What's on your mind?

[Kain Nobel]

I recently bought a PS1 to play FF8 again the old fashioned way. Originally, I tried emulation but that was a headache. The entire game was brand new 4 discs inside a jewel case; never been opened prior to 2019, always placed somewhere safe and out of the way. Regardless of being brand new discs, it seems the data isn't so easy to read; spots of the game don't always load so I have to reset and retrace my steps and hope I'm lucky in the next session. Not a huge deal, I'm on disc 2 and going strong aside from the game CD's hiccups.

Old games have a limited shelf life and fragility. I wonder if the game is suffering from digital "bit rot" or something because there are no scratches (aside from the one I just made not even a second ago.) I hate touching, let alone handling, old black PS1 discs because their sensitive nature. Its one of those things where I feel need to be in a laboratory clean room wearing specialized gloves and a white chemical jumpsuit before I load it in the lid.

In reality, I'm wiping grease from my eyelids and rubbing it onto the surface of the disc because there is a micro scratch. Hey, it works!