Friday, July 31, 2015

FFVII Crisis Core – Part 43: Rock Bottom Remainders

 Summary: We take on some of Genesis’ forces, and then the remnants from Wutai remnants: the Crescent Unit. It’s like this undying hydra!
 

Mission: Genesis’s Forces > Major Offensives > Raid the Enemy Stronghold (3/6)

-Continuing to take on Genesis’s forces.

-These city building levels (or any other level, really) are such a refreshing change from the plains. Here, the random encounters are limited and somewhat predictable.

-It didn’t hit me until now, and I could be seeing something that’s not there, but did Zack change his hair to look like Angeal’s?



Brushed back? I remember someone in a recent session commenting on Zack’s hair, but it didn’t click until now.

-The DMW just came up for Angeal, and I sort of take it back. It doesn’t really look like Angeal’s too much, but it is brushed back.

-Last fight against a General’s Tank here is a little tricky.

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Mission: Genesis’s Forces > Major Offensives > Enemy Attack Prevention (4/6)

-Gotta stop a Guard Scorpion from helping Genesis’s forces attack some Shinra stuff.


Random screenshot of a G. Blader because why not it’s awesome.

-Hm. That’s the last available mission for this sequence. Will return to it later I suppose when new ones pop up.

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Mission: To End the War with Wutai > Crescent Unit > Defeat the Scout Units (1/6)

-New campaign devoted to the new Crescent Unit. A remnant of the remnant. If I defeat the Crescent Unit and the next campaign is about an offshoot of the Crescent Unit, I give up.

-This is ridiculous. I walk straight ahead and get a new fight every two steps or some shit. Grrr.

-There was a segment of one of the caves waaaaaay back in Final Fantasy I where every step you took you fought a new set of ogres. That was intentional, a way to farm gold and xp. This feels like that.

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Mission: To End the War with Wutai > Crescent Unit > Obliterate Advance Elements (2/6)

-These missions came about from catching the spies. I hope that, even though it’s a few years after I got the mission, I can still catch the remaining spies.

-I’m remembering an element from much earlier in Crisis Core where, on my first mission, I saw an enemy counter. Once I killed an enemy, none took its place. That area of the zone was just clear. Why in the HELL did they drop that? It was such a wonderful idea, and I just haven’t seen it employed at all since.

Non-rhetorical question for y’all: I just got a “Feather Cap.”



What does it actually do?


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Mission: Hojo’s Laboratory > Sample Monsters Lv. 1 > Experiment No. 105 (5/6)

-Hojo is using Zack’s memory of Genesis to construct a virtual thing for Zack to fight.

-LOL. Hojo’s still a dick.



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Mission: Hojo’s Laboratory > Sample Monsters Lv. 1 > Experiment No. 105 (6/6)

-Same as before, but this time with Angeal instead of Genesis. This is cruel to Zack.

-Long mission, fighting through lots of different Angeal copy monsters.

-Final boss is Angeal Penance.



Such a cool model.

-That’s it for Sample Monsters Lv. 1.

-I keep going back and forth on whether I like this model, of fighting a major enemy once, then again in virtual mode, and I don’t know. It’s nice to see the fights more fleshed out, but it lessens their impact.

Angeal Penance was an awesome fight! The mechanics were neat, the art was stunning, and it was sad to see Angeal in that way. Seeing it again is like the guy who tells a good joke, and then tells you again immediately just to make sure you appreciated it.

I suppose this jumps out at me because I saw that I’m only like 35% through the missions. This game is on track to be my longest playthrough, and its potential if only it had a more ruthless editor is tantalizing.

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Mission: Seeking Precious Items: Midgar City Development Department > Slum Development 1 (1/6)

-This mission line must be from the city planners I spoke with in the lobby of the Shinra Building.

-New map here. A twisty slum path in Midgar.

-Defeating this mission opened up a Sector 8 shop to me.



It sucks.

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Next time: Zack will continue to develop the slums.