Despite the millions of gamers who adores it, I have always found
Final Fantasy VII to be a decent but ultimately average title. But for many,
Final Fantasy VII was the first Japanese RPG they ever played. And for many others, the only! It is difficult to dismiss the title's significance in introducing a once obscure genre to the mainstream, and for that alone I tip my hat to
Final Fantasy VII.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is the latest instalment in the
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series of Square-Enix quick cash-in of taking advantage of desperate buyers. Surprisingly and more importantly, luckily, it is one of the better spin-off titles in Square-Enix's
Final Fantasy VII portfolio (
Advent Children being an incredibly forgetful experience, and
Dirge of Cerberus apparently a turd - I haven't tried it but YouTube videos advised me not to). One reason being is that
Crisis Core isn't really a spin-off, but a direct prequel to
Final Fantasy VII, which explains among other things why Cloud is so mind fucked in
Final Fantasy VII. So shocking as it is, you do get a glimpse of a happier laughing Cloud before he started brooding 99.99% of the time. Spoilers ahoy throughout!
Crisis Core evolves around Zack Fair, a 2nd class SOLDIER under the employment of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a multi-conglomerate dictator. Cocky as he usually is, his ambition is to become a 1st class SOLDIER and to be a hero of Midgar - to live his dreams so to speak. The game begins with Zack and his mentor Angeal sent to infiltrate and destroy enemies in Wutai., only to be attacked by clones of a missing 1st class SOLDIER Genesis. Saved by Sephiroth, Zack later learns that Angeal has gone renegade joining ranks with Genesis. Throughout the game (which spans a couple of years), Zack retains his belief to guide Angeal back to the right path. We also get to see Zack's first meeting Aerith, as well as their eventual romancing; and becoming best friends with Shinra infantryman Cloud. There are a couple of story arcs in Crisis Core, one that surrounds the main antagonist Genesis, as well as the infamous Nibelheim incident where Sephiroth went insane.
A couple of supporting characters from the previous (sequel) game is here, all connected through Zack's interaction with them. The human side of Sephiroth is of particular interest here as he showed himself to be a kind and funny fellow, and of someone who once recognised friendship above all. It is interesting as I've always thought him of a two dimensional villain, so I was thankful that we finally get to visit a side of him when he was sane and smiling before his mental breakdown. Yuffie also makes an appearance, constantly stalking Zack via e-mail; as well as Tifa, who appears as a guide to Zack and Sephiroth while in Nibelheim. There are quite a number of boss battles to be dealt with, but none were particularly difficult or memorable, especially those 'mid-bosses'. Sadly, the final boss was a joke, but this is Genesis we are talking about. His constant citing of LOVELESS poetries is truly video gaming irritation on a huge scale.
While the story begins excruciatingly slowly, the plot eventually did gradually built up. To be honest, I found the multiple story arcs here far more enjoyable than the one in
Final Fantasy VII. It must have something to do with playing with what seems to be a very likeable and funny protagonist, unlike what Cloud came to be in
Final Fantasy VII and its subsequent sequel
Advent Children. Seriously, Zack is now one of my favourite
Final Fantasy characters next to Balthier (
Final Fantasy XII) and Rydia & Kain (
Final Fantasy IV), though it did take a couple of chapters before his do-gooder personality rises. It is sad that the manner of his death was so tragic, but if you are really into
Final Fantasy VII lore, you would have known of it by now (I did, but not the manner). Basically, Zack Fair is a genuine Mr. Nice Guy whose optimism is a rarity among modern
Final Fantasy characters these days. For all intent and purpose, I believe that Square-Enix succeeded in creating an extremely likeable centre character.
Unlike most
Final Fantasy games, there is no world map for the player to traverse. Instead the player is automatically transported to each location through cut scenes. It does suit the portable nature of the game so I won't complain of the lack of airships and Chocobo riding, though it does make the main mission a very linear experience. Even side missions are only accessible through the menu when Zack is standing on a save spot, which I found to be extremely weird but useful for quick missions. Later on when Zack is escaping the Shinra forces, you can still access missions of Zack working for Shinra, which I found to be rather silly.
Unlike its predecessor,
Crisis Core is an Action RPG title featuring a real time combat system not too dissimilar to those found in tri-Ace's
Star Ocean and Level-5's
Rogue Galaxy. Battles are still random (annoyingly sometimes every 3-5 seconds) but only in open areas, and though there is no transition to a new battle screen you will still have to wait as Zack readies his sword. When in combat mode, the bottom left displays the HP, MP and AP stats and the top left features a slot machine-like spinning reel. This is called the Digital Mind Wave that randomly giving the player helpful boost (such as the limit break-like Power Surge!), levelling up equipped Materias. The DMW also sometimes shows unseen cut scenes revolving around Zack, which is fortunately skip able (it does repeat these cut scenes rather a lot). Summons are also evoked through the DMW.
The player controls Zack using the analogue pad and cycles through the equipped commands using the shoulder 'L' and 'R' trigger. Pressing 'X' will confirm Zack's action, though you can also evade and defend using the other face buttons. If you can run or dodge around to the back of the enemy and attack, you will earn a critical hit. Bizarrely the EXP counter is not visible in any portion of the game, and you will only level-up if the DMW reel shows 7-7-7. Personally while I feel that the DMW is a welcomed addition to the game, it does become monotonous after a while - particularly when you can't skip the Power Surge attack animations. But it was used brilliantly in Zack's final battle. The learning curve is easy.
Visually
Crisis Core is a very pretty PSP game. But it isn't as close to the new high benchmark set by
God of War: Chains of Olympus game. Environments aren't as detailed as it could have been and the geometries are very simple. Pathways are wide to accommodate the real time gameplay, giving the player room to manoeuvre, but are unsightly. Some locations are downright awful with constant grey walls or brown deserts. It gets boring awfully quickly, which is why I tend to skip most side missions. Texture quality is good and the cut scenes are told in both pre-rendered
videos of varying quality and in-game cut scene engine. Facial animations (in both pre-rendered and real time cut scenes) are excellent - far better than most games I have seen and equal to that of
Final Fantasy XII on the PS2. Loading is quick too, though no where near as seamless as
Chains of Olympus. Overall, environments are a bit meh, but character and enemy models were brilliant.
The soundtrack mainly consists of 'remixed' versions of those in
Final Fantasy VII, which consists of tracks that I enjoyed and hated. The "heavy metal" piece during certain fights were bloody annoying back then, and is equally annoying here. I am normally a fan of all sorts of heavy metal (bar nu), but the pseudo-metal soundtrack does not suit the game at all. Having said that, the majority of the soundtrack was particularly memorable, especially the western-style string. Voice acting was okay. When I first listed my pros and cons for this review, I did dislike the English voice acting at first, but towards the end I found that I eventually did warmed up to them. Sound quality is excellent.
Crisis Core is rather light on its content. The main campaign I reckon could be completed in around 15-20 hours. I myself took around 23 hours to complete the main game with around 20% of the side quests done, most of which were done during my daily tube commutes. Most of the hundreds of available side missions are pretty standard repetitive fillers with no plot sense, though they do give the player an opportunity to harvest rare Materia. Grinding isn't a requirement though, as the game is pretty easy. Some enemies are capable of instantly killing you, though if you have the status Raise (you can get it for free in the Shinra lobby or from a dash of Phoenix Down) you will automatically be revived. Not all side missions are fillers though, as some do advance the back story of certain characters like Yuffie. There are also optional quests like building Aerith better flower wagons and helping out a hapless 3rd class SOLDIER.
The Materia Fusion mentioned earlier is similar to Alchemy in
Dragon Quest VIII and Skill Binding in
Jeanne d'Arc, where you can combine different Materias to either attach stat boosts to it or to create new Materias. The amount of Materia that can be equipped is limited. For example, rather than wasting two slots by equipping Firaga and a HP boost Materia, you can combine both to create Firaga + (HP+). Playing around with the Materia allows you to achieve very high stats earlier in the game instead of relying on levelling-up. By the time I reached the quarter of the game, my Zack already had his HP boosted from 3000 to 9999, even when his level was around 30. The same applies to boosting MP and AP, as well as boosting Zack's attributes like his physical attacks and magic defence.
Overall I am surprised to have found myself genuinely enjoying
Crisis Core. I avoided the hype, and at the end my expectations were more or less met. It doesn't matter if you, like me, didn't like
Final Fantasy VII or
Advent Children;
Crisis Core is still worthy of a title in its own right. So forget about your love or hatred about the original sourced title,
Crisis Core deserved to be played despite its well documented short comings.
Things I like about Crisis Core:
- Story is engrossing.
- Portable friendly bite-sized missions, with well spaced save points.
- Character model are detailed, with good facial and body animations.
- Real time combat with menu based element is intuitive, though not as polished as Final Fantasy XII's.
- High production value and polished presentation.
- Quick loading.
- Plenty of side quests, some which provides back story.
- Random battles happens without transition screen.
- Material Fusion.
- New Game+ (finally!), and hard mode included.
- Zack is a likeable protagonist.
Things I dislike about Crisis Core:
- LOVELESS.
- Hidden EXP counter.
- Normal mode is too easy.
- I don't mind random battles, but having one every 3-5 seconds is taking the cake.
- Very linear storyline, no world map.
- Lack of challenging puzzles.
- DMW gets too repetitive.
- Dull environments.
- "Heavy metal" battle theme.
8/10
You can preorder the Euro exclusive special edition from
Amazon UK. Or get them from
Amazon.com.
Labels:
Final Fantasy,
London,
Music,
Square-Enix,
Video Games
So I got Final Fantasy XIII, much to my surprise (was a surprise gift). Have been playing for about an hour or so, so beware that this is just an initial first first impression (more like a hands-on).
Final Fantasy XIII is out today and if I have to be very honest, this is the first time ever I am not too bothered about getting a numbered Final Fantasy game.
Ridiculous as it sounds, Dissidia: Final Fantasy contains an actual story. Do not worry too much about it though as the plot is basically none-canon and isn't particularly compelling. Still, as far as storyline in fighting games goes it is pretty good - though somewhat predictable (something to do about feuding gods and crystals needed to save the world - shocking!). Like any other fighting games, completing each character arc will complete the overall story arc from the different perspective of its different character. Enjoy the story for what it is and you will find yourself enjoying the game more, which I did.
Dissidia's gameplay is pretty difficult to describe to an average JRPG fan seeing that is is basically nothing like the traditional Final Fantasy gameplay many have come to either admire or loathe. Battles are in real time and allows for free roaming, something that turn-based RPG exclusive gamers will have to get used to (not surprising considering this is an Advent Children 'simulator') and requires twitch response. Unlike most arcade fighting games, battle takes place on a fully three dimensional field map and can occasionally get very hectic and confusing as characters soar around. It may look difficult in the videos, but less than an hour into the game and I've already found the title to be very accessible. If anything at all, it is actually feels like the Dragon Ball game there never was. Bizarre that it took another franchise to get it right, but there you go.
The story modes are divided between the characters you play, and are also categorised in difficulty. If I remember correctly, Cloud and Cecil's story missions are the 'easiest' and Tidus and Firion's merely 'easy', so I suggest going through those first. The different characters stories are intertwined between each other and occasionally overlap, so it makes sense to play through all of them. Each story are further divided into chapters, with each chapters featuring a tiled gameboard which sort or a substitute for a world map, where limited amount of Destiny Points are set aside to progress through. Enemies and loots are littered on the map, and engaging each one will consume a DP. Bonus DP can be gained by satisfying certain criteria with select matches, for example by defeating the opponent or achieving EX Mode within a time frame.
The score is naturally based on the various Final Fantasy and their character themes. They've been rearranged and remixed obviously, but if you are a veteran Final Fantasy gamer you will recognise them immediately. Other than that, there is nothing much else to add. It would be nice if a totally new score be created from the ground up, but fan service was in needing to be served and serve well they did.
I personally believe that Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a well defined portable title. You can pick it up and have a go for a couple of minutes, unlike say Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which requires a delicate amount of time wasting to get things done. Like the aforementioned title, Dissidia lacks a compelling story - but that's okay because the gameplay is damn well near perfect. Sure this is more of a fan service than anything else, but if you are into mash-ups you will definitely want to check this. You will not be getting your favourite Final Fantasy remade, but here's one with for all the fanboys and fangirls (and others) on one silver polished platter - as long as you enjoy fighting games that is.
Owners of PSP and PS3 will be glad to find that Square Enix and Sony has finally came to their senses and uploaded their big money maker title onto the PlayStation Network. Lord knows why they didn't do it sooner, but that isn't the point.
Comparisons to the previous Final Fantasy III DS is inevitable, but the two could not be any further apart. While Final Fantasy III eschewed storytelling for addictive gameplay and its revolutionary job system, Final Fantasy IV was always best known as the title that finally introduced some kind of storyline within the franchise. While most of the time you would not really care about deaths in the previous game, Final Fantasy IV is littered with death (I won't spoil it for you), or what may seem like loss. It is a storytelling strategy that Square (and Square-Enix) has since used in many of its future titles.
Controls are via the face buttons. Thankfully you are not forced into yet another gimmick stylus touchscreen controls, as I personally believe that face buttons works best in games that features an overhead perspective - they just work. The semi-old school Active Time Battle is retained, relatively unchanged from the original with minor UI tweaks and a new feature to toggle auto fight. Auto fight, unlike the superb implementation in Final Fantasy XII, is an utter gimmick here. You can only specify a single type of action and unlike Final Fantasy XII's gambit you can not assign a trigger to the action. It is probably useful during level grinding but for random fights, and especially boss fights, I would not recommend to use it unless you have a video gaming death wish.
Now, plenty of people have complained about the difficulty in Final Fantasy III DS. While we personally found Final Fantasy III DS to be easy, I am glad that Square-Enix did not retool Final Fantasy IV DS's difficulty to appease these RPG noobs. In fact the difficulty has been ramped up even from the already hard GBA version, giving us a delightful treat of challenge after challenge. The save system remains essentially the same - you can only save in the world map or dedicated save sections in deep dungeons - so be prepared to read nasty reviews by people who lacks foresight or the ability to strategised correctly. Regardless we didn't feel like we spent too much time purposely grinding we did in Final Fantasy III DS - the goal to achieve 100% exploration in exchange for bonus treats probably helped.
The gameplay revolves around searching for clues from people wondering around Shibuya, and fighting 'Noise'. Touching the black pin on the bottom screen will allow Neku to read people's thoughts and locate Noise. The game also has an innovative adjustable difficulty level for players who wants to take greater risk. The increased in difficulty is off-set through rewarding the player's risk with higher quality item drops. Customisation isn't a problem here, as Shibuya shopping district proves to be big enough to cater to the average cliché RPG hero, and then some. New techniques can be discovered during the course of the game, which allows Neku and his companion to unleash special attacks and combos depending on the pins (which can be stat boosted) equipped. Foods and clothings can be bought to augment Neku and his partner's stats.
The visuals aren't the most impressive technically, but the player is constantly showered in colourful and often psychedelic design giving the game a rather unique look, reminiscent Jet Set Radio. Character designs are generic enough, though more often than not, their vibrant fashion sense does liven up the screens. A bit like Viewtiful Joe and Persona 3. It is too bad that the developers has paid very little attention into creating an intuitive UI, as everything seems to be cluttered. It doesn't help that the colourful menu sometimes distract the player more than it assist them. The soundtrack on the other hand is a mixture of licensed J-pop, again reminiscent of Jet Set Radio. We should be thankful that a global company like Square Enix has decided not to dumb down the soundtrack (like Nintendo did with Elite Beat Agents) to cater for 'local musical taste', as the music provided here is infectiously addictive and catchy.
