Yesterday I went browsing around to several different GameStop locations. Not something I really wanted to do on my day off, but it was a necessary evil. I strolled in at one location right after a class meeting (yeah, we still have classes every 2 weeks during our clinicals) and what do I find? A preowned copy of Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core and Atari Classics Evolution for the PSP. Employee discount + Edge card discount + preowned price = a decent deal. Right? I guess so.

Later in the day, I had a chance to try out both titles. I wasn't extremely satisfied with the Atari collection, and even less so when I discovered that the casing was scratched to hell. (It's a neurosis...as a collector, I want my games in near perfect condition if at all possible.) So, I swapped discs to give Crisis Core a try to see what all the hype was about. I was disgusted. I wanted that chunk of garbage out of my house immediately, but wait...I didn't buy it for myself in the first place. It's for my girlfriend. So, I have to let her try it out and see if she likes it before I can return it. In the meantime, I start running through my mental list of titles I want to swap the Atari collection for. That is where our real journey begins...

I won't bore everyone with the details of the trip, but I ended up visiting a total of 6 GameStop locations yesterday. I ended up swapping out the Atari collection and grabbed 2 copies of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate for the DS. I have been wanting to play this one, but I didn't want to play by myself since the GameCube Crystal Chronicles was a bit boring to play alone. My girlfriend was a bit miffed when she saw me walking back to the car with 2 copies, but mostly because she had it confused with Final Fantasy Tactics, which she has no interest in. After a quick explination and demo, she became more than happy to join me in the quest.

So, 2 Final Fantasy titles on 2 different systems. Where to begin? Well, I wasn't interested in Crisis Core from the beginning since I really hated the Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children movie. I am one of the few people that feel the story was complete with the original Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1 and didn't need to be revived through horrible spin-offs. It almost seemed as if the Final Fantasy series was suffering some kind of downfall and needed a saving grace to get people interested again. I may end up playing through it, but I just can't seem to warm up to it at all. I know there are tons of people who will love this game and play through it many times and memorize the story and where to find every last materia. I was turned off by the new battle system and the horrible dialogue and voice acting. Voice acting is a big deal to me. If I don't like the characters, I won't play the game. This is why I couldn't get through but a chapter or two of Kingdom Hearts. Crisis Core has this cocky kid, who was just a footnote in the original Final Fantasy 7, whining about everything and supposed to be the one Cloud models himself after when he goes through his disassociative identity crisis. This really reminds me of Star Wars: Shadow Of The Empire. Did anyone else read that book or play the N64 game? It was all about a Han Solo-like character even though Han Solo was not in the game. It was the same thing in Lord Of The Rings: Third Age. I wanted to shout out "Send in the B-squad!" They're really stretching for a plot and tie-ins with Crisis Core and I just can't let go of that thought long enough so I can try playing through it.

Crystal Chronicles, on the other hand, is already shaping up to be an adventure I'm going to enjoy. I know nothing about the story as of yet, but I've played a bit with the battle system to know this is a title I'll enjoy. It reminds me a lot of Y's: Ark of Napishtim and what I hoped the Mana DS titles would have been. I know it hasn't been received as well as Crisis Core, and quite frankly has been far overshadowed, but so far I'm enjoying it a lot more. Maybe I'm just a little too old-school, but these are the kind of games I enjoy and I hope they don't give up on this side of the Final Fantasy series. I like the cutesey visuals and the more fantasy-style story lines where the more recent entries have seen more technologically advanced civilizations. I'll play Final Fantasy 9 before I'll play FF12. Which reminds me...I have a copy of 9 sitting on the shelf, and I never finished it. Maybe it's time to go back and do so. So many RPGs...so little time...but that's for another blog.

Cheers!