Hello all!

Most members on this site know that I love Final Fantasy VII and all related products.

So I was able to purchase Crisis Core yesterday evening, and have been playing it non-stop.  I've sunk about six hours into it, but three of them has been doing the side missions, getting new materia, etc.  So here are my impressions:

Graphics:

The game is visually stunning.  It's so beautiful.  If there is one thing that Square Enix knows how to do, it's make a beautiful game.  The in-game graphics and cut-scenes are stunning, but the pre-rendered ones are even more so, the quality of those scenes ARE  on par with those of the movie Advent Children.

Story:  

I'm not too far into the story right now, but I can see where it's going.  It's okay.  I mean, maybe it get's better as the game progresses, but right now, it's pretty meh.  I love it because I love all things FFVII, but if you don't, then you probably wouldn't care too much for it.

Audio:

The voice acting is very good.  Zack's voice is slightly annoying, but not overly so, he fits well within the "annoying videogame protaganist" slot fairly well.  The rest of the voice acting is quite good also, and it's not hard to follow.  Some of the lines are cheesy, but most of these lines are delivered from Zack, so it's expected.

Gameplay:

The game is quite fun.  Some people may think that the game is a button masher, but it's not really that.  I can see where some have said that the game is "too easy", but I've died a few times on normal.  Maybe that means I'm not that good at the game, but I think that the game has a good difficulty curve.  The one major gameplay gripe I have is that the game doesn't do random battles, but at pre-determined areas on the map, but if you run over the same area again, you get into a fight again, which can get quite annoying if you see you missed a item chest, or some other important thing.  One excellent thing about the fights is the fact that there are no loading times, Zack pulls his sword out and you start fighting, then it's over and you move on, NO LOAD SCREENS BETWEEN FIGHTS, which makes the game awesome.  The portablility of the game shows too.  Save Points abound, and if you want to just play a little, but feel as if you accomplished something, you can do the side missions which can be as short as 5 minutes, but as long as 15.

Conclusion:

All in all, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is a great game.  But it is fan service.  If you weren't a fan of the original FFVII, then I don't see why you would purchase this game, but for the 10 million or so FFVII fans [According to VGChartz], then I don't see why you wouldn't own this game, even if you don't own a PSP, you owe it to yourself to buy this game if you consider yourself a fan of the series.

What about those of us who never played FF VII because we were about 5?

the psp is really starting to get some great games. I might get a psp for this game.

>e. If you weren't a fan of the original FFVII, then I don't see why you would purchase this game


My recommendation? Finish the game first before writing a review for it. I've never played the original FFVII and I loved it. The story itself is intriguing enough for even non-fans to play through it.

My main complain to your review is the fact you fall into the same problem as XPlay. not playing enough (in xplay's case, not at all), you will find A LOT Of ability to customize yourself later on in the game. As well as much harder battles.

The game is so much more dynamic and action packed than FFVII its appeal is much broader. I definitely recommend this game even to people who hate FFs.

Well, this isn't a review.

These are my "impressions", as the title states, and as I said in my post.  Key-word being MY impressions, not yours.  And there is no review score for that reason, as they are impressions.  

And I said the game is getting harder, as I've died multiple times.  Did you not read my "impressions"?  

All hail to Final Fantasy VII!!

Well, your impression ended with " If you weren't a fan of the original FFVII, then I don't see why you would purchase this game". Clearly if you played through the entire game, you might (and probably will) think otherwise to that statement and actually SEE why people would, like myself and other people here.

Such statement is too early to be stating in a game when you are just 6 hours into it.

Which leads me to my point. your 'impression' is pre-matured.

I might start playing my PSP again for this game.

Hence why they're called imipressions.

This isn't a review.  This is what I've gathered after six hours of playing the game.  And I should clarify that statement.

Lots of stuff happened in FFVII, and if you weren't there for all that, it may be hard for someone to follow the story, or even know who Zack was, since at the beginning of the game, the link isn't established between him and Cloud.  I'm just saying that it will be hard to follow, and people may not give the game a fair shake.