I have a strong attachment to Cosmo Canyon; not because of the narrative events but rather that this was where I spent a considerably large chunk of my playthrough grinding. The reason? HP Plus Materia.

You see, when I was younger, one the most important things to me in an RPG; any game really, was having really high HP numbers. I would stay here grinding away for what felt like dozens of hours until I had levelled each to near max level. By the end, Cloud was at level 50 before I even entered the 'Cave of Gi', and the rest of the game afterwards was a cakewalk, in comparison I was around level 30 when I got to Nibelheim on this playthrough.

Speaking of I quite enjoyed the puzzle involving cracking the code to the safe in the mansion, almost makes me want to forgive how awful the encounters in this place are. Yet again I must iterate, that the worst thing an enemy can do in this game is waste time, and oh boy...there are no shortage of them here. The ghosts that all manage to get a turn off before you can run away, that guy on a chain that keeps fucking falling over and wastes time trying to get back up (seriously what is the point of that?), and the worst of them all: Yin & Yang. Square(soft), I hate to inform you, but I don't in fact enjoy having to watch an enemy take 20 seconds to do an attack.

On a more funny note, I like how you can infinitely take Tifa's life savings from the piano.

"Me? Gongaga"

That's one element of the original I completely forgot about; meeting Zack's parents. I would like to see more closure given to them in either Rebirth or whatever Part 3 is called.

Got unlucky and one the robbers in Corel Prison stole my 'Guard Stick', which caused to reload because there's no way of replacing it.

Perhaps the worst thing enemies can do in this game is waste time. Those toads are diabolical.

I have to praise the developers for being so deceptive, running away on the name screen? priceless. Just wish I didn't have to go through 10+ battle encounters each time I messed up the dialogue choices.

Have to wonder if half of these minigames even work as intended, the one where you have to march in the parade is just so incredibly janky. Like, the captains tells me to go in from behind, then when I do apparently it's 'too far', but then you wait just a little too long and he gets mad at you.

I sincerely hope and can't wait to see how Red XIII's disguise comes to form in FF7: Rebirth. Part of me suspects he'll just stow away in the cargo hold, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. At the very least I need to see sailor Barret.

On the subjects on hopes for Rebirth, I kind of want them to turn the section where you're running across train tracks into some kind minecart minigame. You could be presented with the choice to bring either Barret or Yuffie (the selected receiving a boost to affection) and use them to hit switches changing the tracks.

Revisiting this game after...12 years I think? Never got around to replaying the original prior to the release of 'Remake', but now with 'Rebirth' on the horizon (and covering more material to actually compare with), I figured now was the perfect time to do so.

Made a pretty bad first impression on Aerith (Yes, I went with that spelling). That minigame involving the barrels is unfair since you taking shots in the dark as where the barrels go, doesn't help the first camera focus tricks me into using the wrong barrel. Thankfully, early encounters are pathetic so no harm done (She hates me).

Speaking of which, I find the entire midgar section way to easy. I know it's the tutorial, but could these enemies at least try to put up a fight?

Spruced up Cloud real good, and managed to get picked by Don Conero, which I don't recall doing on my first playthrough. Took advantage of my knowledge to snag a few good items early, like the 'Striking Staff', and a 'Carbon Bangle'. Tried going for a 'Hardedge', but the steal rates are atrocious and I'm not that committed to early game boost.

I felt like the 2nd half didn't quite match the 1st half in terms of quality. Still fun mind you, but levels kind of dragged during the latter portions of the game. Xen wasn't as bad as I'd heard people say in the past, though it could've been better.

I actually had to look how to perform a long jump.

You know I truly have my doubts regarding Gordon's credibility as a scientist. After coming to work late, he immediately tampers with the security desk computer, and then proceeds to; harass his co-workers; flick all the lights on and off; cause soup in a microwave to explode; expel all of the cans in the vending machines; and invade the privacy of two scientists in the restroom. To top it all off, he even jumpstarts a resonance cascade resulting in the outbreak of an alien army and killing majority of the staff employed at Black Mesa!

Although to be fair if not for him I wouldn't be playing the game so there's a silver lining to the chaos. Hard to believe Valve used to make games, wonder why they don't do that anymore. Despite showing it's age and the clunky interactions with the environment, it holds up surprising well for a game released back in 1998. Again, my biggest qualms so far are the really annoying hitboxes for environmental hazards, I died at least half a dozen times on 'Chapter 8: On A Rail' because I jumped off to close to the edge of the train and go squished. Fans are a nuisance likewise, and I gave up trying to get ammo from behind one after failing a few times.

Gunplay is solid, but enemies often can feel like bullet sponges, but this might just be down to me not using the right weapons or attacking or the correct time. The magnum can one-shot several of the medium sized creatures and turrets. I found out shooting the green-psychic blasting guys while they're charging up deals more damage so it pays to be risky.

Currently 2/3 of the way through so I'll probably finish this next session. I haven't been playing too many games recently because I've been too busy playing the hit new release 'seasonal depression' and so far it's been a downer to be quite honest.

Considering the hardware the game runs quite well, haven't encounter any dramatic FPS drop even during the large scale kaiju sections. Of course this did come at the cost of poor resolution, which does get particularly bad at some points, but it's a price I'm willing to pay for performance.

Still getting my bearings with the game, both gameplay and narrative. I've never actually play the prior two games (I own them, just never got around to playing) so I'm completely lost on what's going on. Wasn't expecting a multiverse story, and I don't think any homages will register with me.

Gameplay is devil may cry esque but with big monsters, still not used to combining bayonetta's moveset with her demons.

...

I'm around the halfway mark I think, the current room I'm stuck on requires either a wave / hyper (maybe even super) dash to reach a moving block to then wall bounce off said block and grab onto from the other side. Suffice to say I ended up stopping out of care for my wellbeing.

So begins my trip into Farewell, currently a third way through and I've probably died 400 - 500 times. I like the pufferfish and jellyfish mechanics.

I almost gave up, while C-Side 6 wasn't particularly hard, the next two put my patience to the test.

Chapter 7: C-Side is harder more so on a mechanical level, it's easy to figure what you need to do, but the execution is demanding. Over time, the movement became familiar and after around 2 hours and over 700 deaths, I'd reached the heart.

Chapter 8: C-Side proved most frustrating, clocking at a total of 3 hours and 950 deaths. This level introduces hyperdashing proper, and oh boy, I suck at it. Which isn't good especially when the level wants me to chain 4 of them in a row and later another 2 with the added pressure of rising lava. I got into a flow state where I would reach the last hyperdash tunnel, only to fail and have to repeat the whole screen. When I finally beat the level, my excitement was through the roof.

Onward to farewell now, wish me luck...

My reluctance to simply adapt to using the D-PAD proves yet again to be my bane, especially so in Chapter 5: C-Side. Wherein I repeatedly died due to dashing diagonally right-down as opposed to straight down, not something I can even fault since it's intended to played in only 8 directions with a D-PAD.

Still, I wonder how the game would feel if your dash wasn't by this constraint. Would I do better perhaps? If I were playing this on a PC, there'd probably be some mod available that let me test this, but alas I needed to spend my Nintendo gold coins that day.

Compared to the hell that was the last B-Side, Chapter 8: B-Side was significantly easier. My death count is still high of course, but overall this level felt more reasonable to accomplish. I even started popping off in some of these screens, went ultra instinct and cleared one of them first try.

Now I have do the C-Sides, and I've already made good progress on knocking each down. They're shorter but feature harder platforming, although honestly some screens are easier than stuff found in A-Side, though that might just be a result of improving. All things considered I'm dying more often in these rooms than I was in B-Side, however the length prevents the feeling of dread knowing you still have 10+ rooms to do.

This level marks the first to take over 2000 deaths to complete, I felt like throwing in the towel at so many points. I like the movement tech they introduce around the top of the summit, not too hard to get the hang of, but when required after a long series of jumps, it's stressful. Checkpoint 2 probably took over an hour to beat on its own, but the euphoria was amazing.

Got a really good run with sword, lucked out and got a hammer upgrade that gave life steal in exchange for lower max life. This allowed me to reach Hades on my 8th attempt, though I couldn't even beat his 1st phase.

Finished off the rest of Reflection B-Side, totalling at 1421 deaths. Though while I did die quite a lot, this didn't feel as difficult as the previous ones, at least not during the latter portions of the level. This could probably be contributed to me simply improving, but it did seem like progress came much faster. I wish there was a way to check deaths per rooms so you could figure out where you struggled most.

Just two more B-Sides now...

'Chapter 8: Core' was a fun level, it felt strange going from the hell that was Golden Ridge B-Side, to something more manageable. Still died a lot though (440 Deaths), mainly due to not being able to work out how to control the momentum of those magma blocks you need to grab and then jump off from. Taking away dash regeneration while grounded added an interesting element of resource management.

Leaving the pleasant scorching heat and lava of Core behind, I jumped back into pain to do Reflection B-Side. I think I got a third of the way through before I had to call it a night. Like the magma blocks, I just can't seem to understand how to control the momentum from the bouncers. Dashing into them appears to always send Madeline with high velocity, but sometimes it happens seemingly arbitrarily to launch me out at full speed, not giving me the time to react behind colliding into the spiky wall. Just a #skill_issue moment I guess.

Conquered the Golden Ridge B-Side after 1000 deaths, funnily despite the over 2 week long break, I'd actually say that I was playing better than I was last time. While I'm definitely cursing at myself when playing these levels, the sense of achievement as you get further and further through a portion, and eventually clear the level is immense.

Honestly Mirror Temple B-Side was probably easier, I still died 800 times but most of that was from overcomplicating the solution. During the Theo segment of the level, I kept trying to bounce off the seeker explosion to get enough to throw him over the wall, but then I briefly watched another person play that same part and simply wall jumped instead. I'd assumed the harder method was the correct one which made things WAY harder. The 'Impossible' room wasn't even that hard compared to what came before, though perhaps I had just improved.

I'll go to the core next time, certainly think I'm more than ready at this point.

Welp, I suppose that's the end of that. Obtained 100% completion, all that was left to do was the arena, some minigames, and grinding the rest of the gotcha, which wasn't nearly as daunting as I thought it was going to be. Found out after there were some secret rooms and HAL rooms I didn't find, but I'm not going bother. Afterall, what's the worth in uncovering a secret that's already been discovered.

Really enjoyed my time with Forgotten Land, while it might've been too easy for the bulk of it's playtime, and even the latter challenges can be trivalised with Morpho Knight, it kept me entertained.

I have only just made the discovery that 'perfect dodges' are a thing; now it's time to abuse this to no end. The difficulty is picking up, but the game is still fairly easy. I did almost die during the dark room section where you need to navigate it using lightbulb Kirby, kept falling off ledges.

As for progress towards 100% completion, I appreciate that the Waddles Dees and side objectives are listed relative to when you should encounter them in a level so it's makes tracking down the one you missed less annoying. Levels are also quick if you're only trying to reach end, which is very much welcome when replaying them.

It's quite remarkable how many of the staple aspects of the prior Kirby games (hovering, copy abilities etc.) translate so effortlessly into a 3D space. I will say that hovering does perhaps mitigate too many of the dangers typically present in platformers, like being able to save yourself from falling off a cliff. Though it's fun to stretch out air time for as long as you can to reach faraway areas.

The robust selection of copy abilities along with 'mouthful mode' add much variety to the gameplay. Is each and every ability properly balanced? No, and I'm not even a third through the main story yet.

Still unsure to the setting, it's clearly a ruined dystopia of our world, but where'd all the humans go? Why are the Waddle Dees being kidnapped, and by who? Did these animals hop in a vat of acid or were they always anthropomorphic and abnormally large?

Seriously, what is it with modern Nintendo titles and the seemingly mandatory requirement to include gacha into the mix. Like this isn't at all going to affect my enjoyment of the game, but why has it become so commonplace lately?

The choice to not include SFX in the cinematic CGI cutscenes is interesting, though I'm sure if it's been executed in the best manner. Sometimes the music doesn't quite pair up with the visuals which makes me feel like there's a technical issue despite not actually being one.

Even so, it's hard to be upset with the game when it's so abundantly charming. Mouthful mode is just wonderfully silly, and the animations really help highlight these moments.