-Materia seems similar to FFVII, and level up here in a similar way. Gotta equip it to use the commands enabled in combat.
-Accessories seem more passive and don’t enable commands.
-“Zack levels up when the limit verge screen reads 777.” Wow. That’s unexpected. I thought that just granted semi-random bonuses, but it determines level-up rather than experience. It’s a bit unclear if it’s talking about character level or materia level, but I think it means character level.
-So much depends on the roll of the OMW wheel! I don’t have any idea what impacts the OMW’s roll in the first place. It is purely random? Like, will I go through a long drought where I don’t roll straight 7s, but then roll those a few times in a row and level up a few times in a row?
-Important note to self: the numbers on the OMW when I’m in combat seem to impact combat statuses only, while the numbers on the limit verge screen impact character and materia levels.
-Shops have a new feature: ONLINE SHOPPING! This is AWESOME. It means that once I reach a shop and get its “address,” I don’t have to physically return to the shop to buy something. I can access that shop online. THAT’S SO LOVELY I LOVE IT AND WANT IT TO LOVE ME.
-Ooh, “Missions” are a thing! They seem to be like side quests that provide an alternative to raw random encounter grinding. You bet your ass I’m gonna try these out.
Also of note about missions: I get them from my main menu when I’m at a save point rather than simply coming across them in the open world. At least, that’s what I glean from this tutorial letter.
-If I die during the mission, I get returned to the save point. I hope I get the chance to try it again if that happens.
-If I defeat the boss during a mission, I also get to that save point. Nice!
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Exploring the Main Menu
-I’ll look at this similarly to the tutorials, with an eye for differences from prior games.
-Soma is a new item that restores some AP.
-Zack’s equipment is interesting. He can equip accessories and materia, but not weapons at the moment.
-His materia are fire, blizzard, and cure. All level 1 now, so probably no more x-aga access. Cure has “SPR +1” next to it, and I’m not yet sure what …
-AHA! Was about to say I wasn’t sure what that meant, that it might relate to SOLDIER points, but no sirree Bob. One of his stats is “SPR,” which must mean spirit. Plenty of games relate spirit with healing (World of Warcraft for one), so maybe equipping cure boosts his spirit by 1.
-YES!!! I tested it out, unequipped it, and his spirit went down one.
It probably looks weird to express joy about understanding a basic mechanic, but it gives me hope. This game intimidates me a bit to be honest, and it encourages me to see that I can begin to comprehend it.
-I can also optimize, according to best defense, offense, or magic.
-I don’t see anything that tells me yet what the main stats do. Attack, vitality, and magic are pretty straight forward, though not sure if magic improves my mana pool or the power of my magic. Probably both, a catch-all.
Spirit probably buffs healing, but could also have to do with my mana pool. And luck.. dunno. Crit chance? Doubtful. We’ll see.
-There’s a “Materia Fusion” option that’s grayed out. Maybe that’ll be similar to the support materia from FFVII.
-LOL – oops. I now see it’s “DMW” when I was calling it “OMW” all last session. Anyway, the DMW screen shows a whole MESS of faces. Sephiroth and Angeal, both at 0%, and the rest are silhouettes.
Some of these I can guess at. I think I see Cloud, maybe a Nanaki, some more generic male and female outlines. There’s a chocobo, Cait Sith…
HFJKLDHSFDJKLSHFDLSHFDLS
IT’S A CACTUAR HAHAHA YES I RECOGNIZE THAT SPINY AND ROUNDED HEAD AND MID-RUN BENT ARM ANYWHERE
-Missions bar is grayed out.
-DMW has a wavy line thing, which I think is the limit gauge. It says “Limit” with two arrows next to it, and I don’t know what that means. It also says “Normal.” Also dunno.
-I currently have access to one shop, the main Shinra shop. Can buy basic potions there.
-Good enough to start.
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Briefing Room
-The x-aga materia wasn’t virtual reality. It was real. But it was loaned to me for training and has been confiscated.
-To get a Shinra mission, I have to register on the mission board. Regularly or one-shot deal? Probably regularly.
-Save point.
-One more thing I just found before I ended this session is a map. I get to navigate a map of the zone!
That’s awesome! Though there’s a “Signal” bar that makes me think this won’t work in certain dungeons. I wonder if it’ll show secret areas. For now, I’ll assume it won’t.
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Next time: My first mission!
