Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII logo
The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII logo

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is the formal title for a series of games and animated features developed by Square Enix based in the world and continuity of Final Fantasy VII. Spearheaded by Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase,[1][2][3] the series consists of several titles across various platforms, all of which are extensions of the Final Fantasy VII story.

Contents

[edit] 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".[1] 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.[4] He further explained that "the ending of FFVII seemed to... open up so many possibilities with its characters, more so than other games".[5] 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 Naora, composer Nobuo Uematsu, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima joined Kitase and Nomura to work on the project.[4]

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 to be developed, whereas Kitase envisioned a production of greater scope, leading to the introduction of several other titles.[6][7] 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.[4] 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 no 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—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.[4] Square Enix president Yōichi Wada announced that the Compilation could remain an active franchise until the twentieth anniversary of Final Fantasy VII's release.[8]

[edit] Titles

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

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.[9][10] Released by subscription in twenty-four chapters,[11] full service began in Japan on September 24, 2004[12] for the NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i series of mobile phones.[10] Advent Children was the first title announced in the Compilation, having been unveiled in September 2003 at the Tokyo Game Show,[13][14] 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.[13][15] 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 (UMD) for Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP), it was released in Japan on September 14, 2005,[16] and in European and North American markets on April 25, 2006.[17][18][19] Special editions of the film included Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, an original video animation produced by Madhouse that recounts the destruction of Nibelheim.[20]

Another sequel is Dirge of Cerberus: 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.[21][22] Developed for the PlayStation 2 and set three years after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII,[23][24] Dirge was released in Japan on January 26, 2006,[21] and in North America on August 15, 2006.[21] Lost Episode was released for Amp'd Mobile phones three days later on August 18, 2006.[25] Finally, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing game for the PSP that revolves around Zack's past.[26][27] After having been pushed back several times, the game was released on September 13, 2007 in Japan, March 25, 2008 in North America,[28] and on June 20th in Europe

[edit] Audio

Main article: Music of Final Fantasy VII
 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.
Cover of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children soundtrack
Cover of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children soundtrack

The new Final Fantasy VII titles were also accompanied by their own soundtracks. Though Nobuo Uematsu 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.

[edit] Reception

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Though Final Fantasy VII received an overall positive reception, the titles in the compilation have received mixed reviews. In July 2007, Edge magazine stated that the titles "could be of a high quality, but there is also a perversion of the original."[29] Dirge of Cerberus shipped 392,000 units in its first week,[29][30] though it received a score 28 out of 40 from Famitsu.[31] 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.[32]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Kohler, Chris (2004). More Compilation of Final Fantasy VII details. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 10, 2006.
  2. ^ GameSpot site staff (2003). Kingdom Hearts II's Tetsuya Nomura Q & As. GameSpot. Retrieved on August 10, 2006.
  3. ^ (2005) in V-Jump: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Prologue (in Japanese). Shueisha, 50. ISBN 4-08-779339-7. 
  4. ^ a b c d Stone, Cortney (2005-09-01). Kitase Discusses Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. RPGamer. Retrieved on September 2, 2007.
  5. ^ (2005) in Editors of Electronic Gaming Monthly: Electronic Gaming Monthly October 2005; issue 196 (in English). Ziff Davis Media Inc., 104. 
  6. ^ Young, Billy (2004). Details Arise From Tetsuya Nomura Interview. RPGamer. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  7. ^ Choudhury, Rahul (2004). Nomura: "Don't look at me, Kitase did it!". SquareHaven.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  8. ^ RPGFan site staff (2006). Square Enix Conference Report. RPGFan. Retrieved on August 26, 2006.
  9. ^ (2006) in Watanabe, Yukari: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - Reunion Files - (in Japanese). SoftBank, 96–97. ISBN 4-7973-3498-3. 
  10. ^ a b Gantayat, Anoop (2004). Before Crisis FF7 Details. IGN. Retrieved on September 2, 2007.
  11. ^ Buchanan, Levi (2006). Interview with Square Enix Mobile: Kosei Ito. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  12. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2004). Final Fantasy Destroys Square Enix. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  13. ^ a b (2006) in Watanabe, Yukari: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - Reunion Files - (in Japanese). SoftBank, 74. ISBN 4-7973-3498-3. 
  14. ^ IGNPS2 (2003). TGS 2003: Final Fantasy VII: The Movie?. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  15. ^ Hernandez, Eugene (2005). With A Record Eleven U.S. Titles, Venice Fest Sets 2005 Lineup. indieWIRE. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  16. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2005). FFVII Tops Charts. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  17. ^ IGN DVD (2005). Official Final Fantasy VII Release Date News. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  18. ^ Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Comes to DVD and PSP April 25. GameSpot (2005). Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  19. ^ Square Enix North America site staff (2005). Square Enix Announces Settlement in Movie Piracy Case. Square Enix North America. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  20. ^ (2006) in Watanabe, Yukari: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - Reunion Files - (in Japanese). SoftBank, 95. ISBN 4-7973-3498-3. 
  21. ^ a b c Dunham, Jeremy (2006). Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Review. IGN. Retrieved on August 13, 2006.
  22. ^ Vasconcellos, Eduardo (2006). Comic-Con 2006: Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-: Lost Episode. IGN. Retrieved on August 13, 2006.
  23. ^ (2006) in Watanabe, Yukari: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - Reunion Files - (in Japanese). SoftBank, 98. ISBN 4-7973-3498-3. 
  24. ^ IGN site staff (2006). Dirge of Cerberus: FFVII. IGN. Retrieved on August 13, 2006.
  25. ^ Square Enix North America site staff (2006). DIRGE of CERBERUS - FINAL FANTASY VII - EXPLODES ONTO RETAIL SHELVES. Square Enix North America. Retrieved on August 26, 2006.
  26. ^ (2005) in Editors of Electronic Gaming Monthly: Electronic Gaming Monthly October 2005; issue 196 (in English). Ziff Davis Media Inc., 101. 
  27. ^ IGN site staff (2006). Crisis Core FFVII Update. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  28. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2007-05-12). Date Set For Crisis Core. IGN. Retrieved on August 11, 2006.
  29. ^ a b “Final Frontiers”, Edge (Future Publishing) (no. 177): 72-79, July 2007 
  30. ^ TOP 10 Weekly Software Sales (January 23 - January 29, 2006). Media Create. Archived from the original on 2006-02-05.
  31. ^ Japanese Sales Charts, Week Ending February 5. Gamasutra (2006-02-10). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  32. ^ Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - DVD Information. AdventChildren.net. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
v • d • e
Final Fantasy VII and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Cloud • Sephiroth • Vincent • Aerith • Tifa • Zack
v • d • e
Final Fantasy series
Main series, sequels and sidestories
Final Fantasy  • II  • III (DS)  • IV (DS & After)  • V  • VI  • VII (Compilation)  • VIII  • IX  • X (X-2)  • XI  • XII (RW)  • XIII (FNC)
Other media
Battle systems • Common elements • Minigames • Music