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14th December 2023: Prepping For A Rebirth

The rapidly approaching arrival of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth gave me a bit of a dilemma earlier this year. You see, in order to play it, I was either going to have to buy a PS5, which I didn't want to do, or wait quite a while and buy a DRM-infested version on PC, which I didn't want to do.

While the only real reason I bought the PS4 was for FF7 Remake, at least on that console there were a bunch of other games that I was happy enough to buy and play. On the PS5 there are literally zero other games I have any interest in, so potentially I would be buying it for just a single game.

That would be a very expensive game.

The only other game that has my attention is an upcoming game called Stellar Blade, which looks like a fun 3rd person action game much like Bayonetta, only with an actually attractive protagonist. Yet the jury's still out on it, as Sony have recently gotten more involved in its creation, and may have some unwanted input.

I mean, how dare any developers these days have the audacity to put a sexy female character in their game? I can't imagine Sony are on board with that at all. Not one bit.

Back to the point, at the start of October, I saw the PS5 was on sale, with a whole £80 off its original price, and also bundled with the Crisis Core remaster. Now I've never had much interest in playing Crisis Core, as from what I've heard it's got ridiculous characters and a ridiculous plot.
Add in that the other expanded FF7 media I've had experience with, namely Advent Children and Dirge Of Cerberus, were both massively disappointing as well, and I just didn't want FF7's legacy to be spoiled for me any more than it already had been.

Still, my weak will crumbled, and I bought the console, just to make sure I was Rebirth-ready. Besides, maybe I'll actually fancy trying Crisis Core out at some point. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

The Rebirth Machine

The Rebirth Machine

In typical Stebloke fashion, the console has sat up a corner these last couple of months just waiting for a chance to do something. And alas, the day finally came.

I grabbed the free PS5 upgrade for FF7 Remake, so that I could play the Yuffie DLC at long last. This little expansion only ended up costing me £5 instead of £16, as there was already £11 in my account from somewhere. Really not sure from where, as I thought I'd used it all up to buy FF6 and FF9 way back in the day. But whatever.

After some hassle having to update both consoles so I could send my PS4 save data to Sony (or Square?), so that they could convert it to the PS5 version of the game, I was finally in and playing.

I remember that on the PS4 there were some really dodgy graphics bugs that rightly got called out, but Square came up with some bull excuse that they were PS4 limitations, and the updated PS5/PC version of the game would fix them. So the first thing I did was load the base game at several points throughout the story where these shitty graphics were present. And as far as I can tell, they look no better at all. So what the hell, Square?

Into the DLC, which is called Episode INTERmission, and I was finally getting my chance to see what this ninja girl from Wutai was capable of. However, before I could get stuck into much combat, I was drawn into the little mini game called Fort Condor, which in the game's universe seems to be represented as some kind of board game.
Pretty cool idea, I thought.

I thought the PS5 was supposed to fix these shitty graphics?

I thought the PS5 was supposed to fix these shitty graphics?

Nice of the beasties to wait for me to get there before attacking that dude

Nice of the beasties to wait for me to get there before attacking that dude

Overwhelming Wedge in Fort Condor

Overwhelming Wedge in Fort Condor

Trying to cut Ramuh's beard off<br /><span class='skye'>(webm video)</span>

Trying to cut Ramuh's beard off
(webm video)

Unfortunately, Fort Condor doesn't seem to be a very balanced game at all, as characters more experienced with the game seem to possess much stronger units and setups than characters who are just starting out. Didn't really strike me as particularly fair that better players also have better gear. I mean, how are new players ever supposed to win against veterans if that is the case?

That being said, poor AI allowed me to smash the tutorial and all three level 1 opponents on the first try. I also beat Jessie, my first level 2 opponent, first time. Roche handed me my first loss, but I shuffled some units around and beat him handily on the second attempt.

The one and only level 3 opponent, Wedge, was a frustrating fight. My first two times I played him I took him to sudden death, but couldn't quite manage the win. It was here I saw a possible strat that I was quite confident about, which I hoped was going to make the rest of this mini-game easy. I dumped in all of my facility units so they would pump out lots of cheap but weak troops. This strat worked first time, and very convincingly, against Wedge.
But then I went up against the final Fort Condor challenge in the form of Chadley.

You see, Chadley, the little shit, was using the same tactic I'd just settled on, only he had a better setup that let him kick out units faster. I played this guy five or six times, sometimes using "unbeatable" strats off the internet, and got soundly thrashed each time. I figured I'd spent enough time bashing my head against this brick wall, and wanted to get on with the story, so I just carried on.
A finished game was long overdue, after all.

Levrikon gets a good slicin'

Levrikon gets a good slicin'

Yuffie very stronk<br /><span class='skye'>(webm video)</span>

Yuffie very stronk
(webm video)

Ninja stealthy

Ninja stealthy

This Shinra soldier just spied a couple of reasons why this camera angle was chosen

This Shinra soldier just spied a couple of reasons why this camera angle was chosen

It took me way longer to get comfortable using Yuffie compared with the characters in the base game. I was getting smacked around so much, even in normal fights, that I started to get a little miffed. I don't know what happened, but maybe I wasn't paying attention to the tutorials or something.
All it took was for me to watch the first part of a combat guide, just going over the basics, and something clicked. From then on, I didn't lose a fight for the rest of the game, from beating Ramuh all the way through to the Nero fight. I was loving it, dashing around all over the place, parrying way more attacks, getting my synergies with Sonon pretty much nailed down. It was ace. Can't wait for Rebirth so I can get Yuffie and Tifa in the same party for some mental combat goodness.

In terms of story, there wasn't really much going on here. Essentially, Yuffie and another Wutaian named Sonon have been sent to Midgar to steal some materia from the Shinra building. There, they get discovered by Scarlet, and have to try and fight their way out as Scarlet sends all manner of Shinra robots and weapons at them.

This is all set during the events of the base game, and while I think it's a bit of a shame that they've inserted Yuffie into the Midgar section of the story, I guess there was no evidence that she wasn't in the area during the original.

Though she's fun to use, Yuffie herself can be a bit irritating at times, just like in the original game, while Sonon was just there to be the straight guy to balance out Yuffie's eccentricity. However, I loved every second Scarlet was on screen. She's the kind of woman you'd hate to meet in real life, but as a villain in a game she's just so devilishly entertaining.

The worst thing about the plot of this DLC was the inclusion of Deepground, who first rocked up in FF7 lore during the travesty that was Dirge Of Cerberus. To be honest, I would have much preferred the entire remake project to completely ignore all of the old expanded FF7 content, and make any new expanded content better, and fit the game's world better.

As I was nearing the end of the DLC I checked through all of the media I had captured so far. It was then I realised that for some reason the PS5 doesn't capture video the same way my PS4 was set up to do. Instead of capturing the next moments, it rather saves the previous moments. So I had a bunch of videos that led up to something I wanted to capture, but not the moment itself. Stupid fucking Sony changing things. At least I realised and was able to get some vids from the later fights.

Going down to the bounce house<br /><span class='skye'>(webm video)</span>

Going down to the bounce house
(webm video)

Scarlet's such an over the top villain. I love it.<br /><span class='skye'>(webm video)</span>

Scarlet's such an over the top villain. I love it.
(webm video)

Why'd they have to bring Deepground nonsense into this?

Why'd they have to bring Deepground nonsense into this?

Putting Nero back in his dark, forgotten corner where he belongs<br /><span class='skye'>(webm video)</span>

Putting Nero back in his dark, forgotten corner where he belongs
(webm video)

So now I'm all up to speed, I've been having a think about what might possibly come next. Now I'm no real expert in making predictions, especially when Square's insane writing is involved, but I can see two basic ways things can go down.

My first assumption is that the main characters will go through a journey very similar, if not exactly the same, as the one they went on in the original game. Any new story beats and events can then come from whatever Zack is up to in his reality/timeline. This will allow the writers to do new things, while also keeping fans of the original happy, at least until the timelines merge or interact in some way.

The second way things can go down is to completely change things up, especially going forward into the third game. Unfortunately for me, if you think about it from this Sephiroth's perspective, the most logical thing I can see for him to do is to kill a different character instead of Aerith. See, Sephy knows that killing Aerith didn't get him what he wanted back during the original timeline of events. It just put her into the Lifestream where she could be a thorn in his side.

But who was it who was trying to look after Cloud the whole game, never doubting he was the real Cloud even in the face of all Sephiroth's lies?
Who was it who finally managed to help Cloud get his mental issues in check, so that he could become strong enough to take Sephiroth on?
Who was it, during Advent Children, when a very ill Cloud had essentially given up, who constantly tried to encourage him and help him find his will to fight again?
And who is it, in one of the Rebirth trailers, who Sephiroth is already trying to turn Cloud against, when he did no such thing in the original?

Man, I'd be pissed, but it makes way more sense for Sephiroth to kill Tifa this time. Sure, it's highly unlikely they would dare do it, but it would definitely make an impact just like Aerith's death did back in 97.

And if you think about it further, in order for there to be a "good" ending to this franchise, in contrast to the original game's "bad" ending, I think Aerith really needs to be alive in order to help the people of the world live in sync with the planet and nature again. At the very least, she needs to leave behind a different legacy, to inspire the people of the world, so the planet doesn't get so pissed off at them.

Additionally, we know from the Lifestream Black and Lifestream White stories, that Sephiroth is damn near unkillable while Cloud remembers him. This could lead to a situation in the third game where Cloud learns of this, and sacrifices himself for the good of the planet. We would then be in an inverted situation, where Aerith and Zack are alive, while Cloud and Tifa die.

Ultimately though, whatever differences they've got planned will probably depend on Zack, and it's hard to even imagine at this point where his new story is going to lead and how it's going to fold into the adventures that the main party are having.

All we can do at this point is wait, and hope that they don't mess it up.

3rd December 2023: Website Evolution Part 1

<Old Stuff>

In years gone by, there used to be a small little section of this site showing simple images of how this place used to look in the past. As there's been no returning <Old Stuff> entries all year, I thought this would be an easy one to bring back.

Unlike other old stuff entries, this one has been expanded with extra information and images. As it has become a lot bigger than it used to be, I am therefore splitting it up into two parts, and hiding it by default.

Part two will be along at some point, but for now, if you want to see what this site looked like in the very early days, click below to find out.

Show / hide site evolution part 1

10th November 2023: Print Me A Gamey Worthy Of Boardor

There's been a lot of printing, cutting, sleeving and laminating going on recently, as I've been working on even more games to bring to the tabletop.

Up first, I got the new version of Secret Hitler, in Secret Sith Lord, all finished and ready for some action. I even managed to come up with a better plan than the paper envelopes we'd been using all these years, as they would constantly wear out and would need to be replaced. Especially if alcohol was involved.

The next game to get some attention was Black Sonata. I'd printed out the tokens for its expansion back when I printed the base game. But I've only now pulled my finger out and printed all of the expansion cards. The expansion is called the Fair Youth, which means in addition to finding who the Dark Lady is, you also have to go around looking for the Fair Youth. Sounds a bit dodgy to me, Shakespeare.

The final game in this little print marathon is a bit of a dodgy one. I've been wanting Whitehall Mystery ever since I saw gameplay on Youtube a few years back. But it was unavailable here in the UK for ages, and Scotland Yard did nothing to quench my desire.

The damn thing is, it seems at some point earlier this year, there were a few copies of another print run available here. But like the idiot I am, I completely missed it, and now they're all gone again.

So I've been a bit of a dodgy geezer, and printed my own, until it's (hopefully) available yet again. I just need to make a screen for Jack to use, which I can also use when the printing police come looking for me.

Just print more copies of the game! Jackasses!

There is no civility, only politics.

There is no civility, only politics.

All this work is not fair

All this work is not fair

It's a mystery

It's a mystery


Now I'd finally got the Black Sonata expansion fully printed, I decided it was time to bring this game to the table again.

Up first, I thought it prudent to play a vanilla game without any expansion content, to help me remember the game.

This first effort did not go according to plan. The Dark Lady's double backs along her route confused me, and on subsequent laps I could only manage vague recollections of where she'd been. Because of this, I searched many times in empty locations. However, I managed to get two good searches on her late on and managed to win. The victory was quite hollow, however, as I had no fog cards left, and only 4 cards in the stealth deck on its last rotation.
This all gave me a meagre 4 points.

Just a warm up, though. I hoped.

In the second game, I made it much harder and much easier at the same time. I chose a more difficult route for the stealth deck, used the tougher Dark Lady cards from the expansion, and also added in the Fair Youth component. However, what turned the game in my favour was that I allowed myself to take notes this time. I have no idea if you're "supposed" to be allowed to do this, but it really did make it much easier.

For the Dark Lady's first rotation, I jotted down all the landmarks she visited, while I went all over the board hunting for clues about the Fair Youth's hideout. So at the end of that rotation, I sat there and worked out a good chunk of her route, as well as nailed down where the Fair Youth was hiding.

So, after I got enough clues to the Dark Lady's identity, I was able to successfully finish the game with both tasks completed and 44 points in my back pocket. A much better effort, but one that I would never have managed without keeping the notes.

Losing the Dark Lady's trail. Again.

Losing the Dark Lady's trail. Again.

Where's that bloomin' hideout?

Where's that bloomin' hideout?

There's method to my madness

There's method to my madness

28th October 2023: Trying 40K 10th

I guess it's all my own fault, but my hope that 2023 would be a big wargaming year has pretty much turned out to be a false hope.

Nevertheless, a couple of weeks back we got the chance to play our first proper wargames of the year.

Up first were two games of the new 40K 10th edition, which were released for free a little while back in the form of basic rulebook and indexes.

In the first game, Gareth got to pull out his own models for the first time, as he's been collecting some Space Wolves. He went up against Scoob's new Tyranids that came from the Leviathan starter set.

There was no use of point values, and two armies that looked roughly equal were chosen. There was also no worrying about proper scenarios or objectives or any of that stuff. We all agreed that we just wanted to see the basic rules in action, to allow the two generals to get into the shooting, chopping and munching as quickly as possible.

At the end of the day, most of the basic troops on both sides had been dealt with, but Gareth conceded that he had little left to deal with the two bigger bugs after losing his Dreadnoughts, so it seemed the Nids had won this first little skirmish.

Nids pile into the forest to take on the Wolves

Nids pile into the forest to take on the Wolves

The day after, I challenged Scoob's Nids with my own Hive Fleet Odium bugs. Though we used the same board, this time we added objectives, and decided we would count up points at the end of each turn depending on how many objectives we held. Then we both promptly ignored this and charged headlong at each other. It just didn't seem right for Nidz to sit there holding objectives.

After just a few turns, I barely had anything left on the board. If I remember right, it was just a single Ravener and a few Termagants. Yeah, it was clear Scoob had taken this one.

The Parasite Of Mortrex gatecrashes the fight between purple and red Termagants

The Parasite Of Mortrex gatecrashes the fight between purple and red Termagants


A few days after our first foray into 40K 10th territory, it was the turn of the game I was most looking forward to getting back to, in the form of Epic-S.

It's hard to believe that it had been a whole year since we last played this, so its time was certainly due.

Scoob and I had loads of options to try out. The Eldar and Squats had now got full rules, while the Nidz had been buffed after last time, and the Androids were now fully painted and very much ready for the tabletop.

In the end we decided to try an Eldar vs Nidz showdown. With Scoob on a Nid kick at the minute, he went for the forces of the Hive Mind, while I took command of the pointy ears.

Unfortunately for the bugs, they seemed a little doomed to fail from fairly early on. Even though their psychic powers had been buffed, we continually forgot the psychic phase, denying them this resource.

In addition, this was without any shadow of doubt, the best game I can remember ever having in terms of dice rolling. After an embarrassing first turn shooting attempt from the Phantom Titan, that saw it hit just one of ten 5+ attacks, my luck completely changed. Case in point, on the second turn, the Titan's next attack saw it hit eight of those same attacks, which caused massive damage to the Hierophant Titan scuttling towards it.

From this point on, Scoob had poor to average rolls, while mine were nearly all ridiculously good.

The 6000pt game ended after three turns, with the score 4212 to 2649 in my favour.

The Eldar counter the Tyranid aggression amongst the trees

The Eldar counter the Tyranid aggression amongst the trees

A tale of two dice rolls

A tale of two dice rolls

Though it seems the Tyranids are still underpowered, it's hard to take any real data from this battle considering what happened throughout.


So, well over a year since I started renovating my old "Hilly Rocks", I've actually taken another slight step towards their completion.

While all of the terrain was out for our recent games, I managed to get around to drybrushing all of the rock walls. They will need another round of washing and drybrushing to get the look I want, but at least a little bit has been done.

While I was doing this, I noticed one of the pieces had warped, and the edge section was bending up off of the tabletop. Sigh. Something else that I will need to fix, I guess.

The hilly rocks finally get drybrushed

The hilly rocks finally get drybrushed

Neither hills, rocks, or hilly rocks, are supposed to levitate

Neither hills, rocks, or hilly rocks, are supposed to levitate

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