So... I'm kind of a bad shot.

I recently started playing Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, the spin-off game from that little game with the spiky-headed blonde guy ;) I had been reading the game's manual for ages to get a feel for the controls, then went through the game's tutorial (never again!!!), and then began the actual game. I have come to some realizations about me and Dirge of Cerberus:

1. I can't shoot. No, seriously, I can't. Granted, I'm getting better, but I'm still pretty crappy at the gameplay. Final Fantasy VII was a turn-based RPG, so going into a game where you're shooting and melee-ing your enemies instead of the 'my turn, your turn' system is a bit daunting.

2. Manuals are not always complete. I had to find a walk-through to figure out that you can break open boxes with melee. Why wasn't this in the manual? (For the record, if anyone needs a good site for walk-throughs and hints, I highly recommend GameFAQs . The walk-throughs on that site have saved my skin umpteen times, and they have just about every platform listed there. I can't guarantee that they'll have pages for every game, but it's a good starting point.)

3. Vincent looks damn good in a suit. Seriously, play through the tutorial and check out his suit. It's lovely. Although, I'm not so sure I like his haircut in that get-up.

4. Configuration changes everything. If you're a bad shot like me, tinker with the weapon settings. I changed the sight to 'automatic' and slowed down the camera speed, and I'm happy with the results.

Okay, I need to be doing something more constructive. Later!

edited to add link for easier-ness.

Cream soda and Final Fantasy VIII

I did a bit of yardwork today. Dad wanted me to rake up clumps of grass after he cut the grass. At first I was freaking out because I was totally raking the grass wrong, so Dad came out and told me what to do. I stopped after a bit, though, because there were a couple of wasps in the yard, and I already had a fly hit my ear.

So I went inside, feeling like crap because my legs were sore. I watched a bit of Jerry Springer, then a bit of the 12:00 news, and then Mom and Dad had to go to Mom's doctor's appointment, so I was like, "What am I gonna do, with these sore legs?" and dad told me, "You could play PlayStation." So I brought up my PlayStation 1 (yes, I'm that old-fashioned :p) and hooked it up to the VCR/DVD player. We used to have a switch-box thing in which we would plug in the DVD player, VCR, TV, satellite and PlayStation, but then we had to replace our VCR, so we got a VCR/DVD combination thing, and the old DVD player went somewhere else. It was old, anyway, and had a tendancy to overheat. I'm not sure if we got rid of it, or if it's still around...

Anyway, I'm playing Final Fantasy VIII, and I have NO IDEA where I'm going! I had to find a train platform, but I couldn't remember where it was. I finally found the way, got on the train, and then I had to get off the train at the first stop and go through a forest. Now, keep in mind that this is my second file, and that I've gone through disc one already, but I still couldn't remember which forest I had to go through! I was walking though a huge forest - not an actual forest interior, just a bunch of trees on the main map - and got into battles regularly. And I kept running from the battles. Then I found the forest I needed to go into to continue the story.. it was RIGHT NEAR THE PLATFORM!!!!!!!

And then, after a separate storyline involving seperate characters, I find out that one of the characters doesn't have their Guardian Force equipped, and that someone else does! Then I get to Galbadia Garden (a military academy), and I can't find the stupid 2nd floor reception room. And because I've gone through this disc before, I'm saying to the TV, "Seifer isn't dead, Rinoa! He went with the sorceress!" Or something like that.

During my gaming, I was drinking cream soda. There was a time when I became sick of it, but now that we have a bottle of it in the house it's become my vice again.

I was also grooving to the super-cool battle music in the separate storyline :D

ETA: I changed the 'next to' to 'near'. It was still close to the platform though, and I'm still an idiot :p