Dirge of Cerberus: so dark and shiny!
I think I’m almost at the very end of Dirge of Cerberus, and I’ve only logged about 5 hours of game time. I could be totally wrong though. I’m not cheating and looking up guides or anything. hm… btw… god. Vincent is so hot. (*snickers*)
so… time for some Dirge of Cerberus reviews and reviewing by penny!
I like:
- The style/tone of the game.
With the exception of one small side-scene where the point of view shifts to that stupid cat Cait Sith… the entire game is pretty dark and serious. I like the odd combination of mysterious-vampire/demon-like-magic that vincent seems to radiate, combined with the political/technological/environmental stuff that final fantasy VII is all about. - Vincent (duh).
I like his character, his story, his twisted and broken body. I have to admit that I HATE his stupid cell phone and it’s stupid gothic silver cross style. it makes his character more like a costume complete with matching accessories! omg ponies! … but whatever. He was my favorite character from the original game… his story never got explained fully. Now it has, and my jaw has sorta… dropped. (nope, no spoiling.) - Gameplay style:
I love the 1st/3rd person shooter thing. woo for mixing it up in the FF genre. And as far as the 3rd person action style game goes, it seems like the time the creators spent on Kingdom Hearts influenced this one… it’s sort of like KH, only you’ve got a gun in your hand (well, 3), and you actually have to fricken aim. Not that aiming is all that hard or anything. It’s like halo without the funky controls, and with a lot more auto-aiming. So… Halo minus about 200 in difficulty. plus mele combat. and materia. woo shiny materia.
What I don’t like:
- The leveling system.
I HATE that the whole “leveling up” system is now pretty much non-existant. Unless you’re really really good and get a really high score at each chapter, you’re not going to get all that much experience. The drop-rate of items is also really controlled, so you can’t gain enough gold to upgrade your weapons very well… which I suspect is one reason the second thing I dislike about the game is a problem for me: - The Tsviets
Granted, I haven’t beaten any of them yet (not for lack of trying), but the fight with Rosso the Crimson (and I assume all the other Tsviets, although I haven’t gotten past her yet) is DISPROPORTIONATELY hard compared to all other battles before her. It’s really fricken annoying. I’ve only died once in all the other boss fights, and I can’t get her down past about 1/2 health before she wipes the floor with me.
What I’ve got mixed feelings on:
- Inventory limit
The limit to how many items you can carry makes the game a major challenge. At first I thought this was really really lame, but now I realize that the challenge is there for a reason. It keeps people “playing fair” and keeps people from just stocking up and maxing out on all the potions you can hold. it makes sense, considering ALL of your items are a usable at any time. The creators put a lot of care into the small logistics of the game to make sure that even the most experienced FF player isn’t going to be using any of their old tricks to get through unscathed. On that note… next item: - The lack of any save-points.
Probably for the same reasons that they’ve limited your items inventory, they’ve also limited how games are saved. For one thing, you can never actually “save” your game in the conventional sense. You can’t save a copy just before a boss you like and then re-play it later (or even just as a precaution before a boss in case you die). There are NO save points. Your game is auto-saved, and I still haven’t quite figured out how all that works because when I return to a game, I sometimes expect it to pick up in a place a little farther along from where it ends up starting… I don’t know. I’ll leave that to someone else. - Related: the Temp Save system
Both this and the lack of save points is frustrating PROBABLY because I’m used to being able to be a little more reckless. Back when I knew I could just make a temp-save, go nuts and learn the level, and then just restart, I’d do it. But this temp save system is meant to prevent that. Once you re-open a temp save file, the file is destroyed, preventing you from just resetting the console. It’s pretty obvious that the creators know the kinds of tricks players like to use to “cheat.” On the other hand, this system solves one of the biggest problems of any other RPG with fixed save-points you have to manually access: you can save and quit your game at any time. So, if your mother tells you to get your ass down stairs and do the dishes, you have no excuse (or in my case, if my ride is about to leave or something). I love AND hate both these details. They show the kind of thought that was put into it, and it steers players more into playing the game how the creators want it to be played.
Overall, I love the game so far. I love the FF saga, and you really can’t have that saga without vincent (Soooo odd that vincent is an optional character in the original game.)
I also find it kind of strange and cool that I bought the game only a few days away from Oct. 13… Vincent’s birthday (according to the original FFVII booklet).
I wonder why they didn’t try to release the game on that day and see how many fans would notice.







