On March 25th, 2008, Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and Koei’s Opoona were released to the retail market, competing for the limited budgets (and attention spans) of the RPG-playing population of the United States. It’s a true “David and Goliath” scenario. Where FFVII:CC has the Final Fantasy name, a huge budget, and traditional JRPG gameplay and story, Opoona is a brand new IP made with relatively little money that attempts to combine traditional RPG elements with “lifestyle” simulation gameplay, all with a never-before-utilized one-handed control scheme. Of course, FFVII:CC outsold Opoona by a huge margin, but did it deserve to? Do the vastly different parts that make up Opoona come together to form a cohesive whole like Voltron, or is the game a disgusting, Xavier: Renegade Angel-like amalgamation of incompatible parts?

 

Hit the jump to find out.