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Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core Reunion (2022)
8 months ago
The Final Fantasy 7 fans had DREAMS of more FF7 content. Square HONOUR-ed their dreams with FF7: Crisis Core for the PSP with some of the most goofy ass shit you'll ever see in a game. A remake was released in 2022 that takes this game but modernizes it with FF7:Remake controls and graphics while keeping the goofy ass shit.
What do I think of FF7: Crisis Core Reunion (CCR)? I think its a game that has a story so bad its good with combat that feels good enough for a handheld but is held back by the missions sucking the fun out of the game. if the game just had the story itself and left out the filler missions while keeping the unique story-based ones, it would have been better.
ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
So the story has you playing as Zack Fair in a prequel set before the events of FF7 that expands upon existing characters in the original FF7 including Sephiroth, Tseng, and Aerith. For the most part, it feels like a Memberberries episode as it copies some existing plot points from FF7 while dropping some new ones. It feels like FF7 but instead of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth, its Zack, Angeal, and Genesis. I honestly liked seeing Zack grow into becoming the badass and seeing how his story ends as i found his character endearing and Angeal was also interesting to watch tough Genesis does feel tacked on as a villain.
What I also liked about the story was that it felt like a Yakuza game from start to finish with over the top sequences and horrible voice acting that blows up the game into so bad its good territory. I found myself playing through the main story more just to see how ridiculous and absurd it could get and the game did NOT disappoint in any way. Even the mini-games the game has you doing is equally absurd and goofy. You have to go in there with the expectation that you're going to play a Yakuza game and let the ride take you where it goes. Of course the game has its fair share of serious moments and it does a good job of showing a new perspective on the Nibelhelm Incident. I also like how they handled the aftermath of the incident as you feel like you're tripping balls just because of what happened and leaning so much into the dreamlike experience right up until the end.
The reason why the final arc works is because think about it, Zack has been poisoned by Mako for the past 4 years. The world has changed so much that it does not feel like the same world he just fought and grew up in so the appearance of an Angeal Clone, a Genesis Clone eating Zack's hair, the poetic ending that Genesis gets, etc. None of this makes sense and that's fully intentional showing how Mako and loneliness ended up destroying Zack's mental state foreshadowing how Cloud ends up getting his mind and memories broken in the main game. I thought that it was actually brilliant.
So overall, I loved the story for feeling like a Yakuza game with writing and voice acting so over the top that it just works. I feel that Genesis is misunderstood because throughout the game, you end up seeing so many unnatural clones and experiments that its really going to fuck with your sanity and who you are as a person, just like what happened to the Hero in FF7.
Now for the gameplay, I liked how they took what the PSP set out to do and modernized it into the FF7 Remake engine making it feel smooth and snappy. If you've played the FF7R, you'll feel at home here only you get the ability to cast spells at any time instead of waiting for the ATB to fill up. This game does demand that you be on your toes as you're a one-man army and nobody else is coming to save you, heal you, take hits for you, etc. I personally did not like it as I like fighting with a full party and trusting my AI teammates to fight with me like other Action-based JRPGs such as Tales and Ys. I get that they were limited on the PSP hardware and tey have to make do with what the PSP version set out.
One unique feature is the DMW system that acts as a slot machine dispensing limit breaks, in-battle buffs, and character & materia level ups. A large portion of it is straight up random as is the nature of a slot machine. On one hand, I like the randomness that makes getting a limit break feel good. However, I found myself having to run around avoiding enemy attacks just so that I get an invincibility or an Null Phys / Magic to make an annoying boss fight easier. Attaching both Character and Materia Level ups just does not work and feels unfair as explained below.
Another point of contention was the materia system. I feel that CCR just ended up over-complicating a Materia system that just worked for no reason, Basically, you now have the ability to fuse materia to create new and stronger materia which sounds neat but the problem is that some recipes are inconsistent or just don't work at all. Several materia require the base materia to be a master rank which seems fine in theory but given that materia level ups are RNG compared to character level-ups, you have to keep fighting battles and hope the DMW is in your favour. I feel that if they got rid of materia ranks and just kept them as is so that the fusion system is easier to manage.
You also had to learn how to fuse stat boosts into materia just so that you stand a chance in the endgame and several missions as you wouldn't be able to rely on your normal level ups to be strong enough to tackle some side missions. Again, this was over-complicated for no reason as you had to think about doing two fusions just to get the stat boost on the materia you're using which gets complicated VERY fast. Having the stat boosts just be tied to materia itself with the stat boosting items being used on Zack would have been much better.
Remember when I said that the game has a story mode and side missions? Yeah, it feels like the game had a decent main story but the devs wanted to pad out the game time with side missions you can do anytime during the main story. All of them feels like padding with repetitive maps, enemies, and objectives combined with an annoying random encounter rate. You could cut out just about say 80% or 90% of the missions and the game would have been better off for it.
CONFLICT RESOLVED
So where does that leave CCR? It leaves its legacy as a game with a Yakuza-like story bogged down by bloated game mechanics and side missions that add little value to the game. If you want to experience it for yourself, I would suggest watching a Lets Play or just the cutscenes itself as the side content and materia systems just don't feel worth engaging with.
What do I think of FF7: Crisis Core Reunion (CCR)? I think its a game that has a story so bad its good with combat that feels good enough for a handheld but is held back by the missions sucking the fun out of the game. if the game just had the story itself and left out the filler missions while keeping the unique story-based ones, it would have been better.
ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
So the story has you playing as Zack Fair in a prequel set before the events of FF7 that expands upon existing characters in the original FF7 including Sephiroth, Tseng, and Aerith. For the most part, it feels like a Memberberries episode as it copies some existing plot points from FF7 while dropping some new ones. It feels like FF7 but instead of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth, its Zack, Angeal, and Genesis. I honestly liked seeing Zack grow into becoming the badass and seeing how his story ends as i found his character endearing and Angeal was also interesting to watch tough Genesis does feel tacked on as a villain.
What I also liked about the story was that it felt like a Yakuza game from start to finish with over the top sequences and horrible voice acting that blows up the game into so bad its good territory. I found myself playing through the main story more just to see how ridiculous and absurd it could get and the game did NOT disappoint in any way. Even the mini-games the game has you doing is equally absurd and goofy. You have to go in there with the expectation that you're going to play a Yakuza game and let the ride take you where it goes. Of course the game has its fair share of serious moments and it does a good job of showing a new perspective on the Nibelhelm Incident. I also like how they handled the aftermath of the incident as you feel like you're tripping balls just because of what happened and leaning so much into the dreamlike experience right up until the end.
The reason why the final arc works is because think about it, Zack has been poisoned by Mako for the past 4 years. The world has changed so much that it does not feel like the same world he just fought and grew up in so the appearance of an Angeal Clone, a Genesis Clone eating Zack's hair, the poetic ending that Genesis gets, etc. None of this makes sense and that's fully intentional showing how Mako and loneliness ended up destroying Zack's mental state foreshadowing how Cloud ends up getting his mind and memories broken in the main game. I thought that it was actually brilliant.
So overall, I loved the story for feeling like a Yakuza game with writing and voice acting so over the top that it just works. I feel that Genesis is misunderstood because throughout the game, you end up seeing so many unnatural clones and experiments that its really going to fuck with your sanity and who you are as a person, just like what happened to the Hero in FF7.
Now for the gameplay, I liked how they took what the PSP set out to do and modernized it into the FF7 Remake engine making it feel smooth and snappy. If you've played the FF7R, you'll feel at home here only you get the ability to cast spells at any time instead of waiting for the ATB to fill up. This game does demand that you be on your toes as you're a one-man army and nobody else is coming to save you, heal you, take hits for you, etc. I personally did not like it as I like fighting with a full party and trusting my AI teammates to fight with me like other Action-based JRPGs such as Tales and Ys. I get that they were limited on the PSP hardware and tey have to make do with what the PSP version set out.
One unique feature is the DMW system that acts as a slot machine dispensing limit breaks, in-battle buffs, and character & materia level ups. A large portion of it is straight up random as is the nature of a slot machine. On one hand, I like the randomness that makes getting a limit break feel good. However, I found myself having to run around avoiding enemy attacks just so that I get an invincibility or an Null Phys / Magic to make an annoying boss fight easier. Attaching both Character and Materia Level ups just does not work and feels unfair as explained below.
Another point of contention was the materia system. I feel that CCR just ended up over-complicating a Materia system that just worked for no reason, Basically, you now have the ability to fuse materia to create new and stronger materia which sounds neat but the problem is that some recipes are inconsistent or just don't work at all. Several materia require the base materia to be a master rank which seems fine in theory but given that materia level ups are RNG compared to character level-ups, you have to keep fighting battles and hope the DMW is in your favour. I feel that if they got rid of materia ranks and just kept them as is so that the fusion system is easier to manage.
You also had to learn how to fuse stat boosts into materia just so that you stand a chance in the endgame and several missions as you wouldn't be able to rely on your normal level ups to be strong enough to tackle some side missions. Again, this was over-complicated for no reason as you had to think about doing two fusions just to get the stat boost on the materia you're using which gets complicated VERY fast. Having the stat boosts just be tied to materia itself with the stat boosting items being used on Zack would have been much better.
Remember when I said that the game has a story mode and side missions? Yeah, it feels like the game had a decent main story but the devs wanted to pad out the game time with side missions you can do anytime during the main story. All of them feels like padding with repetitive maps, enemies, and objectives combined with an annoying random encounter rate. You could cut out just about say 80% or 90% of the missions and the game would have been better off for it.
CONFLICT RESOLVED
So where does that leave CCR? It leaves its legacy as a game with a Yakuza-like story bogged down by bloated game mechanics and side missions that add little value to the game. If you want to experience it for yourself, I would suggest watching a Lets Play or just the cutscenes itself as the side content and materia systems just don't feel worth engaging with.
