rionaleonhart | Awesome! We're Gonna Fail!

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Awesome! We're Gonna Fail!

I've finished playing Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, the remaster of Final Fantasy VII prequel Crisis Core! I watched a cutscene compilation of the original back in 2015 and enjoyed it - it gave me a new appreciation for Final Fantasy VII, which I'd struggled to get along with up to that point - so I'm glad the game's finally available on a console I actually own.

Crisis Core is an odd beast. The battle system and soundtrack are excellent, and Reunion is a great-looking remaster. On the plot front, we've got dodgy writing and voice direction, poor characterisation of Aerith, impressively terrible additions to the Final Fantasy VII canon, but sometimes it'll reach into that mess and pull out something genuinely affecting.

Crisis Core is a bit like Kingdom Hearts, in that respect. The writing of the Kingdom Hearts series is questionable and the plot is nonsense, but it's got real heart, and its emotional moments can hit hard.

Angeal: I never use my sword. Use brings about wear, tear and rust.
Angeal: Anyway, Zack, here's your sword. (stabs Zack's sword straight through some wooden floorboards)

Sephiroth said he, Angeal and Genesis used to sneak into the training room 'for fun', and then we got an astonishingly homoerotic flashback to them having a swordfight on top of Junon's enormous phallic cannon, and I'll be honest: it was pretty great.

All the line delivery in this game is so weird. You don't have to pause in the middle of every sentence!

I'm very touched by the way Zack keeps talking to Cloud even when Cloud is barely conscious and not taking anything in.

The ending was agonising, right up until cheerful pop music kicked in at the most inappropriate possible moment and I cracked up laughing. I think that's the perfect encapsulation of Crisis Core as a whole, a game that's simultaneously genuinely emotional and absolutely ludicrous.

I'm so glad this game lets you join a fan club for yourself.

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I struggled with the repetitiveness of Crisis Core on the PSP, even though I really wanted to see more of the background for these characters. I'm told it was somewhat improved on the new versions, so I'm hoping it will go better when I finally get my hands on it.

Sephiroth said he, Angeal and Genesis used to sneak into the training room 'for fun', and then we got an astonishingly homoerotic flashback to them having a swordfight on top of Junon's enormous phallic cannon, and I'll be honest: it was pretty great.

This sure bumps it up the list 🤣

I struggled with the repetitiveness of Crisis Core on the PSP, even though I really wanted to see more of the background for these characters. I'm told it was somewhat improved on the new versions, so I'm hoping it will go better when I finally get my hands on it.

I don't know what the gameplay was like in the original, but I really like the battle system in the new version; it's fast-paced, it feels good and it includes an element of strategy without being overcomplicated. I also appreciate the Internet for informing me that enemies won't spawn if you stick close to walls, so it's easy to skip battles if you just want to head straight for the goal.

Also, hello; it's nice to meet you! If you're wondering how I came to subscribe to you, I spotted you in

tobli's comments, wandered over and thought your journal was interesting.

Oooh I've got a feeling I'm really going to appreciate that sticking-close-to-walls advice as well, thank you for that!!

And hi!! I had spotted your name in a few places too (it's an easy one to remember, too, as a long-time Final Fantasy fan :D). Very nice to meet you!!

I plan to get the updated CC but haven't yet. I liked bits and pieces of CC on PSP, but was always surprised by my friends who completely adored it. I like Zack just fine, but my god everything related to Genesis is pure schlock, and Aerith's turn to Incorruptibly Pure As the Fallen Snow is agonizing. I was concerned they'd go that route with her in Remake, but then wrote her perfectly and my concerns were averted.

I know everyone loves the scene at the end, but I actually don't care for it so much. Zack's little monologue just feels extra and very anime, in not so-much the best way.

... I really like Kunsel though.

My overall thoughts on Crisis Core are basically that it's an entertaining mess. And I do like an entertaining mess! But it's undeniably messy.

I like Zack just fine, but my god everything related to Genesis is pure schlock, and Aerith's turn to Incorruptibly Pure As the Fallen Snow is agonizing. I was concerned they'd go that route with her in Remake, but then wrote her perfectly and my concerns were averted.

Seconded on everything. Aerith saying 'shit' in Remake remains one of the best moments of my videogaming life; it instantly obliterated all my fears about how she would be written.

I know everyone loves the scene at the end, but I actually don't care for it so much. Zack's little monologue just feels extra and very anime, in not so-much the best way.

Yeah, I can imagine it's tough to write an ending that feels satisfying when your story is doomed to end from the start with 'and then he was shot by soldiers in a wasteland', but their 'Zack gives a big speech and floats into the sky while a catchy Jpop song plays' solution was a bit too over-the-top for me to handle. I laughed very hard.

Angeal: I never use my sword. Use brings about wear, tear and rust.
Angeal: Anyway, Zack, here's your sword. (stabs Zack's sword straight through some wooden floorboards)

*cries* THIS!

It felt like swords got stabbed into solid surfaces so often in this game! Normally I'd just accept that it looked cool and forget about the practicalities, but it was really hard to ignore those practicalities when Angeal had made such a fuss about weapon maintenance.

Also, hello! I've seen your name here and there around Dreamwidth, and today, having looked at your journal and thought 'I should probably subscribe to this person' for at least the third time, I finally kicked myself into action and subscribed. It's nice to meet you!

haha, it's nice to meet you too! Likewise I have had the same feeling, but today, when looking at your main icon, I was suddenly like... wait, I think we've met, a long, long time ago, back on LJ.

I played the PSP game and remembered it being emotionally interesting enough for me to continue through it and cry at the ending, but I had heard the remaster had done some strange things? But glad to see it seems to have kept a lot of its same energy, for good and for bad.

Crisis Core as a whole, a game that's simultaneously genuinely emotional and absolutely ludicrous.

Yep definitely a perfect way to explain that game.

I had heard the remaster had done some strange things

I'm curious about these strange things! Storywise, as far as I can tell, the remaster seems much the same as the original; it's been a while, though, so I may be misremembering (and I only watched a cutscene compilation of the original, so I don't know how the finer details differ). I definitely went from sadness to confused laughter at the ending in both the original and the remaster.

I haven't played the remaster and I played the PSP game like 10 years ago so I'm not sure if people are exaggerating about how the voice acting in particular really makes scenes come off differently? And I think I saw something added to the ending where Zack seemed to not be so hurt (understatement) but maybe it was to the other FF7 remake game or a faked video? I have a hard time keeping all the new stuff straight when I'm not involved in the fandom at all.

Ah, I think the ending scene you mention is probably from Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is definitely doing some strange things, but I'm interested to see where it's going!

I've definitely seen complaints about the new voice actors, now that you mention it. I didn't really have a problem with the change, although I didn't remember the original voices very well and therefore wasn't that attached to them; I can imagine that the new voices might have made the game feel different if I'd experienced the original more recently. I thought the voice direction was a bit awkward, but I think it was fairly awkward in the original as well: a lot of odd pauses in the middle of sentences.

I dropped out of playing the OG Crisis Core very quickly, because there was too much repetition for me. I tried the new one and I got, I think, perhaps a smidgeon further before I stopped and I just haven't felt the need to pick it up again. In neither case did I even get far enough to meet Sephiroth or Aerith, though.

(...the JP voice for Zack put me off playing with the JP voices on, within about three words after starting the game, a new record for NOPE ABSOLUTELY NOT. The EN voices aren't great but they didn't make me physically want to yeet the switch out of the window.)

I know people who ADORE Crisis Core and have since the original and I, just, well, I'm glad people enjoyed this but, like the other PSP FF title Dissidia, it is absolutely Not FF Aimed At Me.

I'm sorry it didn't click for you! I had a good time with it, but I can definitely see why it wouldn't work for some players. The missions definitely got repetitive eventually; I'm glad I managed to drag myself away from them and push on with the main storyline, or I might never have finished the game.

it is absolutely Not FF Aimed At Me.

I'm getting this feeling from the promotional material for Final Fantasy XVI so far, but I hope I'm wrong!

When the original came out, I was in high school, and had recently played FF7 for the first time. Needless to say, the fact that they made a prequel delighted teenage me, to the point that I imported the limited edition PSP, which came with a copy of the game in Japanese. Seeing as I don’t know Japanese, the fact that I 100%’d the game tells you a lot about my priorites as a teenager.

I’ve been picking at the new release but haven’t gotten very far, in part because I’ve played it multiple times and know the story fairly well. While I was enamored with the story in my youth, it’s… uh… yeah. Yeah. I do not know why they made half the choices they did. I think you’re spot-on with the Kingdom Hearts comparison; it’s very childish at points, but there’s real emotion behind the nonsense.

And I do love Zack; I think he makes for a wonderful protagonist even if the plot around him is boneheaded. Unfortunately I could not get over the change in voice actors, so I’ve been playing through in Japanese again. At least this time I have subtitles to go with it!

The new graphics are gorgeous though. The animations are really wonky at points because they seem to have stuck with the old ones shot-for-shot, but the character models and backgrounds really make up for it. And of course the music is still amazing; Crisis Core has one of my favorite soundtracks.

Seeing as I don’t know Japanese, the fact that I 100%’d the game tells you a lot about my priorites as a teenager.

That's very impressive! When I was a kid, my dad once came back from a business trip with a Japanese-language version of Pokémon Gold and Silver (one cartridge, both games; I'm not sure it was legitimate), which wasn't yet out in the UK. I'm still absolutely bewildered that my brother, who must have been about nine years old and couldn't read a word of Japanese, somehow managed to play it all the way through.

it’s… uh… yeah. Yeah. I do not know why they made half the choices they did. I think you’re spot-on with the Kingdom Hearts comparison; it’s very childish at points, but there’s real emotion behind the nonsense.

It's got a lot of heart! It's a disaster in many ways, but it's a disaster with passion behind it, and that makes a big difference.

The character models and backgrounds really do look great! I wasn't sure what to expect, because I feel Square have a track record of not putting much effort into remasters, but perhaps they put more care into this one (or just had more assets available) because of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Whatever the reason, I was pleasantly surprised! And, yes, the soundtrack is fantastic.

I remember playing Crisis Core when it came out and accepting the general addition of Genesis and Angeal reasonably well in an attempt to be open-minded, but being extremely indignant about the bit where they took a flashback from the first game -and added characters to it-. Look, you can retrospectively create the characters, but don't add them to scenes they weren't in! They could just have been off on a mission or something Crisis Core, geez.

I liked the DMV as a concept but its randomness could make things feel very uneven.

I'm always surprised whenever some FF7 canon tries to characterise Aerith as demure, because my memory of her is almost entirely the opposite! Rinoa and her suffer in different ways, actually, thinking of FF in general: Aerith becomes a saint to fandom. Rinoa becomes a bitchy queen bee, if fanfic twenty odd years ago taught me anything!

I can't comment on voice acting as I've not played the remake and I don't remember tons of the original voice acting, though I do remember some. Is it the same voice actors? Sometimes they recast but I always find that odd unless it's a rights issue. I remember the Silent Hill 2 remaster recast the voice actors: I was offended, because I often see the voice acting of that game bashed, but while it's not perfect, I wouldn't say it's -bad-, though maybe it's a product of its time. James always gets mentioned as The Worst Voice and I always loved his voice, it has some strange line reads -but that is perfectly in character for him- and I much prefer soft-voiced, confused James to chronic action man James voice.

I'd heard about Genesis being alive in Dirge of Cerberus which makes very little sense to me as -the whole movement on the plot is based on the man being angry that he's dying/degrading-. How pointless!

In my gaming life, I've been playing The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles: that's right, I finally got in the mood! I'm currently on case 4 of the second game. There's a lot of things I enjoy but it does suffer from the Ace Attorney problem where the investigation can be a drag (and seems pretty long) as you're often just wandering between plot plot plot without much ability to stop and reason. It means I enjoy it but I have to stop and do something else sometimes just to break from it. It definitely feels like one big game though, rather than two: just with ten cases! I do like that it does some things quite differently and I've enjoyed the jury mechanic and the cross-examining multiple witnesses mechanic (even if the idea is extremely questionable). I don't know how far you got in the games so I won't say anything more!

In the future, I've got Trails to Azure to play sooner rather than later, given it's now released. But first to finish Ace Attorney.

-timydamonkey

being extremely indignant about the bit where they took a flashback from the first game -and added characters to it-.

I was also slightly outraged by this. You can't add characters to flashbacks we've already seen! (Except... except adding Zack to Nibelheim after we've seen Cloud's version of that story, obviously; that's a special case.)

I liked the DMV as a concept but its randomness could make things feel very uneven.

I really enjoyed the DMW - I'm all for occasionally getting fun bonuses and brief character scenes thrown at me during a fight, and the 'no AP cost' and 'no MP cost' results were a great way to get me actually using my abilities rather than just hoarding AP and MP - but tying levelling up to it was a slightly bizarre decision.

Rinoa and her suffer in different ways, actually, thinking of FF in general: Aerith becomes a saint to fandom. Rinoa becomes a bitchy queen bee, if fanfic twenty odd years ago taught me anything!

I remember my teenage struggles to find Squall/Zell fanfiction that didn't depict all the characters as hating Rinoa! I wonder if that's still a problem nowadays.

They recast the voice actors for the Crisis Core remaster, I believe. I wonder how different the Silent Hill 2 remaster feels with the redone voices; the original voice acting was definitely a bit awkward, but in a way it helped to contribute to the strange, unsettling feeling of the game.

I think Tem and I are somewhere in case... three? of the first Great Ace Attorney Chronicles game. We haven't played for a while, but I'm hoping to pick it up again! The jurors being able to give their verdict mid-trial is impressively ludicrous, even for Ace Attorney.

Edited 2023-03-20 22:16 (UTC)

(Except... except adding Zack to Nibelheim after we've seen Cloud's version of that story, obviously; that's a special case.)

To be fair, there's never really an added character there, as I recall? Cloud and Zack are both always there. Cloud just has his helmet on and Zack's appearance is totally wrong but he is, in fact, in the scene. So I could live with that. My favourite part of FF7 was the existential crisis where you and Tifa try to puzzle out Cloud's confused Nibelheim memories.

They recast the voice actors for the Crisis Core remaster, I believe. I wonder how different the Silent Hill 2 remaster feels with the redone voices; the original voice acting was definitely a bit awkward, but in a way it helped to contribute to the strange, unsettling feeling of the game.

Yes, exactly! Foggy, monster-filled Silent Hill itself is like a strange waking dream--goes-nightmare. Awkward voice acting totally fits with this vibe, intentional or not.

I'm glad you and Tem haven't given up on The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles - I think you would definitely enjoy them. Case 3 was on reflection probably my favourite case of the first game so enjoy that one!

-timydamonkey

Checking in to say that I finished the second Great Ace Attorney Chronicles game and here is my favourite quote, because it gives away nothing and yet is still so fitting for Ace Attorney: “What’s this latest absurdity, Counsel?” What indeed.

-timydamonkey

I resent your implication that Crisis Core!Sephiroth was anything other than perfectly voiced. (I don't know if they kept George Newbern, his original ~~non-Lance Bass, Professional Astronaut~~ VA, or if they recast him for Reunion like they did for the remake. But my point still stands.)

Anyway, I still don't care about FFVII.

if they recast him for Reunion like they did for the remake

They recast him for Reunion, and, in confirming this fact, I also learnt that the guy who voices Sephiroth in Reunion is the guy who played Derek in Teen Wolf, and I absolutely cannot handle this.

Thanks, I hate it.

WHAT. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS LMAOOOO

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Crisis Core is so hit and miss, but I'm very fond of it – the way it fleshes out the FF7 world is just really interesting

This sums it up, really. It's a flawed game in many respects, but it really enhanced Final Fantasy VII for me, which makes it a very successful prequel (and prequels are hard!).

I do like the song a fair bit; I think I just wasn't prepared for it to kick in halfway through Cloud's anguished scream!

I missed the opportunity to join Zack's fan club in my recent playthrough, which was a big disappointment!

Oh no! Sounds like you're just going to have to play it again.

Not knowing anything about any of these games, "simultaneously genuinely emotional and absolutely ludicrous" sounds awesome to me. :D

It could also describe Lost, now that you mention it!

You know, for all that I was (am?) obsessed with FF7, I never did end up playing crisis core. Perhaps it's my time.

The writing of the Kingdom Hearts series is questionable and the plot is nonsense accurate as heck AND YET I've played every single one, so. XD

If you enjoy the Kingdom Hearts series, I think there's a good chance you'll get along with Crisis Core! They definitely share the qualities of being a) fun to play, b) surprisingly emotional and c) absolute nonsense.

Crisis Core is very Nomura, very Compilation, and, though I got the PSP version at release, I have no intention of paying more than $20 U.S. for the Switch remaster, and that only if Mrs. Samu asks for it. (She recently rewatched the cut scenes on You Tube, too.)

Crisis Core is very Nomura, very Compilation

Extremely true on both counts! I enjoyed it, but I think your price limit makes a lot of sense.

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Awesome! We're Gonna Fail!

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