High Dynamic Range Lying

For many people, Final Fantasy VII was the defining moment by which they described the beginning of the Japanese RPG genre for them. Despite the genre existing for many many years before that, many were not exposed to it until the introduction of Final Fantasy VII, not only because of its groundbreaking graphics and vastly different setting, but because of Squaresoft’s juggernaut marketing at the time, being one of the first games to have regular TV spots and air time on major channels.

It’s hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Final Fantasy VII was released in Japan. It feels like just yesterday, players were experiencing their first cinematic RPG, traversing Cosmo Canyon and sneaking through Midgar, fighting the malevolent Shinra Electric Power Company and the lovably evil Sephiroth. To coincide both with the completion of the FFVII Compilation series of games (which began with Before Crisis for mobile phones, and Dirge of Cerberus for Playstation 2, and continued with Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children the movie), as well as the 10 year anniversary for the original game, Square Enix released Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII, the final game in the compilation.

Crisis Core is probably the most pivotal titles in the compilation from a story standpoint, as it is concerned with the events preceding Final Fantasy VII, chiefly those that concern Cloud’s past, his relationship with the enigmatic Zack Fair, and his altered memories. Much of the past in FFVII was known through several incarnations of the same flashback events, constantly changed as Cloud’s real memories emerged at the surface. Crisis Core serves not only to clear up the past before the game, but also gives more weight to the character of Zack, whose only significant part in the universe before this was in the animated short “Last Order.”

Crisis Core, as implied earlier, follows the adventures of Zack Fair, a 2nd Class ranked member of the paramilitary organization SOLDIER. The game starts during a war between the Utai people, and the Shinra Electric Power Company, with Zack and his mentor Angeal undertaking a mission to reacquire a train hijacked by Utai. After completing the mission (omitting spoilers), Zack and Angeal are directed to the SOLDIER briefing room, where they find that a 1st Class SOLDIER member, known as Genesis (played by Gackt) has gone missing. When they arrive at the scene in an effort to rescue Genesis, Zack finds that not everything is as it seems. Therein begins the twisted and winding epic that precludes Cloud’s adventure.

Story-wise, Crisis Core never strays too far away from Zack, and remains squarely concerned with his adventures. While the early parts of the game do not seem to intersect at all into Final Fantasy VII’s famous flashbacks, they segue into, flesh out, and connect with known historical moments masterfully, from Sephiroth’s discovery of Jenova, to how Cloud finally receives the Buster Sword. Cloud, of course, appears in the story, along with a few other fan favorites; some in prominent roles, some in obscure or understated roles. The development team did an excellent job of not only making the game engaging in each and every cutscene, but makes players feel for a character who, in Final Fantasy VII, was nothing more than a blurred memory for Cloud. New characters like Angeal and Genesis fit into the story nicely, doing far less to hurt continuity than characters like Wesker did in the Resident Evil series (whose appearance in later titles forced Capcom to retcon the original game’s story in the Gamecube remake).

Crisis Core’s battle system, the central aspect of any RPG, is a smattering and mix of different Action RPG conventions, mixed with a slot machine system, called the DMW. Battle itself is more confined than Kingdom Hearts. Players have a bar at the bottom with a set of actions. Players cycle through the actions with the shoulder buttons, and execute one with the circle button. When chosen, the action is carried out on the targeted enemy. If the enemy is too far away, Zack automatically moves into range, and performs the action. In the case where Zack is already in the middle of performing an action, hitting the same action again, or choosing another action will put that action into the queue for the next available moment to perform.

Players can customize their actions, which is represented by, expectedly, materia. Players start up with only four slots to put materia into, but that list grows to six later in the game. Materia ranges from spells (Fire, Fira, Thundaga, etc.) to abilities (Libra, Status Protect) to statistical buffs (HP Up, MP Up, DEF Up). Statistical and Ability materia will not appear on the command bar during battle, as they’re in effect automatically once armed. Spells (magic materia that use MP) and Command Materia (attack materia that use AP) will appear on the command bar when armed, but equipping one means one less spot for a materia that may increase your defense, MP or HP to the level that would make you that much stronger against a particularly hard boss. While players will find a comfortable combination of materia to stick with near the beginning of the game, the decisions will become harder as the game goes on. The amount of available materia increases, while the number of available slots does not. Also, as the game continues, certain enemies and bosses are immune to certain spells, which will have players juggling materia in and out of rotation to make their arsenal as potent as possible.

Materia is not Zack’s only weapon, though. During battle, a slot machine style mechanic called the DMW is constantly working in the background. Three slot reels are constantly moving, adorned with the faces of characters that Zack has met throughout his adventure. The reels constantly move during battle, stopping at random times. Depending on what numbers the slot stops on, Zack can get some helpful modifiers in battle ( a 7 in the first slot will give Zack unlimited AP, while a 222 will give Zack infinite MP).

The DMW’s true purpose shines through when entering Modulating Phase. When the the slot stops on the same portrait in the 1st and 3rd slots, the game enters modulating phase, which pauses the battle, and superimposes the slot machine over the full screen. If the second reel stops on the same face as the other two, Zack will initiate a specific special attack. Depending on the numbers that show up during this modulating phase, one of Zack’s materia might level up (the number of that materia slot appearing in two adjacent reels[eg. 225]), or Zack himself might level up (777). The modulating phase can also go through a rare conversion at times, which changes to reels from character faces to summon faces, allowing Zack the chance to unleash an FF summon beast upon his enemies.

During a successful modulating phase, the slots will also initiate a power surge, which will heal Zack in HP, MP as well as AP. This still holds true if Zack is full on all bars, allowing him to break the limits imposed by his level. Near the end of the game, it’s not uncommon to be running around with 9999/5750 HP.

Crisis Core is not a Final Fantasy game in the traditional sense. The game has a linear main story with copious cutscenes, as well as various side quests. At first, the game seems very much like a Final Fantasy game, but then a realization sets in: this game has no overworld map! It’s true: Crisis Core has no overworld map to speak of. Not only that, but the main story itself is a mere 14 hours if played from start to finish without doing any side quests. What heresy is this? Why is this game so short?

The genius of Crisis Core’s design is not readily apparent to a die hard FF fan, looking for more of the same. No, indeed the game plays more like Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, or Monster Hunter than a regular Final Fantasy game. While the game has a linear story mode, it is in fact not the central focus of the game. Nay, the game’s genius lies in its side quest structure. Called “missions,” side quests are organized into folder trees, akin to a DoCoMo menu, no doubt to simulate that Zack accepts missions from his mobile. The top level of the mission list has 10 categories, from participating in Utai skirmishes, to going on materia hunts. The missions themselves are usually mini-dungeons (short enough to make them perfect for the handheld environment) with treasure chests, random encounters, and a boss enemy to defeat at the end. Each mission has a rating from Very Easy to Very Hard, so players know how difficult the task will be before starting. While players don’t need to play the missions at all, a lot of the higher level spells, summons and items are only accessible in treasure chests and in prizes awarded from missions. Avoiding them entirely would be essentially avoiding the best part of the game.

It really is a surprise to everyone that Crisis Core is a competent game. After the likes of Dirge of Cerberus, most fans had abandoned hope that Crisis Core would be worth playing. The game is much more than that though; it’s not just worth playing, it’s worth checking out for every RPG and Action RPG fan, even if they’re not a fan of the FFVII universe. The mission structure makes it easy to achieve a task in just 10 minutes while on the train, or a few minutes during lunchtime at work. The game was designed from the ground up as a handheld game, instead of just being an epic RPG on a handheld. If Crisis Core is not the system seller the PSP audience has been waiting for, then what are they waiting for?