Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (ダージュ オブ ケルベロス ファイナルファンタジーVII, Dāju obu Keruberosu Fainaru Fantasjī VII?) is a Japanese Third Person Shooter role-playing game set 3 years after Final Fantasy VII and 1 year after Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, which also includes Advent Children, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.

Directed by Takayoshi Nakazato, the game centers on Vincent Valentine. The game reveals more information about Vincent's little-known past. Dirge of Cerberus was released in Japan on January 26, 2006 and was released in North America on August 15, 2006. The original soundtrack and in-game music for the game is composed by Masashi Hamauzu with vocals by Gackt for the theme songs.

Story Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The game features Vincent Valentine, one of the original characters from Final Fantasy VII, as the lead role. It takes place three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII (one year after Advent Children). The game starts with the Deep Ground Soldiers attacking the town of Kalm in the middle of the Revival Festival, apparently looking for Vincent.

Reeve Tuesti, former Head of Urban Development at Shin-Ra (as well as the remote pilot of Cait Sith), is now the leader of the World Restoration Organization, which looks after the planet and prevents people from damaging it further. It seems that Barret and Tifa are heavily involved in the organization.

The Deep Ground Soldiers (DGS) were a secret underground project that Shin-ra was developing even during the time of Final Fantasy VII, but were trapped under Midgar after Meteor struck. Their intention is to evoke the final WEAPON from its slumber, Omega. However to do that, the DGS need Vincent to lead the way to Omega. As Vincent fights the DGS, he deals with the inner demons of his past. One of which has returned to haunt him...

Gameplay The game is a third-person shooter role-playing game that also incorporates RPG elements such as hit points and usable items. The player can switch to first person view mode and utilize a cross hair to shoot enemies. Vincent has an HP Bar, as well as MP. There is also a value for Level, where Vincent can level up by eliminating enemies. Vincent can also choose weapons from a large library, primarily guns.

The option of transforming into his Limit Breaks has been confirmed on the official site, the first being Vincent's first limit break, the Galian Beast, and the second is Chaos [1]. An online mode will also be included and the player will be able to control a Deep Ground Soldier for a moment. Some have considered the game a gamble by Square Enix given that the shooter genre is only moderately popular in Japan

Overview Many assumed that it would be an Action/Adventure game along the lines of Capcom's Devil May Cry, and first person shooter of Halo but designer Tetsuya Nomura categorized it as a "Shooter RPG". The game was released in Japan on 26th January 2006, with a North American release on 15th August 2006. Director, Takayoshi Nakazato said that he was a big fan of the PC game Half Life and wanted to turn it into an RPG. And he has done so, in the form of Dirge of Cerberus. This is the last game in chronological order in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and is often referred to by the staff of the game as "the ending finale to Final Fantasy VII".

The game received some criticism in Japan, although the gaming magazine "Dengenki PS2" rated the game a 32/40 [2]. However, Famitsu scored it a lower 28/40. [3] The review was released over three weeks after the release of the game, unlike the Dengenki score, and thus rumours were spread about Square-Enix forcing the magazine to delay the review in order to not discourage gamers. Nevertheless, it managed to ship 392,000 in its first week [4], which is still moderately successful despite being much lower than sales of a new Final Fantasy game.

Characters [edit] Returning Characters Vincent Valentine Reeve Tuesti/Cait Sith Yuffie Kisaragi Lucrecia Crescent Cloud Strife Barret Wallace Tifa Lockhart Cid Highwind Red XIII Hojo Rufus Shinra

New characters

Shalua Rui: A female WRO scientist with a prosthetic left arm that serves as her life-support system. Before the game's release, it was speculated that she was somehow connected to Lucrecia, based on their physical resemblance. She originally appeared in Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.

G: Known simply as "G" in the credits and G Reports. A mysterious character played by Gackt. In the Secret FMV (which the player gets by obtaining the 3 G Reports) one can see Project G walking to Weiß. He has Mako eyes and one wing, which resembles Sephiroth's. It's also thought by some due to the fact that "Project G" in Dirge of Cerberus is an individual with no known inheritance of Jenova cells, but with bright Mako eyes and a large angel wing that he was a result of the experiments conducted by Grimoire Valentine, Hojo, and Professor Gast. They worked on this project even way before Sephiroth was even born suggesting that "G" is the strongest out the four. This fact may be due to G being the predecessor of Sephiroth in terms of Shinra's science.

Grimoire Valentine: Vincent's father and Lucrecia's mentor. His death resulted in Lucrecia distancing herself from Vincent.

Zvet aka Цвет: The highest ranking elite squad within Deep Ground Soldier. All but one of the members of the group are named after colors, hence the group's name, Zvet, which is Russian for colors. Five members appear in the single player mode, and at least one more member appears in the online mode. It is currently unknown how many total members there will be, or how many are still alive at the end of the game.

Azul: A member of Zvet, known as "Azul, the Cerulean". His name means blue in Spanish and Portuguese. He first appeared in Before Crisis. Uses a large cannon as his weapon and can transform into a Behemoth-like creature.

Shelke: A young girl who wields two energy spears. Her name means orange in Hindi, a reference to her amber-colored eyes. She appears to be Shalua's younger sister. Commonly seen along with Azul, as she is helping him hunt down Vincent. She is the only member of Zvet that remains "colorless", a plot point which is detailed in the storyline of the game's multiplayer mode's.

Rosso: A member of Zvet, known as "Rosso, the Crimson". Her name means red in Italian. Wields a two-sided blade weapon, almost playfully brutal.

Nero: One of the members of Zvet, called "Nero, the Deep Darkness." His body is always covered in darkness, and the player can not see his figure clearly. The darkness Nero controls draws in everything, and it is possible for him to take them out of it. It is said that the restraint like outfit he wears is to keep his power under control. His name means black in Italian.

Weiß aka Weiss or Vice: A mysterious SOLDIER who commands the DGS. Called "Seiger Weiß, The Immaculate Emperor", he declares a hunt on the world three years after the Meteor crisis. All Deep Ground SOLDIERS fear his power, and follow him, but it's said that they rarely see him directly. He has spiky gray hair and wields two katana-rifle hybrids (sometimes referred to as "gunblades" by fans, though they're notably different from the Final Fantasy VIII weapons that are officially referred to by that name). He is actually housing the computer-simulated personality of Hojo, and becomes possessed by this. This emulated version of Hojo, through Weiß's body, had the DGS adbuct those not under the effects of Geostigma to serve as incubators of enough pure Mako to enable Weiß to asborb Omega. However, Weiß managed to fight back control over his body and committed sucide, taking Hojo with him. His name means, white in German