Crisis Core Review Part 1
Sep. 23rd, 2007 06:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rose_of_painI'm about 4 hours into the game now so I've done enough to finally start having actual thoughts on the gameplay and story.
Not much spoilers for this one considering it isn't that far in yet. Mostly talking about the gameplay itself. And luckily some very nice people have already had rather nice walkthroughs up and even some dialogue translations. None of them have finished yet and I'm not that far behind the most updated walkthrough.
As a side note, really wish I could hook this up to the PS2 and watch it on a bigger screen though as everyone wants to watch it as I play but its a bit difficult for everyone to see. I already had all 3 housemates + Jes + Adam + Dani2 all hovering over my shoulder when I started it up. XP
Graphics: Absolutely amazing, as expected. Got a gazillion high-res FMVs that are pretty frequently. Same quality as AC and Dirge, which is pretty impressive considering how small the PSP is.
Voices: *_* Wai! They use so many good seiyuus in this game. Everyone has an amazing voice. I'll even admit that Gackt has a really nice voice, even if I'm still blah at him being in this game at all. Though blah, they don't always speak. There are a bunch of times where its just text dialogue. x_x And of course, I'm completely lost in all those cases. That and you're constantly receiving e-mails on your phone and I'm like "yeah...can't read those." ^^;
Gameplay: The system is a bit weird but its a lot easier than Dirge's system and you certainly get used to it a lot faster than with that one. No time-based stuff. But you have this little slot machine in the left corner of the screen during all your fights. And I'm not exactly sure how it works. If its by your hits that trigger when it stops or what but various combinations give you nice random stats. Like it'll sometimes heal you or replenish your MP. And then every so often you get a "Modulation Mode" where it takes up the whole screen and you try to match whatever character face it gives you and it'll let you use a limit break type thing if you do it right.
What is a little annoying though is that to level up, you have to get a 777 combination. And I have no idea how the numbers get determined and what they have to do with the character pictures given. I don't know. But it isn't as hard as it sounds to do it as I keep doing it pretty often. *shrug* In fact the slot thing seems to always give you really nice stats without you having to try that hard. Makes gameplay almost feel like you're cheating sometimes. So definitly not the most challenging game but I'm playing more for story here.
But there are these Missions separate from the actual story you can take on and get items and points doing. And also use them to help you level up. They're very handy. Kinda like the Hunts in FF12. I've mostly been going through the missions I've gotten and using them to level up before I continue at the moment.
The gameplay can be a little hard at times. But that's just because I can't read much Japanese and so there have been times where its been difficult figuring out which materia I have equiped and which item was which. Like once I got poisoned and I died 'cause I couldn't figure out which item was my remedies in time and used like all my items up before I found the right one. ^^; But other than that, I've been doing fine.
Story: So far I've been understanding it very well. Better than Dirge and I like it a lot more than Dirge, really. Its not as confusing and the dialogue they use is simpler and easy for me to get the gist of what they're saying. Also having the nice little translated dialogue already is handy. And a good summary for when I don't have a full translation. And damn do they talk a lot on cell phones in this game. XP Like on a ridiculous scale.
I love Zack to death! He's freaking adorable and every time he talks, I can't help but smile. ^_^ He's soooo cute in this! Really love playing him. I like Angeal a lot so far too. He I can accept as a canon character since he really fits in fine. And I had always wondered when I originally played FF7 if there were more SOLDIER 1st class characters around as I felt like they should've been so glad they did have some. Genesis...I actually don't think I would mind him at all if he didn't have Gackt's face. Like even having Gackt's voice would've been fine. But just the fact that he pretty much IS Gackt bothers me still. So I tend to use a lot of pretending to ignore that fact as his character is pretty cool. Though I also get a bit of sick pleasure out of the idea that I'll get to beat his ass later on. XP
I also like how Zack starts out as 2nd class in the game so he's on his way to 1st class so he's like not uber powerful. I like that touch. Though the plotline doesn't waste any time in diving right in to the darker and more depressing bits. Already I'm trying to figure out the Genesis case and Angeal has disappeared and Zack is being all angsty over Angeal turning traitor and Zack's just confused in general. And I refuse to read ahead so I too am confused yet intrigued as to what Angeal and Genesis are really up to. Since Shinra aren't exactly the good guys as we all know.
Yuffie made a cameo pretty early on. When they went to Wutai to check out what happened to Genesis. Yuffie came out at one point and was pretty damn cute. XP She was trying to be all tough and Zack was just "...huh? *blink*" and Jes was like "No!" 'cause yes, she had another new outfit on and now Jes has to cosplay it. XP Haha. At least its really simple since she's all really young and all. Under or around 10 at this point.
I'll probably go more into the story bits later on but I don't think anyone really wants me spoiling that stuff for them so I probably won't give full summaries or anything. Just point out little things or big things and my reactions to them. But yeah, so far, I really like it! Certainly a lot more than Dirge. It feels a lot less fanfic-y than Dirge did. Though then again, I still have a lot more gameplay so that could always change. ^^; But it's nice and there's a lot of nostalgia in it 'cause you have materia slots again and all the different colors of materia and items that were in the original FF7. So even though the system is different, its still rather similiar in what you use.
I don't know if anyone will read any of these reports of mine but I'll continue to do them anyways just in case anyone does want to know my progress in it.
Blah, now I gotta somehow get my mind to focus on school work. >>;;
~Lyn
Not much spoilers for this one considering it isn't that far in yet. Mostly talking about the gameplay itself. And luckily some very nice people have already had rather nice walkthroughs up and even some dialogue translations. None of them have finished yet and I'm not that far behind the most updated walkthrough.
As a side note, really wish I could hook this up to the PS2 and watch it on a bigger screen though as everyone wants to watch it as I play but its a bit difficult for everyone to see. I already had all 3 housemates + Jes + Adam + Dani2 all hovering over my shoulder when I started it up. XP
Graphics: Absolutely amazing, as expected. Got a gazillion high-res FMVs that are pretty frequently. Same quality as AC and Dirge, which is pretty impressive considering how small the PSP is.
Voices: *_* Wai! They use so many good seiyuus in this game. Everyone has an amazing voice. I'll even admit that Gackt has a really nice voice, even if I'm still blah at him being in this game at all. Though blah, they don't always speak. There are a bunch of times where its just text dialogue. x_x And of course, I'm completely lost in all those cases. That and you're constantly receiving e-mails on your phone and I'm like "yeah...can't read those." ^^;
Gameplay: The system is a bit weird but its a lot easier than Dirge's system and you certainly get used to it a lot faster than with that one. No time-based stuff. But you have this little slot machine in the left corner of the screen during all your fights. And I'm not exactly sure how it works. If its by your hits that trigger when it stops or what but various combinations give you nice random stats. Like it'll sometimes heal you or replenish your MP. And then every so often you get a "Modulation Mode" where it takes up the whole screen and you try to match whatever character face it gives you and it'll let you use a limit break type thing if you do it right.
What is a little annoying though is that to level up, you have to get a 777 combination. And I have no idea how the numbers get determined and what they have to do with the character pictures given. I don't know. But it isn't as hard as it sounds to do it as I keep doing it pretty often. *shrug* In fact the slot thing seems to always give you really nice stats without you having to try that hard. Makes gameplay almost feel like you're cheating sometimes. So definitly not the most challenging game but I'm playing more for story here.
But there are these Missions separate from the actual story you can take on and get items and points doing. And also use them to help you level up. They're very handy. Kinda like the Hunts in FF12. I've mostly been going through the missions I've gotten and using them to level up before I continue at the moment.
The gameplay can be a little hard at times. But that's just because I can't read much Japanese and so there have been times where its been difficult figuring out which materia I have equiped and which item was which. Like once I got poisoned and I died 'cause I couldn't figure out which item was my remedies in time and used like all my items up before I found the right one. ^^; But other than that, I've been doing fine.
Story: So far I've been understanding it very well. Better than Dirge and I like it a lot more than Dirge, really. Its not as confusing and the dialogue they use is simpler and easy for me to get the gist of what they're saying. Also having the nice little translated dialogue already is handy. And a good summary for when I don't have a full translation. And damn do they talk a lot on cell phones in this game. XP Like on a ridiculous scale.
I love Zack to death! He's freaking adorable and every time he talks, I can't help but smile. ^_^ He's soooo cute in this! Really love playing him. I like Angeal a lot so far too. He I can accept as a canon character since he really fits in fine. And I had always wondered when I originally played FF7 if there were more SOLDIER 1st class characters around as I felt like they should've been so glad they did have some. Genesis...I actually don't think I would mind him at all if he didn't have Gackt's face. Like even having Gackt's voice would've been fine. But just the fact that he pretty much IS Gackt bothers me still. So I tend to use a lot of pretending to ignore that fact as his character is pretty cool. Though I also get a bit of sick pleasure out of the idea that I'll get to beat his ass later on. XP
I also like how Zack starts out as 2nd class in the game so he's on his way to 1st class so he's like not uber powerful. I like that touch. Though the plotline doesn't waste any time in diving right in to the darker and more depressing bits. Already I'm trying to figure out the Genesis case and Angeal has disappeared and Zack is being all angsty over Angeal turning traitor and Zack's just confused in general. And I refuse to read ahead so I too am confused yet intrigued as to what Angeal and Genesis are really up to. Since Shinra aren't exactly the good guys as we all know.
Yuffie made a cameo pretty early on. When they went to Wutai to check out what happened to Genesis. Yuffie came out at one point and was pretty damn cute. XP She was trying to be all tough and Zack was just "...huh? *blink*" and Jes was like "No!" 'cause yes, she had another new outfit on and now Jes has to cosplay it. XP Haha. At least its really simple since she's all really young and all. Under or around 10 at this point.
I'll probably go more into the story bits later on but I don't think anyone really wants me spoiling that stuff for them so I probably won't give full summaries or anything. Just point out little things or big things and my reactions to them. But yeah, so far, I really like it! Certainly a lot more than Dirge. It feels a lot less fanfic-y than Dirge did. Though then again, I still have a lot more gameplay so that could always change. ^^; But it's nice and there's a lot of nostalgia in it 'cause you have materia slots again and all the different colors of materia and items that were in the original FF7. So even though the system is different, its still rather similiar in what you use.
I don't know if anyone will read any of these reports of mine but I'll continue to do them anyways just in case anyone does want to know my progress in it.
Blah, now I gotta somehow get my mind to focus on school work. >>;;
~Lyn
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-24 01:30 am (UTC)that game is soooooooo pretty
no subject
Date: 2007-09-24 05:47 pm (UTC)And yes, omg, Zack is so fucking cute!
~Lyn
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Date: 2007-09-24 05:47 pm (UTC)~Lyn
no subject
Date: 2007-09-24 04:24 pm (UTC)BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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Date: 2007-09-24 05:48 pm (UTC)~Lyn