Could it be that Square finally made an FF7 spin-off that didn't make me wanna line up every one of those responsible and systematically knee each one in the face?

So far, Crisis Core says "yes". I went in with no expectations at all and found it actually enjoyable. I was amazed when I found myself away from my PSP, really wishing I was playing it. That really hasn't happened for me with a PSP game yet. 'Cept maybe Jeanne D'arc.

It's not perfect, but I'm still liking it a lot. The visuals and sound are equally amazing. There are sometimes FMVs in the middle of battle! (See: Bahamut's Mega Flare - 1:30). The battle system isn't flawless, but I think I find it much less repetative and uninspired than I was expecting, or at least not as easy.

The real shocker is the fact that not every single moment in the story makes me want to kill myself, unlike in Advent Children. Where I'm at right now, the story doesnt really have much to do yet with the first game, in fact it appears to be blatantly repeating it with different characters, but maybe once Cloud and Aerith become involved (yes, that's right, I said Aerith. I figured I might as well get used to it.) the story might start to go down hill. EDIT:now that I've seen mor, I'd say Aerith is my favorite character, so that's good. Cloud hasn't really done anything yet. It's weird, the story seems to have no predictable direction. I can't really see where it's going at all. Which is crazy, because it's a prequel, I should know exactly wear it's going.

However, there have been, so far, two moments in which something in the story that you think is real turns about to be something happening on a Star Trek-like holodeck. TWO!! It's happened TWICE!! ALREADY!! How does that happen? Who thought that was a good idea?! I encountered the first incident of this while I was trying out the Japanese version and it almost convinced me that Crisis Core would be terrible. AND THEN THEY DID IT AGAIN?! I'm still confused about the whole thing.

But at least I know how the game will end now. The words "500 years later" will appear on the screen, we'll see RedXIII running up a canyon, then midgar will come into view, miles away, he'll look out at it, and then it's all on a holodeck.

Crisis Core - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A holodeck