This was my first time playing Crisis Core so although I’m not super familiar with Zack, I just know him from the original. But I love Zack! He’s a loveable dork and I really enjoyed getting to know him; I look forward to seeing more of him in Reunion!

The battle system - in particular the DMW, which kind of functions like a slot machine - is pretty divisive but I actually really liked it. It was neat and something different though I can fully understand why people going for 100% completion would hate it due to the RNG. It did also trivialise some battles, again due to the random nature, but I still thought that was fun.
Materia fusion was rad! It did mean you could break the game very early but I like that kind of thing in RPGs, I love trying to figure out ways to increasingly break a battle system until I’m stupidly overpowered.

On the negative side, I actually didn’t like a lot of the music and it just kind of blended into the background. Arrangements of classic FFVII songs were good but original Crisis Core songs did nothing for me.

Genesis SUCKED ASS and would never just SHUT THE FUCK UP and I really hope he doesn’t show up again in Rebirth or Part 3.
I’m fine with a name drop but my god please don’t have him show up again, ever, he’s just beyond cringey.

And speaking of cringe, the script is so bad, just cheese off the charts and at points it was way too much for me; and even though they’ve changed the voice actors from the original to match up with Remake, the line delivery here is sometimes just really off? I don’t know if that’s more to do with the script though because, for example, Briana White reprises her role as Aerith and in Remake she’s great but in Crisis Core Reunion the delivery is sometimes so jarring that it feels like it’s a different actor.

It’s crammed with pretty mindless side quests (300 of them!) though that’s by design since it was originally a PSP game - missions are designed to be very short and therefore easy to be played on the go. I did enjoy doing a lot of those quests - it made my lizard brain happy and I got items and accessories out of it - but after a while even I was burnt out on them.

And this is neither positive nor negative but just something I noticed: all the characters move and emote like Sims and it’s very strange!

I read an interview with Executive Producer Yoshinori Kitase where he said he recommend playing Reunion to enhance the enjoyment of the Remake project but I don’t know, I think this is still a hard game for me to recommend to anyone other than fans who really enjoy FFVII lore - for anyone else I honestly think you’d be fine watching a YouTube catch up video. The combat is decent but you’re not missing anything that’s up to the standard of the combat in Remake so I would feel confident in saying you’d be fine to skip it. And speaking of lore, can I just say that they do mess with some things and not all of it is good or makes sense, which does frustrate me as a big Final Fantasy VII fan.

Overall, I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it but I liked it just fine - and best of all, I fell in love with Zack.

My first jump to HD for the final fantasy games and my GOD this was awesome! At its core its definitely a psp game but with significant qol improvements! The soundtrack is amazing, the graphics looks really stunning!(albeit its assets from remake which I will definitely play) and the gameplay is pretty fun! There's only like 2 or 3 bosses that gave me a hard time even on normal but they're all still pretty fun! The characters are all decent too, but zack is really great in here! Definitely got me invested in his character and the situations around him.

I guess my only complaint is that if you're not good at action games, you won't beat this game for a while.

Overall I highly recommend checking it out!(after beating the original final fantasy 7)

The most embarrassing thing I can say about myself is I cried during the ending.
Despite knowing how the game will end if you are even slightly familiar with the original it was still a beautiful scene.
Fun combat, The story kinda jumps the shark with genesis imo, but I was still invested
I don't see myself replaying this like I do ff7, but I do recommend playing it if you enjoy ff7
It's probably the best final fantasy spin off

I can't stay mad at this one, man. For all its weird lore inclusions, stilted dialogue, injecting Genesis into one of the most pivotal scenes of the original game, etc., I can't get mad at it.

Zack is still such a fun and endearing character, I think his his interactions with characters like Aerith, Cloud and Sephiroth are all really good. And man, I forgot how much they really hammer home that this game's ending was gonna be heartbreaking.

Combat here is surprisingly nice, too. Not nearly as good as Remake or Rebirth, but I clicked with it way more than the PSP original. Even if I eventually got a really disgusting build with Darkness going on where I was nearly one-shotting everything in my path on Hard mode, but hey, I think more RPGs should let you find ways to one-shot enemies as a hilarious joke. Zack is both the strongest Dragoon AND Dark Knight in the whole franchise even if he's technically neither, it's messed up.

Don't go into this one expecting the exact same level of quality as Remake or Rebirth, though. This is very much still a side project and it stays true to the spirit of the original PSP game, like... shockingly true. At times I like to joke around and call it "Crisis Core Kiwami", as it reminds me of how the Yakuza Kiwami games have a ton of new gameplay features that weren't in the originals, but then you look at stuff like cutscene animations and it's lifted directly from the original game it's remaking.

While we're talking about this still being a PSP game in spirit, expect to do a lot of missions if you wanna unlock the really fancy shit that lets you turn Zack into an overpowered sicko. I only managed to complete 50% of all side missions before I beat the game in my ~20 hour playthrough, there's a LOT to go through.

Anyways, game's a mess, but I can't stay mad at it. It's an endearing mess, it'll probably make you chuckle and smile about as much as it'll make you groan and facepalm. Pick it up on sale if you need more Zack in your life before that third FF7R game drops.

Pros:
Getting level ups and other stats is addicting, story is endearing
The ending FUCKING RULES and brought the game from a 2 to a 3 for me
Game is pretty and zack is a good character and does cool shit
The main plot showcases its themes of companies/the military taking advantage of their workers excellently by making the main character a naive wannabe hero to which the company he works for strings his desire along into making him do morally incorrect things under the guise of being for the sake of good
This is elevated by the way he treats fights and the combat starting and ending noises "battle mode activated", "conflict resolved". It really puts his role into perspective for the player

Cons:
The game is ass LOL
The gameplay is repetitive, unfair at times, meandering, pointless, loaded with filler and pointlessness, the dungeon design is extremely robotic/prefab
The story doesnt know what it wants to do and spends a lot of time pretending like something meaningful is happening when nothing of substance is happening
Lots of the games mechanics are essentially dictated by rng, it doesnt inhibit gameplay but it makes the game a bit less easy to grind in

Overall
This game is charming, showing off kazushige nojima's excellent ability to make characters super endearing and earnest and enjoyable even if the script he's working with is complete dogshit
Despite the lack of substance on most of the characters, nojima manages to deliver an emotional connection to the characters and their relationships, but overall the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired
I did decide to completely minmax zack, I think i would have enjoyed the game a lot more if I hadn't
I would recommend playing this game but NOT 100%ING IT or taking it too seriously

Tired:
- the battle system built to depend on the grind of incredibly boring filler missions
- “copies” as a trope in Tetsuya Nomura stories
- having the protagonist yell “I don’t understand! What are you saying?” whenever your script is leaving the player themselves completely lost

Wired:
- the music
- soldiers being used and abused by forces outside of their control, reckoning with the falsehood of their beliefs in their governing institutions, presented in a high-drama, operatic way
- the ending

La verdad que no guardaba especial cariño al Crisis Core original, lo jugué en su época en PSP, lo disfruté, pero tenía esa sensación de que era un juego que más allá de la parte final en Nibelheim no tenía muchas más virtudes, y toda la historia original pues no la recordaba especialmente memorable. Pues me tengo que retractar bastante la verdad, es un juego que he disfrutado mucho más esta vez, y sí, hay bastantes cosas de la historia original que me siguen sin molar demasiado, sobre todo por los compases finales con la figura de Genesis, pero hay muchas otras muy disfrutables, muchas más allá de su parte final (de hecho, no me ha parecido tan brillante como recordaba en bastantes momentos).

Me ha gustado muchísimo el cariño con el que trata a sus personajes, especialmente a los que ya aparecían en el Final Fantasy VII original; está bastante claro que el mayor poder de este Crisis Core es la nostalgia y cómo juega con toda la parte sentimental. Es también el principal culpable del cariño que se le tiene a Zack Fair en el imaginario colectivo, superando el cariño a Cloud para muchísima gente. Zack era poco más que una anécdota en el videojuego original, se añadió en etapas finales y era básicamente un npc que resonaba en la mente de Aeris y en algunos flashback de Cloud (pocos y algunos opcionales), se conocía su figura como primer amor de la protagonista y como amigo y especie de mentor del protagonista, pero poco más. Este juego es el que le trae una personalidad e incluso hace que resuene más fuerte su figura en el juego de psx. No es lo mismo ver las menciones o apariciones de Zack en Final Fantasy VII antes de jugar Crisis Core que después, pero para nada, así que está claro que algo muy bien hará el juego de PSP. Pero no solo tiene cariño hacia el personaje de Zack, Aeris, entre otros, también están muy bien tratados, mola muchísimo ver cómo afecta la personalidad de Zack en el personaje que es posteriormente la última Cetra en el Final original. Obviamente Zack también afecta a la personalidad de Cloud, aquí vemos reflejados muchos gestos del protagonista en Zack, o detalles incluso como que Cloud sea mercenario porque es lo que hablaba Zack cuando escapaban a Midgar con Cloud aún en estado vegetativo.

Las nostalgia no está solo presente en los personajes, toda la propuesta huele fuertemente al Final Fantasy VII original, el ver sus localizaciones recreadas (impacto visual incluido cuando se juega al original en la época pues era un salto brutal respecto a la psx), cosas como los sectores de Migar o Nibelheim. Incluso tenemos situaciones con tufillo al original, por ejemplo, en el capítulo 4, cuando volvemos del Sector 5 y nos toca rescatar a Hojo, prácticamente hacemos el mismo recorrido que en el videojuego original cuando lo conocemos por primera vez en el Edificio Shinra: aparecemos en la planta 67, cerca de las celdas, de ahí vamos a la parte donde veíamos a Jenova metida en una cámara y cogemos el ascensor para subir de planta, donde nos encontrábamos con Red XIII y Aeris, y también a Hojo, por supuesto. También están nuestras interacciones con Yuffie, que serán principalmente en secundarias, y seguimos viendo aún más potenciada su vertiente cómica y, por supuesto, su amor por las materias que ya era notorio cuando aún era una cría.

Pero bueno, no solo está guay la nostalgia en Crisis Core, aunque aquí si tengo mis peros, deja más de un momentazo, sobre todo, me moló la escena de pelea entre Angeal, Genesis y Sephiroth. De hecho, las escenas CGI, aunque chocan un poco al principio por el contraste con el remake gráfico, están bastante guapas y bien dirigidas, pero, como ya digo, especialmente este combate. La escena inicia con un travelling vertical hacia abajo para reconocer un poco el escenario, mientras suena el tema principal de Crisis Core, The Price of Freedom (que se podría utilizar para representar al personaje de Angeal y su naturaleza más tranquila y conciliadora respecto a los otros dos personajes). Transiciona a un plano donde vemos, en primer lugar, a Sephiroth y posteriormente a otro donde se terminan enfocando a los otros dos. Cuando se acercan la música frena, y comienza el conflicto, en primer lugar un 2vs1 (Angeal y Genesis contra Sephiroth). La música entonces empieza a sonar de nuevo, pero ha cambiado, ahora suena un tema de batalla, donde la tensión es mucho mayor. Guapísimo cómo se van sucediendo las escenas de combate hasta que Genesis decide ponerle freno, para enfrentarse él solo a Sephiroth. En ese momento, por supuesto, comienza a sonar el tema de Genesis. La batalla se va sucediendo de manera espectacular como anteriormente, y cuando Genesis parece imponerse la música aumenta su volumen, ocurriendo lo mismo cuando Angeal intenta frenar a Genesis, parando la música con ello, pero Genesis aparta a Angeal y vuelve a sonar su tema con aún más potencia. Pero Sephiroth no tiene ni un rasguño, y cuando comienza su ofensiva, cómo no, suena One Winged Angel en su representación, sonando sin parar hasta que finalmente termina el conflicto. Ya digo mola muchísimo la escena por los combates, lo fluido que es el movimiento y lo bien colocada que está la cámara siempre, pero me mola mucho también el montaje de sonido con el que está construida y cómo el tema que representa a cada personaje se va imponiendo al del otro. Chef Kiss.

Pero como ya dije, no todos los añadidos en la historia me convencen. Claramente las dos principales novedades que añade Crisis Core que no existían en el Final original son los personajes de Angeal y Genesis. El primero me parece que está guay encajado, tiene un arco que tiene sentido en la precuela y esa figura de mentor de Zack que representa está bastante bien metida, tirando del paralelismo de lo que posteriormente representará Zack como figura para Cloud. En cambio la figura de Genesis me deja un sabor de boca bastante más agridulce, aunque la idea no es mala, jugando a ese paralelismo con el Sephiroth original, de villano que pertenece a la élite de soldado y al descubrir una verdad relacionada con su pasado (el Proyecto G que amplía también el lore del proyecto que protagonizaría Sephiroth junto a Hojo) pierde la cabeza y decide hacer cualquier cosa para cumplir su objetivo. Sin embargo, su personaje llega demasiado lejos a mi parecer y terminan encajándolo de mala manera en momentos finales donde el foco, y lo que importa, ya poco tiene que ver con Genesis, por lo que no hace más que desdibujarlos, que queden raros en el canon, y, por tanto, empeorarlos.

Y es que recordaba toda la parte final mucho mejor, y sí, está muy bien y es uno de los mejores momentos del juego aún así, pero podría ser superior. Comienza muy guay con la llegada a Nibelheim y reproduciendo los momentos, e incluso diálogos, al dedillo, pero luego, por una extraña razón, deciden meter la directa. Todo el primer viaje de Nibelheim al reactor se ve en simples fotos estáticas, cuando tenía momentos icóninos en el juego original (de hecho, alguna de estas escenas son mostradas como recuerdos de la OMD, que ya les vale). Toda esa parte se la limpian rápido, pero ponerse aún más piedras en el camino, cuando entran al reactor y Sephiroth empiezan a hilar cosas deciden meter la figura de Genesis, desdibujando, como ya dije, la coherencia del momento. Pero bueno, todo no lo va a hacer mal y a la vuelta al pueblo añade momentos íntimos entre Zack y Cloud que elevan toda esta parte (y que el propio Rebirth ha decidido utilizar a su favor). Luego llega el momento ida de olla de Sephiroth, que no está mal, pero ni de lejos se acerca a la maestría con la que se mostraba (o malinterpretaba) en el flashback de Final Fantasy VII, queda bastante soso en la comparativa. Al fin, llegamos a la batalla contra Sephiroth que la verdad que sí que mola bastante. Finalmente, se da la huida a Midgar, en este caso estirada bastante, y que pese a los momentos con Genesis, que aportan poco y me sobran, pero tenía que ser el final boss, vuelve a sacar bastantes momentos íntimos entre Zack y Cloud que potencian bastante la empatía con ambos personajes, y, por supuesto, el recordadísimo ending. Lo poco que nos decía esta (pequeñísima) escena en el original y la guapada que se han currado aquí. Empezando con Zack enfrentándose a casi infinitos soldados de Shinra, incluyendo esta parte en la narrativa jugable, donde comprobamos con nuestro mando lo inabarcable que es la batalla, cómo Zack se va debilitando, cómo está cada vez más cerca de la muerte, perdiendo sus recuerdos de la OMD, ese último destello de vida en donde se nos pasa por la mente lo que más nos importa. Afrontamos una pelea que sabemos que vamos a perder, porque ya conocemos el desenlace antes de jugar Crisis Core, y lo representan a la perfección y encima de manera jugable. Cloud despierta, pero ya es demasiado tarde para Zack, quien termina reencontrándose con su mentor Angeal en la corriente vital, no sin antes, dejar su legado en manos de Cloud, pues en gran parte, de eso va Crisis Core. Y ya para coronarse con un cierre magnífico, concluye el juego reproduciendo la intro de Final Fantasy VII. Es que solo por estos últimos 10-20 min vale la pena el puto Crisis Core.

Hasta ahora solo he mencionado brevemente la OMD, pero me parece uno de los aspectos más interesantes del juego, pese a lo criticada que suele estar por su factor suerte al ser unas ruletas que siempre estarán ahí dando vueltas al azar. A mí personalmente no me ha molestado, el combate no es especialmente profundo, pero el juego dura lo justo para que no se haga pesado y se mantenga entretenido, la OMD a este combate simplemente afectará de manera positiva según un componente aleatorio, dándonos mejoras de estado, costes 0 de PM o permitiéndonos realizar ataques especiales a través de los personajes que hemos conocido o las invocaciones, pero ya digo, no me afectó de manera negativa en ningún momento ni me molestó su componente aleatorio, pues suele salir bastante y dar cosas buenas. Aunque la OMD en lo puramente jugable no me disgusta me aporta poquito al combate, donde sí que me aporta realmente es en la narrativa. He hablado ya del legado como uno de los temas principales de Crisis Core, pero otros sin duda serían las relaciones y, en un plano distinto, los recuerdos. Para desarrollar estos temas tiene una importancia vital en la narrativa la OMD. A medida que vayamos avanzando en la aventura se irán desbloqueando retratos de la OMD, que no es otra cosa que las personas que vamos a ir conociendo y que serán importantes para nosotros: Aeris, Cloud, Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, Tseng o Cissnei. Además, a medida que en algún punto de la trama tengamos a cierto personaje más presente, por tema de historia, se aumentará su ratio de aparición en la OMD, representando que justo en ese momento nuestra relación está en un momento importante, ocurrirá lo contrario también si nuestra relación se enfría con esa persona. Esto potencia mucho la importancia de las relaciones en Crisis Core, no solo lo vemos a través de los diálogos con las diferentes personas a las que irá conociendo Zack, también lo jugamos. Cuando Zack pelea no está solo realmente, esas personas que son importantes para él lo ayudan y apoyan, le dan fuerzas, ya que Zack no es solo él mismo, es también el reflejo de aquellas personas a las que conoce, con las que se relaciona. Aquí también saco la doble lectura de los recuerdos, recordemos que un tema bastante importante en el Final Fantasy VII original era la memoria, cómo los recuerdos de Cloud estaban totalmente distorsionados debido a la influencia que Sephiroth y las células de Jenova habían tenido en su memoria e incluso en su control físico, también le ocurría parecido a Tifa, que por la importancia que Cloud ganó en su memoria con el tiempo, parecía que recordaba una mayor relación con él, en su infancia, de la que realmente tenían, donde eran poco más que conocidos por vivir, literalmente, al lado, pues Crisis Core no podía dejar un tema tan vital de lado. La OMD no muestra solo las relaciones importantes que hemos forjado, también muestra los recuerdos que hemos ganado junto a ellas, a través de una especie de flashback, cuando se dan unas ciertas condiciones, se nos muestra un recuerdo con alguna persona que tenemos guardada en la OMD, estos recuerdos pueden ser desde súper chorras a enternecedores, e incluso se pueden repetir, pero así es cómo funcionan los recuerdos, podemos guardar con cariño, o que se nos venga a menudo a la mente, un recuerdo que sea una completa tontería; lo representa muy guay la OMD. Como siempre digo, en un videojuego estas cosas calan aún más si van incluidas en la narrativa jugable, como es el caso.

Antes de cerrar, quería hacer una breve mención a las secundarias, un aspecto que sinceramente es un pero muy pequeño porque no dejan de ser eso: secundarias totalmente opcionales y que nos podemos saltar sin problemas. Tienen un tufillo a consola portátil de los dosmiles que apesta, pero bueno, eso tampoco es algo malo per se. Sí que es un poco más mierda la filosofía de cuanto más mejor, y es que son demasiadas... muy iguales todas entre ellas y, de nuevo, demasiadas... Podría ser un aspecto interesante de la propuesta si hubieran reducido en gran medida el número y pulido un poco más sus mecánicas, ya que algunas tienen momentos interesantes, como las que nos muestran escenas con Yuffie, pero poco más. Hacer unas cuantas no duele, pero intentar hacerlas todas, más allá de sacar el platino, es pegarse un tiro en los cojones, sinceramente.

Y ya para terminar, que prácticamente no he mencionado que esto no deja de ser un remake, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion, y que como tal merece una breve comparación, aunque sea, con el juego de PSP. Creo con prácticamente ninguna duda que esta es la mejor versión de Crisis Core, la alta resolución, el remodelado gráfico (que a los nuevos usuarios que haya traído la trilogía de Final Fantasy VII Remake les encajará aún mejor) o los retoques en la jugabilidad le vienen de maravilla. La estructura y diálogos es 1:1 pero para nada lo desmerece, esto evidencia la bestia parda que era este juego en PSP, que al trasladarlo a la generación de PS5 sigue funcionando a la maravilla. Choca un poco, como ya dije, el contraste entre el motor gráfico y las escenas CGI (que son iguales al original pero con un reescalado), pero es algo a lo que te acostumbras rápido. En general, Crisis Core me ha parecido un juego bastante notable, con cositas que me han gustado mucho, pero algunas contras que me impiden elevar aún más alto la propuesta. Me quedo sobre todo con el cambio de visión hacia el juego que me ha hecho tener esta "rejugada", pasando de pensar que era un juego irrelevante, más allá del final, en mis recuerdos a ser una muy buena experiencia y que aporta muchísimo a toda la compilación Final Fantasy VII, siendo prácticamente esencial. Porque como ya nos demostró el bueno de Final Fantasy VII: los recuerdos son importantes, pero no tienen porque ser certeros.

Played on the PS5 at 2160p@60. Started with hard mode until Chapter 8 but switched to Normal after I abandoned the game for 2 months and got back to finish it.

This is a very weird game. The last cutscene of the game is very dark and emotionally resonant, tying back to characters from the original Final Fantasy VII but it feels off because it does away with all the original characters that we spent a bulk of the time with like Angeal, Genesis, Hojo, Cissnei etc in favor of Cloud, Aerith, Rude, Sephiroth. The game feels very much like it just exists to show how the characters from VII got their stuff like Cloud's sword and Aerith's bow and flower wagon etc. Some moments like Tifa's hatred of Shinra feel organic enough but Sephiroth's turn is out of nowhere and once he is dispatched he is out of the game and all the other moments come across as easter eggs. I liked the combat and it is rewarding to play it on a higher difficulty. The boss battles though, do represent a significant curve up, so much so that the only reason I switched difficulties was to get through the bosses rather than the grunts. The game also looks pretty decent for just a remaster of a PSP game. The pre-rendered cutscenes though are just AI upscaled from the PSP assets. The LOVELESS quotes can go screw themselves though. In the end battle with Genesis, Zack says, "You knew?" but what that is in reference to is a mystery and I assume that it is to do with the missing act from Loveless. Also quoting it all the time could only work if it was a work we knew in the real world like a Shakespeare play but quotes from a fake play we haven't seen, do not convey the same emotions as a well-known Shakespeare monologue even though it is delivered with the gravitas of one. Zack also seems very oblivious to Shinra being evil. We see that many SOLDIERS are excommunicated as soon as they do something right that the corporation does not approve and never once do we see his faith in them falter all the way to the bitter end. It also makes you question why he would still repeat to Cloud, his motto about following dreams, having honor and being a hero when he was killed by Shinra. I also wonder how Clive got back to Midgar (presumably Cissnei) and why he is still a SOLDIER.

(Timeline clarification
So the timeframes in this game are a little wonky.

Between Angeal's death and Genesis' return in Junon, apparently 2 years had passed.

And When Zack and Cloud are in the Niblehigm mansion basement. They were experimented on for 4 years.

Then journey to Midgar took them almost a year.

So the game takes place over the course of about 7ish years.) would be neat if we actually knew that.

Chapter Summary

Chapter 1 and 2

So far, we see Zack, a SOLDIER of the Shinra Corporation that is extracting mako energy from Midgar and has 8 reactors to do so. The Wutai were holding out their own to avoid having their land pillaged too but as Zack we defeat them and don't understand how Shinra is bad. We fight Ifrit and Bahamut. Zack is a 2nd class unit eager to get his blade dirty and we are accompanied by Angeal who is our mentor (1st class) and tells us about importance of dreams, honor and dumbapples (named so due to their random time of growth). As Zack our dream is to be a hero and we view Sephiroth as one. Angeal seemingly kills his mom and defects to join Genesis who is using Shinra clone technology for some nefarious end and also has one black wing.

Chapter 3

So Genesis and Angeal were seemingly created synthetically and thus have wings as well and are 'leaking' meaning falling apart. We meet Hollander who is the person who stole the Shinra cloning technology. We try to stop him as Sephiroth battles Genesis only to have Angeal stop us and we fall down the Sector 5 slums only to meet Aerith in the Church, who Zack tells to sell flowers to the people of Midgar. Also the cute kid who tried to stop Zack at Chapter 1 in the Wutai region is Yuffie.

Chapter 4

Shows just how these guys are ultimately teens/young adults and how they are exploited. Zack also gives Aerith her signature hair tie. Zack takes things slow in this chapter and it is a nice change of pace.

Chapter 5

So Aerith and Zack are dating. Aerith is the last "Ancient" Angeal and Genesis cracked and looked like concrete just like Bearer's in FF16. All SOLDIERS are enhanced by mako but Genesis and Angeal were born of it. Genesis had Zeta cells grafted onto him and thus was unstable but Angeal's mom was grafted them on with Angeal in her womb and he turned out good. He also flip-flops rapidly from being good and bad. He fights Genesis and then us a chapter later. Hollander may have been his father. He gives his Buster Sword to Zack after dying and Cloud is a regular Shinra trooper who is probably inspired by Zack.

Chapter 7

Zack collected the parts needed for the flower wagon. Sephiroth informs Zack that they need to go to Nibelheim, his hometown. Zack is sad that he would have to leave Aerith since he really likes her. So they agree that she would call him with one of the Shinra guys with a bindi being trusted to keep an eye on her. No combat in this chapter.

Chapter 8

Zack goes to Nibelheim. We find out that Jenova is the name of one of Hojo's projects where he extracted a monster from Earth and that just like Genesis, Sephiroth is made of mako too but unlike him, he does not degrade. We meet Tifa who is our guide to the reactor. Cloud and Tifa have some history apparently. Cloud gets injured in a fight. Jenova is one of the Cetra, ancient beings who sacrificed themselves for the planet and Sephiroth feels like since he is one of them, the planet is rightfully his and burns the village down. Tifa and Cloud fight Sephiroth to no avail. This is the inciting incident for Tifa hating Shinra. After Zack is defeated, Cloud picks his buster sword and stabs Sephiroth. Sephiroth then hoists him using his long blade but cloud is able to use the impaled sword to life Sephiroth and toss him in the burning reactor.

Chapter 9

Cloud gets his uniform from an abandoned Shinra Mansion. Cissnei finds us and wants to stop us but her feelings for Zack prevent her from doing so. Later, she also stops Zack from seeing his parents as it would be too dangerous. She also suggests that Zack's mom asked her to join the family and she said yes. An Angeal clone is spotted and is the one that saved Zack and Cloud from Sephiroth. He was created by Hollander who himself resorts to mako Project Jenova. We fight and defeat him. Genesis wants Cloud's S cells since Zack's S cells are mutated from previous mako exposure and don't prevent degradation. The mako stuff sure feels like midichlorians.

Chapter 10

We find the goddess materia and defeat Genesis who is then picked up by a couple of shadowy figures. The dog that saved us and Aerith in the church protects cloud and Angeal clone. He has the 89th letter from Aerith after 4 years of writing letters. Her 23 wishes that she had condensed into one was that she wanted to spend more time with Zack. We save Cloud but the Shinra army attacks. Cissnei is sent to rescue us by Hojo but is never reaches. We see that there is a physical embodiment of the Goddess which makes Loveless seem less like Shakespeare and more like the Bible. Zack fights the army off but succumbs to his wounds and tells Cloud to be his living legacy and gives him his buster sword. It seems like Aerith is able to see Zack's passing from her church.

tengo muchísimos sentimientos encontrados con este juego , por un lado le tengo mucho cariño y cierta nostalgia por ser mi primer acercamiento con la saga, lo q mejor define al juego es q es una oportunidad super super desaprovechada lo tenia todo para ser una precuela q este a la misma o inclusive mejor a nivel narrativo q la su antecesor , NO ENTENDI UNA PINGA DE GENESIS Y QUE MIERRDA FUE ESA INTRODUCCION DE PERSONAJES Q NADA Q VER DIOS ES RE NOMURA MAL LAPTM D VERDA Q MANERA DE DESPERDICIAR UNA BUENA HISTORIA si bien angel lo aprecio mucho lo de genesis es ????????????? dios no entiendo.... creo firmemente q si hubiera sido un jrpg hubiera sido mucho mejor juego ya q se podrian haber tomado la oportunidad d hacer una historia mejor desarrollada y no tan a las apuradas por las limitantes de la consola , quisieron hacer un juego de sobremesa q no daba para mucho ya que termina flaqueando en todo y PARA QUE??? PARA TENER UN SISTEMA DE COMBATE MAS LINDO DE VER???? no tiene sentido inclusive el diseño de niveles es nefasto , las misiones secundarias te trata como pelotudo y todo por querer ser algo q no es, inclusive tenias cosas lindas como sepiroth q tambien esta recontra desaprovechado y eso q me re copo ver como su lado mas humano y ver q le tenia cariño a sus amigos pero queda re de lado por que obvio q el juego no le dio el tiempo pero bue.... almenos m alegro q lo mejor del juego fue zack es lo mejor de lo mejor y nada me tiro un pedo y finjo demencia u.u

Preciso começar essa review apontando que este é o meu primeiro final fantasy. E até o momento que resolvi jogá-lo, não sabia que era um remaster da versão de PSP. Tendo isto em mente posso levantar alguns pontos, a mecânica do game em si é bem legal e permite que o jogador possa upar as habilidades que combinem com o estilo de jogar.
Em relação a história eu posso dizer que me surpreendeu e aquele final realmente foi inesperado. Adorei acompanhar a jornada do Zack e comecei a me aproximar mais do personagem com o decorrer da aventura.

Já em relação aos pontos negativos, eu diria que a entrada no combate é muito blocada, acho que fazia sentido na época que o game original foi lançado.

Enfim, apesar deste ponto, eu amei ter acompanhado essa jornada e estou ansiosa para ver a continuação no Final Fantasy VII remake.

Una verdadera maravilla visual este "remastered" (porque sigo sin creerme que esto sea un remastered como tal) que nos trae de vuelta las aventuras de Zack para contarnos el preludio de lo que sería posteriormente Final Fantasy VII. He de admitir que, a pesar de haberme emocionado y llorado como un condenado, ha envejecido bastante mal la trama de este juego. Le pasa un poco como a The World Ends With You que, si no lo ves con los ojos de la nostalgia, es un juego muy de su época, de inicios de los 2000. Pero aún con todo he disfrutado mogollón de esta versión e incluso he sabido apreciar más la OMD y sacar más partido del sistema de combate. Si te gustó Crisis Core en su día cuando lo jugaste en PSP y te apetece revivirlo, es una muy buena opción

Crisis Core is one of the most frustrating games Ive ever played because for 90% of the game I thought it was mediocre, and then the last 30 minutes made me cry some of the hardest tears I ever have at a video game.

This was always a game I was curious about because I always heard mixed to bad things about every aspect of it except its characterizations of Zack. After playing it, I can't help but 100% agree with those takes.

Crisis Core is a very confused game. It doesn't know whether it wants to be a prequel to the events of FF7, or its own separate story within the FF7 universe. This is a massive problem because it tries to do both, and it just doesnt work for me. I honestly really enjoyed when they stuck to just being a prequel, as the added character depth to Aerith and Cloud really made me respect and love them as characters even more. But when the game ends up switching over to being about new characters like Genesis or Hollander, I check out so hard. I don't find them interesting at all, and they sadly take up around 70% of the focus of the entire game. Angeal is a nice addition though and I thought he worked as a nice motivator for Zack.

The gameplay is also just fine. Its originally a handheld game so a lot of the design is mission based and very repetitive. The DMV was an interesting idea but I really didnt find myself paying attention to it much in combat. Honestly, there isnt really much for me to say about the combat. It is just there and its mostly boring. That is also my honest take on the music as well. Most tracks in the game are just exceptionally bland, and it sucks because Zack's theme is the most repetitive song in the entire game. I genuinely thought about muting the music multiple times.

Genuinely the only thing that kept me going through this game was Zack. When the game took away the boring Genesis or Hollander plotlines, and just focused on building Zacks relationship with characters like Cloud, Aerith, or even Angeal, I was incredibly onboard. He is an exceptional character that you can not help but root for the entire game, and its a shame his game was bogged down by so many problems.

The conclusion to his story in the last 30 minutes legitimately had me crying some of the hardest tears I ever had at a game. Crisis Core goes out of its way to both use gameplay and cutscenes to fully develop a scene that was only barely shown in the original game, and it is some of the best shit I have seen in a Final Fantasy game

It really left me yearning for a game that was that good the entire time, and not one that just felt like it was meandering and wasting its time until it needed to lock in at the end. I have yet to play the Remake or Rebirth, but I really do feel like they should spend more time with this character.

As it stands now, Zack deserves a better game.

What was it with Tetsuya Nomura in the late 2000s and tragedies?

God, I fucking love Zack Fair. This game is very fun. It's also very sad. I think it has a little too much repetitive content for its own good - it eventually gets tiring killing the same 5 enemies on the same 5 maps - but the story itself is incredibly strong, well-paced, and fun to play.

Unfortunately, the final chapter implements my favorite game design philosophy, which is what I like to call "putting a really ridiculously complicated, overdesigned dungeon right at the end". It's the slowest part of the game and a little tedious.

But really, I did enjoy this game a lot. And while Zack's new voice actor definitely sounds a little goofy in parts, he absolutely nails the final scene, which I have rewatched maybe 200 times. I love you Zack Fair.