How Crisis Core fixed Final Fantasy VII canon

by Andrew Yoon { Apr 29th 2008 at 2:30PM }

It may be a mere handheld game, but Crisis Core serves as a vital part of the Final Fantasy VII universe. It doesn't just simply expand upon the story, but actually fixes an error made in a different part of the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII."

Hideki Imaizumi, producer of Crisis Core, talked about the "Last Order" anime OVA (pictured) with IGN. Released as a bonus with Advent Children in Japan, the animated short also focused on Zack and the role he played in Nibelheim. "When we made that feature, we changed the presentation of that event from the original Final Fantasy VII. And the fan response was - well, there was considerable negative feedback in regard to changing a part of the story that they considered integral to the whole lore."

Thankfully, Crisis Core was able to set things straight, restoring the canon that so many Final Fantasy VII devotees pore over. "So we listened to that and learned from that. And in fact the Nibelheim incident is presented again in Crisis Core, and we were careful not to make the same decisions that we did in Last Order."

Tags: crisis-core, final-fantasy, final-fantasy-vii, last-order

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 29th 2008 3:59PM

What change would that be? I thought Last Order was a very accurate representation of the Nibelheim incident.

ryan @ Apr 29th 2008 4:14PM

I think people were upset at the fact that they seemed to imply that Zack was shot by a sniper in the truck.

CJLopez @ Apr 29th 2008 4:21PM

Jajajajajaja, poor fools, to have played FFVII and achieved the secret scene unlocked after Cloud regain his true memories goign again to the nibelheim Shinra's mansion basement, they know that Zack died juts like the ending of Crisis Core present it, and where is now, on the Advent Children movie, the Buster Sword standing

Jak Logan @ Apr 29th 2008 4:24PM

[SPOILERS]
No way. No way on Earth. The Crisis Core ending totally redefined the entire meaning of Cloud's motives in FFVII. In the PSOne version, he absorbed Zack's entire persona, and blocked him out entirely. After Zack died, Cloud took his Buster Sword and became Zack. In Crisis Core, however, Zack TELLS Cloud that he should become him, and forces his sword on him. So it wasn't so much as Cloud's desire mixed with Mako poisoning to be SOLDIER First Class, but Zack _made_ Cloud's mind screwed up.
Also, the ending would have been much better if only three Shinra soldiers attacked Zack and Cloud... the army thing was way out of line. Three soldiers would have been enough because Zack and Cloud could still be weakened by mako or from the journey to Midgar.
And what was up with Zack floating up to heaven, grabbing that (Aerith's?) hand? No one ever died that way in FFVII before. Zack should have disappeared into the Lifestream like Bugenhagen did.
And they seriously messed up the musical score for Sephiroth, when he first meets Jenova. We wanted to hear his chilling theme song, but instead we got an out of control piano piece. Or does anyone actually like that part better than the original?
And I don't know why the SE staff has such a man-crush on Gackt... he's a horrible inclusion in the FF universe.

Jason B. @ Apr 29th 2008 4:54PM

The hand that stretched out from the Heavens was that of Angeal. He was the only other member of Soldier to actually died in the game and stayed dead.

Jak Logan @ Apr 29th 2008 8:59PM

Oh yeah. duh... I totally blanked on that one. And in the canon, Cloud did kill Sephiroth inside the reactor, right? And Sephiroth was sending out an images of himself in FFVII from inside his materia/lifestream tomb?

jilly @ May 8th 2008 9:45AM

well zack did join the lifestream. if cloud stayed longer he could have seen him disappear just like kadaj in AC. we only saw what happened from zack's point of view. maybe if a person dies he/she sees someone either a close friend/girlfriend/family member guide them into this "heaven" but the ones witnessing it only sees the person disappearing into the life stream. dunno, just my opinion.

Jason B. @ Apr 29th 2008 4:54PM

*die in the game and stay dead.

cafecito @ Apr 29th 2008 8:16PM

Actually, what's "fixed" is Sephiroth's death. In Last Order, he throws himself into the lifestream, opposed to what appears in FF7 and CC (Cloud tosses him after he gets impaled by the Masamune)

Kururugi Suzaku @ Apr 30th 2008 11:49AM

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I preferred it in Last Order though.

Smokey @ Apr 29th 2008 10:23PM

um, ok since when did Last Order become canon? I viewed it as nothing more but a cool anime interpretation of the events, crisis core canon yeah, but not last order anyway. So many ppl getting there knickers all hot and bothered for no reason

o_o @ Apr 30th 2008 3:14AM

Last Order was considered as canon because it was officially marketed by Square. Just like Maiden Who Travels the Planet, the story written by some random guy who was never a part of the original FFVII crew.

Smokey @ Apr 30th 2008 3:19AM

How is that a reason to consider it canon?

MGS Acid was prolly "officially marketed" by Konami, is it canon, no.

I have not read once that Last Order was canon

Alien @ Apr 30th 2008 8:07AM

Wow ... look at all the spoilers :P

Snake @ Apr 30th 2008 10:39AM

* me wants to play FF7 again :)

Elise @ Apr 30th 2008 11:26AM

The main problem with Last Order is having Tifa know Cloud was there. She can't know without messing up the plot in FFVII.

FlareKnight @ Apr 30th 2008 3:58PM

So we can say Crisis Core did a good job of fixing a few things. Can't believe I missed the scene in the original, but honestly thought after seeing that OVA that Zack was killed by a sniper. Obviously either way his end fate was the same, but method of getting there really made a difference.

TJF588 @ May 7th 2008 3:03AM

1) It's not about the sniper shot (which wasn't shown to've hit anything, that's just were LO ends).
2) It is about Sephiroth jumping into the Lifestream over being tossed into a wall and falling in.
3) Also, small things were changed, such as positions of people.
4) There was also some other thing(s), with Cloud's eye gleam coming to mind. This gleam is presumably the "mako gleam" that he wouldn't've had until after the Incident.
5) *******z***** YOU, SPOILERS!

I was actually one to contend that LO-FFVII- was merely artistic license, such as the differences between a 'anime' series and its OVA and/or movie version(s). A quote from... was it Reunion Files?... stated something along the lines of, "We decided to portray things this way." I took this as a for-the-feature change rather than for-the-whole change. Seems it was a change to the entire "lore".