Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: Mobile Phone
Genre: RPG
Origin: Japan
Release: TBA
Latest news:
August 16, 2004 - In Japan, all the PlayStation-exclusive magazines are giving coverage to the two new Final Fantasy products scheduled for release this year. That means lots of pages devoted to spoiler-filled Final Fantasy: Advent Children images and text (which we're trying to avoid -- it's a movie, afterall) and lots of pages devoted to less-spoiler-filled Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII info.
Before Crisis, in case you haven't been keeping up on the Japanese mobile gaming scene, serves as a prequel to Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix's landmark RPG that took the PlayStation by storm back in 1997. The game focuses on the story behind the Turks, a group of body guards that works for the powerful Shinra power company which took a central role in the main FFVII storyline. Square Enix is developing the game for Foma 900i series next generation phones out of Japanese provider NTT DoCoMo, although we expect to see the title ported to other Japanese standards eventually (and maybe even an American standard one day).
New details on the game have come to light thanks to the latest issues of Japan's Famitsu PS2 and The PlayStation magazines. In Before Crisis, you can choose to play as a variety of different characters. So far, only a blonde female and a red-haired male have been revealed. The male character was once a gang leader who one day decided that it was in his best interests to sneak into the Shinra building in order to steal a pricey motorcycle (perhaps the same motorcycle that Cloud used to escape from the building years later in VII -- we're not sure). He was caught by Turks member Reno and, since that time, has served in the Turks with aims to reach the top ranks of the organization. The female character, meanwhile, graduated at the top of her class from the Shinra Military school, a school where her father serves as a teacher. Following graduation, she entered the Turks. She's a serious person -- perhaps too serious.
Regardless of which character you pick, the story progression of Before Crisis seems to remain the same. Taking place six years prior to the start of Final Fantasy VII, the game will apparently reveal some big thing that the Turks did at the time. The story will connect directly to Final Fantasy VII, so those who played that title (the millions of you throughout the world) will probably want to find out what happens.
Non-playable characters from the FFVII world also feature in the game. Rufus and Shion were previously revealed, but Before Crisis will also include Reno, Rude and President Shinra, all of whom were in Final Fantasy VII. While Reno, who likes to be cool and Rude, who likes to be quiet, served somewhat as comical villains in FFVII, they're elevated to the role of your mentors and guides in Before Crisis. One screenshot of the game shows the male main character revealing to Rude that he's finished a mission. As for President Shinra, we're not sure how he features in the game just yet, although one screenshot shows him asking the player to hurry up and help him out.
The actual gameplay in Before Crisis is mission based for up to four Online-connected players. You and your fellow players take missions and, as you fight battles, progress through the game.
The game has both action and RPG-style elements to it. As you move about the field of play, you need to stay clear of enemy sights, lest you get spotted; alternatively, there are times when you'll have to chase down enemies or run away from enemies who've spotted you.
When you touch an enemy, the game takes you to a battle screen. While in battle, you can make use of weapon-based attacks against opponents and also use magic. It's also possible to run away to escape a battle. Magic, incidentally, is earned in a way that apparently depends heavily on the game being cell-phone based. We're not sure of specifics just yet, but we presume it has something to do either with Online access, bar code reading, infrared transfer or making a phone call (Call a special number to get a new piece of magic? We'd do it!).
The game seems to feature Materia, a type of elemental orb that, in the original title, could be equipped to characters to give them powers. The upper-right part of the screen contains four slots linked together just like Materia slots from the original title. In a screen featuring a water magic attack, one slot has a blue Materia orb in it, while a screen featuring a fire attack has a Red orb equipped.
How all this will work out in practice with real players located across the country should be interesting. We'll be back with more as Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis approaches its late August Japanese Beta test. - IGN.com
Check out this fantastic website for Final Fantasy Before Crisis:
www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/bcff7.html
Note: Don't forget to check out the Wallpapers!!
Reply With Quote
...but i know it wont.
Originally Posted by Carnage
