Starting FFVII with my kids

My twins are 5 now and I'm starting to play FF with them. I decided to go with VII first since it is awesome and also it was available to download on PSN. I also wanted to refresh myself on the game before the remake comes out (when they're in high school probably).

We played for about 3 hours the first day and got to right before the assault on Shinra HQ. The kids can't read yet so I'm reading all the text to them. I do Cloud in a my normal voice, Tifa a little higher, Aerith as high pitched as I can go without squeaking, and Barret with a Mr. T accent. Yeah, that last one is kind of racist but it is also entirely what SE intended his voice to be. President Shinra has kind of a Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget kind of voice while Don Corneo sounds kind of like James from Pokemon though more clownish. Heidegger is the hardest to do so far, I intended him to sound Russian but my Russian accent sucks and he sounds more like The Count from Sesame Street.

The kids love the game so far. My daughter likes the "flower girl" and the limit breaks. She also is remarkably good at remembering plot details and connecting them (like, she saw Reno come in the church and suspected he was going to try and get the flower girl). My son likes when we fight a new creature and is really into the battles, especially when I zap everything with Bolt+All. Their favorite part so far is when Aerith pushed one of Corneo's henchmen down the stairs. They also of course liked the Cloud crossdressing scene.

This PSN version of the game is super cool as it allows you to turn off random encounters or go to 3X speed at will. There is also a super cheating "instant limit break" button that seems a little much. All these perks are awesome for someone who has played this 10 times and just wants to chill with the kids!

I'll keep updating as we progress.

Sounds like a great time! Did your son like the house monster? Surely the best random encounter in Midgar there is. Also what did they make of the whole Don Corneo thing? That's pretty seedy stuff right there! I was a kid when I played it too so I'm trying to remember what I thought of it, and I think I just thought he was some classic mustachioed villain who kidnapped women just 'cause.

What's your Red XIII voice going to be?

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

What's your Red XIII voice going to be?

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Scooby Scooby Doooooo!!!!

no

Oh man, I love this, and can't wait to see more updates. Good choice too; it teaches kids about caring for our planet and fighting the man. o7

I was 8 when I played the game for the first time, so I was close in age to your kids. I remember distinctly being drawn to the game because all of the pretty colors (well, pretty everything--it was 1999, after all. And some of the graphics still hold up today). Aeris' first limit break makes the most satisfying twinkling sound.

Are you planning on doing the entire game? Like sidequests and stuff?

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

This PSN version of the game is super cool as it allows you to turn off random encounters or go to 3X speed at will. There is also a super cheating "instant limit break" button that seems a little much. All these perks are awesome for someone who has played this 10 times and just wants to chill with the kids!

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Wait wtf where are these settings

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Sounds like a great time! Did your son like the house monster? Surely the best random encounter in Midgar there is.

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They thought the house monster was super funny. It was also a lot harder than I remember. Ton of HP. Easily the coolest monster in Midgar.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Also what did they make of the whole Don Corneo thing? That's pretty seedy stuff right there! I was a kid when I played it too so I'm trying to remember what I thought of it, and I think I just thought he was some classic mustachioed villain who kidnapped women just 'cause.

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Since I gave him a pretty silly voice and his intentions are pretty vague in the text, they didn't think he was anything more than a cartoonish villain that liked to take people.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

What's your Red XIII voice going to be?

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Good question. I'll need to figure that out soon, and Rufus who will probably just sound like his dad but more evil. I always imagined Red XIII to have a deep voice though he's supposed to be a teenager for his species. Rude will probably sound like Ving Rhames.

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Originally Posted by Jinx

Oh man, I love this, and can't wait to see more updates. Good choice too; it teaches kids about caring for our planet and fighting the man. o7

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Yeah, and they are definitely 100% team AVALANCHE. Like Barret-got to blow up all the reactors because it's draining the planet's energy-level.

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Originally Posted by Jinx

Are you planning on doing the entire game? Like sidequests and stuff?

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We'll see how far we get, but the no encounters/3X speed button makes it easy enough to get some of those done. Yuffie/Vincent are a given, and I'm sure they'll want to do the Gold Saucer games. I think they'd be into the chocobo colors but the breeding is kind of tedious. I know they'd love KotR though.

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

Wait wtf where are these settings

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If you are playing on a PS4, click the left control stick button down to enter 3X speed. Click the right stick button down to automatically fill your limit bar (super cheating but good to unlock those later limits at least). Click both down to turn off random encounters. That last one is fantastic when you are trying to backtrack!

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

Wait wtf where are these settings

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If you are playing on a PS4, click the left control stick button down to enter 3X speed. Click the right stick button down to automatically fill your limit bar (super cheating but good to unlock those later limits at least). Click both down to turn off random encounters. That last one is fantastic when you are trying to backtrack!

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I'm doing it on Vita, maybe it's not on that version :(

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

My daughter likes the "flower girl"

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oh no

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Originally Posted by Mr Gashtacular

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

My daughter likes the "flower girl"

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oh no

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shh she's just sleeping

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Also what did they make of the whole Don Corneo thing? That's pretty seedy stuff right there! I was a kid when I played it too so I'm trying to remember what I thought of it, and I think I just thought he was some classic mustachioed villain who kidnapped women just 'cause.

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Since I gave him a pretty silly voice and his intentions are pretty vague in the text, they didn't think he was anything more than a cartoonish villain that liked to take people.

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I remember as a kid thinking the "he's looking for a wife" thing was real. I knew he was having sex with them, but I didn't understand any of the darker implications of his story. So they didn't think anything was off about "he wants a wife" thing.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

What's your Red XIII voice going to be?

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Good question. I'll need to figure that out soon, and Rufus who will probably just sound like his dad but more evil. I always imagined Red XIII to have a deep voice though he's supposed to be a teenager for his species. Rude will probably sound like Ving Rhames.

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You should give him growly, gravelly voice. If you think your vocal cords can handle it. xD

We haven't gotten much further, just started the assault on Shinra HQ. My daughter keeps asking me to put the Flower Girl in my party and told me to go back to her house to find her (which you actually had to do to check on Marlene). The elected to sneak into Shinra and loved the endless staircase. Barret and Tifa's bickering was funnier than I remember. Mayor Domino's password was hard to figure out and eventually they said "Dad just look it up on your phone." :p

Awww kids these days, can't look it up on that old final fantasy website, nope just google it on your phone. BACK IN MY DAY we had to bicker with people on internet message boards!

This is so adorable and so cute. It's like you're reading an interactive book to them! They'll remember this.

Back in my day they sold guides in book form.

First thing we did when we started the game is bust out the ol' Brady strategy guide. My son looked through the pictures but it wasn't very useful to him since he can't read! Maybe we should utilize it more though.

Just be careful of the part where it spoils Aeris dying.

Nice! I've got our 10 year old Arkin playing, he just unlocked the safe to get Vincent, but forgot to grab the key and ran out of the mansion lol. Took him a while to unlock the safe and earlier he forgot to save after cosmo canyon so he had to do that all over again. He's really enjoying the game though. I still pull out my old official Bradygames guide as well ince the younger two hellions usually ahve stolen my phone by that point and Arkin is playing on my PC.

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I always imagined Red XIII to have a deep voice though he's supposed to be a teenager for his species.

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I actually thought he had a deep voice back in the day, because Bugenhagen says he is very deep, but I realise now that that line referred to his personality.

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Awww kids these days, can't look it up on that old final fantasy website, nope just google it on your phone. BACK IN MY DAY we had to bicker with people on internet message boards!

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The password changes each time, though...

I love that you're doing this, Final Fantasy VII was so awesome when I did it the first time, so I can totally relate to what your kids are experiencing - and they're going through it without any previous experience (I was aware of some things, due to reading strategy guides long before even buying the game), and even then it was an awesome experience as the next scene happened. I'm sure it's really fun for them, hearing it in your storyteller style. :)

We are now out of Midgar and through the Kalm flashback.

The kids appreciated the various puzzle floors in the Shinra building, especially the one where you could only open 3 doors to get the item coupons. They liked the motorcycle chase too. I think a main reason this and the other FF games from around this era were so great was these little things you do to break up the standard "fight, open chest, cutscene" formula of RPGs.

The music is having great effect on them. When Cloud and the others are captured by Shinra but then the eerie music starts and the jail cell is open, they were on edge. Same with the flashback when Sephiroth's theme starts up right before he goes crazy.

They think Barret is really funny. Part of it is the voice I gave him but he also just has some great lines. Like when he sees the Jenova specimen in the Shinra building and says "Where's its #%&!ing head??" I feel like Barret is the everyman of this game, reacting to things like many of us would unlike the other characters who are just pretty cool with all that's going down. I also decided to give Red XIII a somewhat dignified deep voice because he speaks very politely. They're not really into him yet since he just joined and doesn't have a ton of storyline until Cosmo Canyon.

Their appreciation of Tifa grew during the flashback though they still prefer Aerith. I put Tifa in the party anyway because she's stronger. They also have quite the respect for Sephiroth's power from that part in Mt. Nibel where he uses all the high tier nukes and Cloud is super weak. Then of course when he goes crazy and burns the village. They also saw the dead Midgar Zolom later on and were like 'daaaaang Sephiroth killed that huge thing? :whoa:'

We got to the chocobo stables and it took me four tries to catch the damn thing. Tifa had a limit break and decided to do both her attacks on the bird, then it pecked me and ran away. They laughed at me for that. They loved the Choco/Mog summon as I thought they would.

They pick up on the details and ask some good logical questions. Like when Barret has Atomic Scissors equipped so he does a melee attack, yet he can still use Big Shot. Or how I was able to use the missile ability the tank used on me.

My favorite part of that Barret quote is when he says "This whole thing's stupid."

I'm loving how much they're enjoying this, and I bet they'll love the other summons too. I always like Shiva (and still do!) because she was pretty and icy. Also curious to how they react to Yuffie!

They liked that line too. I think they'll like Yuffie, especially when she steals the materia. They have a mischievous streak in them.

Yeah, based on what you've said, it sounded like that. Especially because Yuffie is so over-the-top.

This is really cool, I feel like most five year olds wouldn't appreciate the game but I'm delighted to read that they're enjoying it.

And yeah, I never knew about any special secret buttons on the PSN version of the game. I played it on PSP and a little on PS3 and it never did anything special. Interesting but I don't think I could bring myself to use the limit break booster outside of perhaps AP farming.

We are through Gold Saucer now. I forgot how quickly it goes after the crawl through Midgar. You are in Costa Del Sol for like 5 minutes, North Corel for about 2 minutes. I am curious about how the remake will deal with some of these places.

They loved sailor suit Barret and basically asked me when we could find him every two minutes after that glimpse at the end of Junon. They were not disappointed. They are fully invested into every clue the NPCs leave about the trail of Sephiroth. They thought we were going to fight him on the boat when the first Jenova battle came and we fought 'Sephiroth's mama'. They didn't think she was that scary in the battle and the weird creatures from Shinra and Nibelheim were scarier.

I got to Gold Saucer low on gil so had to go back out and do a few battles first. I let them do the battles and they liked spamming attack and using the summons. Choco/Mog is definitely their favorite. They liked every area of Gold Saucer, though the chocobo races and Speed Square were their favorites. We lost our first several racing bets and they egged me on to keep going until we won, then we hit a good win with 50 GP that we used to try the other stuff. Probably shouldn't take them to the track any time soon. During the Dyne stuff, my daughter liked that there was a character with her name. I guess they both have one!

I forgot to get Yuffie on the way to Junon so we picked her up after we got the buggy. They immediately loved her and her tricky plans, and laughed when I stupidly used the save point and she stole 200 gil. My daughter wants to be her for Halloween now.

This is so weirdly enjoyable to read about. Maybe it's because they're so young that they can look at FFVII without having a mind jaded from years of gaming. Keep it up!

Omg, I don't know if you used the save point on purpose to give them a good laugh, but I absolutely love that!

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Originally Posted by Jinx

Omg, I don't know if you used the save point on purpose to give them a good laugh, but I absolutely love that!

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Yeah, we'll say it was that. :shifty:

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

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Originally Posted by Jinx

Omg, I don't know if you used the save point on purpose to give them a good laugh, but I absolutely love that!

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Yeah, we'll say it was that. :shifty:

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:lol:

Dude, 200 gil is a LOT at that point in the game, too.

She told me she gave it back, and I completely believe this random kid that just robbed me in a forest and then decided to follow me.

Awesome thread del. Enjoyed the read so far. I tried getting my kids into it but It failed, couple of years ago I'd say, thus makes want to try again hahah, happy gaming

We haven't played in a while, since I got KH3 and they are really into that right now. But here's where we are:

They loved the Cosmo Canyon music. I hear my son randomly humming it all the time now. They thought Bugenhagen was weird because he doesn't have legs and just floats around like a ghost (I always thought that too). Their respect for Red XIII has grown after this segment, though they still prefer a combo of Barret/Yuffie/Aeirth for battles.

Neibelheim, with its creepy music and wierdos wandering around, appropriately gave them the heebie jeebies. My daughter astutely pointed out that the whole place should be burned down but why does it look the same? Then my son said 'maybe they built it really fast'. For some reason they really liked that part where "Sephiroth" throws the Destruct materia at you. I guess they thought it was funny he would give you something helpful when you should be fighting him. We tried to figure out the safe combo using the hints but it took too long and I missed a number somewhere so I just looked it up. *shrug* Vincent sleeping in a "box" was very funny. He was an immediate favorite in battles due to using guns and being able to transform into a monster.

Next up was Rocket Town. They didn't like Cid as much as I would have thought but maybe he's more of an adult character compared to the fairly cartoony mannerisms of Barret. They did question why he is so mean to Shera. They also liked that we got a plane and then were sad that it just became a boat. :(

We wandered the sea a bit in Tiny Bronco and then landed on a new continent. We were on our merry way when... you guessed it! Yuffie stole our materia. This was really the moment I was waiting to show them because it is so random and hilarious. We left it here because it is a nice cliffhanger. My daughter wants to be Yuffie for Halloween now, but I feel like we should wait a year to do the FFVII costumes when the remake is out.

I now want kids so I can do this. I just don't want the responsibility or the nagging wife that keeps telling me to stop the gaming and find a real job.

This is so cool! Actually when the game first came about I was about the same age as them Haha, and I watched my brother play through it. I remember how into it I got and was constantly asking my brother questions about the story. I was also a big fan of flower girl, although when I played the game myself later was more into Tifa.
The wall market part was my favorite I laughed so much! And then when it got to the confrontation I was like "what does he mean cut them off? Cut what off?" Haha

Yeah they asked about that too so I just changed the subject. :sweat:

This has been an entertaining read, Murd. Very cool idea. Have you played any more with them since your last post?

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

They thought Bugenhagen was weird because he doesn't have legs and just floats around like a ghost (I always thought that too).

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I thought this for years too. It turns out though that he does have legs but is just a lazy smurfer. He sits cross-legged on his floating ball.

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Originally Posted by G13

This has been an entertaining read, Murd. Very cool idea. Have you played any more with them since your last post?

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We moved on to some other things and they started school so I haven't brought it back yet. Maybe this weekend.

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Originally Posted by Bubba

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

They thought Bugenhagen was weird because he doesn't have legs and just floats around like a ghost (I always thought that too).

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I thought this for years too. It turns out though that he does have legs but is just a lazy smurfer. He sits cross-legged on his floating ball.

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whoa

Yeah that image blows my mind. I actually always thought he was a legless floating guy too. I mean, his 'grandson' is a talking wolf, so anything is possible.

Kids are into Pokemon Shield now. I may just end up holding out for the remake at this point. With the voice acting, it makes it a lot easier on me.