It's here!! Thanks for your patience, as always, and hope the finale to my series on the Final Fantasy 7 Compilation was worth it. :) Please consider subscribing if you enjoy my stuff, share it around, and if you REALLY like me and want to do something more than just subscribe, then consider pledging to me on Patreon!! Thanks again guys, hope your Christmases were good, and that your New Years are filled with MANY A GOOD THING. Clemps x
I have so many conflicting feelings in regards to how i want FF7Re to handle Zack's story. On one hand, i kinda want to see some of this game's expansion of it, but on the other, i really want Genesis to be exiled from continuity even if i personally don't quite hate everything about the character. What i'm actually getting at though, is that i feel like what the original showed would feel like far too little, _especially_ with how beloved Zack has become due to this game. Because, lets be honest here, i've hardly seen anyone who didn't love Zack as a main character. With so many outcries of him being "better than Cloud". I can't help but think about Smash too, though, and how much wasted potential SE's stingy practices brought. Even if it had only been FF7 content. From dark humour like an Aerith Spirit vulnerable to Down-Airs, to good boy Zack as an Echo.
DarkHero Gaming Channel Same as me, but I couldn’t get passed Genesis so I looked up the ending and never touched the game for years because I didn’t want to play it out lol
what got me in that last scene that i thought was really good was that that a triple aerith in the slots would grant a full heal to you so the idea that it teases the player in that last moment was just so good
This video was absolutely stellar. I'm very glad you highlighted how Tabata's directing can lead to some mediocre or undercooked sequences that have a truly engaging and emotional weight to them. Great work as always.
He writes the perfect scenes then has to break them so he doesn’t destroy the space-time continuum by creating a black hole with such big and heavy feels.
For all the Crisis Core faults, I loved the ending, it still makes me emotional whenever I watch it. When I played this, I knew so little about FF7, I knew enough about who's who but not what happened, and seeing this character who always smiled and kept his optimism even through his last breath, is wonderful. A lot of the things that happened to him would've been the usual case to make a brooding and edgy character but besides maturing a bit after Angeal's death, he was still the same old Zack you can probably have a beer with in the start. That last drop of "would you say I became a hero?" still hits me hard with how sad but happy it is.
Yeah man, the fact that he says, "Well, the price of freedom is steep!" all while throwing out a grin... No longer desperate, no longer running. Just facing what he has to do head on. Because what is he? He's a hero. But not because of what he's done. Because of the kind of person that he is. He could easily have left Cloud behind and gotten back to Aerith, but he _can't_ and that's what makes him a hero. He gives up his own life for Cloud. What else can he do but fight? And if it's inevitable that he must fight, he remains optimistic about it.
I actually feel the ending was much more powerful for the player in Crisis Core then it was in FF7. Having to actually play through the entirety of the fight was incredibly cruel and painful but that's exactly how they wanted you to feel in Zacks last moments. It also showed the man who wouldn't let himself be worn down or run down, he gave everything he had, every last drop of it, up until the end. Nothing was going to stop him, and having the final fight be him all weak would take away from that I feel.
Love the review but disagree on the ending bit as it is meant to exhaust the player in their struggle to save zack from the inevitable but failing. This becomes more tragic in the context of the player who has come to love Zack as a character of his own and not some random NPC in FF7. I fought the horde for about half an hour until the inevitable settled in when I first played it 10 years ago.
Agreed. I think the point was to instill some false hope: look how easily you're beating these mooks! Maybe there's a special secret ending in which Zack survives if you fight hard enough! But as you get more and more beaten down, and as you struggle against the controls as Zack's body and mind fall apart, the impact of Zack's inevitable end hits that much harder. I think Clemps misses the point here as he searches for something he personally prefers, versus what was actually there all along.
That's honestly the feeling i got from the final battle. I get where Clemps is coming from, the way Zack fights in the final battle doesn't really align well with how Zack was portrayed at the flashback in the original game, but i honestly still really like the way the final battle is in this game.
There are so many more effective ways of doing that than a giant battle against tons of jobbers though. It also just feels like a Dynasty Warriors level of stupid and taking you out of the story.
I completely disagree with your opinion on Zacks last stand. While I too see something really special in how it was handled in the original FFVII with barely any sounds, the limited animation and graphical fidelity and how sudden everything came and went, the last stand in Crisis Core is outright phenomenal and that's due to one point you completely neglected: YOU are Zack. In FFVII Zack was barely a sidenote to the overarching story. And I'm not saying he wasn't important to the story but he had no spotlight at any point. His backstory from the Nibelheim incident to the Midgar outskirts was hidden away and you had to return to the mansion at a later point in time to even see it. He was a side character in every sense of the word. Whereas in Crisis Core he is the center of the universe. YOU control him in his journey to becoming a hero. YOU suffer with him. YOU overcome with him. YOU are confused with him. And the final stand is the perfect representation of that! You already said it yourself: "This is a game for the fans". Almost everyone who picks this up, already knows about Zacks fate, knows that he's going to die in the end. It's just a matter of seeing HOW it will end in that conclusion. And, for me at least, over the course of the game you forget all about that. You cherish your time with Zack and experience his different emotions with and through him. And then, all of a sudden, the moment is at hand. You find yourself in the back of a truck, fleeing from the pursuit by Shinras army. Suddenly your memories of your inevitable fate come back. And then you reach the point of no return, staring down the barrel of one, then two and then dozens of aimed guns. And what you said you missed from that moment, just now begins to set in: exhaustion. You're still running, you're still fighting. All Zack, and you by proxy, wants to do is to get to Aerith to set things straight, tell her that you didn't bail and get your happy ending. But there is yet another obstacle and the odds are stacked against you indefinetely. And yet you still fight and struggle. Because despite knowing better, you have that ridiculous sliver of hope that there actually IS a happy ending. To explain it in a personal anecdote: The first time I encountered this fight, I fought for about two hours (no, this is not an exaggeration). I knew Zack was gonna die but I still tried my hardest to keep him alive, despite my fingers going numb, sweat making me lose grip of the PSP constantly and getting really tired (since it was deep into the night and I was tucked in bed already). I continued fighting until I just couldn't anymore. I don't know about you, but to me THAT is real exhaustion if I've ever experienced it, especially from a game. When everything was over and the credits rolled, I really felt burned out. I was devastated. I knew Zacks fate beforehand and yet I was weeping uncontrollably and physically shaking from sheer fatigue. And this is why I simply can't understand your reasoning behind your argument. Yeah, you don't "see" Zack being exhausted up until the death scenario, but instead you FEEL it yourself. Because, as I said before, you ARE Zack this time. This time it isn't merely a cutscene that you uncovered, you've led yourself there. And if that isn't top tier storytelling, I genuinely can't tell what is. One final thing to end my statement on this bittersweet perfection of a characters arc on: Over the entire game you've had countless encounters. All started and ended the same way. "Activating Combat Mode" - "Conflict Resolved". All, except one. This last fight and this last fight alone doesn't give you the sweet relief of your conflict being resolved. Just let that sink in. Anyway, good video. I was really looking forward to this. Thank you for taking your time to give your opinion on this flawed gem of a game. Have a wonderful rest of 2018 and a good year 2019.
Since you did a very good job of articulating your disagreement without coming off as rude or offended, I will try my best to meet you in kind and simply address your misunderstanding in the most polite way I can manage. Clemps did not say that you don't see exhaustion in Zack during this game, just that the implication of where the exhaustion is changes from the original to Crisis Core. In the original story, Zack's exhaustion was implied to be from all of the running around he did with Cloud to escape death, and ended with him dying of basic gun shots to no more than 3 ShinRa soldiers. However, in Crisis Core, the exhaustion is implied to be from the gigantic battle at the end of the game and that Zack running around with Cloud beforehand seemingly had no impact on him. The difference is that the former has the tragic implication that Zack's superhuman strength and ability didn't mean a thing, whereas the latter is better suited to putting you and Zack on the same page. Clemps was disappointed with this outcome specifically because the events of that part of the story prior to the final battle helped stay in line with the canon and reinforced it by putting Zack not only on the run with Cloud but also fighting big exhausting battles and the mental strain of his mentor dying a second time on top of it. Like I said, I really don't want to take away anything from your explanation because you did seem more authentic and polite than most. I just wanted to clear that up.
Love this explanation I felt the same way when going through that last fight and the point if saying how even though you know his fate it still comes as a shock when he's in the truck and you've gotta be like "Oh shit yeah he dies" is just great storytelling. Personally I like the final battle as it is just because we wouldn't have been able to have all the scenes of him going through those flashbacks by him fighting three soldiers, not realistic. Adding in the big fight I think certainly doesn't make sense from the context of FF7, but damn is it a better choice in Zacks story and I'll happily take that continuity break over Zack dying by three soldiers right away. Not that theres anything wrong with that, but Crisis Cores final battle is just way better to me.
I think Clemps' biggest issue is that it's not coherent with the story we were told in the original FF7. I personally played CC before 7, and it's my favourite game. Even the melodramatic, campy-ness of the game is endearing to me. It's telling to me that everytime I listen to Ayaka's 'Why' (ending song with lyrics) I'm filled with a feeling of utter exhaustion. It brings me back to that time when I fought with Zack, when I WAS Zack. I've tried so hard to stop the plot moving forward to its final conclusion, tried to ruin the play, interfere with destiny. But I'm just one man in a huge world. And what can I do at the end but laugh, and give myself entirely to it? But even still I will fight, take courage, have honour, and not give up hope. Playing as Zack makes me want to be a better man, and that is a testament to the strength of his character. All others aside, Zack made this game worthwhile.
@@pwndulquiorra I can see that. The only problem is that it wouldn't be very fitting as gameplay, you simply need that last "hurrah" at the end. I know it's hard to implement correctly and I also agree with his idea of making it kinda like the escape scene in Nibelheim where Shinra is trying to take Cloud away, but saying that the final stand in Crisis Core was handled badly in comparision to the original or that it ruined the context of it is simply unfair. I know I didn't really get my point across in my original comment since it was very emotional and it was getting pretty late, but my main point is that Crisis Core is an entire game whereas the cutscenes in Final Fantasy VII were only that - cutscenes. And while it could have been handled different in some ways, a game should always be "experience, don't just show" instead of "show, don't tell". And in a game as campy and melodramatic as Crisis Core, what better way than to send your protagonist (and thus you) off with a giant bang? The only way I could see this moment be improved would be to leave the Genesis plot out and instead just focus on the travel towards Midgar and maybe, as mentioned earlier, have the fight be more of a defense situation with Cloud on a bigger setpiece. But I wouldn't want to miss this fight in a milion years and, in my opinion, it's incomparably better than the situation from the original Final Fantasy VII in what it did. P.S. Thanks for your compliments about my comment, I appreciate that! :)
@@kurdtcoben No I understood your point completely, and I'm not even necessarily disagreeing with your perspective. Me personally, especially as an aspiring game designer "do, don't show" is a language I'm very fluent in at this point. It just seemed like that aspect of Clemps' point needed a bit of elaborating since it seemed like you didn't understand his thought process. Really, I'm not trying to take anything away from either perspective because both have merit. I just like to clear up confusion whenever I can because confusion leads to misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to anger, and anger is the bane of civil discussion. However, yes, I do agree with you that Gackt's OC was very invasive. But even if Genesis and, by extension, Angeal had to stay, there are still better ways of doing it than how they're handled in this game, though my mother really enjoys Genesis so she would get angry at me for attempting to remove him.
I thoroughly enjoyed Zack's Last Stand. The game by that point already made it clear that Zack was feeling a lot weaker than before but then we also see his fight through everything including Genesis in Avatar form. At that point, we as the player simply see him as the powerful lovable dolt that he is. I don't think people would've been as accepting of it until we were made to accept reality through a brute force measure like an impossible battle again tens of thousands and death through sheer exhaustion. Not to mention, as a kid, I enjoyed the fact that Shinra had to go to such extreme measures to finish off my boy Zack. and that Zack absolutely crippled them to that extent.
Aspire to be like Gackt, be so popular and so rich and have so much pull that you can insert your lame OC to a well known franchise and insert your OC into the story and hint yourself at being the next big villain.
@@2222-l5b His likeness is copyrighted, which means that they can't easily re-release Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus, at least not without paying royalties. And for us over in the west who for the most part either don't know who Gackt is/was or don't give a shit, is fucking annoying/insulting. I really wish they'd stop putting famous people's likeness into games if it makes re-releasing it difficult or even impossible down the road.
Oh boy! Mom said we'd stop getting presents after Christmas! Edit: I adore this video (as I do all your videos, you tasty boy) and I would like to discuss your gripe with the ending. I absolutely understand your distaste for the final battle from a narrative stand-point. In fact, I have no doubt that were Crisis Core a film, it likely would've gone the way you described. (Or at least I hope it would.) Personally though, I think the reason they included the final battle in such a way was for how it would affect the player. I too wept like a little boy when Zack perished, but not because of the DMV, but because of how that final battle affected me as a player. During that final battle Zack was fighting to save Cloud, but I was fighting to save Zack. I had somehow convinced myself that with all my vaunted strength, that if I could just defeat enough soldiers I would unlock a secret ending where my friend lives happily ever after. It was devastating for me to fight for so long and so hard just to watch him die. Shit made me cry under the blankets when I had to say goodbye to a fictional character for the last time. And I loved it. That final battle stomped on my heart so expertly that it's one of the very few moments I still really think about after all these years.
I had to admit that I cried at the final confrontation. With Price of Freedom playing. Watching him get worn down. The DMW/Zack's own memories slowly falling apart. It was very emotional.
The post-FF7 material is... not good. But more importantly, so infested with cringey OC-like characters and the anime-i-fication of everything in that world, that the idea of the 7Remake including even a flippant joke that they were ever written fills me with dread. Which is to not say that these things had no value at all. It's merely to say that there's greater value in letting one of the best RPGs ever made speak for itself. Final Fantasy 7 doesn't need Gackt.
I was in my Senior Year of high school when I played Crisis Core. I finished the game during a late after school rehearsal when I played through the final sequence. Watching the DMW breaking down had me fighting back tears with 98 other people in the auditorium. I actually had to run off to the dressing room to keep them from seeing me. It is one of my fondest memories of Video Games. Crisis Core was never that great a game in my opinion. But the story and characters came to me at a formative time in my life. So the ending was like a Buster Sword to the heart at the time, and remembering it during your review had me choking up. Well done, Clempsie. Thank you~
First, I gotta say, love this analysis. You did a great job of explaining what you liked and disliked about the game and (most importantly) why. That being said, I gotta disagree with you on the final fight with Zack. While I do think your way of handling the ending would have been a much more cinematic and faithful way of showing Zack's death, I don't think it's a great way of playing it. I don't think the reasoning behind Zack fighting hundreds of Shinra soldiers was to make him more impressive and powerful, I think it was a way to make the player actually feel worn down. As you fight an endless horde of enemies, your DMW gauge slowly loses the characters in it as you see Zack's life flash before your eyes. The enemies aren't hard, but as you fight and the in-game strength you built up during the course of your journy begins to drain away as you're forced to summon more and more, an impending sense of dread begins to emerge. And then Zack, as exhausted as you feel yourself after a long battle, runs out of gas and can barely lift his sword to fight until that final gunshot. I loved every second of that final battle. While it does have a different feel than the original cinematic in FF7, I feel that in terms of the gameplay with Crisis Core, there are very few ways it could have been done better. That being said, the fade to black into "weak Zack" mode and the final shot could have been done better. But years later, after playing the game once, I can still remember everything about that final battle in Crisis Core. Meanwhile, after playing thru FF7 3 times, I didn't remember a single scene with Zack until you brought it up in this video. Playing through a powerful scene in a game is, in my opinion, a lot more powerful than watching it.
No way... He just ate my hair... And then he's going to eat me... OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3:24 Cloud's most defining moment of badass followed by clown noises. Never change Clemps you sweet cinnamon bun. For real though, seeing that moment happen for the first time in FF7 was god damn awesome. This total chump is so determined and full of rage at seeing everyone he knows and loves get absolutely slaughtered leads him to 1 Hit KO one of the most powerful beings in that universe. It wasn't until my second playthrough that I even realized we weren't speaking to the real Sephiroth throughout our journey but rather a piece of Jenova projecting his consciousness, thus why each encounter always results in a fight with one of Jenova's body parts. The real Sephiroth got SO fucked up by Cloud in Nibelheim that the only thing left of him is a torso in suspended animation.
Amazing video About Cissenei the reason behind her real name is because she is the female avatar for before crisis another game in the compilation the player himself gives her the real name
Technically the open ended scene with Cissnei and Tseng is referenced in Before Crisis (I have never played it myself so I cannot be 100% certain). Apparently Cissnei (CC) was intended to be a sort of the cannon representative of the Player character from Before Crisis. Also worth pointing out that Cissnei's design is one of the playable turks (Female Shuriken).
It works with the theme of FF7 as an example of the things Zack will miss out on and never get to do. When you die, all your plans are over, you won't find out the answer to any more secrets.
God I'm so happy I found your channel back during your Drakengard 3 analysis. Your content is some of most entertaining shite on UA-cam. Keep up the good work Dad 😊
I was a little later than you, I found it around the original Nier analysis was made. But with that I found out Drakengard was in a roundabout way tied to the Nier game thats story I loved so because of that I played the Drakengard series as well as hit the back catalog of it's analysis because I'll be honest the second and especially the 3rd was pretty out there so having a second set of eyes on the story helped a lot. Hell I missed the fact Kaine had a wang till I watched his video on the game. After I got the Kaine outfit for 2B I never switched it, so I'm sure that Freud would have something to say about that lol.
The final battle is the saddest battle, I don’t think any other battle had braught me to tears like that mixture of music, story and battle. Watching his memories steadily breaking while I could only helplessly mashed buttons...perfection
My first FF game was crisis core. I never have heard 7 and was too young and broke to play anything about it. I also unfortunately never finished this game as my PSP broke before I could. I didn't know I was so close to the end. I was too young to understand the character dilemma and the suffering Zack went through. So I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for analyzing this game. I may have to buy FF 7's remake just to know what happens after. However; now that I know the true tragedy of Crisis Core without the bias of 7, I can definitely say that this was a solid and slow burn. I'm going to have to replay CC, and maybe cry for a good hour. Thank you @Mr. Clemps, you have made and ruined my day to tears. ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
89 letters from Aerith. You can't convince me that some of them weren't her going absolutely psycho, threatening to break up with him and break his games, and then apologizing.
Even worse, Cissnei is one of the playable new Turks you could pick between for Before Crisis, with her codename being Shuriken after the weapon she used there. Before Crisis even continued on and finished after Crisis Core, with several events even being referenced in CC (albeit loosely, like the flashback of the graves of the two SOLDIERs that Zack killed in that storyline), but elements of BC got reworked and rewritten in CC, resulting in a character like Cissnei ascending to a different role and having scenes and such that were nowhere in BC, as the player character simply couldn't be there for those various moments regardless of who you picked. So they're basically two different characters thanks to the way that whole wonky dick situation turned out.
The ending of Crisis Core was really great! I really liked the spirit of Zack, he keeps talking to Cloud like Cloud could hear him. What I didn't like about the ending is that the Turks were all over Zack with helicopters and stuff but they couldn't help him or at least warn him of the swarm is Shinra soldiers. But I know that Zack's fate was decided long ago, I just didn't know it (yes, I played Crisis Core before finishing FFVII). The DMW stuff was really emotional too. But I hated the whole clone thing and degradation plot. Everyone turns to Angeal and everyone fades to grey, even their clothes (I guess this is how real genetics work). Overall, I loved this game back in 2010 when I played it. I was at my first workplace and the memories are etched in deeply.
I love watching your videos so much that even if I'm not a fan of some of the games I still click immediately when I get a notification. I'd donate to your patreon if I had disposable income
The story sucks, but Zack is such a good character and that ending makes me cri evrytiem. Tabata is not good at writting stories, but he's so good at writting characters and emotional moments.
The chair holding up Genesis' body after the apple scene might just be the strongest chair ever made. I'd have imagined it would have at least scooted out of the way after everyone else was moved off, but nope. It's sitting strong.
There really is a sort of sad irony in how this game adds so much unnecessary fluff, yet spends too little time on the pre-existing story beats it was meant to expand on, and which are, of course, some of the best parts of the game. This game's entire plot just screams "less is more". Though i do also feel like they skimped on showing Zack actually _being_ a SOLDIER from a story-based standpoint. The entirely optional missions do NOT count whatsoever, they merely exist to have more gameplay content. Which isn't a bad thing mind you, it just doesn't matter where the game suffers most.
I hope the remake combines the deaths. Have him be worn down: slashed, shot up, and sleep deprived. And then get ambushed by a small group of armed guys. They beat him even more but he wins. He goes to check on Cloud and gets surprised by three men and shot to death. He gets his heroic last stand but still keep that gritty feeling the original had.
Hello from the future. Seeing as the remake did something reaaaaaaaaaaaally different (Spoilers for FFVII Remake) Zack manages to defeat all the soldiers which is caused by timelime-tampering hijinks. So since I think the part 2 game is going to be about fixing the timeline so it can be like the original, maybe part of it will be your idea happening. Zack beating everyone, checks on Cloud, but is unknowingly followed by 3 soldiers who gun him down in the end. (Ngl maybe by some of Cloud's gang dressed up in Shinra clothes to do it themselves to "fix" the timeline, so extra hurt when Cloud has to either shoot down Zack himself or watch Zack being shot firsthand once again. But that's just speculation.)
Cissnei is one of the playable characters in Before Crisis, FYI. The player names her, hence her canonical name is up to the player and Cissnei is a codename for this mission. Her story begins and concludes in that game (she's still alive and in hiding as of the end of FFVII, along with the other traitor Turks who helped Avalanche). The CC scenes with her are in BC but shown from her perspective. Her partner in the Turks is also a man from Gongaga (Zack's hometown) who wields a katana.
As per usual I love the video! The "Bad Apple" for the Banora White was a beautiful touch, the kind of touch I only see with your content. Love your stuff, please keep it up ^_^
I remember this was my first and only ff game I've ever played back when I got my psp when I was a kid around 9 years old. Back then I didn't know anything about games so I didnt have a memory card and that meant I couldn't save the game. Everytime I died I had to restart from the beginning but despite that I almost finished the game. What I'm trying to say here is that this game has a special place in my heart. I love zack I would look up to him even thought he's just a character. I wanted to be zack. Know that I grew up it breaks my heart finding out that he died and never got to see aerith ever again. I love this game with all my heart
I had forgotten entirely about Genesis showing up at Nibelheim. And given that re-implementing Genesis would most likely entail trying to get the rights to his likeness back, whether or not that will be preserved in FF7 Remake, or if they'll just retcon that out and go back to the old template.
I remember playing it years ago on PSP, really liked it. After playing it, only then I understood the Advent Children's scene in the last minutes, where Aeris and Zack are giving their final waves to Cloud while slowly fading into light. Goddamn, I cried like a child...
Zack is a great character and this game does a great job of fleshing him out, but it doesn't change the fact that all the Compilation titles are extremely needlessly convoluted and retroactively ruin aspects of the original FF7. Knowing more about who Zack is does add an extra layer of depth to his death, though. But considering where things left off at the end of Remake, who knows where things are gonna go from here on out.
Goddamn, it's been over 10 years now and even thinking about that ending scene makes me tear up just like it did the first time. I don't know what it exactly says about Tabata if he was able to pull off an incredible ending like that even with the somewhat questionable story leading up to that point.
God, compilation of FF7 kinda makes me glad FF9 avoided mega-cultural success - can you imagine how badly they could have ruined it with unnecessary sequels and prequels
@@vicount3944 They added some not so relevant side plot episode thingy to the X/X-2 remastered version as well as made a sequel radio drama named X-3 that you should for the love of god NEVER EVER LOOK INTO. Seriously, if there is ANYTHING in X/X-2 you find belowed, do not ruin it for yourself by delving into the massive garbage fire that is the very much canon X-3 radio drama.
Now that we live in a post-remake world, and having seen how they portrayed the characters in that game, I think reintroducing Genesis wouldn’t be such a bad idea. They’d have an opportunity to make him into a much better and more developed character that feels more real and grounded. Besides, if they end up going through the trouble of sorting things out with GACKT’s license owners, they may as well give the J-Rock sensation some incentive to agree and come on back. Most importantly, given the ending of the remake, I think that an antagonist other than sephiroth is in order (at least for game 2). Whether it be an old one like Genesis returning or a new one altogether. I’m just saying, if we have to fight the final boss of game 1 at the end of every single game it’s impact will be severely lessened especially when we’ve already beaten them. Just imagine, Genesis makes his comeback. Roche is there, he’s been promoted to first class, when suddenly Roche mutates into this insane monster due to Gensis’s cells and interference. Genesis is alive during the events of FF7 afterall. It’s possible. I just don’t want such an awesome character design to go to waste.
My first game on PSP in 2008 was Crisis Core and I still love this chapter: storyline, characters, music, it was an amazing experience... Even now after playing all FF games, I guess the first one will be always the first. Miss Zack, Angeal... 2020y. FFVII Remake, Cloud: - The Mayor ? No ? Ok.
I wish my PSP didnt break so I could actually replay this game. Absolutely loved it back then. Absolutely still love it now after this review. Cheers Clemps, and Merry belated Christmas.
Blame Gactk (the worst part of the game) for it never showing up on PSN or having an HD remake since he is a pop star and the licensing rights were complicated. Square could easily pick any jpop artist under Sony Music and had an easy time but nope they don't look ahead and have to deal with all sorts of licensing issues. I think they had the same issue for a while with the Kingdom Hearts pop song in there.
@@koheikyouji Really? Even back when I first played it I was thinking 'This is the exact thing Gackt would be worried about as an imperfect vampire man, eventually aging (degradation). How on brand for him.'
If I remember correctly as to why Hollander injected himself with Genesis cells, I think he told us that he was dying or was about to die. So as a desperate attempt to survive, he injected himself with the cells, giving him more time to live. Now because he too was beginning to degrade like ol' Genny boy, they team up to get them sweet, sweet Sephiroth cells. But I'm not sure if I'm wrong or not. P.S: I hated Hollander so much so, I used a Costly Punch on his dumb, white, chicken ass and One Punch Man'd him to the next room.
The final battle transition I think is an alright touch to the finale of the game I didn't like how the original had this man who was at or near Sephiroth caliber just gunned down like some dog which the soldiers put down with no effort. In CC the final battle feels exactly like it should we are fighting for both Zack and Cloud's Freedom making Zack's life flash before his eyes as the ensuing battle is slowly bringing him closer and closer to death makes us as the players try to prevent the inevitable conclusion to Zack's story
Zack was nowhere near Sephiroth's strength in the original game. He got effortlessly beaten by Sephiroth. In the Nibelheim flashback, when playing as Cloud and Sephiroth, Cloud is level 1 and Sephiroth is level 50, the point being to emphasize how Sephiroth is in an entirely different class than the other soldiers (and Cloud = Zack in that scene). Zack was certainly stronger than those who killed him, but he was trapped in a tube for years, subjected to numerous experiments, and considerably weakened by the time the Shinra soldiers found him.
@@ultraness Remember Cloud was a Shinra Footsoldier in that mission aswells as he hallucinated that he was in Zack's place due to his personality disorder so Cloud=/=Zack's implied level. I will say again in the original it felt more like they just took out a dog rather than a military soldier who shared the same rank as Sephiroth who was able to turn the entire tide against the war with Wutai. CC feels a more appropriate end to Zack because you already have the full context on why he was weakened to the point he could fall against Shinra soldier's he was suffering from degradation due to his Mako enfused cells rejecting the S-Cells aswell as spending an entire year on the run defending himself and Cloud from Shinra
I think you're missing the thematic intent with the original scene. Zack isn't gunned down simply because he randomly couldn't handle a few grunts. It's because he was checking on Cloud and one of the grunts caught him with a bullet while he was off guard. It was meant to reflect how swift and sudden any person's death could be, even someone as powerful and skilled as a 1st Class Soldier.
Cloud must've so strong to: 1- pick up The Buster Sword and successfully do a bilateral impalement that would lead someone to bleed out And 2- throw Sephiroth into a deep pit, while being impaled himself
Hey there Daddy Clemps!!! It's ya number one fan Angel here, yet again, hoping my persistence will reach your perfect ears. I'm a huge fan of kingdom hearts 2. So much that I beat it at least once a year and I've done this since the game's release. After my billionth time through another game caught my eye in an old movie/game rental store called "Rouge Galaxy" the story is essentially one piece in space and the gameplay is similar to kingdom hearts. I've never heard ANYONE on UA-cam talk about it and was wondering if you'd ever played it. I have fond memories of it and was wanting someone much smarter than me's opinion on it. Thanks yet again for another fantastic video and I hope I get a response eventually. If not I will continue to yell into the endless void that is the comment section. Toodles!!! -Your number one sexy black fan, Angel Crossroads 💓
@@Clemps wow...holy shite...wasn't expecting that. Thank you for responding to me!!! Love you and your content!!! I hope to see an RG review in about an eon because that's how long it takes to finish that game.
Wow, just seeing the name Rogue Galaxy makes my head play Le Marie Glennecia on loop. It felt very Dragon Quest with an action spin to it. Also, it's so rare to see a JRPG that isn't Star Ocean. Such a forgotten gem.
Angel Crossroads oh,man Rogue Galaxy is so good.What a coincidence,i finally got around to beating it a couple of weeks ago,after not playing it for like 10 years cause my disc was busted
My point from the previous still stands. Games are made as a collective. How can you be so sure that every story arc and every gameplay design came to Tabata first and not the people working in those departments. Yes, he may have the final "yes" on most of the decisions, doesn't mean he did everything. It's still a bit disingenuous. Regardless, this was a great video. The Compilation is honestly a mess but they mostly nail the "FF7 fan service". My friend is a huge FF7 nut and he teared up at the end of Crisis Core (and he's not the one to get all sappy). Happy Holidays and Season Greetings to you, Luke.
For me, the one final stand was perfect, but I can understand your reasons for wanting it changed. I balled my eyes out during the ending, it really hit me in a vulnerable spot dew to personal reasons.
I haven't played any FF7 games, and even now I still weep at the ending. The way you told me of his eventual death was just brilliant dude, good job. Ps. You make good shit. Just putting it out there
I've never played this or FF7, so my entire connection to Zack is from KH BBS, and while this seems pretty good, I think that's my favorite incarnation of him. I'm still hoping he'll get that date in 3!
I have never played any ff games before i played this game. during the last fight as the dmws start to fade and i slowly realized what was happening, i was absolutely devastated. even after more than a decade i still remember vividly how i felt during the last moments of this game and the ending song still makes me cry. stellar direction. despite its many flaws, it remains the only game ever that had me broken down crying
the thing with sissnei wast that at that time in the before crisis game, the turks had become rogue because shinra was trying to have them killing their boss thus they went out of their way to piss presidente shinra off in any possible scenario and helping zack running away was one of them, especially since he was betrayed by shinra as well, her real name not being ssisnei probablye is a reference to the fact that the player can choose the characters name and the turks default name on that game refers to their weapon of choice (ex: shotgun, katana, shuriken, martial arts and so on...)
It's here!! Thanks for your patience, as always, and hope the finale to my series on the Final Fantasy 7 Compilation was worth it. :)
Please consider subscribing if you enjoy my stuff, share it around, and if you REALLY like me and want to do something more than just subscribe, then consider pledging to me on Patreon!!
Thanks again guys, hope your Christmases were good, and that your New Years are filled with MANY A GOOD THING.
Clemps x
I just wanna know, why a cat boi?
16:45 final FMV?? wtf are you smoking?
I have so many conflicting feelings in regards to how i want FF7Re to handle Zack's story. On one hand, i kinda want to see some of this game's expansion of it, but on the other, i really want Genesis to be exiled from continuity even if i personally don't quite hate everything about the character.
What i'm actually getting at though, is that i feel like what the original showed would feel like far too little, _especially_ with how beloved Zack has become due to this game. Because, lets be honest here, i've hardly seen anyone who didn't love Zack as a main character. With so many outcries of him being "better than Cloud".
I can't help but think about Smash too, though, and how much wasted potential SE's stingy practices brought. Even if it had only been FF7 content. From dark humour like an Aerith Spirit vulnerable to Down-Airs, to good boy Zack as an Echo.
Omg. That GaiaOnline reference
What about the crisis core anime?
As a kid, I played this before I played FF-7 so I had no idea Zack would die... I cried *SO MUCH* at the end
Believe me even knowing Zack was going to die I bawled like a baby
@@Vaughnsta99 same i like Zack more than i like Cloud
DarkHero Gaming Channel Same as me, but I couldn’t get passed Genesis so I looked up the ending and never touched the game for years because I didn’t want to play it out lol
Same. Zack will always be the true hero of FF7 for me.
I feel ya
what got me in that last scene that i thought was really good was that that a triple aerith in the slots would grant a full heal to you so the idea that it teases the player in that last moment was just so good
Also, Aerith' limit break is called 'Healing Rain'. Like the rain that comes down on a dying Zack in the final cutscene.
I always found it weird how the villains clothes turn grey when he starts to degrade as if leather jackets were a genetic trait.
Maybe genetic degradation makes you super ashy and it gets everywhere?
@@zerorequiem42 Thats gross, its probably canon
Their clothes probably become part of their bodies after they become horrable mutants
they are. Similar to the single wing, leather jackets spontaneously appear on those infected with Jenova's cells.
Leather is dried skin, skin degrades with the body, thus leather degrades with the body. Check mate, atheists!
This video was absolutely stellar. I'm very glad you highlighted how Tabata's directing can lead to some mediocre or undercooked sequences that have a truly engaging and emotional weight to them. Great work as always.
He writes the perfect scenes then has to break them so he doesn’t destroy the space-time continuum by creating a black hole with such big and heavy feels.
Me: I’m a man I don‘t cry.
Aerith: “I‘ll be here.“
Me: *Waterfalls gushing from my eyes*
every fcking time 😭
For all the Crisis Core faults, I loved the ending, it still makes me emotional whenever I watch it.
When I played this, I knew so little about FF7, I knew enough about who's who but not what happened, and seeing this character who always smiled and kept his optimism even through his last breath, is wonderful. A lot of the things that happened to him would've been the usual case to make a brooding and edgy character but besides maturing a bit after Angeal's death, he was still the same old Zack you can probably have a beer with in the start.
That last drop of "would you say I became a hero?" still hits me hard with how sad but happy it is.
The feather flying away is the sharp feeling in your heart.
Yeah man, the fact that he says, "Well, the price of freedom is steep!" all while throwing out a grin... No longer desperate, no longer running. Just facing what he has to do head on. Because what is he? He's a hero. But not because of what he's done. Because of the kind of person that he is. He could easily have left Cloud behind and gotten back to Aerith, but he _can't_ and that's what makes him a hero. He gives up his own life for Cloud.
What else can he do but fight? And if it's inevitable that he must fight, he remains optimistic about it.
I basically turn 15 again every time I watch this ending.
whenever i hear the price of freedom, i feel teary eyed.
that clone got poisoned by all the gell in Zacks hair
Some say that Cissnei is still on that chopper to this day, still searching for Zack and Cloud.
*The price of freedom is steep*
Boy oh boy
Freedom isn't Free
GOD BLESS THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Eren Yeager in a Nutshell.
I actually feel the ending was much more powerful for the player in Crisis Core then it was in FF7. Having to actually play through the entirety of the fight was incredibly cruel and painful but that's exactly how they wanted you to feel in Zacks last moments. It also showed the man who wouldn't let himself be worn down or run down, he gave everything he had, every last drop of it, up until the end. Nothing was going to stop him, and having the final fight be him all weak would take away from that I feel.
Love the review but disagree on the ending bit as it is meant to exhaust the player in their struggle to save zack from the inevitable but failing. This becomes more tragic in the context of the player who has come to love Zack as a character of his own and not some random NPC in FF7. I fought the horde for about half an hour until the inevitable settled in when I first played it 10 years ago.
Agreed. I think the point was to instill some false hope: look how easily you're beating these mooks! Maybe there's a special secret ending in which Zack survives if you fight hard enough! But as you get more and more beaten down, and as you struggle against the controls as Zack's body and mind fall apart, the impact of Zack's inevitable end hits that much harder. I think Clemps misses the point here as he searches for something he personally prefers, versus what was actually there all along.
@@frogglen6350 Errr yeah. That's what "false hope" means.
That's honestly the feeling i got from the final battle. I get where Clemps is coming from, the way Zack fights in the final battle doesn't really align well with how Zack was portrayed at the flashback in the original game, but i honestly still really like the way the final battle is in this game.
There are so many more effective ways of doing that than a giant battle against tons of jobbers though. It also just feels like a Dynasty Warriors level of stupid and taking you out of the story.
So this is based around you being gullible enough to think any of these compilation games would have more than one ending.
I completely disagree with your opinion on Zacks last stand.
While I too see something really special in how it was handled in the original FFVII with barely any sounds, the limited animation and graphical fidelity and how sudden everything came and went, the last stand in Crisis Core is outright phenomenal and that's due to one point you completely neglected: YOU are Zack.
In FFVII Zack was barely a sidenote to the overarching story. And I'm not saying he wasn't important to the story but he had no spotlight at any point. His backstory from the Nibelheim incident to the Midgar outskirts was hidden away and you had to return to the mansion at a later point in time to even see it. He was a side character in every sense of the word.
Whereas in Crisis Core he is the center of the universe. YOU control him in his journey to becoming a hero. YOU suffer with him. YOU overcome with him. YOU are confused with him. And the final stand is the perfect representation of that!
You already said it yourself: "This is a game for the fans". Almost everyone who picks this up, already knows about Zacks fate, knows that he's going to die in the end. It's just a matter of seeing HOW it will end in that conclusion. And, for me at least, over the course of the game you forget all about that. You cherish your time with Zack and experience his different emotions with and through him.
And then, all of a sudden, the moment is at hand.
You find yourself in the back of a truck, fleeing from the pursuit by Shinras army. Suddenly your memories of your inevitable fate come back. And then you reach the point of no return, staring down the barrel of one, then two and then dozens of aimed guns.
And what you said you missed from that moment, just now begins to set in: exhaustion. You're still running, you're still fighting. All Zack, and you by proxy, wants to do is to get to Aerith to set things straight, tell her that you didn't bail and get your happy ending. But there is yet another obstacle and the odds are stacked against you indefinetely. And yet you still fight and struggle. Because despite knowing better, you have that ridiculous sliver of hope that there actually IS a happy ending.
To explain it in a personal anecdote: The first time I encountered this fight, I fought for about two hours (no, this is not an exaggeration). I knew Zack was gonna die but I still tried my hardest to keep him alive, despite my fingers going numb, sweat making me lose grip of the PSP constantly and getting really tired (since it was deep into the night and I was tucked in bed already). I continued fighting until I just couldn't anymore. I don't know about you, but to me THAT is real exhaustion if I've ever experienced it, especially from a game.
When everything was over and the credits rolled, I really felt burned out. I was devastated. I knew Zacks fate beforehand and yet I was weeping uncontrollably and physically shaking from sheer fatigue.
And this is why I simply can't understand your reasoning behind your argument. Yeah, you don't "see" Zack being exhausted up until the death scenario, but instead you FEEL it yourself. Because, as I said before, you ARE Zack this time. This time it isn't merely a cutscene that you uncovered, you've led yourself there. And if that isn't top tier storytelling, I genuinely can't tell what is.
One final thing to end my statement on this bittersweet perfection of a characters arc on: Over the entire game you've had countless encounters. All started and ended the same way. "Activating Combat Mode" - "Conflict Resolved". All, except one. This last fight and this last fight alone doesn't give you the sweet relief of your conflict being resolved. Just let that sink in.
Anyway, good video. I was really looking forward to this. Thank you for taking your time to give your opinion on this flawed gem of a game. Have a wonderful rest of 2018 and a good year 2019.
Since you did a very good job of articulating your disagreement without coming off as rude or offended, I will try my best to meet you in kind and simply address your misunderstanding in the most polite way I can manage.
Clemps did not say that you don't see exhaustion in Zack during this game, just that the implication of where the exhaustion is changes from the original to Crisis Core. In the original story, Zack's exhaustion was implied to be from all of the running around he did with Cloud to escape death, and ended with him dying of basic gun shots to no more than 3 ShinRa soldiers. However, in Crisis Core, the exhaustion is implied to be from the gigantic battle at the end of the game and that Zack running around with Cloud beforehand seemingly had no impact on him. The difference is that the former has the tragic implication that Zack's superhuman strength and ability didn't mean a thing, whereas the latter is better suited to putting you and Zack on the same page.
Clemps was disappointed with this outcome specifically because the events of that part of the story prior to the final battle helped stay in line with the canon and reinforced it by putting Zack not only on the run with Cloud but also fighting big exhausting battles and the mental strain of his mentor dying a second time on top of it.
Like I said, I really don't want to take away anything from your explanation because you did seem more authentic and polite than most. I just wanted to clear that up.
Love this explanation I felt the same way when going through that last fight and the point if saying how even though you know his fate it still comes as a shock when he's in the truck and you've gotta be like "Oh shit yeah he dies" is just great storytelling. Personally I like the final battle as it is just because we wouldn't have been able to have all the scenes of him going through those flashbacks by him fighting three soldiers, not realistic. Adding in the big fight I think certainly doesn't make sense from the context of FF7, but damn is it a better choice in Zacks story and I'll happily take that continuity break over Zack dying by three soldiers right away. Not that theres anything wrong with that, but Crisis Cores final battle is just way better to me.
I think Clemps' biggest issue is that it's not coherent with the story we were told in the original FF7. I personally played CC before 7, and it's my favourite game. Even the melodramatic, campy-ness of the game is endearing to me.
It's telling to me that everytime I listen to Ayaka's 'Why' (ending song with lyrics) I'm filled with a feeling of utter exhaustion. It brings me back to that time when I fought with Zack, when I WAS Zack. I've tried so hard to stop the plot moving forward to its final conclusion, tried to ruin the play, interfere with destiny. But I'm just one man in a huge world. And what can I do at the end but laugh, and give myself entirely to it? But even still I will fight, take courage, have honour, and not give up hope.
Playing as Zack makes me want to be a better man, and that is a testament to the strength of his character. All others aside, Zack made this game worthwhile.
@@pwndulquiorra I can see that. The only problem is that it wouldn't be very fitting as gameplay, you simply need that last "hurrah" at the end. I know it's hard to implement correctly and I also agree with his idea of making it kinda like the escape scene in Nibelheim where Shinra is trying to take Cloud away, but saying that the final stand in Crisis Core was handled badly in comparision to the original or that it ruined the context of it is simply unfair.
I know I didn't really get my point across in my original comment since it was very emotional and it was getting pretty late, but my main point is that Crisis Core is an entire game whereas the cutscenes in Final Fantasy VII were only that - cutscenes. And while it could have been handled different in some ways, a game should always be "experience, don't just show" instead of "show, don't tell". And in a game as campy and melodramatic as Crisis Core, what better way than to send your protagonist (and thus you) off with a giant bang?
The only way I could see this moment be improved would be to leave the Genesis plot out and instead just focus on the travel towards Midgar and maybe, as mentioned earlier, have the fight be more of a defense situation with Cloud on a bigger setpiece. But I wouldn't want to miss this fight in a milion years and, in my opinion, it's incomparably better than the situation from the original Final Fantasy VII in what it did.
P.S. Thanks for your compliments about my comment, I appreciate that! :)
@@kurdtcoben No I understood your point completely, and I'm not even necessarily disagreeing with your perspective. Me personally, especially as an aspiring game designer "do, don't show" is a language I'm very fluent in at this point. It just seemed like that aspect of Clemps' point needed a bit of elaborating since it seemed like you didn't understand his thought process. Really, I'm not trying to take anything away from either perspective because both have merit. I just like to clear up confusion whenever I can because confusion leads to misunderstanding, misunderstanding leads to anger, and anger is the bane of civil discussion.
However, yes, I do agree with you that Gackt's OC was very invasive. But even if Genesis and, by extension, Angeal had to stay, there are still better ways of doing it than how they're handled in this game, though my mother really enjoys Genesis so she would get angry at me for attempting to remove him.
I thoroughly enjoyed Zack's Last Stand. The game by that point already made it clear that Zack was feeling a lot weaker than before but then we also see his fight through everything including Genesis in Avatar form. At that point, we as the player simply see him as the powerful lovable dolt that he is.
I don't think people would've been as accepting of it until we were made to accept reality through a brute force measure like an impossible battle again tens of thousands and death through sheer exhaustion.
Not to mention, as a kid, I enjoyed the fact that Shinra had to go to such extreme measures to finish off my boy Zack. and that Zack absolutely crippled them to that extent.
Aspire to be like Gackt, be so popular and so rich and have so much pull that you can insert your lame OC to a well known franchise and insert your OC into the story and hint yourself at being the next big villain.
And as a result make re-releasing the game it's in a fucking nightmare because IP law is bullshit.
@@ShadowWolfRising To be fair... removing him from the game entirely would improve it. Although they'd have to rework the entire game for it.
@@ShadowWolfRising I don't get how Gackt is a factor in that. Can you explain?
@@2222-l5b His likeness is copyrighted, which means that they can't easily re-release Crisis Core or Dirge of Cerberus, at least not without paying royalties.
And for us over in the west who for the most part either don't know who Gackt is/was or don't give a shit, is fucking annoying/insulting.
I really wish they'd stop putting famous people's likeness into games if it makes re-releasing it difficult or even impossible down the road.
Fuck Gackt
Why didn't Zack just call Aerith after learning about being locked away for 4 years?
He's still receiving creepy stalker emails.
Part two? And it didnt take 67 years?
*Who are you and what have you done with Clemps*
It's CleXmps! His Nobody created by Dark Clemps!
@@MTdaBlacking Not Dark Clemps! that Melvin.
Oh boy! Mom said we'd stop getting presents after Christmas!
Edit: I adore this video (as I do all your videos, you tasty boy) and I would like to discuss your gripe with the ending. I absolutely understand your distaste for the final battle from a narrative stand-point. In fact, I have no doubt that were Crisis Core a film, it likely would've gone the way you described. (Or at least I hope it would.)
Personally though, I think the reason they included the final battle in such a way was for how it would affect the player. I too wept like a little boy when Zack perished, but not because of the DMV, but because of how that final battle affected me as a player. During that final battle Zack was fighting to save Cloud, but I was fighting to save Zack. I had somehow convinced myself that with all my vaunted strength, that if I could just defeat enough soldiers I would unlock a secret ending where my friend lives happily ever after. It was devastating for me to fight for so long and so hard just to watch him die. Shit made me cry under the blankets when I had to say goodbye to a fictional character for the last time.
And I loved it. That final battle stomped on my heart so expertly that it's one of the very few moments I still really think about after all these years.
I had to admit that I cried at the final confrontation. With Price of Freedom playing. Watching him get worn down. The DMW/Zack's own memories slowly falling apart. It was very emotional.
The post-FF7 material is... not good. But more importantly, so infested with cringey OC-like characters and the anime-i-fication of everything in that world, that the idea of the 7Remake including even a flippant joke that they were ever written fills me with dread. Which is to not say that these things had no value at all. It's merely to say that there's greater value in letting one of the best RPGs ever made speak for itself. Final Fantasy 7 doesn't need Gackt.
Ho boy if you only knew what it had in store...
"Banished to the Incel subreddit." I started coughing and gasping from laughter. Clemps your comedy almost literally killed me. Congratulations.
I was in my Senior Year of high school when I played Crisis Core. I finished the game during a late after school rehearsal when I played through the final sequence. Watching the DMW breaking down had me fighting back tears with 98 other people in the auditorium. I actually had to run off to the dressing room to keep them from seeing me.
It is one of my fondest memories of Video Games. Crisis Core was never that great a game in my opinion. But the story and characters came to me at a formative time in my life. So the ending was like a Buster Sword to the heart at the time, and remembering it during your review had me choking up.
Well done, Clempsie. Thank you~
First, I gotta say, love this analysis. You did a great job of explaining what you liked and disliked about the game and (most importantly) why.
That being said, I gotta disagree with you on the final fight with Zack. While I do think your way of handling the ending would have been a much more cinematic and faithful way of showing Zack's death, I don't think it's a great way of playing it. I don't think the reasoning behind Zack fighting hundreds of Shinra soldiers was to make him more impressive and powerful, I think it was a way to make the player actually feel worn down. As you fight an endless horde of enemies, your DMW gauge slowly loses the characters in it as you see Zack's life flash before your eyes. The enemies aren't hard, but as you fight and the in-game strength you built up during the course of your journy begins to drain away as you're forced to summon more and more, an impending sense of dread begins to emerge. And then Zack, as exhausted as you feel yourself after a long battle, runs out of gas and can barely lift his sword to fight until that final gunshot.
I loved every second of that final battle. While it does have a different feel than the original cinematic in FF7, I feel that in terms of the gameplay with Crisis Core, there are very few ways it could have been done better.
That being said, the fade to black into "weak Zack" mode and the final shot could have been done better. But years later, after playing the game once, I can still remember everything about that final battle in Crisis Core. Meanwhile, after playing thru FF7 3 times, I didn't remember a single scene with Zack until you brought it up in this video. Playing through a powerful scene in a game is, in my opinion, a lot more powerful than watching it.
No way...
He just ate my hair...
And then he's going to eat me...
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3:24 Cloud's most defining moment of badass followed by clown noises. Never change Clemps you sweet cinnamon bun.
For real though, seeing that moment happen for the first time in FF7 was god damn awesome. This total chump is so determined and full of rage at seeing everyone he knows and loves get absolutely slaughtered leads him to 1 Hit KO one of the most powerful beings in that universe.
It wasn't until my second playthrough that I even realized we weren't speaking to the real Sephiroth throughout our journey but rather a piece of Jenova projecting his consciousness, thus why each encounter always results in a fight with one of Jenova's body parts. The real Sephiroth got SO fucked up by Cloud in Nibelheim that the only thing left of him is a torso in suspended animation.
Amazing video
About Cissenei the reason behind her real name is because she is the female avatar for before crisis another game in the compilation the player himself gives her the real name
Technically the open ended scene with Cissnei and Tseng is referenced in Before Crisis (I have never played it myself so I cannot be 100% certain). Apparently Cissnei (CC) was intended to be a sort of the cannon representative of the Player character from Before Crisis. Also worth pointing out that Cissnei's design is one of the playable turks (Female Shuriken).
It works with the theme of FF7 as an example of the things Zack will miss out on and never get to do. When you die, all your plans are over, you won't find out the answer to any more secrets.
God I'm so happy I found your channel back during your Drakengard 3 analysis. Your content is some of most entertaining shite on UA-cam. Keep up the good work Dad 😊
I was a little later than you, I found it around the original Nier analysis was made. But with that I found out Drakengard was in a roundabout way tied to the Nier game thats story I loved so because of that I played the Drakengard series as well as hit the back catalog of it's analysis because I'll be honest the second and especially the 3rd was pretty out there so having a second set of eyes on the story helped a lot. Hell I missed the fact Kaine had a wang till I watched his video on the game. After I got the Kaine outfit for 2B I never switched it, so I'm sure that Freud would have something to say about that lol.
You are fulfilling a very important niche to me: making flawed games easily consumable. Fantastic work!
The final battle is the saddest battle, I don’t think any other battle had braught me to tears like that mixture of music, story and battle. Watching his memories steadily breaking while I could only helplessly mashed buttons...perfection
My first FF game was crisis core. I never have heard 7 and was too young and broke to play anything about it. I also unfortunately never finished this game as my PSP broke before I could. I didn't know I was so close to the end. I was too young to understand the character dilemma and the suffering Zack went through. So I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for analyzing this game. I may have to buy FF 7's remake just to know what happens after. However; now that I know the true tragedy of Crisis Core without the bias of 7, I can definitely say that this was a solid and slow burn. I'm going to have to replay CC, and maybe cry for a good hour. Thank you @Mr. Clemps, you have made and ruined my day to tears. ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
89 letters from Aerith. You can't convince me that some of them weren't her going absolutely psycho, threatening to break up with him and break his games, and then apologizing.
Even worse, Cissnei is one of the playable new Turks you could pick between for Before Crisis, with her codename being Shuriken after the weapon she used there. Before Crisis even continued on and finished after Crisis Core, with several events even being referenced in CC (albeit loosely, like the flashback of the graves of the two SOLDIERs that Zack killed in that storyline), but elements of BC got reworked and rewritten in CC, resulting in a character like Cissnei ascending to a different role and having scenes and such that were nowhere in BC, as the player character simply couldn't be there for those various moments regardless of who you picked. So they're basically two different characters thanks to the way that whole wonky dick situation turned out.
As far as I've heard, Cissnei is a representation of the protagonist Turk of Before Crisis (I think he was called 'Shotgun')?
Damn dude, Price of Freedom along with the DMW glitching out just gets me everytime without fail.
The ending of Crisis Core was really great! I really liked the spirit of Zack, he keeps talking to Cloud like Cloud could hear him. What I didn't like about the ending is that the Turks were all over Zack with helicopters and stuff but they couldn't help him or at least warn him of the swarm is Shinra soldiers. But I know that Zack's fate was decided long ago, I just didn't know it (yes, I played Crisis Core before finishing FFVII). The DMW stuff was really emotional too. But I hated the whole clone thing and degradation plot. Everyone turns to Angeal and everyone fades to grey, even their clothes (I guess this is how real genetics work). Overall, I loved this game back in 2010 when I played it. I was at my first workplace and the memories are etched in deeply.
I love watching your videos so much that even if I'm not a fan of some of the games I still click immediately when I get a notification.
I'd donate to your patreon if I had disposable income
The story sucks, but Zack is such a good character and that ending makes me cri evrytiem.
Tabata is not good at writting stories, but he's so good at writting characters and emotional moments.
The chair holding up Genesis' body after the apple scene might just be the strongest chair ever made. I'd have imagined it would have at least scooted out of the way after everyone else was moved off, but nope. It's sitting strong.
Man that Ayaka song always hits me in the feels X’{
Great video :3 I got chills when the song came in at the ending scene. The beginning vocals of that song gives me chills~
The feels when The Price of Freedom kicked in😭
There really is a sort of sad irony in how this game adds so much unnecessary fluff, yet spends too little time on the pre-existing story beats it was meant to expand on, and which are, of course, some of the best parts of the game.
This game's entire plot just screams "less is more". Though i do also feel like they skimped on showing Zack actually _being_ a SOLDIER from a story-based standpoint. The entirely optional missions do NOT count whatsoever, they merely exist to have more gameplay content. Which isn't a bad thing mind you, it just doesn't matter where the game suffers most.
I hope the remake combines the deaths. Have him be worn down: slashed, shot up, and sleep deprived. And then get ambushed by a small group of armed guys. They beat him even more but he wins. He goes to check on Cloud and gets surprised by three men and shot to death. He gets his heroic last stand but still keep that gritty feeling the original had.
Hello from the future. Seeing as the remake did something reaaaaaaaaaaaally different
(Spoilers for FFVII Remake)
Zack manages to defeat all the soldiers which is caused by timelime-tampering hijinks. So since I think the part 2 game is going to be about fixing the timeline so it can be like the original, maybe part of it will be your idea happening. Zack beating everyone, checks on Cloud, but is unknowingly followed by 3 soldiers who gun him down in the end. (Ngl maybe by some of Cloud's gang dressed up in Shinra clothes to do it themselves to "fix" the timeline, so extra hurt when Cloud has to either shoot down Zack himself or watch Zack being shot firsthand once again. But that's just speculation.)
Cissnei is one of the playable characters in Before Crisis, FYI. The player names her, hence her canonical name is up to the player and Cissnei is a codename for this mission. Her story begins and concludes in that game (she's still alive and in hiding as of the end of FFVII, along with the other traitor Turks who helped Avalanche). The CC scenes with her are in BC but shown from her perspective. Her partner in the Turks is also a man from Gongaga (Zack's hometown) who wields a katana.
11:48 that's a good Trevor Belmont you've got there
As per usual I love the video! The "Bad Apple" for the Banora White was a beautiful touch, the kind of touch I only see with your content. Love your stuff, please keep it up ^_^
I remember this was my first and only ff game I've ever played back when I got my psp when I was a kid around 9 years old. Back then I didn't know anything about games so I didnt have a memory card and that meant I couldn't save the game. Everytime I died I had to restart from the beginning but despite that I almost finished the game. What I'm trying to say here is that this game has a special place in my heart. I love zack I would look up to him even thought he's just a character. I wanted to be zack. Know that I grew up it breaks my heart finding out that he died and never got to see aerith ever again. I love this game with all my heart
When you showed Genesis holding the Dumbapple you were playing Bad Apple..... That's some next level pun my dude.
I had forgotten entirely about Genesis showing up at Nibelheim. And given that re-implementing Genesis would most likely entail trying to get the rights to his likeness back, whether or not that will be preserved in FF7 Remake, or if they'll just retcon that out and go back to the old template.
I remember playing it years ago on PSP, really liked it. After playing it, only then I understood the Advent Children's scene in the last minutes, where Aeris and Zack are giving their final waves to Cloud while slowly fading into light. Goddamn, I cried like a child...
18:48 Shenron: YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED YOU DINGLEBERRY YOU!
Zack is a great character and this game does a great job of fleshing him out, but it doesn't change the fact that all the Compilation titles are extremely needlessly convoluted and retroactively ruin aspects of the original FF7. Knowing more about who Zack is does add an extra layer of depth to his death, though. But considering where things left off at the end of Remake, who knows where things are gonna go from here on out.
not even kidding, I'm planning on doing a marathon of your videos with my friends on new year's. you're that important.
Goddamn, it's been over 10 years now and even thinking about that ending scene makes me tear up just like it did the first time. I don't know what it exactly says about Tabata if he was able to pull off an incredible ending like that even with the somewhat questionable story leading up to that point.
I literally just finished watching part 1 and thought "Ah damn, I'll have to wait now", so nice that I won't have to! Great Review.
Merry Christmas Clemps! Thanks for all the great videos this year!
I'm not even gonna lie, I be GIDDY (I don't even use that word lol) with excitement when I see you've got a new upload! Keep it up dude!
You Wonderful Bastard! I didn't expect this till after New Years. You work too hard.
Any time someone mentions Zack I want to cry
God, compilation of FF7 kinda makes me glad FF9 avoided mega-cultural success - can you imagine how badly they could have ruined it with unnecessary sequels and prequels
You know what? You're right.
I agree. It sucks that they've been doing this with FFX now.
This right here. SE will never do FFIX right.
@@patrickweller5254 Doing what with FFX? Aside from X-2 there's no other stuff, is there?
@@vicount3944 They added some not so relevant side plot episode thingy to the X/X-2 remastered version as well as made a sequel radio drama named X-3 that you should for the love of god NEVER EVER LOOK INTO. Seriously, if there is ANYTHING in X/X-2 you find belowed, do not ruin it for yourself by delving into the massive garbage fire that is the very much canon X-3 radio drama.
Your crisis core videos are how I found out about your channel. Gotta say, I'm a fan. Looking forward to seeing your other videos.
Now that we live in a post-remake world, and having seen how they portrayed the characters in that game, I think reintroducing Genesis wouldn’t be such a bad idea. They’d have an opportunity to make him into a much better and more developed character that feels more real and grounded. Besides, if they end up going through the trouble of sorting things out with GACKT’s license owners, they may as well give the J-Rock sensation some incentive to agree and come on back. Most importantly, given the ending of the remake, I think that an antagonist other than sephiroth is in order (at least for game 2). Whether it be an old one like Genesis returning or a new one altogether. I’m just saying, if we have to fight the final boss of game 1 at the end of every single game it’s impact will be severely lessened especially when we’ve already beaten them. Just imagine, Genesis makes his comeback. Roche is there, he’s been promoted to first class, when suddenly Roche mutates into this insane monster due to Gensis’s cells and interference. Genesis is alive during the events of FF7 afterall. It’s possible. I just don’t want such an awesome character design to go to waste.
Genesis post DoC is kind of Gaia's protector, so he could turn up as an antagonist similar to the weapons.
"Awesome design" of Red Sephiroth with short hair. How old are you? 12?
@@SpoonyBard88 look it's cringe but I am unashamed
My first game on PSP in 2008 was Crisis Core and I still love this chapter: storyline, characters, music, it was an amazing experience... Even now after playing all FF games, I guess the first one will be always the first. Miss Zack, Angeal...
2020y. FFVII Remake, Cloud: - The Mayor ? No ? Ok.
I wish my PSP didnt break so I could actually replay this game. Absolutely loved it back then. Absolutely still love it now after this review.
Cheers Clemps, and Merry belated Christmas.
Blame Gactk (the worst part of the game) for it never showing up on PSN or having an HD remake since he is a pop star and the licensing rights were complicated. Square could easily pick any jpop artist under Sony Music and had an easy time but nope they don't look ahead and have to deal with all sorts of licensing issues. I think they had the same issue for a while with the Kingdom Hearts pop song in there.
@@Gooong Yeah, I had no idea back in the day that Genesis was ACTUALLY Gackt. It does explain a hell of a lot now though
@@koheikyouji Really? Even back when I first played it I was thinking 'This is the exact thing Gackt would be worried about as an imperfect vampire man, eventually aging (degradation). How on brand for him.'
Do you still have the game? You could try emulating it. PPSSPP is super easy to use.
God damn it clemps i told myself I wouldn't get emotional by watching the ending clips but fuckin hell my eyes got all watery
My man, Clemps, uploaded a video and happiness took over. Great video, as always! Keep up the great work!
This video reminded me of when I memorized Loveless in ninth grade and would mumble it whenever I felt like being edgy and mysterious.. hooo boy.
Gackt is what we all wanted to be when we were young; Someone so rich and famous that they can insert their oc into a well known franchise.
god watching zack's flashbacks to aerith get me everytime huh..that shit hurted
If I remember correctly as to why Hollander injected himself with Genesis cells, I think he told us that he was dying or was about to die. So as a desperate attempt to survive, he injected himself with the cells, giving him more time to live. Now because he too was beginning to degrade like ol' Genny boy, they team up to get them sweet, sweet Sephiroth cells.
But I'm not sure if I'm wrong or not.
P.S: I hated Hollander so much so, I used a Costly Punch on his dumb, white, chicken ass and One Punch Man'd him to the next room.
I don't care who knows it, Zack's final line kills me every single time.
I really love your opening. It is so fabulous!
Im so glad Nomura said nothing from the comp would effect the story of the remake. I dont want Gackt in ff7 anymore
The final battle transition I think is an alright touch to the finale of the game I didn't like how the original had this man who was at or near Sephiroth caliber just gunned down like some dog which the soldiers put down with no effort.
In CC the final battle feels exactly like it should we are fighting for both Zack and Cloud's Freedom making Zack's life flash before his eyes as the ensuing battle is slowly bringing him closer and closer to death makes us as the players try to prevent the inevitable conclusion to Zack's story
Zack was nowhere near Sephiroth's strength in the original game. He got effortlessly beaten by Sephiroth. In the Nibelheim flashback, when playing as Cloud and Sephiroth, Cloud is level 1 and Sephiroth is level 50, the point being to emphasize how Sephiroth is in an entirely different class than the other soldiers (and Cloud = Zack in that scene). Zack was certainly stronger than those who killed him, but he was trapped in a tube for years, subjected to numerous experiments, and considerably weakened by the time the Shinra soldiers found him.
@@ultraness
Remember Cloud was a Shinra Footsoldier in that mission aswells as he hallucinated that he was in Zack's place due to his personality disorder so Cloud=/=Zack's implied level.
I will say again in the original it felt more like they just took out a dog rather than a military soldier who shared the same rank as Sephiroth who was able to turn the entire tide against the war with Wutai.
CC feels a more appropriate end to Zack because you already have the full context on why he was weakened to the point he could fall against Shinra soldier's he was suffering from degradation due to his Mako enfused cells rejecting the S-Cells aswell as spending an entire year on the run defending himself and Cloud from Shinra
I think you're missing the thematic intent with the original scene. Zack isn't gunned down simply because he randomly couldn't handle a few grunts. It's because he was checking on Cloud and one of the grunts caught him with a bullet while he was off guard. It was meant to reflect how swift and sudden any person's death could be, even someone as powerful and skilled as a 1st Class Soldier.
5:37 that reaction is so genuine
Cloud must've so strong to:
1- pick up The Buster Sword and successfully do a bilateral impalement that would lead someone to bleed out
And 2- throw Sephiroth into a deep pit, while being impaled himself
Hey there Daddy Clemps!!! It's ya number one fan Angel here, yet again, hoping my persistence will reach your perfect ears. I'm a huge fan of kingdom hearts 2. So much that I beat it at least once a year and I've done this since the game's release. After my billionth time through another game caught my eye in an old movie/game rental store called "Rouge Galaxy" the story is essentially one piece in space and the gameplay is similar to kingdom hearts. I've never heard ANYONE on UA-cam talk about it and was wondering if you'd ever played it. I have fond memories of it and was wanting someone much smarter than me's opinion on it. Thanks yet again for another fantastic video and I hope I get a response eventually. If not I will continue to yell into the endless void that is the comment section. Toodles!!!
-Your number one sexy black fan, Angel Crossroads 💓
NOTICED (Haven't played RG yet c: )
@@Clemps wow...holy shite...wasn't expecting that. Thank you for responding to me!!! Love you and your content!!! I hope to see an RG review in about an eon because that's how long it takes to finish that game.
Wow, just seeing the name Rogue Galaxy makes my head play Le Marie Glennecia on loop. It felt very Dragon Quest with an action spin to it. Also, it's so rare to see a JRPG that isn't Star Ocean. Such a forgotten gem.
Maybe I SHOULD go ahead n make that my debut UA-cam video. Ya hear that, Clemps?! I'm coming for ya!
Angel Crossroads oh,man Rogue Galaxy is so good.What a coincidence,i finally got around to beating it a couple of weeks ago,after not playing it for like 10 years cause my disc was busted
My point from the previous still stands. Games are made as a collective. How can you be so sure that every story arc and every gameplay design came to Tabata first and not the people working in those departments.
Yes, he may have the final "yes" on most of the decisions, doesn't mean he did everything. It's still a bit disingenuous.
Regardless, this was a great video. The Compilation is honestly a mess but they mostly nail the "FF7 fan service". My friend is a huge FF7 nut and he teared up at the end of Crisis Core (and he's not the one to get all sappy).
Happy Holidays and Season Greetings to you, Luke.
For me, the one final stand was perfect, but I can understand your reasons for wanting it changed. I balled my eyes out during the ending, it really hit me in a vulnerable spot dew to personal reasons.
This was a great review. Love your videos man.
11:52 I found this scene so Depression, too. Him realizing it Has been 4 years 😭
Watching this now I wonder if the plan for the compellation material was always to bring back an alt timeline version of Zack and Aerith?
I haven't played any FF7 games, and even now I still weep at the ending. The way you told me of his eventual death was just brilliant dude, good job.
Ps. You make good shit. Just putting it out there
I hate having a chest injury and trying not to laugh at Clemps sound effects as Cloud slides down the stairs. Lol oh god it hurts.
Zack’s New English VA sounds like Sonic the hedgehog sounds so cringy
"Would you say I become a hero?" No, Zack. You are more than just a hero... you're a legend.
Ah good old bittersweet sadness at the end of Crisis core. Great vid clemps.
sweet
also wasnt Zacks in Kingdom Hearts DDD, in Hercules past? 15:13
Crisis Core was the first game that legitimatly made me cry.
Even this video.
Goot times but damn was it a sad ending.
Man I love your analysis videos. Great job man.
For me the music at the end scene was what made the tears flow
Sad ending and loved it but without that music not sure I would have felt as much
I've never played this or FF7, so my entire connection to Zack is from KH BBS, and while this seems pretty good, I think that's my favorite incarnation of him. I'm still hoping he'll get that date in 3!
13:30 good lord, this scene still gets me, even after só manu years
I have never played any ff games before i played this game. during the last fight as the dmws start to fade and i slowly realized what was happening, i was absolutely devastated. even after more than a decade i still remember vividly how i felt during the last moments of this game and the ending song still makes me cry. stellar direction. despite its many flaws, it remains the only game ever that had me broken down crying
Honestly the whole sephiroth going ape shit seems like a sub plot in this game which is a shame because it is supposed to the the center of FF7
Good news. The ending of Crisis Core still makes me weep. WHY AM I CRYING AT A REVIEW VIDEO AT 2 IN THE MORNING
One-Winged dog... Good God, it's like my brother with ketchup, putting it on EVERYTHING
Oh my god, your face at 2:12 is the best thing i've seen the past few weeks
Cissnei's real name is the player name canonically in a mobile game in Japan called Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
the thing with sissnei wast that at that time in the before crisis game, the turks had become rogue because shinra was trying to have them killing their boss thus they went out of their way to piss presidente shinra off in any possible scenario and helping zack running away was one of them, especially since he was betrayed by shinra as well, her real name not being ssisnei probablye is a reference to the fact that the player can choose the characters name and the turks default name on that game refers to their weapon of choice (ex: shotgun, katana, shuriken, martial arts and so on...)