Ah the difference Blu-Ray makes. It's very pretty, with a lot more detailing in everything, from the backgrounds to the skin of the characters. At one point I was marveling at how you could see the veins in Reno's hands. They've also changed some stuff up- for example, the mess on Cloud's desk is now all scientific research instead of photos and energy drinks and Omnislash is better than ever. Masamune also now has a light saber-like sound effect. XD However, despite the substantial addition of lines for Rufus, the Turks, Marlene, Denzel and Zack, it doesn't add much --if any-- new knowledge to the compilation. They just pretty much do exposition for all the things that have been stated in the Reunion book and other sources through character dialogue. It seems like Square really wants to underscore how Rufus and the Turks are now good guys and Cloud is a family man.

Shippers will be glad to see new scenes with Cloud oh-so-dramatically rescuing Tifa (I know I grinned like a fool) and Zack giving Cloud a bit of a pep talk.

Despite rumors of an epilogue, there was no such thing- there was only a "Reminiscence of FFVII Compilation," summing up Crisis Core, Before Crisis and Dirge of Cerberus with scenes from each, much like the original "Reminiscence of FFVII" summed up the game for those who hadn't bothered to play it.

The anime version of "Case of Denzel" is really not that interesting- reading the novella is better, IMO. And Reeve's mullet is REALLY bad.

The FFXIII demo is super long- three whole stages with cutscenes- which it should be, considering it cost an extra 1000 yen! It's pretty amazing- the camera is super movable, and you can watch the battle going on in the city in the background as you make your way through the stages. The whole thing reminds me of Star Wars- even the bad guys are like stormtroopers. Gameplay was pretty ho-hum though. Not being able to access the menu between fights was annoying, and there isn't a huge area to explore with loads of NPCs or objects to interact with. Mostly I just attacked, trying to kill baddies as efficiently as possible (Ooh! 5 stars on this battle!) by choosing how many to chain together.

There are also trailers for Versus and Agito on the disc. Versus looks very interesting- dark and urbane. Fighting with magic cards in Agito is less intriguing to me, but the trailer was full of impressive graphics nonetheless. I wonder how long the wait for these two will be- even FFXIII won't be out until "Winter 2009" according to this demo, and we've been waiting for a couple years already. *sigh*

*victory fanfare blazes*

"Full Circle" and "The darkest hour..." have both been shortlisted at this year's Genesis Awards! (In Best Het Romance and Best Drabble respectively)

Congrats to f-listers alliterationluv , knightlineninja , sansukumile , readingchick  and rsasai  for their shortlisted fics as well!

I should get some sparkling grape juice to celebrate tonight. (^o^)/

With all the ads on TV about the release of the Dissidia potions, my husband has been teasing me about getting some. Which means, of course, that I had intended NOT to go out of my way to get any...

But after doing interview tests in the unheated school hallway for 2 straight hours, I decided to stay in the warm comfort of the convenience store while I waited at the train station for the bus. And guess what had gone on sale that day...
( NRG has no willpower... )

 I don't know why, but I just can't seem to upload images to the scrapbook. So here's one the old-fashioned way.

 I adore this comic/doujin, but I can't seem to find the deviantArt page I got it off of. I've tried googling all sorts of variants of Vincent Valentine comic humor, etc. If anybody does know, please let me know so I can credit properly. It's provided me with quite a few chuckles. Read it top to bottom, left to right.

( Vincent Valentine is... )

Title: Get a beta, already
Fandom: FFVII
Genre: Humor/Parody
Characters: Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Sephiroth
Rating: PG-13 
Word count: 500
Summary: Why fanfic can sometimes be so bad that it's good. Warning: Scathing sarcasm under the cut

( Get a beta, already ) 

Title: A Taste of Home (June)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, and Marlene
Rating: PG-13 non-explicit sexual situations
Word count: about 3500
Summary: How can you sweeten the bitter taste of returning to the place where it all went wrong?


 

Title: Memories (May)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, OC
Rating: PG-13 
Word count: about 3800
Summary: Going back to the place all those memories were finally jogged. Very fluffy for the most part.


 

Title: Promises (April)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, Marlene, all characters from Avalanche, the Turks, Shera and Dinne
Rating: PG
Word count: about 3700
Summary: Making a different set of promises at last. Songfic.

Title: Special Delivery (March)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, Marlene, all Avalanche members and Shera. 
Rating: PG
Word count: about 4600
Summary: Something's getting delivered all over Gaia this month... and preparations are in full swing for that big event in April...

Title: Triangles and Resolutions (February)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, Marlene, Barret, Reeve
Rating: PG-13
Word count: about 6200
Summary: Not all love triangles are romantic. And does being in one mean that somebody always has to lose?
 

( Triangles and Resolutions (February) ) 

Title: Penance
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, Marlene, Aeris
Rating: PG-13, non-explicit sexual situations
Word count: about 5000
Summary: Geostigma still exists in DoC. How do Cloud and Tifa react when they realize that victims still remain all over Gaia?

Title: Winter Blaze (December)
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: CloudxTifa, Denzel, Marlene, all Avalanche members, Dinne
Rating: PG-13 Sexual situations, but nothing explicit
Word count: about 5500
Summary: How is Cloud supposed to pop the question when everyone comes along for their snowboarding holiday?

( Winter Blaze (December) )