A question for those who played FFVII sequels.

I am currently doing a short essay, msotly of my own amusement, about direct sequels to Final Fantasy games. Now, I’d like to be able to get real firsthand experience on some of these games, but while I’m able to borrow a copy of FFX-2 from a friend, and I’ve seen Advent Children, I do not have the funds to really buy Dirge of Cerberus, nor a PSP to play Crisis Core. So, I’m relying on your own personal opinions for this. I’d like to know, in your own words, three things about both sequels:

Just what, exactly, is the basic plot/concept of the game(s)?
Does this concept, on it’s own, seem solid enough to make a game around it?
Finally: Did the game do a decent job of conveying this concept/plot?

Really, I’d like people to be as objective as possible about this, although I know that’s kind of impossible. Still, any help I can get would be appreciated.

I only played DoC:

-Shinra had ANOTHER supersoldier project underground that was sealed, but since the building was abandoned, the entire army of test subjects that was very much alive and forming their own Nazi-esque society suddenly comes out and begins a plan to… well, the real objective is a huge spoiler. Vincent happened to be in Kalm when it was attacked and got semi-recruited to help by Reeve, who is now the leader of an armed group working to restore the world after the mess with meteor (It’s implied that Rufus is financing it).
-Among other things, there’s a bunch of flashbacks to the Vincent/Lucretcia/Hojo love triangle that are pretty sappy and make a very good job out of making you hate Hojo’s guts.

Overal… while the background plot (GOTTA SAVE THE WORLD!) is pretty damn bland, it’s good enough to warrant at least one playthrough, especially since the game is so short and easy. Characterization is fairly good, and Vincent finally gets some closure to his emo crisis.

The games, along with Advent Children, are not strong enough to stand on thier own. You MUST have played the game they are spawned from for them to be truly enjoyable story-wise. Otherwise very little makes sense…

That’s just in terms of understanding the story, not whether the game is strong or not. You could say that about any direct sequel.

Personally, I quite enjoyed DoC, and I just picked up CC yesterday and am getting used to it. (It looks bloody gorgeous, that’s for sure).

I’d agree that DoC felt a bit more like an afterthought, but CC seems like a much stronger concept and execution.

I have no doubt these games probably wouldn’t stand so well on their own, but I’m not concerned about that. Rather, I’m more interested in the concepts in comparison to their original game. Do they conflict with anything? are they so radically different it’s hard to accept they are the same world, similar characters notwithstanding?

You should not forget to look up information on Before Crisis, a cell phone FF7 game which I believe details adventures of the Turks.

Well… quite frankly, the Deepground in DoC were SO well armed and organized that it’s pretty retarded to believe that they were all just hidden in Shinra’s basement all along, especially since they make a helluva better job at fucking you up than Shinra’s goons could ever manage during VII. That, and Genesis… bah, Gackt’s sparse introduction is really, REALLY pulled out of somebody’s ass as a way of threatening us with yet another sequel featuring another obscure and vaguely developed villain. Other than that, the final threat seemed a bit too damn grandiose for a spinoff (Hint: ANOTHER alien supermotherfucker is involved).

Though it’s not too bad in general. Just turn off your brain a little and it all works fairly well. At the very least they didn’t reset anyone’s character like they did with Cloud in Advent.

You could say that about most RPGs, in fact. 8p

I forgot to mention that, although the general atmosphere is pretty dark, DoC still has a few comical scenes that are very much worth seeing. Reeve’s “Russian Doll” trick at the beginning was priceless, especially with Vincent’s reaction.

I don’t think it’s that farfetched. For such a powerful organization, SHINRA seemed to be run almost individually by its different department heads; the others had little idea of what Hojo was up to, for example. And what were psychos like Scarlet doing in such high ranks anyway!? I suspect that President Shinra wanted it that way- everybody was too busy with their own plans to challenge his control. Likely, after taking over Rufus would have organized things better, but he was too distracted with Sephiroth’s attacks (and the search for the “Promised Land”) to do so in VII. So, I don’t find it that hard to believe that a secret supersoldier project was hidden from most people- further, the chaos caused by the Weapons and METEOR would give them even more reasons to stay hidden until things passed.

Other than that, the final threat seemed a bit too damn grandiose for a spinoff (Hint: ANOTHER alien supermotherfucker is involved).
Are you talking about that Chaos being that possessed Vincent? Or is there some other supermenace in DoC? I haven’t read the full synopsis yet.

I gather you haven’t played it. You just have to really see Deepground to see what I mean. They deploy more manpower and weaponry in the Kalm raid than all of Shinra did throughout VII. Hell, the Tsviets alone are Soldier 1st Class material, and supposedly there was this huge draconian hierarchy enforced by ANOTHER type of supersoldier keeping them all subdued, all in the UNDER-undergrounds of Midgar.

Also… yeah, you missed a lot. Chaos was some kinda errand boy for Omega Weapon, which in this case is some galactic school-bus for planetary essences, think of the Silver Surfer and Galactus if you may. Its job is to absorb the Lifestream of a planet when it dies and carry it through the cosmos. Chaos is the judge that calls Omega when the shit is about to hit the fan. Nevermind that Meteor nearly hitting didn’t make him react in the least.

Meteor was never meant to destroy the whole planet; in fact, that would have defeated Sephiroth’s purpose. It was simply meant to deal it a very harsh wound, and the ensuing energy would have been absorbed by Sephiroth. Meteor is, if anything, the opposite of what summons Omega Weapon - a decrease in Lifestream rather than a sudden increase of it.

As for it being farfetched - it takes place in a floating city, for goodness sake. Characters are capable of superhuman feats of strength and skill. It’s not necessarily all supposed to be credible.

Seraphim: If anything, I was underwhelmed by Shinra- I kept wondering, “Where is this supposedly worlwide Megacorporation’s true power?” (Hey, a ragtag band of terrorists- that’s Avalanche- was able to give them trouble.) So saying that its resources were hidden beneath Midgar is as good an explanation as any.

As for Omega Weapon- yikes! That IS pretty cosmic for such a game. Sounds more like a plot they should’ve saved for a TRUE FFVII sequel (which none of the games that have come out truly are.) And no, I have no plans on playing DoC- it’s a shooter, and I can’t hit the broad side of a barn. Though maybe I can get my best friend’s kids to play it for me… :stuck_out_tongue:

Trust me, I also hate shooters, but I had a lot of fun with this one, as long as I didn’t get too involved with trying to score headshots. ^^; The game automatically locks onto the nearest target with a fair amount of accuracy.

Yeah, seriously, I blow at shooters as well and I even managed to get top ranks in like every mission. It’s pretty fun too. If you do decide to play it, just remember to ask beforehand for management tips on the weapons, since the game throws you a few totally useless ones that might even make your life harder.

OK, you’ve convinced me, I’ll rent it and give it a try (I hear it’s short enough to complete in one weekend, correct?)

Definitely. Grand total of about 10 (15?) hours if my memory serves correctly, though that doesn’t count any of the amazingly frustrating mini-missions.