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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII was a a great addition the VII universe

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Ok, let's do a little framing. With the Final Fantasy VII remake now a reality, many people are returning to the universe to satiate their desire for more VII. Every time the FFVII remake comes up in discussion I hear comments like "lol, get ready for compilation material" said in a snarky manner, or even outright "the compilation was trash" remarks. The compilation was amazing, especially Crisis Core, which is one of my favorite RPGs to this day.

LONG OP INCOMING. Normally I post things on my blog using posts I've made here, but I'm going to do the opposite and go blog -> GAF. Go to that link if you want to see my thoughts on the compilation as a whole. I want to raise awareness for this game, however, so I've truncated the original post for its benefit.

TL;DR is that Crisis Core was a really good game because of how it functioned as an addendum to VII.

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Crisis Core is probably the biggest project in terms of importance to the overall VII story. I remember back in the day, when this was first announced as an FFVII prequel starring Zack. It seemed surreal, and then when the game finally came out and we got to revisit the FFVII universe, it was like a dream come true.

Advent Children originally released with an Original Video Animation, or OVA, called Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. This OVA is integral to fully realizing the hype machine behind Crisis Core. It focuses on perhaps the most compelling segment of the original game, which is the original, unadulterated Nibelheim flashback, the one that isn't tainted by Cloud's falsified memories. This flashback introduced us to the character of Zack, the real SOLDIER First Class, original wielder of the iconic Buster Sword, and the man who Cloud thought he was. For how important of a character Zack was from a story standpoint, he received painfully little screen time, only appearing in two flashback sequences, one of which was entirely optional. Last Order basically turned these sequences into an animated short by MADHOUSE, who has since become popularly known for animating the series of Death Note and, much more recently, One Punch Man. Last Order focused on Zack, and it was full of high octane action and a killer soundtrack. I might even like the music that plays when Sephiroth approaches JENOVA in the mako reactor more than that that plays in the original game. The extra scenes it added with Zack escaping on a stolen Shinra motorcycle were a particular favorite of mine, as it added a really nice little bit of extra flair to his escape.

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Now, Crisis Core was announced after Advent Children and Last Order, and Last Order in many ways functioned as a sort of promo for Crisis Core. An action RPG! Not a movie, mobile experiment, or a shooter - an RPG! Starring Zack! It was announced alongside a few screenshots, showcasing the game pushing the PSP's portable little gears to its limits and showing off what the system was really capable of. The hype for this game was palpable.

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As for the game itself, when it finally did release in 2007, it was received well enough. It took an interesting approach to being an Action RPG, focusing heavily on menu based commands, a slot system for limit breaks (artistically dubbed Digital Mind Wave - hoo boy), and only starring a single player character in Zack. The Materia Fusion was a rather large part of the game's mechanics, as were the side missions, which were designed with its portable nature in mind and were quick romps through corridor based segments of gameplay. This upset some people, although I was pretty ok with this, as the battle system was pretty fun and the repetitive nature of the missions was easy enough to overlook if you played the game in bursts, like it was intended.

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The story in the game was what I was really looking forward to, and I feel that it delivered immensely.The impetus for Zack's journey is that he wants to become a hero. That's it! That's all. Sounds pretty boring, right? Well, the game does a much better job with the story it isn't trying to tell than the one that it is. SOLDIER's internal strife, seeing the upper plate of Midgar, seeing what SOLDIERS do both on and off the job and giving them a face and a purpose, showing the contrast between slum life and corporate life, showing us how Shinra screws up your family life - I love how Genesis had normal parents and it was good guy Angeal's dad who was messed up - giving Hojo a scientific rival where he was the only scientist at all in the original in a world where that's pretty important (besides Gast, who was dead), showing us a bit of the war with Wutai that was only briefly mentioned, showing us more of Cloud and what he was like as a Shinra grunt, showing us the relationship between Aerith and Zack that was briefly mentioned in the original game, etc.

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Crisis Core did a really good job at showing us the human Sephiroth, too. I love the line when he's talking to Zack and Zack says something like "For real!?" and then Seph laughs and says "For real." That's something we'd never see him do after his fall. It was the same with talking about his past and having friends. Also, there was Tseng and Aerith's relationship, which felt tacked on in the original FFVII but more fleshed out as something innocently one-sided in Crisis Core. Tseng himself also got a lot of focus, which was nice, as he was absent for a good portion of VII.

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By far the best parts of the game were seeing Zack and Cloud interact with one another and what Sephiroth was like pre-insanity. Zack, and SOLDIER in general, really, were such huge parts of the FF7 lore, and it was so satisfying to see them finally fleshed out in a game. Zack (the very brief glimpses of him we see) was portrayed in Final Fantasy VII as a headstrong, friendly, outgoing guy, and his Crisis Core self was the perfect reflection of that. Cloud was not always the cocky and arrogant man that he begins as in VII, originally being a meek and mild boy. Crisis Core shows us more of this side of him, his original personality, if you will, and you get to watch him gradually become attached to Zack as a sort of older brother or mentor figure.

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The "become a hero" story was basically fluff to show us all of that. At least, that's how I see Crisis Core. It's a side story. It's more of a companion than its own thing. A reason for us to return to and see more of Final Fantasy VII's world and characters, which the game did and did well.

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I totally understand people being upset with the over the top ending and key word: hero nature of the story, but the first is a matter of taste (I very much enjoyed the ending to this game, and the playable segment was amaaaaazing) and the second I already commented on, where the background story is more interesting than the story about becoming a hero, which is really only a vehicle for Zack to experience the things that he does. Zack's death in the original VII flashback was short, quick, and violent, a testament to the brutality of Shinra and the world that the VII characters inhabit. Zack's death in Crisis Core is full of flair, and is really quite the opposite of its original rendition in terms of tone, even though it keeps the final segment where the three Shinra grunts overtake him. It was a bold decision for Square to change the ending the way they did, but I personally love both versions of it.

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Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing. The World's Enemy is the creepiest rendition of One-winged Angel there is in a game. Dreams and Pride accurately represents the starry eyed, ambitious young version of Zack that we start the game as. Moonlit Wandering has that melancholy country vibe to it, perfect for Zack's escape from the Shinra mansion. Howl of the Gathered plays during battles in the final dungeon, reflecting Zack's desperation to return to Midgar. Even better is that renditions of some of these tracks were originally heard in the Last Order OVA, which, by the way, is mostly canon to this game and shows events that the game itself skips over, the two biggest ones being Zack on the highway and showing more of the truck scene at the end.

It will be interesting to see how much of this game makes it into the VII remake. Perhaps the most highly divisive element of Crisis Core was the character of Genesis, who shared the voice and likeness of Japanese pop star Gackt. The reason people took issue with Genesis wasn't because of his appearance or voice, however - the man had a tendency to constantly recite poetry in place of actual dialogue, played an extremely integral role in a story where he didn't exist in prior VII lore, and even shoehorned his way into cutscenes depicting events from the original game, such as the Nibelheim flashback. My opinions on Genesis are divided. He is more appealing conceptually than he is as he is portrayed in game, as a friend of Sephiroth and fellow SOLDIER First Class. His nature as a genetic experiment might be a bit copy-paste from Sephiroth's own story, but I feel like it has a realistically believable in-universe explanation, as Shinra is wont to do these sorts of things since way back in the timeline - see: Vincent Valentine's flashback, over fifty years before the main story. He certainly had no place in the Nibelheim scene, but other than that I think he functions well enough as the primary villain of the game. Interestingly enough, Gackt's contract is rumored to be the most likely reason that the game hasn't seen a digital re-release on the PlayStation Network, so Genesis's inclusion in the VII remake remains largely up in the air. I think we can say for certain we'll be seeing more of Zack, at least!

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One last comment about the soundtrack and the ending: perhaps a divisive opinion, but The Price of Freedom is the best damn final battle music in any game, ever.

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Corpekata

Banned
As a whole I'd probably disagree. It's worth it mainly for Zack's general characterization, but most of the stuff surrounding him was nonsense.
 

SOLDIER

Member
It dawned on me the other day that they could very easily remake CC using the Remake engine.

Or if nothing else release a Zack DLC episode.

They're going to make so much money off that thing.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Even with Genesis, it was by far the best thing to come out of the FF7 revisiting. Really wish they'd rerelease it. It's too good to be stuck on PSP.
 

Geg

Member
Genesis is one of the worst characters in the FF franchise, but other than him yeah Crisis Core was pretty good.
 

Glix

Member
Crisis Core is fucking AWESOME.

Its a shame it's only on UMD, as I would love to replay it on my Vita.
 
I'm saddened that I never finished it, and I got pretty close. I wish they would bring this game back, but it looks like any hope of it being on PSN is gone because of some licensing issue.

This game will get lost with time.
 
It was a really good game, the music was great. Genesis ruined it a bit and I felt Midgar was a letdown and not an accurate representation of FF7's Midgar.
 

Rainy

Banned
Thought the game was decent but I always remember how the ending got me choked up even though I knew what was going to happen beforehand.
 

wmlk

Member
I can see them working in Zack pretty easily into the remake sometime late into the game. I just don't want to see Gackt outside of a few references.

I think someone said this in the remake threads earlier. Expansions to a universe can actually make that universe feel small and not as grandiose. I think Crisis Core did that at some parts, which is not good. I'm worried that the same thing might happen with the Remake if it fleshes out what was previously regarded as filler content.
 

Athreous

Member
People will bitch about Genesis, get ready!

I loved the game as a whole, specially the Genesis/Sephiroth/Angeal stuff adding a lot of good memories to Zack's story.

An HD remaster like Type zero (with vita support, please) or a FFVII-DLC like would be great!
 
It wasn't. Neither was Advent Children or Last Order for that matter. It's pure distilled nonsense.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game that has some really cool moments and Zack is a really likable protagonist(shit, even Sephiroth is likable here), but the overall narrative is pretty bad. It's really bad anime. I didn't care for it.
Genesis is fucking terrible.

And I'm not someone who puts FF7 on a pedestal either. FF7 shits the bed after disc 1 storywise as well.
It took the travesty that was Advent Children to make FF7 seem like immaculate storytelling.

I dunno, it's all very fanfictiony to me.
I like the game(easily the best thing to come out of the compilation) and I'd rebuy it if it ever came to PSN, but the story...eesh.


EDIT: you know what? Considering my opinion on the original FF7, I suppose CC does suit it well. In that way, it is a "good" addition to FF7.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
"Angeal, did i become a hero!?"

Eff the haters, agree 100% OP!

I actually liked most of the additions to the lore outside of a few genesis things...

Cissnei...-drool-

But yeah, its great. Music is epic, story is good, characters are more fleshed out and i really did like the gameplay in it.
 

Jon Arbuckle

Neo Member
I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoyed this game. It is easily my favorite game that I played on the PSP. Loved everything about it. That ending destroyed me, even though I already knew how it was going to end. This was Square Enix at their most capable, pushing the boundaries of the original story but making CC flow and stand on its own.

I also loved the little epilogue they tacked on of what I assume was the PS3 tech demo?

It really saddens me that we have yet to see it released digitally - or as an hd remake. I would love to be able to play this on Vita.
 
I thought they bastardized Zack's death with that shounen stuff. Most of that scene's power was supposed to come from the way it happened swiftly, and without a chance to say goodbyes.
 

SOLDIER

Member
Still salty that Tifa and Yuffie didn't get VAs, and was also not added to Zack's memory attacks.

The Turks got like two lines and they still had the VAs reprise their roles.
 

lyrick

Member
It was an amazing addition.

It provides the backstory of the Buster Sword, which Cloud just waves about like a lunatic.

It provides an actual romantic connection between Aerith and Zack, which again Cloud just is guilty of misuse.

It creates an ending which shows how truly heroic the star of Crisis Core is... and how Cloud is just kind of lucky to be part of FFVII.


The only downside I can think of is Crisis Core really made the leading man of FFVII look like a jackass compared to who he poorly tried to emulate.
 

wmlk

Member
I thought they bastardized Zack's death with that shounen stuff. Most of that scene's power was supposed to come from the way it happened swiftly, and without a chance to say goodbyes.

It was a romanticized ending that basically ended the way it did to glorify Zack. Once you look at it that way it's not really stupid, to me at least.

In reality, he could have died quickly like in FFVII, but Crisis Core was Zack's story.
 
It was an amazing addition.

It provides the backstory of the Buster Sword, which Cloud just waves about like a lunatic.

It provides an actual romantic connection between Aerith and Zack, which again Cloud just is guilty of misuse.

It creates an ending which shows how truly heroic the star of Crisis Core is... and how Cloud is just kind of lucky to be part of FFVII.


The only downside I can think of is Crisis Core really made the leading man of FFVII look like a jackass compared to who he poorly tried to emulate.

I'd say it was already there, man. With that secret scene in FF7. It didn't need to be elaborated on, certainly not in the flamboyant way that post-Sakaguchi S-E does it.
 

SephiZack

Member
It's still one of my favourite games ever (I got my username from it). I didn't mind the presence of Genesis when I played it 8-9 years ago, but probably it would annoy me now.
 

ash_ag

Member
I skipped a bit seeing Crisis Core on page 1. Completely agree. Best FFVII-related thing besides FFVII itself. Advent Children could only wish to be nearly as good and authentic.
 

Noi

Member
The retcons to VII it introduced just to fit in Genesis as did secret mastermind that was behind every major event in the series, as well as having the goddess of the planet herself forgive him after all the shit he pulled, is probably the worst aspect included in Crisis Core. Wholly unnecessary garbage that we'll probably have to suck up with the impending remake.

The game itself was rad though. Price of Freedom still makes me tear up.
 

SOLDIER

Member
Crisis Core had one of the best prequel jokes I had ever seen.

Remember the original intro to FFVII, where a speeding car almost hits Aerith?

You can actually talk to that guy in CC, as he talks about how he just bought "the latest model" and how he can't wait to tear up the road.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
The retcons to VII it introduced just to fit in Genesis as did secret mastermind that was behind every major event in the series is probably the worst aspect included in Crisis Core.
It didn't do this though. People keep saying this, but it's blowing the one Nibelheim scene out of proportion. His story was pretty self-contained otherwise.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
So, I remember really enjoying the game, and I'm sure I'd still enjoy it now... but I remember basically nothing about it. Like, you're talking about Genesis, and I have no idea who that even is. And I finished the game.


This tells me that it maybe wasn't a great addition.
 
It was probably the best thing to come out of Squeenix's "let's milk the shit out of FFVII with spinoffs" phase, and the one thing I wouldn't mind seeing bits of in the remake. At the very least the The Price of Freedom scene should be in there in some form.

Genesis was shit, yeah, but he was a necessary evil(no pun intended) since you can't have the big climax be Zack v. Sephy due to all the other shit that has to happen after that, thus you need someone else to be the final boss.
 

Soulflarz

Banned
Amazing and terrible game

Just depends which part of it you're looking at at the moment!

I played it as a kid, but...I remember Genesis was annoying as hell, and I love Zack

Oh, and Price of Freedom is the best song. Have you guys heard the English version of it by the composers band?
(The Death March, TWEWY band, whatever though!)
 
GENESIS!!!??

FFVII Crisis Core is the only JRPG i have ever played through to completion. It's an awesome game and it sucks I can't play it on my Vita.
 

diablos991

Can’t stump the diablos
I agree.
This backstory was fantastic. One of the best subplot oriented games I have experienced.
 

SOLDIER

Member
Still wondering what S cells were, and how they were different from Jenova cells.

With all the genetic tinkering done to Cloud, it's no wonder he can't give Tifa children.
 
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