Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- is an action-RPG from Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. The game is a prequel to Final Fantasy VII and is also the fourth entry to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Crisis Core begins seven years before the start of Final Fantasy VII, and encompasses the events that take place until just before its beginning. The game's hero is Zack Fair, who was a minor character in Final Fantasy VII and the previous owner of the Buster Sword before Cloud Strife. He is a SOLDIER working for the Shinra Electric Power Company under Director Lazard Deusericus. The game tells the tale of Zack's battle against the villainous SOLDIER defector, Genesis Rhapsodos, and the other products of the Jenova Project.

Gameplay
Crisis Core is both an action and turn-based RPG, with a stream of fast turns creating the illusion of real-time combat. Like the Square and Disney hybrid series Kingdom Hearts, the player chooses actions from a menu, featuring attack, magic, special attack, and item choices. The game's key feature is the Digital Mind Wave - a slot machine-like screen in the upper left-hand corner. Images and numbers continuously scroll in each of the three slots consuming Soldier Points (SP). Combinations of sevens lead to special Status Effects, while having identical characters in the left and right slot opens up the modulating screen. Certain combinations of characters and numbers in modulating phase will allow the player to Level up Zack, power up Materia, or perform special moves and summons.

The player can choose whether to follow the game's story, which can be completed in around 15 hours of gameplay, or to complete missions, which can be completed at 100% with over 50 hours of gameplay. However, some missions can only be unlocked by accomplishing certain story parts, so the best time to try and complete the missions is near the end, in Banora Underground.

Materia is present as a part of the magic and ability system, like in Final Fantasy VII, but there are some differences in how it works. Summon Materia are no longer in player's control, and instead, are added to the DMW. By special circumstances, or more likely, at random, the DMW slots switch to the summoning scene, where one of the various summon Materia are selected and performed. Materia does not divide like it did in Final Fantasy VII, though it does level up if two similar numbers corresponding to the slot are drawn in a modulated phase (the likelihood of a level-up is actually based upon a hidden EXP counter that gains points as Zack defeats enemies; the higher the counter, the greater chance of leveling up.); 1 - 4 as a SOLDIER 2nd Class, or 1 - 6 as a SOLDIER 1st Class. Materia may grant significant bonuses to Zack's HP, MP, AP, ATK, VIT, MAG, SPR, or LCK. Materia can now be customized through the Materia Fusion process.

Weapons are another thing that have been modified. Players are no longer allowed to buy weapons. The game begins with Zack holding a typical SOLDIER sword, but he eventually moves on to wield the Buster Sword. However, there are some cases which some special weapons are utilized. For example, he wields a parasol during a vacation to Costa del Sol.

Equipment is limited to accessories only, though they grant various stat boosts and special effects when equipped. Two to four pieces of equipment can be worn depending on requirements are met.

In addition, shops have also been changed. The shops in Crisis Core use a wireless system, in which players are allowed to enter and buy merchandises from the shop through the main menu. More shops can be added by proceeding in the storyline, and also by doing various missions which reward the player with access to the shop. It is to be noted though that none of the shops will ever sell Phoenix Downs, which must be found in treasure chests or won in missions.

All summon sequences are FMVs that can be skipped by the player, a feature unique to Crisis Core. This does not apply to Chocobo Mode summons.

Setting
Since the game takes place years before Final Fantasy VII, many places on the Planet are either under construction or otherwise different from Final Fantasy VII. For example, the city of Midgar has not yet been completed, and the town of Nibelheim is still filled with its original inhabitants. Several playable or otherwise major characters from Final Fantasy VII make cameo appearances.

Playable Character

 * Zack Fair - A SOLDIER 2nd Class dreaming of reaching the level of 1st Class and becoming a hero.

Other Characters

 * Angeal Hewley - A SOLDIER 1st Class who is Zack's mentor, and the Buster Sword's original owner. He strongly believes in SOLDIER honor, loyalty, and friendship. He also jokingly sometimes calls Zack a "restless puppy."
 * Genesis Rhapsodos - A SOLDIER 1st Class who was Angeal's childhood friend. He disappeared before the start of the game, and now rebels against Shinra, seeking to recreate the world of LOVELESS.
 * Sephiroth - A SOLDIER 1st Class who is revered by all as a hero. At first, his only friends are Angeal and Genesis, but he soon forms a friendship with Zack.
 * Aerith Gainsborough - A young woman residing in the Sector 5 Slums who meets Zack and develops a relationship with him.
 * Cloud Strife - A young man serving Shinra as an infantryman. During an assignment, he meets Zack and the two develop a friendship that becomes a large factor in both of their destinies.
 * Tseng - A member of Shinra's espionage group called the Turks.
 * Cissnei - A girl who like Tseng is one of the Turks, and helps Zack throughout his time in SOLDIER.
 * Lazard Deusericus - The director of SOLDIER operations who sends its members out on missions.
 * Dr. Hollander - A former Shinra scientist with strong ties to Angeal and Genesis.

Story
At the start of the game, Zack is a SOLDIER 2nd Class under the mentorship of Angeal Hewley. After a training simulation, Zack and Angeal are sent to Fort Tamblin to fight in the final battle of the Wutai War. Along the way, they learn that Angeal's childhood friend from his hometown of Banora, Genesis Rhapsodos, has betrayed Shinra. Angeal then disappears. They also find several soldiers working under Genesis. These men look exactly like Genesis, transformed into copies of him thanks to stolen Shinra technology. Sephiroth arrives and says that Angeal has deserted SOLDIER as well.

Zack refuses to believe his friend and mentor would simply turn out to be a turn-coat. He is sent to Banora Village along with the Turk Tseng to investigate a disappearance. They find several graves, including those of Genesis's parents. The only person he can find is Angeal's mother, Gillian Hewley, but when he returns to her later, he finds Angeal and Genesis together, and Gillian dead. Shocked by the idea that Angeal may have killed his own mother, Zack becomes angry. At this, Genesis sprouts a single black wing similar to that of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and flies away. The town is bombed by the Shinra Army aircraft.

In Shinra Headquarters, Zack is promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class by Lazard. Genesis and his army launch an assault upon the Headquarters and Zack fights his way through rescuing the Turk, Cissnei. He and Sephiroth, the legendary SOLDIER hero, head to the Sector 5 Reactor. Genesis had joined forces with a former Shinra scientist, Dr. Hollander, the man behind the creation of Project G ("Project Gillian" for Angeal's mother). This branch of the Jenova Project created both Genesis and Angeal. Sephiroth tells how Genesis is suffering from degradation, slowly dying because of his tainted birth. They also find monsters that have Angeal's face, similar to the Genesis Copies that make up Genesis's army. Zack tries to capture Hollander in the Reactor, but Angeal arrives and shows Zack his white wings. Zack refuses to fight his old master, causing Angeal to drop Zack down into the Midgar slums.

Falling into the Sector 5 Church, Zack lands into the flower bed tended to by Aerith Gainsborough, in a direct parallel to Cloud and Aerith's second meeting in Final Fantasy VII. Zack and Aerith decide to go on a date together in the Slums, which begins a relationship that lasts until Zack is lost later in the game. After playing in the Slums, Zack has to return to the top of the plate because of another Genesis attack. Angeal finally decides to take a clear side and helps Zack beat the Genesis Army out of Midgar.

Later, Zack is sent to the abandoned town of Modeoheim in the frigid wastes of the Northern Continent. He goes along with Tseng, and a Shinra infantryman named Cloud Strife. Since both Zack and Cloud are "country boys," the two quickly become friends. At Modeoheim, Zack and the team find an abandoned Mako warehouse, which Genesis has been using as a base. Zack storms the facility and rescues Hollander from a vengeful Genesis, angry at Hollander's failure to stop the degradation. A weakened Genesis tries to fight Zack, but is defeated. Genesis falls into the abyss below and is assumed dead. Hollander flees into the town of Modeoheim while Zack pursues.

At a ruined bathhouse, Zack finds Angeal. Hollander tells how Angeal was the true success of Project G, having Jenova's power of a two-way genetic conduit. He is able to pass off his own genes, and take in those of other organisms. Angeal, no longer wishing to be a monster, absorbs several different monsters and turns into a hideous creature, Angeal Penance. Zack defeats this creature, and mortally wounds Angeal. Just before he dies, Angeal passes on his Buster Sword and the legacy of SOLDIER honor to Zack. Dr. Hollander is captured as well. With all three major threats to Shinra gone, the war seems to be over.

Zack takes over Angeal's role as the heart and soul of SOLDIER, speaking to trainees and encouraging recruits. After all that he has been through, Shinra sends him to Costa del Sol, reportedly for a vacation. As Zack relaxes on the beach, several Genesis Copies come out of the water to attack, showing that Genesis and his army are still alive. Zack defeats them with a parasol and is sent to Junon, where Genesis has launched a full-scale attack. Junon is where Dr. Hollander was sent after being taken in Modeoheim. Genesis and his army manage to cause enough chaos for Hollander to slip out. Their attack was successful largely due to the intelligence given by the surprise traitor, Director Lazard.

Sephiroth briefly takes over the SOLDIER operations. Noticing that Genesis seems to be attacking Mako Reactors around the Planet, he plans an operation in Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown. Zack is able to visit Midgar and Aerith one last time before going off on his ill-fated last mission. Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud, and another Shinra Guard arrive in Nibelheim and are lead to the Mako Reactor on Mt. Nibel by a guide, Tifa Lockhart. At the Reactor, they find hideous monsters created by over-exposure to Mako. Sephiroth finds a tank labeled "JENOVA" - the name of his "mother" - within is the vaguely feminine form of the alien creature. With his own past in doubt, Sephiroth goes down into the Shinra Manor basement, reading Professor Faremis Gast's files on Project S of the Jenova Project.

Driven to insanity by the knowledge of his birth, Sephiroth goes on a rampage and destroys Nibelheim, killing most of the population. Zack chases after the SOLDIER hero up to the Reactor. Sephiroth tries to free his "mother" from the tank, cutting Tifa down along the way. Zack confronts Sephiroth and fights him. Despite Zack's skills, Sephiroth defeats him. Cloud arrives, furious over his mother's death and Tifa's grave injuries. Using an unknown power, Cloud defeats Sephiroth, sending him into the Lifestream along with Jenova's head, where Sephiroth waits until the events of Final Fantasy VII. Though Cloud wins, he is badly wounded, and falls.

Professor Hojo, the mastermind of Project S, takes Zack's and Cloud's beaten bodies and starts a new experiment, this one to create the Sephiroth Clones to test his Jenova Reunion Theory. Zack and Cloud are infused with Sephiroth's cells and lie asleep in tanks for four years. Zack is finally awoken by what seems to be Angeal. But since Zack is a SOLDIER, and somewhat resistant to Mako because of the SOLDIER process, he has enough strength to drag himself and a comatose Cloud out of a rebuilt Nibelheim through the ranks of Shinra soldiers.

As Zack and Cloud make their way across the world, they run into Genesis and his copies. Since Zack and Cloud are infused with S Cells, Genesis wishes to take the two to stop his degradation. A Genesis Copy tests Genesis's plan by eating a lock of Zack's hair. This turns the Copy into a monster, which Zack defeats. Afterward, Zack travels to his hometown of Gongaga, to see his parents. Cissnei appears to warn Zack telling him that going to Gongaga is too obvious; Shinra and others will expect this move. Genesis and Hollander, now a Genesis Copy, attack. The person who Zack thought was Angeal that protects him and Cloud is actually Director Lazard, now dying of the same degradation that Genesis and his Copies are suffering from. Zack chases after Hollander one last time. This time, Hollander decides to stand and fight, but Zack is able to defeat him.

After years of fighting, Zack finally is able to put together where Genesis has been hiding for so long. Genesis is always seen carrying a Banora White apple, and thus must have been hiding in Banora. Zack makes his way into an underground cavern beneath the cratered land that used to be Banora Village. He finds Genesis hiding at the end of the cave, now healed of his degradation thanks to "the Goddess." Genesis fights Zack, but is defeated. Afterward, Zack drags Genesis's limp body up to his campsite to join a comatose Cloud and a dying Lazard in a bizarre picnic of half-dead bodies. Lazard, a copy of Angeal in this point of the story, had just fought Shinra soldiers, with the help of a canine Angeal Copy monster, which Zack recognizes as the same one that defended Aerith at the church earlier.

Both are dying, from the wounds and degradation. As the Angeal Copy dies and fades away, its body is replaced with a letter, one of eighty-nine that Aerith sent during the intervening four years, and the last she sent before giving up on receiving a reply. Upon reading this letter, Zack is shocked to find that he has been gone for four years. Desperate to show her that he is still alive, Zack makes his way to Midgar to rejoin Aerith. Later, Nero and Weiss, the future leaders of Deepground, arrive dressed as 1st Class SOLDIERs, and take the unconscious Genesis away.

Before Zack can reach Midgar, the Shinra Army finally tracks him down and appears in force to stop him. Zack makes a stand against them and fights with everything he has to join his love back in the city. However, the numbers are too much for him, and Zack is mortally wounded. Looking up into the raining sky, Zack feels his life fading away, as does Aerith, tending to her garden a few short miles away in Midgar's Slums. As Zack dies, a confused Cloud awakes, and barely conscious, sees his friend dying on the ground. Zack tells Cloud that he will be proof that he lived, and therefore be his "living legacy." Just as Angeal before him, Zack passes down the Buster Sword and his SOLDIER honor to Cloud.

This, along with the torture he experienced at Hojo's hands, shatters Cloud's mind, and causes him to merge Zack's personality and memories with his own to create a new personality and history a short time later. The real Angeal descends from the sky as an angel to bring Zack into the Lifestream. Cloud wanders into Midgar, dragging the Buster Sword on the ground as he goes. Zack's voice can be heard, telling Cloud to say hi to Aerith if he sees her, and asking if he has finally become a hero.

The game ends as Cloud rides the train towards the attack on Reactor 1, just like the image of Zack's training mission in the game's beginning, wearing a modification of the SOLDIER 1st Class uniform as in the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, in which he declares himself a SOLDIER 1st Class, followed by a cut to black and a simple screen of text telling the player that the story continues in the original Final Fantasy VII.

Music
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-'s soundtrack was one of the few Final Fantasy soundtracks that were not composed by Nobuo Uematsu, but was instead primarily composed by Takeharu Ishimoto. The soundtrack includes many new remixes of pre-existing Final Fantasy VII and Last Order songs. It was released in a two-CD format with 55 tracks.

Themes
The main theme of Crisis Core is the concept of legacy, and how the actions of one generation impact the next and so forth. The most evident display of this is the passing down of the Buster Sword and SOLDIER honor from Angeal to Zack and finally to Cloud. The story of LOVELESS is also a prominent theme in Crisis Core.

Development
Hajime Tabata was chosen as a director for an upcoming Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation Portable console, and after a discussion with Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase, decided he wanted to make a game for the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. The original idea was to make PlayStation Portable port of Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, as it was released exclusively for mobile-phones and the staff wanted to expand its gamer base; for example, releasing it for PlayStation Portable would open the possibility of an international release. However, after casting Zack as the game's protagonist, the idea of a Before Crisis port was cancelled, and the original idea of naming the game "Before Crisis Core" was changed to "Crisis Core" without the intent of it matching with the other titles from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series with the AC (Advent Children), BC (Before Crisis), and DC (Dirge of Cerberus).

There was pressure of developing a Final Fantasy VII prequel, something which Yoshinori Kitase has remarked about: "Obviously as part of a beloved series, part of a popular world, there's immense pressure to produce. It wasn't about paying tribute to the original, but to create a connection between the original and all the other Compilation titles as well. It was in a unique position, as it takes place in the past, to connect to all of the titles."

One of the primary reasons Zack was chosen as the game's protagonist was his predetermined fate. Kitase has stated that Zack's story had "been cooking for 10 years" as conceptual artwork and back story already existed for him, despite Zack being only a minor character in Final Fantasy VII. The game was initially meant to have more scenes involving Zack and Cloud's escape to Midgar to expand their connection, but it could not be included due to UMD limitations, and the staff chose to instead focus in Zack's work as a soldier.

The game's main antagonist, Genesis Rhapsodos, was created as a collaboration between Camui Gackt and Hideki Imaizumi, the game's producer. Gackt's original involvement with Square Enix was singing the theme music for Dirge of Cerberus, and appearing in a minor role in that game, playing Genesis. Imaizumi thought such a passing role was a waste and asked for more involvement. Imaizumi and Gackt came up with Genesis's design, describing everything from his attitude to his clothes. "I went to eat with him one time and described the Final Fantasy VII universe in rich detail. And it turned into this process of collaboration, creating the character together. Then we went to the studio and recorded the Japanese voice with all that in mind. So he really was a creative partner in all of this. And we really wanted the connection between Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core." One of the main background events from Final Fantasy VII, Nibelheim's destruction, was revised for the original video animation Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, but the staff of Crisis Core decided not to follow in the same lines. Producer Hideki Imaizumi has said this regarding the decision, "When we made that feature, we changed the presentation of that event from the original Final Fantasy VII. And the fan response was - well, there was considerable negative feedback in regard to changing a part of the story that they considered integral to the whole lore. So we listened to that and learned from that. And in fact, the Nibelheim incident is presented again in Crisis Core, and we were careful not to make the same decisions that we did in Last Order."

Once it was decided Zack would be the game's protagonist, the story's nature barred the staff from utilizing a party of playable characters like in Final Fantasy VII, and instead the player has only one playable character, Zack. Crisis Core was originally envisioned as an action game, but because the staff was more experienced in RPGs, they decided to modify it, making battles closer to the ones from RPGs, making it an action RPG in genre. Final Fantasy VIIs battle system was used as the basis with action elements added to it; the Materia system was designed so that players could choose between "RPG-oriented enhancements" and "action-oriented enhancements," as well as to give the game balance. The Digital Mind Wave system (DMW) was added to give the gameplay an element of luck as well as to avoid the combats feeling repetitive. Nomura and Kitase were inspired by the pachinko, a type of Japanese slots machine, in developing the system. The staff initially had difficulty in developing the gameplay due to its departure from traditional Final Fantasy battles.

One of the development team's regrets regarding Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- is that they did not include a feature to skip cut scenes. By the time the development team realized their mistake, it was already too late to add it.

The game was announced at E3 2005 and its first trailer consisted of clips from Last Order.

Release and Reception
The game was released in Japan in 2007 and it was a commercial success, becoming Square Enix's best-selling game from April through September 2007. Crisis Core sold 301,600 copies upon its first month of release in the United States, making Crisis Core the second best-selling game for the PSP during the month of March and the sixth best-selling game overall. Crisis Core sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide.

A new Hard Mode was added to the games released in the North America and PAL regions.

Production credits

 * Director: Hajime Tabata
 * Artist: Tetsuya Nomura
 * Writer: Kazushige Nojima
 * Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
 * Composer: Takeharu Ishimoto

Merchandise
A special edition 10th Anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core silver PSP was released on September 13th, 2007, along with the game's Japanese release. It came bundled with a retail copy of Crisis Core, the special edition PSP-2000 (slim) unit covered in Tetsuya Nomura artwork, and a Buster Sword strap. Retailers also threw in a Crisis Core inner earphone set, supposedly as a pre-order bonus, although anyone who lined up on launch day was given one. All was packaged in a special box that seems to have been targeting collectors.

The PSP is region free - meaning the PSP can play any games from around the world, however, it cannot play UMD movies from the USA. Also, the version of Crisis Core bundled with it is a Japanese language version of the game, which allows no options to switch to English. The bundle was produced in limited quantities of just 77,777 copies and retailed for 25,890 yen. Each individual special edition PSP is engraved with a serial number from 00001 to 77,777.

Trivia

 * In the poll in which Famitsu asked its readers which games made Japanese gamers cry, Crisis Core came in at number 2, just after Final Fantasy X, which took the top spot.