Commander

Artificial difficulty is a vague term and looking it up really doesn't apply much to RPGs and especially to this engine so I'm going to avoid the discussion here. I agree the sky battle idea is ridiculous as the E4 system is designed to limit your Pokemon already (ie no rotation team). It's not something I really should see people worrying about because if I have plans on how to make this work with Redux, do you really think Ame doesn't have a solid idea what the fight is going to be like? I mean has Reborn really delivered so far. I assume it has otherwise most of you reading this wouldn't still be around. As for the last part, there has been one fight. Well more like it was a series of events that piled up and outright just became a massive glaring flaw when the Glass Gauntlet rolled around. I mean we have seen thread after thread and complaint after complaint anyone who says it isn't a problem is just kidding with themselves. And it was changed twice before a public release. And the biggest issue wasn't the fights difficulty but honestly pretty much 0 indication we needed to prepare for this. Though I would consider this more poor direction over "unfair difficulty" or "artificial difficulty".

Oh there was a long joke I had planned where the big reveal was that Madame X's name spelled backwards looked like Xen Adam and that Sakibot was used during the one scene to explain the big plot twist as nobody would expect Adam. That had me have a "wait a moment" since there is something very fishy about another character in that same scene. One we haven't seen in a very, very long time. One that matches up almost too well. Sticking with Saki being Madame X since it isn't that much of a stretch. The recap was mostly a joke as I figured most people would honestly know the game quite well by now and I didn't know how else to say "French Fries betrayed the motherland." Got a wee bit carried away. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 61.5 An ACTual Ending You know, I must be a mod's worst nightmare as every time I post, it always end up an arrogant pompous long essay that someone has to read. Or maybe they just know me and just ignore this stuff because who wants to read an essay about a game using tools that are the equivalence of video game ductape. The results are mixed but it still works. Well I haven't gotten a point ever since the time I talked about the one video that was an absolute ear...infection. Part of me wants to throw something in to test, but that's also the part that thought giving a trainer 26 mons was a good idea. Probably not a good idea to listen to it. Probably also thought that making this run was a good idea. Why do I ever listen to that part? I thought of a new drinking game. Take a drink every time a subcaption isn't funny. Let me know how long it takes before you die. (I wasn't sure how this party would turn out, but best girl is here so it's...okay.) I know I don't like Venam but seriously? I didn't even have a screencap. I need to fire the guy in charge of these and replace him with someone more competent. This is like the 100th mistake he's made so far. (Raise of hands on who wants to see me get jiggy with the captain here. Whiteheads unite...wait a minute) (Who the heck are you people?) (Seriously, I should remember who you guys are but can't for the life of me) (What a baby. It took me nearly three years to get to this party. Was it worth it? Hell yeah!) (I'd say so. But who the heck are you guys?) So this reminds me a bit of two characters in the Trails series. No, don't go away here. Basically, they were two generic looking guys which one is a guy who has an unfortunate love life which his friend literally is just there for the ride and just gets a kick out of the misadventures. The reason they are so memorable is that there's often a quest or a few quests which the first guy professes his love and it ends horribly and not often in the way you'd expect. Point is that these guys were memorable. Points is that I for the life of me cannot remember if these guys were actually in Goldenleaf. I feel like they were in the PC but I don't remember. Kind of wish they were more reoccuring as a bicker couple's misadventures could be amusing. Even something as nonsensical as getting stuck in the past could be that little bit of humor people dig around towns to find. What I'm saying is that I think there's something to work with here that could be an amusing small detail. Small things like that are insignificant but get enough and they'll be magical. Kind of how Xenoblade works. If you haven't played the original, try the definitive edition. I'm sure Jan would approve of my shameless advertising. I realized I'm going to be stuck working on Redux when I could be playing Xenoblade. Damn the temptation is strong. Why does this have to be the year of easily distracting video game? Reminds me of this comic where there's a character who is the personafication of games that easily distract the creator on why he's not getting more comic pages out. I'm not sure if it's still up but it was by the "It Sucks to Be Luigi" comics. Honestly, I'd be surprised people would be bored waiting for me to output another chapter every once in a while as I do give a number of things to look at. (I need a trainer for this brain. Even now, it keeps going to the gutter) (I wanna take you away. Let's escape into the music. DJ let it play.) I am cultured in what many of you would call "Millennial Trash" and I'm proud of it. (What about the time they got cold feet with Angie?) (Are you sure this isn't the training? I hear it takes a real man to hold down your alcohol. Da fuq do you mean there's no booze?) (Honestly I feel better than ever. As if a heavy burden was lifted never to plague the world ever again. I'm taking a long, long break from doing that ever again) (Alright, which one of y'all want to challenge him to a dance off?) (Maybe we should've had you step on that switch 'cause clearly you don't have a soul) (Well go take your doo doo somewhere else if you're gonna be like that) (You know who you're dealing with, right? You absolutely know who you're dealing with. Back in my youth, I defeated god with just a Blastoise. Did I mention he had a shield that negated all damage?) For some reason, I really want to nuzlocke Raptor. That might be a good side thing when I'm really bored. (Oh no, not you. I already ranted about you. I don't think I have it in me for another) (At first, I kind of hated you. But, you're alright in my book) I don't think I have ever talked about it but I often prefer orchestral music in games over other stuff. Though I also really like a well done metal cord drop like "Those Who Fight Further." Found out about a series who explains music theory in games which is a good listen but I don't have time. I do know quite a bit about music but I'm no conductor...even if I look the part. (I'd question if their boss would get mad, but given they all GTFO'd of Terajuma, I don't think they'll mind) (You can stay, but on one condition:) (Hey buddy ole pal. The stakes are high and the cards are hot. Let's have one more round before we all have to hit the road) So another fun fact I think I've mentioned before. I had to learn a number of card games when I was little and often had to play them in band since being on a smartphone didn't exist back when I was in highschool. Nowadays, you see everyone playing games. We had to find other ways to entertain ourselves. It's been a while so I'd have to brush up on some but I've played Rummy, Spoons, Euchre, and another one made for big groups. Can't remember the name of it right now. I know I'm not that much older than you guys but it's really kind of scary how different socialization is nowadays compared to even a few years ago. Also scary how I first found out about Reborn in high school and now I'm a working class citizen and it still isn't even finished. What were we talking about again? Ah, that one game with Amber in it. (I think it say back but honestly, I'd say remove "a while back") So minor nitpick I learned in High School. If something is unneeded in a sentence, remove it. People make a bigger deal out of it more than they should as honestly, it helps sentences flow better and annoy that slight irritation of reading something pointless. Your mind often subconsciously does this all the time and I do it for this chapter as well because I don't edit. Easiest way to edit is to use the rule of 3: Write it, Read it, Speak it. Everything I talk about is based on that simple ideology. Those dialogue boxes are also terrible to work with since it's messy to read through. Imagine reading a passage but that passage has no details nor spaces between paragraphs. And the easier to see and understand version is in another room but you can't change anything in that room. Some stuff you can fix on the fly and others you can't. Story dialogue is one of those things. (We'd throw you into a museum of modern art. Probably have more relevance there) (You guys are about as helpful as the Kanto Police Department is at catching criminals) (It's Rejuv. The only normal day we've had was a freezing cold prison cell on a tropical island) (Speaking of things that don't make sense...) (This is what happens when you play too much "Corpse Party") (......By "throw" a party, do you mean you had one at your house or actually threw them off into the distance) (Starting to think it was the second one.) (And now she sounds like a broken record) (You're starting to scare me) (Jan, I don't need to play another horror game in my life. If she starts murdering people, I'm out) (She's about as emotionally stable as this game's plot) Jan, I appreciate all the work you put in, I don't think you're going to fully pull off whatever it is you're trying to do. Because of that, I'll always make fun of the games plotline. After everything presented in V12, I quite honestly have absolutely no idea how anyone can pull that off and not stumble and fall a bit if not a lot. If by some miracle it turns out to be absolutely amazing, not only will I admit that I was wrong going over a huge number of things I bashed on along with you being leagues above wherever I'll ever reach, but I'll make and create that abandoned Rejuv DX project. And I will keep my word on that. The main reason I abandoned it as I knew Az would really be able to design crazy difficult fights and it felt redundant for two people to try and do the same thing. Other than a certain fight, the Az and Alex did a really good job. Well, I could say for a few fights, but really only that one I take huge issue (at least I can beat it on normal with much less issues...I guess that's improvement). (Probably should do the same. There's a reason these chapters take forever) (Why are you here? I literally saw you fly away in the "conclusion" scene) (They can't be terrorists all the time) I'm not really sure how I feel about Eli & Sharon being there which kind of ties in to a big issue with Rejuv. End of the day, Team Xen is a terrorist group and that often gets kind of ignored to the point they don't even feel like a threat if not aligned with you. Crazy enough, I don't think you fight a single Xen grunt in the main story up through V12. They are still there but they are no longer really the enemy. You can still be enemies and the enemies can be very sympathetic. That's honestly I feel what the entire trails series thrives on. I don't think the transition was done that well as it just kind of...happened while a whole bunch of other things are going on. Delightful things that we'll probably spend a couple years talking about. If this run goes on longer than 5 more years, I might croak by then. (Honestly, I want nothing to do with Xen after the emotional roller coaster they put me through) And now we finally get a gym battle after all this bloody time. (Also quite the ego. Is it really necessary to have your face on everything?) (Really? We're gonna be doing that now. Really?) I don't think Amber's dad really even gets any mention. I know WLL it plays quite the role but it kind of feels glazed over here. God I love Jenner in that. I miss that game already. Speaking of WLL, I find it a real tragedy this run has as many views as that page does. I'm mostly saying I feel like too many people are missing out as that really was a nice side story worth playing. (I...don't think Focus Blast counts as "Awesome Coverage") (Basically it's an OP flamethrower) (We ain't cheapskates here. We fight them at their best and only their best) (Anyone who does this deserves to be thrown into the pit of lava by Geara. Don't make Amber sad. Don't be that guy) (.....Gee, I wonder where we experienced that field at. I don't know maybe 10 minutes ago) (It also makes Flash Fire mons immune to rocks and more or less strong against them) (Eruption damage really isn't that big of a deal. Good for chip damage but won't really change the field of play) (Yeah...hazards being up would really help me in this battle) (I needed your help in the last battle, not this. This is just late advice) (Yeah...typically don't like changing fields unless I have to) (We all know who exactly did this. Jan also seems a bit too self aware of the mechanic) (You could say it really...dampened her party) Let's talk about field changes, shall we? I have a love-hate relationship with that mechanic. I love the concept as that means you can turn the field around and make it so that you have a huge advantage. It's actually really well done in Reborn as there are consequences for using this mechanic in some battles. Reborn I'll admit has a lot of really cool gimmicks. But let's focus on Rejuv here. I'm very mixed on this as the game really promotes you to use field changing mechanics which if you don't, it almost feels like you're getting punished. Reason why the one fight I had so much difficulty is I didn't prep for field changing which that whip lash effect from Reborn really shows there. Every fight afterwards, I felt like there was way more freedom to design things around and prep for. I really felt post Erik is where the game really balances out better and is way more fun (I really do think Rejuv has a better lategame and Reborn has a better earlygame). (I do find it truly ironic Crawli is next to Eli & Sharon) (what the heck is going on with the guy in the bottom left?) (So...is this a family quarrel or simply a mother passing her responsibilities onto me?) (Someone call 911 Shorty fire burnin' on the dance floor) For the next few screencaps, we're gonna see how many songs with fire in them I know lyrics of off the top of my head (I fell in to a burning ring of fire. Down, down, down and the flames went higher) (You think by now, that I would've learned not to play with fire if I don't want to be burned. But I'm a pyromaniac) (It's gettin' hot in here) (Chestnuts roasting in an open fire) (Like fire. Hellfire) (Through the fire and the flame we carry on) (Drop it like it's hot) (This is why I'm hot. This is why I'm hot) (al;asd;lfkjasdl;fkjasdflkj; I'm out of songs) (Not hard to figure out what happened here) (And that's normal mode completed) Had to adjust the team slightly and way more attempts than should be needed but here's intense: (To be fair normal was like a 1-0 and Intense was like a 1-12) Better than Angie. I had so many video outtakes of that fight. So many. (That's cause I'm the best) (Please don't be a song dedicated to me. Too tired to react to that) (...Not a song but close enough. So where's the melody badge?) (Is it possible...) (Hell yeah. Second best TM we got from a leader. Sorry but Shadow Ball is just better) (Sorry, I'm just thinking about Sun Drop right now. So who's gonna drop it?) Honestly, I didn't showcase much but the normal mode fight is really fun and way more interesting. Actually does a lot more surprising tactics than the typical intense mode's HO strat. We all know how I feel about that, but anyways it certainly felt harder than when I did it in V11 though I really, really am quite rusty so that could factor in as well. (Aww...she's gonna miss us. Wonder how many meditation session it'll take to get over this) So I picked both options because you can: (If it means being rid of this island forever, I'm not sure I can keep that promise) (I realized the next few leaders are doubles...maybe stopping and living here isn't so bad. Maybe Crescent was right) Speaking of the devil: (And here we have Cres Ex working her magic) (Oh boy if I didn't have enough reasons to hate Crescent) (To be fair, this kind of is your own fault for sending two people in there) (And Nim is back. Why am I not happy about that?) (I don't get it either but perhaps there's a logical explanation to it) (Does Crescent have some manipulation powers or something. They never really explained it) (You'll have to wait for about 6 or so chapters to get the context behind this) (I know the entire plot and this scene still makes no sense to me) (No offense, but that's a godawful name for a loner. Personally I would've went with Lonestar or Uno. You should never forget to call Uno) (I miss when the plot was silly. Can we go back to that? No? Awww...) (I'm really trying with these screencaps, but I just can't) (And no, I didn't forget to screencap. They just don't tell us) (Well let's see what Lorna actually means here) A place of honor and victory. So fun fact, that's the feminine name for Lawrence which Loewe the Samurott is actually named after a character with that name. Coincidence, I think not. Crescent clearly named Nim after my starter. I really just try to avoid Crescent stuff as I know all that'll happen is I'll get peeved. But here's a good ole analysis of Cres Scent Machina: Crescent is best described as "The Masquerading Goddess." She is quite the vague character and everything we really learn about her is through other characters. Melia is the one who gives us the most insight to who Crescent is and made her sound like a normal person as she likely is closer to that than one would think. One day she simply vanished with a goal to turn against the gods themselves. To do this, she had to put up a facade and become the Crescent we know today. She appears as an all powerful being which removes all obstacles out of the player's way which they cannot move themselves. Some are enemies while others are allies. Her goal is simple and linked to the player themselves. It's to stop the player from reaching an endpoint. The rest of Crescent really is a mystery and we could all take guesses on who the woman behind the mask is. Is she the mom of the player? Is she actually a normal human who just knows her way around making it look like she has powers? Maybe she is a very caring person. All we can see is a stone cold overtaker interfering only when needed to. That's all I have on her which is actually the problem. Gods are boring by default. They are near invincible to the point you know they are going to win if they're on screen. There's two way to go about designing this: present there struggles or make their methods interesting. I'll start with presentation. Which would you find more interesting to play out: some with quick reflexes killing three guys before they can even move or one guy walking up to one of the three men, shoving his forehead onto the pistol and tellilng him to shoot. After he gets shot in the head, he falls to the floor and waits about a minute to start laughing picking himself back up freaking the three guys out causing them to run away. I think Karen and Crescent are great physical demonstrations of it. Which one are you honestly more excited to see? And now let's jump into the easier one to design: struggles. It ain't easy being a god. Things go wrong about every minute and sometimes there are things that make you powerless over. There's a lot to work with. Maybe it's having an exploitable weakness or despite being this powerful entity, it feel all for naught seeing as they are powerless to change anything. The key is defeat. Everyone has to experience defeat at some point and more importantly, it has to be satisfying. Crescent it never really felt like she was defeated and more shoved out of the way later on. Karen, oh boy Karen. That's a character who suffered consequences for what she did. That's a long winded story but it really ties things together. Speaking of that I feel Karen is going to be one of the last but one of the most fun characters to analyze since there's just so much to theorize on her character based on her dialogue. I wish I had more for Crescent as I thought I would but I just don't. Sorry. Also this sums up how I feel every time I complete a chapter: Don't know when the next chapter will come but if I announce something, times it by 3. I mean it's totally Monday. But what really happened was I was on a roll with designing something and wanted to get that wrapped up which is why this is so late plus busy times at work. I imagine it's going to be a long while before the next one since I'm working on wrapping up a behemoth of a project. Maybe I'll take a break inbetween. I don't know.

Oh boy I really don't want to make this tutorial. This thing is a bitch. If you tried to install this thing before, you know the pains. It hates you and you hate it. It is quite literally not made for games like Reborn and Rejuv where cutscenes happen every 5 minutes and stairs are your worst nightmare. So you wanna know why the follower mod isn't widely used. Well, that's not what we're here for. Today we're simply for the simple installation of the follower mod and the number of fixes on how to get past the dev oversight. I haven't worked out all the kinks but let's just get started: Where to begin: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=360846 I can't find the wiki used for the original tutorial but here's a good place to start. It contains all the download links for the basics of the follower mod. As for the graphics, technically we have up until USUM but I'd rather see if I can verify if a few dozen of these graphics were taken as free use or not. I've verified some of them as such but others I don't even know where they came from. If you really want that file, PM me and I'll share the sprites. I'm not going to rewrite this piece as all it really is doing is copying a script and pasting it into RMXP like this: Pay attention to that top part as that's where most of your issues and crashes are going to come up as. This is a custom made script designed for Reborn which is why the switches and variables are high. It's best to put them near the tail end so that you can keep track of them in case you need to make changes. But anything in 1400s is a variable, anything in 2400s is a switch, and anything 90-100 is an animation. Plug this all in and you're almost done with the base installation. If you do this and keep getting crashes starting the game up, you probably forgot to put the animations which are shown here: If you're lazy, technically you can copy and paste them from another game (like I did from the follower mod) instead of trying to import them in. There's also the common events page where you need a common event that shows like this below You may notice common events 68 and 69 (event 67 is a personal one for me) and I'll be going over what those are in a bit. Why do you need a common event that does nothing? I dunno. Probably poor scripting. You need it and it works so don't question it. The next thing you need to do is activate the follower mod system which can be done with the following script in an event: For the normal person, this would make as much sense as Cain's maturity level. I'm going to break this down as we're starting to get into more of my custom stuff (because typing 20 lines of code gets annoying after event number 50). I'll start with the Follower EV#. That is a variable that is used for the event that'll become the follower Pokemon. Each map with a healing machine needs to have a blank common event for the follower. This one happens to be map 70. It's not doing anything now but will in a minute. pbPokemonFollow(69) is the direct command to make a follower Pokemon the event. So in this case Event 69 is set to follow the player. Act Fall Switch is the switch that activates follower Pokemon so that needs to be turned on. pbToggleFollowingPokemon needs to be done twice. So the first one actually is used to make the Pokemon appear (why the event should appear off camera) and the second one will make it so the Pokemon pops up from behind you. And that's it. You're done. You now have a follower behind you...now you just have to do a whole bunch of stuff to make it work everywhere. Let's start with healing: So let me take a deep breath and explain all of this. So to remove the pokemon you need to use pbToggle twice (plays animations) before using pbRemoveDependency (makes mon disappear) and make sure to turn the switch off. Then you need to add the follower back using pbPokemonFollow(event on map) turning the Act Follow switch back on and the use pbToggle again. It gets better when you have fainted Pokemon but we're not there yet. If you mess this order up or forget a step, you get an error and your game crashes. That seems like a lot of work to do the same thing over and over again copying one set of lines then another so I was lazy and came up with this solution: Remove Follower: You can set it to dependency2 as it doesn't need to be three and... Add Follower: and this is to add the follower back So whenever you want a Pokemon to go away, you'd just use a common event remove follower. And then to add them back just use a common event called add follower with the scripts show above. You may be wondering "Why is there a 108? There is no 108 event." and "Do I need to make it event 108 every time?" And we'll get to that. Now let's look at the much cleaner version of doing this Now you only need to do 3 things. First thing is set a variable to be the Event tile to what you need it to be. Then use the common event remove follower to get rid of the mon. Then at the end use add follower. So now the last thing to do is make is so that the variable above is used to determine the event instead which is done simply but inserting this little in the script right here: Is that the best way to do it? No. Does it work? Yes. Now you have to deal with the other half. What happens if you wipe: Just need to do Add Follower. You already healed there so it remembers everything else. Just add follower. Switch 2466 is a personal edit that fixes the escape rope problem but since that is situational I'm not going to cover that mix. Maybe if people need it. You just need to make edits to the when people join you or add a 3rd dependent event script depending on your preference. Now we have the fun stuff. Let's just start with the flashing. Those Pokemon balls like to flash more than a stripper who has nothing to hide. When you walk out of a building, they flash. When you reach a new map, they flash. When you open the menu, they flash. When you use the PC, they flash. I'm going to go over a couple script edits that help fix most of these problems: Turning off Flash for map travel put a "#" in front of these things Here: And these two places: You'll thank me later as that'll stop you from so much grief working on this damn thing. Literally no reason you should not do this once you get the script. Zero reason not to. How to Disable the Flash I need to pinpoint what I did as it disabled the sound but one of the biggest things when removing the follower is the big flash it'll make using the "Remove Follower" common event or the normal style I showed before. I use a global switch 2469 to stop the animation from showing when enabled and in the following places (not the best pic but ctrl+f should find it) (this one is under the surf tab so you can probably skip it in most scenarios) basically if it says refresh_sprite or Animation in it, you probably need to make a condition to turn them off. There's probably a better way to script this but I'm not a programmer but I do know a thing or two about this. Anyways once you do that it's actually really simple to turn on and off Turn the switch on to stop it and... This'll add the partner back and nobody will ever notice it was gone. Technically you should have a dump variable and have it look more like this: This is mostly used for cutscenes where you need to hide the player and their Pokemon which two objects and be really difficult to deal with. That last event is to avoid having Jimmy run into trouble and wiping causing the game to crash. Don't be like Jimmy. Stopping the flash in the Menu and PC So first thing I'd recommend doing is for the PC which is found below $Trainer.party[0] is the first Pokemon in the slot. If it's the same Pokemon, it'll ignore the refreshing the sprite. It's probably better to do a script variable instead of a global variable here but I'm bad at scripting. Anyways, you'll need to go into a section outside of the follower section for this next part to insert a piece of script here: And anytime you don't change the lead for the PC you won't experience a flash. Pause menu is slightly easier as it's actually done if you did the part above. Now onto the last thing: Moving a follower Pokemon So this is a feature that exists that I don't see get talked about. Let's say a certain follower behind you blocks the way. You could move them out of the way by doing this: You have to use the script command but this allows for you to move the partner however you like. Just make sure it's above a Wait for Move's completion. The partner can do everything in the move setroute in RMXP put you have to type it in by hand like above. That example the mon moves left 4 tiles before going down 3 and turning around to face south. Not critical but something good to know in case you need it. Sorry if this isn't the most helpful but this mod is a beast and I see a number of people just trying to download it and plug it in somewhere expecting it to work and just crash. I mostly used Redux's files (don't kill me, Ame) just so I could show pictures of what to look for and some things you can do. And if you have any tips and tricks I'd definitely say share them.

@Frozenwolf94 I'll look into it but I can't promise I can identify the culprit. Lots of random little changes occur and something I just miss stuff. So it's been like 3 months since I made an update. What have I been doing all this time? Nothing. Honestly, it's mostly just been waiting for E19 development to cool off which seems like we're at that point. I decided to get my butt into gear on Sunday and start the pain in the butt migration process and testing. Oh boy is it always fun to test things over. Anyways, here's a little sneak peak of what to expect on the next release: That is the first peak at Redux 18.7 when it drops. I'm not going to talk about much but I guess I can drop a few little pieces. I had to redo the no items system a bit since there is a new difficulty mode coming. In the E19 release there are difficulty modes so think of this as getting your hands early on the harder Redux fights. As I said before this DOES NOT affect the gym leader fights at all. Those are more or less finalized and this is more for people who just think most of the game is a joke and really want more challenging fights. There are things exclusive to this hard mode because I always felt people should be rewarded for taking harder difficulties and not punished being forced to deal with easier fights. And to answer some obvious questions coming my way. No, I'm not trying to be memeborn or tap into the crowd. I just know there were a lot of people who were hoping for more fights and something I planned for E19 is being incorporated so I'll just do it for all the fights because it's easier then the alternative. Yes, the game does feel smoother after the update. Yes, the follower mod will be finished in 18.7. Yes, I did give Victoria Flame Charge like a mad lad. And for the last question: all of them. But real talk. Theoretically, I could have used the normal Redux files to do the conversion over but that is missing a number of fixes the follower mod version did. And we're about 90% done with converting it over as well. Just a couple things I missed because I'm an idiot and forgot to put labels onto them. Uberbug, disobedience, and the EV error fix is all I'm missing (and a couple pics). Only thing is I did have to sacrifice the Magikarp even for Game-Z. RIP Magikarp. That's a pretty big package and it's going to take me quite a long while before I can drop a release so I may drop a couple dev videos of things to help pass the time. Other minor things people can look forward to: -Aya is getting a new Alt fight (old one will be considered a Masters fight as well) -Charlotte is getting a new Alt fight (Current alt is replacing normal) -Zerk Path Amaria is getting a Master fight (chosen from menu) -Resh Path Amaria will alt between the three fights after the second loss -New Way to unlock Amaria's Master fight (previous way will still work) -Mystery Egg Changes -Slight Continuation of the Redux HQ sidequest The last thing is that 18.7 will be the last set of major changes until E19 drops. This is all the content I'm unleashing before the last episode. Once Reborn is fully released, nothing Pre Hardy is going to change. Dat's it. No more revisions other than bugs. No additional features. This is due to E19 probably going to be an absolute bitch to make at least 20 fights on top of all the fights coming in the main-game (I ain't doing postgame). In addition now that lag is less of an issue, would you want me to bring back the axed Park Forest? Could make it a hard mode feature as well. Really up to you guys. Feel free to ask questions before then.

Nuzlockes in general are meant to make an easy game have a challenge. We generally don't recommend running nuzlockes as the game is quite a challenge in and of itself. Reborn is the easier of the two if Casual mode in Rejuv is not thrown into the mix. Rejuv also has the intense mode difficulty which really throws you through a loop. So many resets. Reborn doesn't exactly have an official difficulty mode but will has a small one in the final release. We have unofficial mods like Redux and Memeborn but they are slightly out of date due to bombshells being launched onto us this year.

Dear mods, Thank you for not locking this thread Sincerely, A man who needs to find a better hobby Chapter 61 Hottie for a Hottie Dear god how long has it been since I've done one of these. I'll be blunt in saying that I just didn't feel like updating the run. Seriously, this part of the game just sucks. No, I'm not talking about the Amber fight, I'm talking about this: This reminds me a bit of a Kurt scenario. So for anyone who doesn't know, Kurt is a boss early on in Trails of the Sky SC. On nightmare mode, the literal strategy to beat him is "if he does xxx, reset the game." This was back when Falcom didn't really do a whole lot for balancing making the game absolutely brutal anything above normal. The games got easier beyond that one and honestly the series probably would have died if they stuck to it. So if you err on the too easy side, you'll lose less people the erring on the too hard. Just advice from someone who isn't out to play the hardest thing in the world (mostly do intense nowadays to keep people from bitching "oh you're so bad at this that's why you hate the game"). Is this fight beatable on intense. Yes, in fact it probably would have been rather easy if I ran more optimal stuff with EVs more suited to their stats and better moves and yada yada. Or just turn it into the underwater field. Let's just break this fight down though. So the weakest link on the team is Minor. Not really a bad mon but leagues below everything else. What is the second weakest? Typhlosion. I know you all are laughing at me as that thing can slaughter but if punch it in the face, it's actually rather weak even after all the boosts it's getting. Gigalith rarely will go down without a turn and that thing hurts, Clefable literally can shut down a mon costing 1,2, or even three mons, Jellicent will cause burns. Dragonite and Gyarados are a deadly duo that need shut down immediately or will cause serious damage, Silvally is a bitch due to its new Ground Typing, and Absol will likely take something damaged down with Sucker Punch. Zetta is the weaker one of the two which isn't saying much given he has a Dragonite. It's also a double battle which means you have to strategize around it. The most important thing is being able to keep your side in control and thinking ahead. That's what makes doubles cool is the style you fight. And you're locked to half. And what if the other half doing? Using a bunch of moves that probably aren't very helpful. I get what Jan was doing and I think them for trying. But could you please for the love of god give Melia a better moveset. Why does Hydreigon have Heat Wave over Earth Power? Why does Togekiss know flamethrower? Why doesn't Snorlax have Crunch? Why does that Meganium only use Giga Drain when it isn't going to KO stuff and Reflect when I'm about to die? It might honestly be easier to win the battle with only my own 6 mons then with Melia's help. Partner boss fights are just a battle you can't win. Florinia's section was such a hassle with so many issues, I had to completely modify her team so she wouldn't die by turn 5. I had to nerf Cain because I made him way too good. I've made my share of absolutely awful battles with Florinia being the queen. You really just suck it up and go back to the drawing board when it becomes an issue. I really hate this fight. I dreaded the game when I realized I had to do it. I spent three hours just trying again and again and really just hit the wall again and gave up. I'm done with it. You're done with me hearing it. So anyways lots of stuff happened and now the whole world is shut down due to COVID. I actually might of had it and with a bit of asthma problems it is an awful combo. Had to sacrifice some stuff and get off my ass into a healthier lifestyle. Also god bless Pepsid. Never would imagine that'd be the secret to getting better. Anyways, the world is a scary place and there's a 1,000 ways to die a day. There's a point where you just have to stop being afraid and focus on living your life instead. Good time to work on some things you've been putting off or pick up a hobby. Mostly just been working on my gaming backlog aka the nuzlockes of every mainline game. Finished ORAS and working on Yellow, but I decided maybe I should do another chapter. Why? Mostly because Redux is on hiatus another couple months waiting to see if any other surprises surface (procrastination ftw). Anyways back to my eternal suffering I never know when to quit. Maybe I should cancel Redux and this run to speed up the release times (Why is it that I'm always back in this room when someone dies? It's not even Velvet) Now for a recap of everything that went down over the past year or so: We got stuck on an island which we'll call Hell. Hell is a place we ran around trying to save a statue from what we'll call the French. The French weren't to keenly of giving it up unless we handed what we'll call French Fries over. We told them we'd never surrender and began working on a counterattack. We try to go and collect a rock of magical power we'll call infinity stones from Iceland but Iceland decided to get up and move to Cuba. Traveling to Cuba was a pain as we got nowhere and only mocked at before getting the infinity stone from Iceland only to find out Greenland is causing problems. Nobody in hell like Greenland. But Greenland has the infinity stone we need to cross into the French border so we have to go there. We get trapped inside of Greenland and Greenland begins to crack. Thankfully we get saved by Alaska who we saved who had the infinity stone all along. All at the cost of traumatizing french fries. Of course all is not simple as we need the golden board to attach the infinity stones to cross streams to reach the French. In order to do this, we had to sacrifice a waifu to the graveyard to summon hellfire. Hellfire unleashed to barrier protecting the golden board, but Nuuk cast a Change of Heart on Hellfire causing Greenland to be Reborn. But that's another game for another day. While this was going on, French Fries betrayed the motherland going into France pissing off Jimmy Hendrix and myself as we charge after her. We get pissed off even more as Iceland had an Fast Pass into France. France itself a woman who can't make decision. One moment its hot. Then its cold. Then its hot again. Then everything is fine and dandy when the French spit on me from their Berlin Wall. That is until Germany (with Japan and Italy) decided to break it down with their Big Bertha. We also let Madonna out of her cage, Iraq yeeting one of the Twin Towers out of existence but failing, and Iraq bombing Germany out of existence. We finally meet up with French Fries whose plan was to give Potato Chips to the French which Hendrix believed it would fool them all. It didn't as not even the French would fall for the ole chip-a-roo. When this failed, Potato tried to save the statue from being a fume to the fire but Bonaparte and his trusty sidekick Birdo decided to throw the potato into the boiler. After a long battle with many thoughts of throwing French Fries into the boiler as well, we defeated the French. But the French, being the French, never surrender throwing the statue and the myself into the boiler. And I died. But Iraq made me better. The end. Somewhere a history buff is cringing. I would blame it on a disease but this honestly is just the way I am. (All are problems would've been solved if we shot Geara in the head. All of them) (I'd say it was more spicy...to soon?) (You were the only girl in this game that mattered) (Honestly, I don't think she'd like you that much. You're kind of bossy, annoying, and suicidal. Nim's just crazy) (I only just realized those are candles in the water. Those look really cool honestly) I forgot to screencap: "For my father:" (Jenner and fire really don't mix well...do they) (Oh look self reflection. How rare from a character) (Eh, I'm sure he's in a better place. A much better place than this. Might've done him a favor) (I think it said Rest in Peace. RIP in pieces my dude and dudette) (Feels like Jenner's been dead for 3 years tbh so...late to the party?) (I mean I also try to deny your existence but the world disappoints) (Oh boy this cliche again) And now we have to go over the whole idea of parallel timelines. So I probably talked about time travel but let's just get into the discussion of when you can use it and how to not fuck it up. 1. The Paradoxical Loop (My Favorite): So this is an element of time travel where the events that happened only happened because someone time traveled into the past to make that happen. Think of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. So the characters only knew about certain scenarios because two of them went back in time to act them out so that everything plays out the same way. I like this one as even though it's a paradox in and of itself (they can't travel back in time unless they traveled back in time) but it makes for one singular story stream to follow only getting more details as the plot progresses. 2. Parallel Timelines: The easiest way to explain this is that for every action, there is a timeline that exists where a different action is taken. It's rather complex due to the nature of the idea but the simple version is to think of a stream that branches off based on a choice. The idea is that there are different consequences based on that choice and often can lead to some drastic scenarios. It could even be two entirely different games. But the idea is that character a could live and is a primary character in timeline a and in timeline b they immediately die. 3. The fluctuating timeline: Before I say anything, Chrono Trigger. The simplest way to explain this one is the idea of a river where some force (aka the protag) causes the riverpath to shift or completely change courses. Every action has some effect on the timeline. The grandfather clause and the butterfly effect take the most precedence here. Now that we got that out of the way, there's a few rules on how to not fuck up time travel badly. Rule 1) Pick on of the three above AND stick with it. If you pick number 3, don't make it so that people from other timeline exist. They don't exist as that time doesn't exist. Rule 2) Keep an air of mystery about it. You'll want to have players wonder about certain elements to keep them engaged. Running around with Dinos is fun an all but something has to keep the suspense. Rule 3) Don't write a future of a prophecy that needs changed. Apocalyptic futures just almost never end well. And if you do that, don't make it the focal point of the entire plot. This is the number one way to screw up time travel. Rule 4) Don't be "intelligent". Time travel is dumb. Making it sound smart makes you sound dumb. Worry less about the explanation and more about the flow and elements impacted by it. Is this a surefire way to use timetravel? Hell no. Can any of these rules be broken and it still be good? Yes. There are no rules in writing. Just guidelines. Anyone reading this probably already knows the elephant in the room but this is just one of the things foreshadowing stuff...I really dread and hope aren't true. Though I do hope my Madame X theory is correct. I know it's not but damn that'd be a great plot twist I made as an absolute joke at first. Anyways, (Honestly, I'd say it's an improvement to the roster. Though I lost my rock, it was a valiant sacrifice) (Part of me wonders if the protag stopped giving a shit after mom died. I mean at this point people are dropping dead left and right or outright disappearing possibly forever) (Don't you mean my house. I like my house.) (Can we please just not? Her existence just pisses me off. Literally there to solve everything that Melia can't solve. Are you two sure you aren't besties?) (Fine, we'll go together only because that's a long ass walk.) Can I just say, thank god you get teleported off that mountain. That is a pain to go up and down as you have to change the mountain weather. And it feels like 10 floors. 10 long floors. It's why I never wanted to walk down it for anything. (Yes, yes I did save you.) (Did...she actually acknowledge I'm part of the family. I guess being drowned by a whale changes you) (Hmm...something definitely isn't right here. The blonde pic should be covered up by the pillar more) Not sure if it's my game or not with the double Melia. Not game breaking but a little silly seeing...or horrifying since there are two of them We're not posting anyone else's dialogue as they aren't important. (Nice of plot convenience to be forced to talk to Cres Cent Machina) (If you teleported them to Saki's dream world, that'd honestly be kind of awesome. Wonder what it is like in her head. Has to be anything but normal) (How does one teleport something of that mass over a long distance of space? I don't even think Mewtwo could do that.) (By removing three people I like from the story, I can't really say that's something I'm all that happy about) (I explained it in the summary. Her sacrifice will not be in vain...oh wait this was the timeline where it was in vain...no, this is the one where it wasn't. It's so confusing keeping track of these timelines) (Well if you didn't run off, we would've told you 3 years ago) (Bad things happened back then. Bad, bad things we don't talk about) (Eh, she'll be fine. She's handled worse) (Eh, she'll be fine. She's been through worse) (Yeah. Finally you acknowledge running off on your own causes problems. Problems not even God could fix) (Hooray! Finally I can sit and do nothing. Run over folks. Go home. We did it. Only took a century but...we're not even halfway done. Are we?) (Oh great voodoo magic. The only voodoo stuff I like are the chips and those are so freaking delicious. They aren't good for me but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make) (Yeah, let's not worry about people when there's a terrorist organization with a leader with the god of death on her side) (I feel like that's some advice a lot of people should take. Along with "People die when they are killed.") (>Logic >This game. Pick one) Don't you dare say anything Jan. You had a mother launch a child through the roof. And someone capable of turning into a Timburr. And a Roggenrola. And Melia exists. (This girl. It's like she understands me.) (The music better be ) (Personally I would've gone with nutjob) (Also, I feel awkward standing in the middle here. I feel a bit attacked) (She will not be given a space in my house. This is my house now, right?) Okay random thing. It kind of frustrates me we just up and leave this idea behind entirely. It never really gets talked about or brought up. We're offered to live here but never really stated what we would've done...because the protag can't talk. Actually, I feel like it's more that the PC is just there as a fly on the wall more or less. If it ain't a Pokemon battle they're kind of worthless. (I would've been shocked to see Cres Ex rave or even get drunk as hell. I'd pay money to see that) (Clearly Venam will stay behind and be emotional support for...) I didn't screencap but she doesn't. What? I have to cut something from the run because of how freaking long it takes for updates. Next thing you know, it'll be a year before the next one. (And it only took 3 years to get you to fight me. At this rate I'd be an old man if I tried proposing to you before you'd say yes) (Just because I'm slow doesn't mean I'm dumb. But uhhh...what main desk?) (Party time!) (Oh great! Now I have to hear more berating. Should I say "Yes, my lord" every time you give me "advice") (I try. I really try, but somehow I end up back here every single time only to screw things up even more than a Madoka Magica episode) (Have you met me? I die all the time in video games. I have 2 hours worth of me dying. I suck at games. Except puzzle games. Only thing I'm really good at) (Spoiler alert: The game contradicts this later) (You're right. Does it about 1000 times a night) (I'll get back to this in a second. I really like this line) (Don't have to tell me twice. We'll be raving until the sun goes down) (That is a change of character. Nobody here tells me to be happy. They just be like "Go save the world") (Well as they say "Misery loves company") (I dunno. I'm pretty rich in this game due to my restrictions) And since I haven't made a sexual innuendo this chapter: (How about I shove my Ekan into your ladder) Yes, I know this chapter is short and I will talk about that in a minute but I do want to talk about Crescent. I don't hate Crescent, but I can't say she's really likable. I've played through the game and I honestly just have to be blunt that she's the worst written character. Though I like Venam less that's more of a preference than more factual. The problem with Crescent isn't the plot because her backstory actually is rather interesting. The problem is she's just so stoic. The character basically just acts like God then contradicts herself acting human trying to be "nice" to the player. I'll do a character analysis of her in the next chapter and I think people will really, really like that one. But the problem with someone being stoic is that it also means they are boring by default. You have to get a bit creative on how you handle them with the biggest trick having a supporting character balance the flow making them more interesting. Opposites attract for a reason. Now for why this chapter is so short. My computer is having a fit trying to update and I don't feel like going through another episode of losing all my progress. There was quite a bit of rants I don't feel like retyping. I have the rest of the chapter, along with the Amber fight done and hilarious enough I did have a bit of trouble with Intense which either means the fight got harder or I'm rusty as hell. Anyways, I'll try to put out a Ch 61.5 sometime this week hopefully on Monday. But for now, enjoy a short updating just to know I'm not dead.

Well let me chalk this up as one of the few things I was wrong about. Surprised you aren't flooded with messages. Oh boy this is gonna cause a wildfire

So first off, don't be afraid to state your opinion. It's not being mean as ultimately it's just your opinion. Just don't take lessons from me. That never ends well it seems. I'll be up front and say there are games I've played and didn't like that other people love. There I games I love that a lot of people hate. It's honestly a good thing as it means you have taste and know what you want out of a game. I haven't played Spork but perhaps I can give you some insight and maybe it'll make it easier for you to decide: I'll just start off by saying this game was made in a significantly smaller time than either Rejuv or Reborn with a significantly smaller team. The game's aesthetics always gave me the impression it's more about silly fun more or less. The tile errors isn't a big surprise as there isn't actually an erase button in RMXP so it's so easy to screw up and you don't even know it. I had to redo maps even modding due to this misunderstanding and oh my god it's a pain. Reborn actually had quite a number of those in the early days and when one would be fixed, another 7 would pop up. The whole wondering around thing is more old school where you get barely any context and have to figure it out themselves. Easy to see why it can be hated. I could go into a tangent of linear vs open world here, but alas, now's not the time. The graphics is something understandable as well because people can be bothered by them. Reminds me of the great debate if Xenoblade has good or bad graphics. When it comes down to it though, fan created content is just so much hit or miss. I have a number of old hacks lying around on my computer (like 30) and some of them sucked and other were a blast. One of my favorites was Raptor Ex which honestly really aged badly but it really stuck out as after playing a Raijon Adventures (old dead fan-game) I always thought it'd be so cool if people could do more with this kind of stuff. Really might blow you away just how much better the fan-games are nowadays due to all the things fans have been making. 10 years ago I'd call you mad saying one day people would make games with 18 gym leaders in them or a long ass game easily taking over 40 hours to complete. Actually, I'd still call anyone who tries that crazy. You've probably played certain things that make stuff in your mind set boundaries to what is and isn't playable for you. End of the day you shouldn't feel bad for not liking a game. I'd say stop and put it on the shelf for a month or maybe even a few years (there have been games I put on hiatus and finished 5 years later. Longest was 13 years). If you yearn for it, then you'll pick it up and finish it and if you don't, you'll end up forgetting about it. There's an ocean of games to try and give a chance so not liking even a bunch isn't unheard of. Sometimes you do find games you absolutely love like me with the FFVII Remake. That's always why it's hard for me to give blind suggestions to people.

@Amethyst Were you seriously waiting for someone to ask just so you could drop something like that on us? All this time, I thought we weren't supposed to ask about when upcoming stuff is coming out. Has everything I've been told a lie? Is my life a lie? Do auths still smell? Do the spider people actually exist? Okay being serious, what are you looking to do for a demo? Is it like an hour showcasing stuff or is it actually a big chunk of the game like the equivalence of a Reborn episode. If you make it a 2 minute limit demo I will riot. I'm mostly just curious as demo really can be quite vague.

If Suze helped with anything we'd have to be going way, way back to Zeta/Omnicrom days which I know Ame has mentioned him before but any contributions would have been pretty small. This is like 6 or so years ago so I'm not even sure if anyone remembers. Hell, I barely even recall that stuff. I mostly recall the two being compared day in and out since they were really the only fan-games (not hacks) out at the time. There's been a ton of people who have helped contribute to Reborn it'd take me a minute to remember some of them. A lot of them were over small things such as shiny sprites.

There seems to be a misunderstanding. Ame's basement has current vacancy and in order to fill that vacancy of immobile bodies, some of us work on the game. This exchange of services is a mutual benefit to all Rebornians.

Excuse me for a moment while I get this loud screaming out of my head. Seems to happen every time there's a new release. Now then excuse me for being the igonramous of game development as my skills are of a toaster hotwired to a bomb, but is the Game-z run off all of the games files so if someone edited the game in RMXP it'd show up in that version or does it have its own system it reads off of? I guess the other question I have is if this was just a spur of the moment or are there plans for releases during the long wait time for E19 to come? You know how I love to copy and paste stuff over again and again. Just wondering.

Lin is...complicated. I guess in the sense she is the only undefeated champion from the Reborn league

Final Fantasy VII Remake Review Welcome to the show where I, the local contrarian, talk about controversial topics in ways people don't want to hear. And what better way than to talk about this absolute destine to be a trashfire for a game that came out 20 years ago with adults having hard ons for nostalgia all lead by a man who makes plots that makes me have aneurysms when time travel is involved. And this is all coming from a series which has declined into what people call a trashfire at worst and lackluster at best in the latest titles. And they literally could have made the shittiest game possible and it would have sold millions. If I were to sum up my entire thoughts in a single word it'd be this: how? And if I were to give it a sentence: they spent too much money on this game. So let me start with some background. I was a huge Final Fantasy fan when I was younger playing them all up through X (I'll get to 12 pretty soon). I could probably go into pretty good detail what I liked and disliked about each one. My favorites have been V and IX which those games were a blast to play. IX was a big shock because I played it on a time it was ignored or nobody talked about it but nowadays people rave it as one of the best. But we're not here to talk about the full series (seriously, I could if people wanted), but a game called FFVII. I started really getting into RPGs when the genre kind of peaked and there was one game everyone kept mentioning. It was Final Fantasy VII. You would see it everywhere including how cool Sephiroth was (I blame KH for this) and made it sound like the moment you'd play it you'd love it. If you asked me years ago, I'd tell you FFVII was a bad game after disc 1, but I've mellowed and say it's an okay game but with quite the mess. I'll start with FFVII's story. It's got a lot of ups and definitely a lot of memorable moments. It's easy to get attached especially for a game that could both be serious and completely nonsensical fun at the same time. Like I'd really enjoy the story...if it wasn't for Sephiroth. From my memory 15 or so years ago I felt like the game just poorly explained the main overall plot. I had to read explanation of things because I was just confused and "misunderstood" stuff. But if I have to give the game credit, it'd be for pretty much my absolute favorite opening in any game I've played. That is a masterpiece which probably is lost to gamers due to evolution of gaming. Graphics were...interesting and really jarring if you play it now but the background really stood out to me. I love the mural style in them. I really hated the gameplay. It was more less a copy paste for each character which you just set the magic you wanted on them. And oh boy was it a pain to rearrange Materia around. I did not find FFVII enjoyable so you can imagine that I had almost no interest in a remake. And even less interest when they were going to make you pay for 4 games for a single game that came out 20 years ago. A remake pretty much is just the same game just more polished and with bells and whistles. Even the new battle system didn't spark my interest. So why am I making a review on this game? Well I tried the demo and now I've chained myself into a decade long journey through a world I never wanted to go back to. With all the bitching and complaining and all the stuff people want to talk about please just take my advice and just ignore all of it. Play the demo and if you enjoy it, get the game. If you don't like it, then just pass. Past this point we're going to go into spoilers so I'm going to get into it but save the part that everyone and their mother really wants to read for last. The part people who didn't play the game harp on and why those people should shut up and play the game before judging. Music and Graphics The music made me nut. It made me nut many times. I don't do that for music. That's all...okay fine I'll talk about it. So I'll admit FFVII had a very iconic soundtrack that Umetsu made. Many of the songs had some very iconic sounds to them. I don't want to spoil that much but they clearly gave the sound team a massive, massive budget to work off of and damn did they use all that money wisely. There are two boss themes in particular that are so good I looked them up on YouTube. I'm not going to spoil it but I'll say that it is a damn impressive soundtrack. And now we get into the graphics. At first, I kind of hated how the characters looked with that weird realism stuff, but it did kind of grow on me. The real beauty in this game is the eye on the detail. Every square of the world is covered in detail. There's so many little things in this game it makes my heart sink just how much money they spent into designing stuff they didn't have to. There's a ton of extra little things you could just spend hours doing nothing but looking around. And as for someone who did not like Tifa's original design, damn. She looks great in the new one. Just reexperiencing all these iconic moments with these graphics was a treat alone. If you're a fan of the original, those scenes alone are more than enough to get your money's worth. They designed in a way where you could go "Oh I remember when this happened" from a game I haven't played in 13 years. There is one big negative which I guess should be in gameplay but it ties into the graphics. While everything is nice to look it, the game is very, very linear. I mean narrow straight line path linear. This is absolutely going to offput some people (I don't mind "corridor" games tbh) as there's not that much exploration. I think the biggest culprit would be the sector slums. You go to these civilizations and...they are just two loops meshed together. There is one that is imo done very well but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by the town designs which I hope Part 2 designs them a little bit better. Really all I have to complain about here but.... Gameplay Oh boy. Remember how I said FFVII I really didn't like the gameplay. They pretty much turned this into a pseudo KHII which I'm not really going to complain about. Let me explain. Everything is action based but you don't need to have ungodly coordination to play this game. I have the reflexes of a sloth and I was fine. I do like to compare this to KHII as at first glance it's a mash the attack button to win. FFVII keeps that basic toolset concept, but gives everyone unique skills and traits which learning will greatly reward you. And believe me, you'll be switching around characters in almost every battle. And what's even cooler is due to these skillsets and the Materia system, characters can take on different roles depending on the situation. FFVII Remake is a lot more strategy based than it is skill based. Even simple knowledge like knowing to spam thunder on machines goes a long way. This is due to a stagger meter which makes enemies vulnerable. Because enemies and especially end of chapter bosses make Xenoblade X enemies look like weaksauce (that game feels like it takes 10 minutes to kill normal enemies). I will say though, I did have some trouble learning a couple of the mechanics since it's all thrown at you at the beginning (FFVII I will admit still did it better...one of the few times I will admit that). I had the hardest time figuring out how to lock onto enemies. And I still have issues controlling that. I kind of wish R2 and L2 were the options to switch targets instead of the right analog stick. It's not that much of an issue but something you lock onto the wrong part and it bounces your attack only to get KO'd due to it. It's seldom an issue though. But the game gives you plenty of room for error and time to experiment to learn your stuff. And take the time to learn it or you will get your ass kicked hard by certain bosses. And now I get to discuss materia. This is the system that made everyone so generic. In this game, it's how you customize your characters which they give you a lot of freedom. Each weapon has its own unique differences which newer weapons are almost always better especially their final ones which give you materia slots. One of my major complaints is the lack of slots along with shortage of MP. In the early parts of the game it is better to waste items then it is to use a cure spell because of how reliant you become on magic. If you run out of MP, you're dead with the strong spells will drain your MP fast. Or in my Barret's case, sacrifice half your MP for one spell to do a good chunk of damage. There's a lot to it but it isn't that complicated. Just takes a bit of time to figure out. And oh, ethers only restore 20 MP so...you gotta learn to spend it carefully. Oh there's one other random thing. I suck at this game. I'm like really bad because I get hit. I get hit a lot and have to heal a lot (thank god pray exists). But it felt more strategic due to the turn system. You have to spend your actions carefully. Anyways, I managed to make it through the final boss so if someone like me can do it, anyone can. And if you don't play on Normal you are a pussy. Normal felt just right for someone like me, but I felt like they should have had a slightly higher difficulty to pick from since I think some people really needed more of a challenge. There is a higher difficulty but that is more like a postgame challenge (there is quite a bit to do after the final boss) but it'd be nice just to have that. I'm probably going to stick to normal though. There's also minigames in this game which are pretty fun. Of course these is one where you have to press buttons with some heavy, heavy distractions to look at. Like how am I supposed to focus on hitting buttons with that on my screen. There some other bells and whistles but honestly there's only one minigame that I'd say I really loved. If you played the original, you know exactly which one I'm talking about. It's the one at the end of Midgar. And now we get into the meat of this game: the bosses. Some of my reaction to these fights are absolute gold. One of them triggered my PTSD to a certain part of the original game I absolutely struggled with. I think the first boss sums it all up. In the original game, that scorpion was an absolute joke. In the demo, I lost about 25 potions on that thing because hitting it really hard is a great strategy. These bosses are puzzles which you do get small hints how to handle but you can handle them without exploiting their weaknesses and suffering through it. Believe me, you feel when you don't have the right magic equipped. Here's the craziest part: the feel cinematic while still providing a challenge. I never felt like I was going to wipe on any (only came close a couple times) but they weren't pushovers either in that I had to think what I was doing. And almost all bosses come in phases which you see a quick cutscene before jumping right back in. And it flows so smoothly. There was only one boss that I felt a little disappointed by. Most really delivered imo. Like I could make a paragraph for each boss on how I felt about them. They are awesome. Story (Sub-scenarios/Extras) I'm doing this a little backwards for my reasons. I'm sure you can just YouTube the FFVII Remake movie and see all of the clipscenes but...you're just missing out on so much. I'll just start with sidequests just to get them out of the way. There's a few little quests you can do in certain chapters of the game which is a fun little distraction throwing a bunch of little minibosses in the mix. They aren't the greatest bits but they aren't bad. One quest near the end made me die laughing due that dance animation. It reminds me a bit of the Trails in the Sky series which the first games kind of were like that but some of the later games made some fantastic sidequests. They aren't really dealbreakers, but they are a fun distraction adding to the game time. Except the cat quest. That last cat can go die in a whole even to Wedge's disapproval. Another thing that may come as a surprise is the characters. They really fleshed out all of them. I was surprised at how on point Cloud and Barret were to the original despite more or less having an entirely new script. I mean they toned down Barret's swearing but that was due to poor translation (or the translators were trying to be funny). I remember Tifa being very annoying in the original at first but she felt fine in this one. And Aerith is no longer a flat as hell character and actually has personality. And on top of that they added actually story and personality to the Avalanche crew. And on top of that they added a number of new characters who I honestly really liked. I also had no idea that Jesse was actually a girl until this game. Yes, I know it's Jessie now but...that should really tell you something. The real treasure is the sheer amount of dialogue which is all voice acted. You don't talk to NPCs for example and just listen to what they're saying. And their convos change as you progress the plot. It's really cool just to see what they are saying wondering around. Then there's all of this random dialogue put in while running around they really didn't have to put in. If you go the wrong way in one of the early chapters you can keep walking that way for a long time and your other party member keeps mentioning it until you are forced to go the other way. It's so nice and that little extra cherry on top that makes wondering around fun. If it weren't for this, it'd make the linear paths kind of boring. Story (Main Scenario) Now we get to that part. I know I've been hyping up something that isn't that big of a deal but I want to make something clear that will explain everything beyond: Final Fantasy VII Remake is not Final Fantasy VII And now you understand the controversy. I can't say much without spoiling anything but I'm not sure how much I can recommend playing this game before playing the original. I know, that's an odd thing to do about playing an outdated game which has the same exact story. If you played the original, you know what the story is in the new one...for the most part. They just added a lot of extras to many of the scenes. The original Midgard storyline was my favorite part of the original game so it was pretty obvious I was going to like this one as well. And now take heed as the rest of this contains major, major spoilers to both the old and new but I really think it needs to be said Conclusion So if you couldn't tell, I absolutely hated the game and totally wasted 60 bucks to the greedy and evil Squenix people. But honestly, this has been one of the few games the minute I finished I wanted to go back and replay it all over again. Like I almost did. If I did scores, it'd be a 9/10. Is it flawless? Not even close. It's just from an entertainment standpoint I was stunned. It's between this an 9 which one is my favorite FF. The game I am reminded the most of playing this was The Last Story in which it really did everything I wished that game would've done. Except the lack of prank bananas. My life would be complete if I could watch Sephiroth slip on a banana peel. Oh...I did remember something else. I'm gonna need a new hard drive since this one ate up the rest of my storage space. Never seen a PS4 game come with two discs until this one.

I've been around here long enough I can honestly say if Ame needed to take time off of Reborn she will and she has (ie the infamous Episode 16). I trust her judgement so I don't really sweat when stuff like this comes up. I feel like I said this before already. Huh, Deju vu.