Take up the buster sword as the earnest SOLDIER Zack Fair in this spinoff title. Was Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion worth it?
Table of Contents
Background
Crisis Core takes place seven years before the events of Final Fantasy VII. It’s mostly character building and backstory detailing what Zack was up to that made him so cool that Cloud wanted to pretend to be him. You don’t need any FFVIII knowledge to play this game, so it’s a good starting point. However, if you are an FFVII fan, then you’ll enjoy the character development.
What does Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion do well?
The game runs well and looks good. Combat is pretty fluid and quick bouts always leave you wanting more. Missions are generally bite sized and don’t drag on for too long. There’s a healthy variety of enemies to face to keep battles fresh.
DMW
I can see how the the Digital Mind Wave (DMW) could be divisive. It’s random at best, but I think it’s an interesting mechanic that always keeps you guessing.
When the slots come up in your favor, it’s game changing. There were plenty of fights where I knew I was outclassed, but I was able to come out ahead because of DMW effects, such as null magic or null physical.
The fact that leveling is tied to it can feel weird though, especially since experience points aren’t visible.
What could Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion do better?
Traversal through the missions isn’t as smooth as it could be because you keep running into small isolated encounters. You’ll eventually get used to it, but there are missions where you just stop-start-stop in rapid succession. I did find that I could dodge some of these by keeping close to the walls, but be prepared to run into a lot of encounters while doing side missions.
Strange/weird/janky mechanics
Using the DMW for leveling and random effects is great. Using the DMW to level the equipped materia that you want to fuse off is not. The problem is that you have no control over when materia will level up, and you have to level your materia for fusion. Materia Fusion is the primary mechanic for strengthening your character. You can blitz through the story without it, but absolutely need to understand it to have a chance to facing some of the higher difficulty missions.
One Man Army
Throughout the game, you only play as Zack, alone. You’ll be outnumbered in nearly every battle, which makes the variety of classic Final Fantasy status effects that much more annoying. I recommend using Dark/Hell Blizzaga and Status Ward to block most ailments because later missions love to throw you into mobs of enemies who spam instant death and other nasty ailments.
The Buster Sword
You probably know that Cloud got the Buster Sword from Zack, but in Crisis Core, Zack gets the weapon after his mentor dies. It’s an iconic weapon, but the addition of the Buster Sword Proficiency mechanic was messy.
Once you receive the Buster Sword, you can gain proficiency with it through a variety of ways: attacking enemies, guarding, using materia, and maxing out a certain character on the DMW. However, the game doesn’t make it clear as to how to gain proficiency, and sometimes the mechanic is bugged outright. I played for a while and was stuck at .62%. There was probably a memory leak, as I was able to gain proficiency again after restarting my console.
The Buster Sword can also only gain proficiency when you are in the actual stance. This is something you’ll have to constantly refresh, as there is no toggle and it is on a timer. It would have been nice to see a notification on the HUD as to when the stance was about to expire (or if you were actually in it), especially since the overall proficiency is displayed.
Getting the Buster Sword was a big moment in terms of the story, but when it came to gameplay, it meant that I had to spam y+b every few seconds.
Incidentally, you can get to 100% proficiency – there are a lot of guides that are just wrong outright.
Was Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion fun?
Zack is a great protagonist and doesn’t get on your nerves. Combat stays fresh, especially with the introduction of the Buster Sword around midgame. The ramping difficulty of the side missions gives you plenty to do and presents a scaling challenge.
Is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion good value?
This is a high quality remaster. The price point ($50) feels fair. For comparison, I think it’s a better deal than say, Live A Live. While you can slash through the story very quickly, there’s a lot of challenge in the side missions, and that’s where you’ll really get your money’s worth.
Who is this game for?
The self-contained story makes Crisis Core accessible to anyone, even if they haven’t played Final Fantasy VII. It’s a great entry point for the story as a whole, and the character and worldbuilding makes going into VII that much more enjoyable.
Was Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion worth it?
I missed out on the original PSP version but I’m glad I tried this one. There are some features that could have been smoothed out but it’s still a good experience. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is worth it, and I would like to see more Square Enix games get this kind of life rebreathed into them.
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