Embrace your dreams and protect your honor... as SOLDIER.
This is a really hard title to review because it really felt like two different games to me. A prequel to FF7 and 7R, while also telling its own self contained Crisis Core story. As always with my reviews, I keep conversation on the story pretty light because I don't like including spoiler content, so I'll continue to avoid that here.
Crisis Core as it's own game is a little... weak. Genesis is not a very believable villain, Angeal isn't quite the captivating mentor figure that he's portrayed to be, and Hollander just kinda sucks. I don't know too much about the writing/directing history of the game but it felt really, really Kingdom Heartsy to me in all of the worst ways. Dialogue was weak across the board, even Zack who was the shining star had some really awful lines (see: Monsters and Angels,) and overall was a detriment to the story. The gravity of what was at stake for Shinra and the world at large felt deflated because that epic speech was never there, that interpersonal dialogue had me cringing most of the time. In theory I really wanted to like actually playing as a SOLDIER under the Shinra banner, doing missions on behalf of the orginization to uncover the mystery behind Genesis' dissapearance, but as mentioned above the lack of dialogue or intrigue behind Genesis made for a very underwhelming experience. Everytime he shows up in the story he's monologuing some faux-Shakespeare which comes off more like a morose teenager than what he's actually supposed to be. The story of Crisis Core felt like Advent Children to me, where I was legitimately only happy to have experienced it to get more of the rest of the cast... and that we did.
Before I get into the FF7/R part of Reunion, I should go over other elements of the game that I found to be lackluster. The first, and this was my issue with Peace Walker when I played that, is that Crisis Core all in all, no matter where I play it, feels like a PSP game in its design. Rooms no matter how small or large feel oddly... empty. Zones in the side missions are barren and tonally monotonous. The world is really nothing special, and almost an unfair critique after playing 7 Remake doesn't even begin to compare in terms of population/material density.
And oh man, speaking of those side missions... There are approximately 459304953049350 of them in the game, and they feature the exact same loop of maps in which you run from point A to point B and kill monster/group of monsters. The unfortunate thing here is that they are extremely beneficial to do, meaning that the player, even though they are displayed as optional, almost should do as many as they can before progressing. The reason these are so helpful is because of the plethora of beneficial DMW (I'll get to this in a second) summons and materia/materia slots that they provide for completion. I found myself in the first two days of playing Crisis Core almost exclusively doing these because I figured I could rush through them all and then progress like i did with 7R. Lo & Behold I found that after these first few days of doing almost exclusively side content that I had notched an 18% completion rate on side missions that I was going to give up. Why are there so many??? It would be one thing if they had even a smidge of variety... but outside of enemies that you fight they are literally all monster killing missions. This wasn't even remotely fun and destroyed a lot of interest I had in the game.
The caveat of doing as many of those side missions as I did was that when I resumed the story, I was reeeeeeeeally strong. For as long as possible, only needing to change for the final boss, I ran a full oonga-boonga strength/vit build into the end game abusing my fused Twister Attack combo to kill groups of enemies and bosses alike in one fell swoop. I almost appreciate how easily it is to break the game like this on normal, but it did remove a lot of the challenge. Unlike 7 Remake, which I know comes much later after the original Crisis Core, you don't need to put too much thought into Materia in this game once you've found what works for you. I assume magic builds work fairly well but you can legitimately speedrun the game on melee alone (took me maybe eleven hours with the side content included.) Combat is pretty bare bones overall, attacking with melee is mostly reduced to a one button normal but you can augment your arsenal with materia that enhance this. Abilities with materia were actually really convenient, and I'm glad they utilize this DNA in 7 Remake, allowing the player to hit Left Bumper then a/b/x/y/rt/rb (using xbox scheme) to select whichever spell they have attached to each slot. This made casting my twister attack and curaga seamless in combat and un-frustrating like some of Square Enix & Final Fantasy's action titles do.
Now as a lore fiend I really am glad to have played Reunion, which is probably exactly why this title got re-released. Not only was it extremely popular at launch, but I'm glad Square Enix was able to capitalize on the people who wanted to explore the multiple routes they see the FF7 franchise taking with 7 Remake. I've seen the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Orchestra live, own Advent Children, have played the OG FF7, 7 Remake, and Intermission DLC, I am a complete sucker for this series and the world its built. I love the characters, themes, environments, score, you name it. I spent the entierty of Crisis Core connecting the dots between it and 7 and 7 Remake, and I'm glad it was rewarding in that regard. I enjoyed seeing characters like Cloud, Aerith, Sephiroth, and the Turks in a completely different light, with everybody's favorite villain being shown in a period in time we never see in the OG/Remake title, a SOLDIER. You get to see the war hero from a direct spectator, and that was really neat. I wept internally at the ending, despite having qualms with the Angeal/Genesis storylines, it really did move me and appreciate the story of Cloud Strife even more than I already did. For a lore junky, Crisis Core is a must play due to how it sets the stage for one of the greatest stories in the medium's history.
In all, I was not a fan of the "Crisis Core" part of Crisis Core, but did love how it expanded on a story I was already very interested in, that of Final Fantasy 7. Nothing in gaming has captivated me quite like FF7 has, and I'm not sure anything will again. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 - Reunion succeeds at what it clearly was meant to do, hold the hype for Rebirth, and it aces that for me. I would recommend this title for people just like I who are looking for more to hold them over until the next part of the Remake saga releases, or want to experience the origin story of Cloud Strife and Zack Fair. While the game itself wasn't great, I had fun and it most definitely was worth it.
This is a really hard title to review because it really felt like two different games to me. A prequel to FF7 and 7R, while also telling its own self contained Crisis Core story. As always with my reviews, I keep conversation on the story pretty light because I don't like including spoiler content, so I'll continue to avoid that here.
Crisis Core as it's own game is a little... weak. Genesis is not a very believable villain, Angeal isn't quite the captivating mentor figure that he's portrayed to be, and Hollander just kinda sucks. I don't know too much about the writing/directing history of the game but it felt really, really Kingdom Heartsy to me in all of the worst ways. Dialogue was weak across the board, even Zack who was the shining star had some really awful lines (see: Monsters and Angels,) and overall was a detriment to the story. The gravity of what was at stake for Shinra and the world at large felt deflated because that epic speech was never there, that interpersonal dialogue had me cringing most of the time. In theory I really wanted to like actually playing as a SOLDIER under the Shinra banner, doing missions on behalf of the orginization to uncover the mystery behind Genesis' dissapearance, but as mentioned above the lack of dialogue or intrigue behind Genesis made for a very underwhelming experience. Everytime he shows up in the story he's monologuing some faux-Shakespeare which comes off more like a morose teenager than what he's actually supposed to be. The story of Crisis Core felt like Advent Children to me, where I was legitimately only happy to have experienced it to get more of the rest of the cast... and that we did.
Before I get into the FF7/R part of Reunion, I should go over other elements of the game that I found to be lackluster. The first, and this was my issue with Peace Walker when I played that, is that Crisis Core all in all, no matter where I play it, feels like a PSP game in its design. Rooms no matter how small or large feel oddly... empty. Zones in the side missions are barren and tonally monotonous. The world is really nothing special, and almost an unfair critique after playing 7 Remake doesn't even begin to compare in terms of population/material density.
And oh man, speaking of those side missions... There are approximately 459304953049350 of them in the game, and they feature the exact same loop of maps in which you run from point A to point B and kill monster/group of monsters. The unfortunate thing here is that they are extremely beneficial to do, meaning that the player, even though they are displayed as optional, almost should do as many as they can before progressing. The reason these are so helpful is because of the plethora of beneficial DMW (I'll get to this in a second) summons and materia/materia slots that they provide for completion. I found myself in the first two days of playing Crisis Core almost exclusively doing these because I figured I could rush through them all and then progress like i did with 7R. Lo & Behold I found that after these first few days of doing almost exclusively side content that I had notched an 18% completion rate on side missions that I was going to give up. Why are there so many??? It would be one thing if they had even a smidge of variety... but outside of enemies that you fight they are literally all monster killing missions. This wasn't even remotely fun and destroyed a lot of interest I had in the game.
The caveat of doing as many of those side missions as I did was that when I resumed the story, I was reeeeeeeeally strong. For as long as possible, only needing to change for the final boss, I ran a full oonga-boonga strength/vit build into the end game abusing my fused Twister Attack combo to kill groups of enemies and bosses alike in one fell swoop. I almost appreciate how easily it is to break the game like this on normal, but it did remove a lot of the challenge. Unlike 7 Remake, which I know comes much later after the original Crisis Core, you don't need to put too much thought into Materia in this game once you've found what works for you. I assume magic builds work fairly well but you can legitimately speedrun the game on melee alone (took me maybe eleven hours with the side content included.) Combat is pretty bare bones overall, attacking with melee is mostly reduced to a one button normal but you can augment your arsenal with materia that enhance this. Abilities with materia were actually really convenient, and I'm glad they utilize this DNA in 7 Remake, allowing the player to hit Left Bumper then a/b/x/y/rt/rb (using xbox scheme) to select whichever spell they have attached to each slot. This made casting my twister attack and curaga seamless in combat and un-frustrating like some of Square Enix & Final Fantasy's action titles do.
Now as a lore fiend I really am glad to have played Reunion, which is probably exactly why this title got re-released. Not only was it extremely popular at launch, but I'm glad Square Enix was able to capitalize on the people who wanted to explore the multiple routes they see the FF7 franchise taking with 7 Remake. I've seen the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Orchestra live, own Advent Children, have played the OG FF7, 7 Remake, and Intermission DLC, I am a complete sucker for this series and the world its built. I love the characters, themes, environments, score, you name it. I spent the entierty of Crisis Core connecting the dots between it and 7 and 7 Remake, and I'm glad it was rewarding in that regard. I enjoyed seeing characters like Cloud, Aerith, Sephiroth, and the Turks in a completely different light, with everybody's favorite villain being shown in a period in time we never see in the OG/Remake title, a SOLDIER. You get to see the war hero from a direct spectator, and that was really neat. I wept internally at the ending, despite having qualms with the Angeal/Genesis storylines, it really did move me and appreciate the story of Cloud Strife even more than I already did. For a lore junky, Crisis Core is a must play due to how it sets the stage for one of the greatest stories in the medium's history.
In all, I was not a fan of the "Crisis Core" part of Crisis Core, but did love how it expanded on a story I was already very interested in, that of Final Fantasy 7. Nothing in gaming has captivated me quite like FF7 has, and I'm not sure anything will again. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 - Reunion succeeds at what it clearly was meant to do, hold the hype for Rebirth, and it aces that for me. I would recommend this title for people just like I who are looking for more to hold them over until the next part of the Remake saga releases, or want to experience the origin story of Cloud Strife and Zack Fair. While the game itself wasn't great, I had fun and it most definitely was worth it.