Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is a prequel that was made to set things up for Final Fantasy 7. Going into it, fans expected to see more data on Zack Fair being in Shinra as a part of SOLDIER. That was indeed the focus of the game but things got out of hand with new stuff as well including new characters and clones. What’s with prequels and clone armies?
All Square Enix had to do was highlight Zack and events players already knew specifically like the incident in Nibelheim. Again, they did that and much more. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is not a perfect prequel as it is confusing but there are highlights. For now, let’s spoil things in this discussion of some plot holes.
8 So…What Exactly Was Going On?
The plot of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is as convoluted as they come and is hard to follow. Genesis has run away for unknown reasons, forcing Angeal and Zack to go after him. Then Angeal leaves and it’s all one big game of chase after that. Even when Zack catches up to his comrades, there is a lot of time spent waxing poetic without many answers being given. Then, about halfway through the game, those two new characters are forgotten to focus on the original game’s backstory involving Sephiroth and Cloud.
7 Captures One Fort, Wins The War
Before the incident with Genesis comes into play, Zack is sent in with Angeal to capture a base in Wutai. After Zack manages to do this, mostly alone, the war is over. There could be some efforts behind the scenes that further go into how Wutai is defeated.
There is another game based around this period, Before Crisis, which focuses on the Turks. Maybe it makes more sense in that Japanese exclusive phone game on how Zack seemingly won the war with one battle but in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, it seems silly without any more context.
6 Attack Of The Clones
Hollander seems to be the mastermind behind everything involving the Genesis clones attacking the Shinra Corporation. Besides Genesis and Angeal, he doesn’t seem to have any human contacts. How could he single-handedly clone an enormous army given that he is one man and where did he get all of the money?
Also, the idea of Degradation is a bit odd. It makes sense that a clone would crumble apart and age rapidly but why do the clothes age as well? Do the clothes attached to the bodies act more like organic material?
5 Chase Hollander, Or Go On A Mission?
There are a lot of mechanical issues that could be called out in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion such as Zack holding on to hundreds of items with no backpack. The weirdest one involves save points which allow players to take on side missions.
In story-heavy segments, like the many times, players must chase Hollander, it doesn’t make sense to abort the chase to fly off somewhere else to fight some monsters. Thankfully the game never hinders access to this side mission pool. It’s a mechanic that is good for the player but it doesn’t add up with the logic of this universe.
4 Surviving In The Ice
It’s always weird to see characters with exposed skin not change into something warmer whenever they reach a snowy region. This happens a lot in RPGs especially ones with ridiculously dressed female characters. While Zack isn’t exposing the most skin in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, it’s still odd that he would go into the snowy mountains without a jacket on for one mission.
Cloud and Tseng are also not dressed for winter weather in this mission. This is strange given that players must do squats to keep warm in the middle of a stealth-based mini-game later in this mission.
3 Take That Helmet Off
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion follows Star Wars rules when it comes to main characters and helmets. If a character removes their helmet as part of a larger squad, it’s almost guaranteed that character will survive anything.
Cloud removes his helmet for almost the rest of the game but no other officers in the Shinra guard do. Not even named characters like Kunsel remove their helmet. Exposed characters like Cloud should die quicker since they have fewer areas of the body protected. It’s just a silly thing to think about.
2 Cloud’s Forgetfulness
Final Fantasy 7 has two tragic moments. One invokes Aerith getting stabbed by Sephiroth while the other showed Zack dying to save Cloud. The latter of the two scenes is recreated in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion and will make any fan of the series cry. Zack sacrifices himself for Cloud, telling him to live on for the both of them. Cloud screams out for the death of his friend before departing.
The exact timeline between the end of Crisis Core and the beginning of Final Fantasy 7 is hazy. It seems like only a few months pass before Cloud helps AVALANCHE bomb the Shinra reactor. Why did he forget about Zack in that short time frame? Also, what was he doing for those few months before the original game starts?
1 Hey Vincent
In the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim, players can collect coffin keys from enemies in the basement. One of these coffins contains Vincent as it does in the original game. Zack opens it up, sees a body in there, and then closes it back up. His reasoning is that he doesn’t want to disturb the person.
If it was a dead body then it would make sense to leave the dead to rest. However, Vincent is very much alive meaning that Zack should have been able to see Vincent breathing. Players also don’t get to see Vincent as the camera angle is positioned from behind which feels like a letdown in the fan service department.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion was released on December 13, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.