked the wiki and saw she had a little run... almost 3 years ago. Damn.

Nom:
Julia Adamenko
Gisele Bundchen

andylt posted...

Lol Martin, well my next 3 are gonna be V, VI and IX in some order or other if that helps! If the bootleg isn't safe I may yet go to IX next as it's the easiest to get the best version of. VI is harder to get than I expected, I could get the PS1 or Mobile versions but they're the worst ones apparently, I've been tempted to get a SNES classic but I've been bouncing either way on that. Getting a legit GBA cart is not so easy these days it turns out, for any game.

tbh I'm pretty sure I remember playing 5 after 6 and 6 is really an incredible game so it was a tough act to follow.

I'd recommend you go 9 - 5 - 6 but that's just me...save the "best" of those three for last

Also I wish they brought back the SNES Classic for sale again, I would buy it in a heartbeat even if I'd never play half the games on it.

Great topic and write-ups andy. Also not a coincidence that your top 3 (Wiegraf, Ramza, Delita) are the 3 that have seen the most success in SMFFFC, though they are certainly the top 3. Well, Gaff also had a great run in his XXI debut year and Agrias has made a couple of runs too.

I was mulling adopting a "swimming in andy's wake" gaming strategy and doing my FF replays based on when you do yours, hahaha. But FFT jumping ahead in my queue is one thing; FFV, I still gotta hold out on that one...

Though I really don't remember V at all so that'll be a good playthrough topic to read through!

Good rankings so far. It is interesting how Elmdor goes from rando kidnap victim in Chapter 1 to part of the big evil gang, but really isn't given any real opportunity to get fleshed out. Did he become Lucavi after getting "killed" on the battlefield or was he one of original gang? Would've just started out with Vormav and Draclau otherwise.

Definitely agree with you on Vormav bigtime, compared to so many of the bad guys he really brings nothing to the table. Rafa and Malak and their whole arc with the Duke is also so irrelevant, I'm also really annoyed at the stone magically bringing him back to life.

I like the Alma moment with Ramza before & during the first Zalmo fight but yeah.

...Celia and Lede are meh tier if only for yeeting the Duke off the roof, lol

I still remember back in university, they'd do these flea market sales on campus and that's how I got Silent Hill 2 and Vagrant Story... and I never played VS, I still think about it every so often. And again that was probably 15 years ago, was on my To Play list for 2020 but the whole year got away from me, eh... we'll see.

LeonhartFour posted...

it also isn't a rivalry and shouldn't have been in RR

I didn't mean to imply that! Also is RR Rivalry Rumble? I don't remember that or anything about it...

Punnyz posted...

what were yall's final teams again?

Last time I went Ninjas and Calculators and I told myself I'd diversity this time but... some habits are hard to break. Also I learned about the JP Scroll glitch so used that wherever I could (which really was great for Math Skill)

Ramza: Squire/Knight with Two Swords (including Save the Queen from Meliadoul, until I got Ragnarok at the end)
Female: Wizard/Calculator
Female: Dancer/Calculator
Male: Bard/Time Mage
Male: Chemist/Time Mage <- this one was my weakest guy and I was never quite sure what to do with him, he was a Thief for a good chunk of Chapters 3/4 game but just like Hasting my team so threw him in there at the end when I was ready to finish the game and didn't want to spend the time it takes to steal stuff. Also he had the Blaze Gun from Balk.

Everyone had Teleport, and everyone had Auto-Potion except i gave Ramza Blade Grasp.

Major (ridiculous) highlights of the run involve jacking up people's Speed and using Speed Break to just abuse the enemy:
-Spending hours on Queklain maxing out the JP on my two Calculators so I'd never have to put them in that primary class again, Ramza yelling everywhere... the battle lasted so long that at one point Ramza said the same battle dialogue that he did early in the fight, I assume he went over 255 turns and it looped back around, lol...
-Spending way too long on Elmdor trying to steal all Genji equipment, eventually I tried lowering his Brave using Foxbird and that decreased his evasion rate so lesson learned
-Spending way too long on Worker No. 7 who was a higher level of my team so figured I'd be a good levelling opportunity, so literally had my team attacking him and my Chemist throwing potions to heal him, hahaha (this all proved to be a moot point since the best leveling is in the Deep Dungeon anyways)

Really wanted to use new classes I had never mained before, and at least I got the Bard and Dancers going, but really tough to use other classes when Two Swords and Math Skill are just so powerful... next time I'll make Ramza a Samurai for sure.

Yeah Deep Dungeon's not worth it... I even focused on getting that summon and well, my team was already set up so great it wasn't even worth running Summon even as a secondary skill.

I gained a ton of appreciation for Delita in my replay, Delita > Ramza for sure and am glad he made the run in SMFFFC this year. Ramza is a true hero and all but certainly not a more compelling character.

My final battle, neither Altima form even got a single turn. I had Ramza dual-wielding Excalibur and Ragnarok and, funny thing with Calculators - both Altima forms are at a prime number height level & none of your team is. So a Ramza two-swording and 2 calculations on each form, bam. Demolished. Though I was stupidly overleveled.

I agree on the rushed ending too (not to mention no warning about the point of no return). Would've been nice to get one or two more Delita scenes. But in context it also makes sense there aren't political scenes or character-building moments. All the key players in the political conflict have been wiped out other than Delita, one more scene showing the final Delita triumph would've still been great though.

But more importantly is the game setting up the ticking-clock of the kidnapped Alma. Which they forget for a bit while Ramza's taking a little detour between Riovanes and Limberry, Elmdor tells him to go to Limberry but he doesn't go there immediately, does the whole Zeltennia/Bethla detour... which I guess gets Orlandu on their side... but yeah, once the endgame chase of Ramza vs. Vormav and his crew is on, there's really no chance for detours or narrative cutaways.

The last time Ramza and Delita see each other:

Delita: ...I guess it's good bye, Ramza.

Ramza: Stay alive, Delita.

Delita: You too...

[Delita walks over to Ramza and stretches out his hand. Ramza and Delita shakes hands. Ramza then disappears into the shadows.]

...got a little misty-eyed.

Definitely a really great game though. I'm looking forward to doing a replay and hopefully not taking like, 15 years next time. Gotta do War of the Lions and going to exclusively use like, main characters, rather than generic soldiers that I end up overpowering. Outside of Agrias early on and TG Cid late (but not in this playthrough) I don't think I've ever used one of them. Gotta have Cloud in my team next time...!