I thought I was the only one who didn't think that X-2 was *that* bad
. Don't get me wrong, it's hardly my favourite game of the series, but it was fun! I also loved X, although for quite different reasons.
I'm also playing through Crisis Core for the first time at the moment (hard mode, of course
), I'm on chapter seven and also trying to complete all of the missions. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. For a start, it doesn't feel like VII; both the look and feel of the game are more similar to a cross between VIII and X: two of the best games of the series, but not what I'd expect from a VII prequel. I have actually been turning down the sound on my PSP and playing VII music on my laptop instead; it seems to make it feel a bit more like its predecessor (of course, the absence of Nobuo Uematsu means that the music doesn't compare to that of the original). I also didn't like the story; it seems that the makers of the game have included the right amount of originality and faithfulness, but in the wrong areas. The universe seems to bear little resemblance to that of VII (I thought that the fight scenes, for example, were, like the fights in Advent Children, very OTT); the story, however, goes *too* far in paralleling that of VII (at least it has done so far). Sephiroth was built up as being unique in the original game and so was the threat to the world; it's hard to accept Genesis and Angeal as being almost his equal, or Hollander being a new Hojo, or Zack meeting Aeris by falling through the roof of the church (if he dresses up as a women in Wall Market, it will be the last straw
). In many ways it feels more like a game based on the FF7 universe that a true (canon) prequel. it also seems too easy; I'm a mediocre gamer and I'm having no trouble with hard mode, but maybe that's because I'm doing the missions. the fighting system seems a little unbalanced as well; physical attacks are *far* to powerful in comparison to magic (or even limit breaks) now that the player basically has 4xCut from the start of the game and can get back attacks very easily on most enemies. Most FF games have this problem towards the end, but CC has it almost from the beginning (however, status inducing spells are *finally* useful - hooray). I can't help but wonder whether the makers took into account that fights in action games work very differently from those in RPGs. There were far too many random encounters as well, and it was almost impossible to escape from them.
All of that said (whew, there was a lot of it!), Squeenix has made a decent action game if not a perfect one, contrasting strongly with DoC (the worst sequel since Super Mario Bros. 2). The missions are great fun, it's nice to learn more about SOLDIER (VII didn't go into nearly enough detail about them) and I like the way that the game plays with you by making you think "Go Shinra, go Sephiroth!", when they were the antagonists in the last game. It's definitely the best part of the Compilation that I've experienced so far (I haven't played Before Crisis yet, and it might be a very long time before I do), and the only one to cause any nostalgia (even if there could have been more); all of those little references: a man with a gun on his arm, a man with a hat and a black chocobo, Yuffie, the list goes on.
As for XII: didn't like it; I think that XII is like
marmite .
EDIT: One day, I'm going to make a post in "General" that is fewer that has fewer than 1000 words.