August 15th, 2004
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Good times
I don’t recall exactly what spurred my deep resolve to play Final Fantasy VII this weekend, but whatever it was, it worked. I started about four hours into the game at three-thirty after returning home from my roaming yesterday (Saturday), and pretty much played for thirteen hours without cutting the system off (of course there were the obligatory bathroom and mini-mart runs).
Strange, at my best (early college) I could do only a six to eight hour stretch of gaming overnight before calling it a day. Those triumphs were earmarked mainly by the Final Fantasy VI glory days on Snes9X in Emmet, First Left. Nobuo Uematsu’s unrelenting battle music became such a familiar figure piece in our flip-flop shower fiefdom that Paul Mysliwiec, aka the self-proclaimed “Crazy Polack” would often charge into The Hulk’s and mine’s room, thrusting his pelvis emphatically to the intense 16-bit staccato. As I recall, he particularly enjoyed Sabin’s Bum Rush. However, those days weren’t all level ups and wicked summons, as I usually started rocking back and forth and cursing under my breath for a save point around four a.m.
This brings me back to my original point that I’m amazed I have played so much this weekend and not even begun to get sick of it yet. Maybe because this is on the PS2, instead of the PC. My seat is much more comfortable (an hourly rotation of zabuton and sofa), and it looks/sounds great on my entertainment system, instead of just a 17″ monitor. Anyway, it certainly is “natsukashii”, rife with nostalgia. This game, seven years ago, started the whole jaw-dropping CG revolution, “eye-candy” as it were. How many days did Frank spend in the Bice playing this while Andy and I stared aghast? “Rusty!”
Here’s a quote from the game that juxtaposes fittingly with recent discussion during my annual review at work.
“A pro isn’t someone who sacrifices himself for his job. That’s just a fool.”-Reno
