Welcome kiddies, I'm Drake Clawfang, this is the Crisis Core walkthrough. Let's move!
Intro[]
Watch the intro, a charming throwback to the intro of the original FF7. First, this is Crisis Core's biggest problem - no skipping cutscenes. Bottom line we're sent in on a train hijacked by Wutai troops to take back control of it. Meet our hero, Zack. Since we only control one character my typical character boxes are useless, so I'll do "important character" boxes instead. You can read this while watching the intro, you can't skip it so might as well get it over with - by the time it's done you'll be done with this and we can get to the gameplay.
PLAYABLE CHARACTER - Zack Fair
Ah, Zack. Zack is, for most intents and purposes, a very interesting character. He's like a mix of Zidane and Cloud, if that makes sense - he's cool and flirty, but as he grows up he becomes more serious and mature while maintaining his sense of fun. He's the guy we'll be controlling for the entire game, so if you don't like him, well your Crisis Core experience is gonna suck. But like Zidane and Terra, Zack is so cool I can only surmise the only people who hate him are simply jealous. And I don't blame you, but hey, be fair.
Since he is the only character you play as, Zack can do anything you want him to do - magic, command Materia, brute force attacking, whatever. I'm just putting this text here to fill out the box so that page break line is shifted down....um, what else to say. Oh yes, Zack has awesome taste in women: Cissnei, Aerith, and Aqua in Kingdom Hearts. Damn.
IMPORTANT CHARACTER - Angeal Hewley
I hate Angeal, mostly because he is insanely boring. He is not given any real character depth or growth. He has a habit of switching sides, but we're given no motivation for this I can recall except his angsting over being a Jenova experiment. Also nothing he ever says holds any more depth than his personality. I swear, every other line of dialogue Angeal has contains the words "honor," or "dreams," sometimes both, sometimes more than once. It gets old fast. I fortunately taught myself to tune him out, and advise you do the same.
Angeal's DMW attack for Zack is pretty effective, Rush Assault. It's a quick sequence of fifteen hits on up to three enemies, ignoring defense. It becomes outclassed by Apocalypse and Lucky Stars later on, but until you get them it's probably the best DMW attack there is and remains very effective afterward.
| Boss | |||||
| Behemoth | |||||
| |||||
| HP | MP | Dangerous Attack | |||
| 7,870 | 122 | None | |||
| Steal | Morph | Drops | |||
| None | N/A | None | |||
| Weakness | Resistance | Difficulty | |||
| None | None | 1/5 | |||
Okay, by now you're watching Zack leap onto the train platform and casually stand still talking on his cell phone in the midst of a hail of gunfire. He's either stupid or awesome - I pick awesome. Now you get into your first fight against a couple waves of weak enemies, they're very easy to kill and pose no threat. Zack is pumped up with Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga and Assault Twister, so use whatever means you like to waste them. After you kill them all you get a scene of Zack moving to the next checkpoint and running into our first boss.
Given that it's the first boss of the game, Behemoth isn't too tough in spite of that HP which is pretty respectable. The easiest way to kill him is to run behind him and slice and dice his literal ass into ribbons. Crisis Core has this nifty trick where attacking enemies from behind makes every normal attack an automatic critical hit, so attacking the Behemoth from behind will do 200-300 damage a hit. Zack's spells will do the same amount of damage but aren't as fast as normal attacks. Behemoth's attacks aren't too tough, and if you get weak you can toss a Potion to heal yourself. You'll have no trouble trouncing him.
When the battle ends Zack is attacked by Sephiroth, who pretty handily crushes him. Fortunately for our hero this is just a simulation, and Angeal arrives to shut it down before Sephiroth gives Zack the chop suey treatment. We now get a lovely shot of Zack wearing a head visor that no one can look dignified wearing. Angeal then walks off spouting a meaningless line about dreams and honor that has absolutely no relevance to anything that just happened, it's just that Angeal can't be in any scene without spewing some sort of fortune cookie bullshit about the concepts. He's physically incapable, really.
Tutorial Time[]
Now we see Zack speaking to Kunsel, a fellow Second Class and his best friend. Apparently there's been a mass desertion, a lot of Second and Third Class SOLDIER members have up and left the company, led by a First Class. Angeal comes in with a new assignment for Zack from SOLDIER's head Director Lazard. Lazard tells us about the missing First Class, Genesis, who went awol in Wutai a month ago. There's been no success locating him, so Zack is being sent to Wutai during the closing stages of the war to help. Angeal mentions he's recommended Zack for promotion to First, and in his excitement Zack dry-humps him. Angeal tells him to save it for later when Lazard isn't around, and then we're given leave to prepare for our mission.
First off, all that top-level Materia from the simulation is gone, Zack is now stuck with Fire, Blizzard and Cure. Kunsel sends you an email about combat, talk to him and tell him you read it, he'll escort you to a terminal to sign you up for missions. Sign up and now you can do missions at any Save Point by selecting the option in the menu. The first mission, 1-1-1, is mandatory, fight eight normal enemies to get an Elixir to proceed with the boring tutorials. Finally, Kunsel tells you to check the locker for equipment, do so to get a Bronze Bangle. Inspect the same locker 20 more times, Kunsel lecturing you each time, and eventually he gets fed up and hands over a Cursed Ring. It gives a nice boost to stats but stops the DMW reels, meaning you get no status buffs during combat, no Limit Breaks and cannot level up. Equip just the Bronze Bangle for now. Now go back into Lazard's office and tell Angeal you're ready to begin the assignment.
The Siege of Tamblin[]
We're quickly thrust into battle with three Wutai Privates who are no stronger than the normal soldiers you mopped up in the tutorial. After this battle Angeal asks Zack about "dumbapples," which are somehow so pivotal to being a First Class he says Zack will never make it if he doesn't know about them. After this we finally get to move about freely. We'll be prone to random encounters here. In any area you can minimize the chances of meeting enemies by hugging the walls, but where's the fun in that? The dotted red line behind you cannot be crossed so move forward. If you get into a fight and get confused, press Square while walking to call up your map. The enemies in this area are Wutai Privates and Wutai Sergeants, which have yellow armor and much more HP, enough to stand up to several attacks before dying.
At the end of the path is a scene with Angeal, where he explains dumbapples are special apples that bloom at random intervals every year. Officially they're called "Banora White" but due to their random bloom they're nicknamed dumbapples, and Angeal made a habit of stealing them as a kid. However, "he still had his honor," because the best tasting apples grew on a wealthy man's estate, and he was friends with the guy's kid so he never stole from their property. Zack makes a good point that if they were friends he could have just asked for one, and Angeal spouts more bullshit about honor like that explains why. He uses that word so much I'm not sure he even understands what it means. Zack raises another good point - what does this story have to do with anything? "No story is not worth hearing," he replies, and walks off, having effectively wasted a whole paragraph of my walkthrough and five minutes of your life telling us this pointless anecdote that has absolutely no bearing on anything to do with SOLDIER, Zack, or Wutai. Do you see why I hate this guy?
After this is a scene where the two talk about their plan to invade the enemy fortress once another team sets off a diversion. Angeal draws the Buster Sword, and Zack notes he never sees him actually use it, which is sort of a waste. Another good point! Angeal says that if he uses it the sword will get rusted and damaged, which is the real waste. Um, no no, if you have a nice car parked out in your driveway that you never use for fear of an accident, it is a waste, if you drive it it'll be damaged but you'll actually put it to use! God, I may be in over my head, I don't think I can take much more of this guy. An explosion saves me from more of this stupidity, and Zack charges in to begin the mission. You now face a sizable barrage of Wutai troops - there are three on the walls firing at you from range, use your Materia to take them out. It'll be easier to do this if you finish off the troops on the ground first or else they'll mess up your targeting. After this is a small scene where Zack leaps into the fort and fights a much shorter battle against more of the same enemies.
Now we have to get to the central area of the fort, and we'll get a bonus reward for defeating lots of enemies on the way. So, follow the linear path, though it says "defeat enemies" they mean enemy parties, ergo if you run into a trio of Wutai troops you only get credit for one enemy. Open the chest in front of you for a Soma and continue on. You'll fight two Wutai Privates and a new enemy, Foulander, who uses Fire magic. That hurts a bit but isn't too much of a danger. Since this section is straightforward, seems a good time to talk about the Digital Mind Wave. That link gives you a lot of in-depth descriptions. The bottom line is that the slot reels in the upper-left corner of the screen spin during battle, granting you stat buffs as you fight and occasionally letting you execute Limit Breaks. The DMW is not entirely random despite its appearance as a slot mechanic, and will automatically spin without any input, so it will take care of itself without you worrying about it.
As you proceed you'll be fired on from a distance, run back a few turns then come back to see troops emerge and fight you. Inspect the turning wall they came from for another fight, you have six stars now. Nearby is a chest with a potion - the second chest after that is a trap, another battle ensues. Continue on, ignoring the obvious sliding wall, and the second one after that sics another group of enemies on you. Go through the doorway for another fight. Go around the corner for a chest with an Ether - I got into a fight on the way to bring me up to ten fights. Examine the rotating wall for a fight. Go down to find a chest with a Hi-Potion. then look at your map to get your bearings and find the way forward up the right side of the fort. At this corner more troops fire on you, choose to go back and inspect the scouting tower for a fight. Now you need to go back to the entrance and take out the second tower, because that added two more stars to your total that you need to fill. When you're ready look at your map and examine the rotating wall near the right hallway you just ran from for a humorous cutscene and a fight, then examine the wall you just came from for another fight. Continue to the end of the corridor for another fight. If you have all your stars filled, move on, otherwise you can stay and fight some more battles until you're ready. You can also stay behind to open that chest with an Ether nearby.
Head through the door to proceed, see you on Page 2.
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