Article / News · Preview

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis Summer Game Fest Hands-On Impressions

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis Screenshot

When I first heard about Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis (which is coming to iOS and Android mobile devices), I thought it would just be a retread of Final Fantasy VII with gacha elements. Most mobile game announcements nowadays are gacha games, so it was easy to assume. I’m glad to say that I was pretty much completely off. After playing the game at Summer Game Fest, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ever Crisis is more like a more casual and portable friendly remake of the original game with some loot boxes.

The Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis demo started out with what felt like a scripted battle between Cloud and Sephiroth. I didn’t get to start it from the very beginning, so I’m not sure about the circumstance of it, but it was different from the beginning of any other FFVII game, especially since Cloud eventually turns into Zach when he starts losing!

Regardless, after beating Sephiroth, the actual demo begins as normal and Avalanche rolls into the first Mako Reactor mission. Everything else proceeds as expected from here. The regular battles are random battles much like the original Final Fantasy VII and run through a somewhat condensed version of the Mako Reactor up until the Guard Scorpion boss (though it has been renamed Scorpion Sentinel like Final Fantasy VII Remake). One of the nice things about the dialogue in this game is that they come with illustrated dialogue portraits a la the Atelier series pre-Dusk trilogy.

The battle system is fairly simple overall. The battles are basically on auto battle for normal attacks. There’s also an ATB system that charges up steadily and once it reaches a certain number of bars, you can activate skills such as Braver, Cure, and Thunder. There’s also Attack and Defense modes where the game encourages you to go into Defense mode when bosses are about to unleash a big attack. Limit Breaks are also back and in Ever Crisis the characters can do tag team ones! The tutorial asks you to pick Cloud’s Cross Slash and Barret’s Big Bang at the same time and they perform their Limit Breaks together to do huge damage. It’s pretty cool! Looking at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s recent trailer, it seems they are doing something similar in that too.

Some notes on the graphics: Some of us at RPGFan have talked about the multiple visual styles you’ll see in screenshots. Based on my time with the game, the idea is that battles use FFVII Remake-like graphics, while the overworld and story sequences feature the “enhanced PSone style” graphics. Finally, the highest resolution sequences seem to be what’s used in cutscenes.

As noted above, I was pretty skeptical of Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis when it was first announced, and I’m happy to say that my impressions overall are pretty positive. According to the Square Enix representative I spoke to, the game will cover all of the original Final Fantasy VII on launch. They are planning to add all of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the rest of the FFVII Compilation, and “new story elements penned by FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE story and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima surrounding a young hero, Sephiroth.” I was told that the extent of the monetization is mainly going to be cosmetics and loot boxes with different weapons which is great news. Hopefully you can get enough good weapons without paying to get through the game, and that paying just makes things easier.

For more detailed information, please see all of our previous coverage. Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is looking really promising. I will probably at least check it out on launch when it releases! Pre-registration is currently open for those looking to dive in on launch and get rewards for starting. Closed Beta Test sign ups are also open through June 28th if you have an Android device and you want to see if you can get in to check it out yourself early!

Be part of the conversation and join us on our Discord, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Alvin Lim

Alvin Lim

Alvin was a news editor who is desperately trying to ween himself off mobile games so he has more time to play console games again. If he's not clicking on Granblue Fantasy, he's either adding more RPGs to his massive backlog, or is taking over 100 hours on a single game in it. When not gaming, he is hanging out, traveling, or cooking with his partner.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.