r/CrisisCore

Hey everyone!

About three days ago I finished Final Fantasy VII (OG) for the very first time. It was actually my first Final Fantasy game ever, and I honestly didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. It completely blew me away and has easily become one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Two days ago I started playing the original PSP version of Crisis Core (I wanted to experience the original instead of Reunion first), and I just finished it today.

Tonight I’m finally starting FF7 Remake. I’ve actually owned it for almost half a year but kept putting it off because I wanted to play the original first. I also already ordered Rebirth, which should arrive tomorrow.

Before I jump into those games, though, I have a few questions about the original story.

Please don’t spoil anything from Remake or Rebirth. I’ve heard that those games aren’t just simple remakes and that they do some things differently, so I’d really like to understand the OG story first.

The biggest thing I’m confused about is the ending of Crisis Core.

Zack sacrifices himself while fighting all the Shinra infantry soldiers. Before he dies, he tells Cloud to carry on his legacy, gives him the Buster Sword, and Cloud clearly hears everything Zack says. Then Zack dies, and the ending transitions into the opening scene of FF7 OG, which I thought was an awesome callback.

But here’s what confuses me:

How does Cloud end up with his fractured identity?

At the end of Crisis Core he doesn’t seem like someone who’s completely lost his mind. He knows Zack, he hears Zack’s final words, and as far as I can tell, he should still know who he is.

So how does he go from that to believing he’s a SOLDIER First Class, mixing Zack’s memories with his own, and basically becoming the Cloud we meet at the beginning of FF7 OG?

Was there some kind of mental breakdown after Zack died? Did I miss an explanation somewhere? Or is this something that’s only implied?

Another thing I’m wondering about is how Cloud actually ends up joining Avalanche.

I remember Tifa finding him at the train station in Midgar in the OG, and then he ends up working as a mercenary for Avalanche. But I don’t really remember if the game explained what happened between Zack’s death and that moment, or how much time passed. Did I miss that explanation?

And finally, I’m still a little confused about the whole “Sephiroth Clone” thing.

Throughout FF7 OG, Cloud keeps being called a Sephiroth Clone. But unless I completely misunderstood something, Cloud isn’t literally a clone at all, right?

Isn’t he just a normal guy from Nibelheim who survived the Nibelheim Incident, got captured by Hojo, and was experimented on with Mako and Jenova cells?

Zack also went through Hojo’s experiments, but he doesn’t seem to be affected in the same way. So why does Cloud’s mind completely fall apart while Zack stays mentally intact?

And what exactly does the Mako infusion and the Jenova cells actually do to a person? I feel like I understood most of the story, but this part still confuses me.

Sorry for the long post! I absolutely loved both FF7 OG and Crisis Core, and before I dive into Remake tonight, I just want to make sure I fully understand what happened in the original story.

Thanks in advance, and again, please no spoilers for Remake or Rebirth!

So I'm level 40, but for some reason everything I hit him with, regardless of whether it's physical or magical, is Guarded. I can't do a single point of damage to him outside of getting lucky with the spinner and getting a Limit Break. Is there a trick to getting through his super armor? My Buster Sword percentage is over 23.4 if that helps.

https://preview.redd.it/dcvogyka7r9h1.png?width=707&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5121da683c7c41184c848612b7a4697134d7369

https://preview.redd.it/408fswyg0t9h1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=0a755642d646f6355d41c7477f0e2fee49c3a8d6

10/10

When I was a kid, I loved RPG’s like Final Fantasy. I loved seeing big numbers come up when I attacked. I loved sprawling epic worlds. I loved the payoff of a good build. The only issue was that I didn’t understand how to do any of that properly.

I’d see other people play them and be incredibly overpowered and I wanted to be like them. I’d get an RPG and try to get through it but could never totally figure out how to utilize its systems well enough to beat the game. I had played Final Fantasy three on the DS, and looking back, that was definitely a very difficult game for a kid to play, but honestly, I couldn’t even get to the hard parts because I would just give everyone a sword and I have no clue what I was doing. Then I got a PSP and played crisis score for the first time.. while I may not have made the most optimized build, with enough patience, and grinding I was able to beat it. I still remember quite vividly running into my older brother‘s room and telling him I beat it with so much excitement and joy.

that being said, the final boss wasn’t the most rewarding fight to me. It was beating Angeal for the first time that truly made me feel something i had never felt before in a video game. That was overcoming what felt like an impossible obstacle after days of practice and planning. I was on a beach trip with my family and I remember spending most of the time on that trip grinding levels or figuring out how to craft better materia. Then it was attempting Angeal over and over again, hoping to learn something new in every run to help my build and learn his attack patterns. I had never experienced something like that before, and rarely experienced it again.

A little over a week ago, I saw that crisis Crisis Reunion was on sale, and when I found out, it ran incredibly well on the steam deck I bought it. To me it’s a game that I much prefer playing on the go because it feels more nostalgic. I decided to play on hard difficulty because I wanted to re-experience the Angeal fight as a difficult obstacle to overcome. The only issue is that I have now played a majority of the Final Fantasy series, beaten several super bosses. I took him down first try with no issues. I was a little disappointed, but I figured it wasn’t going to be as hard as my first time beating it.

Then I spent most of my time after that figuring out how to make the most optimal build to finish all of the side missions that I never beat as a kid. If I remember correctly, the hardest mission I could beat was probably six stars maybe seven I’m not sure it’s hard to remember. After some research and grinding for dark matter, I was able to make a build with Max stats other than magic and luck. I had heard about Minerva for years and honestly, I assumed that she would be a little bit more difficult than all the side missions leading up to her. Boy was I wrong. the difficulty spike, especially on hard mode is insane. I was not expecting it all. Out of curiosity I bumped it down to normal and beat her first try. At first, I told myself that this is meant to be an enjoyable experience and if beating her was too frustrating and I’m not having fun then it’s not worth it. Then it hit me, isn’t this the same type of obstacle I was seeking in the first place similar to Angeal’s fight as a kid? I knew in that moment that I had to beat her for myself.

Looking back, it was a nearly identical experience. Sure I was a lot more knowledgeable about how to properly build a character, but at the end of the day I had to mentally push myself to problem solve and reevaluate my build in the same way I did as a kid. On paper it’s harder but relative to what my knowledge was at the time I played crisis score on the PSP, I am stretching my mind in the same way. It was try, learn, practice, refine my build, again and again. The thing that I figured out that was game changing for Minerva was SP master and grinding for SP to have an initial shield for the first part of the fight, and if and when she gets through it, I will have to carry myself to the end. Something I just realized while writing this is that one of the main issues I had with Angeal was not even considering my defense stats, and when I started focusing on vitality and spirit, it was the turning point for me.

So anyways, I thought this was a really cool experience I had with crisis core reunion and had to share. I basically forced myself to have the same experience with the same game over a decade later and I think that’s pretty neat.

Also now I can actually finish the story! I’m in chapter 6 with max stats which will be fun

I just beat the game and it's by far the worst ending I've ever seen. I feel terrible. Zack was such an amazing guy and likeable dude. So sad. Worst ending ever.

But there are some loose ends here.

Unlike in OG FF7 where SOLDIER 1st class wasn't all that (I think we meet them for the first time while trying to save sector 7 tower from falling plate). So it's understandable how Zack dies in OG FF7. Just outnumbered ganged by shinra troops and shot to death. Makes sense.

However, in both FF7 remake and Crisis Core, they've depicted SOLDIER 1st class as some super powered fight machine. Especially Zack beats everyone. My Zack, hammer punched Genesis just twice and he was gone. He can kill literal god (Minerva). Super powerful. The last battle I could've gone on forever without dying if it wasn't required to progress. So I actually think they did well to send infinite troops until the actual player gives up for his death. That's not the loose end I'm talking about.

How the hell did Cloud get so strong within a year to match whatever Zack was????

After the final fight with Genesis, Zack finds out he's been away for 4 years after Nibelheim. So it's only a year before Cloud becomes the merc for Avalanche. What the hell? how?

In OG FF7, not only SOLDIER 1st class isn't all that strong but Cloud isn't all that strong either to start with. He just doesn't say much but still weak. Unlike in the remake he's super strong even in the beginning and matches strength that of 1st class SOLDIER (who is depicted very strong, the bike guy). Like how?

Also the confusion comes in Rebirth intro

>!I didn't beat Rebirth. In fact, the reason why I bought Crisis Core Reunion was because of Rebirth intro. It's totally different to Crisis Core ending. What is going on? I mean, if I get to find out during the gameplay of Rebirth, please don't tell me lol. But if it's some parallel universe theory, please do tell.!<

I grew up playing crisis core on the psp and loving it, but I didn’t understand how to optimize my build. Now I’m revisiting it on the steamdeck with crisis core reunion and I’m loving it. I could hardly get past 7 star difficulties as a kid. Now I’m clearing 10 stars one shotting nearly everything after spending a few days working on a build to get max stats and this is all on hard mode. I knew that Minerva would be more difficult but I didn’t expect this. Even with max stats and with what I thought was a well optimized load out with high jump and darkness, I realized it was time to go back the drawing board and have a load out just for her. I tried her on normal and easily got her first try and couldn’t believe the difference in difficulty.

I’ve basically arrived at the approach of using sp master and 10s of millions of sp to have some defense so it’s less punishing, and a Gil toss build that hits max damage per throw. Havent been able to figure out how to get every throw to do max damage without going into battle stance first though but that’s ok. I just farmed sp and Gil for an hour today after figuring out this build and on my first attempt I got her to 8 million health! Unfortunately I made a mistake though and by this point in the fight all my SP had been used up a couple minutes prior. It’s insane what this boss expects of you but I just wanted to share the progress! This brings me back to grinding for days on a beach trip just to beat Angeal in the story because I did not understand how to properly create a build. The feeling of reward though was an unforgettable experience for me and it feels like I’m reliving that again but with Minerva!

Also Is there a way to make Gil toss hit max 99,999 damage without going into battle stance first? I have max attack, 18 million Gil, mastered Gil toss, and genji glove to guarantee critical hits but it’s only close to the cap around 90k per hit

I'm fighting waves of shinra soldiers with 3 helicopters and seems like never ending. I have aerial drain and all of genji gears. I'm not gonna die. Even when I get hit by the rocket, I'm healing instantly with aerial drain. It's been 30 ish minutes. I've seen one cutscene with Sephiroth, Cissnei, and Tseng roll into the roulette but nothing happened afterwards.

Am I supposed to die here? What's happening?

Hello, I got Genji Shield very easily without the octaslash materia and thought I'd share how I did it.

First of all, I missed Octaslash materia from the shop like a lot of first timers. So I didn't have that.

The mission is M7-6-6 The Determined Recruiter

Upon meeting the Magic pot we need to do 4 things in order.

He'll ask:

1. Gil Toss

2. Costly Punch

3. 99,999 dmg

4. Octaslash

The hardest part is Octaslash because it's randomized.

What I did was let roulette to roll 4 times on each of the requests. If I didn't get it during the first 4 for Gil Toss, I'll do Gil Toss anyway then let it roll another 4 times. This way, I get total of 16 times chance before he leaves. After the 4th roll on Octaslash and it still doesn't roll Sephiroth, just forfeit the fight and start over again. It'll start right back from Magic pot.

The thing is you have to beat the Magic Pot. TWICE! this way. First time beating, he becomes you DMW. Then on the second time he will give Genji Shield.

But doing it like this took me 15min ish altogether. My roll was on High on the first time, normal on the second time.

Hope this helps someone!