37. Final Fantasy VIIAnother platinum for another classic. During this file, I did a lot of firsts. It was my first time getting a date with Barrett. It was my first time skipping the Gongaga area. It was my first time not entering Wutai to deal with Yuffie's Materia stealing antics (something I'll avoid going forward). It was the first time I got Aerith's final limit break. I think most importantly, this was the first time I fully utilized Cait Sith's Game Over slot via his Slots limit break. Specifically, I was able to knock out both Ruby and Emerald Weapon with it; no Mime/KotR combo silliness. This lead to more firsts: my first time not needing to bother with the tedious Chocobo Breeding for a Gold Chocobo. (It's been proven you don't have to race them to unlock better ones but still). And, it lead to my first time getting Master Magic, Command, and Summon Materias. There were other firsts but I won't get into them. I'll just say that I had an absolute blast with this classic despite having to really follow a guide to avoid missing certain things. As a result, I feel like I'll do a replay of this sooner rather than later. The game is still great-fun, and having the boosters around makes some of the less favored areas much more manageable.
31. Pilotwings 64 (N64)
I feel like all gamers have those special comfort games they play when life isn't at its best or maybe they just need to be reminded of simpler times. In my case, I felt like I needed both. I found out last week I'm getting laid off from a job I've had for 8 years. I don't work from some mega corporations where layoffs are the norm and the company is certainly small enough to where everyone is fairly connected to everyone else, even the executive management team. So the fact that I was one of about 40 people that were told we're getting let go soon came as a complete shock. This unfortunate news derailed my playthrough of Chrono Trigger, a game from a genre I struggle to get into even when I'm not dealing with life changing events. When I finally did feel like doing something other than frantically navigating a terrible job market, I decided to play a game I've thoroughly enjoyed since I was a young kid, and one that reminds me of those simpler times better than most.
So sorry to hear about that. I hate that you're going through something like this. Definitely play those comfort games to help punctuate the job search.