Holy shit, it's been a while. This past week I moved out of my old apartment to my new place and I'm beginning the process of getting settled in to a new one. A lot has been building up to this, and I'm so happy to finally be in a place where I feel more comfortable. Since I've been busy with a lot of things in the meantime, I haven't had much energy or motivation to work on my creative endeavors, so after completely unpacking, cleaning, shopping, etc. I decided to use the rest of the time I had off work to catch up on some of the games and books that I've been slowly chugging through since around late August/early September.
First, I finally completed my first ever playthrough of Crisis Core, the FFVII prequel on the PSP. I bought the game in 2020 about a month before the Remake was released and began playing, but because I was focused on Kingdom Hearts at the time, I put the game down for a while and vowed to restart it again once I began my Final Fantasy "saga" playthrough. And while I could have easily satisfied my curiosity about the story/continuity of the game by watching the cutscenes on YouTube, it was 110% more satisfying to actually play through the game. I feel like the graphics aged fairly well and there's a handful of lore and extras it offers that makes getting a rickety decade-old console worth it.
Unlike the original game, Crisis Core is a third-person action RPG. While it has some turn-based qualities, it is more similar to Kingdom Hearts and newer Final Fantasy releases versus the traditional titles. During enemy encounters, you are given a customizable arsenal of materia and special attacks that you can use to your advantage. As you progress, certain materia can later be fused together for even more powerful abilities, etc. A major difference is that, as opposed to the traditional Limit Break and Summoning system, CC uses the "DMW" system to activate Limit Breaks, which basically looks like a reel of slots with portraits of different characters in the story. Whichever character appears three times determines the special attack or ability activated. Occasionally the character portraits will be replaced with Summons or "special characters" like Cactuar or Cait Sith. The DMW is not only affected by the damage you sustain in battle, but it is also affected by events or emotional points in the story, which I think is a clever way of enhancing the overall battle experience (also cue jokes about Zack being inconveniently horny whenever a female character pops up).
Players can choose to solely advance through the story component, however, in order to obtain access to more powerful in-game materia, abilities, or DMW characters, you will need to complete Missions, which is this game's version of grinding. If anyone has played the Kingdom Hearts 358/7 Days game, the general format of missions may be familiar to you (which makes sense as these games were released within a year or two of each other and are both designed to have that mobile/pocket game type pacing). They can range from mind-numbing and repetitive, to seemingly impossible, depending on how far you've leveled up and progressed. I personally managed to finish 60% of the missions, with the remaining 40% requiring me to potentially grind further than I felt like at this time. I'd say it was still worth it, as I managed not only to obtain the most powerful summon, Bahamut Fury, but I also got access to a secret shop that supplied me with some pretty badass magic attacks. Missions are also a good source of collecting extra gear, materia, and items, as each mission "zone" has at least one or two treasure chests. So while for the most part, they aren't the most thrilling of experiences once you've played about 100 or more, there is quite a bit of reward for the effort.
In addition to Missions, Crisis Core is still very much as explorable as the original FFVII, with side quests and little lore gems scattered throughout the different areas you visit within the progression of the narrative. By far, my favorites of the side quests were the "fan club" newsletters, which are centered around providing tidbits and personal details about the characters Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal, and the Seven Wonders of Nibelheim quest, which involved a bit of puzzle solving to "uncover" the nature behind different phenoma going on in the town. One thing I regret is that I was unable to unlock the Zack fanclub, which apparently requires getting a certain score on one of the minigames, but . . . maybe next time.
As for the story itself, I enjoyed Crisis Core for the most part. Zack was a fun character to watch grow as a person, and I think it was an excellent choice to give him an upbeat/cheerful personality to contrast with the large cast of somber and gravely serious male protagonists within the franchise. While he does eventually mature and grow out of some of his quirks, mostly as a result of the loss of his mentor, his involvement in the Shinra/Genesis/Sephiroth conflicts, and the fact he's essentially betrayed by his employer and locked in a basement for years to be experimented on, he maintains a positive, even optimistic outlook. For me, its this optimism and determination that makes his eventual death all the more tragic and difficult to witness, as much as anyone who's played the OG game is aware of its inevitability. I also adored the touching moments between Zack and Aerith. While there's no "in your face" romance shown, it's very clear their care and affection for one another. I also really enjoyed seeing the relationship grow between Zack and Cloud. While unfortunately, Cloud is unconscious for a good chunk of his screentime (thanks to Hojo giving him Mako poisoning trying to fuse his cells with Sephiroths), in the times they interact, I loved seeing Cloud slowly change from feeling useless and being weighed down by low self-esteem, to steadily gaining a smidgen of confidence.
Where Crisis Core falls short are the parts that revolve around the inclusion of Genesis Rhapsodos, one of the newly introduced characters to the compilation. Genesis and Angeal, Zack's mentor, are both first class in the SOLDIER program and are the "prototypes" for Sephiroth created by Dr. Hollander. We learn that both of them were unsuccessful experiments, as they have the ability to transfer their genetic information to other life forms, creating copies. However, this effect renders the genetics of Genesis and Angeal unstable, causing rapid and premature aging and physical degradation of their physical forms. For Genesis, this reality comes as a nasty surprise, when he is injured by Sephiroth during a sparring match and is unable to fully heal. Both Angeal and Genesis resent Shinra once they learn of their origins, but while Angeal more or less attempts to quietly abandon the organization, Genesis seeks outright revenge and relentlessly targets his former comrades and other symbols of Shinra's power. At the conclusion of the game, his hatred escalates to wanting revenge on the entirety of the planet, feverishly quoting lines memorized from the Loveless play.
For me, Genesis is the quintessential late 2000's edgy anime villian, right down to the shaggy hair and blood-red trench coat. He's angry and brooding with a gothic bishounen/vampire flare, the latter aspect a direct homage to the Japanese rock singer who serves both as voice actor and inspiration for his likeness, Gackt Camui. (Truth be told, I was a Gackt fan back in the late 2000's, but it was a phase I quickly grew out of once I realized that much better music - and human beings in general - existed in the world of Japanese music, but that's a rant for another day). However, aside from his aesthetic and corny personality traits, Genesis presents a bigger problem for the story: continuity.
While I hesitate to throw around words like "retcon," there are a lot of questions Genesis' existence brings to the table. His role as a villian itself isn't the problem, but moreso it's the role he plays in
very pivotal moments in the story line of FFVII overall. Genesis' betrayal is the catalyzing point for Sephiroth coming to learn of his origins and his descent into madness. Genesis basically triggers Sephiroth to hole himself up in the Shinra mansion until he finally rages, destroying the entire town and killing most of the people residing within. Genesis is also present when Cloud, Tifa, and Zack first visit the broken Nibelheim reactor, in which there's an ensuing battle where Cloud is rendered unconscious. However, in the flashbacks Cloud has in FFVII, Genesis is not once mentioned. I guess
technically you can make the argument that Cloud is an unreliable narrator due to trauma fucking up a lot of the accuracy of his memories. However, something tells me that if he can remember certain details, such as Sephiroth agonizing over the circumstances of his birth, he would be able to remember personally encountering one of Shinra's "most wanted."
I know in games like this, it's sometimes expected there will be retconning to some degree and plot additions solely to flesh out and pad the story, but it's a bit more frustrating when events that carry so much weight could gravely distort the canon or could pose problems in the future for say - a remake of some sort. Wink wink.
Overall, if I were to rank the game, I would give it a solid 4.5 stars. If you can get past some of the plot weirdness and the repetitiveness of a lot of the missions, there is a lot this little spin-off has to offer. The combat itself is challenging and there's a variety of strategy and abilities you can utilize for an enhanced experience. I felt like it was thoughtful and tragic prequel that not only provided expanded background information about life in SOLIDER and the main operations of the company, but also illuminated the effects of Shinra's corporate propaganda and influence on impressionable youth seeking purpose and self-actualization. Even though you know it's coming, Zack's death still hits like a ton of bricks, especially considering the connection I developed with him as a player.
Anyway, because I've written a lot here, I'll be making a separate entry discussing both the remainder of the FFVII compilation and my first playthrough of The World Ends with You. See ya!
The ranking thus far:
1. FFVII
2. Crisis Core FFVII
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
