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 the fourth entry to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- 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 -Final Fantasy VII- 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 (DMW) — 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 phase. 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, leading to around 50 hours of gameplay for a 100% completion. Some missions can only be unlocked by accomplishing certain story parts. Materia is part of the magic and ability system, like in Final Fantasy VII, but it's slightly different. Summon Materia are no longer in player's control, and instead, are added to the DMW. When the DMW slots switch to the summoning scene one of the various Summon Materia are selected and performed. Main summon sequences are skippable FMVs. This does not apply to Chocobo Mode summons.

Materia does not divide like it did in Final Fantasy VII, though it does level up if two matching numbers corresponding to the slot are drawn in a modulating phase (the likelihood of a level-up is 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 be customized through the Materia Fusion process.

Players cannot buy weapons. The game begins with Zack holding a typical SOLDIER sword, but he eventually moves on to wield the Buster Sword. In some cases special weapons are utilized, like wielding a parasol during a vacation to Costa del Sol.

Equipment is limited to accessories that grant various stat boosts and special effects when equipped. Two to four pieces of equipment can be worn depending on requirements.

The shops are entered via the main menu. More shops are added by proceeding in the storyline, and by doing missions which reward the player with access to new shops. None of the shops will sell Phoenix Downs, which must be found in treasure chests or won in missions.

Setting
Since the game takes place seven years before Final Fantasy VII, many places on the Planet are either under construction or otherwise different from Final Fantasy VII. 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 believes in SOLDIER honor, loyalty, and friendship. He jokingly calls Zack a "restless puppy".
 * Genesis Rhapsodos - A SOLDIER 1st Class and 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 as a hero. His only friends are Angeal and Genesis.
 * Aerith Gainsborough - A young woman residing in the Sector 5 Slums who meets Zack and enters a relationship with him.
 * Cloud Strife - A young man serving Shinra as an infantryman. Cloud and Zack 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 member of the Turks who 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.

Prologue
Roughly thirty years before the start of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis were born from the Jenova Project. Angeal and Genesis grew up as childhood friends in the town of Banora and when they came of age they joined SOLDIER to become heroes like Sephiroth with whom they would eventually befriend. Angeal became seen as the heart of SOLDIER and acts as the mentor of those who join.

During a training exercise between the trio, things escalated as Genesis challenged Sephiroth on his own until Angeal intervened. Genesis sustained a wound in his shoulder and later received a blood transfusion from Angeal, overseen by a former Shinra scientist named Dr. Hollander, the man behind the creation of Project G ("Project Gillian" for Angeal's mother). Now suffering from degradation, Genesis joins forces with Hollander, who claims to be able to cure him, but is secretly using him to get personal revenge against Shinra. Genesis goes rogue and causes a "mass desertion" at SOLDIER.

The Genesis War
One month later, Zack is a SOLDIER 2nd Class under Angeal's mentorship. After a training simulation Zack and Angeal are sent to Fort Tamblin for the final battle of the Wutai War. They learn that Angeal's childhood friend, Genesis, has betrayed Shinra. After Angeal disappears as well, they find several soldiers working under Genesis who look exactly like Genesis, transformed into copies of him thanks to stolen Shinra technology. Sephiroth informs Zack that Angeal has deserted SOLDIER and turned traitor.

Zack refuses to believe his friend and mentor would be a turncoat. He is sent to Banora village along with the Turk Tseng to investigate Genesis's disappearance. They find several graves, including those of Genesis's parents and the only person Zack can find is Gillian Hewley. At the town factory Zack meets Genesis and Angeal appears, but when Zack returns to Gillian later, he finds her dead with Angeal standing over her. Zack is shocked and enraged by the idea that Angeal killed his own mother. Genesis appears and summons Bahamut to fight Zack. After Zack defeats it, Genesis calls himself a monster, sprouts a single black wing and flies away. The town is bombed by the Shinra Army aircraft.

Back at 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, on his way to Sector 5 Reactor where Sephiroth says Angeal has been spotted. The two find monsters that have Angeal's face on their bodies, similar to the Genesis Copies that make up Genesis's army. They find documents about Jenova Project G, the branch of the Jenova Project that created both Genesis and Angeal, but it was deemed a failure. Sephiroth tells how Genesis is suffering from degradation, slowly dying because of his tainted birth.

Zack tries to capture Hollander in the Mako Reactor, but Angeal arrives and shows Zack his white wings, and says he has become a monster. Zack tries to convince his former mentor his wings do not belong to a monster but an angel, but Angeal says angels dream to be human. Zack refuses to fight his old friend, and Angeal sends Zack plummeting down into the Midgar slums.

Falling into the Sector 5 Church, Zack lands into the flower bed tended to by Aerith Gainsborough. Zack and Aerith go on a date in the slums, and the two enter a relationship. Zack has to return to the top of the plate because of another Genesis attack, and Angeal decides to take a clear side and helps Zack beat the Genesis Army out of Midgar.

Zack is sent to the abandoned town of Modeoheim in the frigid wastes of the Northern Continent with Tseng and a Shinra infantryman named Cloud Strife. Since both Zack and Cloud are "country boys," the two quickly befriend. 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 presumed 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, able to pass on his genes and take in those of other organisms. Angeal, no longer wishing to be a monster, absorbs several different copies and turns into a hideous creature, Angeal Penance. Zack defeats it and before dying Angeal passes on his Buster Sword and the legacy of SOLDIER honor to Zack. Dr. Hollander is captured and with all three major threats to Shinra gone, the Genesis War seems to be over.

The Nibelheim Incident
Zack takes over Angeal's role as the heart and soul of SOLDIER, speaking to trainees and encouraging recruits. Shinra sends him to Costa del Sol to recuperate and as Zack relaxes on the beach, several Genesis Copies emerge from the water to attack. 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 and Genesis and his army wreak enough chaos for Hollander to slip out. The attack was successful largely due to the intelligence given by the surprise traitor, Director Lazard.

Sephiroth briefly takes over the SOLDIER operations. As Genesis seems to be attacking Mako Reactors he plans an operation in Nibelheim, Cloud's hometown. Zack visits Midgar and Aerith one last time before leaving. Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud, and another Shinra guard arrive in Nibelheim and are led to the Nibelheim Reactor on Mt. Nibel by a guide, Tifa Lockhart. At the reactor they find monsters created by over-exposure to Mako. Sephiroth finds a tank labeled "JENOVA" — the name of his "mother" — with the vaguely feminine form of an alien creature. Genesis appears and tells Sephiroth he was born out of Jenova Project S. With his past in doubt and Genesis's words in question, Sephiroth descends into the Shinra Manor basement and reads Professor Gast Faremis'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 pursues the SOLDIER hero up to the reactor where Sephiroth tries to free his "mother" from the tank, cutting Tifa down along the way. Zack confronts Sephiroth but 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 he was holding onto. 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 to create Sephiroth Clones to test his Reunion Theory. Zack and Cloud are infused with Sephiroth's cells, but are deemed failures and left lying asleep in tanks for four years until Zack is awoken by what seems to be Angeal. Since Zack is a SOLDIER, and resistant to Mako because of the SOLDIER process, he has the strength to drag himself and a comatose Cloud out of a rebuilt Nibelheim through the ranks of Shinra soldiers.

The Gift of the Goddess
While on the run Zack and Cloud 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 but this turns the copy into a monster. Zack travels to his hometown of Gongaga to see his parents, but Cissnei appears to warn Zack, telling him that going to Gongaga is too obvious and Shinra will expect this move. Genesis and Hollander, now a Genesis Copy, attack and Zack kills Hollander. The person who Zack thought was Angeal who protects him and Cloud is actually Director Lazard, now an Angeal Copy dying of the same degradation Genesis and his copies suffer from.

Zack puts together where Genesis has been hiding for so long. Genesis is always 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 and finds Genesis hiding at the end of the cave with a statue of "the Goddess" holding the Goddess Materia. He claims the epic poem LOVELESS to now be fulfilled as the three friends are "reunited", with Zack inheriting Angeal's will and Sephiroth's cells. Genesis absorbs the Materia's power, transforms into Genesis Avatar, and engages Zack. Zack defeats Genesis Avatar and Genesis returns to his human form.

Now healed of his degradation by the Goddess Materia, Genesis fights Zack but is defeated. Genesis finds himself in a place filled with Lifestream and sees the statue turn into the goddess herself. As he approaches her, the goddess sees his desire to complete his duty as SOLDIER, and acting as the will of the Lifestream, prevents him from returning to the Planet so he may one day complete his goal. 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 had just fought Shinra soldiers, with the help of a canine Angeal Copy, which Zack recognizes as the same one that defended Aerith at the church years earlier. Both are dying from their wounds and degradation.

Zack gathers everyone with Banora Whites and symbolically completes the re-enactment of LOVELESS, with Genesis as the Prisoner, Angeal (represented by his copies) as the Wanderer, and Zack is the Hero. Through his fight with Zack, Genesis has realized the true Gift of the Goddess: SOLDIER honor. As Lazard and the Angeal Copy die and fade away, a letter is left behind, one of eighty-nine Aerith sent during the intervening four years, and the last she sent before giving up on receiving a reply. Zack is shocked to discover he has been gone for four years and, desperate to return to her, Zack makes his way toward Midgar. After Zack and Cloud depart Nero and Weiss, the future leaders of Deepground, arrive dressed as 1st Class SOLDIERs, and take the unconscious Genesis away, and his disembodied voice recites the final act of LOVELESS.

Zack's Final Stand
Tseng mobilizes the Turks to find Zack and Cloud before the Shinra army does. Before Zack can reach Midgar the Shinra army tracks him down and though Zack fights with everything he's got he is overwhelmed and mortally wounded. Left lying on a precipice looking over Midgar, Zack feels his life fading away, as does Aerith tending to her garden a few short miles away. A confused Cloud sees his friend dying and Zack tells Cloud he will be his "living legacy." Like Angeal before him, Zack passes down the Buster Sword and his SOLDIER honor to Cloud. Angeal descends from the sky as an angel to bring Zack into the Lifestream. Cloud wanders into Midgar as Zack's lingering voice tells Cloud to say hi to Aerith for him, and asks if he has finally become a hero.

Epilogue
Cloud's Mako poisoning had left him weak and seeing Zack die shattered his mind. As a defense mechanism, Cloud blocks out the events altogether and merges Zack's personality and memories with his own to create a new personality and history. Cloud rides the train towards the attack on Sector 1 Reactor, wearing a modification of the SOLDIER 1st Class uniform. He declares himself a SOLDIER 1st Class, and the story continues in Final Fantasy VII.

Music
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-'s soundtrack was primarily composed by Takeharu Ishimoto. The soundtrack includes many new remixes of pre-existing Final Fantasy VII and Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- songs, the original Final Fantasy VII compositions done by Nobuo Uematsu. It was released in a two-CD format with 55 tracks.

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). Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- was announced at E3 2005 and its first trailer consisted of clips from Last Order.

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 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 a minor character in Final Fantasy VII. The game was initially planned to have more scenes involving Zack and Cloud's escape to Midgar to expand on 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 "Redemption", the theme music for Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, 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 this vein. 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. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- 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, and 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 team realized their mistake, it was too late to add it.

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

Themes
The concept of legacy is a prominent theme in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, and how the actions of one generation impact the next. 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. Legacy is displayed in Cloud and Zack inheriting S Cells from Sephiroth, Angeal's surviving copies representing Angeal after his death, and his will being passed down to Lazard after being transformed into an Angeal Copy. Lazard begins to act on Angeal's innermost desires, such as helping Zack, trying to save Genesis, and even to save the world. The legacy theme is referenced to in the game's tagline by Zack shedding tears over the loss of Angeal, and Cloud crying over Zack's death at the end; thus "crying for their comrades" after inheriting their legacies.

The story of LOVELESS is a prominent theme in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. Being obsessed with LOVELESS, Genesis tries to recreate the story to cure his degradation. His encounter with the goddess Minerva grants him a second chance at life and he realizes the Gift of the Goddess is his SOLDIER pride, something Angeal frequently spoke of and valued highly.

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 -Final Fantasy VII- 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.

Special Edition Silver PSP Set
A special edition 10th Anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- silver PlayStation Portable was released on September 13th, 2007, along with the game's Japanese release. It came bundled with a retail copy of the game, 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 PlayStation Portable is region free, meaning the console can play any games from around the world, but it cannot play UMD movies from the USA. The version of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- bundled with it is a Japanese language version which allows no options to switch to English. The bundle was produced in limited quantities of 77,777 copies and retailed for 25,890 yen. Each individual special edition PlayStation Portable is engraved with a serial number from 00001 to 77,777.

A re-release of the PSP was done in Europe, but it did not have the unique serial number, and the silver color was less metallic.

Production credits

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

Trivia

 * In the poll in which Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu asked its readers which games made Japanese gamers cry, Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- came in at number two after Final Fantasy X.
 * The opening sequence of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- mirrors Final Fantasy VII; both start in a train station and both protagonists jump off of a train. This is one of the many allusions within the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.