Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Review – Part One)

I was sorely distracted at work today, because they’re building the new airport parking lot directly across the street from my building. Thanks to my co-worker, I was told that the distinct trembling of the building was due to the rollers, who were pounding down rocks to make asphalt. It wouldn’t have been so terrible, but it made my buttcheeks tremble in my chair, which was, as previously mentioned, very distracting. 

After spending most of the morning dealing with a moving company, which was actually the better part of the day, I then managed to whack my boss in the head with a cabinet door whilst looking for envelopes. 

I may need more therapy after all this. 

But despite these minor inconveniences, what has mainly kept me going the last week or so is the release of the glorious Final Fantasy VII Remake. As per our usual tradition, my brother has been the one doing the playing while both of us have been transfixed by the beauty of this game. I daresay it’s going to end up in my top five favorite games.

So here’s my weird confession. 

Sephiroth has long been one of my favorite villains because…well, just look at him. 

I was also one of the few who absolutely loved the Final Fantasy VII movie, Advent Children. 

A friend at the time was gracious enough to explain the significance of the characters and whatnot for me, so I wasn’t completely out of the loop. This also meant that the big spoiler was revealed to me. Since I knew nothing about the game at that time, all I was enthralled with was the glory of the graphics. And Sephiroth. 

Always Sephiroth. 

Many years after Advent Children came out, my brother tried playing through the original FFVII. We enjoyed it for the most part, but didn’t get far enough to really become all that attached to the characters. I knew it had to be a top favorite for a reason, however, so when I heard of the Remake coming out, I was beyond thrilled. Best of both worlds, in my humble opinion. I was getting the graphics of Advent Children with the original storyline of the game.

And so far, it has not disappointed. 

However. 

I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THE LEVEL OF EMOTION THIS GAME WOULD EVOKE IN THE FIRST UMPTEEN HOURS OF PLAYING IT. 

Seriously. Not. Prepared. 

And since I know of a very specific spoiler coming down the road much later on in the game, I just looked at my brother at one point with tears already in my eyes and said, “This game is gonna make me ugly cry, isn’t it?” 

He just sniffed back his own tears and replied, “Probably.” 

God help us both. We’re only about 20 hours in at this point, and I’ve already been kicked in the gut more times than I care to admit. 

But it’s so good. 

It’s the level of storytelling and character development that every author dreams of achieving. So the bright side is that I’m so inspired right now. 

We’ve had to take a brief hiatus due to busy work schedules, but I’m hoping here soon we’ll be able to finish this first installment. I’m trying to stay patient because I know my brother has a lot on his plate right now, but dagnabbit I NEED MORE OF THIS GAME. 

Okay, end fangirl rant. 🙂 

Jessica Jones

So I confess that I’ve slacked off on my geekery as of late. I haven’t been as faithful to watch all of the comic book movies that have come out as I have been in the past. (I still haven’t even seen Justice League for sweet pity’s sake.) And because my budget has been less than stellar, I’ve had to be pickier on which movies I watch in the theater and which ones I’ll have to Redbox later.

What I’ve really been bad about has been all of the comic book series that have come out over the last couple of years. Yes, I’m speaking of the myriad of shows that are available for streaming on Netflix, both from Marvel and DC Comics. To be honest, I haven’t really watched any of them. Oh, they’re all queued up in my list, but I haven’t bothered actually investing in any of them, despite the raves that I hear about some in particular.

Well, one of those series was Jessica Jones. I’d heard mixed reviews on it, though I try not to let other people’s opinions sway me too much on movies and TV shows. After all, I tend to like a lot of the movies that the majority of people have despised. (Suicide Squad, anyone?) In this case, I had friends on both sides of the fence. Some loved the show, others hated it.

After a decent day of hiking with my brother’s and my good friend, Handsome Ben, we decided we were both starving and wanted to order some pizza. I mean, we’d just trekked nearly five miles through the woods, so we’d earned it, right? (Side note: My brother has a plethora of Bens in his life, so I had to start assigning them all nicknames in order to keep track of which one he was talking about at any given moment. There’s High School Ben, Bodybuilder Ben, College Ben, Cousin Ben, and my personal favorite, Handsome Ben. Now you know.)

We decided we wanted to watch something while we ate, so he asked if I had seen Jessica Jones yet. He had only watched episode one and was willing to re-watch it, so we went ahead and gave it a shot. Now I’ll say this for Marvel, they certainly don’t censor nearly as much for their Netflix shows as they do most of their movies. *eyebrow waggle* Still, it was an intriguing storyline and I actually wanted to know more about Jessica’s past and the mysterious Kilgrave. There was time for one more, so we went ahead and loaded up episode two. It’s already getting better, and I’m starting to see why people enjoy this show so much.

THEN.

Then the Big Thing happened. Because, you see, Kilgrave isn’t revealed right away. He’s this slightly obscured character who is clearly disturbed and one of the creepier villains I’ve seen. But episode two starts to show the tiniest bit more of him. So here was my actual thought process as I watched the final part of episode two:

Me: (watches Kilgrave enter random couple’s house, seeing only the back of his head) Dang, he’s creepy. That whole mind control thing is messed up.

On TV, Kilgrave walks around like he owns the place and is still creepy, then turns his head to the side.

Me: (sits up on the couch) Wait a minute, I know that profile.

On TV, Kilgrave keeps talking, giving instructions on how he wants his food prepared.

Me: (points hysterically) OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Ben: (looks confused)

Me: IS THAT DAVID TENNANT?!?!?!?!?! IS THAT FREAKING DAVID TENNANT AS THE VILLAIN IN THIS SERIES??!?!?!?!??! *fangirl scream*

Suddenly, I have every reason in the world to binge-watch this series in the next two days. And they’re all David Tennant.

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME HE WAS IN THIS SERIES? HOW DID I NOT REALIZE IT UNTIL JUST NOW?

Sweet cracker sandwich, I have some serious catching up to do. What will I find out next? Is there something crazy awesome in Luke Cage or Iron Fist that I need to know about?

WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END??

I can’t waste any more time here, people. I have Netflix to watch.