Finally finished my first playthrough! Probably would have finished it sooner, but I've been juggling a bunch of games alongside this.

Anyways, this was amazing! I've now wrapped a 90 hour playthrough and still feel like I've just scratched the surface. I'm even feeling like maybe doing another playthrough (maybe an evil/Dark Urge one), which is pretty rare for me. It's more than just a sequel to classic D&D games or the game that may have finally popularized CRPGs or even a game that has some of the most well-acted, well-written characters I've seen in a video game. It is just an incredible experience of a game!

I was initially somewhat disinterested at first playing through this when I realized a large portion of the game was about trading (not usually my favorite part of playing strategy games like these). But, after digging into it, I really appreciate its narrower focus compared to the Civ games where it really hones in on your settlements, your individual colonists, your relationships with native tribes and especially with your European overlord. It makes you feel more attached to all these elements in-game when everything's going really well or really poorly, something that I think only Crusader Kings has successfully pulled off

My only replay of my Pikmin marathon, and thus, the first Pikmin game I ever played. It's still quite good, with pretty intriguing level design that is more preoccupied with managing Pikmin with multiple captains and more multi-step boss fights. It also still looks really nice for a game that's now a decade old! I do wish that it kind of kept the consumerist satire from Pikmin 2 (or, well, a lot of the more cynical personality shown from the previous Pikmin games) instead of the relatively flavorless dynamic between the three captains and the vague environmentalist themes here

My favorite Pikmin game so far! Even though it took a little time to come to grips with less time limits and less emphasis on the hub world puzzling compared to 1 and 3, I do really dig Pikmin 2's more strict approach to its levels/caves. Some later levels can be pretty frustrating, but it's a nice challenge (and made slightly more bearable by saves between levels) to make up for the lack of time limits. Purple and White Pikmin are great additions to the puzzling possibilities, as well, thanks to their specific abilities (increased carry weight and power for purples, faster carrying and poison resistance in whites) and limited availability. Also, I love how in-depth the world building is thanks to the Piklopedia and Treasure Hoard that even provides funny commentary and differing viewpoints from Olimar (biology of creatures/views on treasure he finds), the spaceship (how to sell treasures), and Louie (best ways to eat creatures). That comedic streak even extends to the plot and crux of the game that it's all spent to clear up the debt for Olimar's company as he slaves away on a cute yet hostile planet

A fun and interesting enough game that's unfortunately a bit of a mess both story-wise and gameplay-wise. Story starts off with some intrigue with the academy setting of awkward teens having to commit war-crimes but just kind of goes off the deep end in the third act where a bunch of crap's kind of thrown at the wall to see what sticks. Combat's still fun, if a little more tedious than in prior Final Fantasies thanks to some needless overcomplications with the Junction and Draw mechanics. Still enjoyed my time with it, especially in no small part due to the excellent music and Squall being one of the most interesting main protagonists that Final Fantasy has come up with (even if the rest of the cast can be somewhat lacking). Triple Triad's pretty fun!

I'm finally going to get around to doing a, hopefully, quick marathon of the Pikmin games up to 4. I've honestly only played 3 before, so I'm curious to try out the older ones now. This one's a nice little package that can still be a little difficult with the time limit and the Pikmin's wonky AI (luckily got all ship parts in 22 days, even with two or three days spent going back to the Impact Site to restock my Pikmin numbers). I quite enjoyed its air of mystery and how it only tells you about the world through Olimar's eyes. He has a more interesting perspective than I thought with him being portrayed as curious and stubborn and gullible, when my only other experiences with him are in Pikmin 3 (where he is barely in it) and Smash Bros. (which doesn't show off much of his personality except that he's good at leading Pikmin)

Before I started this marathon, the two Final Fantasy games I was obviously most aware of were VI and VII. Naturally, when you hear about Final Fantasy VII, you always hear about Cloud, Midgar, Tifa, Aerith, her death, Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel, the Weapons maybe, etc. You know how beloved it is by fans and Square Enix itself, with prequels, movies, remakes, Smash Bros. appearances, and much more. Even as someone who had not played a Final Fantasy game at that time, I felt like VII hogged too much of the spotlight and gravitated to VI more (that, and I was/am generally more fond of the 16-bit era than the 64-bit era). So, let it be known after playing both of them for the first time, that as much as I loved VI, that I now fully understand why VII has become so beloved and iconic.

The iconography does make quite the impression: in the early hours in Midgar, with all of the well-known party members (many with pretty substantial arcs, or, with Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith, arcs that last the entire game), with Aerith's death (still really well handled even now knowing how often Final Fantasy liked to kill off a party member in each game), with many of the amazing boss fights, etc. Funnily enough, as iconic as FF7 is, I was not really aware of all the ins and outs of the plot until I played, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the game was about environmentalism and identity. The gameplay itself is certainly no slouch with the active turn-based combat fine-tuned, with the Materia system allowing for a similar level of customization to play styles similar to that of VI, with all of the memorable settings even outside of Midgar (Junon, Gold Saucer, Cosmo Canyon, Temple of the Ancients, Northern Cave, etc.) that previous games somewhat lacked (mainly due to technological prowess), and with the amount of sheer stuff there is to do (a wealth of minigames, Chocobo races and breeding, some terrifying Weapon superbosses, and more). There just is a sheer magic to this game that, at the time, it must have really felt like the future of the video game medium, and it is still so beloved to this day that it is, very likely, the first game you think of when you think of Final Fantasy.