I'm enjoying my new copy of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

[Dragonsoul]

Yesterday I beat Alundra 1(1998 PS 1 action rpg, like Zelda 3 but with extremely hard puzzles and a dark story, score of 9/10 from me) and right after that I bought Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and the strategy guide. The game is great!

I'm just enjoying the game a lot all the way around. I think the main story by itself is 12-14 hours long. But I'm going for a 100% completion rate, which means, among other things, beating all 300 of the extra missions. I think that will take 70 hours. So I'll have to play two hours a day to beat the game by the time that Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift comes out on June 24th.

The story and characters are great and I love Zack's random funny comments and actions. The graphics are extremely high quality and I also enjoy the music. The controls and battle system are great as well, plus the game has a lot of sidequests.

I played a lot so far, I'm 5 and a half hours into the game, and I'm 1/3 done with the third of ten chapters. Also, as I go along in the game I beat all missions that are unlocked that have a Very Easy, Easy, or Normal status attached to them at the time. I don't beat the Hard or Very Hard ones until they get easier because I think that'll make the game take longer, and I want to beat the game by June 24th.

It's great to visit the Final Fantasy VII universe again! What do you guys think of the game? :)

[Rostum]

Cool (http://forums.eyesonff.com/final-fantasy-vii/117467-im-enjoying-my-new-copy-final-fantasy-vii-crisis-core.html), so is there a topic to this thread? By the way, I feel the ending is one of the most emotional endings in any video game I have played.

[Dragonsoul]

How long did it take for you to beat the game and how many missions did you do? I'm excited, I'm gonna be playing 2 hours a day this game. My goal is to catch up on all the primary and secondary numbered titles in the Final Fantasy series over the next years.

[KoShiatar]

I love the game. The graphics are top quality, almost look like PS2, and I felt like I was in FF VII's atmosphere all over again (even though I haven't played that one for a while, so I might be partly mistaken on that).
I am also looking forward to see the storyline. And Zack's ancounter with Yuffie in Wutai was hilarious.

[Dragonsoul]

How far did you get in the game? I think the opening cinema that plays before you start the game is pretty great. I am 2/3 done with Chapter 4 right now, it's nice!

EDIT:
I'm starting to realize the length of all these missions. There are 300 missions and right now I think are about 2-8 minutes in length, the ones I've played so far. Basically there's a small paragraph of a story/mission for each mission. I go into the area, beat enemies, open treasure chests, and beat a boss. I get a ton of great stuff and unlock more missions. I also run next to the walls in these missions to avoid battles and speed up the completion of the mission. These missions are great but I think there's too many of them. 300 missions is a lot, there should be 100-150 missions instead I think. I'm going for a 100% completion rate of the game, so I'm going to beat all the missions, it will take maybe 70 hours I think. The game is great though! I am at the start of Chapter 5 and I'm excited. :)

EDIT:
I just saw something very funny in the game and I signed on to post about it! I'm in Chapter 5 and doing a mini side quest where you have to track down six disguised Wutai spies in Midgar, based on clues you receive. After tracking down each disguised Wutai spy and discovering it, the person runs away and Zack chases after that person. While running away, the disguised Wutai spy is momentarily blocked from the players view while it runs behind something. After a moment it comes back into view, and this time the person shows up in full army gear and carrying some big spear type weapon. Zack and another Soldier 2nd Class corner and capture that person. The final disguised Wutai spy is cool! It's a little boy playing in a park, and after you catch him he runs away and Zack chases after him. He's blocked from view for a moment but when he cames back on the screen a moment later, not only does he have full military gear on, but he has aged over ten years! Yea, one second it's a little kid, then he shows up as an adult guy around Zack's age, with full military gear on, haha. Nice disguise! How'd he get into a costume of a young kid? :D

[Relapse]

haha yeah the wutai spies were weird. i'm currently at depths of judgment (last boss area). now trying to do all missions, currently at 72%. :( hope i can finish them soon.

[Necronopticous]

I couldn't stomach more than a couple hours of this game. I don't think I will ever understand what anyone saw in this game. The pre-release hype and the flooring let down that followed gave me flashbacks from the release of Star Wars: Episode III. Even Dirge of Cerberus was more fun and more well designed than Crisis Core, in my opinion.

[Dragonsoul]

Relapse, it appears that you are going for a 100% completion rate of the game. How many hours is that going to take you? I estimated it at 70 hours, but I'm not sure yet. I'll play a couple more hours of the game tonight. I'm playing two hours a day, so that I can finish before FF Tactics A2 comes out on June 24th.

For the sidequests there are tons of stuff that happens during the game, plus all the missions, it's the major strong point of the game along with the graphics I think.

I'm really enjoying the opening movie for the game before you load a game, I watch it repeatedly! It seems like all of the Square Enix games I've played since Fall 2006 have had insanely great opening movies: ...
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

I wonder what the Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is going to look like, I can't find the Japanese version on Youtube. I already saw the Final Fantasy IV intro for Japanese DS, it's great!

[Trance_Kuja]

Tactics Advance 2 doesn't have a CGI Intro unfortunately.

[Dragonsoul]

Do you have the Japanese version of it? What happens in the game before you start a new game or go to load game?

Only 26 days left! :)

[Trance_Kuja]

Sorry I don't have it unfortunately, all I know is that it uses the in game engine for the beginning story where Luso (main character) is put in the library for misbehaving. Luso then finds the Grimoire (the book that transports you to Ivalice) as is asked to put his name in it (you can change the name), transporing him soon afterwards.

[Dragonsoul]

That's excellent! :)

I just got through a hard part in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. It takes place during Chapter 5 where you have to infiltrate a facility and avoid patrolling guards while picking up treasure chests, like in Metal Gear Solid 1. Anyways I had trouble because even though I have the strategy guide, I had trouble with the camera. If you are not in the proper place, you can't move the camera properly and see where the guards are. If I make a mistake, and wanted to truly complete this little quest, I had to reload the game, so it took a while.

While I'm at it, I'll post a walkthrough for this part, for anybody who's going to play the game. There are five treasure chests to get, while avoiding the patrolling guards. Also, you have to press X to do squats sometimes so you don't freeze from the cold weather in this area...

1. When you start the quest, wait a little bit for your proper time. Do about 6-7 squats to keep your body temperature up. Then a guard will appear from the left and move to the right. After he passes by, immediately run to the left, and get the treasure chest.

2. Then immediately run back, behind the guard. Wait a moment for him to make a turn and start walking to the left. Follow the guard, not too close though. When he's walking and gets close to the wall in front of him, run a little bit to the left and get the treasure chest.

3. The guard will not spot you, you don't need to crouch. Once the guard starts moving back in the direction he came from, torwards the main entrance, run next to where this guard was standing as you got the second treasure chest. There is a big barrel, stand behind this barrel, on the side farther away from the entrance. A new guard is going to be walking torwards you so you have to hurry! Crouch for now, the guard will walk torwards you, you will be crouching, and he will be standing next to you soon. When the guard turns around and starts walking torwards the entrance, get up. Do about 3-4 squats to get your body temperature up. Follow the guard, but not too close. You will be walking torwards the main entrance. Another guard is going to be coming your way, from the right. This guard will walk and stop in front of the main entrance. When that happens, run torwards the main entrance and when you get closer to the guard, run to right and stand behind the guard. The guard will then make a turn and start walking to the direction you just came from. At this moment you will prepare to start going torwards the second half of this facility perimeter area, but not yet. You will be standing in front of the main entrance. If you are facing the facility and away from the entrance, as if you just came in, you will see on the path to your right, a guard. This guard at this moment is not too close to you, and standing still for a moment. Directly to the right of the main entrance, but next to it, is a pile of stuff. Stand behind the pile of stuff, but on the side next to the main entrance, and crouch. The guard will start walking torwards you. After a little bit he'll be standing close to your left, at this moment run to the area where he was standing at. At this area, instead of getting the third treasure chest, or turning to the left, do something else. At the corner where you are at, there is some stuff. Stand behind this stuff, on the side closer to the main entrance, and crouch. In a few seconds a new guard will approach from around the corner. Wait until the guard completely passes you. Then get up and grab the treasure chest in the corner to your right.

4. Run to the left down the new pathway, and stay on the right side, grab the treasure chest.

5. Run to the left to the big area, there will be another treasure chest, get it. Then enter the facility.

Hehe, after typing this I realized that people probably uploaded video walkthroughs on Youtube. I found some, and they are more effective. Here they are...
YouTube - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Infiltration mini game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRc8wYm4gU)
YouTube - Infiltrate the facility Crisis Core (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flLWVaXK-KQ)

Also, I found a random Youtube person who has a lot of rpg walkthroughs...
YouTube - Krelian89's Channel (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Krelian89)

[Dreddz]

Crisis Core is up there with the best the PSP has to offer. Im surprised that I liked this game that much, ive beaten the story and have made my way through most of the missions. I have a 28 hour save file and still going strong.

Crisis Core is probably the only game to exceed my expectations this year. I hope more attention is paid to PSP games like this one.

[Dragonsoul]

This is excellent! Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is one of the best PSP games out. Too bad this fall I don't know if PSP is getting any great rpg's, we may have to wait. We will get Final Fantasy: Dissidia, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep eventually, not sure when though. So it appears that PSP is more successful versus the Nintendo DS than any other handheld competitor has challenged a Nintendo handheld in the past. Nice work for Sony, I wonder what will happen in the next generation of handhelds though.

[Vivisteiner]

Dissidia, squee!
And CC to look forward to.

As a European, Im excited.

[Dragonsoul]

Did you watch Advent Children or play Dirge of Cerberus? Try them out! Usa and Europe haven't gotten Before Crisis yet. Maybe they will come out on PSP or DS instead of Cellphones. I'm trying to complete all of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles. :)

[Vivisteiner]

^I watched Advent Children. Twas great action but bad story. I enjoyed it. I dont think Ill be getting DoC, since there are other better games out there.

[Dragonsoul]

I watched FF VII: AC in November 2006, and the other day I watched it for a second time. I liked it more this time since I tried to focus more on understanding the story. By the way, I highly recommend you read the "On the way to a smile" collection of 3 short stories(Barret, Denzel, Tifa), written by Kazushige Nojima(main Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts scenario writer), which take place between FF VII and FF VII: AC. You can get them in the super special edition of FF VII: AC, or you can read them online here...
"on the way to a smile" - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22on+the+way+to+a+smile%22&btnG=Search)

I'm going for a 100% completion rate in FF VII: CC, but I'm annoyed because in order to do this I have to do 300(!) missions! I have to sometimes stop and do some missions right as they become available, and it's delaying me going through the story. I'd rather do this than skip all the missions and finish in 13 hours, but still I wish there were only 100 missions not 300. I'm hearing that FF Tactics A2 is going to have 400 missions! I'm getting overloaded on missions.

EDIT:
Please answer this question...
Right now I'm at the very start of Chapter 8 and I finished 30% of missions in maybe 21 hours. I want to complete this game with a 100% completion rate, which means doing all 300 missions. I want to finish it by June 24th when Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift comes out. How many hours will this take? I want to know if I can play this game for two hours a day and finish on time or do I need to put in three hours a day? :)

EDIT:
I just finished Chapter 8! The story is getting pretty intense now. I'm excited to continue on to the last two chapters. But I have only 30% missions or so completed! I'll have to stop and play 30 hours of missions eventually. I'm playing them as they go along, but I don't do the "Hard" ones until they get easier. :D

[Dragonsoul]

Bumping this back up. I just started the final chapter of the game. The game is going great right now, I'm happy with it. I'm 41% done with the missions, I'm annoyed because I'll have to stop and finish nearly 200 missions, so I can get a 100% completion rate, but I'll have forgotten some of the story after this. I'll review it online and in the strategy guide though. I think this game is better than Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

I'm 29-30 hours into the game. Please reply to this thread. :)

EDIT:
I'm 31 hours into the game, 44% through the missions, and at the start of the final chapter. The game is on track for a 8/10 score. I played through about 10 missions tonight. They felt in a way kinda repetitive, boring, unnecessary, and didn't have great enough story and rewards for all of them. I think this mission system would have worked better of there were 100-150 missions instead of 300. I don't know if I can take another 20+ hours of just beating missions to get them completed. I think what I'll do is just play the missions until I get to a 50% completion rate. Then I'll finish the game, although I will do the other optional stuff in the final chapter. This way I can finish the game next week. I'll be able to move on with my gaming life and not have to spend 3-4 weeks of beating repetitive missions that aren't interesting enough to me. I'll then be able to focus more on Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.

Now there's a similar situation with Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. That game has over 300 missions, and they last much longer than the Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core missions. There's no way I'm doing all of those. And the game isn't as good as Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core for me, it's on track for a 7 or 8 out of 10 score from me. I may end up skipping all the missions that I can and most of the sidequests, and finishing up the game in 30 hours or however long it takes. Then I can move on with some other rpg's.

I think after I finish these two games I'll play FF I(PSP), FF II(PSP), FF III(DS), and FF IV(DS). I really want to get started on those games! As far as side quests go, there are a few different things I consider when considering how many I will beat and how many the game should have. The length in hours of side quests vary in direct proportion to the length in hours of the main quest. I don't feel right having a 15 hour game with 55 hours of side quests. The more important the game, the lower ratio it can have for main quest vs side quests. For example Final Fantasy XII has more side quests time than the main quest, and that is not too bad since it's a main Final Fantasy game, I'm willing to devote time to something like this. Also, I'll consider how great the game is when I decide how many side quests to do. For a 7/10 rpg, I may beat this rpg but I may beat little or no side quests. And for a 9.5 or 10/10 game I may get a 100% completion rate for the game. I got a 100% completion rate for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, and would have done that also for Final Fantasy XII if I was able to finish it in time before FF XII: RW came out. I felt like posting some information about these types of topics. Eh, I played enough FF VII: CC for tonight, I'll start up FF Tactics A2 now! :)

EDIT:
I will beat the game tonight! It's great! I finished 50% of the missions and I'm finishing up the last chapter. I'm preparing to fight the Behemoth King. I hope I can finish in two hours, because I may want to buy Final Fantasy I(PSP) at EB Games before the store closes in two hours! Or maybe I should delay FF I and focus on FF Tactics A2? :)

[Dragonsoul]

I beat the game tonight! :)!!! The final level and the final boss were great! The ending was incredible, one of the very best endings of any game I've ever played! It ranks right up there with the endings of Final Fantasy VI, VII, X, and XII: Revenant Wings! The ending was 40 minutes long, I loved it. I'll beat the final battle again soon so that I can watch the ending again.

Here's my review of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core!! ...
Graphics - 10
Music - 8
Story - 8
Characters - 8
Controls - 10
Battle System - 8
Length/Side Quests - 10
Overall: 8/10

The ending I'd give a 10/10 to but I don't really rank endings, maybe I should though. I finished 50%(150 exactly) of the missions, and all three of the Chapter 10 side quests, plus any other non-mission side quests during the game. The game took 36 hours and 12 minutes roughly, it was a great game! What does everybody else think of this game after beating it? :)!!!

[Rostum]

But what games do you want to get or plan on getting? And what order are you going to play them in?! What about the time frame?!?!

[Dragonsoul]

This rules Omecle! :eek:!!!

Anyways, Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is going to take a super long time, I'll get started on Final Fantasy I tomorrow maybe. Let's see if I buy it tomorrow, I wasn't able to get it today. :)