Dirge of Cerberus Fan Club

[Clement Rage]

I know we're a minority on the board, but this game deserves more love. It has its faults, but there's also a lot to like. I made a thread about that a while ago, but now I felt the need to talk about it some more.

The game that actually shows you the wider world after the OG, and does it's best not to make anyone look bad.

 

[Shademp]

God of Dirge, announcing his presence.

 

[Jason Tandro]

This game is massively under-appreciated. I don't know that I'd call it "good" but I'd call it an enjoyable side show. The gameplay was kind of fun, the music was gorgeous and the visuals were actually really nice for their time. I'd love to play this one again.

 

[Shademp]

^I can not hear that tune without simultaneously hearing the sound of me sniping down all the snipers with my l33t sniping.

BOOM! HEADSHOT!

 

[Tashasaurous]

I loved how it showed more of Vincent's character, the storyline is good, the graphics were good, the FMV scenes were beautiful and it felt sort of Kingdom Hearts way, except for the gun-battles but hey, I can live with that.

And I absolutely loved the music as well-so beautiful and amazing.

 

[Flare]

Dirge was the first FFVII game I ever played. It has a special place in my heart. I also actually enjoyed the gameplay. Possibly because I hadn't played the original game yet, but I ended up with a pretty good opinion of the game, and still have it even after experiencing the rest of the compilation.
That being said it does 'feel' different from the rest, I think. But I love the game.

As noted above, the music is quite beautiful in several spots.

My biggest gripe was how short the game was. 15 hours is all it took for me to play through it on average.

 

[Shademp]

To what degree did you all complete Dirge of Cerberus? While the main game is short, you'll be spending a considerable amount of time on the game if you're aiming to clear everything.

List of challenges/accomplishments:
- Acquire Ultima Weapon
- Acquiring the Guard N Barrel in Chapter 6 by saving all 12 WRO members

Spoiler: <---

for the longest time I never even knew about the Guard N Barrel!

- Clearing all 46 Extra Missions
- Destroying all Memory Capsules (Main Game only)
- Destroying all the Capsules in the Extra Missions
- Clearing Ex Hard Mode
- Picking up Manaheart in Chapter 6, Ex Hard Mode, and upgrading it to Manamind and Manasoul​

I trust that nobody apart from myself has even considered the challenge of getting All S Rankings. Though maybe one or two of you have tried to clear the game with Vincent always on Level1?

 

[lithiumkatana17]

Tbh, it's been so long since I've played the game that I don't even remember. I think the farthest I've gone as far 'getting' things would be to get all the Genesis files.

But now I want to play it again.

 

[Flare]

The funnest one was destroying all the memory capsules, and of course collecting the Omega stuff and G reports.

Fuck those Extra Missions through, seriously. Got stuck on like the 5th or 6th one and never went back.

 

[Jason Tandro]

^ Yeah there was a Labyrinth style one that I swear is impossible. Never got past it.

The Omega Weapon's cost was ungodly, did you have to just never level up and only get gil to get it or what (or do that Kalm Fountain infinite respawn trick?)

I got all the reports to see the secret ending but I don't recall anything about memory capsules or Manaheart / Guard N Barrel.

 

[Shademp]

It's a pity there's no reward for collecting all 8 Omega Reports, apart from getting more lore. At least those 3 G Reports give you something.

Fuck those Extra Missions through, seriously. Got stuck on like the 5th or 6th one and never went back.

^ Yeah there was a Labyrinth style one that I swear is impossible. Never got past it.

The first dozen or so missions honestly feel like the most difficult ones. I barely got through the Deep Labyrinth because I always ran out of ammo against that gosh darn Black Widow.

It took embarrassingly long for me to catch on that my equipment during the Extra Missions copy what my equipment was when I last defeated Omega Weiss. Once I caught on to that, I made sure to always approach the Deep Labyrinth with Ultima Weapon in hand. This way I can clear the mission without breaking too many sweats. I *did* manage to clear the Deep Labyrinth without the OP weapon in hand that one time, but I'm never doing that again. XD

The Omega Ultima Weapon's cost was ungodly, did you have to just never level up and only get gil to get it or what (or do that Kalm Fountain infinite respawn trick?)

In my opinion the Kalm Fountain infinite respawn trick sucks. It's too tedious.

By only upgrading the essentials and by constantly selling recovery items I usually end up with Ultima Weapon by Chapter 10 or Chapter 11.

I don't recall anything about memory capsules or Manaheart / Guard N Barrel.

When you play Chapter 6 on Ex Hard, a Dual Horn will appear in the mountain path where you are being chased by Guard Hounds. If you can defeat this Dual Horn before it disappears from view, it will drop the Manaheart.

This accessory will gradually replenish your MP. Upgrade it to Manamind and finally Manasoul for an item that not only replenishes your MP quite quickly, but it increases the power of your magic.

Once you have the Manasoul, almost all the Extra Missions become a cakewalk. You can just wait around for your MP to restore, then go Thunder Lv3 on your enemies. Manasoul is wonderfully overpowered and a nice reward for having stuck with the game for so long.


Btw I hope you people frequent my Dirge of Cerberus Research Thread. I am making a lot of headway now since I'm becoming better at using the Cheat Engine to unlock the game's secrets.

 

[ForceStealer]

I very much enjoy Dirge. As we all acknowledge, it's not winning any awards - except most underrated. But, as someone who does not frequent the shooter genre, I find the arcade-style shooting gameplay to be rather addicting. While obviously not on Shad's level, I usually pop it in and play through every once in awhile. The short length and being on a real console lends itself to being my most played of the Compilation save VII. I love nearly any opportunity to spend time in that world, and I always remember my first feelings of giddiness when, after the first mission, Reeve is talking about Heidegger, Scarlet, and Rufus. I love talking to everyone on the Highwind as well. Cid's dialogue is great and the small bit of word-building you get from the NPCs is appreciated.

I also like the soundtrack, and Jason did me the favor of posting my favorite track. Silent Edge is so atmospheric, I love it. But I do wish Hamauzu weren't so afraid of recurring series motifs (see also: XIII). How did they make a Vincent game without even alluding to Vincent's theme?

That said, I've never done too much extra stuff. I've gotten the Guard N Barrel and beaten Hard Mode. But I've only ever gotten most of the Memory Capsules, and I gave up on the Extra Missions at Cait vs the Crimson. I always want to do them, but the memory of that mission ends it for me. I think if they had actually included the Multiplayer Mode storyline in them I'd have had more motivation to get through them. (I definitely didn't know about your loadout being based on your last final boss fight either.)

And yeah, as stated about the Ultima Weapon was always so expensive I could never work out how you could ever afford it in time to actually use it.

 

[Clement Rage]

Wow, this is actually getting some traction, I wasn't expecting this.

List of challenges/accomplishments:
- Acquire Ultima Weapon
- Acquiring the Guard N Barrel in Chapter 6 by saving all 12 WRO members <---
- Clearing all 46 Extra Missions
- Destroying all Memory Capsules (Main Game only)
- Destroying all the Capsules in the Extra Missions
- Clearing Ex Hard Mode
- Picking up Manaheart in Chapter 6, Ex Hard Mode, and upgrading it to Manamind and Manasoul

Nope, none of that.

On Dirge, I outlined a lot of my thoughts here:

Some of my affection comes from my memorable first playthrough. I think I mentioned before first beating Weiss with 12 bullets left and 48 HP, with no money or recovery items left. It felt so earned. And then you get the relaxing last chapter where you're massively overpowered, to that music.

 

[Jason Tandro]

There's something else that I really like that's a relatively minor piece of the game: The Turk Training Simulator. Not only do we get to see Vincent in his Turk gear but it's actually a pretty fun tutorial, even if the first room does take forever to get through.

 

[Lex]

I didn't hate Dirge. I remember being excited upon release and finishing it in one sitting - my cousin was watching me play and said "wow it must be shit if it's over so quickly" - I disagreed with that assessment then and I still do now.

The only thing I'd say is that I don't hold it in very high regard. For me it just introduced too many superfluous (and opinion: unnecessary) characters that I don't necessarily dislike, but found cheesy (i.e. Rosso).

It's enjoyable enough. I'd like to do another playthrough but it doesn't emulate well at all (I've tried numerous times with different settings and just given up, I refuse to emulate games in software mode when I own the original hardware) and I cba setting it up on my actual PS2 because on a modern LCD it all looks a bit fuzzy.

When you get into the swing of the gameplay I find it pretty enjoyable to play in all honesty.

 

[Shademp]

For those who don't frequent my research thread, I recommend you have a look at some of the items I unlocked.

- The first items I unlocked
- Multiplayer Gear
- Full Item List

There's something else that I really like that's a relatively minor piece of the game: The Turk Training Simulator. Not only do we get to see Vincent in his Turk gear but it's actually a pretty fun tutorial, even if the first room does take forever to get through.

I was so painfully bored by the tutorial when I first played it through 3-4 years ago. I think it put me off from trying the rest of the game for some time. After that I would hiss at the very sight of the "Tutorial Menu" at the start-up screen.

Now my research demanded that I revisit the tutorial mode and play it all the way. Thanks to my familiarity with the game and there being an investigative reason for me to play the training sessions, I have a bigger appreciation for it. I wish we would have been allowed to play through the main game as Turk Vincent. Maybe even have Turk Vincent able to wear the headgear from the Multiplayer. That would have been fun.

 

[Clement Rage]

What would you consider a necessary character, Lex?

Dirge really punched all the right buttons with me, despite the occasional silly splitscreen cheering moment.

 

[Lex]

Well I don't want to come into the Dirge fanclub thread and start a potentially contentious discussion because there are some things I don't like about it, so I'll end my criticisms at a more general statement: for me, the compilation as a whole should have done more with characters from the OG who could have done with fleshing out rather than introducing so many new ones. I found Dirge particularly troublesome in this area because it introduced Deepground and its many inhabitants then asked me to care about them, which I found difficult because it feels like a huge retcon (we've discussed this elsewhere before). So the tl;dr for me is that I found Deepground unnecessary as an overall plot element, and by extension the cast of people that were involved with it (but particularly the villains).

To leave it on a more positive note: I really liked Shalua and Shelke.