Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis PAX West Impression

The graphics during fights and cutscenes are console quality, and I am really looking forward to playing it when it releases.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is a new mobile game, covering the events of the entirety of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, including Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. Square Enix had the game available to try out at this year’s PAX West ahead of its launch this week.

The demo opened up with a short fight with Sephiroth, demonstrating the fight mechanics. That fight ended without a conclusion, and things then moved to Final Fantasy VII’s main scenario section of trying to escape the reactor. This section looked more like an HD remaster of the original, with semi-chibi characters. Moving Cloud is a simply matter of touching the part of the path you want him to go to, with treasure chests available to open and handy blue arrows to tell him to where to climb up or down ladders. Along the way there were surprise encounters for more fight tutorials, and then a last big fight providing some information on party setup and additional mechanics.

Th graphics and gameplay both work very well. The graphics during fights and cutscenes are console quality, and I am really looking forward to playing it when it releases. The tutorial for the fights is easy to follow and understand, adding on different elements so players are not overwhelmed from the start. The game provides useful details, such as when the monster is going to do a large attack, allowing for players to set up different defenses or moves to minimize the damage. It all moves at a good pace, and I’m excited to see the new content that the game provides, such as chapters of Sephiroth’s past before his run-in with Cloud written by Kazushige Nojima. Young Sephiroth with short hair? Yes, please! Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis launches on September 7, 2023, for iOS and Android.