Even though it's a prequel, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion spoils some of Final Fantasy 7's biggest revelations. Those wishing to experience the story of FF7 should play the original or remake before Crisis Core. In FF7, many of the characters' backgrounds are shrouded in mystery, and as the story progresses, each of them discovers or reveals aspects of their hidden past. As a prequel to that story, Crisis Core: Reunion lets players watch some of FF7's character backgrounds play out in real time. Its plot begins seven years before that of FF7, and ends with a recontextualized retelling of the opening scenes of FF7.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion.]
Crisis Core greatly fleshes out many of the plot points that Final Fantasy 7 merely touches on. It depicts part of the Shinra-Wutai war, which has recently ended as of the beginning of FF7. Players will encounter younger versions of Final Fantasy 7 main characters in Crisis Core - Yuffie Kisaragi, Tifa Lockhart, Cloud Strife, and Sephiroth - through the eyes of Zack Fair. Although Zack isn't physically present during the events of the original Final Fantasy 7 (and has barely shown his face in Remake), he has a meteoric impact on its events. For these reasons, despite taking place before Final Fantasy 7, Crisis Core spoils much of its plot.
Crisis Core Reveals Sephiroth's Origins, A FF7 Mystery
Once the fragmented Avalanche party escapes from Midgar at the climax of Final Fantasy 7's first disc, their mission becomes the search for Sephiroth. They find themselves asking certain questions about the disgraced former SOLDIER, and the player asks along with them. Where Sephiroth is, why he killed President Shinra, how he knows so much about Cloud, and what he wants with him remain a mystery throughout much of the game, and it's not until much later that they learn the truth. Crisis Core preempts FF7's story by revealing this information ahead of time.
In Crisis Core, players see Sephiroth discover the truth of his origins and the ensuing destruction. Sephiroth travels with a small contingent of fellow SOLDIERs and Shinra infantrymen to Nibelheim, where they are to perform a routine inspection of a mako reactor. However, instead Sephiroth encounters former SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos. Genesis explains that both he and Sephiroth are genetically-engineered super soldiers containing cells from Jenova, an extraterrestrial being imprisoned there. After thoroughly researching Genesis' claims, Sephiroth returns with a vengeance and burns Nibelheim to the ground. Unbeknownst to him, in doing so he creates two of his most powerful enemies.
Crisis Core Spoils Why FF7's Tifa Lockhart s Avalanche
When players first meet Tifa Lockhart in FF7 and its remake, she's a humble bar owner who moonlights as a member of the eco-terrorist organization Avalanche. She's the one who recruits Cloud for the reactor mission and convinces him to stay on afterwards - they're old friends, after all. Despite her unwavering for their mission to take down the planet-killing power company Shinra, Tifa has serious misgivings about the violence Avalanche's reactor bombings inflict on innocent bystanders. It's not until much later in the game (or in Crisis Core) that players discover exactly why.
Tifa is a survivor of the Nibelheim incident, in which Sephiroth's rage results in the destruction of her hometown and the death of her father. As both Crisis Core and Final Fantasy 7's stories depict, Tifa serves as Zack, Sephiroth, and Cloud's guide up the slippery slopes of Mount Nibel, where they inspect a mako reactor and learn some uncomfortable truths. As Tifa mourns her father, she curses Shinra and SOLDIER, solidifying a lifelong hatred for the corrupt megacorporation and its private militia. It's with that hatred in mind that Tifa later s Avalanche in order to enact her revenge, and with the Nibelheim massacre in mind that she questions their violent methods.
Crisis Core Shows How Cloud Got FF7's Signature Buster Sword
With its angled blade and imposing five-foot stature, Cloud Strife's Buster Sword might just be the most iconic video game weapon of all time. Even though it's his weakest sword and players are likely to ditch it as soon as they can get to Midgar's weapon shop, Cloud’s huge Buster Sword is almost always present in his spinoff appearances. Although it's most closely associated with Cloud, the Buster Sword didn't originally belong to him - he was the third person to use it. However, he doesn't know that until well into Final Fantasy 7.
In Crisis Core, players will watch as the Buster Sword is ed down. It was originally commissioned by the father of Angeal Hewley when his son ed SOLDIER. It was so expensive that Angeal's father worked himself to death to pay off the price. Therefore, Angeal is reluctant to use and potentially damage the Buster Sword. After discovering Shinra's atrocities, Angeal turns on his former employer, and Zack soon s him. In what is one of Crisis Core Reunion's hardest fights, Zack is forced to kill Angeal when he mutates into a monster. As Angeal lays dying, he gives his sword and his mission to Zack. When Zack later saves Cloud's life, he es the sword on again.
Crisis Core Spoils Cloud's Backstory & Zack's Final Stand
In Final Fantasy 7 and the original Crisis Core, Zack and Cloud are captured by the cruel scientist Professor Hojo, who alters their DNA and exposes them to mako in order to test his Jenova Reunion Theory. After four years of imprisonment, Zack and Cloud manage to escape. Cloud is suffering from severe mako poisoning, and has to be carried by Zack as he can no longer stand on his own. Just outside Midgar, Shinra forces ambush Zack, but not before he can hide Cloud. Greatly outnumbered, Zack fights valiantly, but is critically wounded and left for dead. In Crisis Core’s ending prior to FF7, he presents Cloud with his Buster Sword, and breathes his last as Cloud enters Midgar.
After Crisis Core, Cloud's memory is damaged by the mako, so he takes on his fallen comrade's backstory as Zack told it. Cloud struggles with an identity crisis, claiming to be a member of SOLDIER's first class. Sephiroth frequently lies to Cloud, further confusing his memory. As he travels the world in search of Sephiroth, Cloud uncovers fragments of his past, discovering that he never qualified for the elite SOLDIER, instead serving as an infantryman. He learns that Hojo injected him, like Sephiroth, with cells from Jenova, believing that the two would be drawn to reunite. Cloud eventually comes to with his past and takes on an identity of his own.
At least that's how the original Final Fantasy 7 and Crisis Core have it. Square Enix has made it so FF7 Remake's story beats changed from the original's, creating an alternate timeline. Although Crisis Core Reunion sticks to the original story, FF7 Remake implies that Zack survives. In an epilogue, he visits Aerith's church with Buster Sword in hand, implying that he never gave it to Cloud. What all this means for the continuity of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake timeline is as yet unclear. Whether the plot points spoiled by Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion will hold true in the remake timeline remains to be seen, but it's safe to assume Zack Fair has some surprises in store.
Source: FINAL FANTASY/YouTube