Highlights
- Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is a mobile game that Final Fantasy 7 universe and promises to remake the entire sub-series of games.
- At its release, the game only includes the worlds of the original game, Crisis Core, and The First Soldier, with more content expected in the future.
- The game features Japanese voice acting and a battle system similar to Final Fantasy 13, with automatic attacks and skill panels. Players can also move characters using touch controls and random encounters occur in free-roaming missions.
After promises made on the PS3, Square Enix finally delivered a remake of Final Fantasy 7 in 2020. It was only part one though, and there is no telling how long fans will have to wait before all of these parts are finished. The next part, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is due out on February 29, 2024.
While fans wait for that, Square Enix just launched a mobile game called Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis. Is it a new game? How does it tie into the ever-growing Final Fantasy 7 universe? How does it play? All of these questions and more will be explained about this latest free-to-play game.
8 The Promise
Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s release blew minds when it finally came out in 2020. Then, later on, Square Enix announced Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis as another series of remakes and the promise seems like a lofty one. The goal is to remake the entire universe of this sub-series as mobile games including the original game, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier. There are some interesting outliers like Advent Children which was a movie and not a game. And Before Crisis was a prequel about The Turks which was never released outside of Japan.
7 What You Can Play Right Now
The promise is mighty and once the project is done, like the console remakes, fans are going to be ecstatic. Unfortunately, the launch content for the storylines is minimal. Players can hop into the worlds of the original game, Crisis Core, and The First Soldier. That’s only half of what was expected and even the games that are here at launch aren’t even the full products. For example, Final Fantasy 7 stops right after the team escapes from Midgar.
6 It’s Voiced, But In Japanese
One of the biggest upgrades, aside from the graphical changes, is the inclusion of voice acting. Not everything is voiced, but a decent majority of the story dialogue is in each game, or text bubbles are at least accompanied by sound effects.
Dubs over subs anime fans are going to be disappointed to learn that the voice acting is in Japanese though. There are no language features in the options menu and it is unclear if English voices will ever be added. At least fans can be happy that the game was localized at all.
5 The Battle System
One of the coolest things about the Final Fantasy 7 universe of games was that each one played differently. Dirge of Cerberus was a third-person action shooter starring Vincent while Before Crisis was a traditional turn-based RPG like the original game. In Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, all three games right now have the same battle system. Characters will attack automatically and players can touch a panel to use skills once a bar is filled. It’s a lot like the battle system in Final Fantasy 13.
4 Moving Around
Most missions in the game will be just about fending off three waves of enemies, or sometimes just one boss will appear. Other missions will allow players to move around. Players can control characters like Cloud via a touch-based analog stick on these missions. They can also just tap on a location and the character will move to that area automatically. It’s also worth mentioning that these free-roaming missions will have random encounters like in classic RPGs.
3 Leveling Up Isn’t Everything
Traditionally, characters in RPGs will get stronger by collecting Experience Points, or EXP, which will then increase stats like HP or Defense. Characters level up in Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, but that’s not the main way characters can increase their strength.
Every character has an overall power level sort of like the Light Levels in Destiny. Leveling up characters, giving them Materia and gear, and also using the skill tree will raise this overall number. It’s important to know that grinding levels through EXP will not do much as it’s all a delicate balance.
2 Small Story Changes
Like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the games in Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis are not going to be one-to-one translations of the original materials. There are story changes and story omissions to better fit the mobile lifestyle. For example, one of the most iconic parts of the original game is in Wall Market wherein players had to dress Cloud up like a girl. That happens automatically and gameplay is all about battles here. Also, after Cloud and the others are caught, the sewer and train graveyard sequences are almost entirely skipped in favor of getting to the tower bombing in Sector 7 more quickly. Those are only a few examples, but it’s good for fans to know before going in that there will be differences.
1 Mobile Game Basics
This is a gacha game through and through meaning that Square Enix wants to encourage players to spend money. The nice thing about Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is that players don’t. The story missions are free to play, but there are side quests that require energy. Energy can be recharged with potions that the game will readily bestow upon players regularly, so it’s not a big deal. To get better weapons, players will need to use the Draw system that uses Blue Crystals. These materials can be earned easily in the game as well. So, no matter what, players should know they don’t have to spend any money because there is always a workaround given patience.
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis was released on September 7, 2023 for iOS and Android devices.