Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII Remake after first night

Good morning everyone.

Well yesterday started with a mixed news... well in the afternoon it did, as PSE&G came out to check the water heater... and the tank is leaking from the top due to corrosion, but I was told since we caught it early, the sooner we can get it replaced the better. So I'm going to need to coordinate with my brother to see if he knows anyone who could handle that at a fair cost. Otherwise... it's having to go through PSE&G. But good news is since I'm constantly in the basement anyway for work (when there is work) and other stuff, I can keep an eye on it.

Last night's stream saw me... FINALLY... start playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it's clear as day it's not the same story as the original story. Sure a lot of things are the same, like the opening to take out the Mako Reactor for example, but there is a clear expansion on world building to actually make me feel like I should give a damn about the characters, which was nothing I felt when I played original FF7 a couple of years ago. 

Visually the game is pretty damn good looking, no real differences between cut scenes and game play, the music and sound effects are pleasing to the ears... the voice acting... is kind of all over the place, but I can look over that for the most part. Game play wise, I do feel it's similar enough to Final Fantasy XV for me to have fun hacking and slashing my way through enemies.

How far did we get into the game you may be wondering? Well we got to where Jessie, Cloud, Biggs and Wedge raid the Shinra depot and saw the parachute scene... but we started dropping frames, as apparently my Internet Service Provider (Comcast Xfinity) starting having issues. A speed test after the stream showed my upload speeds were 80% lower than they should be and my download speeds were at 50%. I'm going to chalk it up to the blistering cold weather and the winds, since for a brief moment in the afternoon I did lose power.

For the raid we dropped in on TracyDoll while they were playing Friday the 13th: The Game over at twitch.tv/tracydoll

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Trophies

• Warming Up: Win a battle.
• Staggering Start: Stagger an enemy.
• Bonds of Friendship: Free a bound ally.
• Weakened Resolve: Exploit an enemy's weakness.
• Onetime Gig: Complete Chapter 1.
• Escape Artist: Complete Chapter 2.
• Music Collector: Collect 3 music discs.
• Gotta Start Somewhere: Complete a quest.
• Materia for Beginners: Level up an orb of materia.
• Mercenary Endeavors: Complete Chapter 3.
• My First Summon: Invoke a summon.

Because I was waiting on PSE&G I didn't get any writing done, but I plan on working on the WWE short story commission today. I did post 10 classic stories from the Dice and Kristi era to my Subscribstar page

I did record a new Making A Tier List video for my YouTube channel focused on 1990s Action Movies. That will go live on Monday.

Part of me wonders if I ever want the heartache I have of mom being gone to fade... I mean I can't really bring myself to be in the living room of the house for anything more than opening the blinds, checking the mail or just passing through it. Did replace a couple of lightbulbs up there so it's going to be brighter at least. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive COmbo #2, Intermediate COmbo 31 and Triple Combo #2 for 24 minutes.

"Where do fruits go on vacation?" "Pear-is!"

Song of the Day: Downtown By Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee

For tonight's stream, we're going to lead off with Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed to check out the new content and then we'll probably play something else too.

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!