FFVII - Dirge of Cerberus... meh

BitVyper · 08-16-2006, 11:18 PM

So I rented it today, and so far I'm pretty unimpressed. There's nothing really wrong with the gameplay, but there's nothing particularly good about it either. Essentially, it's about as generic as generic gets. Vincent can't really do anything cool (except in cutscenes, where he seems to actually have some of his power back), and using different guns doesn't really seem to alter the gameplay much. You shoot a little bit faster with one, do a little bit more damage with another, but nothing that really makes you want to use different guns for different situations. Frankly, I've just been sticking with the basic gun so far. Your hand to hand abilities are a little cooler.

The controls are pretty easy to master. Switching between hand to hand and shooting modes is seamless enough that you can be smacking someone down one second, and shooting something the next, so that's good.

You can jump, but that ability is utterly useless. There's no platform element, nothing to jump over or between, and it has no combat application that I can see except occasionally shooting over something. So far, the only thing I've found that I can jump over or on to are little waist high boxes littered throughout the game, but said boxes aren't really in any helpful positions. It's too bad, because I think this game could have benefitted from a platform element. At the very least, it would have been cool to be jumping between rooftops.

Vincent seems to have been largely castrated, which I expected, but not quite to this extent. I mean, he's barely stronger than the mooks, and aside from limit break (which I've done all of once so far) has no abilities that really distinguish him from anyone else. Frankly, I expected Vincent to be a little more.... supernatural. I was hoping I'd at least get to dodge some bullets or something, but he doesn't even get superspeed.

So far, music seems more or less non-existant, and the graphics are nice, but nothing special. Again, there just isn't anything to draw me in.

Plot seems okay so far, but not even good enough that I can get into my "just slog through to the next cutscene" mode. Voice acting is okay in some places, and sub-par in others, and so far, there's no particularly compelling dialogue.

Basically, the game isn't bad, but thoroughly uninteresting. On the positive side, the setting at least, is better maintained than it was in FFVII.

Solid Snake · 08-17-2006, 12:12 AM

Honestly, the most disappointing thing about FFVII: DoC? The best character in the series isn't in the fucking game.

Seriously. Why the hell would you make an FFVII game and not include Red XIII? That's like making a Seinfeld episode without Kosmo Cramer. Or, making a Family Guy episode without Stewie Griffin. I mean, what's the point?

BitVyper · 08-17-2006, 12:25 AM

I do have one major complaint about the gameplay: It suffers from what I like to call WtHiSMS, or "Who the Hell is Shooting Me Syndrome." In many of the levels, the guys shooting at you are half a mile away, and difficult to pick out against the background. You can use a scope, but that means you're scanning and getting shot a lot while you look for them. It's kind of annoying and leads to me randomly moving my sights around, hoping I'll see them turn red.

+1 Name · 08-18-2006, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solid Snake

Honestly, the most disappointing thing about FFVII: DoC? The best character in the series isn't in the fucking game.

Seriously. Why the hell would you make an FFVII game and not include Red XIII? That's like making a Seinfeld episode without Kosmo Cramer. Or, making a Family Guy episode without Stewie Griffin. I mean, what's the point?

Red XIII IS in one scene.
I thought this game kicked massive amounts of ass. I'm currently replaying it on ex hard mode and its awesome. The big cut scenes are the quality of advent children, the regular graphics are the best in Final Fantasy so far, the story is good, the gameplay is great, Vincent is badass (although the limit breaks are pretty useless and you only get one, excluding Chaos.), but Normal mode is REALLY easy. Overall, I give it 9/10.

BitVyper · 08-18-2006, 02:11 PM

Finished the game today, and my feelings are pretty much the same as when I'd started. There just isn't enough meat to the gameplay for it to be interesting. So far, the extra missions offer nothing particularly exciting either. My biggest complaint remains that the cool stuff only happens in cutscenes

Also: Every time that little girl opened her mouth, I honestly put my tv on mute. You could say my opinion of the voice acting has fallen somewhat since I started.

On the upside, I did get one or two chances to actually use my jump throughout the game. However, it remained pretty much entirely aesthetic.

Spoiler: Having Hojo come back was cool, at least. I kind of liked the whole "ghosts of the past" thing they had going on. /spoiler

Edit: Speaking of Chaos; it irritates me that playing him was exactly the same as playing Vincent except with bigger damage. That just tells me that Square just couldn't put in the extra effort to make a cool final battle.

Quote:

the regular graphics are the best in Final Fantasy so far

Hardly. FFX looked much better. And I hate FFX with all my heart and soul.

Mirai Gen · 08-18-2006, 02:44 PM

I am honestly sadistic, so it fills me with glee that Square couldn't make a Vampire May Stare clone to save their lives.

BitVyper · 08-18-2006, 03:14 PM

If anything, it's a clone of Parasite Eve. I had high hopes for this game, because in the past, Square would make some really awesome stuff when they went outside the pure RPG genre. However I forget, this isn't the past, and RPG or not, it still has the FF logo slapped on.

Lockeownzj00 · 08-19-2006, 12:41 AM

Was anybody really surprised? Before I might have considered it, but now I'm not even sure if I'll look in this games direction. Why, Square? Why? I love you so...

Archbio · 08-19-2006, 01:20 AM

Quote:

it's a clone of Parasite Eve

A horrific concept if there ever was one.

BitVyper · 08-19-2006, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockeownzj00

Was anybody really surprised? Before I might have considered it, but now I'm not even sure if I'll look in this games direction. Why, Square? Why? I love you so...

Well, like I said, it used to be that when Square went outside their usual genre, they made something cool and unique. That was back in the Einhander days though.

Watch the rabid fanboys defend it with their lives on gamefaqs though. Oh, and here's a little spoiler to save you from hurting your brain later:

spoiler The closest thing Vincent has to a romantic interest is physically a nine year old girl. It's ambiguous, but that doesn't make it any less creepy. /spoiler

08-16-2006, 11:18 PM	#1
BitVyper History's Strongest Dilettante Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Arcadia Posts: 6,662	FFVII - Dirge of Cerberus... meh So I rented it today, and so far I'm pretty unimpressed. There's nothing really wrong with the gameplay, but there's nothing particularly good about it either. Essentially, it's about as generic as generic gets. Vincent can't really do anything cool (except in cutscenes, where he seems to actually have some of his power back), and using different guns doesn't really seem to alter the gameplay much. You shoot a little bit faster with one, do a little bit more damage with another, but nothing that really makes you want to use different guns for different situations. Frankly, I've just been sticking with the basic gun so far. Your hand to hand abilities are a little cooler. The controls are pretty easy to master. Switching between hand to hand and shooting modes is seamless enough that you can be smacking someone down one second, and shooting something the next, so that's good. You can jump, but that ability is utterly useless. There's no platform element, nothing to jump over or between, and it has no combat application that I can see except occasionally shooting over something. So far, the only thing I've found that I can jump over or on to are little waist high boxes littered throughout the game, but said boxes aren't really in any helpful positions. It's too bad, because I think this game could have benefitted from a platform element. At the very least, it would have been cool to be jumping between rooftops. Vincent seems to have been largely castrated, which I expected, but not quite to this extent. I mean, he's barely stronger than the mooks, and aside from limit break (which I've done all of once so far) has no abilities that really distinguish him from anyone else. Frankly, I expected Vincent to be a little more.... supernatural. I was hoping I'd at least get to dodge some bullets or something, but he doesn't even get superspeed. So far, music seems more or less non-existant, and the graphics are nice, but nothing special. Again, there just isn't anything to draw me in. Plot seems okay so far, but not even good enough that I can get into my "just slog through to the next cutscene" mode. Voice acting is okay in some places, and sub-par in others, and so far, there's no particularly compelling dialogue. Basically, the game isn't bad, but thoroughly uninteresting. On the positive side, the setting at least, is better maintained than it was in FFVII. __________________ "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea is asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace; we've got work to do!" Awesome art be here. Last edited by BitVyper; 08-16-2006 at 11:20 PM.

08-17-2006, 12:12 AM	#2
Solid Snake Erotic Esquire Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 5,563	Honestly, the most disappointing thing about FFVII: DoC? The best character in the series isn't in the fucking game. Seriously. Why the hell would you make an FFVII game and not include Red XIII? That's like making a Seinfeld episode without Kosmo Cramer. Or, making a Family Guy episode without Stewie Griffin. I mean, what's the point? __________________ *WARNING:* Snek's all up in this thread. Be prepared to read massive walls of text.

08-17-2006, 12:25 AM	#3
BitVyper History's Strongest Dilettante Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Arcadia Posts: 6,662	I do have one major complaint about the gameplay: It suffers from what I like to call WtHiSMS, or "Who the Hell is Shooting Me Syndrome." In many of the levels, the guys shooting at you are half a mile away, and difficult to pick out against the background. You can use a scope, but that means you're scanning and getting shot a lot while you look for them. It's kind of annoying and leads to me randomly moving my sights around, hoping I'll see them turn red. __________________ "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea is asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace; we've got work to do!" Awesome art be here.

08-18-2006, 02:44 PM	#6
Mirai Gen We are Geth. Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 14,032	I am honestly sadistic, so it fills me with glee that Square couldn't make a Vampire May Stare clone to save their lives. __________________

08-18-2006, 03:14 PM	#7
BitVyper History's Strongest Dilettante Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Arcadia Posts: 6,662	If anything, it's a clone of Parasite Eve. I had high hopes for this game, because in the past, Square would make some really awesome stuff when they went outside the pure RPG genre. However I forget, this isn't the past, and RPG or not, it still has the FF logo slapped on. __________________ "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea is asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace; we've got work to do!" Awesome art be here.