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Copper Ice, Blogger, Nerd
Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII

For about 6 weeks or so I have been slowly playing through Final Fantasy VIII. Developed and published by Square Final Fantasy VIII was released in 1999 for the PlayStation. Back then I was already fan of the Final Fantasy franchise and was really excited to get the game, but first I needed to borrow it from someone I knew at my school because at age 14 or 15 I couldn’t easily afford a copy of my own. I was later given a copy by mother which I still have to this day as one of my prize possessions.

The opening cinematic is breathtaking. It is in my opinion one of the best cinematics of its era beaten only by World of Warcraft in 2004. The graphics are a marked improvement over its predecessor and the music is of a high standard but perhaps not Nobuo Uematsu’s finest. Despite this I must admit I was at first disappointed. I think as a teenager I was expecting a continuation of the story or the setting of Final Fantasy VII, but found that it is completely different as a stand alone game with an entirely different world. Most (but not all) of the mechanics are different, there is no materia which provide characters with powers when equipped but instead Guardian Forces (GF) which allow you to junction magic to improve your characters stats among other things. After a few days however I realized this is a good thing which only served to improve my gaming experience.

I actually prefer the GF system. By collecting, leveling and teaching skills and abilities to the 16 GF available makes them seem more personable. Each GF has its own unique set of abilities and feel more like part of the team. For this playthrough I only collected the 12 GF below but I might one day use my save to complete the set and enjoy the ‘end game’ content a little more.

Final Fantasy VIII GF

One cool feature is that Final Fantasy VIII has a collectable card mini game. It’s completely optional but you can challenge most NPCs (non-player characters) and some characters to a game of Triple Triad and can collect up to 111 unique cards. I am missing 12 cards in this playthrough but I am convinced I managed to complete the collection as a teenager. It’s not for everyone but as someone who generally speaking enjoys collectable card games, most notably Magic: The Gathering, this mini game really hits the spot.

Final Fantasy VIII Cards

It must be said that the best feature of Final Fantasy VIII and all other Final Fantasy games that I have played is the story. I don’t think the story is as good as its predecessor, it has a few too many sort of juvenile undertones and at times it made me feel too old to play. But it really is still an excellent story which made me laugh out loud and even brought a tear to my eye on a couple of occasions. For some reason I think this game is hugely underrated, perhaps because it is comparatively an easy game or because people didn’t find it to be as good as Final Fantasy VII.

I am really proud to add Final Fantasy VIII to my list of completed games. Sadly the remastered version allows people to effectively cheat and cut corners, but I played through the game as it was meant to be played which I think is better, more legitimate and gives a sense of pride that I don’t think I could get if I had cheated.


A Way Out

A Way Out

This week my friend Jamie and I have played through A Way Out and I have to say I found it an excellent story driven game. Developed by Hazelight Studios in 2018, A Way Out was a somewhat unique experience for me in that it’s a pure co-operative game experience designed to be played with a friend over something like 7 or 8 hours. This is achieved by presenting both players with a split screen as shown below. I am no stranger to split screen gaming, but I don’t recall ever doing this with a PC. Strangely however I think split screen works quite well for this game and only served to enhance my experience. I got a lot out of seeing what my friend was doing and could see what I was doing from their perspective which was cool because the main characters (Vincent and Leo) usually interact with objects and situations differently.

A Way Out Split Screen

Being pretty much completely story driven and linear there isn’t too much I can say without spoiling A Way Out. But I can say that both Jamie and I did not expect the story to pan out the way it did and I believe I can speak for both of us when I say the game is generally quite funny and made us laugh a lot. There are a bunch of minigames which were fun and it uses Unreal Engine 4 to make the graphics pretty good. At first I felt compelled to efficiently progress through the game but I later found that slowing down to take the time to explore some of the areas was more fun and a good way of savouring the overall experience. Having completely played through the game with Jamie I have added A Way Out to my list of completed games which I am relieved to see grow steadily in recent months.

The only downside for me is that this game is published by EA (Electronic Arts). Traditionally I haven’t enjoyed EA games so I tend to steer clear from anything they touch. On this occasion however the game is excellent and a credit to EA but in order to play it I was forced to use their game launcher. I suppose it’s not a big deal, I can uninstall the EA launcher if I want, but it feels wrong that I acquired a game through Steam which is in itself a game launcher only to then be required to use a different launcher to play it. Perhaps I am being grumpy.


Slay the Spire

Slay the Spire

My friends Jamie and Shadey were kind enough to buy Slay the Spire for me as a Christmas present which I have recently beaten on my 7th attempt after almost 13 hours of play time. While it is true that I have technically beaten the game with the ‘Ironclad’ character and have a Steam achievement to prove it, Slay the Spire is not the kind of game where you should beat it just once. There are 4 different characters, 3 different play modes, lots of content to unlock and high scores to beat, but for now I can say I have slain the spire so have added Slay the Spire to my list of completed games. Below is some statistical data on my first victory, I think the key piece of information is my score of 757, something I should aim at improving next time.

Slay the Spire victory statistics

Slay the Spire is a roguelike deck-building game which in short combines the elements of a deck building card game with RNG (random number generator) mechanics. While luck plays a big part in Slay the Spire and other roguelike games, the whole point is that players should try and ‘stack the deck’ to make their own luck. The goal is to climb the spire fighting enemies and their bosses along the way. The spire is broken down into 3 acts, each act has 16 floors which includes a boss at the end. As you progress the enemies get harder but with progression the player makes choices to improve their deck of cards (which are used to perform actions in each encounter), obtain and choose relics which typically improve your character for the remainder of your run and potions which are consumed when used.

Slay the Spire Combat

I think Slay the Spire is brilliant with limitless unplayability. It’s a cross between games such as FTL: Faster Than Light which I blogged about 3 years ago (almost to the day) and a card game such as Magic: The Gathering Arena. It’s very likely that I will continue to play Slay the Spire from time to time, even if only to try and beat my current high score. All that’s left to say is thank you Jamie and Shadey, this was really thoughtful and generous of you.


Fallout 4

Fallout 4

A few days ago I completed my first play through of Fallout 4 and have added it to my list of completed games. I should warn readers that if you read on there will be some potential spoilers, albeit they will be limited.

I realize that there are multiple endings and seemingly countless side quests, but having completed the main story line and getting the ‘prepared for the future’ achievement by deciding the fate of the commonwealth, I feel like I can say I beat the game. I spent some time doing side quests while trying to decide the fate of the commonwealth making my play through take just over 46 hours. In addition to this I have created a second character and have spent around 19 hours immersing myself in building settlements and completing optional objectives.

In my opinion Fallout 4 is an excellent game. Developed and published by Bethesda, Fallout 4 is a first person (or if you want 3rd person) open world story driven RPG (Role-playing game) where the actions and choices you make as the player define the outcome of the end and the events leading up to it. Much like other Bethesda titles such as Skyrim which is part of The Elder Scrolls series or the prequel, Fallout 3. Released in 2015, Fallout 4 still feels like a modern triple-a game which I paid just £3.99 for, which is superb value for money. I worked out that so far for each hour I have played Fallout 4 I have paid about 7p. The game is very atmospheric and packed full of action, I particularly liked it when the Brotherhood of Steel made an appearance with their Prydwen airship featured below.

Fallout 4 Prydwen

Fallout 4 Prydwen

While I can’t give Bethesda enough praise for Fallout 4 and many of their other games. I have to say that despite being about 8 years old the game still has a lot of bugs. Even when you take away the bad but funny NPC (Non Player Character) AI, there are some fundamental bugs which are thankfully usually resolved by exiting and re-loading the game. But I have heard from a friend that a bug has potentially blocked her from progressing through the main story, forcing her to either start over or move on without completing her play through.

Even with all the bugs Fallout 4 remains an excellent game and well worth playing. For me by far the best thing has to be that Tim Russ is the voice actor for Lancer Captain Kells (the Prydwen airship captain). For any reader who doesn’t know, Tim Russ played Lieutenant Commander Tuvok in the Star Trek: Voyager TV series of which I am a big fan. Friends who know me best would confirm that Tuvok is my favourite character in the Star Trek franchise. I knew immediately once I encountered Captain Kells that Tim Russ was the voice actor. It was a huge surprise and it blew me away, instantly making the game that much better.


Portal 2

Portal 2

Once a week for the last 3 weeks I have been playing Portal 2 with my friend Jamie. Developed and published by Valve Portal 2 is effectively a puzzle game where players place portals on surfaces in order to either teleport through them or to redirect various game mechanics to help them reach the end of a level. I must admit that I am not very good at puzzles so was to some extent carried by Jamie in the games 2 player cooperative mode which we completed earlier this week.

In the cooperative campaign Jamie and I played as robots ATLAS (blue) and P-body (orange) who have an array of funny but also at times sweet emotes. We were given instructions from GLaDOS, a sort of sinister yet funny artificial intelligence. It’s clear to me that Valve wanted this game to be both humorous and challenging, even the end credits were funny. Ordinarily I wouldn’t play a game like this, but I enjoyed every minute of it and was kind of sad when it ended.

Honestly the main reason I enjoyed playing Portal 2 was because it was nice to play a game with a friend. I have always found it difficult to make friends and I am usually wary when taking the necessary steps to cultivate a friendship. I have however known Jamie for a number of years now, she has shown me nothing but intelligence, kindness, understanding and seems to accept me for who I am without being judgemental. I have mad respect for Jamie and hope very much we can play some other games together soon.

I don’t think I will be playing any more of Portal 2 (which has a single player campaign) but I have a feeling this might have kickstarted more cooperative gaming with Jamie and given time perhaps with other people as well.


Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

Today I completed Final Fantasy VII which is a game that does not require much of an introduction. Developed by Square (now Square Enix after a merger with Enix) Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997 for the PlayStation. As a schoolchild I had heard about Final Fantasy VII but did not think much of it until one day I was helping a school friend choose some games to buy in our local video game shop. I mentioned that I heard good things about Final Fantasy VII to which a stranger in the shop overheard and replied telling my friend and I that it’s the best game he had ever played. My friend bought the game but to be honest we didn’t get on well with it. Initially we found that the game slow paced which required a lot of reading and learning of the game mechanics. We were juvenile and probably thought reading and learning was something we did at school and didn’t want more of it. But I was intrigued (and didn’t have any new games of my own) so asked if I could borrow it.

In the weeks that followed I fell in love with the game. I was hooked on the story, learned most of the game mechanics and found much of the soundtrack simply exquisite. At school I bragged about how good the game is and how quick my school friend and I were to judge. This lead to him wanting his game back and me begging my mother for a copy of my own, something I still have to this day. I don’t think I would have been given my own copy if my mother could have known just how many sleepless nights would follow. It’s like reading a good story book which plays music at you and also has a puzzle on every other page, preventing you from reading on until you complete it. The story takes you through a wide range of emotions as you get to know the characters and whats at stake. Final Fantasy VII will make you smile, laugh, get angry, relate… even cry. It is quite simply one of the best, if not THE best story in a video game that I have played. I even grew to like some the ‘bad guys’ such as the ‘Turks’ featured below.

Final Fantasy VII Turks

The soundtrack, produced by Nobuo Uematsu, is simply a masterpiece. Widely celebrated by many Final Fantasy VII fans but also enjoyed by a lot of people who never played the game. There are countless covers, some of which have been performed in an orchestral setting. Hip hop artist Raheem Jarbo released an album called ‘Black Materia’ in 2011 and remade it in 2021. I listen to them now as I write this post. A somewhat mediocre anime film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was produced in 2005 and is a sequel to the Final Fantasy VII story. While I find the film not exactly bad but also nothing particularly special, the soundtrack (once again produced by Nobuo Uematsu) is excellent. As well as a film there have been other games such as Dirge of Cerberus and perhaps most notably Final Fantasy VII: Remake which I haven’t played yet. Combined with all of the fan art out there it really shows how much Final Fantasy VII means to people all over the world.

Needless to say I became a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise and have been interested in any other game developed by Square, especially Front Mission 3. It feels great completing Final Fantasy VII again after all these years and I have added it to my list of completed games. I still need to complete the second part of Final Fantasy IX and I am considering playing through Final Fantasy VIII, but whatever I do next it will be hard beat the experience of playing this jewel of a game.


EVE Online Thrasher

EVE Online: Abyssal Thrasher

After my EVE Online: Hurricane post I realized an important part of my alpha clone experiment was the Thrasher, specifically when used for running tier 0 (tranquil) abyssal deadspace. Abyssal deadspace is perhaps one of the most profitable activities in EVE Online for a solo player. While a tier 0 run offers the lowest possible reward (and difficulty) it can be highly profitable if they’re completed quickly and frequently. Perhaps more importantly tier 0 abyssal deadspace runs can be completed cheaply by inexperienced players who have characters with low skill points.

The key to the Thrasher fit below is to have the small projectile turret skill trained to level 5 so that small artillery specialization can be trained in order to use 280mm Howitzer Artillery II guns. By grouping all 7 guns together we can take advantage of the high strike damage, which in my case is close to 1,600, allowing me to frequently 2 shot or even 1 shot some enemies. The power grid and CPU requirements are also high so having both the power grid and CPU management skills trained to level 5 is important.

EVE Online Thrasher Fit

High Slots
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II
280mm Howitzer Artillery II

Medium Slots
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Small Clarity Ward Enduring Shield Booster
Small F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender

Low Slots
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Rigs
Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Ancillary Current Router I

Cargo Hold
Phased Plasma S x3000
EMP S x3000
Fusion S x3000

I could improve the damage output by using implants and/or faction ammunition but I believe using standard ammunition without implants is good enough and helps keep the costs down. It’s also possible to remove 1 of the small ancillary current router rigs in favour of upgrading the small projectile collision accelerator from tech 1 to tech 2. This increases the cost of the fit and also puts greater strain on the power grid, making the skill point requirements more demanding.

Captain Benzie demonstrates how effective this ship can be by completing some electrical abyssal deadspace runs in 3 – 4 minutes. I however have expanded it to include gamma and firestorm deadspace by using different ammunition. EMP for electrical, fusion for gamma and phased plasma for firestorm.

This really is an excellent way to get into abyssal deadspace content and is an ideal way to earn some ISK (the main in game currency). Even if you’re not very interested in abyssal deadspace it’s still worth having this Thrasher just so you are able to complete many of the daily challenges for some of the more lucrative rewards. Yesterday for example 2 of my challenges needed to be completed in deadspace. It took me an hour to complete the challenges and I was given 35,000 skillpoints which I think was well worth it.


EVE Online Hurricane

EVE Online: Hurricane

Recently I have discovered the Hurricane battlecruiser while playing EVE Online. It all started with me experimenting with how much can be achieved by an alpha (free to play) account in EVE and if it possible to have as much fun as a player who has an omega (paid for) account. The short answer to this experiment is yes an alpha account is just as fun as omega and is in some ways even more fun.

One of the main limitations for an alpha account is that you can only train 5 million skill points but you can exceed this with skill injectors acquired either on the market or by completing various activities within the game. Right now my alpha account has 5,874,733 skill points, the excess 874,733 points has been acquired by using skill injectors provided by the AIR career program and daily challenges. It’s also worth mentioning that if you are able to upgrade your account to omega, any alpha skills trained in this time are retained if you return to alpha. Another limitation is that some skills, ships and modules are completely off limits to alpha accounts, but there are still a lot to choose from, including the Hurricane and Hurricane Fleet Issue battlecruiser.

With optimal alpha skills my Hurricane fitting hits for around 1,700 damage with an overall DPS (damage per second) of over 360 which is more than enough for most combat sites and level 3 missions (the highest an alpha pilot can do). Below is a screenshot of the numbers and the fitting I use. Tech 1 or fleet issue modules can be used to reduce the skill requirements.

EVE Online Hurricane Fitting

High Slots
650mm Artillery Cannon II
650mm Artillery Cannon II
650mm Artillery Cannon II
650mm Artillery Cannon II
650mm Artillery Cannon II
650mm Artillery Cannon II
Core Probe Launcher I

Medium Slots
10MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II

Low Slots
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II

Rigs
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

Drone Bay
Warrior II x8

Cargo Hold
Sisters Core Scanner Probe x16
Phased Plasma M x2500
EMP M x2500
Fusion M x2500

It’s possible that I could further improve the damage output by using implants, faction ammunition or by replacing the core probe launcher for a heavy missile launcher. But I think this ship is far too ‘overkill’ already and really doesn’t need it. It is worth mentioning that the Hurricane does allow the use of 1 command burst module but these are purely for omega accounts. I think if there is someone who plays with an omega account and is interested in the Hurricane, fitting a command burst module of some kind and/or using faction ammo would probably be a nice addition for running level 4 mission sites.

Captain Benzie, a content creator for EVE Online beautifully demonstrates the Hurricane and basically uses the same fitting as I do in his YouTube video below.

This is I think the pinnacle of EVE Online for an alpha account. There are of course other battlecruisers and even battleships available, but they will in all likelihood require a significant change in how I ‘spent’ my 5 million skill points. That I suppose is the ultimate alpha limitation, changing to a different set of skills for a different set of ships can be difficult, unless of course you create a new character/account. There is the Hurricane Fleet Issue which is generally a better ship in all areas, the reason I choose not to use this is because as I have already stated the standard Hurricane is an ‘overkill’ at a fraction of the cost of a Hurricane Fleet Issue. The Hurricane fully fit costs around 90 million ISK (the main in game currency) where as the fleet issue costs well over 200 million which will generally only serve to make you a more tempting target. But having said that, if you have the ISK and you wouldn’t be too upset if you lost it, go for it!


FRONT MISSION: 1st Remake

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake

Since my previous blog post I have been playing several games, most notably FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake. Today I completed the second campaign having already completed the first last week. I have therefore added the game to my sparse list of completed games since I started blogging. Readers of my blog might remember my blog post for Front Mission 3, probably one of the best games I have ever played. If you did you would understand when I say that I was really excited when I learned the first Front Mission game had been remade, especially since to my knowledge it was never released in Europe and I have never had the opportunity to play it.

Front Mission is set about 70 years in the future where two of the main world powers are the USN (United States of the New Continent) made of the unified North and South American countries and the OCU (The Oceania Cooperative Union) which is an alliance of the nations of South Asia, South East Asia and Australia. Between these powers is the fictional Huffman Island, located in the pacific ocean where a war is fought between the USN and OCU. In the first campaign you follow the story from the perspective of OCU’s Captain Royd Clive and his squad where as in the second campaign you’re given the opposite perspective with the story from USN’s Lieutenant Kevin Greenfield and his squad.

As with Front Mission 3 the overall story telling is excellent, but it would have been nice if there was more of a story for each of the members of your squad. You can talk to them between missions and can get a feel for their personality, but there isn’t much of a story for most of them. This however is a particularly harsh criticism since this is a remake of a game that was originally developed in 1995 for the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and the contents of the game could only fit on a cartridge which stores no more than 8 megabytes of data. The combat is turn based strategy and you have an opportunity to customize your squads wanzers (large mechs used in warfare). There are also arenas which enables you to test your wanzers and their pilots in combat.

FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake Arena

Front Mission 1st: Remake Arena 2

Front Mission 1st: Remake has a lot of replay ability. I have found that once I have completed a campaign it’s possible to play through it again and keep the skills developed for each of the characters and keep the ‘stock’ of collected items. There is also new equipment available when playing through a second time with a variety of different difficulty settings to keep things interesting. While I am tempted to play through the game a second time, for me the most satisfying part of games like this is the story.

While I might not play through the game a second time, I am really excited to learn that Front Mission 2 and Front Mission 3 are also likely to be remade. This is simply a dream come true for me, I have always wanted to play other Front Mission games and the fact that one of my favourite games of all time will probably be remade with better graphics and so on gives me goose bumps.


Year 1 Review

Year 5 Review

The time has come for the year 5 review of my blog. When compared with other yearly blog reviews this is the most disappointing so far. I have at least been honest with myself and I hope this blog post will help me become the gamer and blogger that I want to be.

In my year 4 review I made a point of not setting myself any goals with the notable exception of completing the second half of Final Fantasy IX and writing a part 2 blog post to go with Final Fantasy IX Part 1, written back in February 2022. I had every intention of reaching this goal but I still haven’t played the second half of this amazing game, let alone complete it. I know that nobody reading this will care, but I am genuinely disappointed in myself that I didn’t find the time to do this.

There have been 18 posts since my year 4 review, of which 11 have been oriented around World of Warcraft. The remaining 7 posts are not about new games to my blog and as such I haven’t completed any game in at least a year. It is clear that my blog lacks variety which means I too am lacking variety when it comes to playing video games. I am finding this realization quite depressing and it has me questioning whether or not it’s right that I continue to call myself a gamer.

Lessons learned

I can’t continue to play MMOGs (Massively multiplayer online games). I have been intermittently thinking this for a long time now. Playing MMOs is somehow preventing me from being the gamer I want to be, perhaps because it is difficult to reach ‘the end’ of an MMOG and feel as if you have completed it. More importantly than that I believe my mental health may be suffering because of how monotone my gaming has been over the years.

Moving forward

As before I am not going to set myself any specific goals. But I would very much like to see posts about games that are new to my blog and add to my embarrassingly short list of completed games since I started blogging. Completing Final Fantasy IX at some point would also make me feel a lot better.

The blog still looks great and is perfectly functional. The only evolution it has seen in the past year is the removal of sharing buttons on each individual blog post and the removal of the Twitter logo from the top right corner of the header. Nobody really followed me on Twitter and with the changes to Twitter (‘X’) I do not want to use it anymore.

What do you think?

If anyone would like to provide feedback and/or suggestions for my year 5 review, please feel free to do so. You could leave a comment or contact me by any means.


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