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#4: CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII
Here’s an easy target. The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is widely considered to be a trainwreck, yet for some reason, Crisis Core is usually called one of its more… shall we say, “least harmful” elements. Heck, there’s people who adore this game! For some unfathomable reason!
To certain point, I can see why, though. Crisis Core is, for the most part, very fun to play. A complex materia system, combined with old-school summons and a real-time battle system – it’s got the fundamentals of a really solid action RPG. The story is a nostalgia fest for FFVII fanboys, centering around probably the most beloved character of Final Fantasy VII - Zack. And the music is nice.
But none of those things (aside from the music) is without serious issue. The battle system is fun at first, but then comes the grinding. Endless chains of repetitive quests that you need to keep taking if you want to level your materia properly. But be careful not to undertake too many! Otherwise, you’ll be ridiculously overpowered. See, “balanced” is the last word I’d use to describe this battle system.
The story, while not as ridiculously stupid as a certain other entry into this sub-series (oh, you know the one, and don’t worry – it’s time is coming), is still pretty smurfin’ dumb. Not to mention very fanficky. Remember Doctor Whatshisface? The one responsible for most of the stuff that happened in FFVII? No, not Hojo. The other guy. Of course you don’t – he’s been retconned in. Just like Rufus’s brother, Rude and Reno’s buddy Cissnei, and of course, Sephiroth’s old BFFs – Angeal and Genesis. This wouldn’t be half bad if any of these characters weren’t so painfully Mary Sue-ish, but they are. Genesis gets the award for the lamest, sissiest villain of all time. At least they developed the Zack and Aerith relationship in this game quite nicely. That part I really enjoyed.
So again, not quite a bad game, but one that kinda poops all over the source material. There’s some good things about it – things that are actually very enjoyable – but the overall end effect is that I felt kinda used after playing this.