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Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

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Dirge Of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
File:Ff7doc001.jpg
Developer(s)Square Enix
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
ReleaseJapan January 26, 2006
United States of America August 22 2006 [1]
European Union TBA 2006
Australia TBA 2006
Genre(s)Action-RPG
TPS role-playing game
Mode(s)Single player,
Multiplayer

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (ダージュ オブ ケルベロス -ファイナルファンタジーVII-, Dāju obu Keruberosu -Fainaru Fantajī VII-) is a Japanese Third Person Shooter role-playing game which is a sequel to the 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII. It is also part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, which also includes the games Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, as well as the CGI movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the single-episode anime OAV, Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. Directed by Takayoshi Nakazato, the game centers on Vincent Valentine, who is the main character of this game. Dirge of Cerberus was released in Japan on January 26, 2006 and is slated for a August 22, 2006 [2] release in North America. The original soundtrack and in-game music for the game is composed by Masashi Hamauzu with vocals by Gackt for the theme songs.

Story

The game features Vincent Valentine, one of the original characters from Final Fantasy VII, as the lead role. It takes place three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII (and one year after the events of Final Fantasy VII; Advent Children). The game starts with the Deep Ground SOLDIERs attacking the town of Kalm in the middle of the Revival Festival, apparently looking for Vincent.

Reeve Tuesti, former Head of Urban Development at Shin-Ra (as well as the remote pilot of Cait Sith), is now the leader of the World Restoration Organization, which looks after the planet and prevents people from damaging it further. It seems that Barret and Tifa are heavily involved in the organization.

The Deep Ground SOLDIERS (DGS) were a secret underground project that Shin-Ra was developing even during the time of Final Fantasy VII, but were trapped under Midgar after Meteor struck. Their intention is to evoke the final WEAPON, Omega, from its slumber. However, to do that, the DGS need Vincent to lead the way to Omega. As Vincent fights the DGS, he deals with the inner demons of his past, one of which has returned to haunt him…

The Deep Ground SOLDIERs (DGS).
File:Vincemoon.jpg
Vincent preparing for action
File:Vincereeve.jpg
Vincent talking to Reeve; controller of Cait Sith.

Gameplay

The game is a third-person shooter role-playing game that also incorporates RPG elements such as hit points and usable items. The player can switch to first person view mode and utilize a cross hair to shoot enemies. Vincent has an HP Bar, as well as MP. There is also a value for Level, where Vincent can level up by eliminating enemies. Vincent can also choose weapons from a large library, primarily guns.

The option of transforming into his Limit Breaks has been confirmed on the official site, the first being Vincent's first limit break, the Galian Beast, and the second is Chaos [3]. An online mode will also be included and the player will be able to control a Deep Ground SOLDIER for a moment. Some have considered the game a gamble by Square Enix given that the shooter genre is only moderately popular in Japan.

File:Vincefps.jpg
First Person View mode.
File:Vincedoc.jpg
Enemies losing 300HP in an explosion.

Overview

Many assumed that it would be an Action/Adventure game along the lines of Capcom's Devil May Cry and first person shooter Halo, but designer Tetsuya Nomura categorized it as a "gun-action RPG". The game was released in Japan on 26th January 2006, with a North American release expected to be in August 2006.

Director Takayoshi Nakazato said that he was a big fan of the PC game Half Life and wanted to turn it into an RPG, and he has done so, in the form of Dirge of Cerberus. This is the last game in chronological order in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and is often referred to by the staff of the game as "the ending finale to Final Fantasy VII". However, Producer Yoshinori Kitase has recently stated in an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly that it's not necessarily the end of Final Fantasy VII's story, but will provide resolution to Vincent's personal story, just as Advent Children resolves Cloud's.

The game received some criticism in Japan, although the gaming magazine "Dengenki PS2" rated the game a 313/400 [4]. However, Famitsu scored it a lower 28/40. [5] The review was released over three weeks after the release of the game, unlike the Dengenki score, and thus rumours were spread about Square-Enix forcing the magazine to delay the review in order to not discourage gamers. Nevertheless, it managed to ship 392,000 in its first week [6], which is still moderately successful despite being much lower than sales of a new Final Fantasy game.

Characters

Returning characters

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Vincent Valentine.
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Reeve Tuesti.
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Cait Sith
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Yuffie Kisaragi.
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Lucrecia Crescent.
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Cloud Strife.
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Tifa Lockhart and Barret Wallace.
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Cid Highwind.

New characters

  • Shalua Rui (シャルア・ルーイ, Sharua Rūi): A female WRO scientist with a prosthetic left arm that serves as her life-support system. Before the game's release, it was speculated that she was somehow connected to Lucrecia, based on their physical resemblance. She originally appeared in Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.
  • Genesis: Known simply as "G" in the credits and G Reports. A mysterious character who appeared in the Secret FMV (which the player gets by obtaining the 3 G Reports) one can see Genesis walking to Vice. He has Mako eyes and one wing, which resembles Sephiroth's. It's also thought by some due to the fact that "G" an individual with no known inheritance of Jenova cells, but with bright Mako eyes and a large angel wing that he was a result of the experiments conducted by Grimoire Valentine, Hojo, and Professor Gast, long before the creation of Sephiroth. He is seen in the artwork for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
  • Grimoire Valentine: Vincent's father and Lucrecia's mentor. His death resulted in Lucrecia distancing herself from Vincent.
  • Zvet (ツヴィエート, Tsuviēto, Cyrillic Цвет): The highest ranking elite squad within Deep Ground SOLDIER. All but one of the members of the group are named after colors, hence the group's name, Zvet, which is Russian for colors. Five members appear in the single player mode, and at least one more member appears in the online mode. It is currently unknown how many total members there will be, or how many are still alive at the end of the game.
  1. Azul (アスール, Asūru): A member of Zvet, known as "Azul the Cerulean". His name means blue in Spanish and Portuguese. He first appeared in Before Crisis. Uses a large cannon as his weapon and can transform into a Behemoth-like creature.
  2. Shelke (シェルク, Sheruku): A young girl who wields two energy spears. Her name means orange in Urdu, a reference to her amber-colored eyes. She appears to be Shalua's younger sister. Commonly seen along with Azul, as she is helping him hunt down Vincent. She is the only member of Zvet that remains "colorless", a plot point which is detailed in the storyline of the game's multiplayer modes.
  3. Rosso (ロッソ): A member of Zvet, known as "Rosso the Crimson". Her name means red in Italian. Wields a two-sided blade weapon, almost playfully brutal.
  4. Nero (ネロ): One of the members of Zvet, called "Nero the Deep Darkness." His body is always covered in darkness, and the player can not see his figure clearly. The darkness Nero controls draws in everything, and it is possible for him to take them out of it. It is said that the restraint like outfit he wears is to keep his power under control. His name means black in Italian.
  5. Vice (ヴァイス, Vaisu, correct German Weiß or Weiss): A mysterious SOLDIER who commands the DGS. Called "Seiger Vice the Immaculate Emperor", he declares a hunt on the world three years after the Meteor crisis. All Deep Ground SOLDIERS fear his power, and follow him, but it's said that they rarely see him directly. He has spiky gray hair and wields two katana-rifle hybrids (sometimes referred to as "gunblades" by fans, though they're notably different from the Final Fantasy VIII weapons that are officially referred to by that name). He is actually housing the computer-simulated personality of Hojo, and becomes possessed by this. This emulated version of Hojo, through Vice's body, had the DGS adbuct those not under the effects of Geostigma to serve as incubators of enough pure Mako to enable Vice to asborb Omega. However, Vice managed to fight back control over his body and committed sucide, taking Hojo with him. Weiß means 'white' in German.
File:Rossodoc.PNG
Rosso.
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Nero.
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Azul.
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Shelke.
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Vice.
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Shalua Rui.

Voice cast


Localization

The U.S. version of Dirge of Cerberus will recieve a major overhaul due to the fact that the developers were not satisfied with the final Japanese version. Square Enix also wants to make the game more single-player oriented. [9]

  • Vincent's running speed will be 1.2 times faster, and he will be able to perform a double-jump and do ranged and melee attacks in midair. Also, his dive-roll dodge move will now be supplanted with a dash move.
  • Vincent's weapon will be able to be customized to make it lighter, so there is no sluggishness when aiming with your weapon drawn.
  • Limit Breaks will no longer detract from the magic bar; instead, a single-use item can be used to perform the attack.
  • "Easy Mode" will be removed, being replaced with a "Extra Hard" mode. This new mode will include unlockables such as 40 special missions, a character-model viewer, and artwork and sound galleries.
  • Online Multiplayer support will be removed due to the poor popularity of PlayOnline in America, and lack of PS2 HDD support in the U.S. Missions from the Online Mode will be used in some of the missions that can be unlocked in "Extra Hard" mode.
  • The game will still support mouse and keyboard peripherals for PC FPS-style gameplay.

Crew

Soundtrack

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The cover of the soundtrack.
Main article: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII - Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the game was composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Vocals were performed by J-Rock singer, Gackt Camui for the theme songs, "Longing" and "Redemption". The soundtrack was released on the 15th of January, 2005 in Japan with a price of ¥ 3,300 bearing and the limited edition of the soundtrack will be released on the same day with a price of ¥ 3,900 bearing the catalog number. The CD consists of 2 CD's with 53 tracks. The limited edition of the soundtrack includes a "Cerberus Complete Case" deluxe box which is designed to hold the soundtrack along with the Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII PS2 game and the limited edition of Gackt's single for the game, "Redemption".

The CD single for Gackt's single for the game, "Redemption" was released on January 25 2006, with a price of ¥1,200 (roughly USD 10.17). A limited edition was also released featuring two "Redemption" video clips, one being Gackt's promotional music video and one being set to animation from the game, with a price of ¥1,950 (roughly USD 16.53).

References

Previous title in series: Next title in series:
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII N/A
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