Compilation of Final Fantasy VII


The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is a metaseries produced by Square Enix. A subseries stemming from the main Final Fantasy franchise, it is a collection of video games, animated features, and short stories set in the world and continuity of Final Fantasy VII. Officially announced in 2003 with the reveal of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the series' core products are three video games and one film release. Alongside these are tie-in products and spin-offs including books, mobile games, and an original video animation. Advent Children and the mobile title Before Crisis are a sequel and prequel to VII respectively, focusing on Cloud Strife, the original game's main protagonist, and covert operatives known as the Turks. Crisis Core follows Zack Fair, a minor character in VII, while Dirge of Cerberus, a sequel to Advent Children, follows Vincent Valentine, one of the original's optional characters. The series has since been expanded to include more products, most notably a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 original; the first installment in this trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Remake, was released in 2020, while the second installment, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was released in 2024.
The series was conceived by Yoshinori Kitase, the original game's director, and Tetsuya Nomura, the main character designer. Nomura would become the main designer for each entry in the Compilation. Other returning staff include writer Kazushige Nojima, art director Yusuke Naora, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The video games belong to different genres, with none of them being traditional role-playing games due to production pressures related to the genre. While the first title revealed was Advent Children, it ran into delays during post-production, so the first Compilation title to be released was the mobile game Before Crisis.
Of the core titles, Before Crisis is the only one still unreleased in the west due to issues with overseas platform compatibility and staff changes. Reception of titles in the Compilation has been mixed, with Advent Children being praised for its visuals and criticized for its confusing nature. Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Remake and Rebirth have all received praise from critics, while Dirge of Cerberus garnered a mixed response. The presentation of the Compilation as a whole has met with a mixed response, and later staff linked it to the decline of the Final Fantasy series' prestige in the West. The Compilation inspired the creation of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy, a similar subseries of linked video games.

Titles

Video games

  • Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing video game split into 24 episodes, with episode delivery working via a monthly subscription-based distribution system. After going through beta testing in 2004, it was released on September 24, 2004, for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA iMode, and on January 30 and April 5, 2007, for SoftBank Mobile and EZweb respectively. The game was never released to western markets, despite plans to do so.
  • Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII is an action game featuring both first and third-person shooter elements. There was originally a multiplayer mode, but this was removed in the western version. It was released on January 26, August 15, and November 17, 2006, in Japan, North America and Europe respectively. The localized version received an overhaul before release, as the developers were not pleased with the Japanese version of the game. An International version, featuring the improvements made to the localized version, was released in Japan on September 11, 2008, as part of Square Enix's Ultimate Hits lineup. A mobile spin-off taking place during the events of the game, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, was released on August 22, 2006, in North America and July 26, 2007, in Japan.
  • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing game. Crisis Core has the player controlling Zack Fair in a real-time combat system enabling the player to move Zack around, activate abilities and attack or block attacks from enemies. It was released on September 13, 2007, in Japan, and on March 24 and June 20, 2008, in North America and Europe respectively. A remaster of the game, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, was released in late 2022, for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix, released for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. It is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 original. An expanded edition, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, was released for PC Steam and PlayStation 5.
  • Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is a free-to-play battle royale multiplayer game for mobile phones released on November 17, 2021. Developed by Ateam Inc. and published by Square Enix, the game is set 18 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII. The First Soldier follows SOLDIER candidates and the establishment of SOLDIER by the Shinra Electric Power Company to bolster their military. The game's battles are set in a virtual reality recreation of Midgar, similar to the Virtual Reality System and Shinra Combat Simulator. Its gameplay features 3 versus 3 multiplayer arena matches, blending action elements traditional to the genre with RPG mechanics and Final Fantasy gameplay elements. Due to the nature of the gameplay, there is not much narrative element, but the setting and lore is incorporated into the game. Despite fairly regular updates, the game was shut down on January 11, 2023.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is a role-playing video game. Released in September 2023 for iOS and Android and in December 2023 for Windows, it is an episodic single-player game which retells the events of the canon Compilation titles while adding in new narrative material.
  • Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix, released for PlayStation 5 on February 29, 2024. The game is the second installment in the Remake trilogy, while also being made to stand on its own.

    Films

  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the first title conceived for the Compilation, the second to be released, and a direct-to-DVD sequel to VII. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2005, and on April 24 and 25, 2006 for Europe and North America respectively. It received a single special western cinema screening on April 3, 2006, at the Arclight Theatre in Los Angeles. A director's cut of the film, Advent Children Complete, was also produced, featuring graphical retouches, extra footage and rerecorded voice work for the English and Japanese versions. Advent Children Complete was released as a Blu-ray exclusive in 2009 in North America, in Europe, and in Australia. A demo for Final Fantasy XIII was included in the Japanese limited edition set.
  • Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, an original video animation detailing the destruction of the town of Nibelheim, a key event in VII. Last Order was packaged with a limited edition of Advent Children called Advent Pieces, released on September 14, 2005, in Japan and February 6, 2007, in North America. Advent Pieces was limited to a quantity of 77,777 copies. The OVA is no longer available to purchase. With the release of Remake, Last Order was removed from the official Compilation listing.
  • On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel is an original video animation adaptation of the story from Kazushige Nojima's On the Way to a Smile. It was released with the Advent Children Complete.

    Books

  • Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile is a collection of short stories written by Kazushige Nojima to promote Advent Children and Advent Children Complete. A total of seven stories were collected into a single paperback volume and released on April 16, 2009. The English version was released by Yen Press in 2018.
  • Final Fantasy VII: The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, a novel and second book by Kazushige Nojima set a short time before Advent Children. The novel was illustrated by Shou Tojima and released on December 15, 2011. The English version was released by Yen Press in 2019.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake: Trace of Two Pasts, a novel also authored by Nojima, was released on July 15, 2021, in Japanese and March 20, 2023, in English. It takes place during the early events of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and features Aerith and Tifa exchanging stories from their pasts.

    Related media

A novella Hoshi o Meguru Otome was written by Benny Matsuyama and published in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Guide in 2005. The story describes Aerith journey through Lifestream during the second half of the original game. Despite being authorized by Square Enix the novella is not considered canon and part of the Compilation. It is also overlaps and contradicts with the events from "Case of Lifestream - Black & White" story from later novel On the Way to a Smile. It was also never officially localized in English, however various fan translations exist.
A mobile racing game based on a mini game from VII, Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, was released on October 30, 2014, for iOS and Android. A western release for the title was planned. It was developed by Japan-based developer CyberConnect2 as part of a planned subseries of mobile games based on VIIs mini games. While related to VII and the Compilation due to its nature, the developers confirmed that it was not related to nor affected the Compilation itself. Due to difficulties delivering continual satisfactory service, G-Bike was shut down in 2015 without seeing a Western release.