Nayan Ramachandran of HDRLying got hands on it and says it's actually a solid little 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?
Admittedly, I just started reading the HDRLying blog so I don't know jack about this guy's taste in games, but at least he's a smart writer, and smart people don't use the word "system seller" (yes, he didn't call PSP a "console"!! ) lightly.
And, to be frank, I was not altogether all that disappointed with Dirge of Cerberus. I've had others point out to me that the fanbase was expecting something a lot more involved -- either a sophisticated RPG or a sophisticated FPS, and it was, of course, neither. But looking at it with no expectations, I think it turned out to be a rather nice little vignette -- kept the FFVII flavor, provided fanservice cameos of beloved characters, and had the jaw-dropping FMV without which there is no Final Fantasy. Maybe I'm just biased, since I have a Vincent Valentine fetish that sometimes approaches (though could never, never overtake) my, uh... let's call it "healthy appreciation" (ha, ha) of Big Boss/Solid Snake.
Anyway, back on topic. I love writing for gamers because they're absolutely psycho, and I say that in the most complimentary way possible -- after all, gamers may be psycho about games, but I'm the one making a career out of 'em. Have you guys read the comments on my "Midgar is Burning" article, which I wrote about obsessed FFVII fans roleplaying on AOL? Though most of the commenters are mercifully sane, the rather emotional desperation on the part of those who chose to interpret my account differently is really something to see. People take Final Fantasy to what often appears to be, in the annals of the internet, an unhealthy degree.
So you've got two camps of FF fans -- absolute psychos who won't be happy unless Cloud can somehow become real and come to their birthday and Aeris can be their girlfriend and they can have a trench coat just like Sephiroth's -- and then, on the other side of that coin, you've got the hardened cynics who are friggin' sick of those emo nuts and utterly fatigued of the endless parade of Squeenix remakes and want it all to die, down to every last sparkly, salty, manly tear twinkling in the eye of every tortured, spiky-haired hero.
Both extremes are pretty damn irrational, I think. It's retarded to hate Final Fantasy VII because it's become so chic to be a cynic, and it's retarded to be so obsessed that it's more than a game to you.
I like FFVII. I liked it a lot; always have, always will, and as long as Crisis Core's decent, I can't wait to revisit that world. Guess what? Seeing all the familiar pivot scenes from FFVII rendered in the Crisis Core trailers, the updates on the familiar music, I got a little chill and a grin. Yup, I did. And guess what else I'll proudly admit? I like FFVIII very slightly more. That's right. What are you gonna do about it?
