| Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII | |
|---|---|
North American box art, featuring the protagonist Vincent Valentine. |
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| Developer(s) | Square Enix |
| Publisher(s) | Square Enix |
| Director(s) | Takayoshi Nakazato |
| Producer(s) | Yoshinori Kitase |
| Artist(s) | Tetsuya Nomura Yukio Nakatani Yusuke Naora |
| Writer(s) | Hiroki Chiba |
| Composer(s) | Masashi Hamauzu |
| Series | Final Fantasy Compilation of Final Fantasy VII |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Mobile |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter Action role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (Japanese version only) |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-ROM |
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 an action role-playing third-person shooter video game developed and published by Square Enix in 2006 for the PlayStation 2.[1] It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries, a multimedia collection set within the universe of the popular 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII. The game is set three years after the original game's end and it focuses on one of the game's playable characters, Vincent Valentine. In the story, Vincent is targeted by Deepground, a mysterious organization that plans to awaken the creature Omega which is able to destroy the planet. As the first Final Fantasy shooter game, the game's staff had various problems developing it although producer Yoshinori Kitase found it challenging and added role-playing video game elements in order to make it entertaining for new gamers of the genre.
When Dirge of Cerberus started globalization, various of its aspects were modified in order to make it more appealing. The music of the game was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, while its two main theme songs where composed by Japanese singer and actor Gackt. A mobile phone tie-in was also released during 2006, while in 2008, Square republished it in Japan with the updates made for the Western versions. Although the game has sold nearly one million copies overseas as of 2008, it received mixed critical response by video game publications due to its design and issues with the gameplay.
Contents |
Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person shooter game with role-playing video game elements. Battles occur in real-time, with the HUD displaying information including Vincent's HP and MP, the currently selected item and the quantity thereof, and a cross-hair to aid in targeting enemies. The action is viewed from an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4.[2] Defeating enemies yields EXP, at the end of each stage and can either be used to level up Vincent, increasing his statistics, or converted to gil, which can be used to purchase items and equipment upgrades at jukebox-shaped shops scattered throughout each stage, or the shop at the end of a stage, which also allows the purchase of additional equipment.
Unlike Final Fantasy VII, where a character could equip three types of equipment (weapon, armor and accessory), Vincent's equipment consists solely of his weapon, which has amalgamated the effects of armor and accessories through customization. Players can customize three weapons through the frame: a three barrel handgun he names Cerberus, as well as a rifle, Hydra, and a machine gun, Griffon, which are two new weapon types and the size of the barrel (short-, regular or long-barrel, with longer barrels affording targeting of enemies that are further away at the cost of weight). Accessories include a sniper scope, charms (such as the Cerberus charm) which can increase Vincent's defense and decrease the weight of the gun (which affects the speed of Vincent's actions) among other things, and materia, which returns from Final Fantasy VII and enables magic shots with special properties that use up MP.[3] Ammunition capacity can be increased through upgrades.
Limit Breaks also return from the original game. Two of Vincent's Limit Breaks are available in Dirge of Cerberus: the Galian Beast, Vincent's first Limit Break, can be activated in two different ways: in the Japanese version of the game, it can be activated when the MP gauge is full. Upon transformation, the gauge slowly gets decreases and, once the gauge becomes empty, Vincent returns to human form. In the American and European versions of the game, the Galian Beast transformation can be activated through the use of an item called the "Limit Breaker". The effect lasts for around 30 seconds, upon which time the transformation reverses automatically. In all versions of the game, the transformation can be reverted by the player by pressing the L1 and R1 buttons at the same time.[3] The other Limit Break is Chaos, Vincent's final and most powerful form, who is playable only in the final stage of the game, when it is permanently enabled.
Dirge of Cerberus centers around Vincent Valentine who is the main playable character. The playable characters of Final Fantasy VII make cameo appearances, notably Cait Sith, who is controllable for a brief sequence. The game's main antagonists are Deepground who are planning to use a legendary weapon known as Omega to destroy all the planet's lifeforms. Their highest ranking elite are the Tsviets (ツヴィエート Tsuviēto), with five members appearing in the single player mode of the game, and one more in the online mode. Their leader is Weiss the Immaculate (純白の帝王ヴァイス Junpaku no Teiō Vaisu, lit. "Weiss the Immaculate White Emperor") who is controlled by Hojo's digitized mind, who invaded his body when Weiss was in "Synaptic Net Dive" mode, trying to find a cure to the Restrictors' virus that infected him after he overthrew them. Another member is his brother, Nero the Sable (漆黒の闇ネロ Shikkoku no Yami Nero, lit. "Nero the Jet-black Darkness"), who leads Deepground under Weiss' name; Rosso the Crimson (朱のロッソ Aka no Rosso) a psychotic woman skilled with swords; Shelke the Transparent (無色のシェルク Mushoku no Sheruku) an emotionless girl connected to Lucrecia's personality; and Azul the Cerulean (蒼きアスール Aoki Asūru), a man with enhanced strength able to transform into a large beast.[4]
The online mode also introduces the Restrictors, the former leaders of the Deepground before Weiss took over. The Restrictors' leader governed over Deepground, implanting chips into the brain stems of all DGS recruits so they cannot turn against the group. The player character in the multiplayer mode is the exception to this, who was part of Weiss' plan to take control of the Deepground. At the end of the multiplayer mode, the entire Tsviet group managed to defeat Restrictor and take his place as the ruling force of the DGS. Though they succeeded, Restrictor's leader attempted to kill Weiss with the virus implanted within him.
The characters were designed by Tetsuya Nomura who was helped by various assistants and given ideas by Yoshinori Kitase. The character of Lucrecia Crescent was recreated to give her a similar appearance to the one of her son, Sephiroth, based on portraits from guidebooks and fanarts. Reeve Tuesti was also recreated due to his lack of appearances in Final Fantasy VII, and the staff wanted to explore more his personality. The design of Vincent's father, Grimoire Valentine (グリモア・ヴァレンタイン Gurimoa Varentain), was developed by Nakaaki, the sub character and mechanic designer. The Tsviets were designed with the idea to give a balance between other warriors such as Vincent, Cloud and Sephiroth. Nomura initially had doubts when designing Shelke's ordinary clothes in the end, but wanted to show she did not belong to Deepground anymore. The character of G was based on the Japanese singer and actor Gackt, who made the two theme songs of the game, with the same singer also giving ideas to his appearance.[5] Hideki Imaizumi, the producer of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, liked his role to the point he wanted to expand more his character the game's prequel.[6]
The game begins during the climax of Final Fantasy VII. As Vincent and Yuffie Kisaragi help to evacuate Midgar which is about to be destroyed by a meteor summoned by Sephiroth, Vincent finds Hojo, an antagonist from the first game, slumped at the controls of a Mako Cannon. The cannon explodes, destroying Hojo and forcing Vincent to escape. Three years later, Vincent is in the city of Kalm, which is attacked by mysterious soldiers, who capture some of the citizens and kill the rest. Vincent, with the help of his former comrade Reeve Tuesti and the World Regenesis Organization (WRO), an organization dedicated to helping the planet recover from the events of Final Fantasy VII, fights the soldiers and forces them to retreat.[7][8]
Reeve discovers that the soldiers were members of Deepground, a military organization made up of super-soldiers from Shinra.[9] While confronting Deepground, Vincent discovers he is one of Deepground's target as he holds the Protomateria, which they want to use to control a mysterious being known as Omega.[10] Vincent also carries inside him genes of Chaos, a beast having an unknown relation with Omega and it was inserted into Vincent's body by his lover, Lucrecia Crescent, who froze herself several years ago.[11][12]
Vincent goes to the town of Nibelheim where Lucrecia studied Omega and Chaos in order to find more information of her research.[13] While confronting Vincent, Deepground member Rosso steals his protomateria in order to control Omega.[14] Before finishing Vincent, Rosso is ambushed by Yuffie who rescues Vincent.[15] As Vincent returns to the WRO, he finds that Deepground has assaulted WRO's base, while the Tsviet Shelke has been betrayed by her comrades as she already completed her mission of finding Vincent's protomateria.[16] Shelke reveals she has been connected with Lucrecia's memory allowing the WRO to complete Lucrecia's research of Omega.[17] Based on Lucrecia's research, the group determines what Deepground has planned. Omega is a weapon, which activates when the planet senses that it is in mortal danger; the weapon causes the planet to gather the Lifestream and move to another planet, leaving the planet and everyone on it to die. Deepground plans to slaughter a large number of people at once to trick the planet into activating Omega early.[18]
Vincent and the WRO launch a full-scale assault on Deepground's headquarters located in Midgar's remains with the assistance of various of their old comrades as well as Shelke.[19] While Reeve's team battle the Deepground soldiers and destroying the reactors which serve as a mean to revive Omega, Vincent goes to Deepground's headquarters.[20] During the assault, Vincent goes to the headquarters' bottom and finds the leader Weiss slumped in his throne, lifeless.[21] As Omega starts merging with Weiss, the latter revives and confronts Vincent.[22] It is revealed that Weiss is possessed by Hojo; before Hojo was killed in the Mako Cannon, he uploaded his consciousness into the worldwide network, then took possession of Weiss' body while he was online.[23] Hojo and Vincent battle to a standstill; shortly after, Nero emerges from the Lifestream and pulls Hojo into the Lifestream. Nero then merges with the weakened Weiss in order to help him fuse with Omega.[24]
As Hojo's spirit disappears, Omega is activated. While the WRO continues to fight the remnants of Deepground, Vincent is possessed by Chaos who stands around Omega.[25] Shelke dives inside Omega to find Lucrecia's Protomateria and then give it to Vincent alongside Lucrecia's will, in which she explains Vincent's survival made her happy.[26][27] Vincent then takes control of Chaos and battles Omega.[28] After a battle with Omega and Weiss, Omega sprouts wings and tries to escape. Vincent charges Omega, creating an explosion which destroys the latter while the former disappears. As the lifestream returns to the planet, Vincent is found at Lucrecia's crystalline coffin in the Crystal Cave, stating that both Chaos and Omega were destroyed and thanking her for being his reason he survived.[29] In the secret ending of the game, "G", a legendary warrior related with Deepground and Shinra,[30] awakes beneath the ruins of Midgar, finding Weiss and leaving the ruins with him.[31]
When Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children started development, the Square Enix staff agreed that one title from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII was not enough to cover the entire world of Final Fantasy VII and so Dirge of Cerberus was conceived to embrace more aspects.[32] When the game's genre was not discussed, publications and gamers thought that Dirge of Cerberus would be an action game similar to the Devil May Cry series. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura denied it in 2004 and stated the genre would surprise gamers. Nomura also explained that as Advent Children is focused on Cloud's story after Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus would be Vincent's story.[33] Producer Yoshinori Kitase first thought of making an action game of Final Fantasy as he was a fan of first-shooter titles, and finding its development challenging.[34] Although Kitase was a fan of action games, he decided to make a first-shooter finding the designing of the former less appealing.[35] Due to the lack of popularity of action games in Japan, Dirge of Cerberus was incorporated with RPG elements so that Japanese gamers would try as well as see if the action games could become more popular.[34] In the first press conference Dirge of Cerberus was revealed, staff members thought that some fans were surprised due to the game's genre. They thought that most of the present people were gamers from the Kingdom Hearts action role-playing games series, and so they focused of making its gameplay focused in shooter aspects such as the fact the character cannot directly assault the enemies.[5]
Vincent was used as the game's protagonist due to his strong connections with other characters from Final Fantasy VII and how his background could be expanded. Additionally, since his main weapon in Final Fantasy VII was a gun, it convinced the staff to work in first-shooter elements. Vincent's transformations into different type of beasts, as well as new features, were still under development during the E3.[34] Before Compilation of Final Fantasy started, the staff thought of using other gunfighters characters like Final Fantasy VII's Barret Wallace, Final Fantasy X-2's Yuna or Final Fantasy VIII's Irvine Kinneas. However, after the release of Before Crisis and Advent Children, they found Vincent as the most suitable protagonist.[5]
Dirge of Cerberus was first announced in Japan in September 2004, scheduled to be released in Japan during 2005,[36] while its official site was revealed in April of the next year.[37] During the next month, Nomura stated the several mysteries regarding the game would be revealed during the E3, and while he did the character designs, Dirge of Cerberus was influenced by Kitase.[38] In the E3 from the same year, a demo of the game was not shown as the staff was still working on its controllability.[34] The beta test program of Dirge of Cerberus was announced to have suffered a delay in September 2005 and was postponed to an indefinite date. Listed to be 60% complete, the company stated if the beta test started with the game's current state, they would not be able to fully utilize the beta testers.[39]
The North American and European releases of Dirge of Cerberus received a major overhaul in its globalization because the developers were not satisfied with the final Japanese version; the developers also wanted to make the game more single player oriented. 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 Multiplayer Mode were reworked into some of the missions that can be unlocked in "Extra Hard" mode, however, this contains none of the additional storyline presented in the Japanese Multiplayer Mode.[40] The Easy Mode, which was originally featured in the Japanese version to help new gamers of shooter games, was also removed.[5][40] On September 4, 2008, Square Enix released in Japan Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII International (ダージュ オブ ケルベロス -ファイナルファンタジーVII- インターナショナル Dāju obu Keruberosu -Fainaru Fantajī Sebun- Intānashonaru) as part of their Ultimate Hits lineup. This version contains the updates from the localization releases relabeled to the Japanese market. Audio is in English, with Japanese and English text and subtitles.[41]
The soundtrack for the game was composed by Masashi Hamauzu. Vocal tracks were performed and composed by Japanese singer and actor, Gackt for the theme songs, "Longing" and "Redemption". The staff thought that Gackt would be the most suitable singer they could use in Dirge of Cerberus with Nomura finding he sticks to the setting of Final Fantasy VII. Regarding the ending theme, "Redemption", the staff's original idea was to make a ballad. Before Gackt started working in the theme songs, the staff sent him information about the game's ending to make the its respective song match. Once "Redemption" was finished, the staff was pleased with it.[5] The CD soundtrack, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack, was released on February 15, 2006 in Japan. 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".[42] The CD single for Gackt's single for the game, "Redemption" was released on January 25, 2006. 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.[43]
A supplemental soundtrack was released through the Japanese iTunes service and the Square-Enix Music Download page on August 22, 2006. Titled Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Multiplayer Mode Original Sound Collections, this album consists of 27 tracks, including a handful of songs from the single player game which were not included in the official soundtrack, as well as all of the original music composed for the multiplayer mode and two new songs composed by Ryo Yamazaki for the North American release of the game.[44]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 60.20%[45] |
| Metacritic | 57/100[46] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | D+[47] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | C[48] |
| Eurogamer | 5/10[49] |
| Famitsu | 28/40[50] |
| GameSpot | 6.0/10[3] |
| GameSpy | [51] |
| GameTrailers | 7.2/10[52] |
| IGN | 7.0/10[53] |
| X-Play | [54] |
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII managed to ship 392,000 units in its first week.[55] On August 31, 2008, Square Enix announce that 460,000 units were sold in North America and 270,000 units in Europe.[56] As of November 2008, over 513,000 copies of the game have been sold in Japan alone.[57] In July 2006, Dirge of Cerberus was in Sony's Gold category of top selling video games with the Gold category showing games that sold from 500,000 units to 1 million.[58] Upon its release in Japan, the game received mixed reviews. Gaming magazine Dengeki PS2 rewarded the game with a 313/400[59] while Famitsu scored it a lower 28/40.[50] The Famitsu review was not made available until three weeks after Dirge of Cerberus was released, unlike the Dengeki PS2 score. Famitsu's review of the title hinted at a controversy between the magazine and Square Enix.[60]
Dirge of Cerberus received similarly mixed reviews from English critics. Gaming review site GameSpot stated that Dirge of Cerberus "does have a few interesting and even entertaining moments, but will ultimately leave action game fans and Final Fantasy fans feeling unfulfilled."[3] Despite stating Dirge of Cerberus is not "the best use of the Final Fantasy VII universe", IGN mentioned it is "a decent game with a strong story and occasionally-engaging rifle blasting".[61] 1UP.com writer Andrew Pfister gave the game a D+, with criticism focused on the enemies' intelligence, little worked scenarios and labelling the story as "boring."[47] Reviewers from Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a C, with one of them, Shane Bettenhausen, giving an overview of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, stating all the titles, including Dirge of Cerberus, were unappealing.[48] Eurogamer found that Dirge of Cerberus was a "risky gamble" by Square Enix for being their first shooter game and the fact that most of the recurring characters were optional in Final Fantasy VII or had small roles unlike the main protagonists who make cameo appearances.[49]
Dirge of Cerberus received a "fair" score of three stars out of five by GameSpy, who found its gameplay and plot interesting, but other aspects generic.[51] Game Trailers praised the game's storyline mentioning it is "convoluted, but incredibly impressive in its scope." Although the changes to the Western versions were praised, they found it to be similar to Devil May Cry and stating that the game was not fully revised to make good use of Vincent's new abilities. While the CGI cutscenes and designs also received positive comments, the lack of variety in enemies make the players lose their excitement while playing it.[52] G4's game review show, X-Play, gave the game a more negative review with 2 stars out of 5 due to the level design, weak gunplay, the large numbers of cutscenes and bad AI.[54] At Game Rankings, the combined reviews for the game are currently 60%.[45] The combined score from Metacritic is currently 57 out of 100 based on 51 reviews.[46]
Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII (ダージュ オブ ケルベロス ロスト エピソード -ファイナルファンタジーVII- Dāju obu Keruberosu Rosuto Episōdo -Fainaru Fantajī Sebun-) is a Japanese third person shooter role-playing video game was co-developed by Square Enix and Ideaworks3D, and published by Square Enix. Unveiled at E3 '06, the game was released on August 22, 2006 in North America[62] and July 26, 2007 in Japan.[63] First only available on Amp'd mobile phones, the game was eventually also made available on Verizon's V Cast network. It was also unveiled as a flagship title for NTT DoCoMo’s Foma 903i handset at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show. The title initially released a single player mode, with a multiplayer function launching at a later date. Lost Episode reveals a missing chapter of Dirge of Cerberus taking place between two events of the latter. It was reviewed by IGN's Eduardo Vasconcellos who scored it a "passable" 6.7 out of 10 who found the graphics did not fit in the mobile phone and so it was unbalanced.[64]
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