FFVII: Crisis Core

GothPunk

Has anybody imported FFVII: Crisis Core?

I imported the FFVII Crisis Core PSP bundle. The game is amazing, I've been blown away, this game has exceeded any expectations I had, and I've been waiting for it for a long time.

I always had a soft spot for Zack within the FFVII universe, and playing Crisis Core has endeared him too me even more, and I've only been playing the game for a short while. He's definately my favourite character now.

I really hope the game is released here soon, or at least in the US, because it's kind of hard to understand the Japanese, and to know whats going on. Otherwise this game is a must have. I highly recommend importing it!

animaX

Stumbling through the game in japanese will only ruin it!! I'm waiting for the us release

grimloch

I haven't played the game or read any reviews of it but I'm fairly certain that its crap.

Retr0gamer

I have a bad feeling this will be crap as well considering the producer has made nothing other than emo inspired rubbish and the lack of quality in the rest of the FFVII spin-offs. There's a worrying lack of japanese reviews but the game is selling well and the PSP outsold the DS for the first time with it's help.

Read a few reviews from importers, almost all of them FFVII fanboys/girls. All say the gameplay is a dull button mashing affair, but since it's FFVII it's great. Not sure about this at all.

GothPunk

Well I speak a little Japanese so I can understand some of it, but even if I couldn't there are translations and guides available that help with gameplay, items/materia, equipment etc.

Retr0gamer, I think I can agree with you somewhat about the other FFVII compilation titles, like Dirge of Cerberus. I know a lot of people also thought Advent Children was crap; personally I really liked it, but in all sincerity, this game is very good. I think that anyone who is a FFVII fan will enjoy this game thoroughly, both for the story (with a powerful ending), the elements that bring back memories of FFVII (like music, summons etc) and the beautiful FMV cutscenes.

I'll try to give an unbiased review though for those on the fence...

The battle system is fairly simple to start off with. You press circle to attack, square to roll, X to switch targets and triangle to block. L and R cycle through your equiped materia or items. Press circle and Zack runs to the enemy and attacks. On paper that sounds quite simple and boring. In practice though, you get attack bonuses in the form of critical hits for attacking enemies from behind. You need to keep moving or you will die. Enemies have their own limit breaks, which as you progress through the game become highly powerful; other enemies gain new abilities as you progress.

That being said, the attack system it is still quite easy, I found only bosses really gave any real challenge. Do enough side missions throughout the game to keep Zack on a high level, and you won't face much difficulty. Then again, I had fabricated powerful materia and had some rare items, so perhaps I made the game easier somewhat.

The DMW - Digital Mind Wave is a strange innovation for this game - a reel at the side of your screen that rotates like a slot machine giving you random power/stat boosts. Every now and then, a 'Modulating Phase' will occur, where if 3 portraits of the same character line up, you get a limit break. The limit breaks are really cool and powerful. Later in the game this is how the summons system also works, and you get an FMV of the Summon. They launch devestating attacks and can really help out in tough battles, especially those with multiple enemies. There is also a weird summons mode 'Chocobo Mode' that can happen, which launches a very weird, funny summon that is also highly powerful. The DMV also reveals Zacks memories, expanding on the story and his past. The DMV itself is used as a very powerful narrative device at the end of the game, which will in particular have special resonance to fans of FFVII.

The story is very good, although non-FF/sci-fi fantasy fans may not like it. It has good action, plenty of good cut-scenes filling out the story (along with FMV), the protagonist Zack is amiable and funny. The main antagonist, Genesis, may be annoying to some players as he spends half his speech quoting from a play called 'Loveless', but his story is interesting and your battles with him are challenging and very appealing visually.

As a PSP title this game is amazing, it's technical achievements certainly raise the bar, I'm sure only God Of War: Chains of Olympus will have any chance of beating it.

Basically, if you like/love FFVII, you will definately enjoy this game, it is certainly the greatest addition to the Compilation of FFVII thus far.

For people new to FF, it's a great PSP title, certainly an entertaining and rewarding game experience, with good action, boss battles, story/cutscenes and great music.

Retr0gamer

It got 35/40 in Famitsu I think which is a healthy enough score.

It just looks like a poor mans hybrid of Devil May Cry and God Hand with RPG elements which I find really unbalance these games making them less about skill and more about button mashing when you get levels high enough that bosses are do-able. I hope there isn't any grinding in this game, it really puts me off any RPG. You mention the soundtrack is similar to other FF games. I hope you are right, the guy composing the soundtrack has very little experience so I can't really comment but I find square suffering since Nobuo Uematsu left.

I hope the game isn't an over the top mess like Advent Children with emo characters moaning about their traumatic past.

Just had a look at the dev team behind the game and feel a little bit less pessimistic now. Some great producers there, including the legend Yoshinori Kitase himself, although the director is a newbie. Also Tetsuya Nomura is on character design and away from direction and producing duties. He is the one responsible for the abomination advent children and those terrible emo inspired recent Square and FFVII games. He can design characters alright but he writes some awful storylines, dialogue and characters.

grimloch

GothPunk wrote:

The story is very good, although non-FF/sci-fi fantasy fans may not like it. It has good action, plenty of good cut-scenes filling out the story (along with FMV), the protagonist Zack is amiable and funny. The main antagonist, Genesis, may be annoying to some players as he spends half his speech quoting from a play called 'Loveless', but his story is interesting and your battles with him are challenging and very appealing visually.

Sort of like Kuja?

Retr0gamer

It's all Sephiroths fault we have nothing but girly FF bad guys with stupid reasons for being evil. We need more pure evil nutjobs like Kefka. He had a great reason to destroy the world, he was a total control freak and out and out headcase.

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote:

It's all Sephiroths fault we have nothing but girly FF bad guys with stupid reasons for being evil. We need more pure evil nutjobs like Kefka. He had a great reason to destroy the world, he was a total control freak and out and out headcase.

See that's what's great about Crisis Core, it humanises Sephiroth to the point that I felt really bad when he realised he was created via messed up experiments. Crisis Core certainly made him seem like a more 3-dimensional character to me anyway. And what's wrong with the bad guy being girly?

I agree though, Kefka was a nutjob, do you think we'd benefit from a FFVI remake?

Retr0gamer wrote:

It got 35/40 in Famitsu I think which is a healthy enough score.

It just looks like a poor mans hybrid of Devil May Cry and God Hand with RPG elements which I find really unbalance these games making them less about skill and more about button mashing when you get levels high enough that bosses are do-able. I hope there isn't any grinding in this game, it really puts me off any RPG.

I hope the game isn't an over the top mess like Advent Children with emo characters moaning about their traumatic past.

Just had a look at the dev team behind the game and feel a little bit less pessimistic now. Some great producers there, including the legend Yoshinori Kitase himself, although the director is a newbie. Also Tetsuya Nomura is on character design and away from direction and producing duties. He is the one responsible for the abomination advent children and those terrible emo inspired recent Square and FFVII games. He can design characters alright but he writes some awful storylines, dialogue and characters.

The battle system in Crisis Core is not the most advanced battle system out there but describing it as button mashing is unfair. The first Chapter of the game in Wutai maybe, but after that it gets more complex and requires some skill.

I don't know what you mean by grinding so I don't know how to answer that...

You can trust me on the soundtrack, I'm really particular about music and part of why I love FFVII is it's music. The composer, Takeharu Ishimoto, really did a good job. He took many of the FFVII themes and remixed them, making them really feel like predecessors of the songs in FFVII, whilst still being kickass in their own right. The remix of 'One Winged Angel' is kickass. Also, some FFVII have been orchestrated and sound amazing, and I'd advise you to watch the full credits if you're a FFVII fan, it has an orchestral medley of all the great FFVII songs, including the battle music. Ishimoto really went some way towards filling Nobuo Uematsu's shoes.

As for emo's (let me just say that in my opinion emo's are people who moan for no reason, Cloud certainly had a few reasons) Zack is the anti-emo. He's happy, well adjusted and good at kicking ass and showing off. He's pretty funny, so no worries there. Sephiroth is proper badass, not too much 'Mother' talk, and Genesis is just mental. So grimloch he is a little bit like Kuja, but his story is very different.

I kind of agree with you about Nomura, the guy did help create Kingdom Hearts (which I can't even look at), but he has contributed to some very good works, Crisis Core included.

In all honesty, my FFVII obsession aside, it really is a good game. Dirge of Cerberus this is not. The battle system isn't the most advanced, but the DMW is an innovative addition and keeps things interesting. And Nomura said, and I agree, that the DMW is critical to the emotional impact of the ending. So I guess Crisis Core's strength is it's story and graphics, with the battle gameplay being good to average. The game has a mission system too (kind of like FFX) which works well - it means that you can play lots of side-quests to level up and get rare items, making the game a bit easier; or you can skip the missions and make the game harder, whilst not missing out on the story of the game.

Like I said, if you're not a FFVII fan, you'll still enjoy it as a good game. FFVII fans will probably enjoy it a whole lot more, and it's certainly a game worthy of having FFVII in it's title.

Thundercracker

in all honesty i dont give a crap if its japanese

im ordering from here on oct 12th when i get paid

http://global.yesasia.com/en/mc/-/CmsCreative1-739@306/en/prddept.aspx/code-j/section-games/pid-1004920127/

GothPunk

This will be a great help to you if you get stuck or want to know what the hell everyone is saying:

Crisis Core help and translations

It'll be great to hear your opinion of it

Thundercracker

that actually helps a lot man, cheers, its a great fame

Vokes

GothPunk wrote: »

You can trust me on the soundtrack, I'm really particular about music and part of why I love FFVII is it's music. The composer, Takeharu Ishimoto, really did a good job. He took many of the FFVII themes and remixed them, making them really feel like predecessors of the songs in FFVII, whilst still being kickass in their own right. The remix of 'One Winged Angel' is kickass. Also, some FFVII have been orchestrated and sound amazing, and I'd advise you to watch the full credits if you're a FFVII fan, it has an orchestral medley of all the great FFVII songs, including the battle music. Ishimoto really went some way towards filling Nobuo Uematsu's shoes.

Hi GothPunk. In the middle of the game atm myself and also picked up the OST. I agree with most of the above regarding the Music. It is a standout.

At first i was a bit tentative about some of the remixes but funnily enough most of them have grown on me while playing the game the past 2 days. The One Winged Angel remix is superb (not usually a big fan of that piece) and that ending medley of tunes old and new ("Fulfilled Desire") are great.

And onto the main course - the new stuff ...which is absolutely superb. There are a rake of pieces using a full range of piano, string and percussion instruments. Tracks like "The Burdened". "Wandering in the Sunny Afternoon", "Sky Blue Eyes" and my personal favourite, "Price of Freedom". There really is an epic blockbuster feel about it, which on the PSP is quite an achievement i think.

Just from listening to that soundtrack, it seems like this Ishimoto guy has serious talent!

Just looking at his CV:

* Legend of Mana (1999): synthesizer programmer
* Vagrant Story (2000): synthesizer programmer
* Final Fantasy X (2001): synthesizer programmer (in collaboration with Keiji Kawamori)
* World Fantasista (2002): composer
* Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII (2004): composer
* Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004): synthesizer programmer
* Last Order: Final Fantasy VII (2005): composer, arranger, guitar & bass
* Kingdom Hearts II (2005): synthesizer programmer
* Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007): composer
* It's a Wonderful World (2007): composer
* Final Fantasy Agito XIII (unknown): composer
* Final Fantasy Dissidia (unknown): composer

Is he the next Uematsu?

Retr0, whatever about the game....givethe OST a listen. It's superb.

mawk

grimloch wrote: »

I haven't played the game or read any reviews of it but I'm fairly certain that its crap.

ah, the best possible attitude to have.

i wanna play it, but waiting isnt ruining my life

GothPunk

SofaK wrote: »

And onto the main course - the new stuff ...which is absolutely superb. There are a rake of pieces using a full range of piano, string and percussion instruments. Tracks like "The Burdened". "Wandering in the Sunny Afternoon", "Sky Blue Eyes" and my personal favourite, "Price of Freedom". There really is an epic blockbuster feel about it, which on the PSP is quite an achievement i think.

'The Price of Freedom' is just a beautiful song, I think it's probably one of my favourites also. I really like Mission Start too at the moment. It's a very good OST and I'm glad they put the effort into it. Some of the songs really add to the more dramatic and emotional scenes.

SofaK wrote: »

Is he the next Uematsu?

I don't know, he certainly has a lot of talent. Like Uematsu, he writes good classical and rock music pieces, which is important as a FF composer for the more recent games. I'm interested to hear the soundtrack for Dissidia, I wonder if it'll have nods to older compositions by Uematsu?

seraphimvc

GothPunk wrote: »

You can trust me on the soundtrack, I'm really particular about music and part of why I love FFVII is it's music. The composer, Takeharu Ishimoto, really did a good job. He took many of the FFVII themes and remixed them, making them really feel like predecessors of the songs in FFVII, whilst still being kickass in their own right. The remix of 'One Winged Angel' is kickass. Also, some FFVII have been orchestrated and sound amazing, and I'd advise you to watch the full credits if you're a FFVII fan, it has an orchestral medley of all the great FFVII songs, including the battle music. Ishimoto really went some way towards filling Nobuo Uematsu's shoes.

Like I said, if you're not a FFVII fan, you'll still enjoy it as a good game. FFVII fans will probably enjoy it a whole lot more, and it's certainly a game worthy of having FFVII in it's title.

:Dha,missed this post!

from the CV above,now i have some clues on this new FF music guy:p not my type.

the music remix in advent children is nice (my ears are happy enough ,bring my FF7 memories back,is that from Nobuo?but some of them are not that good too) while FFCC music are basically kinda like that but a remix again version...pain my ears!:(

one wing angle(and the jenova theme) are those famous ones,the original was stunning,cant be bad if you do some serious work .they are great music,always.but the rest of the remix theme are just so bad...overly compose i say,doesnt sound better at all.there are some original rhythm in those theme which is what made them good lost their effects in these remix.what i can say is ,you dont play with someone's children (nobuo's music).Just dont.There is a reason of that guy who made FF music for years.I guess this new guy is kinda leaning to the new metal/young audience taste,i prefer nobuo's class old school (but can present in a young way) .

for my own record ,i spent time and money to get all my FF4-10+FF7AC OST collection(got angela aki's Kiss me goodbye EP:D and some others blackmages CDs).games OST i have played and love them still in my ipod till today.never will considering FF12 or this FF7CC:cool:(few nice musics of course ,but less than 5 songs i like while buying a CD of 40+ songs?!no way,you gotta do better if you want my money)

and for the FF fan will enjoy it or not,for one here i am greatly disappointed.wasted my time( i resell it quickly after i finish the game to a friend,no money loss ).FF7AC gave me a good memory cause' i can see Aeris again while i dont mind to have some insane fightings ,it's a mad party for us fans who miss FF7 so much.while FF7CC failed to impress me in everyway(except the graphics,first class CG!!) or to deliver the name of FF7 to its beloved fans.

lets say,if you let a new player never play FF7 before but try this presequel ,will he be impressed by the story and the world of FF7?if i am this new guy i will treat it like another overrated hype merely graphics good game .epic fail.original FF7 is simply too good.:o

Vokes

seraphimvc wrote: »

while FF7CC failed to impress me in everyway(except the graphics,first class CG!!)

What do you think of the epilogue (

Zack's last stand outside Midgar

)?

Obviously it's presented a bit differently then the way it was in FFVII, but very powerful scenes nonetheless I think.

GothPunk wrote: »

'The Price of Freedom' is just a beautiful song, I think it's probably one of my favourites also. I really like Mission Start too at the moment. It's a very good OST and I'm glad they put the effort into it. Some of the songs really add to the more dramatic and emotional scenes.

Yeah, totally agree. That song was pretty epic / tragic for that aforementioned scene when I was like

ehh, im gonna fight ALL of them !? :eek:

.

Although, there's a fair amount of dross on the soundtrack - there's a fair few stunning pieces on it too, which are gonna be added to that Final Fantasy alltime best playlist ive got cooking away in my head atm

seanironmaiden

just finished it last night. very impressed. great story and amazing music and FMVs. Will definately play through it again when college is finished so I can do a bit more exploring and more missions. A cool thing is after completing it, you can begin again with the same gamesave and you'll still be on the same level and have all the materia/items.

I really liked the mixing materia function. It's worth getting a psp just for this game, imo. I havent used the psp in about 2 years and I played it more than I ever have to complete it.

Mark Hamill

Is this available in Ireland yet?

seanironmaiden

nope. sometime in june or july I think.

Vokes

June 20th for Europe.

tread_softly

GothPunk wrote: »

as he spends half his speech quoting from a play called 'Loveless'

i recognise this! go to around 1.13 in the original FFVII opening and there's a poster on a building with 'Loveless' on it.

will anyone who gets the game soon let me know what it's like?

oh and is importing it from the US (i'd be looking at it on ebay) more expensive than buying it over here when it's released?

Vokes

Well you could import it from videogamesplus.ca for about e38 (incl delivery) now. Or wait till June and get if for e34 from play.com.

tread_softly

are psp games normally that cheap from play?

The_Seal

Yea i just finished the english version of the game and i tought it was great, the best parts by far were the nibilheim (not sure if i spelt it right) scenes.

Ending very sad cause we all know whats happening there, but all in all loved it and really sets it up for the supposed, highly rumored FFVII remake

GothPunk

The_Seal wrote: »

Yea i just finished the english version of the game and i tought it was great, the best parts by far were the nibilheim (not sure if i spelt it right) scenes.

I think I agree with you, Nibelheim takes on more meaning when you've played through 3/4 of a game with Sephiroth on your side, and then you witness his downward spiral.

What did you think of the boss fight in Nibelheim?

The_Seal wrote: »

Ending very sad cause we all know whats happening there, but all in all loved it and really sets it up for the supposed, highly rumored FFVII remake

Especially that little movie when the credits finish.

What did you think of the DMW right at the very end

?

kaiser soza

I got sick of playing it as its ten times harder than the two Weapons and getting the Alexandria materia combined,so I downloaded a save and beat the game, the ending is worth playing through the game though so I have started it again,this game is why I bought a Psp also look up a series called the Legend of Heroes, One and Two are the best I have played for a long time.

animaX

kaiser soza wrote: »

I got sick of playing it as its ten times harder than the two Weapons and getting the Alexandria materia combined

I find it odd that you found the game hard?! It was actually too easy. Didn't you play any missions?! They enabled you to power up making the main game a breeze.

But i must say, i loved this game. In fact i teared up at the end, probably because i knew what was going to happen. It was so well implemented by squareEnix, it felt so tragic to actually play a part in the event (i thought it would just be an fmv). Also, the fact that you see characters like Sephiroth in such a different light. Makes me wanna play FF7 again!

Vokes

Actually, Edge magazine gave it a pretty acurate review of the game imo (they gave it a 6/10, which aint necessarily a bad score for an Edge review) and sums up the game perfectly for me. In short they said:

1. Mainly for fans of the original game - they'll get the most out of it story-wise.

2. Flawed battle system (gameplay can be somewhat repetitive) with some good ideas (DMW)

3. Likeable protagonist

4. Very poignant story that captures some of the atmosphere of the original (unlike Advent Children)

---

Currently about 3/4 of the way through my 2nd play of the game and still just shy of 50% completion rate :eek:

Captain Ginger

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's all Sephiroths fault we have nothing but girly FF bad guys with stupid reasons for being evil. We need more pure evil nutjobs like Kefka. He had a great reason to destroy the world, he was a total control freak and out and out headcase.

I have to quote this, because I couldn't agree more. What's more freaky than an insane clown?

Anyway I played FFVIICC and in all honest I thought it was crap.

All SE seem to be doing now a days is churning out cheap crap for the fanboys.

I'm sure some people will enjoy it and each to their own, but I was not impressed at all.

ec18

whens the us/european release?