An attempt at gameplay style change: Dirge of Cerberus

The next to be released was an actual game, but this did not follow suite with the typical FF style. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII was release with a 3rd person shooter game play style. It also followed and gave a back story on one of the more elusive characters from the original party in the original FFVII game, although if you didn't do the side quest to add him to your party you never got to see him. Vincent Valentine. The actual story and game play in Dirge of Cerberus take place 3 years after the original FFVII.

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.
Reeve discovers that the soldiers were members of Deepground, a military organization made up of super-soldiers from Shinra. 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. 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.
Vincent goes to the town of Nibelheim where Lucrecia studied Omega and Chaos in order to find more information of her research. While confronting Vincent, Deepground member Rosso steals his protomateria in order to control Omega. Before finishing Vincent, Rosso is ambushed by Yuffie who rescues Vincent. 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. Shelke reveals she has been connected with Lucrecia's memory allowing the WRO to complete Lucrecia's research of Omega. 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.
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. 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. During the assault, Vincent goes to the headquarters' bottom and finds the leader Weiss slumped in his throne, lifeless. As Omega starts merging with Weiss, the latter revives and confronts Vincent. 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. 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.
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. 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. Vincent then takes control of Chaos and battles Omega. 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. In the secret ending of the game, "G", a legendary warrior related with Deepground and Shinra, awakes beneath the ruins of Midgar, finding Weiss and leaving the ruins with him.

This is a game I have played despite my dislike for 3rd person shooters. I enjoyed the game, and while it wasn't a typical RPG the story line was very interesting left some unanswered questions answered. Although it gave you the feeling that either a new game would be created from this one as "G" is a villain from the next installment that I will be posting about tomorrow. He appears in a special movie at the end of Dirge of Cerberus, and the game that he is next shown in is a direct prequel to the original FFVII game. So with seeing him at the end it brought an ongoing question, is there more of this FFVII games or movies to come?
Last one is up next......I hope.

Compilation Final Fantasy VII part 2: The Silver Screen

The next instalment released was not a game but an actual CGI developed move sequal to the original storyline, part of the original concept of the Compilation FFVII series Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Later Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, a direct to DVD then Blue-Ray release move which was actually shown at the Italian Film Festival.
Two years have passed since Cloud Strife defeated Sephiroth, who attempted to damage the planet by summoning a meteor. Cloud has been living with Tifa Lockhart in a city called Edge, and both have been taking care of Marlene, their friend Barret Wallace's daughter, and the orphan Denzel. Cloud and many other citizens are infected by a strange new disease known as "Geostigma". Cloud is on his way to meet the Turks, a group that performs operations with the megacorporation Shinra. He is attacked by three men—Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo—who believe that he has hidden their "mother". Kadaj ends the battle when he discovers that Cloud does not have her. When he arrives at the meeting place, Cloud discovers that Shinra's president, Rufus Shinra, survived the events of the original title. Rufus attempts to enlist Cloud's help to stop the trio, but Cloud refuses. Kadaj arrives and demands that Rufus tell him where to find his mother. It is revealed that his mother is the remains of Jenova, an extraterrestrial lifeform whose cells were injected in Sephiroth's body and helped him in Final Fantasy VII, and is connected to the cause of the Geostigma. The trio are planning a reunion with Sephiroth that will culminate in an assault on the Planet.
Loz arrives at the church of the late Aerith Gainsborough in Midgar to look for Jenova's remains, where he is confronted by Tifa. After defeating Tifa, he captures Marlene under Kadaj's orders. Yazoo begins collecting children infected with Geostigma, including Denzel, telling them they will be healed; he takes them to the Forgotten City. Cloud goes there to rescue them after getting the information from the Turks. In the Forgotten City, Cloud battles the gang but is overpowered; he is rescued by his former comrade Vincent Valentine. Vincent tells Cloud what the trio is seeking and that it could result in the return of Sephiroth. Cloud finds Marlene and returns to Edge to face Kadaj's gang. The trio call forth several monsters, including the enormous creature Bahamut SIN, to attack the populace who are trying to rescue the kidnapped children. Turks Reno and Rude try to deal with Yazoo and Loz who are searching for Jenova's remains in the city's monument as informed by Rufus. After rescuing Denzel, Cloud, Tifa and their old companions dispatch the monsters and Bahamut SIN.
In a nearby building, Rufus tells Kadaj that he has been in possession of Jenova's remains all along. He throws the box containing the remains from the edge of the building. Kadaj recovers the remains shortly after Rufus shoots and damages them. Cloud pursues the trio to the ruins of the city of Midgar. Yazoo and Loz are caught in an explosion, and Cloud catches Kadaj. In Aerith's church, an outflow of water infused with Lifestream, the planet's life force, cures Cloud's Geostigma. Vincent explains to the group that Kadaj's gang are remnants of Sephiroth, which makes them decide to leave them to Cloud due to his previous fights against Sephiroth. Outmatched by Cloud in battle, Kadaj absorbs Jenova's remains into his body, which allows Sephiroth to reappear. Sephiroth tells Cloud that once those who die from the Geostigma join the Lifestream, he will be able to control the planet and use it as a vessel to travel in search of a new planet to rule, in the same way Jenova did. Cloud defeats Sephiroth, who dissipates, leaving a weakened Kadaj at Cloud's mercy. After Kadaj's death, a healing rain starts falling across Edge, curing the people of their Geostigma. Cloud is confronted by Yazoo and Loz who are also succumbing to the healing rain. Both prepare one last attack at Cloud as he charges at them, resulting in a large explosion that engulfs all three.
Afterward, Cloud appears surrounded by a white light, and Aerith and his late friend Zack Fair are heard, telling Cloud that his place is not with them yet. Cloud awakens in a pool of Lifestream-infused water in Aerith's church, surrounded by his friends, and the citizens of Edge. After curing Denzel and the other infected children with the water, he turns and sees Aerith and Zack leaning against the doorway. As they step into white light, Aerith says "You see, every thing's all right," and Cloud replies, "I know. I'm not alone... not anymore."

The full CGI was received with praise by many, including myself. It was an amazing gift from square to see our known characters be voice and looking almost real with the level of CGI they had the time of its release.
With complete came a movie short showing us a little of Denzel's back story titled On the Way to A Smile-Episode: Denzel. It also include deleted and extended scenes cut from the original release put back into the movie.
One of the little things not noticed from the first release is that any blood by cuts or scratches or the like were non existent, complete actually showed the blood and injuries.
In one of my previous posts I had mentioned that the reason they have multiple "Final" Fantasy titles is each is a different story, well with this project I believe they kept the FF in the title for newcomers to the series to keep the name familiar.

ONWARD!

Compilation Final Fantasy VII

With fans screaming for more from the world of Final Fantasy VII Tetsuya Nomura decides to deliver with a project titled Compilation Final Fantasy VII, an expansion upon the world and characters of this story line.
The first part of this project to be released, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.
Before Crisis is a prequel to the 1997 PlayStation video game Final Fantasy VII, taking place during the six years prior to the events of that game. It involves the adventures of the Turks, a group of supporting characters featured in Final Fantasy VII, and was the second installment in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series.
Made for Japanese Mobile phones only this game never saw release over seas.
Focusing on the Turks, an organization created and hired by Shinra to handle Shinras dirty work, the group usually consist of people who have low moral compasses and the like. Two of the most favored characters in the series come from this group, Reno and Rude.
Before Crisis's story begins shortly after the ending of the war between the Shinra Electric Power Company and the Wutai tribe, a conflict mentioned in passing during Final Fantasy VII. With Wutai defeated and the people of the world now dependent on their Mako Energy and Materia, Shinra finds itself the dominant economic, military and political power in the world. The story continues for several years until after Zack Fair escapes from the experiments at Nibelheim, all at the same time as Shinra is fighting Genesis during the events of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, though the two story lines do not overlap.
There are those who remain dedicated to the destruction of Shinra, chief among them being the newly emerged insurgent movement known as "AVALANCHE". AVALANCHE is an eco-terrorist organization that seeks to topple Shinra, whom they know to be slowly killing the Planet with their manufacture of Mako Energy. This first AVALANCHE is far more ruthless and violent than the group headed by Barret Wallace in the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, and are the villains this time around. The game's central heroes are the player Turks. The player decides which of these Turks take place in the storyline, and gives them their names. The Turks are led by Verdot, with his lieutenant the future leader, Tseng. Non-player Turks include Reno and Rude, both veterans who have been in the organization longer than the player.
The game unfolds through a series of "episodes." Because of the subscription-based nature of the game, the game's story unfolded over a period of time. Thus the game's storyline is highly disjointed and episodic, with episodes rarely having much to do with each other. It isn't until the very end of the game that episodes flow together in a single coalescing story arc. Over the course of the story, much of the backstory of Final Fantasy VII is included as Episodes, including the Nibelheim Incident, the destruction of Corel, and other events. The entire playable cast of Final Fantasy VII make cameo appearances.
The player Turk first encounters the AVALANCHE organization during his or her routine patrol of Midgar Sector 8, as per Turk tradition for new recruits. Using the PHS to contact Tseng, the player reports the insurgents attacking Shinra's capital. The player, with help of Reno, fights the AVALANCHE forces and forces them to retreat. The enemy commander, Sears proves to be a formidable opponent, with skills in martial arts and dangerously well-formed intelligence.
But the attack on Midgar is a rouse for a greater strike at Junon, where President Shinra himself is located to give a speech. Fuhito, the cold scientist for AVALANCHE out to destroy all life and return it to the Planet, leads this attack. Though the Turks try to protect the President, a secret AVALANCHE fifth column inside Shinra forces allows them to get close enough to Shinra to shoot him. The President survives, and calls in his trump card, the legendary SOLDIER, Sephiroth. After all that has happened, it is revealed that even AVALANCHE's plot against Shinra was another ruse. Their true goal was the Mako Cannon, which they planned to fire upon Midgar and destroy the city. This force is led by AVALANCHE's leader herself, Elfé, a frighteningly powerful warrior with a mysterious Materia embedded in the back of her hand. Sephiroth arrives and fights Elfé, but even with all his power he can only end the fight in a draw. AVALANCHE retreats to create havoc across the Planet.
During one of these attacks, at Midgar, AVALANCHE targeted Professor Rayleigh, who was carrying data on the SOLDIER members and their creation. The player Turk is sent to protect her, along with several Shinra guards, one of whom is Cloud Strife, the future hero of Final Fantasy VII but for now is a mere grunt. Using a new creation by Fuhito, the monstrous Black Warriors known as the Ravens, the data is captured. The Turk decides to follow morals over duty by saving Rayleigh rather than the data, a sign of future differences between Shinra and the Turks.
Using the SOLDIER data, Fuhito continues to perfect his Ravens. He uses them to capture two SOLDIER members, Essai and Sebastian up north in Icicle Inn. The Turks are sent to rescue them, and succeed despite the heavy enemy resistance from Fuhito and Sears fighting together. Afterwards, the Turks, Essai, Sebastian, and a SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack Fair are sent in to destroy the AVALANCHE forces in the area. Essai and Sebastian are captured once again, and are turned into Ravens. Zack must kill his fellow SOLDIERs, much to his emotional bereavement. (In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, there is a scene in which Zack and Tseng visit their makeshift graves.)
President Shinra now becomes suspicious of the men beneath him, knowing that somebody must be leaking information. There could be no other way that AVALANCHE could be working this effectively. He wrongly suspect Verdot, and removes him from command of the Turks. In Verdot's place, the President puts Heidegger in charge, the arrogant and incompetent head of the Shinra military. Heidegger only leads a single operation, and comes close to completely destroying Junon. Verdot blackmails the President to return his job. With Verdot in command, the Turks defeat AVALANCHE.
An assault at Corel's Mako Reactor proves to be a key battle. Rufus Shinra is captured by the Turks, but they are ordered to merely put him under house arrest, rather than use stronger methods for the traitor. Sears, a good man who is worried about Elfé's condition, defects from AVALANCHE to join with the Turks to save her. Verdot discovers that Elfé is in fact his long lost daughter Felicia, and he leaves Shinra. With Elfé continuing to weaken, Fuhito takes completely control of AVALANCHE. During the fighting, a strange Materia is found. It turns out that Elfé's Materia is in fact Zirconiade an ancient Summon with immense power. But the Zirconiade Materia is broken, and is slowly sucking away at Elfé as a power source. To save her, the four Support Materia must be found. Fuhito holds one, and now the Turks working with Sears hold another.
Though Shinra orders the Turks to take Verdot in, they continue to follow his orders and work for him. They also hold Rufus as leverage against the President. Not wishing that his son's betrayal become known, the President orders Scarlet to target the Turks and kill them. Now the Turks are enemies of both AVALANCHE and Shinra. Despite the threats, they find two more Support Materia, one in Gongaga with help from Cait Sith, another in Corel Prison. Verdot is captured by Scarlet, and has to be rescued.
With Fuhito's control, AVALANCHE breaks down into an army of zombies and Ravens. It can barely even hold together as a fighting force towards the end. In the final battle, Fuhito summons Zirconiade to destroy all life on the Planet, fusing the monster with his own body. Sears sacrifices himself to save Elfé, and is killed. He transforms into an insane monster. But his plans fall apart when Zirconiade itself is defeated by the player Turks, thus saving the world. Fuhito is killed during the fighting. Tseng saves Verdot and Elfé by reporting them assassinated, and is allowed to return to Shinra as the Turk leader, though they all now work under Heidegger. The player Turks escape into obscurity, but appear again to defeat Jade WEAPON and later help save Midgar from Meteor. The first AVALANCHE collapses, but a second, much smaller version is created just afterwards in the Sector 7 Slums of Midgar. This group takes up plans left behind by Fuhito to attack the Sector 1 Reactor, and so set the stage for the beginning of Final Fantasy VII.

 Characters

Turks

The Turks perform covert operations on behalf of the Shinra company, including espionage, kidnappings and assassinations. They also scout for potential candidates for Shinra's elite military unit, SOLDIER, and serve as bodyguards for the Shinra executives. With Before Crisis, several members of the Turks not seen in Final Fantasy VII were introduced to continuity, and are included in this list. Note that all of the game's playable Turks' official names are composed of their weapon and gender, and have not been officially given any other proper names.
The following Turks are playable characters in Before Crisis (and therefore named by the player) and have no particular names, and are thus referred to here by their weapon of choice. The Softbank and AU versions of the game each originally contained an original character only available in those versions, however, all three versions share the same mobile network, meaning that they can interact via the Rescue Missions and other multiplayer aspects.

• Rod (Male): An ex-gang leader from Midgar, he enjoyed fighting other gangs and stealing motorbikes. He is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, as well as in riding and fixing motorbikes. He was rather unfamiliar with failure, and — with his ever growing confidence — decided to sneak into Shinra's parking garage to steal a bike from the company, but was arrested by Reno. Verdot realized his skills could be used to aid the Turks, and he was offered a place in the organization. Aside from his role in Before Crisis, he also appears in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. In the OVA he seemed to have some familiarity with Shotgun (Female) due to the fact that she teased him at the end of the mission. He was also called "newcomer" by Reno before the Turks boarded the helicopter. He has been playable since the original beta version of the game, and uses a rod as his weapon. Voiced by Daisuke Namikawa in his guest role in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
• Gun (Female): Her father was a teacher at the Shinra military academy, where she attended. She graduated with outstanding performances, and her forte is marksmanship. Her excellent handling of firearms impressed the leader of the Turks, Tseng, and he recruited her to the force with great confidence in her abilities. She is a very serious person who rarely jokes around, and is often very strict. Like Rod (Male), she also appears in Last Order. Elena, a Turks member featured in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, is Gun (Female)'s younger sister. The two are not on very good terms in Before Crisis, as — despite their mutual dedication to their work and their exceptional skills — their personalities often clash and Elena resents her sister for outdoing her. Gun (Female) has been playable since the original beta version of the game, and uses handguns as her weapons. Like her more known younger sister, she is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in her guest role in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
• Two Guns (Male): A former bodyguard of Don Corneo, his specialty is his ability to rapidly fire two guns at once with outstanding accuracy, much like Gun (Female). Spending most of his time in the slums, he became fed up with the politics that had overrun the underworld society and was offered a place in the Turks. He took up the role, knowing that it would put his skills to the test. His unorthodox "underground" style of conducting missions often results in him failing. He also appears in Last Order, and has been playable since the official release of Before Crisis. His weaponry is strictly dual firearms. Voiced by Ginpei Sato in his guest role in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
• Shotgun (Female): A female hunter from a wealthy family who likes to do things with flair. She has familiarized herself with the art of hunting since she was a child, and is, thus, an expert with her chosen weapon. She likes showing off and constantly tries to outdo herself, and, thus, immediately accepted the offer to become a Turk when it was presented. She also appears in Last Order, and has been playable since the official release of Before Crisis. She uses a range of shotguns as her only form of weaponry. Voiced by Mayuko Aoki who has also voiced Yuna in Final Fantasy X and X-2, in her guest role in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
• Martial Arts (Male): An ex-detective from Costa del Sol, where he solved some rather complicated cases. A passionate, hot blooded and courageous man, he puts his all into everything he does, a trait that manifests in his personal and professional lives. His tendency to rely on his emotions eventually got him in trouble with his previous occupation, and — seeing no alternative — took the job offered to him by the Turks, who had been trying to recruit him for some time. He uses his powerful fists as his only weapons. He has been playable since Episode 7 of Before Crisis when Verdot decided that the Turks were still lacking the required manpower to deal with AVALANCHE. Like several of the other Turks, he also appears in Last Order, where he is voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka.
• Martial Arts (Female): A new recruit to the Turks in Episode 7, along with Martial Arts (Male). As a mercenary, she has seen a lot of battle and is accustomed to taking orders. As such, she adjusted to her new-found role in the Turks easier than some. A thoroughly businesslike woman during missions, she gets her work done with a minimum of fuss. She is level-headed, alert and perceptive, frequently able to assess a situation and take the most prudent course of action. She is a skilled martial artist who uses a style that involves a great deal of agility and kicking. Like many of the other Turks, she also appears in Last Order, but has no speaking role.
• Katana (Male): A swordsman who was born in Gongaga and has a soft spot for beauty. He tends not to stay in one place for very long. Those in his hometown fear his skill and strength for it is said that he killed a large number of people to rescue a friend and was imprisoned as a result. Under the condition that he would join the Turks, he was given amnesty. He first appears in Episode 18 of Before Crisis, but has been a Turk for several years at that point and was simply on an undisclosed assignment. He uses a katana as his sole weapon.
• Shuriken (Female): A young woman whose place of birth is unknown, she wields a crimson Shuriken called "Rekka" in battle as her weapon of choice. She is warm-hearted and has a mothering side which can border on bossy, which often manifests in how she looks after her colleagues. While still in an orphanage at a young age, the Turks expressed an interest in recruiting her, and she was brought up under harsh training techniques. In the history of the Turks, she is the youngest member to join. Like Katana (Male), she first appears in Episode 18, though at that time had been a Turk for several years and was simply on assignment. In "Special Episode of Reno", it is revealed that her assignment had been to keep Zack under surveillance. She also appears in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII in which she is given the name Cissnei, though she later reveals to Zack that this isn't her real name. She is voiced in Japanese by Asumi Nakata and in English by Carrie Savage in Crisis Core.
• Nunchaku (Male): A young man who was born into a wealthy household, and despite being raised in an environment where anything he wanted could be purchased, he was unsatisfied with money and demanded to join the Turks in order to seek out a new life of his own. The brand of the Turks is very dear to him, and he follows their ideals every day. He is a short-range fighter, using nunchaku in battle. He appears in Episode 1, and was originally only available in the Softbank version, though he is now available in the DoCoMo version as well.
• Knife (Female): A young woman from Corel who fights by using throwing knives. Although she feels as if she's all alone in the world, she covers it up by cheerfully doing her duties. Both her parents died in the war, so she fights desperately in hopes of creating a peaceful world to prevent tragedies like her own from happening again. She is well attuned to other people's feelings and is a bit clumsy due to an old bullet wound. She appears in Episode 1, and was originally only available in the EZweb version, though she is now available in the DoCoMo version as well.
• Legend (Male): Originally from Junon, he is a super-first class agent who was once feared on the battlefield as the God of Death, and is nicknamed the "Legendary Turk". His fame attracts a great deal of attention, thus he is intensely private in both his official and personal life. He uses both chain bombs and remote controlled bombs in battle. He becomes a playable character after completing Episode 24, has his own Special Episode, and can be used for Episode 10 and on.

• Verdot (ヴェルド, Verudo) is the previous leader of the Turks. He is very particular on matters relating to succeeding in missions and very unforgiving when it comes to failure. Tseng considers him a role model and eventually succeeds him. Though many of his subordinates are intimidated by his severity, they all deeply respect him. When Heidegger usurps his position at one point during the story, Verdot blackmails President Shinra into returning it. Formerly a resident of the town of Kalm, he had a daughter and wife that he believed perished when the town was razed due to his own misinterpreted commands. In actuality, his daughter survived, and is eventually revealed to be the leader of AVALANCHE, Elfe. He cares very deeply for the Turks, and does not wish for them to suffer any events similar to what he has; he also cares very much for his daughter, defecting from Shinra when he discovers she is alive. Verdot appears only in Before Crisis, but is mentioned in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.

AVALANCHE

AVALANCHE is an eco-terrorist organization that seeks to topple Shinra, whom they believe to be slowly killing the Planet with their manufacturing of Mako Energy. In Final Fantasy VII's continuity, there are two incarnations of AVALANCHE, the second of which is featured in Final Fantasy VII and its sequels; the original group, which was far more militant and ruthless, appears in Before Crisis.

• Elfe: Raised from a young age by AVALANCHE, she was chosen to be their leader after the founder died. She wields a katana, and her superb fighting capabilities have earned her much respect among the organization. Over the course of the story, she is revealed to be getting gradually weaker despite her superhuman strength, both of which came as a result of the presence of a mysterious summon materia — called "Zirconiade" — implanted within her body by Hojo. The only others who seemed aware were Aerith Gainsborough (who felt that Elfe's voice sounded nostalgic, though unaware that she actually recognized materia housed inside Elfe's body) and Fuhito, who intended to use Zirconiade in his plans. This summon beast is drawn from her when Fuhito summons Zirconiade in an incomplete form. Elfe is somewhat quiet, decidedly taciturn, and surprisingly non-charismatic. She is eventually revealed to be Felicia, the daughter of Verdot, leader of the Turks.

• Sears: A powerful field leader of AVALANCHE and second strongest member of the organization in physical terms (second only to Elfe), he had excellent hand-to-hand combat skills and often took charge of executing operations and formulating battle strategies. He is completely devoted to Elfe and even once asks the player to defend her if he should die. He and Fuhito are decidedly not fond of one another, and at one point argue over how Fuhito speaks of Elfe.

• Fuhito: The intellectual force behind AVALANCHE, Fuhito excels in creating battle plans. Highly knowledgeable in not just matters of science, but also in terms of tactical warfare, he is helpful with conceiving tactical solutions and providing support from a strategic vantage. However, he is very treacherous, planning to not only destroy Shinra, but he's also been using Elfe in a plot to summon a creature called "Zirconiade" to fulfill his true ambitions: killing all life on the Planet so as to remove all potential threats to it, while also revitalizing it. Fuhito creates the genetically enhanced AVALANCHE force known as "the Ravens," who serve as his personal attack squad, and he is shown to have no tolerance for failure, casually killing one of his subordinates for being beaten by the Turks. He is also shown to have no patience with Sears.

• The Ravens: A squad of AVALANCHE members who have undergone genetic modification by Fuhito to serve as his personal attack squad. Though they have developed increased combat capabilities, as well as the ability to completely recover from normally fatal wounds, they have lost their humanity. Despite their formidable regenerative capabilities, they can be killed when properly wounded. Named Ravens are Tierce, Kyneugh, and Kanos. SOLDIERs Yishay and Sebastian were also put through the same modification.

Other characters

Further information: Characters of the Final Fantasy VII series

Numerous characters from Final Fantasy VII reappear in Before Crisis, mostly in cameo appearances. These include the nine playable characters as well as Sephiroth, Zack Fair, the Shinra executives, and Elena. Azul from Dirge of Cerberus also makes an appearance in Episode 21. "Special Episode of Reno", a crossover with Crisis Core, also features the Dr. Hollander and Genesis Copies.
Original minor characters include Shalua Rui, who would have a more important role in Dirge of Cerberus. Rayleigh is a scientist who is employed at Shinra. Due to the knowledge she carries, AVALANCHE targets her. Sebastian and Essai are two SOLDIERs who have an acquaintance with Zack. They are captured and experimented on by Fuhito, leading Zack and the player's Turk to team up and attempt to free them. However, they become soulless due to the experiments, and Zack is forced to kill them. In Crisis Core, Zack visits their grave in a DMW sequence. Deneh is of the same species as Red XIII and was chosen to perform a ceremony with him. When Shinra is sent to collect one of them for testing, Red XIII defends Deneh and is taken instead of her.

The first in the Compilation series, as you can see has its own story, not really matching that of the main story of VII that it was built upon.
Obviously as this was only released in Japan I have not personally played this, and I don't think those of us here in the states will get too. Although I am sure that someone has posted video and information about this game some where.
On to the next.

The Game that has entranced FF fans into a stupor FFVII

Released in 1997 comes the cult classic FF that fans have become obsessed with. Final Fantasy VII took the world by storm. Introducing characters created by Squares new character designer, who from this point is the main producer and director of the FF series, Tetsuya Nomura. These characters have come to be loved by fans of the series. The game becoming more realistic then its previous titles we see ourselves in a more modern world, technology and science has flourished.

Plot

The game's setting is similar to that of Final Fantasy VI's by presenting a world with considerably more advanced technology than the first five games in the series. Overall, the game's technology and society approximates that of an industrial or post-industrial science fiction. The world of Final Fantasy VII, referred to in the game as "The Planet", but retroactively named "Gaia", is composed of three main land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that serves as the capital city of the world as it hosts headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, which operates as the de facto world government. Other locations on the continent are Junon, Shinra's major military base; Fort Condor, a fort with a huge condor covering up a Mako reactor on top of it; a chocobo ranch; and Kalm, a small town inspired by medieval Europe.
The western continent features most of the accessible areas, which include the Gold Saucer, an amusement park with Corel Prison below; Costa Del Sol, a seaside resort; Gongaga, a small town containing the remains of a destroyed Mako reactor; Nibelheim, a town residing at the base of Mt. Nibel; Rocket Town, the location of Shinra's failed rocket launch; and a settlement called Cosmo Canyon. Wutai, a village inspired by pre-modern Japan and China, is located on a large island off the western continent. The tribe inhabiting Cosmo Canyon emphasize living in harmony with nature and dedicating causes to the planet's well-being. Their settlement features an observatory and serves as a research facility for those who wish to participate in a philosophy known as the "Study of Planet Life", a lifestyle that encourages deference for nature and teaches the planet has a life of its own. The northernmost continent is a heavily glaciated landmass, and its few settlements include an excavation site; a ski resort; the mythical "City of the Ancients"; and the Northern Crater, where the game's climax takes place. There are also underwater locations accessible only by submarine; for example, a sunken Shinra plane transporter.

Final Fantasy VII begins with Cloud joining AVALANCHE in a series of raids against the Mako reactors surrounding the city of Midgar. Although the first mission is successful, AVALANCHE is trapped at another reactor during a subsequent raid. The reactor explodes, launching Cloud from the upper levels of Midgar into the slums below. He lands on a flower bed, where he is formally introduced to Aerith. Prompted by the arrival of Shinra's Turks operatives sent to capture Aerith, Cloud agrees to be Aerith's bodyguard and defends her from the Turks. After the Shinra discover the location of AVALANCHE's hideout, they destroy it by demolishing the entirety of Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks also capture Aerith, who is revealed to be the last surviving "Cetra", a race closely attuned with the planet and previously thought extinct. President Shinra believes Aerith can lead him to the "Promised Land", a mythical land of fertility, where he expects to find Mako energy.

The remaining members of AVALANCHE infiltrate Shinra corporate headquarters to rescue Aerith. After freeing her and Red XIII, they escape because most of the personnel in the building, including the president, are killed by Sephiroth, a man presumed to be dead, who stated that he would never allow Shinra to claim the Promised Land. The party also learns that during Sephiroth's attack on Shinra, the headless body of a creature named "Jenova" disappeared from the building's research facility. While the president's son, Rufus Shinra, assumes control of the company, AVALANCHE pursues Sephiroth across the planet, fearing his intentions for the Promised Land may be more destructive than Shinra's. The party is joined by Cait Sith and Cid, and optionally by Vincent and Yuffie. The full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed: if the world is significantly damaged, the Lifestream will gather in an attempt to heal the wound. Sephiroth intends to use a powerful spell called "Meteor" to cause this injury, and then merge with the planet's energy, allowing him to be reborn as a god and rule over the planet. Aerith sets off to stop Sephiroth on her own. AVALANCHE follow her to the northern continent, where they enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aerith praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth fatally impales Aerith with his sword.Sephiroth kills Aerith in a scene which has been referred to as "the most shocking moment in video games". Influenced by Sephiroth, Cloud becomes suspicious of his memories and insists he is not a real human, but instead a specimen created from Jenova's genetic material by Professor Hojo. Jenova was an interstellar creature who crash landed on the planet roughly 2,000 years prior to the game's events. Jenova had intended to infect all living organisms on the planet with a virus inducing insanity and monstrous transformations; among its victims were most of the Cetra. Attempting to defend itself, the planet created giant monsters called "WEAPON". The majority of humans fled rather than fight Jenova; however, a small group of Cetra survivors managed to defeat and confine Jenova. Eventually, the remains of Jenova were unearthed by Professor Gast, a researcher for the Shinra Company. Mistaking the creature for a Cetra, Gast was given authorization to conduct an experiment to artificially produce a Cetra by combining cells from Jenova with the fetus of an unborn child. Sephiroth learned that he was the product of this experiment while on a Shinra mission in Cloud and Tifa's hometown, Nibelheim. He concluded that he was a Cetra who had been produced solely from Jenova's genetic material. He burned down Nibelheim, intending to kill all descendants of those he believed had abandoned his ancestors in the defense of the planet. Cloud confronted Sephiroth during this massacre, after which Sephiroth vanished under unknown circumstances and was presumed dead until his reappearance in the Shinra building. When AVALANCHE travels to the Northern Crater to confront Sephiroth, he tells Cloud that he was not in Nibelheim, showing him images of a SOLDIER with dark hair who occupies Cloud's place in his memories. Tifa is unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, and Sephiroth casts the Meteor spell, causing the planet to awaken the WEAPONs in response. During the earthquake that follows, Cloud is separated from his companions and falls into the Lifestream. As the meteor summoned by Sephiroth slowly approaches the planet, the Shinra Company focuses its efforts on protecting humanity from the WEAPONs, as well as defeating Sephiroth, in the hopes that this will dismiss Meteor itself. Meanwhile, the members of AVALANCHE find Cloud in a catatonic state on a tropical resort where he washed up following the casting of Meteor. The WEAPONs' destructive activity causes the island to split open, and Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream, where she reconstructs Cloud's memories and learns the truth about his past. It is revealed that Cloud never succeeded in joining SOLDIER, and that the dark-haired SOLDIER from his memories was actually Aerith's first love and Cloud's best friend, Zack Fair, Zack, Tifa, and Cloud had fought Sephiroth during the burning of Nibelheim. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating Jenova, Sephiroth was thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, taking the creature's head with him. Rather than dying, his body and consciousness were crystallized in Mako inside Jenova's crater.

Cloud and Zack were among the wounded survivors who were apprehended by Shinra as part of a cover-up of Sephiroth's massacre. Professor Hojo subjected these survivors to an experiment, performing the same enhancements given to SOLDIER members—a procedure which included Mako showers and the injection of Jenova cells. All but Zack entered a comatose state, and nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. However, the alien Jenova cells in Cloud's body still allowed Sephiroth to modulate his behavior. Moreover, the cells' ability to duplicate information allowed Cloud's mind to construct a false persona built around Zack's behavior. This was prompted by Zack himself, who was killed outside Midgar by Shinra soldiers during the escape; he urged Cloud to live both their lives before passing on. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE. After Cloud awakens, it is revealed that Aerith, in her final moments, was casting the spell "Holy" with the White Materia, the only means of opposing Meteor. Although she succeeded, Sephiroth had since prevented the spell from taking effect. Deciding to protect humanity from the WEAPONs before approaching Sephiroth, Shinra and AVALANCHE destroy the WEAPONs, although nearly all of Shinra's executives are killed in the process. Among the few survivors are Reeve Tuesti, who is revealed to be the repentant controller of Cait Sith, and Professor Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's biological father. He explains that he and his wife were assistants to Professor Gast, and offered up their unborn child as a test subject to research involving Jenova. After finding out that Hojo is trying to help Sephiroth gain mastery over the Lifestream, AVALANCHE kills him. In their final assault against Sephiroth, the group travels through the Northern Crater to the planet's core. They defeat Sephiroth and free Holy, but the spell is unable to destroy Meteor alone. Selected as Meteor's target, Midgar is almost completely destroyed. However, the Lifestream rises from the planet to aid Holy in destroying the Meteor. During the epilogue, taking place 500 years after the game's events, Red XIII runs through a canyon with two cubs at his side. He proceeds up a cliff-face, which reveals a lush land of greenery where Midgar had once been.

Characters

The nine main playable characters in Final Fantasy VII are Cloud Strife, an unsociable mercenary who claims to be a former 1st Class member of Shinra's SOLDIER unit; Barret Wallace, the leader of the anti-Shinra rebel group AVALANCHE; Tifa Lockhart, a martial artist and childhood friend of Cloud's; Aerith Gainsborough, a flower merchant who has been pursued by Shinra's special operations unit, the Turks, since childhood; Red XIII, a wise lion-like creature who was experimented on by Shinra scientists; Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who rides an animated moogle doll; Cid Highwind, a pilot whose dreams of being the first man in outer space were not realized; Yuffie Kisaragi, a young thief and a skillful ninja; and Vincent Valentine, a former member of Shinra's Turks unit who was experimented on thirty years before the start of the game. The game's main antagonist is Sephiroth, a former member of SOLDIER who reappears several years after disappearing in a battle in which he was concluded to have died.

Gameplay

Like previous installments of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VII consists primarily of three major areas: an overworld map, field maps, and a battle screen. The overworld map is a 3D model, featuring a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world which the player navigates to travel between the game's locations. As with preceding games in the series, the world map can be traversed by foot, on Chocobos, airship, sea vessel (in this case, a submarine and a plane used as a boat), but it also includes an additional means of transportation—a buggy. On field maps, characters are directed across realistically scaled environments, consisting of 2D pre-rendered backgrounds which represent locations such as towns or forests. The battle screen is a 3D representation of an area, such as a building's interior or an open grassland, in which the player commands the characters in battles against CPU-controlled enemies. While characters are super deformed on maps, the character models are more realistic and normal-scaled in combat. Final Fantasy VII is the first game in the series to have character models with fully-rendered polygons rather than 2D sprites.

Initially, the player is restricted to the city of Midgar, but as the game progresses the entire world becomes accessible. Progression through the game's storyline is largely developed by way of scripted sequences, although pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes are also used often. During battle sequences, the game uses the Active Time Battle (ATB) system designed by Hiroyuki Ito first featured in Final Fantasy IV. Unlike previous games in the series, which allow 4-5 playable characters to participate in battle, Final Fantasy VII only allows three characters to be in the party at any time.

Final Fantasy VII's skill system is built around the use of materia (which any character can use)—magical orbs that are placed in special slots on weapons and armor, allowing players to customize their party's ability to use magic, summons, and special abilities. However, most magic-based materia also lowers an equipped character's physical attributes. In addition, certain types of materia can be combined in a fixed number of ways to enhance their effects or produce other abilities. Summon spells feature in the game, equippable as materia, with elaborately animated attacks.

A modified form of Final Fantasy VI's "Desperation Attacks" appears in Final Fantasy VII as the "Limit Break". Every playable character has a bar that gradually fills up as they suffer damage in battle. When the bar is completely filled, the character is able to unleash his or her Limit Break, a special attack which generally inflicts significantly more damage on enemies than normal attacks, or otherwise aids the party in battle. Unlike materia, each character has their own unique set of Limit Breaks, which are divided into four levels of strength, although one character, Cait Sith, only has two levels.

So there you have the most basic discription of this title. This is the game that fans fell in love with so hard that every game to follow will continuasly be compaired to this title. For a lot of the american fans of the game this was there first experience with the game, so I can understand the concept of theres no love like your first love. And VII was a first FF love for many a fan. Because of this Square (now dubed Square Enix) did a complete revamp of the game, coming out with many side stories to explain the in-depth nature of this world, I will touch on each project as well in this post later so keep reading!

The main points of this game I would like to point out. We have evolved in a completely new direction with the game, the characters are no longer 2D sprites we have fully formed almost real looking polygonal characters, although they have an animeish feel to them. When traveling the world the characters have the look of what would happen if you took those 2D sprites and gave them substance, a head, arms, noticeable body traits but not quite as detailed as if you were looking at a CGI character render. While the Overworld map has stayed in place its now a scaled down 3D model of the cities and town and forests and mountains may look like in this world of Gaia. Even the battle screen has changed from a flat field, to a full 3D render of the area that the characters happen to be in. With this we still have different modes of transportation, the ever faithful Chocobo returning as well as the Airship, this one being piloted by Cid Highwind who has dubbed the ship after his dead wife Sierria. We also see implemented, a submarine, and a boat plane.
Within the towns we have vendors who sell weapons, armor, accessories and items. As well as Inn's where the characters can rest to regain HP and MP.
The characters gain experience with battle, and by gaining experience they also gain in level, raising the characters attack, defense, magic and health stats. The stats are also raised by equipping higher level gear, an then in turn using materia slots on the items also raise or sometimes lower specific stats.
FFVII turns away from the Crystals entirely, being replaced by orbs once more called Materia, materia are powers or abilities forged within the life force of the planet called the Lifestream. Characters can equip these crystal like orbs to learn magic or summons or abilities.
Summons return in this title in a completely new way, there are a specific set of summons in this game. Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Titan, Fat Chocobo, Pheonix, Choco/Mog, Odin, Kjata, Leviathan, Typhoon, Hades, Alexander, three different forms of Bahamut, Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, and Bahamut Zero, and lastly the infamous Knights of the Round. What made these summons so special, is the summon appears for one attack, which is seen almost in the way of a cut scene, the Knights of the Round lasting the longest. One of the cool things about the Materia system, is the Materia actually levels up as well, once the Materia is mastered, it created a duplicate of the Materia, so you could have Cloud, Tifa, and Cid in your party all equipped with Bahamut Zero, one of the higher level summons if you don't get Knights of the round, and all summon him one right after the other, and cause some serious damage to your enemy.
Another difference in this title is the Job classes have all but disappeared. Each character has basically a different fighting style.
Cloud Strife who wields a giant Buster Sword about the size of his body, his hack and slash techniques is how he cuts down his enemies.
Tifa Lockheart is a martial arts expert, her weapons are a gauntlet of sorts almost like a boxing glove for her fists.
Barret Wallace, who lost his right arm decided to replace it with a machine gun instead of a prosthetic. The weapons found for Barret tend to be different types of gun replacements for his arm.
Aerith Gainsborough who as a healer uses a staff to fight or what the game has dubbed as polearms.
Red XIII, who is actually the series first animal playable character and looks like a lion with flame on the end of his tail, uses his claws and teeth as weapons, with a tribal appearance he has feathers and beads wrapped inside his mane his only equip able weapon is more like an accessory for his mane, that raises his stats.
Cait Sith who rides atop his robot Mog, and is also a robot himself, also wields no weapon, his accessory is a Megaphone, so one will find new Megaphones for him.
Cid Higwind, captain of the Airship Sierria, wields a spear or lance, so his found and purchased weapons are a lance.
Vincent Valentine, a first for FF he is actually an optional player, you find him in a side quest and he joins your party, uses a hand gun.
Yuffie Kisaragi, the games other optional player, uses a giant Shuriken or Throwing Star.
This was a first for them as well, weapons in the past were linked usually to the Job class of that character, in this instalment the weapons are actually character specific.
On the subject of characters this game has some of the most memorable, starting with FF fans favorite villain. Sephiroth. Even I can admit the bad assness of this villain, and there has not been a villain like him since, but I wouldn't want there to be, hes one of a kind. And that's why he has made such an impact. Although none of the games prior or after feature a villain quite like him, they are still amazing games.
And the other most memorable is Aerith, her sweat an loving disposition, and innocence just made you fall in love with her. As well as the budding romance she had with Cloud, and then when you lease expect it, she is murdered right before your eyes, by the villain Sephiroth, another reason hes favored is his pure cold bloodedness. You actually feel sad for the loss of Aerith, she was such a monumental character an for a majority of the beginning of the game you spend it protecting her, so when she dies you almost feel like a failure, like you must have done something wrong in the game, there must be an alternate scene where she lives, but no she was meant to die.
And of course lastly you have the favored hero, Cloud, who due to experiments and trauma in his early stages of his story forgot who he really was and instead believed his life was lived a completely different way, who we later come to find was actually his best friend Zack Fair, who we also learn was actually Aeriths first love. He overcame the doubts in himself and in the end, saves Gaia from Sephiroth, proving to be every bit the SOLDIER Zack could not be cause he could not defeat Sephiroth.
A few of the minor things that made this game memorable were the side quest and mini games. There was of course the Golden Saucer an amusement park within the game, it housed the famous arcade like snowboard mini game, and Chocobo Racing. This was a huge implement in the game, also in this world there was a Chocobo Farm, in which you could catch Chocobos by means of battle and raise them, and as well race them! How this worked is you would catch a chocobo, and once caught you had different types of greens that you could feed them that would up there chances of winning races, there was one specific type of green that would basically make you a shoe in with the races (and of course it was the most expensive) You would feed the greens to the Chocobo, then race it, if you won a certain number of races the chocobos rank would then go up, shooting mostly for A class and above. There were also male and female chocobos that could be caught, once you got them both up to a specific rank you would breed them, and in some instances (if you did what you were supposed to do) would end up with a different colored Chocobo.
The Basic Wild Chocobo will always be Yellow, followed by the next class the Blue and Green Chocobo, each coming with a special ability that could actually be used on the world map. Blue Chocobos being nicknamed River Chocobos, can cross rivers. Green being dubbed Mountain Chocobos could traverse the mountain ranges but could not go through water. The next class up being the Black Chocobo, which could traverse through rivers and over the mountain ranges. Lastly the Golden Chocobo, which is why you would want to breed them, this Chocobo can go anywhere on the world map, and he is required if you wish to acquire the Knights of the Round Summon Materia and some of the casts ultimate weapons.
This game was also the first to initiate optional boss battles in the form of the WEAPONS that appear after Meteor is summoned. Ruby, Emerald, Diamond Weapons.

So as you can see, its understandable why this game would be loved, there is so much to it and it has so much depth. And you easily become attached to the characters. I have no problem stating that VII is probably one of the greatest titles in the FF franchise. I love it there is no doubt about that, and yes when I found out about the side projects that Square began working on I got excited. These side projects showed some beloved characters in new and invigorating ways. And they did it because fans screamed for more. But I think it got to a point where fans now want a remake of FFVII for the PS3 or future consoles and more of this world. But this really makes me touch on, how can it be the Final Fantasy of this world and these characters if it never ends becoming a legacy instead of a continuing project.
As this post turned out to be so long I am going to extend each individual FFVII project into its own post. If anything to just expand on my point of too much of a good thing makes people crazy and blind to the greatness that follows.

Female leads! Final Fantasy VI

Made in 1994 and released for multiple systems

Plot

Final Fantasy VI takes place on a large, unnamed world. During the course of the game, its geography and landscape change due to various developments in the game's plot. During the first half of the game, the world is divided into two major continents and referred to as the World of Balance. The northern continent is punctuated by a series of mountain ranges and contains many of the locations accessible to the player. Halfway through the game, the world's geographical layout is altered, resulting in its two large continents splitting into several islands of various size situated around a larger continent at their center. This altered layout of the game's locations is referred to as the World of Ruin.
In contrast to the medieval settings featured in previous Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy VI is set in a steampunk environment. The structure of society parallels that of the latter half of the 19th century, with opera and the fine arts serving as recurring motifs throughout the game, and a level of technology comparable to that of the Second Industrial Revolution. Railroads are in place and a coal mining operation is run in the northern town of Narshe. Additionally, several examples of modern engineering and weaponry (such as chainsaw, power drill, and automatic crossbow) have been developed in the Kingdom of Figaro. However, communication systems have not reached significant levels of development, with letters sent by way of carrier pigeon serving as the most common means of long-distance communication.
One thousand years before the events of the game, three entities known as the Warring Triad initiated a conflict that would come to be called the War of the Magi. This quarrel grew to catastrophic proportions, unleashing magical energy into the world which transformed afflicted humans into espers—magical beings who themselves were used as soldiers in the war. Eventually realizing the horrific calamity wrought by their hands, the Triad returned free will to the espers and sealed their own powers, becoming stone statues. Their only request was that the espers ensure their power remain locked away so it might never be used again. The espers carried their stone gods to a hidden land, sealing both they and themselves off from the realm of humans. The concept of magic gradually faded to legend and myth as mankind built a society extolling science and technology. At the game's opening, the most advanced nation is the Empire, a cruel and expanding dictatorship led by Emperor Gesthal and his clownish general Kefka. Approximately eighteen years before the events of the game begin, the barrier between the espers' land and the rest of the world weakened. Soon after, Gestahl takes advantage of this and attacks the espers' land, capturing several of them.
Using the espers as a power source, Gestahl initiated a research program to combine magic with machinery and infuse humans with magical powers, the result being a craft known as Magitek. Kefka became the first experimental prototype of a line of magically empowered soldiers called Magitek Knights, drastically impairing his sanity. At the opening of the game, the Empire is on the verge of rediscovering the full potential of magic by reopening the gateway to the world of the espers. However, Gestahl's military dominion is opposed by the Returners, a rebel organization seeking to overthrow the Empire and free its territories.
Final Fantasy VI begins with Terra Branford participating in an Imperial raid on Narshe in search of a recently unearthed frozen esper (later identified as Tritoch; Valigarmanda in the GBA retranslation) found in the city's mines. However, the esper kills her controllers and the Imperial control over her is broken, but she is unable to remember anything about her past. Locke Cole, a thief, promises to protect her until she can regain her memories and helps her escape to the hideout of the Returners, a group of militants opposing the Empire. Along the way, they pass through the Kingdom of Figaro and meet Edgar Roni Figaro, the king, and his estranged brother, Sabin Rene Figaro, who join them. Banon, the leader of the Returners, asks for Terra's help in their struggle against the Empire, and she agrees. Just as the resistance is preparing to return to Narshe to investigate the frozen esper, the Empire attacks South Figaro. Locke heads to the besieged town to slow the Empire's advance, while the rest of the group makes their way via rafting down the nearby Lethe River. However, Sabin is separated from the group after a battle withUltros, self-proclaimed "octopus royalty" and a recurring antagonist, forcing the various members of the Returners to find their own ways to Narshe in three different scenarios controlled by the player. In Locke's scenario, he must escape the imperial occupied town of South Figaro without detection. Sabin has been swept to a distant continent and must find a way back while Terra, Edgar, and Banon will continue to float down the Lethe River back to Narshe.
Eventually, the original party reunites in Narshe. Locke brings with him Celes Chere, one of the Empire's own generals, whom he saved from execution for defying the Empire's ruthless practices. Sabin brings with him Cyan Garamonde, whose family was killed during the Empire's siege of Doma Castle when Kefka ordered the water supply poisoned, and Gau, a feral child he befriended on the Veldt. In Narshe, the Returners prepare to defend the frozen esper from the Empire. After the player successfully thwarts the Imperial invasion, Terra approaches the frozen esper, prompting her to transform into an esper-like form herself. She flies away, confused and horrified by her own transformation.
The Returners set out to search for Terra and eventually trace her to the city of Zozo, though they are still shocked by her apparent existence as an esper. There, they also meet the esper Ramuh, who tells them that if they free various other espers from the Magitek Research Facility in the Empire's capital, Vector, they may find one who can help Terra. Vector is on the southern continent, to which the Empire does not allow maritime access, so the Returners go to the Opera House and recruit Setzer Gabbiani, who is believed to be the owner of the Blackjack, the only Airship in the world. They then travel to Vector and attempt to rescue several espers, including Maduin, who is revealed to be Terra's father. However, the espers choose instead to give their lives to transform into magicite—the crystallized remains of their essences that form when they die and allow others to use their powers—which they bestow upon the Returners. Before the group can then escape, Kefka arrives and causes the Returners, including Locke, to momentarily doubt Celes' loyalty, much to her anguish. However, she provides proof to them of her support by covering for the group while the rest escape. The rest of the group then returns to Zozo, where Terra reacts to the magicite of her father, prompting her to gain knowledge of her past and accept herself as the half-human, half-esper child of Maduin and a human woman.
After reuniting with Terra, the Returners decide that it is time to launch an all-out attack on the Empire, and Banon asks Terra to attempt contacting the espers' land in order to gain their support. Terra succeeds in making contact, and when the espers learn that the others captured by the Empire previously have now perished, they become infuriated and enter the human world, where they destroy much of Vector. When the Returners arrive in the capital, they find Emperor Gestahl claiming to no longer have the will to fight, inviting the Returners to a banquet to negotiate peace. Gestahl asks Terra to deliver a truce to the espers on his behalf, to which she agrees. Accompanied by Locke, Shadow (a ninja mercenary hired by the Empire for the mission), Generals Celes and Leo, the player must then guide Terra to the remote village Thamasa in search of the espers, where they meet Strago Magus and his granddaughter, Relm Arrowny, who also accompany them.
Soon, they find the espers and Terra convinces them to accept a truce with Gestahl. However, during the negotiations, Kefka attacks the espers, killing each of those still alive and capturing the magicite that remains from their essence. Additionally, he kills General Leo, who is appalled by Kefka's dishonorable tactics and attempts to defend the espers. The Returners reunite, now aware that the peace was a ploy for Gestahl to obtain magicite and the stone statue remains of the Warring Triad within the espers' now-unsealed land. Kefka and Gestahl travel through the open gate to the esper world, find the Warring Triad, and prompt the island on which the esper world is located to detach and fly in the sky as an ominous Floating Continent. The Returners attempt to stop them from causing further damage, but despite their efforts, they are unable to prevent Kefka and Gestahl from gaining the power of the statues. Now empowered, Kefka promptly kills Gestahl and moves the statues out of their proper alignment, upsetting the balance of magical power and causing the destruction of most of the surface world. In the disaster, the Returners are separated from one another as Setzer's airship is torn apart.
One year later, Celes awakens from a coma on a deserted island and learns that the world has been devastated by Kefka. Much of its human population has died and its plant and animal life are slowly being killed by sickness to punctuate humanity's despair. Celes sets out from the Solitary Island to try and reunite with as many of her friends as she can find. One by one, in a series of mostly optional side-quests, the gamer has the opportunity to reunite the group, all still alive, as well as new allies Umaro and Gogo. Together, the reunited Returners launch a new offensive against Kefka, using the Falcon—an airship that belonged to a deceased friend of Setzer's—to reach Kefka's Tower and infiltrate it. Inside, the Returners battle their way through Kefka's defenses and destroy the three statues, the source of Kefka's newfound power. When destroying the statues, once the source of all magic, does not cause any noticeable reaction, the party realizes that Kefka has successfully drained the Warring Triad of power and has become the source of all magical power.
Making a final stand against Kefka, the characters destroy him, but since the gods' power had come to reside in him all magicite begins to shatter and Kefka's magically-maintained tower begins to crumble. Terra leads the characters out as she begins to weaken due to her half-esper heritage. However, before her father's magicite shatters, his spirit informs her that by holding to the human side of herself, she may survive the passing of magic. In the end, the party escapes Kefka's Tower aboard the Falcon. Terra survives, and the group observes the world's communities rejuvenating themselves.

Characters

Final Fantasy VI features fourteen permanent playable characters, the most of any game in the main series, as well as several secondary characters who are only briefly controlled by the player. The starting character, Terra Brandford, is a reserved half-human, half-esper girl who spent most of her life as a slave to the Empire, thanks to a mind-controlling device, and is unfamiliar with love. Other primary characters include Locke Cole, a treasure hunter and rebel sympathizer with a powerful impulse to protect women; Celes Chere, a former general of the Empire, who joined the Returners after being jailed for questioning imperial practices; Edgar Roni Figaro, a consummate womanizer and the king of Figaro, who claims allegiance to the Empire while secretly supplying aid to the Returners; Sabin Rene Figaro, Edgar's brother, who fled the royal court in order to pursue his own path and hone his martial arts skills; Cyan Garamonde, a loyal knight to the kingdom of Doma who lost his family and friends as a result of Kefka poisoning the kingdom's water supply; Setzer Gabbiani, a habitual gambler and thrill seeker; Shadow, a ninja mercenary, who offers his services to both the Empire and the Returners at various stages throughout the game; Relm Arrowny, a young but tough artistic girl with magical powers; Strago Magus, Relm's elderly grandfather and a Blue Mage; Gau, a feral child surviving since infancy in the harsh wilderness known as the Veldt; Mog, a Moogle from the mines of Narshe; Umaro, a savage but loyal sasquatch also from Narshe, talked into joining the Returners through Mog's persuasion; and Gogo, a mysterious, fully shrouded master of the art of mimicry.
Most of the main characters in the game hold a significant grudge against the Empire and, in particular, Kefka, who serves as one of the game's main antagonists along with Emperor Gestahl. The supporting character Ultros serves as a recurring villain and comic relief throughout the game.

Gameplay

Like previous Final Fantasy installments, Final Fantasy VI consists of four basic modes of gameplay an overworld map, town and dungeon field maps, a battle screen, and a menu screen. The overworld map is a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world, which the player uses to direct characters to various locations. As with most games in the series, the three primary means of travel across the overworld are by foot, chocobo, and airship. With a few plot-driven exceptions, enemies are randomly encountered on field maps and on the overworld when traveling by foot. The menu screen is where the player makes such decisions as which characters will be in the traveling party, which equipment they wield, the magic they learn, and the configuration of the gameplay. It is also used to track experience points and levels.

The game's plot develops as the player progresses through towns and dungeons. Town citizens will offer helpful information and some residents own item or equipment shops. Later in the game, visiting certain towns will activate side-quests. Dungeons appear as a variety of areas, including caves, sewers, forests, and buildings. These dungeons often have treasure chests containing rare items that are not available in most stores. Some dungeons feature puzzles and mazes, which require the player to divide the characters into multiple parties.

Combat in Final Fantasy VI is menue-based, in which the player selects an action from a list of such options as Fight, Magic, and Item. A maximum of four characters may be used in battles, which are based on the series' traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system first featured in Final Fantasy IV. Under this system, each character has an action bar that replenishes itself at a rate dependent on their speed statistic. When a character's action bar is filled, the player may assign an action. In addition to standard battle techniques, each character possesses a unique special ability. For example, Locke possesses the ability to steal items from enemies, while Celes' Runic ability allows her to absorb most magical attacks cast until her next turn.

Another element is a powerful attack substitution that occasionally appears when a character's health is low. Similar features appear in later Final Fantasy titles under a variety of different names, including Limit Breaks, Desperation Moves, Trances, and Overdrives. Characters are rewarded for victorious battles with experience points and money, called  gil (GP in the original North American localization). When characters attain a certain amount of experience points, they gain a level, which increases their statistics. An additional player may play during battle scenarios, with control of individual characters assigned from the configuration menu.

Characters in Final Fantasy VI can be equipped with a wide variety of weapons, armor and accessories (known as "Relics") to increase their statistics and obtain special abilities. Most of this equipment can be used by several different characters, and each character may equip up to two Relics. Relics have a variety of uses and effects, some of which alter basic battle commands, allow characters to use multiple weapons, provide permanent status changes during battle or use protective magical spells in response to being near death

Although only two characters start the game with the ability to use magic, almost every character can learn to do so. Characters may equip magicite, which enables the summoning of Espers, this game's incarnation of summoned monsters (including several recurring summons such as Ifrit, Shiva, Bahamut and Odin, along with many new summons exclusive to Final Fantasy VI), as well as that of specific magic spells. If a character has a piece of magicite equipped, he or she will gain "Magic Acquisition Points" after most battles. As a character gains magic AP, he or she gradually learns spells from the magicite equipped and will gain additional statistic bonuses when leveling up, depending on the magicite.

A game of firsts this is another FF favored by fans.

The first FF to feature the first not one but two female leads in the form of Terra Brandford, and Celes Chere. The first cast containing up to 14 playable characters in the game, and the largest cast of any FF to date. And the first appearance of the Moggle! A character that joins the party with Tarra, a moogle is a little difficult to describe, think of a white teddy bear, with cat like ears, bat wings small compared to the proportion of the body. and lastly a pompom that dangles from a thin antenna on their head. The moogle has come to be adored in the series they are cute and comical and just a lovable character, but they are not always portrayed the same way sometimes not at all in later titles.

This game as you can see of the titles we have covered so far has the longest storyline. And this only continues through the titles to come. Adding in side-quests and mini games the gameplay for these titles can usually take from 40 to 80 hours for completion of the game. 

Most of the same elements remain from the previous titles, shops, inns, items, weapons, armour, pre ordained character classes, we do see a little change in style of the game from a less medieval style to what has been known as steampunk, or industrial. 

Notice we loose for the first time, the four elemental crystals, but we gain the "crystal" in another form, the form of Magicite, in which in this game can be equipped to the characters giving them special abilities or summons, in which we also see the returns of summons from the previous titles, Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, Ramuh, etc. This is where the crystal takes a turn and doesn't necessarily hold the same mythology as the previous titles but is still present in the FF mythos.

And for the first time we see the special attacks specific to the characters themselves, in this game it tends to happen when the character is low on health giving them a special ability as a last ditch effort to cause some damage should the character feint.

From this point forward the game takes a turn for the new and exciting, it begins with every ones favorite title Final Fantasy VII, the hiring by Square of character designer now production director and creator of the games now in progress, Tetsuya Nomura.

Things to keep in mind:

Items, Shops, Inn's, Weapons, Armor, Crystals (Magicite), Chocobos, Airships,  Moogles, ATB vs Turn Based, Side Quests, Mini Games, Overworld Map.

PICTURE TIME! 1-5

Final Fantasy I

A picture of one of I's remakes this is the infamous battle with the Earth Fiend Lich, here you see the four person party, each with a different class, from bottom to top you have Black Mage, White Mage, Thief and Warrior class. You can see the battle menu along the bottom, and the character box showing the HP and MP.

Here is a screen shot from the original FFI as u can see the graphics back then were not as amazing as we have them now, this is from the same scene as the previous picture, the battle with Lich the Earth Fiend.

Here we have artwork from the amazing Yoshitaka Amano, a depiction of who later is referred to as the Warrior of Light, one of the 4 heroes from the Game, takes a lead role in the fighting game Dissidia.

Every Final Fantasy has a title image like this, with artwork from the amazing Yoshitaka Amano that is specific to that title, here we have the depiction of the Warrior of Light.

Another image of the original battle system, with the menus in English this time.

A depiction of the main villain from FFI Garland in a later instalment compilation fighting series Final Fantasy Dissidia, back when the original was released we were unable to see the characters this clearly, I have enjoyed the instalment Dissidia, as it has given us a chance to get to know characters from previous installments and see them more clearly as an actual character.

Here the depiction of the Warrior of Light from Dissidia.

Final Fantasy II

A depiction of the Emperor Palamecia in Dissidia

A depiction of our main hero from II Firion as depicted in Dissidia

Yoshitaka Amano character render of Firion

A sampling of the equipment menu from II as you see we have official Amano artwork for the head shot images of the playable characters.

The title artwork for II features our hero Firion Amano style.

An image of one of the CGI cut scenes used in one of II's remakes for a more advanced system here we see Emperor Palamecia using magic.

An image of the Battle Screen from the original II

A Yoshitaka Amano render of Emperor Palamecia

Another Emperor Palamecia Amano render.

Final Fantasy III
This game was hard to find older images for, a lot of the images found, are from the DS remake

Here we see character renders for the Nintendo DS remake of the job classes available to use in the game.

CGI renders of the 4 main characters from III's remake on the DS

The Yoshitaka Amano Title Image.

A full render of one of the male heros in the DS remake.

The DS remake also featured CGI cut scenes here we see one of the female heroes petting the beak of a trained ride able Chocobo.

Final Fantasy IV

Here from one of IV's remakes we have a CGI render of Rose Cecil Harveys love interest in the game.

CGI sequence in one of the remakes of IV, here we have Cecil in his Dark Knight armor with Rose showing concern behind him.

A depiction of the games main villain, Golbez from Dissidia.

CGI render of Edge the Ninja one the playable characters who you can put in your party.

CGI render of friend turned enemy this is the Dragoon Knight Kain Highwind.

The firs "Summoner" to appear in FF, this is a CGI render of Rydia.

The twin mages, Palom and Porom, CGI render.

The Yoshitaka Amano title art featuring Golbez

Yoshitaka Amano image of Dark Knight Cecil with Paladin Cecil in the background.

A screen shot from the battle screen in IV.

Depiction of Cecil Harvey in his Paladin form as depicted in Dissidia.

Final Fantasy V
Another game that is difficult to find images of.

Bartz Klauser as depicted in the FF fighting game Dissidia.

Exdeath as he appears in Dissidia.

The title art for V depicts just a dragon, also done by Yoshitaka Amano.

The characters of V done by Yoshitaka Amano.

I only know one character in this image, Bartz on the left, I believe from the armor design on the arms the character on the right may be Exdeath, done by Yoshitaka Amano.

A CGI render of Bartz Klauser.

here we have the title image with a picture of a bit like version of Barz Klauser and his Chocobo companion Boco.

Yoshitaka Amano of Exdeath.

A battle screen from the original game, featuring the mini-boss Gilgamesh.

Another screen shot of the battle screen in V.

So hopefully I have given you an idea of what the fantasy worlds that we have visited so far. From this point forward the games start changing in miraculous ways! Becoming more intricate, more artistic!
I am excited to say that I am enjoying this just for myself if anything, seeing the differences and similarities in the games and digging deeper into the history and mythos of the worlds.
Its one of the reasons I love FF. Each story is magical and different, the characters are thought through and you come to know and love them as the game continues.
Coming your way next, Final Fantasy VI, and the first female lead character!