Platinum trophy earned in 39 hours.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion is one of the strangest games I've had the pleasure of completing. The writing is bizarre, quirky and angsty. The voice acting is hit-or-miss. The soundtrack is forgettable. The plot is good when it's adapting things canon to the original game, and not-so-good when introducing new elements. And yet, despite everything else being so mediocre, the gameplay is so, so good.
I grew up with Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, so I have a lot of nostalgia for the Final Fantasy VII extended universe. This was the first time I actually got to play Crisis Core, so my expectations were limited to what I've read online: "the gameplay is annoying", "the story is cringe", etc. I consider this a blessing because these expectations were far exceeded! While, yes, the story is rather cringe, it's also endearing. The gameplay is fun as hell, too. The RNG-wheel has minimal impact on combat, since you're usually able to get by spamming magic or jumping around like a lunatic. The game is also visually beautiful.
What brings Crisis Core Reunion down from a 4/5 to a 3.5/5 is the lack of balancing and the reliance on bland side content. First of all, the main story has virtually no difficulty if you even glance at the 300 missions. Second of all, who asked for THREE HUNDRED missions where all you do is run around praying you don't get into a pointless battle on your way to your target who, 95% of the time, is just another goomba-wannabe. No, Square Enix, I did not ask for 200+ missions where all I do is fight a Shinra Trooper, with each one taking up to 3-5 minutes! These missions alone took me well over 10 hours, probably close to 20. Worst of all, almost every combat upgrade is locked behind these missions, hence why the main story lacks difficulty if you complete them. All of Crisis Core's balancing lies in these missions. At some point I developed Stockholm Syndrome and began to enjoy them. After all, these are the only times where the game's fun combat is fully utilized. Finally, the superboss can kiss my ass. It's very difficult, but not in a particularly fun way. Especially not in a game here everything else is so, so easy.
If I had to put a number score on this game, it'd be a 70/100. It's good, but far from the best this series has to offer.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - Reunion is one of the strangest games I've had the pleasure of completing. The writing is bizarre, quirky and angsty. The voice acting is hit-or-miss. The soundtrack is forgettable. The plot is good when it's adapting things canon to the original game, and not-so-good when introducing new elements. And yet, despite everything else being so mediocre, the gameplay is so, so good.
I grew up with Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, so I have a lot of nostalgia for the Final Fantasy VII extended universe. This was the first time I actually got to play Crisis Core, so my expectations were limited to what I've read online: "the gameplay is annoying", "the story is cringe", etc. I consider this a blessing because these expectations were far exceeded! While, yes, the story is rather cringe, it's also endearing. The gameplay is fun as hell, too. The RNG-wheel has minimal impact on combat, since you're usually able to get by spamming magic or jumping around like a lunatic. The game is also visually beautiful.
What brings Crisis Core Reunion down from a 4/5 to a 3.5/5 is the lack of balancing and the reliance on bland side content. First of all, the main story has virtually no difficulty if you even glance at the 300 missions. Second of all, who asked for THREE HUNDRED missions where all you do is run around praying you don't get into a pointless battle on your way to your target who, 95% of the time, is just another goomba-wannabe. No, Square Enix, I did not ask for 200+ missions where all I do is fight a Shinra Trooper, with each one taking up to 3-5 minutes! These missions alone took me well over 10 hours, probably close to 20. Worst of all, almost every combat upgrade is locked behind these missions, hence why the main story lacks difficulty if you complete them. All of Crisis Core's balancing lies in these missions. At some point I developed Stockholm Syndrome and began to enjoy them. After all, these are the only times where the game's fun combat is fully utilized. Finally, the superboss can kiss my ass. It's very difficult, but not in a particularly fun way. Especially not in a game here everything else is so, so easy.
If I had to put a number score on this game, it'd be a 70/100. It's good, but far from the best this series has to offer.