This review contains spoilers
This game left me with a lot of thoughts. On the one hand I love seeing Zack's arc and how he ended up with the beautifully tragic ending he was dealt. His journey was the best part of this game. Seeing how he interacts with all the strange Shinra higher ups and other soldier members or townspeople was great. The Shinra experment aspect of the narrative is another highlight. I feel like the best part of any of this story is that it shows how messed up Shinra truly is. Through the abnormal shit people spew to you like it's an average day in the company to finding out about Project G and J... they do a good job (whether intentional or not) of making Shinra feel like a truly creepy organization. Their obsession with gaining power through any means necessary is fascinating. I ultimately don't have much to say on Genesis or Angeal. Angeal on the one hand is interesting considering he's like a brother to Zack in the beginning and ends up giving him the Buster Sword (And you get to hear a little about it which is nice). Genesis though... what a pathetic annoying character. Only good thing they could do for him if he comes back somehow in Rebirth is give him something... anything more to do. And SHUT UP ABOUT LOVELESS MY GOD. In the end I was just left feeling weird about the narrative because until the final chapters, where it actually ties into the main FF7 narrative, the story just does not matter. Like I stated Zack's interactions with everyone is what makes it any bit interesting.
The gameplay is... simplistic yet has potential. I understand this was a PSP game originally so everything was designed in a very simple pick up and play fashion. My main issue comes down to there being nothing you do outside of combat. There's some fun minigame moments but I just wish there was something more going on. The only thing you do is run down corridors and fight enemies for the most part. That's every single mission in this game. The simplicity extends to the combat itself as well. I really like the action oriented nature of it (my preferred RPG playstyle). But there isn't much more to focus on besides getting weaknesses of enemies, and hoping the DMW gives you what you want it to. Speaking of which the DMW is really sick and idk why they didn't give you more control of it. The way you get to see Zack's memories as a way to expand on his interactions with characters without having to fit it in the main story somewhere is unique. Now there are ways to pull the odds of getting certain actions in your favor I'm aware. I guess I mainly would've liked there to be more interactivity with it. Maybe have it change up certain combat mechanics. I feel like there's a lot of changes I'd wanna make for this game, but to keep it simple why not have you be able to affect the DMW through the use of certain moves or attack patterns. Something like that. I think the fact that you also can't do certain missions or sidequests with certain characters to affect Zack's emotions with them is what also is weird (granted you can get Materia or gear, I can't remember exactly which, to increase the odds of certain actions popping up so I guess they didn't even need to go that route). Overall I just wanted more to do in the world. Otherwise the gameplay is solid.
If there's anything to end this on it's that ending. Seeing the final scenes of Zack and Cloud almost making it to Midgar, the soldier ambush, Zack's final words... they did that whole ending so much justice in this game. Legit gave me goosebumps. I'm so glad to have finally played this game despite its issues, and now that I've watched Advent Children I feel fully ready for Rebirth.
The gameplay is... simplistic yet has potential. I understand this was a PSP game originally so everything was designed in a very simple pick up and play fashion. My main issue comes down to there being nothing you do outside of combat. There's some fun minigame moments but I just wish there was something more going on. The only thing you do is run down corridors and fight enemies for the most part. That's every single mission in this game. The simplicity extends to the combat itself as well. I really like the action oriented nature of it (my preferred RPG playstyle). But there isn't much more to focus on besides getting weaknesses of enemies, and hoping the DMW gives you what you want it to. Speaking of which the DMW is really sick and idk why they didn't give you more control of it. The way you get to see Zack's memories as a way to expand on his interactions with characters without having to fit it in the main story somewhere is unique. Now there are ways to pull the odds of getting certain actions in your favor I'm aware. I guess I mainly would've liked there to be more interactivity with it. Maybe have it change up certain combat mechanics. I feel like there's a lot of changes I'd wanna make for this game, but to keep it simple why not have you be able to affect the DMW through the use of certain moves or attack patterns. Something like that. I think the fact that you also can't do certain missions or sidequests with certain characters to affect Zack's emotions with them is what also is weird (granted you can get Materia or gear, I can't remember exactly which, to increase the odds of certain actions popping up so I guess they didn't even need to go that route). Overall I just wanted more to do in the world. Otherwise the gameplay is solid.
If there's anything to end this on it's that ending. Seeing the final scenes of Zack and Cloud almost making it to Midgar, the soldier ambush, Zack's final words... they did that whole ending so much justice in this game. Legit gave me goosebumps. I'm so glad to have finally played this game despite its issues, and now that I've watched Advent Children I feel fully ready for Rebirth.