Final Fantasy VII: Remake

 

I've never been a fan of turn-based games, and thus despite its huge popularity, I've never played a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy VII Remake came out in 2020, and a PS5 version was released in 2021, just shortly before I got my PS5. The gameplay was completely revamped to include more direct action and less turn-based action, so immediately the game became more appealing to me. I saw a couple of videos on YouTube showing the action, and I thought the game looked super cool. And it was available on Playstation Plus, so I had no reason not to try out the game. I had no idea what to expect and now that I've finished the game I can say that it blew my mind. The game itself is good (not great), but I think it is an example of where the whole is likely greater than the sum of the individual parts. I'm going to try my best to explain what I mean below. 

The original game came out in 1997 for the Playstation, around the same time as Metal Gear Solid. Metal Gear Solid (MSG) became one of my favorite game franchises, and it blew me away at the time with its double disc and movie-like narrative. Final Fantasy VII (FFVII) reminds me a lot of MSG. Metal Gear itself is a weaponized mech, and FFVII is full of mechs designed by the Shinra Electric Power Company. The plots of both games are convoluted and somewhat difficult to explain (I'm going to try my best to explain FFVII's plot below), but both ooze with Japanese weirdness. It's a bit difficult to explain, you just have to experience it and you'll know what I mean. MGS's double disc presentation blew my mind at the time, and apparently FFVII was on 3 discs, which is incredible.

The Shinra Electric Power Company (Shinra) generates power from "mako", a substance that gives energy and life to the planet. The group Avalanche believes that mining mako harms the earth, making Shinra an evil corporation. This is the basis of the plot. The main character that you play is Cloud, a mercenary that joins Avalanche for a job and ends up staying with them throughout the duration of the game. Other members include Tifa (below in blue) and Barret. What's interesting about this is that members of Avalanche are playable throughout the game beyond Cloud.

The basis of the plot is simple enough to understand, but things get weird quick. We discover that Cloud is a former Soldier, a member of Shinra's army that uses mako to enhance the soldiers. It becomes apparent that Shinra is more than a power company. We meet Aerith (below in red), who is kidnapped by Shinra. We learn that she is one of the last surviving members of the Ancients, and Shinra believes that she can show them how to get to the "Promised Land" that is overflowing with life force that they can exploit. We discover that Shinra is performing experiments, developing weaponized mechs, has an army, etc. The weirdness goes on and on, to the point where it becomes difficult to explain because of how convoluted it is. I don't even fully understand it myself, even after finishing the game. 

The convoluted story would be a turn-off for most, but somehow this games is able to pull it off. Mixed in with the weirdness is a lot of normal stuff. While Cloud is difficult to like, Barret has a little daughter and Tifa runs a business. The story takes place in Midgar, a city full of innocent citizens in the shadow of Shinra's huge corporate headquarters. The whole presentation is fantastic, as is the music and gameplay. While the story is difficult to understand as far as the details go, it keeps the game intriguing because you really don't know what to expect next. 

Apparently FFVII Remake is part 1 of 3 of FFVII, and part 2 (Rebirth) is already out. I really enjoyed this game and plan to play Rebirth. I cannot end this post without mentioning Chapter 9 of Remake, however. Chapter 9 - The Town That Never Sleeps, is one of the most memorable stages in a game I've ever played. Tifa is kidnapped by the gangster Corneo, and Cloud and Aerith go to Wall Market, which is like the Las Vegas of Midgar. In order to get to Tifa, you have to participate in an underground fighting ring, and meet some of the city's more questionable characters, including Madame M, who owns a massage parlor and gives Cloud a creepy hand massage. Corneo likes his ladies (which is why Tifa is kidnapped), and Cloud has to cross-dress in order to infiltrate Corneo's palace to reach Tifa. The stage ends after you beat the boss, which is literally a house. That's right, you fight a house to end the stage. It is so wonky and weird that it is good.

My State of Mobile Gaming in 2024: Part 7 - The Portal Away From Home

Given the amount of tweaking I've had to do on my home network to get the Portal to run smoothly (see here and more to come on this in Part 8), I did not have high expectations for playing the Portal away from home. Over the past few months, I've had a handful of opportunities to play it while on the road, and I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by how well it has worked. However, there is one big exception to this, a problem I've run into more than once while trying to play away from home.

The Portal worked well at my dad's house, as well as a rental cabin in the middle of nowhere in southern Illinois. My dad has quick internet at his house, similar in speed to the internet I have at home, so I expected it to work there. I didn't test the internet speed in Illinois, but presumably it was not too quick given the remote location of the cabin. It worked pretty well there. I had infrequent quality and frame rate drops due to low internet connection warnings, but they were brief and resolved without losing connection to the PS5, and thus didn't interfere with gaming. 

While playing on individual networks away from home has worked well, the one location where I've ran into trouble is hotels. The reason is captive internet. Most hotel networks require a login through a web browser, and the Portal does not have a web browser. This is a major oversight, in my opinion, and hopefully it is something Sony can fix through a software update. There are a couple of ways to get around this issue. One is through a concept called MAC spoofing, a process that is complicated and likely beyond anyone's capability unless they are highly educated in the nuances of networks. The other way around it is to create your own hotspot. This is a simple process on the iPhone. I've tried it twice and didn't have much luck either time, unfortunately. In Cincinnati, I couldn't even get the Portal to connect to my hotspot. While in Texas, I was able to get the Portal to connect but experiences very poor performance with multiple disconnections from the PS5.

To be fair, I knew about the lack of web browser and thus the difficulty with connecting the Portal to captive networks prior to buying the device. If I traveled a lot and was planning on using the Portal specifically for travel, I might have not purchased it because of this and instead purchased a Steam Deck. However, I primarily use the Portal at home, and about half the time when traveling stay in rentals not hotels, so I was willing to sacrifice consistent hotel connections with the Portal. Interestingly, one of the hotels we stayed at in Texas had a conference network that didn't require a password. I was able to join that network without any trouble and played the Portal just fine, without any disconnections or network performance issues. 

In summary, I've been pleasantly surprised by how well the Portal works away from home. I've had no or minimal trouble on individual networks, some of which were not overly robust. I think my success in these situations points to the importance of having a good network setup for the PS5 itself. My hotel experience with the Portal has not been positive, however. The lack of a way to connect to captive networks is a major oversight by Sony, one that I would assume is big enough to make people contemplate not buying the device. Hopefully Sony can fix this through a future update.

Addendum (6/20/24): It's as if Sony was reading my mind. Within a week of publishing this post, Sony announced than an update for the Portal was being released which includes functionality to support connecting to public Wi-Fi! I can't wait to try this out, so more to come in the future after I have a chance to give it a try. 

Fallout (Season 1)

 

I wasn't planning on watching this show because I've never played the games. However, I had a couple of people recommend that I watch and it was a short season so I decided to give it a go. I had a vague understanding of what it was about - postapocalyptic survival - but knew nothing of the details. With that being said, I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a fantastic show about survival and conspiracy, a show much more violent than I expected, and a show with an excellent story.

Lucy lives in a survival vault, one with ideal morals and living. When her dad is forced to leave the vault, Lucy decides to leave as well, in order to find him. When she leaves the vault she enters the Wasteland, which is what remains of Earth following the nuclear war. In the Wasteland people will do anything to survive. She quickly has to abandon her traditions and morals from the life she is used to in her vault in order to survive. To get to her dad, she must deliver a scientist to the leader of the New California Republic. The problem is she isn't the only person looking for this scientist, as there has been a bounty placed on him.

The Brotherhood of Steel uses modern tech to confiscate modern tech so that criminals cannot use modern tech. Their background and history isn't explained well. They are the guys in the huge mech suits, and they are also looking for the scientist. Lucy crosses paths with Maximus, a squire who lets his knight die and takes over his mech suit.

Legendary ghoul bounty hunter Cooper Howard is also looking for the scientist. This is where the story gets interesting, because Cooper was alive when the bombs dropped 200 years ago. What we discover is that ghouls are created from radiation poisoning and that Cooper is able to stay alive through medicines. An inter-tangled plot of current time featuring Lucy (2296) and the past featuring Cooper and his wife who works for Vaul-Tec (2077) begins, explaining how Vault-Tec is responsible for the war so that they could sell survival vaults. We also learn that Vault 33, Lucy's home vault, is ran by Vault-Tec employees who have survived in tanks, including her father.

The show really is a lot of fun, and exposes secrets and conspiracy as it progresses. It feels a little like Lost, and you always question what is truly going on. Mixed with that is the violence and questionable actions that occur when trying to survive a nuclear wasteland. The show was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to season 2. Additionally, I have Fallout 4 on the PS5 and am planning on trying it out since I haven't played any of the games in the past.

The Bad Batch (Season 3)

 

Dave Filoni's animated Star Wars series have been some of my favorite Star Wars content. I always enjoyed the original trilogy, but I don't think I became a true Star Wars fan until Disney+ was available and packaged all of the content in addition to the feature films together. I don't remember what prompted me to start watching the Clone Wars animated series, but it gave me a much better understanding of the Clone Wars and secondarily a much better appreciation of episodes I-III. Prior to watching the Clone Wars series, I was like everyone else with regards to episodes I-III in that I felt about "meh" about them. The Clone Wars series opened up an entire universe of Star Wars stories and characters to me, one that expanded much beyond the original trilogy. I've been a big fan since, watching Rebels and subsequently the other non-animated shows from the Disney+ era, for better or worse. The Bad Batch animated series falls right into the middle of this conversation, a bit of an off shoot about supporting characters from the Clone Wars.

I've really enjoyed this series and am sad to see it end. While not as influential as the Clone Wars series, the show finally focused in on a meaningful plot in season 3. As the show progressed we realize that Omega is important to the Empire, but the big question is why? That is revealed in season 3. Apparently there is something about Omega's genetic makeup that allows her to be cloned without degradation of midichlorians. This allows the Empire to use her DNA to make clones who are force sensitive, a project known as necromancer. This tight focus on a much larger plot in the Star Wars universe made season 3 the best season of the series in my opinion. I always thought some of the story arcs in seasons 1 & 2 were a bit meandering and not all that important. That is not the case in season 3. 

A couple of other random thoughts about season 3. The animation is spot on. It is a wonderful looking show. There were times when watching it where I thought they should just do all Star Wars content in this animation. The second thought is that the sound and music in this show has been fantastic, and season 3 probably features the best soundtrack of the series. It has a very dark, almost Trent Reznor-like sound. 

Out of all the Star Wars content from the Disney+ era, some of it is must see and some of it is likely not worth your time. This show falls into the former, especially season 3. It is really well done and tells a very important story in the greater Star Wars universe. 

Shogun (Season 1)

 

Shortly after finishing the great samurai game Ghost of Tsushima, the TV series Shogun debuted on FX. The timing could not have been better for me. I was still in the mood for more samurai action, so the show was a welcome extension of the awesome action that I experienced in the game. The show is fictional, but is loosely based on real events that occurred in feudal Japan in the 1600s. The current Shogun dies, and his heir is a child too young to lead. A council of regent leaders is established, and what follows is a power struggle amongst the council members to become the next leader of Japan. This situation has very strong Game of Thrones vibes. Throw in a European with unknown intentions and some religious tensions between Christians and Protestants, and the scene is set for an epic drama.

I admittedly struggled to keep the characters straight initially. However, after the first few episodes, it becomes apparent that there are two main characters from the council battling for power. Lord Toranaga is the main character, who is able to use wits more so than strength to win the crown of Shogun. In reality, his Shogun ruled Japan for over 200 years, which is amazing to think about. The show relies more on drama than action, which I was OK with. When the English Protestant sailor John Blackthorne arrives in Japan, Torananga takes him captive and essentially uses him as a political chess piece. Christians from Spain have already arrived to spread Christianity (and to take advantage of the Japan-China-Europe trade triangle to benefit Spain) and Blackthorne's intentions are unclear and thus the Japanese are suspicious. Obviously there is a language barrier, and although he learns Japanese along the way, much of his interactions rely on translation. Lady Mariko becomes his main translator. She is from a dishonorable family, and must prove her allegiance and value. Toranaga, Blackthorne, and Mariko form the 3 main characters, as they attempt to out maneuver Toranaga's political rivals. 

One of my favorite parts of the show was the inside look of what feudal 1600s Japan was like. After playing Ghost of Tsushima, my interest was piqued on the topic. Assuming the show is at least somewhat accurate, it is really interesting to me to see their customs and way of life, especially regarding the samurai and their loyalty. Samurai are commonly featured in pop culture, but beyond knowing that they are Japanese soldiers who use swords, I knew nothing about them. I found this aspect of the show the most enjoyable, on top of the great drama and story telling. The show ended at a point that I thought was appropriate for this to be a one season mini series, but it was recently announced that it was renewed for seasons 2 &3, so I will be looking forward to watching it in the future.

A Song Of Ice And Fire: A Feast For Crows

 

Shortly after starting this book I realized something was off. It just didn't flow as well as the previous books, and honestly wasn't as interesting. I did some research and turns out my intuition was right. Apparently as Martin was writing this book, he realized that it was becoming too large. Instead of splitting it into parts, he decided to split the story and have two books following the same timeline simultaneously. A Feast For Crows follows characters near King's Landing and Westeros. A Dance With Dragons (which I am reading now) is the other book on the timeline, which follows characters north of the Wall and in Essos. The issue with this approach is that at this point in time, most of the main characters are no longer in King's Landing. Cersei and Jaime Lannister are the two biggest characters remaining. There's no Jon Snow (he was never in King's Landing), no Tyrion, no Daenerys, etc. You get the point. Leaving most of the major characters out of the book was a ballsy decision by Martin, and I think the book suffered because of the decision. It's not a bad book per se, but definitely is not as good as the books in the series up to this point. There are several lengthy chapters following Brienne of Tarth as she searches for Sansa (her and Littlefinger are also in Westeros and thus in the book) and Samwell Tarly as he journeys from the Wall to Oldtown. Obviously these chapters are not as interesting as a chapter about Tyrion.

Having Cersei and Jaime as the book's main characters is problematic too. After Joffrey's death, the council and mainstay side characters in King's Landing are all different now. Even though Joffrey was a jerk, he was at least interesting. Tommen is basically a non-factor as a character. Most of Cersei's story in this book revolves around setting up the new council and dealing with their incompetence, which isn't exactly thrilling stuff. Jaime is sent to the Riverlands to deal with the remaining Lords who don't support Tommen. This is a similar situation in that, much like the council, we've got unfamiliar people in familiar locations, but their lack of familiarity makes it somewhat difficult to care all that much.

The tide of good fortune begins to change for Cersei, however, by the end of the book. The religious zealots the Sparrows have infiltrated King's Landing. Cersei attempts to frame Margaery Tyrell for infidelity against Tommen. However, the Sparrows catch Cersei's lie and imprison her. With Tywin dead and the rest of her family no longer supporting her, Cersei's smugness finally gets the best of her. This is the most interesting and important part of this book, and it will be interesting to see what happens to her and the Lannister family moving forward.

It's Always Sunny In...Wrexham? (Seasons 16 & 2)

 

I decided to combine the posts for It's Always Sunny season 16 and Welcome to Wrexham season 2 because I have too many posts in my queue, waiting to be published, and because Rob McElhenney is involved with both shows. It's amazing to me that It's Always Sunny is still producing new episodes and still on TV. Despite its age, the show remains amusing. I don't have anything specific to say about season 16. The format of the episodes and jokes remain the same, so if you've been following the show over the years then you will enjoy the latest season.

I'd like to spend a little more time discussing Welcome to Wrexham. Ryan (Reynolds) & Rob's purchase of Wrexham's soccer club is one of the most interesting stories in sports at the moment. Wrexham is portrayed as a down-on-its-luck town, with their soccer club struggling and stuck in the lower leagues of play. Their fans are extremely passionate, and their moral as well as the moral of the city ebbs and flows with the team's success (or failure). When Ryan & Rob purchase the team, not only did they shine a spotlight on the Wales community, they infused some much needed energy (and more importantly, capital) into the team. The show is a documentary about the team and the community, and it is really well done and interesting to watch. 

There are two things I specifically want to discuss regarding soccer in the UK. The first is the concept of promotion and relegation. The UK soccer ladder is long, with the Premiere League (level 1) being at the very top and featuring the most famous and well known teams and players. When Rob & Ryan purchased Wrexham, they were playing in the National League North/South (level 6). The best comparison I can think of in the United States is minor league baseball, and level 5 of English soccer would be akin to a league less than single A baseball. What's really neat about this situation, however, is that teams have the opportunity to move up (or down) leagues based on their success. Moving up leagues means more money, which can then be fed into the team to sign better players, upgrade stadiums, etc. It's really tough to move up leagues, however. As successful teams move up, teams that struggle move down. I find this concept really interesting, and it would be cool if leagues in the United States had a similar situation. Since Rob & Ryan bought Wrexham, the team has been promoted twice, and now play in League 2 (level 4).

The second item I wanted to discuss regarding English soccer is more of an observation than a fact, and that is the passion of the fans. We have passionate fans in the United States, but the level of passion displayed by the fans of Wrexham is truly amazing, and borderline crazy. In the US, everyone roots for the top tier professional teams. In my experience, the minor league teams always have their devoted fan base, but they are typically small and relatively quiet. Can you imagine a community in the US supporting a minor league sports team that is playing in the equivalent league of single A ball or lower the way Wrexham supports their football team? The only analogy I can think of in the US where communities rally around a team is small town high school sports. I suspect the ability to be promoted to a higher league plays a part in the support the team receives. Regardless, their passion for their team is great to see.