Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring

Here’s a fun fact: Ehrgeiz means “ambition” in German.

Sorry, I didn’t know what else to start with.  I have been thinking about covering this very, very strange game for a while now and looping it in with Final Fantasy VII seemed like the best idea.  Your first question was probably “what does a random 3D fighting game from the 90s have to do with Final Fantasy VII?” (Actually, your first question was probably, “how the hell do I pronounce the title? But whatever.) It’s simple.  Most of the cast of FFVII are playable characters in this game. 

Before I get really going, the more hardcore FFVII fans out there are probably all like “why didn’t you just review Crisis Core?”  Well, it’s been a while since I played it and while I do have access to a copy of the game, I don’t have a functional PSP to play it on.  Crisis Core is awesome, and I’m not sure I could get too in depth with my thoughts on it since its been so long.  So, back to Ehrgeiz we go.

As I mentioned, this is a fully 3D fighting game similar to something like Power Stone or Dissidia.  Each character can move around the arena freely in full 3D and unlike more traditional 3D fighters like Soul Caliber, competitors do not have to face each other at all times.  Each character has a pretty substantial set of special moves, as well as a one button super attack that can be charged up.  The fighting engine can get pretty complex here, there are interrupts, charged moves and some intense combos.  Some stages have high spots you can jump off of onto your opponent WWE style.  Others have walls you can slam your opponents into or bounce off of.

There was a pretty big amount of hype when this came out, but many gamers found themselves disappointed when it finally did arrive.  Most of it was due to poor or short sighted marketing.  You see, early advertisements for the game featured Cloud almost exclusively.  He stood nearly alone in the ads and most of the in-game screenshots featured him.  Many games believed they were getting a fighting game featuring their favorite characters from Final Fantasy VII.  What they got instead was...sort of that?

Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth are all playable fighters with Vincent, Yuffie and Zack available as hidden characters (though they’re pretty easy to unlock).  They are joined by a gaggle of randos that no one cares about, including Antonio Inoki-esque pro wrestler Inoba, ninja Sauske, police officer Yoko and Red XIII look alike Django, who serves as the final boss.  It’s not that these characters were bad, many of them are actually pretty well designed.  It’s just that a lot of people that bought this game were anticipating something more FFVII heavy.  And that’s really what this should have been and could have been made into very easily.  You already have a character that uses as spear as a special weapon and a guy with a gun arm.  Why not just re-skin them as Cid and Barrett?  Or go the opposite direction.  Some of these original fighters are actually cool and could have carried a game by themselves.  Just cut the FFVII cast completely and make Ehrgeiz its own thing.

It’s kind of a shame, because its actually a halfway decent fighting game.  The controls are a little loose and jumping is difficult, but combat is fun and stimulating.  Having free reign of the arenas means you can use a lot of different strategies to dispatch your opponents.  You may not be great at the combos, but you can use the environment to your advantage to make up for it.  The characters do have some issues with balance, but I think most of them are fairly strong and they all feel unique to play as. 

Unfortunately, I can’t elaborate too much more on the fighting game, because I have to discuss all the other models Ehrgeiz offers.  These aren’t just standard secondary fighting game modes like time trial, we are talking completely different game types.  Ehrgeiz also contains a full-ish length dungeon crawling RPG called “Forsaken Dungeon” starring its own characters, Koji and Claire (both are also unlockable in the fighting game portion).  The duo are archaeologists who stumble upon a secret portal to an inter dimensional town.  This town is built around a 30 floor dungeon, which travelers explore in hopes of finding its lost treasure.  This is a full on dungeon crawler hub town complete with shops, NPCs, an inn and a wine shop that features a stock market mini game.  

RPG mode has the same controls as fighting mode, which sounds like it shouldn’t work at all.  Surprisingly, it does.  The monster encounters function almost like rounds of the fighting game, though you can’t see enemy life bars.  The dungeon offers a full range of equipment, including weapons and armor, and each weapon type changes the way you attack.  It offers some good variety and gives you something to search for.  The hit detection is okay, its a little more noticeably off isn’t this mode but its still not a major issue.  The weapons and armor do break, which is very frustrating, but they can be repaired at special rooms within the dungeon.  Every monster room also has a trap, which will lock you in a room and force you to defeat all the enemies before you leave.  The issue here is that you can’t change your equipment while fighting, so its likely curtains if something breaks.  That can be extremely frustrating.

Each floor of the dungeon is randomly generated and the map expands as you explore.  These are pretty big, expansive levels and they’re usually pretty well laid out. Every few levels you will fight a boss, most of which are pretty tough to defeat.  They also look great, for what its worth.  Your characters do level up and their stats increase based on their nutrition.  Like a lot of dungeon crawlers, you have to manage hunger.  However, there is the added element here that each of the food items you eat also increases or decreases a certain mineral.  Just keeping the hunger meter full isn’t enough, you need to have a balanced diet if you want to level up all your stats.  It’s surprisingly deep for a dungeon crawling RPG that’s a secondary mode in a fighting game.  

And that’s really the whole story here.  There is a surprising amount to do here, with all the items to find, rooms to explore, stats to manage and weapons to upgrade.  There are whole other aspects of the quest like the deity offerings and the aforementioned wine trading.  There is a materia system and a lot of different weapons, which fundamentally change the way you play the game.  If one of your characters dies, its up to the other to enter the dungeon and find their equipment, which will revive them.  If both characters die, its game over.  Because of this, it’s important that you upgrade both Koji and Claire.  It’s not the longest RPG in the world, clocking in at 10-15 hours, but that’s more than you can ask for in a situation like this.

There is also a mini game mode, including an infinity battle, a beach mini game and a battle race.  There are only three courses, but the battle race is actually kind of fun, as is the battleboard game that plays like Reversi or Backgamon,  Battleboard is way more fun than it has any right being.  And that is pretty much the story with the entire package here.  I remember that once I got over the initial disappointment of it not being all FFVII all the time, I found Ehrgeiz to be quite fun.  20 years later, my opinion hasn’t changed.  There is a lot of good stuff going on here, from the flawed but very fun and unique fighting game to the surprisingly deep RPG to the interesting mini games.  I definitely recommend it and I will also add that it’s a surprisingly cheap find.

8.5/10