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Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

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Dirge Of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Developer(s)Square Enix
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
ReleaseJapan January 26, 2006
United States of America August 15 2006
European Union TBA 2006
Australia TBA 2006
Genre(s)Action-RPG
TPS role-playing game
Mode(s)Single player,
Multiplayer (Japanese Version only)

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 Sebun-) is a 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 film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the single-episode OAV, Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. Directed by Takayoshi Nakazato, the game centers on Vincent Valentine. Dirge of Cerberus was released in Japan on January 26, 2006 and on August 15, 2006 in North America. The original soundtrack and in-game music for the game is composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Two other songs, "Redemption" (The game's theme) and "Longing" were composed and performed by Gackt.

Story

Template:Spoiler Three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII (and one year after the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), an unknown group of seemingly unstoppable SOLDIERs appear, bringing a swift and bitter end to the peace enjoyed by the people of world. The members of this enigmatic group are the ones who were trapped under the ruins of Midgar for three long years; the Deepground soldiers, 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.

Vincent Valentine finds himself pursued by several elite members of the mysterious organization. An unrelenting chain of events leads Vincent to the truth behind his past and forces him once again to be the key player in a battle for the planet itself and all those living in it.

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 Regenesis Organization, which looks after the planet and prevents people from damaging it further. It seems that several party members from Final Fantasy VII are involved in the organization.

The game begins with a cinema depicting the attack on the town of Kalm, an attack carried out by DEEP GROUND militia. Vincent thwarts the attack, but not before encountering Azul and Shelke, members of the Tsviets, DEEP GROUND's elite force of supersoldiers. Template:Endspoiler

Deepground soldiers.
File:Vincemoon.jpg
Vincent preparing for action
File:Vincereeve.jpg
Vincent: "It can't be helped."

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 is also available, the first being Vincent's first limit break, the Galian Beast, and the second is Chaos. 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, but designer Tetsuya Nomura categorized it as a "gun-action RPG". The game was released in Japan on January 26, 2006, and in North America on August 15, 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.[citation needed] 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 [1]. However, Famitsu scored it a lower 28/40. [2] The review was released over three weeks after the release of the game, unlike the Dengenki score, and thus rumors 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 [3], which is still moderately successful despite being much lower than sales of a new Final Fantasy game.

At Game Rankings, the reviews for the game are currently 59%. Popular review game sites IGN.com and Gamespot.com have given it scores of 7 and 6.0, respectively.

Fan reception

Since release in the United States, Dirge of Cerberus has been met with--predictably--mixed reactions. A majority of fans agree with large gaming sites' scores delivered to Dirge of Cerberus. However, it is held by many that Dirge of Cerberus is an accomplishment due to the storyline's fleshing out of the Vincent-Lucrecia dynamic, as well as the greater plot behind Deepground's rise. Though many do not consider it a stand-alone game, its inclusion of 40 bonus missions, an event viewer, and other extras enhance the game's replay value.

Characters

Returning characters

New characters

Template:Spoiler

  • 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 and is missing her left eye. Before the game's release, it was speculated that she was somehow connected to Lucrecia, based on their physical resemblance. Shalua is a workaholic who is actually searching for her sister, Shelke. Upon meeting her, she was heart-broken over how little of her sister there was left and blamed herself for it. In order to make up, she helped Shelke escape the clutches of Azul, who had turned on her, in exchange for her life. Shalua originally appeared in Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.
  • Genesis: Known simply as "G" in the credits and G Reports. He is as strong and fearful as "S"(Sephiroth) , a reference to a possible connection with Sephiroth(see below). 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 Weiss's body in a cave below Midgar. He has Mako eyes and one wing, which resembles Sephiroth's, over his left shoulder (It should be noted that Genesis' wing is over his left shoulder, while Sephiroth's is over his right, further alluding to a connection between the two, although at this point, little more is known.) 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 black angel wing that he was a result of the experiments conducted by Scientists long before the creation of Sephiroth.(There're also the rumor that he is Sephiroth's prototype.) In the G Reports, the text mentions that he draws his power from the "G Substance."(or the stagnation of Lifestream in NA version.) He is seen in the artwork for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.He is the one who change Deepground form the Soldier's hospital to the secret military like it is now.The soldiers who have the name by their name is the hellspawn of G.(taken form 3rd G-report.)He's take down by the 1st class soldier before go sleep under Midgar
  • Grimoire Valentine (グリモア・ヴァレンタイン, Gurimoa Varentain): Vincent's father and Lucrecia's mentor. His death resulted in Lucrecia distancing herself from Vincent.
  • Omega WEAPON: The "harvester of souls." The final WEAPON that activates whenever a huge calamity eliminates a large amount of life, Omega then emerges from and absorbs all of the Lifestream from the planet and carries it into the universe. The planet itself is then reduced to a lifeless ball of dirt and crumbles. Dr. Lucrecia Crescent has researched Omega and Chaos, along with Grimoire.
  • The Tsviets (ツヴィエート, Tsuviēto, Cyrillic Цвет): The highest ranking elite squad within Deepground. The exceptional ones recieve names based on colors, hence the group's name which is based on Zvet, the Russian word for colors. Five members appear in the single player mode, and at least one more member appears in the online mode.
  1. Azul (アスール, Asūru): A member of the Tsviets, known as "Azul the Cerulean".He is 33 years old. His name means blue in Portuguese and Spanish. He first appeared in Before Crisis as a normal man who want to be a Soldier.He uses a large cannon as his weapon and can transform into a Behemoth-like creature called Arch Azul.And he is the only one successful Metamorphose experiment in Deepground. He fought with Vincent three times and was finaly killed when Vincent, in Chaos form, impaled him with his own cannon. Although not revealed in the Domestic version, the Japanese Multiplayer revealed there were two more Tsviets in existence, that was until Azul killed them both to see if they were worthy.
  2. Shelke (シェルク, Sheruku): A young girl who wields two energy EM sabers. She is known as "Shelke the Transparent." Her name means orange in Urdu, a reference to her amber-colored eyes. She is Shalua's younger sister. Commonly seen along with Azul, as she is helping him hunt down Vincent. She is the only member of the Tsviets that remains "colorless", a plot point which is detailed in the storyline of the game's multiplayer modes.Her ability's call SND (Synaptic Net Drive) which allow her to creat her visual image and dive into the network.In the multiplayer modes she has another ability called Formless mode. She can cancel all of others people's skill and technic and create a lot of her copy forms, however this ability requirs a lot of MP and she can't use it without the high-level of Mako. All though she appears to be very young, about 9 or 10, she is approximently 19. As such, she needs a daily dose of Mako to stay alive. However, she has almost no emotions and feels little compassion when her sister gives her life to save her, calling her a fool and wondering why someone would give their life for another. As the game progresses and she becomes linked with the personality data of Lucrecia, she begins to feel and say what Lucrecia feels. This allows her to feel emotion again and even cry for her sister. At the end of the game, she decides to catch up on her last 10 years of life she lost while part of the Tsviets.
  3. Rosso (ロッソ): A member of the Tsviets, known as "Rosso the Crimson". Her name means red in Italian.She is 25 years old and was born in Deepground. She wields a two-sided blade weapon, and is almost playfully brutal. She speaks in a Russian accent in the English version. She is bloodthirsty and enjoys causing pain to others.She has unstable mind form being experimented and only feels completed when she bathed in blood without care those blood're form friends or foe.She also has an observtion for the sky. She had a small scuffle with Cloud. When finally defeated by Vincent she chose to kill herself by falling off the top of a building rather then let anyone claim her life.
  4. Nero (ネロ): One of the members of the Tsviets, called "Nero the Sable." 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.He is 23 years old . Nero is the brother of Weiss and claims to only love him. While never fully revealed in the Domestic Version, in the Japanese Multiplayer Mode, it is revealed that Nero and Weiss ARE biological brothers, having shared the same mother.He is the only successfull experiment form inject stagnation of Lifestream pior birth, similiar to Jenova project. His powers of darkness allow him to absorb and extract anything cought in it.their mother was being engulfed by Nero’s darkness when he was born.He is the one who secretly lead Deepground during Weiss absent.(Weiss is death before the beginning of DOC.) When facing Vincent a second time, he took Vincent to his world where he appered attached to a spider like machine. Once defeated, he returned to his brother, only to stabbed by Weiss under Hojo's control. After Weiss was beaten, Nero appeared and merged with Weiss, never wanting to be separated from him again. This, in turn, destroyed Hojo and his control over Weiss.
  5. Weiss (ヴァイス, Vaisu, correct German Weiß, romanized as Vice in the Japanese language verison): A mysterious soldier who commands Deepground. Called "Weiss the Immaculate",he also has the Emperor title attach to his name (Weiss the Immaculate emperor)in the Multiplayer Mode as he is the strongest Tsviet.(He can win over both Rosso and Azul the same time with bare hand and not even had a single scrach.) He declares a hunt on the world three years after the Meteor crisis. All Deepground soldiers fear his power, and follow him, but it's said that they rarely see him directly. He has spiky gray/silver 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 has all of the other Tsviets' ability (inculding Shelke's SND) within himself.He does'nt wear the upper half cloth for SND through his skin. He is actually housing the computer-simulated personality of Hojo, and becomes possessed by this during his SND to find the cure to his time-limit virus that Restrictor'd given him in Multiplayer Mode.(This virus will kill the host in 3 days since it's spreaded.) This emulated version of Hojo, through Weiss's body, had Deepground adbuct those not under the effects of Geostigma to serve as incubators of enough pure Mako to enable Weiss to absorb Omega. This gave him abilities far beyond Vincent's and was easily able to overcome him. But Vincent was able to turn the tables by using his Chaos power to defeat Weiss. Once defeated, Nero, who had been watching, wanted to merge with his "brother." Hojo veinly ordered Nero to stop, knowing he wouldn't be able to control Omega with an impure being inside him. Neither Weiss nor Nero cared and Hojo was finaly destroyed when they merged. Weiss was later killed by Vincent in Chaos form. However, Weiss's body was carried off by an awakened Genesis who told his "brother" that they "Still have much work to do." There were many questions about Weiss left unanswered at the end of the game, such as if he was the leader of Deepground before Hojo took control of him, and why he continued to control Omega even after Hojo was expelled from his body. Weiss means 'white' in German.
  6. Argento: One of the members of Tsviets seen only in the Japanese multiplayer mode. Her job is not to fight, but rather to "watch and observe". She conspired with Weiss to overthrow the Restrictors. Her name means "silver" in both Latin and Italian.She has the eye-patch at her left eyes.
  • Restrictor: The former leader of Deepground before Weiss.Members of the 14th unit of SOLDIER (Lost Force), he only appear in the multiplayer mode. he destroyed Ragnarok, the 13th and previously strongest unit of SOLDIER in a single night. He governs over Deepground, implanting chips into the brain stems of all Deepground recruits so they cannot turn against them. Anyone who tries is neutralized (similar to how Shelke stops Azul in the single player mode) or even disposed of. The player character is the exception to this, who was part of Weiss' plan to take control of Deepground. At the end of the multiplayer mode Weiss, Argento, and the other Tsviets from the single player mode manage to defeat a Restrictor and plan to secretly take his place.
  • Usher: A mysterious orange haired SOLDIER who aids the player several times throughout the multiplayer mode. In the Multiplayer Mode ending, Shelke deactivates her SND with the player character and Usher disappears, which would suggest he was a simulation created by Shelke to guide the player into helping with their plan to overthrow the Restrictors.

Template:Endspoiler

File:Rossodoc.PNG
Rosso.
File:Nerodoc.PNG
Nero.
File:Docazul.PNG
Azul.
File:Shelkedoc.PNG
Shelke.
File:Vicedoc.PNG
Weiss: "Heheheh, haven't you realized?"
File:Shaluaruidoc.PNG
Shalua Rui.
File:Doc-genesis.JPG
Genesis as seen in the secret ending.

Voice cast


Crew

Localization

The U.S. version of Dirge of Cerberus received a major overhaul due to the fact that the developers were not satisfied with the final Japanese version; the developers also wanted to make the game more single player oriented.

  • Vincent's running speed is 1.2 times faster, and he can perform a double-jump and do ranged and melee attacks in midair. Also, his dive-roll dodge move is supplanted with a dash move.
  • Vincent's weapon can be customized to make it lighter, so there is no sluggishness when drawing your weapon.
  • Limit Breaks no longer detract from the magic bar; instead, a single-use item can be used to perform the attack.
  • "Easy Mode" has been removed, replaced with an "Extra Hard" mode. This new mode includes unlockables such as 40 special missions, a character-model viewer, and artwork and sound galleries.
  • Online Multiplayer support was 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 were reworked into some of the missions that can be unlocked in "Extra Hard" mode.
  • The game retains support for mouse and keyboard peripherals for PC FPS-style gameplay.

Soundtrack

Main article: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII - Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the game was composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Vocal tracks were performed and composed 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 CDs 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 Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-
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