My oh my, just look at the time - it's Enduring Final Fantasy VII o'clock! Why not pull up a seat, take a load off and enjoy some semi-nostalgic, semi-cynical commentary on one of the gaming industries most divisive exports, all courtesy of your host with the most, Giant Bomb user dankempster? You're just in time to see the title card roll:

Episode Thirty-Four - Journey To The Centre Of The Planet

After yesterday's episode of Enduring Final Fantasy VII mimicked the side-quests it detailed by doing something a little bit different, it's time for us to get back to the main grind that is the game's story. A long time has passed since I last wrote a proper one of these, so I'll do my best to recap - Cloud and co. wrapped up Disc 2 having just prevented Shinra and Professor Hojo from wrecking the Planet with the Sister Ray, and at present are poised to enter the North Crater to try and put a stop to Sephiroth, which they hope will in turn stop Meteor from crashing into the Planet and wiping out all life. Pretty heavy stuff, I know. So be sure to take a deep breath while I get this save loaded up and prepped to pick up where we left off thirteen months ago.

The first thing that's apparent upon returning to Final Fantasy VII after a year out is that it does not look good on a big screen. Since the previous 'proper' episode, I've migrated my save from my PSP onto my PS3 so I could resume the series in greater comfort. On the PSP's smaller, lower resolution screen, the game's pre-rendered cinematics and backdrops don't look too bad, but on a 17" screen through an HDMI cable, it's easy to see why they call this the ugliest of the PlayStationFinal Fantasy games. Even the pre-rendered environments, which I've heaped praise on up until now, are much more noticeably 'low-res', with less-defined, jagged edges on my TV screen. Bottom line - if you're one of those people who wants to revisit Final Fantasy VII (or play it for the first time) but poorly-aged graphics bother you, then I'd advise you to play it on PSP if you can, as that's easily where its visuals are most tolerable.

After taking some time to adjust to the larger screen, I rejoin Cloud and co. on the outskirts of what was once Mideel (where I must have been grinding AP to level up my Materia before putting the game down), hop into the Highwind and book it to our final destination - the North Crater. Cid's airship lands on the lip of the crater, leaving the party to descend into the abyss on foot. My party presently consists of Cloud, Red XIII and Yuffie, each with a distinct role to play in combat - Cloud is the physical damage dealer and damage wall, Red XIII is the black mage equipped with an array of attacking magic, and Yuffie rounds out the group as a white mage/time mage hybrid, intended to keep the party hastened and in good health while Cloud and Red XIII chip away at whatever opponents lie in wait in this dark, mysterious place.

The first thing that sets the North Crater apart from any other dungeon in the game lies within the first treasure chest you stumble upon - a Save Crystal. This one-time-use item, unique to the North Crater, allows the player to set a save point anywhere within the dungeon. Effectively, it lets the player gauge where they want to put their 'rest stop' as they progress through the Crater. It's an interesting exercise in player agency, forcing the player to carefully consider when would be the best time to use it, and by extension letting them decide how difficult to make the dungeon for themselves. In my first run through the North Crater, I'm pretty sure I dropped it in the area where the party splits into two, but in subsequent playthroughs I've tried to save it as late as possible, to minimise the amount of re-playing I'd have to do if the final bosses get the better of me.

Aesthetically and structurally, the initial screens of the North Crater aren't that far removed from previous subterranean dungeons like the Mythril Mine and Mount Nibel - they're dominated by weirdly-shaped rock formations, stalagmites and stalactites, sheer drops from cliff faces, and twisty-turny cave paths punctuated by treasure chests and the occasional dead end. There's no denying that the North Crater is a little more difficult to navigate than previous dungeons, but to be honest, as a final dungeon it's a little bit of a visual disappointment. Maybe I've been spoiled in the years since I first fell in love with this game, but I've seen a lot of other much more interesting final dungeons in JRPGs - the ones that immediately spring to mind are Final Fantasy IX's Pandemonium and Memoria, both of which have unique, crazy visual styles that set them distinctly apart from the rest of the game. Which would you rather do in the closing hours of an epic fantasy adventure - explore a Dali painting, or go spelunking?

Another thing that surprises me is that it doesn't take me very long to cut through these initial areas of the North Crater. I remember this thing seeming to take me forever to navigate back in the day, but I reach the split in the pathway in no time at all. Maybe it's that old adage taking effect, a case of everything seeming bigger when you're smaller. Anyway, it's here that the party splits into two different groups - one to take the left path, and one to take the right path. Not wanting to mess with a winning formula, I keep Cloud, Red XIII and Yuffie together and send the other five potential party members off in the other direction. Falling back on my latent knowledge of the game, I opt for the right path, because I remember it's much shorter and less dangerous than the left. A quick jog across a few more nondescript underground passageways brings my party back out at the North Crater's bottom-most point - the last area before the point of no return. It's here that I opt to use my Save Crystal, creating a save point which I promptly use to rest up and log my progress.

Now that my trek through the Crater up to this point has been saved, it's safe for me to try and tackle the left hand path. It's the longer and more dangerous of the two paths, but it's also the one with much better loot, so I'm not going to pass up the opportunity. Of particular interest are the various pieces of unique, highly useful Materia on offer, including the 'W-Magic' Materia (which lets you cast two spells in a single turn), the 'Mega All' Materia (which applies the 'All' effect to any compatible Materia equipped to a given character), and 'Shield' Materia (which, after earning some prerequisite AP, gives access to Shield, a spell which negates most damaging attacks). On my journey back down this left path, I encounter the North Crater's sole visually unique environment - an underground lake of sorts, its organic appearance a striking juxtaposition to the cold grey stone that has dominated this area thus far.

When I've picked up everything I want on this other branch of the path, I make my way back to the bottom of the crater and use my created save point to save the game once again. Satisfied with my progress through this final environmental ordeal, I power down the PS3 and bring this penultimate episode of Enduring Final Fantasy VII to its natural conclusion.

So at the close of Episode Thirty-Four, braced for the final battles, my vital statistics are:

• Current Party - Cloud (Lv 70), Red XIII (Lv 67), Yuffie (Lv 60)
• Current Location - Bottom of the North Crater
• Time on the Clock - 50:40

The Story So Far...

As promised, that's two episodes of Enduring Final Fantasy VII in as many days. Providing I don't get called into work tomorrow, I should be able to push through those final boss battles and bring you the last planned episode in this series of blogs. Thanks for reading guys, take care, and I'll see you around.

Dan

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Currently playing - Final Fantasy VII (PS3)