![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
May. 4th, 2008 04:07 pmSo I'm playing Theo's copy of Final Fantasy: Crisis Core (also known as FF7's prequel or Zack's Big Adventure). It's not bad, exactly, it's just that the long unskippable cutscenes that pop up whenever you take three steps are really damn annoying. If I wanted to watch five minutes of SOLDIERS fighting each other I'd go back and watch Advent Children again.
On the other hand, the cutscenes themselves don't actually make a lot of sense, and I don't think they make much sense to Jack, either. It's all people standing about saying things that don't connect to anything that's actually going on and being angsty because of it. Genesis is an especially bad offender in this department because he has a habit of quoting LOVELESS (it's some sort of novel that he really likes) at every possible opportunity and it takes bloody forever. Cutscenes are for special dramatic events and special attacks only (and even those should be kept short). I don't need one for going up a bloody ladder or entering a room or having romantic tension with Aerith when a few dialogue boxes would work just as well. It's also a huge time-waster when you're in the subplots like taking Aerith on a date and getting my wallet nicked so I have to run around finding the kid for a good ten minutes and then go find his stupid money that got eaten by a worm monster. Aren't I supposed to be saving Shinra or something? Why am I buying a pink bow for this girl when she's just gonna get it cut off in the next game?
The plot is...again, neither Zack nor I have a clue what's going on. The villain motivation seems to be that they have spontaneous developed wings it's just the one wing, actually and this makes them angsty because they think they're monsters rather than not being idiots and getting the bloody things amputated. I see where all this wingfic business comes from.
Once we get around to actual gameplay, it's not so bad. Fights are a combination of figuring out which materia/sword you want to use and then pressing X for a while until whatever you're facing dies. Simple enough. There's also the DMW, which is a little casino-style spinny thing at the top of the screen that features the faces of people you've met (and the silhouettes of the ones you haven't). Match them up right and you get special attacks--Aerith's 'attack' is especially nice, it raises your HP like a thousand points, and Tseng calls down an air strike, which is pretty amusing when you're fighting something like Bahamut. If you get a series of three sevens along with the matched pictures you level up, and I think they tweak the odds the more you fight. If it was just random it wouldn't be too pointful.
There's also little 'Missions', which are basically you getting sent someplace and slaughtering everything in sight while obtaining any items that might be lying about. Quite useful for building up levels. Considering that they contain no cutscenes at all, I think I enjoy them as much as the real game.
Anyway, so there's your answer as to why I haven't been writing any fanfic lately.
On the other hand, the cutscenes themselves don't actually make a lot of sense, and I don't think they make much sense to Jack, either. It's all people standing about saying things that don't connect to anything that's actually going on and being angsty because of it. Genesis is an especially bad offender in this department because he has a habit of quoting LOVELESS (it's some sort of novel that he really likes) at every possible opportunity and it takes bloody forever. Cutscenes are for special dramatic events and special attacks only (and even those should be kept short). I don't need one for going up a bloody ladder or entering a room or having romantic tension with Aerith when a few dialogue boxes would work just as well. It's also a huge time-waster when you're in the subplots like taking Aerith on a date and getting my wallet nicked so I have to run around finding the kid for a good ten minutes and then go find his stupid money that got eaten by a worm monster. Aren't I supposed to be saving Shinra or something? Why am I buying a pink bow for this girl when she's just gonna get it cut off in the next game?
The plot is...again, neither Zack nor I have a clue what's going on. The villain motivation seems to be that they have spontaneous developed wings it's just the one wing, actually and this makes them angsty because they think they're monsters rather than not being idiots and getting the bloody things amputated. I see where all this wingfic business comes from.
Once we get around to actual gameplay, it's not so bad. Fights are a combination of figuring out which materia/sword you want to use and then pressing X for a while until whatever you're facing dies. Simple enough. There's also the DMW, which is a little casino-style spinny thing at the top of the screen that features the faces of people you've met (and the silhouettes of the ones you haven't). Match them up right and you get special attacks--Aerith's 'attack' is especially nice, it raises your HP like a thousand points, and Tseng calls down an air strike, which is pretty amusing when you're fighting something like Bahamut. If you get a series of three sevens along with the matched pictures you level up, and I think they tweak the odds the more you fight. If it was just random it wouldn't be too pointful.
There's also little 'Missions', which are basically you getting sent someplace and slaughtering everything in sight while obtaining any items that might be lying about. Quite useful for building up levels. Considering that they contain no cutscenes at all, I think I enjoy them as much as the real game.
Anyway, so there's your answer as to why I haven't been writing any fanfic lately.
