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    Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

    Game » consists of 8 releases. Released Mar 25, 2008

    A prequel to the fan favorite Final Fantasy VII, focusing on Zack Fair and his adventures as a member of SOLDIER in Shinra Corporation.

    The Key to Good Game Endings: The Subversive Pivot

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    thatpinguino

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    Edited By thatpinguino  Staff

    Spoiler warning for the end of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII! I'm going to explore Crisis Core's ending in extreme depth so if you don't want the game spoiled do not read this!

    Ending a game is hard. Even some of the most engaging games fall flat at the end or simply decide not to end at all. Often the final encounters will feel anti-climactic or the conclusion won’t feel definitive, something will be off. The worst endings tend to roll credits while leaving a huge vacuum where the emotional resolution should be. Some of this emotional vacuum is an intentional product of sequel based design, but I think most of it is product of design mistakes. Look at games like Mass Effect 3 and Fallout 3 - the endings of those games are by far the least engaging parts, and I think I know why. The gameplay loops that make up most of a gameplay experience don’t really lend themselves to engaging conclusions. Having a game end by presenting a bigger enemy to shoot or a pricklier dialog tree to climb is not distinct enough to make the ending stand out regardless of the narrative implications. If a developer attempts to use the same gameplay experience to power their ending as they do their ordinary gameplay, what often results is an ending that feels too much like the rest of the game to be truly special or memorable. To really bring a game home as effectively as possible, you need narrative, gameplay, and pacing to all come together at once in something I’ll call a subversive pivot. To highlight what I mean by a subversive pivot, I’ll use the strongest ending scene I have personally experienced: the end of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

    This game sure knows how to wrap things up
    This game sure knows how to wrap things up

    Crisis Core is by no means a perfect game from a gameplay or narrative perspective; but, it uses darn near every tool in its arsenal perfectly in crafting its ending. In some ways, the ending of Crisis Core was set up to fail. Most FVII players that picked up Crisis Core already knew Zack’s story from the outset. They knew Zack dies at the end and that Cloud unknowingly carries on his legacy. They even knew when Zack would be gunned down. Yet, Zack’s last stand is so well constructed that it transcends all of that baggage.

    Zack’s last stand seems like a normal fight at first, albeit with special music and a new combat background. The fight is against regular Shinra soldiers and an occasional offscreen missile; however, the soldiers can be easily killed and the missiles are easy to dodge. The first hint that something is amiss in this battle is the background music. The music begins to subvert the ordinary combat experience with a somber violin that hints at a melancholy tone for the final fight, contrasting well with the high paced rock music that backgrounds most of the game’s fights. The song, titled “The Price of Freedom,” then shifts to some acoustic rhythm guitar that recalls the game’s central theme “Under the Apple Tree.” The acoustic guitar ties the final fight to the game’s predominant aural aesthetic. Before long, an electric guitar joins the violin and acoustic guitar to blare out a triumphant, but somber riff that melds well with the defiant fight that Zack is trapped in. The battle music is equal parts rallying cry and dirge, setting the tone of the final fight perfectly.

    You see, in the final battle the soldiers never stop coming. The missiles never stop firing. You can fight as hard as you want for as long as you can, but Zack will die. Zack must die. Rather than handling this in a cut scene, the developers of Crisis Core decided to force the player to play Zack’s defeat. They force the player to completely subvert their expectations: to progress they must lose. The expected goals of battle are completely turned on their head and this subversion allows Crisis Core to turn an ordinary battle scene into a powerful symbol of perseverance and tragic defeat.

    Even the basic elements of combat are repurposed in the final battle. As Zack takes damage during the final fight, the DMW system (It stands for“Digital Mind Wave.” It is a sort of limit break roulette that allows Zack to use super moves he learned from his friends over the course of the game) begins to break as Zack gets injured. While the DMW allows you to use special moves every time it aligns in the regular game, in the final battle Zack has a flashback about each of his friends that are displayed on the roulette wheels. After seeing a flashback, the faces of Zack’s remembered comrades will wipe out of the DMW, never to be seen again. By using the DMW system to represent Zack’s fading memories, the developers transfigure the normally amazing lottery jackpot sound and graphic into a metaphor for Zack remembering his friends in his final moments. They turn the very mechanic that players love in the ordinary game into something they dread in the final fight: the DMW changes from a bonus meter to a health bar that is rapidly draining.

    The DMW in action
    The DMW in action

    As Zack gets injured over the course of the fight he will begin to permanently use his injured animations regardless of his remaining HP. This makes fighting the good fight even harder. Regardless of how over-leveled or skilled you are, Zack’s health will creep down and his physical speed will diminish. He will fall down and get injured and you will have to control it knowing there is nothing you can do. I eventually gave up in this battle and found that giving up is even more painful than struggling. Zack’s life will lower to one, but he will not die until all of his friends have vanished from the DMW. This means that I had to control this upbeat, likeable, proud, powerful warrior as he was continually pummeled by soldiers that he could have killed with one or two attacks. Zack ends up falling to an army of weaklings and I could do nothing to stop it. Even worse I was complacent in it. While Zack’s death was known from the outset, playing through the final fight and controlling this beloved character as he gets torn apart was profoundly effective. Once Zack falls the scene goes black and the sound of gunshots intensifies. In the end Zack dies fighting three basic Shinra soldiers that he cannot kill no matter how hard he hits them. Now that is how you use a subversive pivot perfectly.

    I think the take away here is that a great way to impact a player at the end of a game is to subvert the very gameplay systems they have relied on for the entire game. Take the things they know and use those very mechanics to deliver an entirely different experience. It is really difficult to make a boss that is big or powerful enough to leave an impression on people, but everyone remembers a good curveball. A great subversive pivot can expand the emotional range of a game and its mechanics in the way that a brute force approach often can’t.

    P.S.If you want more great examples of subversive pivots look at the endings of Braid, FFX, Bastion, Chrono Cross, and the middle of Bioshock.

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    Dan_CiTi

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    Definitely my favorite Final Fantasy game in forever.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #2  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    Crisis Core is not too bad, granted the villains are all terrible and the gameplay is limited (but still enjoyable); but the music is amazing and a lot of the time when I was commuting on the bus I just sat there and listened to the music without actually playing it (not unlike Hotline Miami in that regard). Realistically if Zach can beat Sephiroth/other Sephiroth guy in a fight he could probably beat the entire Shinra army at once, but hey that's not what happened in Final Fantasy VII and ultimately nothing in this game can subvert the golden goose; kind of an issue with side plot games. I still like the ending.

    I played Fallout 3 for like 80 hours, enjoyed it, and stopped, never got to the ending.

    Mass Effect 3's ending (either version) is fine except for the imagery of the catalyst, especially the red ending. The turret segment in the middle of the final talky talk area is not so good and while the run to the beam is the best part of the game the "walking" segment after you get boned is the worst part of the game (slightly improved in the extended cut).

    Final Fantasy X's plot is good until the end when it sucks; the whole self sacrifice to save society thing is an extremely good theme and something you could build a pulitzer prize winning piece of fiction around. I mean I don't mind everyone being unsent (which isn't the ending mind) but it could have been a lot better if Tidus dove off a cliff in the first 5 seconds of the game, never to be seen again. "I need food!" *starves to death*

    Chrono Cross is a good game with the best soundtrack ever, the main plot sucks except for the dead sea area which has some interesting stuff, not the ending.

    Loading Video...

    Bioshock has a really good twist in the middle, then the ending sucked.

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    thatpinguino

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    #3 thatpinguino  Staff

    @fredchuckdave: I agree that the plot in Chrono Cross sucked, but beating the final boss by playing a song using your spells rather than attacking it is super memorable and novel. It takes the normal combat system and adds a layer of depth to it that does not exist anywhere else. I meant the whole summoning your Aeons to kill them thing in FFX. That is the subversive pivot.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #4  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    @thatpinguino: The entire third act is subversive, some of it works and some of it doesn't. Summons are summons to me so I didn't actually have any emotional attachment to them except Anima, I mean Bahamut is awesome but he's still just a summon. Don't care if he's also a little kid on the side that spouts exposition. Jecht should have been the final boss.

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    Mento

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    #5 Mento  Moderator

    The ending of Crisis Core is fantastic. Even with the baggage of being a Final Fantasy VII side-story filled with Gackt reading gothic poetry and more abject nonsense about genetics than a Metal Gear Solid game, as well as just being a rather weird take on an action RPG in general, it ends on such a high note that I can't help but think of it as one of the best Final Fantasy games of the past 10 years.

    If we're talking about games that completely subvert their mechanics for satisfying endings, there's only a handful that come to mind. Definitely aren't too many where the bad ending is the one and only canonical ending (though you do get cases where one of the downer endings becomes canonical so they can build a sequel out of it, like Shadow Hearts. Of course, technically both of Shadow Hearts' endings are canonical... it's a weird series).

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    EuanDewar

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    Dont have much to add other than:

    1. Fucking loved Crisis Core. Totally in my top 3 Final Fantasy games. Only time I've genuinelyfelt for the characters in one of these games.

    2. Nice blog, yet again.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #7  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    @mento: Shadow Hearts is a damn good series. Though weird is of course what you'd want from a JRPG. That wrestling tower of stacked rings is the stuff of legend.

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    thatpinguino

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    #8 thatpinguino  Staff

    @euandewar: Thanks! And I agree that Crisis Core is my favorite FF thing since X-2 (I liked the combat and the happiness so sue me).

    @mento: It really is amazing that I have no memory of the main plot beyond Genesis and Angeal (what a dumb name) existing and Sephiroth going nuts; yet, I love the end of this game so much that I remember the whole thing fondly. Like I have no idea what is going on until Zack takes a mako bath with Cloud. Does Loveless matter? Does Genesis matter? All I know is that that Junon Cannon fight scene is awesome.

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    TobbRobb

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    Crisis Core is daaamn good. I honestly think it's the perfect exmaple of a game that complements it's parent game. CC adds a lot to 7 without taking anything away while also being great as a standalone experience.

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    liquiddragon

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    I quite liked Crisis Core as well and right up there with the best prequels. That ending is really well done indeed.

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    mosespippy

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    #11  Edited By mosespippy

    @thatpinguino: It's been a long time since I've played CC but if I remember correctly, while Sephiroth was a failed experiment, Genesis was a successful one. I don't remember why that matters, but I think it had something to do with the scientists and their position within Shinra. Loveless matters in that his play is a parallel narrative to the narrative of CC. The difference being that the last act of Loveless' play is unknown, while the last act of CC is known because it happened in FFVII.

    I'd put CC:FFVII in my top three FF games as well, right behind XII and VII.

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    thatpinguino

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    #12 thatpinguino  Staff

    @mosespippy: Yep I didn't even remember that Genesis was an experiment. I just remember him reading Loveless all the time and having a red sword. I didn't notice that Loveless was a parallel narrative since I played the game in small chunks over weeks. Maybe I should try it again.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #13  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    @thatpinguino: Oh yeah Angeal existed! He had good VO, shame I don't remember anything about him other than that.

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    thatpinguino

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    #14 thatpinguino  Staff

    @fredchuckdave: He had one wing like Sephiroth and it was white. Which reminds me of the whole wing thing. Where do the wings come from? Are they Jenova cell side effects? Are they just from being super good warriors?

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    Fredchuckdave

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    @thatpinguino: Well I found this thread on the all knowing GameFAQs, dunno if this is nonsense but this was the closest thing I found to an answer:

    The difference between Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth is that Angel and Genesis' mothers were injected with Jenova cells before they were conceived, while Sephiroth himself was injected with Jenova cells while in the womb.

    Genesis was the first and was imperfect, Angeal was the second and was considered a success. Sephiroth came third and was obviously the most successful experiment out of all three of them.

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    bargainben

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    giving SE a defined ending to work toward limited their ability to miandor and convolute as they typically do. As opposed to that Vincent game, which being set after FF7 quickly sailed up its own ass. Same with the post-FF7 movie.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    Is it bad that I liked Dirge of Cerberus (NA version)? Decent combat and that big arena near the end with 100 enemies was a lot of fun.

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    thatpinguino

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    #18 thatpinguino  Staff

    @bargainben: Free the series from the Nomura directives please someone.

    @fredchuckdave: Dirge of Cerberus was bad but you are not bad for liking it. That Chaos segment at the end was cool and the idea of a "limit breaker" item was always funny. I didn't mind the game thaaaat much since I had like no FPS experience when I played it the first time, but in retrospect...yeesh.

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    Hailinel

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    @bargainben: Saying something went up its own ass is vapid nonsense.

    Crisis Core had an uphill battle. It was of course limited by the Canon of FFVII, but it accomplishes a lot with its characters and story. It finally gave me a clear picture of who Zack is, what his relationship with Aerith was like, and what life for the characters was like prior to FFVII outside of Cloud's muddled mind and a dodgy localization.

    That it ends as it does is fitting to the story, but more than that, it capitalizes on its opportunity to design it's final battle around inevitable failure. It's extraordinary in that regard and a shame that Crisis Core doesn't get more praise or credit for its accomplishments.

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    EuanDewar

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    @hailinel said:

    It's extraordinary in that regard and a shame that Crisis Core doesn't get more praise or credit for its accomplishments.

    Not exactly a surprise though because A) It's a Final Fantasy side-story game and B) it was released on PSP. Exact same scenario as MGS: Peacewalker, did some rad new things with the franchise but went largely unnoticed while doing it due to circumstances that were beyond it's control. Although I think even Peacewalker had an easier time of it than Crisis Core, what with being released later on console too.

    It doesn't help that Square haven't put it out on PSN yet and most likely never will. I assume of course that their reasons for not doing so are solid but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

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    mosespippy

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    @fredchuckdave: Wasn't there something about Angeal's sword, which eventually gets passed on to Zack, and ultimately to Cloud?

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    thatpinguino

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    #22 thatpinguino  Staff

    @hailinel said:

    It's extraordinary in that regard and a shame that Crisis Core doesn't get more praise or credit for its accomplishments.

    Not exactly a surprise though because A) It's a Final Fantasy side-story game and B) it was released on PSP. Exact same scenario as MGS: Peacewalker, did some rad new things with the franchise but went largely unnoticed while doing it due to circumstances that were beyond it's control. Although I think even Peacewalker had an easier time of it than Crisis Core, what with being released later on console too.

    It doesn't help that Square haven't put it out on PSN yet and most likely never will. I assume of course that their reasons for not doing so are solid but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

    It doesn't help that many of the personality driven sites don't seem to focus on JRPGs and their ilk. Crisis Core was well liked by reviewers but it never captured the zeitgeist like Dark Souls did or Destiny has.

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    Hailinel

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    @euandewar said:
    @hailinel said:

    It's extraordinary in that regard and a shame that Crisis Core doesn't get more praise or credit for its accomplishments.

    Not exactly a surprise though because A) It's a Final Fantasy side-story game and B) it was released on PSP. Exact same scenario as MGS: Peacewalker, did some rad new things with the franchise but went largely unnoticed while doing it due to circumstances that were beyond it's control. Although I think even Peacewalker had an easier time of it than Crisis Core, what with being released later on console too.

    It doesn't help that Square haven't put it out on PSN yet and most likely never will. I assume of course that their reasons for not doing so are solid but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

    It doesn't help that many of the personality driven sites don't seem to focus on JRPGs and their ilk. Crisis Core was well liked by reviewers but it never captured the zeitgeist like Dark Souls did or Destiny has.

    It also became something of a running joke at the XPlay panels at PAX (up until XPlay was cancelled).

    But yeah, it is true that its platform and status as a side-story didn't really do Crisis Core any favors in the press or in general, which is unfortunate.

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    thatpinguino

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    #24 thatpinguino  Staff

    @hailinel: What was the running joke at the XPlay panel?

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    Hailinel

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    @hailinel: What was the running joke at the XPlay panel?

    I never actually attended the panel, but the description of the panel in the guide every year basically said that they'd make fun of anyone that defended the game. Sounds like they didn't like it very much.

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    thatpinguino

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    #26 thatpinguino  Staff

    @hailinel: I mean I can't defend the entire game, but I will certainly defend the ending. It made me come up with a hoity toity literary term to articulate why it is so good!

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    TheManWithNoPlan

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    I played through this whole game a long time ago and don't remember enough of it to have an opinion on it. I do remember having fun with it.

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    doctordonkey

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    Hailinel

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    @hailinel: I mean I can't defend the entire game, but I will certainly defend the ending. It made me come up with a hoity toity literary term to articulate why it is so good!

    There are certainly parts of the game that are wonky, but there are also parts of the game that are well worth defending.

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    csl316

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    Interesting stuff. I recall thinking that the ending dragged a bit because I knew what was coming but it just kept going. I'll admit, it was probably like 2am and I wanted to go to sleep so that didn't help. Thinking back, Crisis Core was a super cool game.

    Asura's Wrath had a bunch of cool, gameplay related stuff at the end (I'm talking the final DLC ending). Everyone should play Asura's Wrath and get to the true ending. That is all.

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    thatpinguino

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    #31 thatpinguino  Staff

    @doctordonkey: I find the whole steel/ acoustic guitar focus in Crisis Core's music really makes it stand out from the rest of the FF soundtracks. Half the time Crisis Core sounds a bit like it is set in a country universe and the other half of the time it is crazy fast rock music.

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    thatpinguino

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    #32  Edited By thatpinguino  Staff

    @csl316: Yeah the final boss happens at least an hour before the game ends which is a really weird choice. I suppose the pacing had to be weird at the end since the final confrontation with Genesis couldn't alter the timeline of Zack's journey to Midgar. So you end up with this un-fulfilling final boss before one of the most impactful fights in gaming history.

    I haven't played Asura's Wrath and I've been meaning to give it a try. It just seems like a much bigger investment than the sticker price implies since there are so many crucial pieces of DLC.

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    csl316

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    @thatpinguino: Honestly, there's only one DLC that's necessary. I believe it's called Nirvana and it's a good 3 hours or so. There's an ending to the game, but once you see the extra "true ending" cliffhanger you'll need that one DLC.

    The rest are just What If battles with Ryu and Akuma. Non-essential stuff.

    Man, that game. My second favorite that year behind Mass Effect 3!

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    Shaka999

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    So I've never played CC, but reading about the ending reminded me a lot of the end of Halo: Reach (easily the best part of that game, btw).

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    thatpinguino

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    #35 thatpinguino  Staff

    @shaka999: Does the gameplay change at the end of Reach or do you just get overwhelmed?

    @csl316: Ok good to know.

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    Shaka999

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    @thatpinguino: not on mobile, sorry for a lack of formatting, the mechanics don't really change, but

    SPOILERS FOR REACH AHEAD

    You finish the last mission and a big spaceship (the one carrying Chief at the beginning of Halo 1), but you are left behind on the planet that is being overrun with Covenant. The objective comes up and only says "Survive". As you walk around, you see a bunch of dead spartans on the ground, weapons with half empty clips (i think), and Covenant in any direction you walk. As you take damage, your shield stops recharging (not sure on this, its been awhile) and as your damage depletes, your visor starts cracking and elements of your HUD stop working. Once you finally run out of life, you get a nice scene with your Spartan fighting Elites until his or her last breath.

    END SPOILERS FOR HALO REACH

    There's a lot of details i'm missing, but you get the jist of it. Look it up on youtube, its probably my favorite Halo "moment," if you will

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    thatpinguino

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    #37  Edited By thatpinguino  Staff

    @shaka999: Ok that sounds similar to the end of Crisis Core. The final fight with Zack is super drawn out and they include the flashbacks to add some emotional weight, but the idea is the same. It is really the DMW system being flipped on its head that separates it from what Reach does. Though the hud elements fading and the screen cracking could approximate that sort of thing. Is the final fight in Reach long? Zack's last stand takes a while and you really get a sense of how much he is getting beat up.

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    Shaka999

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    @thatpinguino: That's dependent on what difficult you're playing on. Once I finally finished Legendary solo (by the way, fuck that achievement), I think I managed to last at least 5 minutes. On easier difficulties, I could see myself lasting much longer than that. You don't get a sense of how much your individual character gets beat up (aside from the last cutscene), but seeing the bodies of dead spartans, emptied weapons lying around and the destruction to a lot of structures around you gives you a sense that the planet of Reach has taken the beating.

    My text descriptions are not doing the ending justice, it's really good. I think you more adeptly described CC's ending. I really wanna check the game out, but I don't have a PSP

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    thatpinguino

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    #39 thatpinguino  Staff

    @shaka999: Yeah the big problem for Crisis Core was it coming out on the wrong system at the wrong time. You can't play it on anything but a PSP unless you want to go the emulation route. It is worth playing and it is actually a solid mobile game for short play sessions.

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