I also thought it was called Fulfilled Desire, but apparently it's another case of a fan name for the track. The official English title is Living Legacy. The Japanese track name (受け継がれる想い) actually means "Inherited [Desire/Thoughts/Feelings]" and isn't from dialogue.
Also yeah, the Shinra theme in it is great. That's my problem with medleys, intermixed is the coolest versions of music but each part doesn't long enough to be satiating. Shadow's part of the FFVI ending theme is this also. Living Legacy is fortunately a good listen the whole way through.
While playing through Reunion and reading everyone's impressions online, my mind keeps going back to this interview response by Nojima [emphasis mine, translation by TurquoiseHammer]:
Nojima: This is something I’ve been thinking about in hindsight after helping make several Final Fantasy games. When people would tell me “This won’t work” or “I don’t quite understand this,” if I stayed confident in myself and held my ground, the detractors would gradually stop saying anything about it. And now after 10 or 20 years, those parts of the games are what everyone remembers, you know? They’ve really stuck with fans.
Uematsu: You’re what we’d call an eccentric [laughs].
Nojima: You think so, huh?
Uematsu: I think you’ve got to have peculiarities like that. People like to remove those sorts of burrs, you know? To smooth things down. Refining what you have is all well and good when it comes to creating a product, but when you cut out the things that give it charm, you end up erasing the individuality of the people who made it. You don’t want to sanitize every last thing. I think it’s better to leave those odd bits and bobs—those parts that make people consider the motivations of the people behind the game. In today’s world the works you see lack individuality. There’s no charm or quirkiness to them—everything is the same. And I think there’s an insidious sort of connection there with that process of refinement.
Crisis Core, despite being regarding highly within the Compilation, has always been a contentious title. Its story in particular has seen a lot of criticism. However, with so many returning to the game lately, I have noticed a shift. The character building within the DMW scenes is actually being recognized. Fans are discovering and appreciating the lore bits found in NPC dialogue. Even Genesis has been sparred, he isn't brought up with nearly as much hatred.
For me it's Crisis Core's efficiency. I love an efficient story. I don't need to spend an entire day with Tifa in Sector 7 to understand that she's Cloud's childhood friend. Just give me the water tower promise scene. I'll take it from there. Crisis Core doesn't linger. Plus, special shoutout to Lazard. There's two NPCs in Chapter 7 with four different dialogues about why he hates Shinra. And you won't understand that they're talking about Lazard until your second playthrough. That's some grade-A video gamey storytelling right there. Give me more of that.
Has anyone here found themselves appreciating aspects of the story this time around that they previously didn't like?
Much respect for Nojima and Uematsu. They know what's up and how to leave an impact.
I mean, I've always appreciated it and thought it was a good prequel story that managed to emotionally invest a person into the life of Zack and the little adventures he had in such a short time frame. And I don't think it was ever that controversial of a title, its reviews and reception have always been generally high. The fact the writing team crammed so much with a handheld title and managed to have Zack Fair leave so strong an impression, to the point he's almost always within the top 10 of character polls for over a 15 years, speaks to the impact this game had on a whole generation of FFVII fans. Like, CC is ironically one of those entry points a lot of younger FFVII fans entered into FFVII fandom, despite it being a prequel and basically spoiling the big reveal of FFVII. Yet it doesn't stop people from enjoying FFVII or the story at all. So yeah, I think it's awesome it's getting a lot of love and Reunion only made me realize how much I loved the story despite the rough edges around it's gameplay. Now it's been polished and is an even more enjoyable experience all around.
And speaking of rough gameplay....
I beat Minerva on hard mode.
First try too.
I didn't have enough gil to deal 99,999 with each hit of Gil Toss but it was enough to basically stop her Judgment Arrow and that's basically what I used it for until the end, where I just spammed Gil Toss to rid her of her last 1 million of HP. As you can see, ATK, VIT, and SPR were maxed, and I was able to read most of her attacks and not get destroyed....
...And it still took me about 2 fucking hours of combat. 77,777,777 HP is...a lot. Even when you're dealing max damage. The run was fucking epic. It was like fighting Yiazmat in FFXII. But holy fuck, did it take forever... I wanted to upload the video but the PS5 doesn't save more than an hour of footage... So the run isn't even fully recorded LMAO. It was just that.... fucking long. Hard Mode Minerva is challenging but she is not an enjoyable boss fight like Weiss, Pride & Joy Prototype, or even the Weapons of the OG. She's a fucking HP sponge. She just takes forever to die. I mean, it is what it is, and she's challenging and engaging in Normal. But Hard Mode felt like just... an endurance match. That HP total is ridiculous. But it's done now. I've conquered CC as much as I'm gonna.
This was such a fun game overall. Glad I can say I did everything I could with it.
This exactly, the dumb stuff is still dumb, but I had forgotten some of the good stuff, like the odd bits of NPC dialogue that have tasty bits of minor world-building. Even in the write-up descriptions for some of the missions!
And from the remaster perspective, seeing high-res versions of places like Junon and Nibelheim with full camera control is good shit.
(also, to add to my note before about wishing to hear the rest of the victory fanfare - you can hear it in full in the squats minigame )
Junon is apparently set in a canyon now. You can see the canyon walls across the water. The original is correct so this is a bit odd. Thinking/hoping this is just a Reunion quirk and it won't be reflective of Rebirth.
I have been super satisfied and it has been a long enough time that I can enjoy both the story and game play mechanics. Along with a special addition for those that play *wink* *wink*
It's a great return for the series and I very much wish they would build upon the early concepts of SOLDIER and Shinra.
Goddammit! I didn't even bother to take screenshots of anything while I was in Shinra Manor! In fact, I had just left Nibelheim when the patch came out.
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