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Posted By Yousif A. about 3 months, 1 week ago
Crisis Core may have been the most daring project Square-Enix have ever undertaken. Final Fantasy 7 is one of the best loved video games of all time; so going back and creating a prequel to such a lauded title is a huge risk. Some things are best left alone.
By the time Square-Enix released Crisis Core they had already produced the film Advent Children, the mobile title Before Crisis and the PS2 title Dirge of Cerberus. One of these was an absolute abomination that did very little for the FF7 legacy, however, hope was kept alive by the other two releases. However, with the PSP selected as the platform of choice for Crisis Core a number of FFVII fans were getting understandably worried. They should not have been.
Crisis Core is one of my top 10 games of all time, let alone top 25 on the PSP. Firstly, to create a prequel that can quite easily stand alone, and be played regardless of your knowledge of FF7, is an extraordinary achievement in and of itself. Secondly, to forge a story where the finale is already known and yet attach the player to a character emotionally so that the ending almost comes as a shock regardless of their prior knowledge is a credit to the writing team. Finally, to re-introduce characters, giving them personality and depth, building upon what was created in FFVII is a work of such sheer magnificence that you simply have to play the game to believe it.
Hey, I know that bike
Where Advent Children built on top of FFVII’s legacy and Dirge of Cerberus…was what it was, Crisis Core manages to reinforce the foundations of this legendary title. Yes, that’s right, a prequel that serves a purpose. You don’t see many of those in or out of gaming.
Zack’s determination and drive that were previously unseen in FFVII were explored in detail and even his inspiration for doing so was further examined, giving Cloud’s opening persona in FFVII that little bit more depth and perhaps even shows how Cloud perceived Zack to be. Aerith’s love for Zack and the loss she must have felt when he disappeared is portrayed openly, allowing fans to understand her melancholy nature in FFVII, yet perhaps understanding how she got that driven attitude of hers. Even Sephiroth is given some personality. While in FFVII you did briefly get to meet him before the events of Nibelhiem drove him to madness, Crisis Core allows you to see him as the Solider 1st class that he was and witness the tragedy in this kind hearted hero becoming a monster.
luckily, she was such a nice girl no one ever considered stabbing her in the chest…oh
All this wrapped up in a beautiful game that make 99% of other PSP titles look bad. Graphically, I don’t think you could have asked for more, with the game featuring stunningly smooth in game design and jaw dropping CG cutscenes. Locations from FF7 have been treated with the love and care they deserve, faithfully realized for the modern era, along with some locations that had previously been heard about, but never explored.
The combat system, while completely different from FFVII was still dutiful enough to make sure similarities in names, move and limit breaks were all present. Playing more like Kingdom Hearts than a Final Fantasy title, Crisis Core may not have been for every FF fan, but easily makes the most of an RPG with only one playable protagonist.
Was Crisis Core necessary? No, Final Fantasy 7 stood up, proudly, on its own. Was Crisis Core worth it? Absolutely.
I could go on and on about this title, but Taylor has a gun to my head, Rob my family held hostage and Austin is preparing to perform a Clockwork Orange video screening on me, but with 4 hours of Nyan Cat. So you’ll understand if I stop. Oh, and check out the other 25-in-25 entries.
I loved crisis core as well, but I had that feeling of overwhelming sadness once I got to the last chapter. As EVERYONE knew, Zack was destined to die from the start so the game was sort of like a teaser to me. Still, it was well played and Sephiroth became one of my favorite Characters because of it. I had totally hated sephiroth because i though of him as a heartless asshole, but there was more to him before he went nuts, like that caring side that showed us that he was indeed a human being!
I still dont care too much for Aerith, I mean shes sweet and all but definitely not a favorite character. Cloud… he was like a nobody in Crisis core and then he’s all cool man in every other game/movie/anything he is featured in!
My favorite part was probably getting to know Tseng. He rarely speaks in FFvii and He’s probably beating himself up for Zack’s death for the rest of his life… The only thing that kinda pisses me off/ confuses me is that everyone seems to forget everything in Final Fantasy 7. I mean Tseng knows (faintly) who cloud is but he never shows it and Tifa knows who Tseng is (faintly). Zack mentions Aerith’s name to cloud but he of course forgets it.. There are still some gaps for me to fill…
The Ending was of course so sad that it has me in tears everytime i see it. The ending has actually kept me from completely beating the game again because its really emotional and even though we know what happens to zack at the end, the ending makes it like 1000x sadder. The part where his DMW breaks and all he sees is Aerith shows the player how much he really did love her.
I loved FF7, but i hated this game. It introduced so many needless stuff and characters into the cannon, and exagerated too much some very simple moments from the original game.
It felt like a really bad fan-fiction created around FF7.
Not a fan of the combat system either.
Meh, after playing FF7CC i so wished having spended my time and money on a better game instead of this.
I liked Crisis Core. I wouldn’t say it in my personnal top 10 of best games, but I still enjoyed it. Not a game I’d recommend to everyone, but still a good game nonetheless.
And the cutscene with the 3 1st-class fight, I totally agree : best cutscene in Final Fantasy ever!
And get on the Patapon review already!!! ;D
I bought a PSP just to play this and i enjoyed it one of the best games in recent memory in my own personal opinion.
Three words: Typical Final Fantasy.
And by that I mean “hit and miss in the extreme.” The gameplay as a whole is “role playing for everyone who is completely clueless about role playing,” and the storytelling is filled with Final Fantasy’s normal oddness, but that doesn’t stop Sephiroth from being awesome, doing the “correct” thing and refusing to give Genesis help. That scene is one of the most scathing criticisms of the human condition I have ever seen.
…and then Sephiroth goes Momma’s boy on us and I die laughing at how ludicrous VII’s premise was.
a lot of people seem to have the same problem with the combat like a friend of mine, when i saw him play i noticed he didn’t know how to play the fucken game!!
its like people complaining how 8 was to hard -.-
sigh… I’m probably the only sore loser on the planet that thinks that Dirge of Cerberus isn’t THAT bad.
On the other hand, I have never played Crisis Core. Mostly due the fact that I don’t own a psp. FFVII was the first RPG that I ever played so it holds a very dear spot in my heart so I’m pretty much interested in everything related to it.
I guess it’s time to start nagging my friend to borrow me his PSP and Crisis Core…
Don’t worry, I kinda liked Dirge too. It wasn’t a masterpiece, I just think people had too lofty expectations of the game.
No. This game is terrible. I notice you barley mention the combat when that’s a huge part of why the game is terrible.
I could stand the annoying Zack, the stupid cameos, the dumb the dialogue, I could withstand all of that. If not for the game being horribly boring to play.
How do I level up? It’s random! How do I do a special move? random, how do I summon monsters? RANDOM. Gee, how fun.
At least the game has an overly performed cheesy storyline I already know the ending to that I can enjoy that features bland characters archetypes that make no attempt at being interesting.
Truly the best game evar’!
Man, how can you hate Zack. It’s like kicking a puppy.
Anyway, you’re more wrong that right here. Leveling, while tied to the DMW, is not truly random. You effectively cache up experience which will be converted to level ups mid-battle. While you can theoretically miss out on a level up for a while, the game will always correct pretty quickly. Similarly, ‘special attacks’ (which would be more accurately called ‘Limit Breaks’) are random, but the odds are altered on a fight per fight basis, depending on the situation. Further, you can ultimately just buy items that rig you to get certain limits, at which point you will CONSTANTLY get those limits.
Like most RPGs though, a lot of the fun is not in the raw battles themselves, but in the character building. Materia fusion is fun to play with, and means much, much more to your overall strength than those ‘random’ level ups you mentioned. Now, materia levels unlike Zack’s levels actually are random, but fortunately materia levels don’t come up a whole lot.
though truth be told, from your wording it’s clear you just dislike RPGs to start with and I’m wondering why the hell you’d even play Crisis Core in the first place.
Yes! I clearly hate all RPGs and not just this one game, that must be the reason!
Except no. Final Fantasy 1 is my favorite Final Fantasy, I’m replaying Persona 4 and playing Persona 2 right now. I just bought Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS but have to wait on that because I’m too busy playing Tales of Vesperia. Looking to my left I have Fallout 2, Fate Extra, and Lands of Lore 1 on my desk. I’m willing to bet about half my library of games are RPGs.
So no I don’t think the “he must hate all RPGs” argument you set up really works here. Because surly if I love RPGs I would love EVERYTHING square enix does right?
I love RPGs, I just don’t like this game.
I do like how your justification for the random element in the game’s combat is that it’s not so random all the time.
:\
So you used to like RPGs, and only started to hate them later in life. Sometimes one is just different enough that you think you can rekindle the old magic, but it’s becoming harder and harder.
Here’s something that may help. Everything is cheesy. All video games use themes very bluntly, and tend to repeat themselves. Indeed, across all story telling. When you ignore nuance in favor of the frame, everything looks the same. Cliche, trope, archetypes, whatever you want to call it, you’ll see them anywhere you care to look for them. And if you find it harder and harder to not look for them in a given genre, it’s because you’re no longer in love with that genre.
It’s fine not to like a game, but dislike it on its own merits. Randomness? It looks more random than it really is. Disliking it for that reason is sort of shallow. Dive deeper. Combat is pretty repetitive, there’s a relatively limited number of enemies, you don’t get too many moves that increase your mobility, enemies spawn constantly. I imagine you noticed and disliked all those things. And those are good, solid reasons not to like the game. Others may not mind. Perhaps they derive joy from building ridiculous overpowered materia and mercilessly destroying enemies in 2 seconds flat.
So pause, think, articulate. Don’t just spout off the words of a thousand rpg-hating goons. Look at what’s really frustrating you with any game and ask what the root of those frustrations is. You’ll make a stronger argument and spawn a better discussion, making the internet that little bit better.
“So you used to like RPGs, and only started to hate them later in life”
No. I love RPGs. That is all.
Randomness? Is that all I’m complaining about? No. It’s the way the game uses random to pull off what I think should be player input. Instead of (like in say Kingdom Heats) you go to select summon, in this game you wait for the game to give you the ok by way of its very mechanics. I hated it. It’s that single mechanic that I despise. It doesn’t deepen the experience or make the game any more strategic. I even go so far to say that it cheapens it.
Of course I have other caveats about the game and its mechanics such as the mission structure, character growth (which ties in to the random issue), and even the layout of maps. But I chose my main problem with the game that I felt was the biggest hit to my enjoyment.
I’ll even elaborate on that. I love the mechanics in RPGs. I like playing the game and figuring them out. Crisis Core doesn’t give me this.
” Everything is cheesy. All video games use themes very bluntly, and tend to repeat themselves.”
But some video games tell story better. I think video games can tell a story in new and interesting ways and I just don’t find Crisis Core’s writing to be anything I haven’t seen before. (tell me you DIDN’T guess exactly how they were going to “develop” Zack’s character after only a few hours in the game)
To contrast this I’ve been playing the “Tales of” games lately, particularly Tales of the Abyss and I’m enjoying the story greatly.
So stop trying to make it out like I hate RPGs, I don’t. I don’t like this game.
*shrug* I stand by what I said before. Hating on the DMW slots is just weird to me. It’s a fairly trivial part of the game unless you specifically build for it, and considering that (as befits a Limit Break) they’re very nearly instant win attacks across the board, I felt that not being able to trigger them at will was just a balancing feature.
And, um. You’re… complaining about Crisis Core being predictable and cheesy then citing a Tales game for contrast. I like the Tales series (and Abyss is very good) but let’s not claim they don’t revel in their cheesiness. Only Wild ARMs uses it more gratuitously. Basically, what I’m saying here is that I’m baffled you can simultaneously say you love RPGs and yet hate on games for cheese. Most of the best RPGs are cheesy, it’s the simplest way to effectively tell the stories RPGs should tell. Big stakes, big development, big emotions, cheese is how you sell those things in the story. (Exceptions exist. But it takes skill, and odds are you miss entirely and produce something soulless rather than a subtle piece.)
Besides, it’s a prequel. The only realistic options for a prequel are to be a little too predictable or a little too retcon-y. Maybe there’s exceptions but I honestly can’t think of them.
I was actually tempted to mention that their was one commenter out there that will disagree with this analysis and recommendation.
I don’t think I could convince you that Crisis Core is good if you really had a bad time with the game. I personally loved the cameo’s, dialogue (come on FFVII was full of silly lines) and how they portrayed Zack. I love how he changed as the game progressed, learning that to become a hero requires actions that benefit others.
The three solider 1st class characters were a great counter balance to this showing heroes that underneath were not who they thought they were when push came to shove.
As for the combat, I adored it. I thought it was a great improvement on Kingdom Hearts with a smoother interface. I would have loved a true ATB battle system, but with one character that really would have become dull. The random nature of the combat system never really bothered me, and until you mentioned it wasn’t something I thought about.
I think Crisis Core is more of an action game with RPG elements.
However, if you did not enjoy the game, who am I to argue, I can’t force you to like the game. Hell, I find Disegea really boring! Half the RPG fans here would skin me alive for saying that, but as humans we have a right to disagree.
I will say that I am sad that you didn’t like the game, as it gave me great pleasure to play and to think someone else got the opposite end is disappointing.
Just one commenter? ;D
I would defiantly agree that the game is more action oriented game that has some RPG trimming but I don’t think that’s the problem.
You never thought of the random nature of the combat? That’s really strange, it stuck out so sorely to me (obviously) that it was the trigger that made me begin to dislike the game.
But yeah in all fairness I can see how you would overlook the system like that. The Kingdom Hearts games do something similar I think. I don’t know if it’s style over mechanics but it might just be.
I think I’ll replay Crisis Core one day for research.
I really disliked this game and I place all of the blame on the combat. Maybe I was just doing it wrong, my reflexes were too atrophied from months of Disgaea 2, or something, but it felt clumsy as all hell.
Maybe I’ll give it another shot one of these days..
And yes.. best cut-scene ever.
I loved FF7: Crisis Core. I actually cried at the end of the game. ;~;
I totally agree. Crisis Core is my favorite game on the system. While some parts of the story barely escape the “confusing as hell Japanese RPG”-Syndrom, the rest of the game is really good.
The combat seems repetetive on the first look but makes a suprising amount of fun, Zack is probably my favorite protagonist in years and the ending is the best I’ve seen in… well, it probably is the best I’ve seen. And that really says something about a game where you might have seen it or probably at least know what happens beforehand.
Oh and as a little extra the music, while not from Uematsu, is fantastic as well.