I thought about doing a full review of Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core, but I came to the conclusion that that has probably been done to death. Instead, I decided to deal with the largest issue that has arisen as a result of Crisis Core.
It’s been over ten years since Final Fantasy 7 first came out, and in that time, people have grown up, and gaming has changed. But one thing remains constant: Final Fantasy 7 is one of the best stories in gaming history. A lot of the reason for that is the deep back-story. The story doesn’t start with the main character, and a lot of the most powerful revelations in the narrative are about things that happened long before the game starts. Crisis Core is a great prequel, but it will ruin the story for anyone who hasn’t already played Final Fantasy 7.
Given that it’s been over a decade since Final Fantasy 7 came out, there are probably a lot of people who have never played it. There are people who are new to console RPGs (because they were simply too young when FF7 came out), or people who missed it the first time around for whatever reason. Those people are going to be powerfully tempted to play Crisis Core because of the good reviews, and I want to implore them not to. Please, I beg, do not play Crisis Core before Final Fantasy 7, because it will ruin the story for you.
We aren’t dealing with a Star Wars-esk prequel here. Knowing that Darth Vader is Luke’s father doesn’t ruin the Original Trilogy. But, there are many moments in Final Fantasy 7 that are spoiled completely by Crisis Core. Imagine, if you will, going into Knights of the Old Republic for the first time and being spoiled about (spoiler! highlight to read) your character being Revan from the beginning. Remember how that revelation made you feel the first time you played the game. Now imagine that same feeling happening multiple times through the game, and you come to understand why spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 might actually ruin a person’s experience of the entire game.
I loved Crisis Core, and I highly recommend it to any fan of Final Fantasy 7. But, if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 7 yet, or you have friends who haven’t played it yet, please, do everything in your power to prevent yourself or them getting spoiled. Friends shouldn’t let friends play Crisis Core before FF7.
Square Enix is being rather coy about whether they are going to remake Final Fantasy 7, but frankly, it’s become pretty obvious to me that they will. If you haven’t played Final Fantasy 7 because it was a first generation Playstation 1 game with relatively poor graphics, then I recommend you wait for the remake before playing Crisis Core. Yes, I’m perfectly aware that it might take three or more years before a remake ever hits the market, but I’m adamant that it’s better to wait till then, than spoil Final Fantasy 7 by playing Crisis Core now.
The Reclusive Geek 
haha I did everything in the wrong order xI… I saw FFAC first, then played FFCC, and am now playing through the beginning of FF VII. I don’t think it’s all that bad, knowing more about Cloud before its revealed in the story…>”<
havent played crisis core all the way through.
to me so far it looks like they shat all over cloud and were like, ‘heres this great new much more amazing and powerful main character to keep you going, not to mention in the flashbacks he was never that strong so it does not completely add up.
fuck you zack. you’re full of shit.
also i realise the irony…cloud having being originally full of shit, but still….point remains, they dragonballzd up the storyline ‘make each new character far far stronger than the previous one…only thing is they did it reverse order so its super dragonballrertartedzup.
Actually, it’s been said that Cloud is probably stronger than Zack. He is the one who killed Sephiroth without any enhancements when Zack couldn’t, after all. Regardless of that though, Zack is simply a different person from Cloud. Even in FF7, he is mentioned as a character that people remember, and his little flashback sequence of how he escaped the Shinra Mansion establishes very clearly the kind of person he is. It is simply a matter of attitude: Cloud was never very confident and Zack is simply a positive person who doesn’t let anything get him down. It is no wonder that two such polar opposites were attracted to each other and became close. So no, Cloud doesn’t think Zack is “full of shit” or that he “shat all over” him. Zack was Cloud’s irreplaceable best friend, and being a special person with a strong influence on Cloud, not to mention that he saved his life, it is no wonder that a game was made to feature Zack more prominently. It is also no wonder that Zack won the #1 spot in a favorite male FF character poll earlier this year.
Most people who were too young for the original game probably did things in the same order as you. In my case, I believe I saw the Last Order (animated) OAV before I saw Advent Children, then I saw Advent Children Complete and finally I saw the cutscenes of Crisis Core (never got to play it). Before all of that, I had read a detailed walkthrough of the FF7 game, and the plot seemed very interesting.
This article makes no sense. Crisis Core doesn’t spoil anything about FF7. It does not allude to Meteor, does not reveal Cloud’s memory problems, does not hint at Aerith’s importance in FF7, and definitely does not let you think that Sephiroth survived. In fact, I personally would recommend going into FF7 having already played Crisis Core because Crisis Core provides an excellent background for FF7. It makes for a more linear story where you may wonder what is wrong with Cloud (if you don’t read ahead about the plot of FF7), but you will still not see anything coming about Jenova or Sephiroth, and certainly not about Meteor or the things Shinra will do in the future either. Play Crisis Core before FF7, FF7 will become all the more enjoyable for you.
cynthia u are damn right , sweetness….. everything should be in right order and they did make it like star wars, maybe they took the idea from there to do so….case closed….
I am casual gamer and college-aged student and I went through the FF7 series according to chronological PLOT order.
It made the most sense to me and everything fit together very well.
In my opinion, the only difference is that I disliked Cloud throughout FF7, whereas Zack has been my favourite character since I started the series.
Gameplay-wise, I preferred Crisis Core over FF7, and the ending of FF7 didn’t impact me as much as CC did. I don’t understand why people consider grinding fun- maybe that’s what makes me a casual gamer.
and here we are with both the remakes being out now