Vahn16’s Weblog

Crisis Core’s compelling yet mostly-known tale is nearly at an end, and I’m still just as enamored with the game as when I started. In my eyes, this is the mark of a truly great game — it crosses the dividing road between “good” and “amazing,” a road paved with the soulless game cases of many an “almost, but not quite.” In order to cross such an insurmountable divide, a game must pay attention to every little detail — an area in which Crisis Core excels. Whether it’s the initially simplistic materia fusion system or the way Zack plucks an umbrella from a sandy beach to use as a makeshift buster sword, Crisis Core never stops surprising you with imaginative ideas, both large and small. This veritable onslaught of creativity, then, keeps the player chomping at the bit to see what’s next. Truth be told, Crisis Core has brought me closer to understanding the equine mentality than any scientific study — the game revels in carrot-on-a-stick incentives, and I gleefully gallop in its wake.

It’s not perfect, however; nits run rampant, and I aim to pick them. Nit number one requires tweezers, as it’s smaller than its brethren — an outcast of sorts, with nary a glowing red nose to be found. At one point in the later stages of the game, Zack is essentially asked whether he prefers the Turks’ petite brunette, Cissnei, or everyone’s favorite soon-to-be martyr, Aerith*. Now, regardless of who you choose, Zack’s only going to have eyes for Aerith, but what if that minute choice impacted the game’s storyline? What if, in a game like Crisis Core — a prequel with a plot that’s already been elaborated upon numerous times — you could completely alter the story? Really, it’s perfect for Crisis Core; Zack (SPOILER) dies at the end of the game, and thus, peoples’ perceptions of him are all that remain in the Final Fantasy VII universe. Maybe he wasn’t as close to Aerith as people think. Crisis Core and prequels of its ilk tend to serve as fanservice with a side of plot development. Why not elevate such prequels to a new level — one that really makes players reconsider things they once understood to be fact in their favorite video game worlds?

The second nit is definitely larger, featuring the nit’s characteristic — well, what do nits look like? Anyway, after Zack, Tseng, and Cloud’s helicopter is hit by an off-screen missile, they crash in a permafrost, snow lightly falling around them. After shrugging off what should’ve been lethal wounds, Zack and co. happen upon a fortuitously-placed enemy fort. Bearing in mind that he is, at this point, a demi-god of sorts, and can fell normal soldiers with a glance from his mako-enfused eyes (that sadly, don’t fire lasers), Zack does the sensible thing and engages in Solid Snake style enemy-avoidance tactics. Wait, what? Yep, Square Enix decided to add Crisis Core to the ranks of clandestine greats like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and, actually, Final Fantasy VII. Their excuse: enemy soldiers are collecting items from chests scattered around their own base, but only if they catch you. So, every time a soldier — one who’s significantly weaker than Zack — catches up with our hero, Zack is unceremoniously hurled out of the fort and pursued by three enemies. After blinking, Zack is then able to re-enter the fort and try again, but with the disheartening realization that a chest is gone! Why can’t Zack just beat up the guys who stole their own stuff? Who knows? But here’s the best part: after getting caught for the umpteenbajillionth time, Zack is able to continue because all of the soldiers are rotting in the ground. So, what happened to the sticky-fingered soldiers who partook of the chests? Dead, I’m guessing. Why can’t Zack steal the stuff from them now? Too GTA for his tastes? Developers: random stealth is bad stealth. It doesn’t divy up gameplay sections; it just pisses me, and legions of like-minded individuals, off.

The final nit resembles a small mammal more than it does a nit; it’s not a problem Crisis Core possesses so much as it is an idea. Crisis Core has an engaging battle system that incorporates action elements while retaining the core of an RPG. More so than other such action-RPGs, however, Crisis Core creates an illusion of true action — far removed from the watered-down, overtly turn-based battles that are so prominent in the sub-genre. Meanwhile, in lands mysterious and unknown to Crisis Core, MMORPGs are struggling to move beyond turn-based battle systems while maintaining some semblance of fun. A few have succeeded, but they sold their swords and sorcery to the devil in exchange for decent battle systems; games like Auto Assault don’t even utilize humanoid characters at all. At this point, I imagine you can see where I’m going; let’s relentlessly petition Square Enix to create an MMORPG based around Crisis Core’s battle system. Can you imagine it? You’re running through an open field, dodging and rolling while hacking away at a large monster with a sword the size of a larger monster. Don’t get ahead of yourself, though; this isn’t Monster Hunter. With a roll of the DMW (Crisis Core’s back-end that, well, it’s a slot machine), you have temporary infinite MP — Hell Thundaga, go! And PVP would still work because everyone would have access to the DMV. And if Square were to slap the Final Fantasy VII name on this little slice of brilliance, it’d be sure to succeed — even amongst Japan’s MMO-less heathens.

Vahn16 was about to craft an excellent conclusion to this rambling post, but he was accosted by a number of ants and dragged under the nearest refrigerator. He didn’t fight back because he was positive they were nits, and, therefore, harmless.

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*At another point, Kunsel asks Zack why he looks so down. Zack can respond in one of two ways: “I’m gonna be away from Aerith for a long time” or “…I love you, man!” I like the Aerith vs. Cissnei example better, though, for obvious reasons. Plus, I’m sure fan fiction writers have already taken care of Zack and Kunsel’s budding romance.