Perhaps the final part of the long-running compilation of Final Fantasy 7, which follows the odd naming convention of AC for Advent Children, BC for Before Crisis, CC for Crisis Core, and DC for Dirge of Cerberus, making it Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis (EC), is more what you would expect a true remake of the original game to be. Unlike Remake, this retelling of events is more comprehensive and faithful, at least in terms of the original game, than what we got before. Outside of the new trilogy, this title is meant to bring all the elements of the compilation into one package.
Remake was many people’s first taste of the world and characters of Final Fantasy 7 and inspired plenty of people to go back and see what the original was all about. As it turns out, there’s a lot to go back and catch up on, some of which, like Before Crisis, are not even available in the west. Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis aims to give those who want the full Final Fantasy 7 experience a better understanding of Remake and the sequels in one convenient package. Get ready for a whole lot of turn-based action combat as we run down everything we know about Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis.
Further reading
Release date
When Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis was first revealed, we only knew that it would be coming out at some point in 2022, but the latest news is that there will also be a closed beta test sometime in 2022. Neither have a concrete date just yet.
It should also be noted that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is going to be released episodically. We don’t know how many parts it will be released in, though Square Enix claims that each chapter will be released on a monthly schedule — so just know that this will be an ongoing project to keep up with.
Platforms
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is exclusively going to be a mobile title, meaning you will need either an Android or iOS device. At this time, Square Enix has shared no plans to port the game to any other platform, but we can always hope that they will once the entire thing is released.
The game will be free to play but naturally feature in-app purchases of some kind. We don’t know what those are yet, but hopefully, they are not as predatory as many other big-franchise mobile games are.
Trailers
A trailer for Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis was shown off during the series’ 25th-anniversary celebration that opens with the line, “Another possibility for a Remake.”
The trailer opens on a few scenes that jump around between the different games Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis will cover, mostly showing Zack from Crisis Core and Cloud from the original title. We get a good look at the new art style of the game, which lands somewhere between the blocky-chibi rendition of original Final Fantasy 7 models and their more detailed battle models. There are also anime-style portraits of each character that pop up during dialogue.
However, just like in the original, during combat, the game can crank up the quality to near Remake levels of character detail and effects.
The trailer goes on to show snippets from other key moments from Crisis Core and the original, heavily featuring Sephiroth and also intercutting his iconic scene in the fires of Nibelheim with either a new character with short silver hair or maybe another version of Spehiroth himself. We do know that this game will be adding in new scenarios, meaning this could perhaps be hinting at one where we see a younger Sephiroth.
In total, the trailer doesn’t really need to tease the story much since most people will at least know some of it. However, the trailer does only show sections from Crisis Core and early parts of Final Fantasy 7. We do know that the point of Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is to retell the entire compilation of the series in chronological order, so showing these early games makes sense, but technically speaking, Before Crisis is the earliest game from the compilation in the timeline, and we’ve not seen anything that looks to be from this game. This Japan-exclusive, mobile-only title focuses on the Turks, Shinra’s covert operative group fighting against Avalanche before Barrett and the others join, though they do make appearances.
Next up would be Crisis Core, following Zack on his quest to become a hero in the Soldier program. The main antagonist of this game, who could very likely be important in the future of either this game or the Remake trilogy, is Genesis, another first-class soldier also created as part of the Jenova Project like Sephiroth. Unlike Sephiroth, Genesis is a G-type soldier, referencing his mother of Gillian, while Sephiroth’s mother was Lucrecia. Of course, we will also get the remake of this game that is certain to alter events, specifically the ending.
This game leads directly into Final Fantasy 7, which we don’t want to spoil here.
Chronologically following Final Fantasy 7 is the film Advent Children, which will be translated into a game for the first time. This film focuses on the fallout of everything from the first game, with Cloud and many people suffering from a new disease called geostigma as a result of Sephiroth corrupting the lifestream. Three new antagonists, fragments of Sephiroth, appear, attempting to find Jenova’s head and remake Sephiroth.
Finally, the last game in the timeline is the often forgotten (for good reason) Dirge of Cerberus. This game puts you in control of Vincent, an optional party member from Final Fantasy 7 and former Turk. This game is a third-person shooter and focuses on Vincent facing off a new group of Soldiers that call themselves Deepground. They intend to summon the final Weapon called Omega to wipe out all life on the planet.
Gameplay
Right off the bat, Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis appears to be a much more faithful gameplay remake of the original game. We see movement across maps in that previously mentioned chibi style, with mostly fixed camera angles that occasionally pan as you move around the environments, just like the original. You will talk to characters, and although the UI is updated, the text and choices all look identical to Final Fantasy 7.
Once in combat, the character models leap into the next generation for the active time battle system that also appears to simply be a modified version of what the PlayStation 1 classic had. We see parties of up to three characters with HP and MP bars, plus the ATB gauge dictating who can act and when. However, unlike the original and more like Remake, the ATB bar is not a single bar you wait to fill completely before doing any action. Instead, it is broken up into segments, with different magic and abilities costing different amounts.
In the footage we’ve seen, there are seven bars that fill up, with abilities like Armor Break for Cloud costing two bars and Curaga costing one for Aerith.
Outside of the main story, there will also be additional dungeons and encounters to take on while waiting for new chapters to release. These challenges can be taken on with any characters the player wants, including teams of characters that could never have interacted before from different titles and times.
Besides that, we’ve seen a ton of new outfits and weapons for the characters we’ve never seen before. This is likely tied to the in-app purchases, unfortunately, rather than rewards or items you can purchase in the game itself. It has already been reported that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis will contain loot boxes back in 2021. Creative director Tetsuya Nomura stated, “The monetized element is basically loot boxes containing random weapons. Some of the special weapons also come as a set that includes new costumes that were not in the original games, adding in a new way to enjoy the story that you won’t have seen before.”
We don’t know if you can get loot boxes using any method besides real money or how much they will cost if not. Again, we can only hope that these are not as predatory as most loot boxes have become and also don’t put players at a disadvantage if the weapons mentioned are actually more powerful than whatever you can get by playing normally.
Multiplayer
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is going to be completely single-player. This should come as no surprise considering it is based on a series of single-player games, plus it’s a mobile title.
Pre-order
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is launching as a free title on mobile devices, so there’s no need to pre-order. Each chapter will release for free as well, so all you need to do is check back in to continue the story every month or so. Once we know when it will launch, we will update you on that as well.
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