FFVII Dirge of Cerberus
Jun. 18th, 2007 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
riariSo, double XP weekend was this weekend on City of Heroes. I had plans on Sunday to take advantage of that. Would have been the first time in over two weeks playing the game again. And I did play a little bit on Saturday.
But, heavy thunderstorms rolled in this afternoon and I shut my machine down. I start eyeing the many PS2 games I haven't played. And, I actually start playing one today. And it was shockenly enough, one I purchased just recently.
As such, here's a quick overview/review of Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus.
This game won out today over Dawn of Mana and Final Fantasy XII, mainly because I've kicked started into reading FF7 fics thanks to the Advent Children soundtrack. And also since some of them have been trying to spoil me for Dirge of Cerberus. (One of these days I'll watch the movie again since I've been wanting to lately.)
Dirge of Cerberus isn't really like the usual RPG from Squeenix. It's a shooting RPG, kinda. All fighting is done in real time. You have the choice of using Vincent's gun to shoot, use magic, or to do melee attacks. I highly recommend that if you're clumsy with maneuvering in game, that you do the tutuorial that's on the menu screen. It's a simulation, using Turk Vincent, that teaches you the game mechanics and how to shoot and maneuver the camera around. When shooting Vincent's gun, moving the camera moves your sight around. I'm still getting used to this but I'm clumsy in real life and in game. ^_^
Game graphics are rendered very nicely. There's the usual FMVs and what not. Actually, its a bit of a mix of ingame cutscenes and the rare FMV. I'm only six hours into it and I've only seen three FMVs if you count the trailer FMV that plays before the menu screen. Faces are rendered well and show expressions. Last Squeenix game I played before this was KH2, and it definitely is along those lines. Although the clothes designer needs to be guided gently to the direction that offset lines in clothing (like buttoning up a shirt wrong by missing a button kind of offset) is not the greatest thing. Shaula Rui's outfit is prime example of that. And what a skirt is not.
The XP system is different as well. At the end of each section, it tallys up the XP you get from how well you played and how much of each sub-mission you completed. Then you get the choice of keeping it as XP or converting it into gil. At first, I was just converting it and using the money to upgrade my weapons. Then I realized I was three hours into it and still only level one. Oops. So now I'm keeping it as XP to level by and sometimes do convertions when I die midway through a section.
When you die, or a KO as they call it, you get the choice to try again or quit. This game autosaves. So no worrying about save points ever. You only need to worry about when was the last save when you die near the boss battle. And phoenix down is used differently as well. Since you are your own team, phoenix down still acts as a measure to bring you back but you have to use it before you die. Then if you run out of HP, you just get back up healed again. There's even a little symbol on the status bar to let you know you're covered by a phoenix down.
About the story: Dirge of Cerberus follows after Advent Children. Probably not more than a couple of months. Reeve request Vincent to meet him in Kalm to discuss something. Then all hell breaks loose when a unknown group called Deepground attacks Kalm. Vincent has to find out what's going on and save who he can.
We find much more about Vincent and his relationship with Lucrecia, about Lucrecia herself, and of course, about this strange group with the glowy blue armor. Though I'm beginning to think that Vincent wasn't all that good of a Turk. Not that I remember what FF7 had to say about that really...
I don't believe this is a very long game. Matter of fact, I think I'm halfway through it already. Being able to wander through Shinra mansion in Nibleheim was pretty cool. Though I'm pretty sure that the library/lab from the mansion was there correctly (rendered in more rooms of course), it seemed to be missing the mako tubes that held Zack and Cloud all those years. (Unless those were removed sometime before this game, storywise...) I did find the room with the coffin that Vincent was sleeping in.
Overall, not a bad game so far, and I'm glad I got it for $20. Can't wait to finish it.
But, heavy thunderstorms rolled in this afternoon and I shut my machine down. I start eyeing the many PS2 games I haven't played. And, I actually start playing one today. And it was shockenly enough, one I purchased just recently.
As such, here's a quick overview/review of Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus.
This game won out today over Dawn of Mana and Final Fantasy XII, mainly because I've kicked started into reading FF7 fics thanks to the Advent Children soundtrack. And also since some of them have been trying to spoil me for Dirge of Cerberus. (One of these days I'll watch the movie again since I've been wanting to lately.)
Dirge of Cerberus isn't really like the usual RPG from Squeenix. It's a shooting RPG, kinda. All fighting is done in real time. You have the choice of using Vincent's gun to shoot, use magic, or to do melee attacks. I highly recommend that if you're clumsy with maneuvering in game, that you do the tutuorial that's on the menu screen. It's a simulation, using Turk Vincent, that teaches you the game mechanics and how to shoot and maneuver the camera around. When shooting Vincent's gun, moving the camera moves your sight around. I'm still getting used to this but I'm clumsy in real life and in game. ^_^
Game graphics are rendered very nicely. There's the usual FMVs and what not. Actually, its a bit of a mix of ingame cutscenes and the rare FMV. I'm only six hours into it and I've only seen three FMVs if you count the trailer FMV that plays before the menu screen. Faces are rendered well and show expressions. Last Squeenix game I played before this was KH2, and it definitely is along those lines. Although the clothes designer needs to be guided gently to the direction that offset lines in clothing (like buttoning up a shirt wrong by missing a button kind of offset) is not the greatest thing. Shaula Rui's outfit is prime example of that. And what a skirt is not.
The XP system is different as well. At the end of each section, it tallys up the XP you get from how well you played and how much of each sub-mission you completed. Then you get the choice of keeping it as XP or converting it into gil. At first, I was just converting it and using the money to upgrade my weapons. Then I realized I was three hours into it and still only level one. Oops. So now I'm keeping it as XP to level by and sometimes do convertions when I die midway through a section.
When you die, or a KO as they call it, you get the choice to try again or quit. This game autosaves. So no worrying about save points ever. You only need to worry about when was the last save when you die near the boss battle. And phoenix down is used differently as well. Since you are your own team, phoenix down still acts as a measure to bring you back but you have to use it before you die. Then if you run out of HP, you just get back up healed again. There's even a little symbol on the status bar to let you know you're covered by a phoenix down.
About the story: Dirge of Cerberus follows after Advent Children. Probably not more than a couple of months. Reeve request Vincent to meet him in Kalm to discuss something. Then all hell breaks loose when a unknown group called Deepground attacks Kalm. Vincent has to find out what's going on and save who he can.
We find much more about Vincent and his relationship with Lucrecia, about Lucrecia herself, and of course, about this strange group with the glowy blue armor. Though I'm beginning to think that Vincent wasn't all that good of a Turk. Not that I remember what FF7 had to say about that really...
I don't believe this is a very long game. Matter of fact, I think I'm halfway through it already. Being able to wander through Shinra mansion in Nibleheim was pretty cool. Though I'm pretty sure that the library/lab from the mansion was there correctly (rendered in more rooms of course), it seemed to be missing the mako tubes that held Zack and Cloud all those years. (Unless those were removed sometime before this game, storywise...) I did find the room with the coffin that Vincent was sleeping in.
Overall, not a bad game so far, and I'm glad I got it for $20. Can't wait to finish it.
