Another one down

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII


Finally got another one done.  Heck yeah.

Final completion time:
41:36:03

Take that and add it to total and you get:
140:41:31.

This works out to be:

5 Days, 20 Hours, 41 Minutes, 31 Seconds.

Its weird that it has taken me this long to beat Crisis Core.  I think the only distraction that I found with this one was the fact that the Missions can take soooo long to complete if you plan on doing a 100% completion.

Did I beat all the missions??

...no.

I just couldn't keep going.  I was sitting there on the edge of the end and the call of another game off the list (+FFXIII-2 calling out to me) I decided to take the plunge.  Will I go back later and replay the game in the New Game+ feature and do a 100% completion?

Yes.  That won't be for a little while though.  I need to decompress some.


Lets get to the game though.

I liked the story a lot.  Its weird when you play a prequel and you know how things are going to end.  The real talent in the game design rests in how the story is made from already existing elements.  I think they did a great job at answering a lot of questions that people probably had on the origins of some of the characters for FFVII.  I had always felt as if FFVII started off like you were in the middle of a conversation and didn't know how it started.  Crisis Core helps to show that beginning.

The cut scene graphics in it are amazing.  Hell, once you get to the end a FF fan will love the ending sequence.  I believed that it was done to the best of anyone's abilities.  Another way to say that is that it was simply a masterpiece.  No better way.

Now I did not enjoy the final boss battle.  I honestly felt as if it could have been a lot harder, but it was quite the dud of a fight.  I am used to something that is the culmination of all of your hard work and skills that you have learned in the game.  It must test how you use your items, spells, time, and strategy for a final reward.  The End.  Crisis Core didn't have that to it.  They spent more time making the missions harder than the main story I believe which shows they are working on the idea that the main story should be easy, but those that want an extra challenge can go out and find it in the side quests.  I don't like this.  I want it to be all challenging. Make me work.

Crisis Core is also quite linear in terms of what you can do and where you can go.  I like an open world concept.  I like going wherever I want to go at any time.  Crisis Core cuts your legs out from under you with that.  Yes it is a PSP game so you can't go all epic like Fallout 3, but you could at least add some more areas to things.  You spend most of your "exploring time" in missions, revisiting the same places over and over again that it gets hard to stomach.



Lets get down to it though.  I will replay this game later on in life to get the 100% complete.  I did have multiple saves so I could enjoy the different cut scenes in the game.  I wanted to play this game to determine the pre-FFVII storyline.  I don't think though I would replay it simply for the storyline again.


However:

Zack is a bad ass.  I do believe that any of the cool points that Cloud has were only given to him by Zack.

Plain and simple.

Bad to the core, rule updates

I don't think I could get into the battle system found in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with the slot machine like mechanic.  It just does not appeal to me that much.

The game itself is very good, and the prequel element of it for FFVII is great.  It is a story that needed some background established and Crisis Core helped to do that (it did not do it completely and thus I don't consider it a be all end all set up, but still good).

The reason I don't like this damn slot machine thing is because I like to level up when I am supposed to level.  Yes the system does that automatically for you so you don't have to wait, however when it comes to materia level up I feel as if the system is almost completely random for it.  That does not make me happy.  Not one bit.

I have been casting Thundara over and over and over for about 30 minutes and still nothing.  It has been on enemies that are challenging for me, so I ruled out that possibility.  So what the hell is the reason then?

It is so damn frustrating.  The summoning aspect of it is a bitch until you get the items that help to boost the chances of you getting that roll, but even still.  There are some fights where I am really killing myself for a summon.

Maybe its big over in Japan, but its not my liking.  That says something since I like many game elements that have been brought over from the land of the rising sun.

Things have to be different from the usual FF battle system since it is more action/adventure then RPG than the other games (except FFXII and on).  But those games were able to tie a pretty decent battle system into place without having to rely on chance.

And if you know me I hate relying on chance.  It angers me.  And you won't like me when I am angry.


The good news about it is that I am in the final area of the game.  You might be thinking why didn't I start back over on this game like I said I would for any game that I play on the list.  The simple reason is that I do remember the story, and the last time I had played it was in December.  I am currently working on all the side missions that you can do to get some cool items and level up.  I am currently level 57, and from what I have found that might be a little overleveled.

No biggy.  I am a big fan of the overkill.



In other news, I wanted to further explain the grouping system that I set up.  I explained this earlier but I will reiterate.
Each group has 3 systems on it and FFXI.  Thus there are four games per group.  Handheld, Console, PC, FFXI (usually addon missions, quests, and whatnot).  Crisis Core is in Group I as a Handheld.  Once I beat it I can advance to the Handheld game in Group II, and then Group III.  Same for the other games.  I however cannot advance past the groups that I have setup (currently Groups I-III are created).

Why do this you ask?  Very simple.  I beat 3 handheld games, now I need to work on the other systems.  It makes me work on the list more because I will not create another Group (thus Group IV) until I have crossed off an entire Group (thus beaten all games in Group I).

Its all about accountability and I like that.  I need that not just for this blog but just in general.

Some games will be like Crisis Core in terms of me completing them quickly.  Other however will require a fresh start and will take longer.  This will in turn require me to put my nose to the grindstone.  Not too much that I won't enjoy the game itself, but just enough so that I do not become distracted with other things.

I believe that it has lots of potential.



"...go fill up a glass with tonic rocks..."

The Fantasy Lived

Final Fantasy V


I have been able to successfully complete another game.  YAY!!!!  Spread the joy!!!  WOOOHOOO!!!


It has taken me years to finally get through FFV, however I am glad to say that I was finally able to do so.

The total time taken for completion was:

43:39 hours.

I am going to set up a counter on the List page to keep a running tally of the total time played, however as of right now, it is:

99:02:28 hours.

This works out to be:

4 Days, 3 Hours, 2 Minutes, and 28 Seconds, or 4.127 Days.


Ok, so I added almost 2 complete days to the tally with just FFV.  Not bad at all.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I think about the fact that it has taken me years to play almost 44 hours of a game and defeat it. It's really weird and crazy when you think about it. If I would have just played 4 hours a day I would have beaten it in a little under 11 days roughly.  I just didn't play straight through either.  In typical Final Fantasy fashion of me playing, by the time I made it to the interdimensional rift, also known as the very final area, I was almost overleveled and had mastered many jobs (as a side note, overleveled is at least 46, which is strange since I am used to having to be level 90 for one to be overleveled).  Thats what is so unique about FFV from other Final Fantasy games.  your level raises slowly, however mastering a job is completely separate and faster.  Plus it is the most important part of the game in terms of battles.  Not your level but your job mastery.

It was nice to get back to what I call the crystal era of the FF series.  The crystals have always had a large part in the FF series, and can be found in different forms later on (FFVII uses materia as the "crystal").  The modern games, FFXI excluded, have really gotten away from the crystal motiff.  When you look at FFI - FFV thought it is right in your face.  Hell, FFI is all about crystals and I sometimes felt as if FFV was a "reboot" of FFI since its quite similar, but you give voiceless, no personality characters from FFI, well, character.

Its fun and so interesting though how different the crystal era is from FFVI and on.  It is very japanese and fits the original mold of a RPG that stems greatly from Dungeons & Dragons.  To me its like visiting a historic site and seeing how things used to be.

Were things horrible back in the early FF days?

No.

They were what was wanted and needed back then.  What we have today, well, its different from the past, however if things were reversed people would still complain.

With that rant over lets look at FFV more.  I had issues with it in the beginning.  It did struggle to get started with story and your abilities, however with lvl/job grinding one could easily overcome that.  Once that asshat Exdeath comes in, that's when the story kicks off.  Moving between different worlds, fighting against the Void, multiple forms of the final boss.  These are all things that I have encountered before, however it pulls at my gamer's heart.  Its what I grew up with.  Its what I know.  Its what I want.

I would like to also mention how they brought a new character in.  The crystal era saw games that only allowed 4 or 5 characters at a time that were playable in battle, FFV included.  4 characters can battle, but you can't switch out any other characters because there were no other ones.  So introducing Krile might be a little tough when her grandfather Galuf dies.

Square-Enix (SE) (or Square Soft) could have had you find a new person, or worse toss a new person in there quickly who knows Galuf's abilities.  Luckily they didn't.  They introduced Krile while you had Galuf still.  She had a purpose in the story before she first fought.  This helped for me to get to know her.  Then Galuf sacrifices himself to save the party and Krile, who is in the scene and not just travelling around the world where you are not.  This is good because she is already there and not just suddenly showing up.  Then Galuf sends his abilities down to a weak Krile instead of her just knowing them out of the blue.  In fact you fight with her at least once before this and she is such a weakling.  I believe they handled this quite well to appease people.

So what to say in the end? I am glad I finally beat FFV.  I liked the story and how it compliments the series. I believe a die hard FF lover should play it if they haven't already, but if you just don't like the old school ATB battle system and having to grind, then you might want to skip it.

Also, stay away if you can't handle Dragon Suicide.  Trust me.  It came out of nowhere and totally took me for surprise.

A Crossroads

Is it worth it to do the level and skill grind so common in RPG's?  I know that usually with a game you should be able to just play straight through and have at most moderate problems.  Some people, like me, are those that tend to do extra leg work so I can get all the cool things as well as get through the boss battles easier.

Thats the conundrum I am currently in when it comes to FFV.  I have a decent level currently, and the gil is pretty decent where it will just build on itself.  However I have a chance to work on my job skill.  My job skill affects what spells I can use as well as learning abilities.  There are a multitude of jobs that a character can be, however it would take an ungodly amount of hours for one to master each job for all 4 characters.  I want to level things so I can have an easier time with the later monsters plus get all the good spells and abilities.  I could also make an interesting combination with the freelancer job.
\


I just don't know if I should since I am at a pretty good location to solely work on job levels, or if I wanted to I could just continue on.  I know it sounds a little silly to have some level of concern over this, yet a lot of times I stop playing games because of this very reason.  I lose this need...or better choice of words, desire to keep doing what I am doing.  This antidesire emotion that progresses to the whole game and I find myself drifting to something new.

Maybe thats it.  Maybe I need to bite the bullet and either give up on the grind and continue on with the story, or keep my current course and reap the benefits that will follow.  Honestly, there really is no bad decision in an RPG, except the one that leads to GAMEOVER!

Is it worth it to get that guide??

I have always been a fan of strategy guides.


Well...lets change that.  I have been a fan of them since I got one for Final Fantasy VII.  I don't like cheat codes.  Never have really been a fan of them cause that is purely cheating.  Guides just help to show you the way to go when you happen to be lost, or want to know how the hell to get that mythical, magical, unicorn shaped, blinking, necromancer boots which never make it into the conversation of the game and thus you would have gone by them completely if not for the game.

I don't get one for every game that I play or have.  I do have some constants, like I get them usually for a FF game or really any RPG.  I used to get them for multiplayer online games, however those change so much that the guide is usually useless after 1 or 2 version updates.  What sucks is these things are expensive, so thats usually like 20 to 30 bucks down the hole.  (The beauty of wikia sites and IGN.com to provide information is nice for these).

If you think of it though after you get through the game you are not really going to go through the guide again like if it were a book.  Yes I know you could replay the game and all, but I am not always someone who replays and replays games (unless it is FFVIII, that is a crazy story of forgetfulness).  If you write in the damn things then you can't really sell them back for much.  Plus if you are desperate enough to by a used guide, then hit yourself in the head and look up info on the sites.