Another Remake
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis retells the story of FFVII and FFVII: Crisis Core while adding new content about young Sephiroth. The result of another team-up between Square Enix and Applibot, Ever Crisis is an entry into the FVII collection. While the FFVII story still holds up, the bare-bones battle system and the gacha elements drag the game down.
For Diehard Fans
FFVII: Ever Crisis covers the story of the original game and its prequel faithfully so far. As of this writing, there are only five chapters out, so the story is far from finished. FVII and Crisis Core are cut down to story sequences, battles and the occasional mini-dungeon. Most of the story progresses like a graphic novel, with dialogue followed by descriptions of what happens.
The games’ stories are still engaging, with gorgeous opening cutscenes taken from FFVII Remake and FFVII Crisis Core Reunion. The cutscenes look fantastic on ultra resolution, as do the battle sequences. Though it doesn’t do your phone battery any good.
For many FFVII fans, the exciting part of this game will be the new story content. You can’t jump right in though. The game requires you to start by playing the first chapters of the original FFVII and FFVII: Crisis Core before you can start The First Soldier, which is a letdown.
Even when you get there, the new content moves much more slowly than FFVII and FFVII: Crisis Core, making it feel out of place. New lore and worldbuilding in the FFVII universe are welcome, but the distinct lack of Sephiroth at the beginning makes it feel like false advertising.
An Unengaging Battle System
The smooth and well-rendered battle animations reflect the ones from the console games. Yet there isn’t much there to back it up. The main aspect of the RPG battle system involves switching between an offensive mode and a defensive mode. The game gives you clear times to do that, such as when an enemy’s charging up a large attack, meaning that it’s rare you need to think about when to switch. You can also select which character you control at will, but despite having different animations and stats, every character ends up feeling the same.
Even the bosses require limited strategy. The important part requires making sure to interrupt the boss’ big attacks, which consists of casting the right spell over and over. It’s ostensively more complicated than that, but what ends up happening is that all of your characters equip Ruin every time you fight a boss, taking any variety out of the fights.
There is an auto-battle system for those who are just interested in the story. As the battles are the bulk of the gameplay, this means you’ll spend a lot of time watching the computer fight for you
The Encroachment of Commerce
FFVII: Ever Crisis is at its heart a gacha game. As far as free-to-play games go, this one isn’t horribly pushy, as it doesn’t advertise between story missions. But every time you jump between options in the main menu, it’ll suggest you buy something, breaking the immersion.
Due to the nature of these games, the weapons you get from draw are based on chance. Disappointing draws aren’t uncommon. Some characters usually end up getting better weapons than others, too, making your characters uneven.
A Variety of Modes
In addition to the main story, there are ways to collect materials to power up your characters. These materials can be used to upgrade the weapons you already have, as well as upgrade your characters’ stats. Being a gacha game, it boils down to collecting—or buying—in-game currency to get better weapons.
Each of the collectibles has its own mode. However, the modes are indistinguishable from one another, being just a series of battles that grant you rewards. Since the battle system isn’t anything special, it’s frustrating to have to grind through these battles—or shell out money—to continue the story.
Most players will have to, though. The first chapter of each storyline is balanced so that you don’t have to grind to get through them. But the second chapter gets harder, halting your progress and immersion. As there are only five chapters available, it remains to be seen if the trend will continue, but it’s likely.
There is co-op content, but it feels like an afterthought. It consists of fighting the same boss at different levels while working with two other players. The nature of the battles makes it nearly impossible to strategize, making them feel hardly different than playing with the computer. Especially since the people I played with had turned on auto-battle, as they were using the same spells at the exact same time.
