Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core

[Terminal Est]

In the past days, there have been several threads around here about Final Fantasy...of course there would, due to the nature of the forum...but really good threads, and not just ''who is your favourite character''?

I must first and foremost thank you all for this. And now my point-

This seems to have somewhat rekindled my love of the series, or at least my interest, if merely slightly, however I have a new found excitement...Crisis Core!

Although I always have to argue about FFVII's negative points and its mainstreamed predisposition today, I really did enjoy the game, and went through it many times. Ten years after, it still asks questions and remains epic.

After reading many articles about Crisis Core lately, it sounds like the first genuinely serious spin off, and it looks really good.

According to Play magazine, the presentation, story and dialogue is supreme. The plot is complex once again, and will apparently shed light 'pon many mysteries, all the while concentrating on Zack. This game takes place seven years before the events of FFVII. (Seven, get it? Ha ha.)

The gameplay itself is said to be questionable though, as is the difficulty balance. (However, a hard mode has been added for our version.)

We have the main story, and over three hundred optional missions. They do not pertain to the story at all, and are responsible for beefing up the characters if you do them all as they unlock, however by completing these, you get extra items, materia and the like. They are said to be extremely challenging though, and in fifteen years, it is stated that there has never been such a difficult Final Fantasy title, at least for the optional missions. I cannot wait to see.

This title also apparently respects the fact that it is on a handheld (PSP.), so no long dungeon treks or any such thing.

Also, this time we will have a materia synthesis system-not only might one merge two different materia together to create new materia, but you may merge them with different items, as well. So, the results may be endless!

And the best part; when you come up with a new materia, its parent abilities shall remain along with the new ones!

And the most interesting part, the Digital Mind Wave system.
The battle system seems really weird- the DMW system acts as a lottery slot, with faces of the characters from the game as icons. Depending on the combination, Zack will tap into his memories and subconscious, which will trigger either a limit break, a Summon to come and help, materia level up or a character level up. While apparently the summoning and limit break cut scenes cannot be skipped, they are very gorgeous, and we will be treated to actual story cut scenes DURING battle as well, depending on which character appears in the slot's result, and what there is to reveal about them at that time.

So this means that your most powerful attacks happen on random-this is questionable of course, as you only have power over your standard physical attacks, spells and skills. This might turn us off from the strategizing days of yore.
(All in real time, too.)
However, Nick Des Barres from Play stated that this was a good idea, as much too often, we find ourselves hording the strongest things until the end, which then renders them useless.

This fighting system seems extremely odd, but so interesting at the same time. Also, you only ever control Zack (So far.) but your SOLDIER allies fight alongside with you-am not sure quite how this works though, although I will assume that eventually, they are replaced by Cloud and company.

I was never that interested in Zack, but even though the story revolves around him, we are promised that it is brilliantly executed, and nobody left out Cloud, Aerith or Sephiroth. There are some new characters as well, such as Zack,s mentor.

So while the gameplay and its technicalities are said to be questionable, it is far from being non playable, and more then interesting. If not that, the plot and characters are said to be more then amazing.

I find myself really excited now, this seems like such a unique game.

Anyone else, perhaps?

[Miss Lockheart]

Yay a Crisis Core thread finally!!!

I'm looking forward to this game so much. After seeing the cutscene on YouTube with Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis hving a fight on top of Junon cannon, I knew they were on to something good. Dirge Of Cerberus peaked my curiousity about Genesis, a new character who's story seems to really be linked with Sephiroth's, quite cleverly considering how already complex the story is. I want to know more about Genesis, and where he disappears to that makes him so mysterious in DoC.

Also I'm looking forward to seeing the Turks and their involvement in this prequel story. Seeing them in Advent Children really lifted my spirits (who could forget Reno's comedy value?), and a young Tseng will feature heavily in this game. It's looking very promising story-wise, and will clear up a lot of ambiguities from the original game.

I have to say I'm quite tentative about the new battle system. I don't mind the live action aspect of it, but knowing my previous luck with lottery slots (Wakka ¬_¬) I'm worried that I might not make the most of the powerful moves on offer. But that said, I didn't think I'd get the hang of Tactics (hahaha die Gaffgarion!!!) and I'm doing quite well with that now.

Most of all from this game I just really want to see Sephiroth before he went crazy and started ranting about Mother, what kind of person he was and what made him get so far in the SOLDIER ranks. And Cloud too, as a lowly Shinra guard, but perhaps less messed up than after the experiments and Zack's death.

It looks like a European release isn't scheduled until August time (grrrrr) but the N America release date is March 25th, so it looks like I'm importing this one

[Terminal Est]

March twenty five, it takes YEARS.

But, I truly hope all those questions you are pondering will be answered, as those are some striking points.

I as well would love to see what Sephiroth was like before the Nibelheim incident. We saw a little of how he was during the flash back, and he actually seemed chipper and empathetic. It was weird, but I am looking forward to it so much.

Also, I so want to see how Aerith and Zack's relationship starts.

Yes, there were a bit of some complaints about the random slot results-such as mondo healing right after all the enemies are killed, or no limit breaks when you really need them. But somehow, my interest is SO piqued.

[Miss Lockheart]

Might be amusing if nothing else to see what kind of results come up from the slots, like unleashing a limit break on a random coeurl

In the cutscene I saw, he seems to have quite a rivalry with Genesis, as the friendly sparring session between them soon turns serious. But there was a glimpse of that strange crazy side of him, which Angeal (Zack's mentor) soon put a stop to. He seems to be quite cool most of the time, but then this side of him is there and comes out during this fight. Makes me wonder how much of Sephiroth's mind might already be under the influence of Jenova, maybe at a lower level.

[Terminal Est]

Well, as I know, Sephiroth was conceived WITH Jenova cells, so it may be that as a virus, it lies dormant yet struggles to take over its host, and so at periodical hostility such as the trailer you describe, or emotional envergure and trauma like in Nibelheim, they show up. It could make some sense, and might add further to Sephiroth's superior skills.

We do not know much about Jenova itself, but the fact that it runs around space ''eating'' planets through eventual consumption might reflect this with Sephiroth and how the cells inhabit him, and maybe like, the incident at Nibelheim completely triggered some biological reaction that gave Jenova the opportunity to control him, and therefore pursue its ''goals''.
Jenova seems very complex, and seems to be able to control from afar by symbiotic means-or something. Kind of like how that villain in the Terminator can make his ''parts,' slide towards him to make him whole again. Sephiroth IS a puppet after all, or at the very least, serves the role of one.

It may be far fetched really, but how we can make so many theories is so interesting.

Perhaps Sephiroth KNOWS this, (Described by Rufus as a little too intelligent.) and this is actually why he always seems so nonchalant and apathetic-so as not to provoke the Jenova cells within him? Perhaps he is waiting for the proper time? Perhaps he ALWAYS believed in ''his mother''.

omg wtf am I talking about

I hope that perhaps, although somehow I doubt it, CC shall reveal such singificant aspects of Sephy.

[MidgarFanatic]

I cannot wait for this game to be released. I'm gonna be losing sleep over this one a full week before it's released, LOL. Like a kid on Christmas Eve.

I loved Zack's storyline in FFVII. If not for any reason other than there just simply wasn't enough of him and it opened up so much online speculation as to the details which the fans just went ape-s**t over. XD I love that stuff because it arises so much debate. (reminds me of all the online theories over the true meaning of Gogo from FFVI... oh man the fans went nuts over that one) Of course anyone who knows anything about me will know that I am all about the storylines, so this will indeed be quite a treat for me.

Of course I like gameplay aspects as well absolutely. I've watched and studied some in-game battle sequences from the official Japanese site and am pleased that it is taking a decisively different approach from the usual turn-based gameplay of the original game. Afterall, there's no point in giving us the same old thing we've seen before. It looks very action oriented, gotta love that.

I too am looking forward to seeing a return of some of the fan favorites as well, such as Aeris, Cloud, Sephiroth, and the Turks. I recall a conversation I had quite a while back with my good friend Miss Lockheart. We were discussing one of the in-game cut-scenes which were leaked onto YouTube from the Japanese version released last December (I know I know... naughty us. shouldn't be peaking at such things until the game is released lol. But we couldn't help ourselves). She said to me, "I'm so pleased that they seem to have made more effort to return to the world we know best..." Couldn't of said it better myself. I love seeing many of the familiar elements that will only truly be appreciated by the fans who remember the original, such as the giant Mako cannon at Junon, the train yards of Midgar, and that oh-so-familiar Shinra military garb. Makes me feel "in" on the experience of this continuing saga. So it will be interesting to see how the events of this game set the stage for this story that we have not visited in a while.

If nothing else, I hope this game opens up a new fan base for the original game. Like you mentioned T, it had many negative points, but it is epic and has always stood as one of the best RPGs of all time both in and outside of the FF universe.

Should be fun.

[Terminal Est]

Weee you are making me want to play it more now!

I agree, the formula sure is not what we are used to, but to me it looks real fun. We have high expectations though, especially in the story department, and with all rights of course; I hope that we shall not be disappointed. Returning areas-I hope we get to see the old Midgar a lot (Most likely.) and some new parts of it as well. That place is so huge, and I always felt that in FFVII we did not visit it enough.

I wonder how the transition from ten years of difference will mean for atmosphere? But it looks promising. And also, we will we finally get to know more about that damn Loveless thing?!

Apparently, Genesis is a devoted fan of the Loveless poem.

[Miss Lockheart]

AAARGH I wanted to know about the Loveless thing too!!!

I thought I'd discovered it, as I found a manga called Loveless and started to read it (weird book that one, male on male child action really got me worried there XD), but it's not the Loveless referenced in the FFVII games. I'm gonna research that, see what I can find!

Have you seen the opening intro yet Termie? Hehehe another sneaky peak me and MF took (my partner in crime never fails ), it looks awesome and brings us back to what we found so awe-inspiring in the first game. From what I've seen you can actually recognize the areas, whereas DoC was disappointing in that the areas looked too different so you only knew from the level title where it actually was. Shinra Mansion, what a mess >_<

I'm looking forward to a return to that darkness the original game had- even in the lighter, more free areas of the game, there was always some looming shadow that made it so deep and sinister. Even when the Turks are joking about "who they like", trouble is brewing at the same time. And piloting the Highwind under meteor's presence, always kept me a bit on the edge of my seat! I hope those kind of moments make a return, they certainly did in the intro sequence. I shall give a link if you wish, but it's a major spoiler so I'll let you decide

[Terminal Est]

I want the link, please.

Otherwise, I cannot wait for two months, heh.

Yes one of the things I loved about FFVII (Described in a Gamefan magazine as ''dark and depressive game that makes you lock yourself away in a room'', that to counter all the happy games like Mario 64 which were out then.) was the theme it had, and how this established its atmosphere.

Sinister as you say, always somewhat melancholic, and even the Gold Saucer hides the prison underneath. The industrial setting REALLY worked, and you could tell this was not wasted anywhere. (Unlike FFVIII, which often felt massively dead, and desolate. Perhaps that was part of its charm as well, and we know that in that game, the characters take the front stage.)

I really hope this is retained in CC, but also, since it is a prequel, we might get different facets of everything.
But since you say that the areas are recognizable, that is a great start already, and appeases some of my fear about what we spoke of earlier.

[Miss Lockheart]

This is something new I found, it's the full intro sequence leading to the title screen-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLB9dTaDJpg

Then this is the opening of the game (with subs)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvpfI4eaGJc

And of course that now famous fight between Sephy, Angeal and Genesis (again I found one with subs)-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxU58xRSq4c

Hehehe I kinda took longer than intended to write this post- I could watch this last link over and over. Take particular note of the music- and of Sephy's sudden sexiness that I never noticed before

I've been trying to find a Uk release date for this game- so far there are too many different ideas to know for sure. Some gameshops are predicting March 25th as with North America, but some say it might not get here until November aaaaargh!!! My best guess is summertime for here, so it's definitely import time for me