Crisis Core and Final Fantasy VII Stuff

A lot of you in Obsidian with me have probably already seen me talk about Crisis Core. Before I really get into that, I need to point out that since FFXI came out in Oct 2003 (NA), I haven't really played many other video games. I used to find something new to play every couple weeks.

When FFVII came out, my buddy Troy and I were pretty much standing in line to get it. I was less than a year out of high school starting college as a music education major. (YAY BAND GEEK!~) It had been 3 years since any form of an FF game had been released and, with the huge marketing buildup, we were both eagerly waiting for this to hit the shelves.

As most fans of the FF series will probably attest to, VII had a ton of impactful moments. The most notable of which was Aerith's death scene. Over the years, Square has given us a lot of characters that were memorable. Some by name only cause they're in nearly every game (Cid, Biggs, Wedge) and others because they did such a wonderful job developing the character itself that it's almost impossible to forget them. Especially if you can relate to them.

Aerith herself didn't really leave me with the impression of fitting this superbly developed character until her death scene. As a matter of fact, I barely used her the first time I went through VII. I mostly stuck with Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII. What actually stuck with me the most after her untimely death in VII was her music/theme. Even playing through a 2nd and 3rd time back then didn't get me attached to her character, but her death scene was brutal (for the time) and her music was awesome enough that she stuck with me.

I'm not a huge contemporary music fan. As a matter of fact, most contemporary music just pisses me off. I'm the guy that will buy the score to the movie rather than the soundtrack. You get me listening to some very well arranged/written orchestral piece though and that's the sort of stuff that moves me. SE managed to develop Aerith into a legend mostly due to how well Nobuo Uematsu developed her character through music.

If you think about it, how many characters from the FF series do you remember because of their music? Celes, Aerith, Rinoa, Sephiroth, and Kefka just to name a few. Well, Kefka likely due to his laugh moreso than his music, but you get the point. Most people probably don't realize it at the time the character is being developed, but later on down the road, they hear the music and go "Oh shit! That's Sephiroth's music!" rather than calling it by it's appropriate title.

Anyway, back to VII for a moment. One of the things that always bugged me about VII was the plot. It's the typical 'save the world' plot, but the depth of character development that Square went to in this game often times made me confused and pretty much to led to me mashing buttons from one battle to the next trying to get to the next CGI scene. Because of that, when I picked up Crisis Core, my memory of VII's events was rather...old and not very clear.

I knew who Zack was when I got the game. I remembered him being killed off in a flashback sequence, so playing through the game, there's the knowledge that all this time you spend making Zack a hero is going to ultimately end up in his death. With Advent Children having been released a couple years prior to this game and showing off Zack and Aerith at the end, I felt that there wasn't any real way SE could top the impact VII had and some of the showstopping footage they had put together in AC (story aside, the CGI was gorgeous).

But...

I found the game for $10 new at Toys R' Us and couldn't pass it up.

Turns out this game had me wrapped up in Zack's character pretty much from the getgo. SE capitalized on many of the musical themes from VII along with some new stuff. They also capitalized on implementing some of the same CGI sequences that made AC such a hit. Hidden beneath all of that is a very well thought out story showing Sephiroth's downhill spiral, Zack's ascension to being a hero and the beginnings of what made Cloud who he is and...most importantly I felt, putting the actual character into Aerith outside of her music. The relationship developed between Aerith and Zack certainly make for a lot of "Awww..." moments and a lot of Zack's thoughts, musings and actions after he meets Aerith revolve around her. It's clear though that this story is about Zack, not Aerith, but SE managed to do a wonderful job with her nonetheless. They even managed to make Sephiroth into a bit of a sympathetic figure as he descends into madness.

=======SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT========

The story for Crisis Core itself is rather short, but the game is long if you play through all the side missions. Pretty much from Chapter 8 on, prepare to be blown away by the events as they unfold. Some of the events you already know about through VII (Nibelheim), but the way SE presents them in CC freshens them up completely. The ending to this game is what really got me though. More on that later.

The game starts off with Sephiroth in place as Midgar's hero. Everyone wants to be him. Angeal (Zack's mentor), Genesis and Sephiroth are among the elite of the elite SOLDIER 1st Classes. Genesis goes missing, taking a number of SOLDIER members with him and Angeal, Zack and Sephiroth are sent to figure out why. As the story unfolds, cutscenes like this one take place:



Note the use of "One-Winged Angel". Once we get some answers to Genesis' disappearance, we learn the origin of the whole One-Wing thing as it's a trademark of the scientific experiments on various early SOLDIERs.

What about Aerith? How is she introduced? Like this:



Again, notice the use of the music. There are several more cutscenes like this one (very few CGI movies with Aerith in them in this game, mostly scenes rendered with the game engine itself) developing their relationship. The irony in their meeting the same way Cloud meets Aerith is a nice touch too.

What about Cloud? Where does he come in? Well, Cloud and Zack formed a friendship after their helicopter crashed in the mountains while chasing information related to Genesis:



While the story doesn't do much to show all of the various interactions between Zack and Cloud until they're in Nibelheim, once they get to this point, you start to understand why Cloud's memories are f***ed up in VII so badly. The true recounting of the events at Nibelheim take place here:



Biggest thing to keep in mind here is that Cloud pulls off the seemingly bad-assness BEFORE he's infused with Mako. Shortly after this battle takes place, Zack and Cloud are captured by Shin-Ra and given to Hojo to experiment on. Hojo sees something valuable in Cloud. Four years later, Zack manages to escape his experiment tube, frees Cloud and is now considered an escaped fugitive. Zack isn't aware of the amount of time that's passed and immediately works to keep Cloud safe and figure out what to do with Genesis.

After Zack finishes "saving Genesis", he continues to be pursued by Shin-Ra soldiers as a fugitive. Shin-Ra has unleashed a full-scale military assault in an attempt to find Zack and Cloud. The Turks meanwhile, are trying to apprehend Zack to save his life. (Vid below).



This is the first time Cloud has shown any major sign of consciousness for the past 5 years. Almost as if he knew something bad was about to happen. In the ensuing fight, Zack inevitably ends up losing. After collapsing, a Shin-Ra soldier blasts Zack in the head and leads us to this:



That near 7 minutes of footage there is literally some of SE's best work ever. Obviously it's along the same lines as Advent Children, but in AC, the characters already had an established development and there wasn't much else SE could do to further them. Here in Crisis Core however, SE gets to tell Cloud's history entirely along with Aerith's, Sephiroth's and a few others. Most notably though, Zack.

An ending like this is nowhere near as impactful unless you actually make a connection with the character itself. Throughout the entire game, Zack is developed as a bit of an over-enthusiastic, gullible man hellbent on becoming a hero and inadvertently becomes one when all of his own heroes fall from grace. The story of this ascension draws you in completely and, again even though you know what's going to happen to Zack, you literally want to sit back and enjoy the ride while you can.

The ending made me cry. I'll admit it. The gunshot to the head started the waterworks (especially when they start showing Aerith's realization of what's happening) and it ultimately peaked at the image of Cloud's face stained with Zack's blood yelling at the heavens. My only gripe though...

...I wish they had shown Tifa finding Cloud, but that's neither here nor there.

I was asked by Lect the other day why Cloud didn't know who Aerith was when they met since Cloud absorbed/shared Zack's memories and confused them with his own. The only logical answer I can come up with to an entirely illogical situation is that Zack had forgotten who Aerith was as he was being worn down. Part of the ending sequence not shown in those videos is that as Zack is fighting, he's starting to forget the important people in his life as he's inching closer to death. It's only after his becoming one with the life-stream again that he remembers Aerith's name.

Bottom line is, if you have a PSP, go buy this game. Especially now since it's on clearance for $10 in most places. There's a ton of story packed into this game. I'm hoping SE decides to redo FF7 using this game engine since they seem to be in the mood for redoing the series with the better technology out there.