Forever grateful to have been able to play this wonderful game back in 2019. Not only was it made by people from my own country, which led me to understand and feel to a very close level how living here influenced a good chunk of the writing, but also, this being my introduction to the Visual Novel medium absolutely opened a whole new world for me and allowed me to find stories that I consider were life-changing, one of them, even saving me at the lowest point of my life.

Gracias por todo, equipo de Sukeban Games. Gracias, Kiririn51.

Me: Mom, can I have Higurashi?

Mom: No, we have Higurashi at home.

Higurashi at home:

On a more serious note, this and VA-11-Hall-A might be the only Original English Language Visual Novels I consider to be really good and/or worth experiencing. Reading a furry VN in my college did get me some weird looks from other students though lol, will probably write an actual review in the future but for now, just know it's a cool horror-drama VN.

Over the course of the pandemic I lost contact with my best friend and most intimate friendship I had in my life, she was a lung cancer survivor that went through economical, emotional, and trust issues during her teenage-young adulthood years, she was also the first, and to this day, the only love I ever had. We met thanks to our shared enthusiasm for Squaresoft's RPG classics, and even though I never confirmed it for her, with the time I spent and knowledge about her as a person I have, I'm pretty sure that the game with the most impact in both of our lifes was Final Fantasy VI. I think we saw a lot of ourselves in characters like Terra and Celes, struggling to live in a world we never felt part of, and learning to fight such strong sense of isolation that we had in our daily lives in each other's company. Many memories rose up to my mind of sharing time with my friend when I travelled alongside Aerith, always having her in my party being both the main healer, and a very powerful sorceress, kinda reflective of how kind and helpful, yet strong-willed they both were. But, I also felt a creeping sense of uneasiness as I aproached the end of Disc 1, with a truth I was not able to accept until 2021, a full year after not knowing anything about her and trying through every possible way to reach her, a truth, that hit me just as hard as it did back then, causing me to break down into tears.

"Aerith is gone. Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry..."

At the time before her depart, and despite being a Final Fantasy follower since a very young age, I had not finished a single mainline game out of laziness, after that though? I was unable to finish those games that were so deeply close and influential to us, games that connected us together, and also helped me establish a common ground with my older sister (if you ever read this, I'm sorry I never told you), was it fear that, once I put it all in the past, would I forget about my beloved one and our moments together? Or was it a way to refuse the fact I reached adulthood trapped in such a shitty world and country to live in? No fucking clue what the answer is, maybe it's the former, since helping and encouraging me to become the best person I can be were some of the things she set as a living example for me. Hell, even after she was gone, I still thought what she would think was the best course of action I should take, and that would shape me to this day and year. But I do know though, those uncertainties vanished during my first ever playthrough of Final Fantasy VII. Helping me not only close a sad, yet important chapter of my life, as well as giving meaning and hope to continue on living after those who cannot anymore. I finally understand why this game gets so much praise, and you know what? it deserves it all and more, I'm grateful to have finished and completed Final Fantasy VII.

Shoutouts to @kakeraSKY for sharing their experience with this wonderful game, and motivating me (and I'm sure many others) to do the same thing, it has helped me release a big burden I've been with for so long and finally got the courage to talk about and share it here.