Hello everyone!

The GM here, hoping all you folks from the States had a fun Independence Day. In the time I had off, I re-downloaded Shivering Isles for ESIV and got that pesky Duke of Dementia achievement for 100% completion. I had already obtained said achievement on my previous xbox, but unfortunately my heat-sink committed suicide and took all of my achievements to the fiery depths of hell that is the red ring (*GASP* *DUNN DUNNNN DUNNNNN*) Anyway, happy with my 1000/1000 gamerscore for Oblivion I contemplated what would come next (prolly Morrowind via Morroblivion, but more on that later), and decided that I missed turn-based games such as KOTOR and Final Fantasy. Man I loved FF7! It is close to being my favorite game of all time (Legend of Zelda can suck it....(please don't kill me Darth)). I first played it when I was 11 and fell completely in love with it; I used to even draw pictures of Cloud, Sephiroth, and Red XIII. What I loved most about the game, besides the lovable characters and epic storyline, is the fighting system. After a pokemon-style 'run around until you have a random enemy encounter' brings you to the fight screen, the fun happens.

Battle music starts, and your party, as well as the enemy parties, are set up facing each other. Rather than a realtime, reflex-based, and quick-fight methodology, the game slows it down a little. You can control of each member of your party, and decide whether to cast spells, melee, or use items (or run...PANSIES! No seriously, running from fights just to save time is a terrible idea. You will be too low level when you advance in the story, and have to resort to WoW-style grind leveling). Summoning is also amazing. Watch a Youtube video of 'Knights of the Round' and see how epic the mini cut scenes are. I ALMOST FORGOT!!! Chocobo racing! Sorry, I got a little too excited.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know the pleasures of turn-based fighting, and its ability to let you think and strategize, you should pick up a copy of FF7, Knights of the Old Republic, or many others, and micro-manage the hell out of them.

-GIB