Shinra Building
-Genesis pops in, but I can’t tell if it’s a clone or the real deal. Hojo’s super-disdainful of Team Hollander.
-And Genesis is quoting “Loveless” again. DUDE, YOU’RE SO ANNOYING.
-The play ends in two friends dueling each other, but the ending is lost.
-Genesis busts a hole in the wall and the containment tanks and leaves. Angeal picks Zack up and flies in pursuit.
-Genesis starts to summon something. Dunno why. Does he want to kill Zack? Is that is goal? Angeal drops Zack off on the roof and flies away. Thanks buddy.
-It’s Bahamut Fury, a golden version of Bahamut. The camera angle is weird. It seems like I can’t run around, since he’s just hanging off the edge of the platform. But I hit him in the face like six times and he dies.
-Zack’s left alone on the Shinra helipad.
-Title screen. Aerith.
---
Shinra Building – Later
-Zack hasn’t been able to reach Sephiroth. Some random dude named Luxiere tells Zack that it’s because Sephiroth has shut himself in a data room.
Awesome. Whenever Sephiroth locks himself away to do research, good things abound.
-Aerith calls, asking Zack to make the flower wagon.
-This is only a few days after Genesis’ attack.
-Interesting! Some background on the Wutai war.
-Nothing new in the Materia Room.
-New missions. Part of me wants to go on with the story, but the larger gaming locust magpie thing within me wants to clear as many of the missions as fast as possible. He’s the loudest voice.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > Next Generation Weapons (1/6)
-Because nothing is as good an idea as helping Shinra develop next generation weapons.
-It’s in the same grass field as all the times before. I hope it’s okay to say that it’s super boring? Just, running into lots of encounters with enemies I kill in one or two hits.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > New Mechanical Weapons (2/6)
-Testing their weapons or something. See, here’s the thing: that’s a fine premise! The missions are about doing Shinra’s grunt work. That’s fine, and has real potential. But nothing about this mission feels like I’m testing Shinra’s weapons. There’s no dialogue within the mission, no new clickable things, just the same monsters as always.
-Some mechs in the slums.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > To Quash Genesis’s Forces (3/6)
-More weapon testing. I am Zack’s complete lack of surprise. In the desert this time.
-More mechs to kills. Chainsaws and those little zappy Roomba things.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > Weapons Gone Wrong (4/6)
-Oh no! Weapons have gone berserk! Again!
-Mechs in a cave.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > Robots in the City (5/6)
-Arrrgh! I got a Cissnei limit break and clicked through the cinematic cutscene thinking I’d seen it before, but it was new. All I saw was Zack asking Cissnei out to dinner.
-The monsters here are at least a mechanical challenge. One killed me when I got stuck in her drill.
---
Mission: Shinra Electric Power Company > Weapons Development > A Director’s Request (6/6)
-More weapons testing and blah blah blah. This is from Director Scarlet, so I’m really hoping she makes an appearance here!
-New kind of mech. A wheely riot gear thingamobile called an Escort Head.
-Last boss is a pack of those mechs. Odin slices ‘em up clear off the bat.
-No Scarlet? No Scarlet. Nary a “Kya-ha-ha” to be heard.
---
I’m sorry for sounding so negative this session. Just frustrated with the mounds of potential that seems to be getting squandered, and trying to give an honest reaction to the content the game presents me. I’ll try not to harp on it too much.
---
Next time: more missions in the “Shinra Electric Power Company” campaign.
