Review of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core By FreeLanZer Published: March 24, 2008 PrintEmail
Even though we do still develop UFOCF we still need to take some time off so I accidently got extremely hooked on Crisis Core.. :P I therefore decided to give you guys a review of the game..
Final Fantasy VII, one of the most remembered games for the PlayStation system. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core is set 7 years before FF7 and it features a really good story and is true to the honour of Final Fantasy VII.
It followed the story of Cloud Strife, in Crisis Core you play as Zack Fair, a 2nd Class SOLDIER and Cloud haven't SOLDIER yet, not even the infantry. Those who have played FF7 and/or seen FF7AC know that Cloud had a pretty tight friendship with Zack.. which all happens from start till end in Crisis Core.. It's really fun to see the energy and joy in Zack and see how much he cares about his friends and comrades.. it's also great fun for those who only knows Cloud for a strong type to see him fail at various things because he's a pretty weak rookie. Crisis Core fills out ALL holes and missing stories in the FF7 story, that's also why it ends exactly where FF7 starts so you wont miss anything when you've finished Crisis Core. The story of the game is a really strong one with a lot of really tense emotions.. both happyness and sadness. You also get to know Sephiroth before he turns evil.. you even get to work and fight with him side by side.. You will get to know his story as a 1st Class SOLDIER and what great friends and moments he had in SOLDIER..
you also get to know where the famous scene with Sephiroth engulfed in flames takes place.. Yuffie is a very young thief/ninja in the game who fails at being a ninja but she still manages to steal from Zack multible times.. You also get to know the story of the Buster Sword Cloud has in FF7.. where it originates from and how Cloud happens to have it in FF7..
The gameplay is like no other Final Fantasy game since it's nearly real-time.. You run around with the d-pad or analog stick (doesn't matter which) and you only engage in random encounters in large open areas.. that means if you stick close to the walls and coridors you will most likely avoid random encounters which can be good at some points but if you avoid to many battles you will easily be crushes at the next battle since you are to low level woth to crappy gear. For those who wants more than just the main storyline there's missions which Zack can do.. he has a cellphone with email system and the ability to accept missions (he can only accept missions at savepoints).. that way you can do a few missions to get some better gear and perhaps level up before taking on the next part of the story.. Of course, since it's a FF7 game, theres also materia which you will be able to fusion later in the game.
But for a better explanation, here's what IGN writes:
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Set seven years prior to the events of the first FINAL FANTASY VII, the Shinra Company is rapidly increasing its influence through its monopoly on mako energy and military might. With the burgeoning city of Midgar as its base and symbol of prosperity, Shinra is on the verge of establishing absolute dominance over the world.
SOLDIER is a group of skilled combat operatives within Shinra. The elite within the group — those strong enough to be deemed SOLDIER 1st Class — are respected and idolized by the citizenry. Zack is a young SOLDIER 2nd Class who aspires to become a 1st. He spends his days carrying out assignments under the guidance of his 1st Class mentor, Angeal. During an operation in Wutai, a large number of SOLDIER member, led by 1st Class operative Genesis, go missing. The severity of the situation prompts Shinra executives to deploy even more SOLDIER operatives in hopes of bringing an end to the war with Wutai—and conducting an investigation into the mass desertion. The ones assigned to the mission are Zack, Angeal, and the 1st Class hero who is known the world over as Sephiroth...
What truths lie behind Genesis's disappearance? What secrets bind the three SOLDIER 1st Class operatives? For Zack, a cruel and fateful struggle awaits...
In Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, players can experience the D.M.W (Digital Mind Wave) system, which enhances the real-time battle system, allowing players to unleash special attacks or call upon various Final Fantasy summons. Players can also witness graphics and CG cutscenes coupled with voice acting in a 16:9 widescreen presentation, made possible by the PSP system hardware.
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When you aren't in combat you run around like in any other Final Fantasy game in 3d but when you either enter a random encounter or a battle in the storyline a female voice will say "Entering Combat mode!".. you then again use either the d-pad or analog stick to move around in real-time, so does the enemies.. You automatically target the nearest enemy so if you wish to target an enemy further away you have to move closer to it, straight through or circle around to it that's all up to you.. when you have a target you wish to attack you simply press X to put the attack action in cue, a little text saying "Next" will appear over the attack command to indicate it's the next action.. this is the basic sword attack but there are of course also various abilities and magic.. you will have an actionbar in the lower right of the screen with up to six customizable action buttons.. you can equip various magic and abilities to them from the menu be it Cure, Fire, Blizzard, Thunder etc. The basic sword attack button will always be the first, from left to right, on the action bar and so you can cycle through all the buttons with the L and R buttons on the PSP.. the last action button will also always be a bag which you can use to bring up a potions menu and pick a potion to use. All of these buttons when clicked, no matter if it's attack, magic, ability or potion will be set in a cue and there's only room for one action in the cue so you can't set up a row of actions to play out nor do a second command before the first one is completed.. you can however set up the next command when the first is being played out. That's the attack system, but you can also block some of the attacks on you simply by holding TRIANGLE.. you can also make a quick roll in a certain direction to get away from larger attacks by pressing O. In the upper left corner you will see the D.M.W. aka Digital Mind Wave.. it's like a slots machine with 3 wheels.. they will be spinning randomly and stopping randomly and you will then gain various boosts depending on the numbers (from 1 to 7) and pictures of characters when the wheels stop.. it will not normally annoy you in combat, only give you various boosts when there's a certain pattern in the numbers.. But, when the first and last image of character in the DMW matches each others you will enter the "Modulating Phase" when this happens a female voice will announce it by saying "Modulating Phase" and the combat will be paused while the DMW will fill the whole screen.. of course the first and last wheel is on hold from the characters on the DMW so it will only be the middle wheel and all three wheels of numbers which will be turning, again completely random.. IF the middle wheel matches the left and right character when stopped you will perform a special ability will heavy aid from the character on the wheels.. for instance if it's 3 Sephiroth images in a row you will be performing the Octaslash which Sephiroth is known for and is a damn strong sword attack.. But, the numbers will also help you when it's in full screen because if the numbers match 777 you will level up! and if they match -44 or 44- but not 4-4 you will level up in the ability or magic you have put on the 4th action button on the action bar (the - means a random number doesn't matter) however if you get 444 or any other number (not 777 obviously) the certain ability or magic will gain 2 levels up.. You will as you advance in the story be adding more and more characters to the DMW which all have unique ability and attacks to aid you.. this is also the way you will summon summons later in the game as they also will be added to the DMW.. After certain things happens in the story your emotion level will be higher or lower.. this will be affecting the DMW to operate faster or slower.. There are however also certain characters in the DMW which will be affecting your emotion level and thereby affecting the DMW.. Now all this sounds fairly complicated but it's not when you are actually playing the game..
Personally I've pre-ordered the European limited collectors edition since it features extended content not available in the Japanese edition.. but I couldn't wait for the release so I grabbed a US released ISO and slammed it on my PSP.. I finished the game not more than a few mins ago..
The ending of the game is the sadest thing I have ever experienced in ANY game and movie..
It is even worth buying a PSP just to play this game alone.. it's really good.
LAN Party VII 2008 By FreeLanZer Published: December 22, 2007 PrintEmail
The next LAN Party event, event number 7 in 2008, is being prepared at the moment.
We have opened the sign up section.
We would love to hear from you if you have suggestions for games which could be played at the LAN event. We already have a list with a few games we usually play but it would fun to try other games too. The suggestions should be sent to
Further information can be found at the official site by giving the GO!-button below a good slam.
Yaa.dk LAN Party V 2007 By FreeLanZer Published: July 26, 2007 PrintEmail
The next LAN Party event, event number 5 in 2007, is being prepared at the moment.
We currently haven't opened the sign up section yet since we would like to prepare a bit more before all the sign ups starts flowing in. But be sure to check back daily for updates, I'll do what I can to update the news on the site daily before, under and after the whole event this time.
We would love to hear from you if you have suggestions for games which could be played at the LAN event. We already have a list with a few games we usually play but it would fun to try other games too. The suggestions should be sent to
Further information can be found at the official site by giving the GO!-button below a good slam.
