In Final Fantasy VII, just like in VI, there comes a time when you can fly your own airship around the world. And that’s a very liberating experience. You can go (almost) anywhere you want without the constant hassle of random encounters. Granted, the ship also let’s you do that, although that’s confined to shallow waters only. But that airship quickly became confined as well, because I couldn’t figure out how to exit the thing! Most likely I hadn’t paid enough attention to the onscreen instructions. Once again this is a RTFM moment, but once again I felt reluctant to consult the manual, because it’s such an unreadable mess. The print is much too small and the lettering too weird to enjoy reading it. When I finally figured it out, it was a big `dûh moment` of course.

Thanks to the very clear instructions I was able to make quick progress. Highlights were going to outer space in a rocket, visiting the Temple of the Ancients and fighting dragons, climbing the icy rocks, watching the huge cannon shooting a giant monster and kater walking over that same cannon.

Not everything was a highlight though. The whole part inside Cloud’s head was very confusing. This is one of the many moments were the game would have benefitted from voice acting I think, because the very short sentences and at times weird phrasing often makes it difficult to determine what’s going on. I’m very much looking forward to playing the remake one day to see if it becomes more clear. Of course, by then I will benefit from having played through the story once already.

A lot of enemies are fun and weird. But I must say that the fights are too easy, even for one as me who hasn’t played many jrpg’s. I seem to remember fights in Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound being much more challenging and fun. I rarely use any magic, because it isn’t necessary. Rarely are enemies only susceptible to certain kinds of damage or magic.

Despite the clear instructions and the linearity of the story, I had some moments where I was lost. The random encounters make it difficult to enjoy exploring where to go, so I did look online for clues.

One of those times was when the floating professor joined and he hinted that we needed a key. I remembered something about a key and a action game with the submarine. So I figured out that I needed to go back to the submarine, but once I did the door was locked. I couldn’t make any progress until an online clue led me to a side passage where another submarine was docked.

And once again the game surprised me: I could freely navigate the oceans in my submarine! So cool! It reminds me a little bit of the underground areas of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, albeit in a very rudimentary way.

I’ve now come to the point where I’m nearing the endgame. But this is the last day before I go on vacation, so that’ll have to wait until I get back. Hopefully it will be just as epic as the ending of Final Fantasy VI. That was so memorable, if only for the music. But seeing as the song that’s probably going to accompany the final boss fight is so well regarded by many people, I’m confident that it’ll turn out to be a excellent ending.