Corvimae

god pokemon is the funniest franchise of all time. the only series where everyone pops off when they see a release year over 12 months away.

It’s pombomb from cassette beasts

just woke up and I’m ready to watch the Pokemon Presents with my favorite Cassette Beast. I hope nothing derivative happens!

caius ff13-2 saying “oblivion is the fate of all things”

todd howard in 2003

meanwhile octopath traveler 0 was just copying ot2's battle system homework and i love ot2. but the writing in ot0 was SO bad that i was like this game is pretty terrible idk lol

that being said i do still need the writing to be good lol I do still care about that, even if its not the main thing I tend to focus on. ff8 basically got sunk to the bottom of my list because the combat system is, like, a disaster, even though i do (for the most part) like the world and characters

i also just generally enjoy video games as a medium because of the ways in which they are games over the ways in which they are videos, so when i'm reflecting on what i liked or disliked about a game, it ends up being more focused on the systems and mechanics

its on the list of 'things that'll probably make the list unless i decide i want to play games from a different series again' (along with ffta2, revenant winds, type-0, and stranger of paradise)

disk 1 of ffviii is sooooo good but i kinda have to put it last because its like the only one where by the end i was like i fully do not enjoy playing this game

see what i haven't told anyone is that ARR is basically carrying xiv's ranking on its back. this is because there's something fundamentally wrong with me.

the two things i've noticed in doing the ranking so far:
1) in many ways this is secretly a ranking of combat systems because i love numbers apparently
2) the fact that this is a rankings and not tiers makes a lot of games seem worse than they are. basically everything 7 and up i'd solidly recommend

gotta say the run from X-2 down to 7 is like. truly those could shift at any moment. i've debated flipping X and X-2 like a dozen times, and the 7 and 13 ordering really feels up in the air.

XIV still gettin' the "i've played this game for over a decade" bump though. i'm fair AND impartial 😇

CORRECTED LIST. apparently I am incapable of copying down 15 things in order accurately.

oughgghhh it hought it'd be easier to remake the list than it would be to find the file on my old hard drive but it was NOT

it’s a typo, 14th is VIII

all in all, this game got done dirty by the gaming environment of 2009. it is pretty good, and just as linear as ffx was. if you like ffx for its story you'll probably like ff13. if you like ffx for its mechanics, uhh. harder to say.

up next: 13-2. i hear this one is an even worse pc port somehow.

- skipped basically all the missions except the ones to unlock r&d because backtracking in this game is miserable. how is there no comprehensive fast travel system for a game that basically has ff12 hunts i do not understand.

- its actually kinda incredible how fluid the dynamic positioning is in this game. i only saw it screw up twice.
- surprisingly few fuckass minigames... i thought this was a final fantasy game...
- the best 2009 gaming trend was the in-game codex. bring this back i love a list of things to read.

- the last two chapters of this game sure do just happen. a lot of instances of 'wait what how did we even get here'.
- this game suffers from PS3 Low Lighting Disease where the lighting is fucked up and you can't see anything in low-lit areas. idk why this is such a problem on the ps3 specifically.

- really bad pacing issues (again, like ffx!!!). early on, plot elements are set up and resolved too quickly. and then later on, the zones just drag on forever. too much of the game is parties of 2, which are just less fun than parties of 3.

- i like tidus as a narrator better than vanille, but i think that's like 75% due to the 'i had... forgotten. about bisexuality' video and that probably shouldn't count.
- sazh and lightning best final fantasy characters of all time really really really good

- as mentioned before, this feels like the writing of FFX mashed up with an attempt to fix some of the issues with FFX-2's combat. but i love job systems so i found X-2's combat more fun. that said the crystarium is so much better than the sphere grid simply cuz its faster. i hate the sphere grid.

- playing ff12 before this hurts. you have so much control in ff12 and you lose it all in ff13. hope i NEED you to cast protect and shell we are DYING out here.
- some of the nicest checkpointing i've ever seen, which i do appreciate but it does contribute to the turn-off-your-brain-ness of it all.

- combats are fun when you're constantly shifting, but the ones that really make you think are too infrequent. and even then, every combat in this game lasts too long. granted, i'm pretty sure i'm really bad at this game.

- the beginning is very Settings Cool, and very Mechanics Terrible. this is barely a video game until you unlock paradigms, which takes too long.
- one of the most Mash X games i've ever played and i'm a pokemon speedrunner. i wish you could just lock auto-battle on and focus on paradigm shifting.

FF13 COMPLETE and man do i have thoughts

this game feels like the synthesis of FFX and FFX-2 in so many ways, but is ultimately worse than either. i liked it, but mainly due to its party characters (best in the series???) and not its mechanics.

it's easy to feel bad comparing yourself to someone who has read a lot of books or watched a lot of movies but you've gotta remember, they're probably equally jealous of you and how many terrible video games you've played

I CAN CONFIRM SHE DELIVERED MORE THAN I COULD'VE EVER IMAGINED

those who amass chain bonuses are basically the most classic thing to yield to

wow I actually spent some money on an adjustable piano bench and it’s like I’ve entered a magical alternate dimension where instead of wrist pain i have somewhat less wrist pain 🥰