Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Encyclopedia
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
based in the world and continuity of Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
. Spearheaded by Tetsuya Nomura
Tetsuya Nomura
is a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
and Yoshinori Kitase
Yoshinori Kitase
is a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since April 1, 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and is currently the manager of 1st Production Department....
, the series consists of several titles across various platforms, all of which are extensions of the Final Fantasy VII story.
Creation and scope
Square Enix labeled the project "the company's first steps toward ... 'polymorphic content, a marketing strategy designed to "[provide] well-known properties on several platforms, allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible". Compilation producer Yoshinori Kitase said that when given the opportunity to expand any previous Final Fantasy title for the company's experiment in polymorphic content, he "immediately chose Final Fantasy VII", because of its status as a milestone in the series' history, its status as a reference in the series, and its popularity among fans. He further explained that "the ending of FFVII seemed to... open up so many possibilities with its characters, more so than other games". One of the main conditions for the project's launch was to be able to reunite the original staff members of Final Fantasy VII; art director Yusuke NaoraYusuke Naora
Yusuke Naora is a Japanese video game art director and character designer working for Square Enix . He served as the art director for several Final Fantasy and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles...
, composer Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima
Kazushige Nojima
is a Japanese game scenario writer and is the founder of Stellavista Ltd.. He is best known for writing parts of Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game series—namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2—and the Kingdom Hearts series...
joined Kitase and Nomura to work on the project.
Nomura has revealed that when he was brought onto the project, he only expected for Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
is a Japanese action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in 2004. It was the first original game to be produced by Square Enix exclusively for mobile phones, and was released on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA iMode line of phones on a monthly subscription basis...
to be developed, whereas Kitase envisioned a production of greater scope, leading to the introduction of several other titles. Kitase explained that when development for Advent Children began, the team agreed that one title was not enough to cover the entire world of Final Fantasy VII, and thus Before Crisis and Dirge of Cerberus were conceived to embrace more aspects. The team expected to be able to share resources and models across the different projects; however, they faced difficulties in doing so and Nomura eventually decided to create different designs for each title. When asked about the presence of non traditional role-playing game within the Compilation, Kitase explained that the team's plan was to make several games of the same quality, rather than a "hardcore" role-playing game which would stand out from the other titles and involve too much physical and emotional attachment from the team's part. He added that the existence of Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2
is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
—the first game sequel in the series and a lighthearted title—also helped them consider more various genres than the regular role-playing game type. Square Enix president Yoichi Wada
Yoichi Wada
is the current president and representative director of the Japanese video game and publishing company Square Enix as well as its subsidiary Taito...
announced that the Compilation could remain an active franchise until the twentieth anniversary of Final Fantasy VII
Titles
----- Games
- Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VIIBefore Crisis: Final Fantasy VIIis a Japanese action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in 2004. It was the first original game to be produced by Square Enix exclusively for mobile phones, and was released on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA iMode line of phones on a monthly subscription basis...
- Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VIIDirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VIIis an action role-playing third-person shooter video game developed and published by Square Enix in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries, a multimedia collection set within the universe of the popular 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII...
- Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VIICrisis Core: Final Fantasy VIIis an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. First released in 2007, the game is a prequel to the video game Final Fantasy VII and is also the sixth installment in metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII which includes products related to the game...
- Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
- Films
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete
- Last Order: Final Fantasy VIILast Order: Final Fantasy VII, also abbreviated as Last Order or LO, is a 2005 Japanese anime original video animation produced by Madhouse and released by Square Enix. It was directed by Morio Asaka and produced by Masao Maruyama, Jungo Maruta, and Akio Ofuji. Tetsuya Nomura acted as the supervising director...
- On The Way To A Smile – Episode: Denzel
The first title in the Compilation is the mobile game Before Crisis, a prequel starring the Turks that focuses on the six years preceding the original game. Released by subscription in twenty-four chapters, full service began in Japan on September 24, 2004 for the NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i series of mobile phones. Advent Children was the first title announced in the Compilation, having been unveiled in September 2003
2003 in video gaming
-Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame....
at the Tokyo Game Show, but was the second to be released. It screened in its completion for the first time on September 2, 2005 at the 62nd Venice Film Festival. It is a CGI film sequel to the original Final Fantasy VII, set two years after the conclusion of the game. Produced for DVD and Universal Media Disc
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
(UMD) for Sony's PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
(PSP), it was released in Japan on September 14, 2005, and in European and North American markets on April 25, 2006. Special editions of the film included Last Order: Final Fantasy VII
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII
, also abbreviated as Last Order or LO, is a 2005 Japanese anime original video animation produced by Madhouse and released by Square Enix. It was directed by Morio Asaka and produced by Masao Maruyama, Jungo Maruta, and Akio Ofuji. Tetsuya Nomura acted as the supervising director...
, an original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
produced by Madhouse
Madhouse (company)
is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...
that recounts the destruction of Nibelheim.
Another sequel is Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
is an action role-playing third-person shooter video game developed and published by Square Enix in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries, a multimedia collection set within the universe of the popular 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII...
and its mobile phone counterpart, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, both of them first-person/third-person shooter hybrids. Developed for the PlayStation 2 and set three years after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, Dirge was released in Japan on January 26, 2006, and in North America on August 15, 2006. Lost Episode was released for Amp'd Mobile phones three days later on August 18, 2006. Finally, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. First released in 2007, the game is a prequel to the video game Final Fantasy VII and is also the sixth installment in metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII which includes products related to the game...
is an action role-playing game for the PSP that revolves around Zack's past, chronicling the seven years prior to the events of the original game. After having been pushed back several times, the game was released on September 13, 2007 in Japan, March 25, 2008 in North America, and on June 20, 2008 in Europe. The latest title of the series is a director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
version of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete. It was released in Japan on April 16, 2009 in Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
format with the English version also released in the same year. The film also includes an original video animation which adapts Denzel's chapter from the novel On a Way to Smile.
Audio
Nobuo Uematsu
is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
had been the primary composer for the original game, he had very little involvement with the music of the new titles. Some soundtracks have been released in both a regular edition and a limited edition. Some of the soundtracks include new arrangements of songs from Final Fantasy VII such as battle themes, Aerith's iconic theme, the Shinra and Turks' themes, and Sephiroth's theme song "One Winged Angel".
Reception
Though Final Fantasy VII received an overall positive reception, the titles in the series have received mixed but mostly positive reviews. In July 2007, EdgeEdge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
magazine stated that the titles "could be of a high quality, but there is also a perversion of the original." Dirge of Cerberus shipped 392,000 units in its first week, it also received a score of 30 out of 40 from Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
. The CGI film Advent Children met with positive sales figures. The Japanese DVD release sold over 420,000 copies in its first week, which was 93% of all published copies at the time.
Advent Children sold 4.1 million copies worldwide. Crisis Core sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.