Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

[LL!]

Remember Final Fantasy 7?

Remember that beast you had to unleash in the basement called Vincent?

Remember how cool he was?

Well... they're both back and coming into the PS2 in a Shooter RPG.

Taken from my Game Informer magazine:

Even after a climactic battle with Sephiroth and the collision of the legendary spells Meteor and Holy, the details of Final Fantasy VII's conclusion remain somewhat ambiguous. However, amid the questions and untold tales, there is one thing that is certain: The city of Midgar was destroyed - though its story is still far from over.

As part of what Square Enix has dubbed the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII," Dirge of Cerberus elaborates on the events stemming from Sephiroth's defeat by  following Vincdent as he re-enters the industrial wreckage of Midgar. His mission is to combat the world's newest threat - violent and crazed soldiers, formerly employed by Shinra, who survived for years trapped underneath the rubble of the once-thriving city.

Of course, to handle these aggressive and miliaristic foes, Vincent will be leaving his turn-based ways behind in favor of some big guns and frantic firing. Yoshinori Kitase, the game's producer, tells us "We wanted to make it something like Escape from New York. The whole city of Midgar is overrun with crazy survivors, and you have to fight through them." Throughout the thrid-person adventure, players will be able to use a variety of weapons and skills. Though many of the tools at Vincent's disposal are still a mystery, we can only hope that his uinique ability to transform into terrifying abominations will make an appearance. "You'll have to wait for more information on that," Kitase teases.

Thankfully, Dirge won't be completely abandoning its roots in favor of twitchy shooting. "There is an emphasis on both the sotry and the gunplay," explains Kitase. "We want to create something that will appeal not only to an action fan, but also RPG fans." As such, players can expect to learn more about Vincent's shadowy past, including his time with the Turks, his history with the scientists Hojo, and his relationship with Lucretia.

Though only confirmed as a single-player experience, Dirge's action-oriented gameplay seems ideal for multiplayer and online options as well. Kitase was reluctant to reveal any specifics about these possibilities, but he did confirm that we stille have a great deal to learn about Dirge of Cerberus: "Look forward to hearing more about the games other features in the future," he tells us. "We want to make a product that will appeal to people right away, and then surprise them."

Excuse any spelling errors, I typed it all directly from my magazine.

The following is an interview conducted Kitase from Gamespot.com.

We had the opportunity today to sit down with Yoshinori Kitase at the Square Enix booth. Mr. Kitase's credits include serving as the producer for both Final Fantasy X and the upcoming Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and his current project is Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. While we didn't get very many concrete details about the game, we did get some insight into the ongoing development process of the title based on the cherished role-playing-game world.

The game's title, Dirge of Cerberus, comes from the name of Vincent's weapon. His gun was apparently one of the very first items of the game that was designed, and the unique three-barreled weapon is called Cerberus. Mr. Kitase professes to be a big fan of action gun games (he named Medal of Honor and Half-Life as favorites), which he cited as one of the reasons the development team decided to go with a gun combat game. However, he notes that the game isn't going to be merely an all-action game, which he says is boring, as a creator, to design. Instead, it's going to incorporate RPG elements and have a strong focus on storyline. Much like other recent Final Fantasy games, Dirge of Cerberus will feature voice-overs, and he mentioned that the voice actors (in Japanese, at least) will be kept constant through the properties in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

The basic gameplay model is going to be that of a third-person shooter, and the team is currently working on refining traits, like response speed, in the game. Mr. Kitase said that one of the reasons the game wasn't shown at E3 was that the development team is still working on the "controllability" of the game. Specifically, the team is refining it. He did say the team would try to show the game at this year's Tokyo Game Show, however.

Mr. Kitase says he hopes existing Final Fantasy VII fans will be pleased with the game, which gives those fans a chance to experience what really happened to their favorite characters after the end of the original. When asked directly about which Final Fantasy VII characters would be appearing, he would only confirm those that have appeared so far in the promotional materials (like Cait Sith). However, he says the team's thinking of adding more characters, and it would like to put in some surprise encounters for players.

When asked about a possible release window, the answer was "as soon as possible." Kitase added that the team was working very hard on the game. We'll be sure to keep you updated with any additional news about Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII as it emerges, so keep watching GameSpot and this gamespace for more information.

The game looks absolutely gorgeous.

Here's a preview screen from the site:

Here's the site to get the rest of the screens for the game:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/dirgeof...creenindex.html

And finally, here's the website for the game itself:

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/games/ps2/dcff7/

This game looks very interesting to me as it really gives a nice extension to FF7 (great game) and has my favorite character from the game in Vincent as the main character. I'm VERY interested to see what comes up about it.

Discuss.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

This has been announced for ages. Although from all the trailers and everything I've seen it looks very cool and I will purchase it.

[Steven]

Aw man this looks good. Im a big FF mark and have always wanted to know more about this guy's past. He was one of the most intresting of the group in FF7.

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

I marked like a mofo when I first saw it. Pity it ain't out for Gamecube

What happened with the "Increase of FF games on the Gamecube after the release of Crystal Chronicles"?

[MalaCloudy Black]

Squeenix is milking the fucking FF7 cash cow, you know? Did you guys know there's going to be like 3 new FF7 games along with keychains, wallets, etc?

[Kaney]

They are, but it doesn't bother me. For a game thats years old, there's still a shotload of interest in it, why not make a quick buck off it? If it comes with the added bonus of potentially getting three good games and a few questions answered in the process, is it really that bad?

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Yeah, but with all these sub-games flying off of FF7 and Advent Children, some people are bound to think a remake is coming...

[Benji]

They are, but it doesn't bother me.  For a game thats years old, there's still a shotload of interest in it, why not make a quick buck off it?  If it comes with the added bonus of potentially getting three good games and a few questions answered in the process, is it really that bad?

←

While I'm looking forward to the games, I believe that the unanswered questions were FF7's best part, it left it open to some level of interpretation.

Yeah, but with all these sub-games flying off of FF7 and Advent Children, some people are bound to think a remake is coming...

←

A remake has been discussed by Square-Enix officials many time, it's said that one day a remake will be made, but they won't release any word on it yet if it's started.

[FunkAsPuck]

Square Enix won't remake FF7 until it is no longer possible to play it on modern day consoles. Considering the PS3 is going to be compatible with PS1 games, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Think about it, whats the point of remaking a game when I can simply buy a version thats not as advanced, for a quarter of the price, yet still get a fairly decent experience out of it. Personally, I don't think a remake of FF7 is needed to be honest. Theres a lot of unanswered questions which Square want to tackle in this Final Fantasy 7 Compilation, thats more than enough for me.

Lets just hope the games don't suck. Im not the kind of person that starts jacking off all over a game based on screenshots, videos and previews. I would rather just wait for the game to be released, play it, then decide. Thats why I find it hard to get excited for this next gen consoles.

[Benji]

Square Enix won't remake FF7 until it is no longer possible to play it on modern day consoles. Considering the PS3 is going to be compatible with PS1 games, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Think about it, whats the point of remaking a game when I can simply buy a version thats not as advanced, for a quarter of the price, yet still get a fairly decent experience out of it. Personally, I don't think a remake of FF7 is needed to be honest. Theres a lot of unanswered questions which Square want to tackle in this Final Fantasy 7 Compilation, thats more than enough for me.

Lets just hope the games don't suck. Im not the kind of person that starts jacking off all over a game based on screenshots, videos and previews. I would rather just wait for the game to be released, play it, then decide. Thats why I find it hard to get excited for this next gen consoles.

←

Resident Evil for Gamecube and PS1 says hi, although it's not the same system evolution, but it's still a remake. But agreed, they won't do a remake for a while yet.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Square Enix won't remake FF7 until it is no longer possible to play it on modern day consoles. Considering the PS3 is going to be compatible with PS1 games, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Think about it, whats the point of remaking a game when I can simply buy a version thats not as advanced, for a quarter of the price, yet still get a fairly decent experience out of it. Personally, I don't think a remake of FF7 is needed to be honest. Theres a lot of unanswered questions which Square want to tackle in this Final Fantasy 7 Compilation, thats more than enough for me.

Lets just hope the games don't suck. Im not the kind of person that starts jacking off all over a game based on screenshots, videos and previews. I would rather just wait for the game to be released, play it, then decide. Thats why I find it hard to get excited for this next gen consoles.

←

The point is to remake it, sell it for more, and have mindless fanboys buy into it. You know they (fanboys, that is) will.

[FunkAsPuck]

Resident Evil for Gamecube and PS1 says hi, although it's not the same system evolution, but it's still a remake. But agreed, they won't do a remake for a while yet.