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67-648: 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 (1997). 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

134-534: A Western release. The setting of Final Fantasy VII is a world that has been described as an industrial or post-industrial science fiction milieu. It is referred to as "the Planet" by the series characters, and was retroactively named "Gaia" in some Square Enix promotional material and by game staff. The planet's lifeforce is called the Lifestream, a flow of spiritual energy that gives life to everything on

201-401: A classic while standing as a great RPG all its own". Nahila Bonfiglio of The Daily Dot states that the "game's neo-noir , Blade Runner -esque setting perfectly marries with its gritty but heartfelt tone". She adds that it is matched by "the exquisite level design with seamless mechanics, addicting gameplay and rousing battles, and you have a recipe for perhaps one of the best games of

268-477: A film, ending with the release of Crisis Core . Their reasoning was that releasing any more would saturate the market. Compared to the original VII , which received near-universal critical acclaim and later cult status as a classic game, the entries in the Compilation have often garnered a mixed reception, and the Compilation as a whole has been critiqued by some. In July 2007, Edge magazine wrote that

335-492: A film. One of the main conditions for the project's launch was to reunite the original staff members of Final Fantasy VII : Nojima, art director Yusuke Naora and composer Nobuo Uematsu . After Advent Children began development, it was decided by the team that one title was not enough to fully explore the VII universe. In response, Before Crisis , Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core were conceived so as to embrace more aspects of

402-476: A flower seller and last member of an ancient tribe known as the Cetra, Tifa Lockhart , Cloud's childhood friend, and Vincent Valentine , a former Turk who was made immortal by Shinra experimentation. During the conflict, Sephiroth summons a destructive spell called Meteor to mortally wound the Planet. When Aerith attempts to summon Holy, a defense mechanism that can stop Meteor, she is killed by Sephiroth. Eventually,

469-485: A franchise can even be created, which ultimately leads to the creation of brand worlds. Since the creation of Disneyland in 1955, bringing fictional media franchises to life through the theme parks slowly became increasingly popular as the way to perfectly blend tourism and real-life involvement with media itself. Similar to transmedia, the concept of bringing fictional media into a non-fictional space where fans can immerse themselves in real-life versions of elements from

536-588: 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. Multiple pieces of tie-in media have been created for the Compilation , nearly all relating to Advent Children . To promote Advent Children Complete ,

603-424: A modeling agency, several television shows ( Playboy's Penthouse , in 1959), and even its own television channel . Twenty-five years later, Playboy released private clubs and restaurants, movie theaters, a radio show , direct to video films, music and book publishing (including original works in addition to its anthologies of cartoons, photographs, recipes, advice, articles or fiction that had originally appeared in

670-586: A novel set a short time before Advent Children . The novel was illustrated by Shou Tojima. Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts , a novel also authored by Nojima, was released on July 15, 2021 in Japanese and March 20, 2023 in English. It features Aerith and Tifa exchanging stories from their pasts. 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

737-516: A photo-realistic role-playing game targeted at the international market built on the Unreal Engine 4 involving physically based rendering . In May 2017, it was announced that they had left the project due to unreasonable management from above, and Square Enix moved the remaining development of Final Fantasy VII Remake in-house. CyberConnect2 also produced two animated films for the .hack franchise. The first one, .hack//G.U. Trilogy ,

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804-415: 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

871-402: A series of short stories were written by Kazushige Nojima under the umbrella title On a Way to Smile . The stories were later collected into a single paperback volume and released on April 16, 2009. An animated adaptation of one story, "Case of Denzel", was included in all copies of Advent Children Complete . Nojima also wrote Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography: Turks ~The Kids Are Alright~ ,

938-644: Is a Japanese video game development studio mostly known for its work on the .hack series , along with a series of fighting games based on the Naruto franchise. They are also known for creating the Little Tail Bronx series (e.g. Tail Concerto and Solatorobo: Red the Hunter ). In 2016, they expanded their workforce into the international market by opening a studio in Montreal, Canada ; however,

1005-428: Is the Japanese term for a transmedia franchise. The term media mix gained its circulation in late 1980s and is first used to describe adaptations of Sakyo Komatsu 's Japan Sinks , but the origins of the strategy can be traced back to the 1960s with the proliferation of anime , with its interconnection of media and commodity goods. Some of the earlier popular Japanese franchises such as Vampire Hunter D in

1072-728: The Compilation have generally cited Crisis Core as the best title of the series. As of 2020 the Final Fantasy VII remake had the highest average score in Metacritic, an 87/100. Tom Marks of IGN calls the game a "complete reinvention", praising the combat system, its "story fleshed out with real emotional arcs" and its nostalgic feel, but criticized the game for having filler and sometimes convoluted new plot points and side missions. He opined that " Final Fantasy VII Remake' s dull filler and convoluted additions can cause it to stumble, but it still breathes exciting new life into

1139-428: 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

1206-586: The Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries: originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII , it would later change platforms and be renamed Final Fantasy Type-0 . The battle sequences in Advent Children also served as inspiration for Motomu Toriyama when creating the battle system for Final Fantasy XIII . Former staff members have blamed the Compilation , in conjunction with other extensions of titles like Final Fantasy X , for undermining

1273-476: The PlayStation Portable , and after talks with Kitase and Nomura, it was decided to make it another title in the Compilation . The creation of Before Crisis after Advent Children began a lettering formula for the series later used by the staff as common abbreviations: 'AC' stood for Advent Children , 'BC' for Before Crisis , 'CC' for Crisis Core and 'DC' for Dirge of Cerberus . The sequence

1340-491: The fantasy and science fiction genres. Similarly, fantasy, science fiction films and television shows are frequently adapted into animated television series , video games, or both. A media franchise does not have to include the same characters or theme, as the brand identity can be the franchise, like Square Enix 's Final Fantasy or the National Lampoon series , and can suffer from critical failures even if

1407-423: The 1980s and Pokémon in the late 1990s, acted as benchmarks in the country's transmedia dominance. The latter in particular began as a video game available on Nintendo 's Game Boy , and crossed through the media of television, film, news, and other non-media related realms, such trading cards, merchandise, and more. A number of Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity, and are among

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1474-522: The 1997 [PlayStation] original". Reviews for Advent Children have been mixed to positive: while critics have praised the presentation, graphics and fan appeal, all reviews agree that the story's context and delivery were confusing for people new to the series. While western critics were positive about Last Order , the OAV received heavy fan criticism in Japan due to its retconning of key events, which prompted

1541-449: The Planet. Dirge of Cerberus is set a year after Advent Children , and focuses on Vincent's conflict against Deepground , a sect of SOLDIER that was trapped beneath the city of Midgar during Meteor's descent. Last Order takes place during the events at Nibelheim, where Jenova was originally stored and Sephiroth first found out about himself. The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII was created by Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura ,

1608-467: The Planet. Its processed form is known as "Mako". During VII and its prequels, the Lifestream is being used by the megacorporation Shinra as an energy source. This is in turn causing the Planet to dangerously weaken, threatening the existence of everything and everyone on the planet. The main narrative of VII focuses on an eco-terrorist group known as AVALANCHE , chronicling their conflict with Shinra president Rufus Shinra and his subordinates, including

1675-495: The United States. It went on to sell 2.1 million units worldwide. The process of thought behind the Compilation would later inspire the creation of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy , a subseries of games linked by a common mythos, and would use lessons learned from the Compilation production process. On an individual level, Before Crisis ' s popularity would inspire the creation of another mobile title within

1742-453: The covert Turks , and SOLDIER, an elite fighting force created by giving humans raw Mako. Eventually, all come under threat from Sephiroth , a member of SOLDIER created through Shinra experimentation and driven mad when he learns the truth about his origins, and Jenova , an alien lifeform which seeks to destroy all life on the Planet. Among the main characters are Cloud Strife , a mercenary and self-proclaimed ex-SOLDIER, Aerith Gainsborough ,

1809-409: The day-in-the-life episodes of the many different Real Housewives series. Documentaries and docuseries are other highlights of the non-fiction branch of media franchises, such as the popular Planet Earth series, which serves as both a film and television transmedia franchise. CyberConnect2 CyberConnect2 Co., Ltd. ( 株式会社サイバーコネクトツー , Kabushiki gaisha Saibā Konekuto Tsū )

1876-445: The ending left far more development opportunities open for characters and setting than other games in the series. There was also a strong financial benefit to creating the Compilation —following the unprecedented financial upturn prompted by the release of Final Fantasy X-2 just prior to the 2003 merger of Square and Enix into Square Enix, then-CEO Yoichi Wada decided that the company could tap into fan demands for continuations of

1943-518: The events of VII , and follows the confrontations between the Turks and the original incarnation of AVALANCHE. Crisis Core takes place in a similar time period, but follows events from the point of view of Zack Fair , a SOLDIER who befriended Cloud and was killed by Shinra troops after turning against the company. Among the characters who interact with Zack is Genesis Rhapsodos , a member of SOLDIER who successfully rebels and eventually decides to protect

2010-725: The fictional worlds they love, adds to the overall narrative the franchise creates through its other media. Marvel's Avenger's Campus park is one of the many franchise-based theme parks created in recent times, following the creation of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and Star Wars' Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney World . Media franchises tend to cross over from their original media to other forms. Literary franchises are often transported to film, such as Nancy Drew , Miss Marple , and other popular detectives , as well as popular comic book superheroes . Television and film franchises are often expanded upon in novels , particularly those in

2077-470: The film The Matrix Reloaded and the video game Enter the Matrix were produced at the same time, using the same actors on the same sets, and released on the same day. Transmedia franchises occasionally release content through certain media that is not canon to the main or greater story that the franchise is built around, meaning that the elements of said content do not truly exist in the main timeline of

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-467: The financial logic of cost-recovery for expensive productions by identifying that a single medium launch is a lost opportunity, the timeliness of the production and release is more important than its integrity, the releases should raise brand awareness and the cross-ability of the work is critical for its success. American Idol was a transmedia franchise from its beginnings, with the first season winner Kelly Clarkson signing with RCA Records and having

2211-410: The focus on Vincent's character and development, critics were mixed to negative about the graphics and gameplay. Japanese magazine Famitsu notably gave the game a delayed and highly critical review. Crisis Core was generally praised, with many enjoying the story's intimate presentation of the characters and action-oriented gameplay, despite some criticism for it being aimed at fans of VII . Critics of

2278-555: The focus on the content of the commodity to "overlapping the commodity image with the character image". The book Anime's Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, by Marc Steinberg, details the evolution of the media mix in Japan. Long-running franchises were common in the early studio era, when Hollywood studios had actors and directors under long-term contract. In such cases, even lead actors are often replaced as they age, lose interest, or their characters are killed. Spin-offs and adaptations of popular pieces of media within

2345-433: The franchise's characters and settings. As one author explains, "For the studios, a home-run is a film from which a multimedia 'franchise' can be generated; the colossally expensive creation of cross-media conglomerates predicated on synergistic rewards provides an obvious imperative to develop such products." The trend later developed wherein franchises would be launched in multiple forms of media simultaneously; for instance,

2412-415: The franchise. Canon content often times breaks continuity, leading fans to speculate or seek to confirm which media are canon and which are not, which can get confusing if the franchise does not provide an answer themselves since entire media can be non-canon to the greater story, with a popular example occurring. On the other hand, specific episodes, volumes or parts of a series can be canon while others in

2479-473: The magazine), footwear, clothing of every kind, jewelry, housewares (lamps, clocks, bedding, glassware), guitars and gambling, playing cards, pinball machines and pet accessories, billiard balls, bedroom appurtenances, enhancements, plus countless other items of merchandise. Non-fiction media franchises also exist in the television and film media, with reality TV being one of the most well-known examples; ranging from competition shows like The Amazing Race to

2546-400: The media fictional material is unrelated. Non-fiction literary franchises include the ...For Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to... reference books . An enduring and comprehensive example of a media franchise is Playboy Enterprises , which began expanding well beyond its successful magazine, Playboy , within a few years after its first publication, into such enterprises as

2613-514: 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

2680-775: The music. CyberConnect2 opened a second studio in Tokyo in 2010, and later opened their first international studio in Montreal, Canada in 2016. However, it was announced the Montreal studio would close its doors by the end of July 2023. In July 2023, it was announced that a third studio in Osaka will open in early 2024. CyberConnect2 was tasked with developing the Final Fantasy VII Remake , described in CyberConnect2's March 2015 Famitsu job advertisement as

2747-473: The original creation of the Compilation . While Advent Children was the first Compilation title to begin production, it ran into problems during post-production, resulting in the first released title being Before Crisis , despite it being the second title to begin development. Before Crisis was also originally planned for release in North America, but the mobile phones available in North America at

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-456: The original. The explanation for this was that traditional RPGs took long production periods and a large staff, which would have made the project stand out a bit too much. One of the other considerations for the team was not to make the titles lightweight as X-2 had been, due to backlash from parts of the fanbase. Conversely, making Final Fantasy X-2 reminded the team that they did not need to stick to completely serious traditional RPGs, enabling

2881-433: The overarching story and narrative of the franchise itself. A connection between the characters, settings, and other elements of the media franchise do still exist within the different media, regardless of the fact that they are being presented in sometimes completely different ways, such as the shared, interweaving storylines and elements of Spider-Man films, television shows, comics and video games. Espen Aarseth describes

2948-490: The owners, the goal of increasing profit through diversity can extend the commercial profitability of the franchise and create strong feelings of identity and ownership in its consumers. Those large groups of dedicated consumers create the franchise's fandom , which is the community of fans that indulge in many of its media and are committed to interacting with and keeping up with other consumers. Large franchise-based fandoms have grown to be even more popular in recent years with

3015-514: The party are successful in defeating Sephiroth, and the Lifestream reinforces Holy, successfully stopping Meteor. The Compilation titles act as continuations and expansions on the core narrative, with them focusing on various characters. Advent Children begins two years after VII , when people across the world are succumbing to a disease called Geostigma and Cloud, suffering from guilt, is forced to confront Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo , avatars of Sephiroth's will. Before Crisis begins six years prior to

3082-484: The popular Twilight book series that was adapted into the five films of The Twilight Saga . Other neologisms exist to describe various franchise types including metaseries , which can be used to describe works such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation series . Multimedia franchises usually develop through a character or fictional world becoming popular in one medium, and then expanding to others through licensing agreements , with respect to intellectual property in

3149-415: The release of A Moment Like This becoming a #1 hit on Billboard Hot 100. The success resulted in a nationwide concert tour, an American Idol book that made the bestseller list and the film From Justin to Kelly . A transmedia franchise however is often referred to by the simpler term "media franchise". The term media franchise is often used to describe the popular adaptation of a work into films, like

3216-407: The respective director and character designer for Final Fantasy VII . It was at one point defined by Square Enix as their first step towards "polymorphic content", a marketing and sales strategy to "[provide] well-known properties on several platforms, allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible". Speaking on why VII had been chosen for such a project, Kitase explained that

3283-409: The rise of social media platforms, as many fans seek to interact with one another for discussion, debate and even to create their own fan-made pieces of media revolving around the franchise, on websites like tumblr , Reddit and Fandom . In the case of successful transmedia franchises, each different medium should expand the target demographic and fandom, build the interest of the consumers and add to

3350-525: The same medium are not, such as the fact that only some of the Battlestar Galactica comics are canon, with a large amount of them breaking the continuity of the main story. In Japanese culture and entertainment, media mix ( wasei-eigo : メディアミックス , mediamikkusu ) is a strategy to disperse content across multiple representations: different broadcast media , gaming technologies, cell phones, toys, amusement parks , and other methods. It

3417-530: The series' market presence and fan trust in the West. Worldwide, the remake shipped and sold over 3.5 million copies within three days. This made it one of the biggest launches for a PlayStation 4 game and the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive in history, surpassing the launch sales of the two previous record holders, Marvel's Spider-Man (3.3 million) and God of War (3.1 million). Media franchise#Transmedia franchise A media franchise often consists of cross-marketing across more than one medium. For

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3484-450: The story of Final Fantasy VII . The first title to be conceived was Advent Children , originally envisioned as a short film presentation created by Visual Works, the animation studio behind CGI cutscenes for the company's games. Early in pre-production, plans to make Advent Children a video game rather than a film were considered, but due to several factors including Visual Works' lack of experience with actual game production, it remained

3551-531: The studio ceased operations in July 2023 after seven years of service. CyberConnect2 was first formed on February 16, 1996, as CyberConnect in Fukuoka, Japan. On September 16, 2001, it was renamed CyberConnect2. On October 3, 2007, CyberConnect2 changed their logo and expanded their production beyond games, beginning with the formation of Sensible Art Innovation to create the .hack//G.U. Trilogy , and LieN to compose

3618-423: The studio was chosen to produce an animated film: this eventually became Last Order . Crisis Core was originally going to be an action game, but became an action RPG, staying within the staff's design strengths while incorporating action elements. Wada had stated in 2006, while the development and release of Compilation titles was still ongoing, that the Compilation could remain an active franchise until 2017,

3685-458: The team to ensure that the event was faithfully recreated in Crisis Core . Before Crisis , due to remaining in Japan, has received limited attention in the west, but previews have been highly positive, with many praising the gameplay and graphics as being impressive for a mobile game. Opinions for Dirge of Cerberus were decidedly mixed. While many praised the story and characters, especially

3752-399: The time were not able to handle the game. In addition, the producer Kosei Ito left Square Enix in 2008 and Tabata moved on to other projects, leaving its localization unlikely. Japanese animation studio Madhouse created a commercial to promote Before Crisis . Due to its success and staff feelings that important scenes from VII represented in Advent Children had been needlessly disjointed,

3819-426: The title was planned. It was developed by Japan-based developer CyberConnect2 as part of a planned subseries of mobile games based on VII ' s 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

3886-402: The titles "could be of a high quality, but there is also a perversion of the original". RPG Site's Alex Donaldson, during a review for Crisis Core , said that the Compilation was "too far detached from the lore of Final Fantasy VII ". While critiquing Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus , and faulting Before Crisis ' s lack of the original game's characters, he felt that Crisis Core

3953-405: The twentieth anniversary of Final Fantasy VII ' s release. After finishing work on Advent Children Complete , the team took a break from the series, although they said that they still had various ideas for future titles. In later interviews relating to Final Fantasy VII , multiple staff members including Nomura revealed that the Compilation was only ever intended to extend to three games and

4020-423: The world and characters. Nomura himself was surprised at the creation of the games, having originally assumed that the film would be the sole product of the project. Each title had a different impetus fueling its creation and development: Before Crisis was thought up by Hajime Tabata, a new employee at Square Enix's mobile division, when asked by Nomura to create a video game featuring the Turks. Dirge of Cerberus

4087-477: The world's highest-grossing media franchises . For example, Pokémon 's penetration into the American market of the franchise along with others of Japanese origin, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! , gave rise to the recognition of what is variously called transmedia storytelling , crossmedia, transmediation , media synergy, etc. Researchers argue that the 1963 Tetsuwan Atomu marked a shift in Japanese marketing from

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4154-645: The year". Both IGN and GameSpot enjoyed the handling of Cloud due to his notable character arc despite starting as anti-hero. Many of the titles have received strong sales. Through 2006, Advent Children met with high sales, with 1 million units sold in Japan, 1.3 million in North America, and 100,000 in Europe, making a total of 2.4 million copies sold worldwide. The original version went on to sell four million copies worldwide by 2009. Advent Children Complete also met with strong sales, selling 100,000 copies on its first day of release in Japan. Advent Children Complete

4221-573: Was cited as a reason for the increase in sales of the PlayStation 3 console. Before Crisis registered 200,000 users on launch day, making it the best-selling mobile game up until that time, and was accessed 1.6 million times by June 2006. Dirge of Cerberus shipped 392,000 units in its first week, and went on to sell 460,000 units in North America and 270,000 units in Europe. Crisis Core sold 350,000 copies in Japan on its release date, while it sold 301,600 copies in its first month of release in

4288-416: Was inspired by Vincent's choice of weapon, Kitase's love of first-person shooters , and the challenge it would provide developers. Prior to the series solidification and the release of Advent Children and Before Crisis , the team had considered other gun-wielding Final Fantasy protagonists for such a game. Crisis Core originated simply as either a Final Fantasy spin-off or a port of Before Crisis for

4355-411: Was nearly disrupted when Crisis Core ' s title was considered as Before Crisis Core , but the " Before " part of the title was soon dropped, coincidentally creating the sequence. Before Crisis began development in 2002. The Compilation was first unveiled in 2003 with the announcement of Advent Children . None of the titles in the series up to that point were traditional role-playing games like

4422-419: Was the Compilation ' s "first classic [ Final Fantasy VII ] spin-off". RPGFan ' s Stephen Meyerink said that the Compilation titles prior to Crisis Core had "expanded, extended, and retconned [the story] into what some would call an unrecognizable mess". Alexa Ray Corriea, writing for Polygon , was highly critical, saying that few of the Compilation titles were good, and only served to "cheapen

4489-467: 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

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