After a forty-seven minute grind (I timed it), I finally saw this.
Nobody likes grinding, but this was particularly odious since I can’t stand Yuffie, but I am compelled to get her since her early game equipment is much better than what I have at the moment, plus she gets a three-slotted materia leveling weapon on the Cargo Ship (efficiency, ftw!).
Quick pro-tip, speaking of efficiency and grinding, it really isn’t worth spending time to level materia or characters until you get the airship so you can go to tiny islands that are good for nothing but tons of experience and 120 AP per enemy. This would explain the gurgling “want” noises I was making when I finally got to Junon Harbor.
Of course, I won’t get it until much later, but a guy can dream.*
Junon Harbor is always a welcome respite from the character swaping and materia managment that plagues you for the rest of the game.** Cloud goes off alone and find himself confused with another soldier and ends up, after a few mini-games involving military drills, finds himself on a Cargo Ship headed to a small resort town, Costa del Sol.
Here’s a screenshot of my favorite moment from that excursion:
How does that even make sense?
Oh, and before I forget! A brief suggestion to my comrades-in-game, regarding the materia/character rotation issues [link to D’s article]. My method is as follows. Aeris is always in party (until the end of disk one), the rest of the time I just leave in the character that most amuses me at the moment until the game forces me to take somebody for a character specific quest. And, since all the character out of party level along side of you, you just need to keep enough slotted weapons and armor on the current members to continually level your materia throught the game. I find this makes my life much easier.
Where you at?
Disc: 1
Cloud’s Level: 19
Timer: 3:47:33
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*In this dream, I also have a Smoked Brisket from Snarf’s and a six pack of Hop Devil.
**Even I, a fellow who loves grappling with the nuances of a game and tweaking the smallest of stats for maximized efficiency, am getting as tired as Daniel is.
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Read Gavin Craig’s week 5 post