Among the remakes and remasters coming to modern systems, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series stands out. Final Fantasy 7 Remake opts for a reimagining instead of a traditional remake or remaster. It’s an unusual approach, but one that fans have been hoping to see nonetheless. While they wait for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to come out, the community will be able to keep itself entertained with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion. This re-release is similar to the Demon’s Souls remake, but as even more changes were made to it, it may be the truest remake gamers have seen in quite some time.
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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Has Overhauled Crisis Core
At first glance, Crisis Core: FF7 Reunion seems to hew close to its PSP original. It’s easy to make that mistake when compared to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, but as Reunion’s developers stress, no part of Crisis Core has gone untouched. Every asset in the game has been replaced, and major characters such as Zack, Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth have been remade to such a degree that they are comparable to scaled-down FF7 Remake assets. It’s not clear whether any models have been shared in less detailed forms with the Remake, but characters, the Buster Sword, and summons have all been touched up to resemble their latest counterparts.
On top of the visuals, the soundtrack has also been rearranged. Many background music tracks have been redone by Crisis Core’s original composer, Takeharu Nishimoto. To keep the game in line with the FF7 Remake trilogy, voice work has also been redone for certain major characters. Zack is a noticeable example, given that his performance is somewhat contested after Reunion’s first trailer. Notably, the Japanese version of Genesis remains voiced by Gackt due to his script apparently being the same, even though the English voice actor Oliver Quinn has been replaced by Shaun Conde. Crisis Core: Reunion will also go the extra mile and dub all text-based cutscenes from Crisis Core, and seemingly some field NPCs as well.
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Crisis Core: Reunion Modernizes Its Combat
A total refresh of the presentation is all well and good, but one question that many fans had was whether Reunion would touch up Crisis Core’s combat at all. There were some murmurings by hardcore fans that the footage looked be different, but Square Enix did not give a firm answer for a little while. It was confirmed that full camera control was being added and that characters movements and animations would receive updates, but otherwise the UI just looked like a polished version of the old game. All that was left was the unclear statement that game systems had been “improved,” and that various skip features had been added.
Fortunately, interviews with Yoshinori Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, and Mariko Sato confirmed that combat would feel very different. Basic attacks, special abilities, and magic will now flow together more in continual combos, and Zack has access to something like Cloud’s Punisher Mode from Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Magic and abilities can now be selected from shortcuts like in FF7 Remake and Kingdom Hearts, and battle tempo has been improved by allowing Digital Mind Wave roulette cutscenes to be skipped. Additionally, limit breaks and the totally reanimated summons can now be stocked once produced by the D.M.W., which will vastly improve their usefulness. It’s a good thing that Hard Mode is returning and is available right away, as veterans may feel too strong in this remade combat system.
Most of Crisis Core Has Changed, But The Story Remains
The promise of touching up every single part of Crisis Core has been more-or-less upheld. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion can now be recognized as a different, and hopefully better, game from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7. The one thing that remains completely unchanged is the original script. Even though new actors are playing some roles, the core plot and everything in Crisis Core remains identical. The original ending has been confirmed to still be present, and the game will not have any new missions. There are plenty of missions already, and some details like the positions of treasure chests have been improved, so that side of the game should remain as content-rich as it was.
As a result, fan discussion has now evolved into a debate over whether there has been any new content injected into the game. According to interviews, no new story has been added for the benefit of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but a counterpoint states that the secret ending is technically separate from the main story. Nothing ever came about from the secret endings of Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus, so they can be safely replaced if Square Enix wants. Even though the intent behind Crisis Core: Reunion is to ensure all Remake players are familiar with the increasingly important Zack Fair, there should be room for one extra teaser for FF7 Rebirth. Fans will have to wait and see just how committed to enhanced faithfulness Crisis Core: Reunion is when it comes out later this year.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion releases winter 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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