Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - is an action - RPG from Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable . The game is a prequel to " Final Fantasy VII " and is the fourth entry to the " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " begins seven years before the start of " Final Fantasy VII " , and encompasses the events that take place until just before its beginning . The game ' s hero is Zack Fair , who was a minor character in " Final Fantasy VII " and the previous owner of the Buster Sword before Cloud Strife . He is a SOLDIER working for the Shinra Electric Power Company under Director Lazard Deusericus . The game tells the tale of Zack ' s battle against the villainous SOLDIER defector , Genesis Rhapsodos , and the other products of the Jenova Project . Gameplay . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " is both an action and turn - based RPG , with a stream of fast turns creating the illusion of real - time combat . Like the Square and Disney hybrid series " Kingdom Hearts " , the player chooses actions from a menu , featuring attack , magic , special attack , and item choices . The game ' s key feature is the Digital Mind Wave ( DMW ) — a slot machine - like screen in the upper left - hand corner . Images and numbers continuously scroll in each of the three slots consuming Soldier Points ( SP ) . Combinations of sevens lead to special status effects , while having identical characters in the left and right slot opens up the modulating phase . Certain combinations of characters and numbers in modulating phase will allow the player to level up Zack , power up Materia , or perform special moves and summons . The player can choose whether to follow the game ' s story , which can be completed in around 15 hours of gameplay , or to complete missions , leading to around 50 hours of gameplay for a 100 % completion . Some missions can only be unlocked by accomplishing certain story parts . Materia is part of the magic and ability system , like in " Final Fantasy VII " , but it ' s slightly different . Summon Materia are no longer under the player ' s control , and instead , are added to the DMW . When the DMW slots switch to the summoning scene one of the various Summon Materia are selected and performed . Main summon sequences are skippable FMVs . This does not apply to Chocobo Mode summons . Materia does not divide like it did in " Final Fantasy VII " , though it does level up if two matching numbers corresponding to the slot are drawn in a modulating phase ( the likelihood of a level up is based upon a hidden EXP counter that gains points as Zack defeats enemies ; the higher the counter , the greater chance of leveling up ) ; 1 - 4 as a SOLDIER 2nd Class , or 1 - 6 as a SOLDIER 1st Class . Materia may grant significant bonuses to Zack ' s HP , MP , AP , ATK , VIT , MAG , SPR , or LCK . Materia can be customized through the Materia Fusion process . Players cannot buy weapons . The game begins with Zack holding a typical SOLDIER sword , but he eventually moves on to wield the Buster Sword . In some cases special weapons are utilized , like wielding a parasol during a vacation to Costa del Sol . Equipment is limited to accessories that grant various stat boosts and special effects when equipped . Two to four pieces of equipment can be worn depending on requirements . The shops are entered via the main menu . More shops are added by proceeding in the storyline , and by doing missions which reward the player with access to new shops . None of the shops will sell Phoenix Down s , which must be found in treasure chests or won in missions . Setting . Since the game takes place seven years before " Final Fantasy VII " , many places on the Planet are either under construction or otherwise different from " Final Fantasy VII " . The city of Midgar has not yet been completed , and the town of Nibelheim is still filled with its original inhabitants . Several playable or otherwise major characters from " Final Fantasy VII " make cameo appearances . The world is in the grip of the Shinra Electric Power Company who dominates via its monopoly to Mako energy , a power sourced directly from the Lifestream , the life force of the Planet itself . Having become the world ' s " de factor " ruler , Shinra operates on many different fronts from vehicle and weapons manufacturing to genetic engineering . Only the distant Wutai nation opposes Shinra ' s hegemony , but the Shinra armies are making headway into defeating the nation with its army that includes an elite Soldier force called SOLDIER , consisting of SOLDIER enhanced with Mako power , and three SOLDIER enhanced with both Mako , and Jenova cells : the SOLDIER First Class members . SOLDIER has three legendary members which are the only 1st Class ' s so far . The most famous is Sephiroth , the strongest SOLDIER member ever known . Genesis Rhapsodos wishes to obtain Sephiroth ' s glory for himself , and has amassed a following for himself , as Shinra starts fan clubs to revere its SOLDIER members to improve the company ' s public image . Angeal Hewley is often considered the heart of the SOLDIER whose dedication to upholding SOLDIER honor has made him popular . He often mentors the lower class SOLDIERs , including Zack Fair , who strives to become a hero of SOLDIER like Sephiroth . Shinra ' s seat of power is located in the metropolis of Midgar that is ringed by numerous Mako Reactor s . Though the lives of those living off the ground level on a colossal " plate " suspended by pillars is cushy , the pollution the reactors sucking the Planet ' s life force from the ground causes is evident in the slums under the plate whose dwellers hardly ever see the light of day . Characters . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " only has one playable character . Story . To become a Hero . Zack is a SOLDIER 2nd Class under Angeal ' s mentorship with a dream of becoming a hero . During a training simulation in the SOLDIER training room in Shinra HQ , Zack loses against a simulated Sephiroth forcing Angeal to abort the session . Soonafter , Angeal leaves the SOLDIER training room and tells Zack , " Embrace your dreams , to be a hero , you need to have dreams , and honor . " After Angeal and Zack leave the training room , they later head to the SOLDIER director Lazard ' s office , and they learn Angeal ' s childhood friend , Genesis , has betrayed Shinra and deserted with a number of other SOLDIER members . Lazard proceeds to give Zack and Angeal orders to go to Fort Tamblin for the final battle of the Wutai War . Before beginning their mission , Angeal tells Zack that he recommended him to become 1st Class . While approaching the Wutai stronghold Angeal tells Zack about his childhood . He grew up poor in Banora Village known for its " dumbapples " , apples exclusive to the region that ripen at random times of the year , which he would pilfer to feed himself . He was best friends with the mayor ' s son , Genesis Rhapsodos , and never stole from his family ' s tree even if it was the biggest in the village , and was too proud to ask for handouts . Angeal explains his weapon , the Buster Sword , represents his family ' s honor and thus he avoids wearing it down . The two split and Zack infiltrates the fortress alone . Inside he meets a young girl called Yuffie , who soon runs off . Zack is ambushed by two monsters and is saved by Angeal . When Zack notes Angeal used the Buster Sword , his mentor retorts Zack ' s life is slightly more important than the sword . Angeal goes back on his own , and after Zack is finished with his work , he goes looking for Angeal . On the way , Zack encounters and battles an Ifrit that is suddenly summoned . Zack thinks he defeats it , but it gets back up and overwhelms him when he lets his guard down . Sephiroth suddenly appears and defeats it saving Zack . Zack and Sephiroth find several soldiers working under Genesis who look exactly like him , transformed into copies of him thanks to stolen Shinra technology . Zack unable to find Angeal , leaves Sephiroth believing Angeal has now deserted with Genesis . Zack refuses to believe his friend and mentor would be a turncoat . He is sent to Banora village along with the Turk Tseng to investigate Genesis ' s disappearance . Turks is Shinra ' s intelligence agency often given the most clandstine and dirtiest jobs , and Tseng is quick to point out how much better paid he is than Zack for the kind of work they have to do . Zack and Tseng find several graves , including those of Genesis ' s foster parents , and the only person Zack can find is Gillian Hewley , Angeal ' s mother . At the town factory Zack meets Genesis , and it turns out he has been using the apple juice factory as his base of operations . Genesis quotes from the epic poem LOVELESS whose story focuses around three men who set out on a quest to find the fabled " Gift of the Goddess " before making his escape . Shinra plans to destroy the village to conceal the events from the general public , and Zack races downtown to warn Gillian . He finds her dead with Angeal standing over her . Zack is shocked and enraged by the idea of Angeal killing his own mother , and questions him about the code of honor he claims to live by . Genesis appears and summons Bahamut to fight Zack , calls himself a monster , sprouts a single black wing and flies away . The town is bombed by Shinra Army aircraft with Zack and Tseng evacuating via helicopter . Back at Shinra Headquarters Zack is promoted to SOLDIER 1st Class by SOLDIER director Lazard Deusericus . Legacy of SOLDIER honor . Genesis and his army launch an assault upon the headquarters and Zack fights his way through , rescuing the Turk , Cissnei , on his way to Sector 5 Reactor where Sephiroth says Angeal has been spotted . Initially Zack is reluctant to hunt down his old mentor , but Sephiroth ' s plan is not to turn him over to Shinra , just to talk to him to find out what is going on . The two find monsters that have Angeal ' s face on their bodies , similar to the Genesis Copies that make up Genesis ' s army . They find documents on Jenova Project G , the branch of the Jenova Project that created both Genesis and Angeal , but was deemed a failure . Sephiroth conjectures the " G " stands for Project Genesis , and explains Genesis is suffering from degradation , slowly dying because of his tainted birth . He reminisces of a training exercise between himself , Angeal and Genesis in the Shinra Virtual Reality System . Genesis had the book of LOVELESS with him , envisioning himself and his two SOLDIER First Class comrades , Sephiroth and Angeal , as the three men foretold in the epic . Genesis wants to fill the role of " Hero " in the story and envied Sephiroth ' s fame as the SOLDIER hero , challenging him alone to prove his superiority until Angeal intervened . Genesis sustained a wound in his shoulder and later received a blood transfusion from Angeal , overseen by a former Shinra scientist Dr . Hollander , the man behind Project G . The wound wouldn ' t heal and was the start of Genesis ' s degradation . Genesis has joined forces with Hollander , who claims to be able to cure him , but is secretly using him to get personal revenge against Shinra . Zack tries to capture Hollander in the Mako Reactor , but Angeal arrives and shows Zack his white wings , saying he has become a monster . Zack tries to convince his former mentor his wings do not belong to a monster but an angel , but Angeal says angels dream to be human . Zack refuses to fight his old friend , and Angeal sends Zack plummeting down into the Midgar Slums . Falling into the Sector 5 Church , Zack lands into the flower bed tended to by a slum dweller named Aerith Gainsborough . She calls out to him until he comes to and Zack convinces her to go on a date in the slums , during which he salvages a kid ' s wallet from monsters , and buys her a pink hair ribbon . Aerith reveals she fears the SOLDIER and the sky , as she has lived her life under the plate and rarely sees it . Zack reveals he is a member of SOLDIER , and his eyes have a glow due to having underwent a procedure of Mako enhancement . Aerith thinks if the sky resembles Zack ' s eyes it won ' t be so scary after all . Zack has to return to the top of the plate due to another Genesis attack , this time targeting Professor Hojo , Shinra ' s head of Science Department . While Sephiroth is sent to secure the president , Zack is sent to Hojo ' s aid and Angeal decides to take aside and helps Zack . Genesis confronts Hojo who rebuffs him and claims Hollader is a second rate scientist who won ' t be able to cure his degradation . Genesis quotes passages from LOVELESS , believing the " Gift of the Goddess " spoken of in the epic would cure him . Hojo mentions it has a missing fifth act with only a single line remaining : " Even if the morrow is barren of promises , nothing shall forestall my return " , although there are many theories on the story ' s conclusion . Hojo disregards LOVELESS and the Gift of the Goddess as unscientific , Angeal and Zack beat the Genesis Army out of Midgar , and Genesis flies off , summoning a Bahamut Fury for Zack to fight . Zack is sent to the abandoned town of Modeoheim in the frigid wastes of the Northern Continent with Tseng and a Shinra infantryman named Cloud Strife as Genesis is rumored of having been seen there . Their helicopter is shot down by Genesis ' s forces and the group is forced to trek through the snowy terrain . Since both Zack and Cloud are " country boys , " the two quickly befriend . At Modeoheim , Zack and the team finds an abandoned warehouse Genesis has been using as a base . Zack storms the facility and rescues Hollander from a vengeful Genesis , angry at Hollander ' s failure to stop his degradation . He has decided to look for Jenova cells for a cure , but Hollander protests that no one knows where Jenova — the extraterrestrial life form Shinra initially mistook for a member of the Cetra race — is stored . A weakened Genesis tries to fight Zack , but is defeated . Genesis falls into the abyss below the warehouse and is presumed dead . Hollander flees into the town of Modeoheim while Zack pursues . At a ruined bathhouse Zack finds Angeal and Hollander . The latter tells how Angeal is the true success of Project G , having Jenova ' s power of a two - way genetic conduit , able to pass on his genes and take in those of other organisms . It turns out the " G " in Project G stands for Project Gillian , named after Angeal ' s mother whom Hollander injected with Jenova ' s cells in an attempt to create a human with the powers of the Cetra . While Genesis was injected with Gillian ' s cells resulting in an incomplete version of Jenova ' s power leading to his current degradation , Angeal received his mother ' s cells directly while in the womb and thus grew up into a perfect specimen . It is revealed Angeal did not kill Gillian , but she had taken her own life . Angeal , no longer wishing to be a monster , absorbs several different copies and turns into a hideous creature , Angeal Penance . Zack defeats it and before dying Angeal passes on his Buster Sword and the legacy of SOLDIER honor to Zack . Dr . Hollander is captured and with all three major threats to Shinra gone , the Genesis War seems to be over . The Nibelheim Incident . Zack assumes Angeal ' s role as the heart and soul of SOLDIER , speaking to trainees and encouraging recruits . He mourns Angeal ' s passing and is comforted by Aerith whom he continues to visit at the slums . Shinra sends him to Costa del Sol to recuperate , and as Zack relaxes on the beach several Genesis Copies emerge from the water to attack . Cissnei , who had been sent with Zack to keep an eye on him , speculates Genesis may be controlling his copies from the Lifestream , the plane of afterlife spirits are said to return to upon death . Zack defeats the copies with a parasol and is sent to Junon where Genesis has launched a full - scale attack . Junon is where Dr . Hollander was sent after being taken in Modeoheim and Genesis and his army wreak enough chaos for Hollander to slip out . The attack was successful largely due to the intelligence given by the surprise traitor , Director Lazard . Zack chases Hollander through Junon , but he is flown to safety by Genesis copies while Genesis himself , alive but still suffering from degradation , watches on . Back in Midgar Zack finds the Shinra security robots have gone rogue attacking citizens . He finds Aerith in the church being ambushed by robots , but a canine winged Angeal copy helps her and makes its abode in the church rafters . Initially wary of the beast , Zack recognizes it as Angeal ' s legacy . Sephiroth takes over the SOLDIER operations . As Genesis seems to be attacking Mako Reactors he plans an operation in Nibelheim , Cloud ' s hometown . Zack visits Aerith one last time before leaving and builds her a flower cart so she could earn some money as a florist , but their sales attempts do not go as planned . Sephiroth , Zack , Cloud , and another Shinra guard arrive in Nibelheim and are led to the Nibel Reactor on Mt . Nibel by a guide , a village girl named Tifa Lockhart . Cloud conceals his identity from the town due to embarrassment of having failed to enter SOLDIER . At the reactor they find monsters created by over - exposure to Mako . Sephiroth finds a tank labeled " JENOVA " — the name of his " mother " — with the vaguely feminine form of an alien creature . Genesis appears and tells Sephiroth he was born out of Jenova Project S , Professor Hojo and Gast Faremis ' s side of the Jenova Project . Sephiroth cannot create copies of himself , and thus doesn ' t degrade . Genesis asks for Sephiroth ' s genetic material to help him cure his degradation , seeing as Sephiroth is the " perfect monster " created from the Jenova Project , but Sephiroth rebuffs his old friend . With his past in doubt and Genesis ' s words in question , Sephiroth descends into the local Shinra Manor basement and reads Professor Gast Faremis ' s files on Project S of the Jenova Project . Sephiroth comes to believe Jenova is a Cetra and thus he is the last of their race and the rightful heir to the Planet , blaming the extinction of the Cetra to the humans who abandoned them during a time of need . Driven to insanity by the knowledge of his birth , Sephiroth goes on a rampage and torches Nibelheim , killing most of the population . Zack pursues him up the mountain to the reactor where Sephiroth tries to free his " mother " from her containment tank , cutting Tifa down along the way . Zack confronts Sephiroth but is defeated . Cloud arrives , furious over his mother ' s death and his childhood friend Tifa ' s grave injuries . Using an unknown power , Cloud defeats Sephiroth , sending him plummeting into the Lifestream along with Jenova ' s head he was holding onto . Though Cloud wins , he is badly wounded , and falls . Professor Hojo , the mastermind of Project S , takes Zack ' s and Cloud ' s beaten bodies and starts a new experiment to create Sephiroth Clones to test his Reunion Theory . Zack and Cloud are infused with Sephiroth ' s cells , but are deemed failures and left lying asleep in tanks for four years until Zack is awoken by what seems to be Angeal . Since Zack is a SOLDIER , and resistant to Mako due to the SOLDIER process , he has the strength to drag himself and a catatonic Cloud out of a rebuilt Nibelheim through the ranks of Shinra soldiers . To ease Cloud ' s recovery from Mako poisoning , Zack lends Cloud a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform , discarding his old Mako - soaked clothes . The Gift of the Goddess . Zack and Cloud escape via the countryside and run into Cissnei who reveals Shinra has dispatched her to capture the two . She is shocked the escapees she was sent to hunt down are Zack and Cloud , and seeing Cloud in a bad state agrees to let the two go , lending Zack a motorcycle with a side car for Cloud . While on the run Zack and a near - vegetative Cloud run into Genesis and his copies . Since Zack and Cloud are infused with S Cells , Genesis wishes to take the two to stop his degradation . A Genesis Copy tests Genesis ' s plan by eating a lock of Zack ' s hair , but this turns the copy into a monster . Zack travels to his hometown of Gongaga to see his parents , but Cissnei appears to warn Zack , telling him that going to Gongaga is too obvious and Shinra will expect this . Genesis and Hollander , now a Genesis Copy himself , attack , and Zack kills Hollander . The person who Zack thought was Angeal who protects him and Cloud is actually Director Lazard , now an Angeal Copy dying of the same degradation Genesis and his copies suffer from . Lazard has inherited Angeal ' s feelings of honor and wish to save the world , which is why he is helping Zack . Zack puts together where Genesis has been hiding for so long . Genesis is always carrying a Banora White apple , and thus must have been hiding in Banora the whole time . Zack leaves Lazard to look over Cloud while he makes his way into an underground cavern beneath the cratered land that used to be Banora Village . The land is inundated with Lifestream whose power makes the apples ripen on the surface . Zack finds Genesis ' s old hideout he used as a child and learns Genesis ' s childhood dream was to share a Banora White apple with SOLDIER hero Sephiroth . More of LOVELESS is engraved upon stone tablets within the cave that tell a short story of a group of three friends who go in search for the " Gift of the Goddess " taking on the roles of a " Hero " , a " Traveler " , and a " Prisoner " . The Prisoner escapes and is critically wounded , only to end up in the care of a woman from the enemy faction whom he falls in love with . He lives a peaceful life , but is tortured by the promise he made to his friends . Zack finds Genesis hiding at the end of the cave with a statue of " the Goddess " holding the Goddess Materia , a gigantic natural Materia , or crystallized Lifestream . He claims the epic poem LOVELESS to now be fulfilled as the three friends the epic speaks of are " reunited " , with Zack inheriting Angeal ' s will and Sephiroth ' s cells . Genesis absorbs the Materia ' s power , transforms into Genesis Avatar , and engages Zack . Zack defeats Genesis Avatar and Genesis returns to human form . Now healed of his degradation by the Goddess Materia , Genesis fights Zack but is defeated . Genesis finds himself in a place filled with Lifestream and sees the statue turn into the goddess herself . As he approaches her , the goddess sees his desire to complete his duty as SOLDIER , and acting as the will of the Lifestream , prevents him from returning to the Planet so he may one day achieve his goal . Zack drags Genesis ' s limp body up to his campsite to join a comatose Cloud and a dying Lazard in a bizarre picnic of half - dead bodies . Lazard had just fought Shinra soldiers , with the help of a canine Angeal Copy , which Zack recognizes as the same one that defended Aerith at the church years ago . Both are dying from their wounds and degradation . Zack gathers everyone with Banora Whites and symbolically completes the re - enactment of LOVELESS , with Genesis as the Prisoner , Angeal ( represented by his copies ) as the Wanderer , and Zack is the Hero . Zack bites into the apple , fulfilling Genesis ' s childhood dream in spirit . Through his fight with Zack , Genesis has realized the true Gift of the Goddess : SOLDIER honor . As Lazard and the Angeal Copy die and fade away , a letter is left behind , one of eighty - nine Aerith sent during the intervening four years , and the last she sent before giving up on receiving a reply . Zack is shocked to discover he has been gone for four years and , desperate to return to her , makes his way toward Midgar . After Zack and Cloud depart Nero and Weiss , the future leaders of Deepground , arrive dressed as 1st Class SOLDIERs and take the unconscious Genesis away leaving his book of LOVELESS behind . Genesis ' s disembodied voice recites the final act of LOVELESS which appears onto the book . Whether this is the original final act he had finally found , or his own conclusion to the saga , is left ambiguous . Zack ' s final stand . Tseng mobilizes the Turks to find Zack and Cloud before the Shinra army does to save him , but before Zack can reach Midgar the Shinra army tracks him down . Though Zack fights with everything he ' s got , he is overwhelmed and mortally wounded . Left lying on a precipice looking over Midgar , Zack feels his life fading away , as does Aerith tending to her garden a few short miles away . A confused Cloud is finally beginning to recover from the Mako poisoning and gain some awareness . He sees his friend dying and Zack tells Cloud he will be his " living legacy " . Like Angeal before him , Zack passes down the Buster Sword and his SOLDIER honor to Cloud . Angeal descends from the sky as an angel to bring Zack into the Lifestream . Cloud wanders into Midgar as Zack ' s lingering voice tells Cloud to say hi to Aerith for him , and asks if he has finally become a hero . Epilogue . Cloud ' s Mako poisoning had left him weak and seeing Zack die shattered his mind . As a defense mechanism , Cloud blocks out the events altogether and merges some of Zack ' s mannerisms and memories with his own to create a new personality and history . Cloud rides the train towards the attack on Sector 1 Reactor , wearing a modification of the SOLDIER 1st Class uniform . He declares himself a SOLDIER 1st Class , and the story continues in " Final Fantasy VII " . Music . The game ' s soundtrack was primarily composed by Takeharu Ishimoto . The soundtrack includes many new remixes of preexisting " Final Fantasy VII " and " Last Order - Final Fantasy VII - " songs , the original " Final Fantasy VII " compositions done by Nobuo Uematsu . It was released in a two - CD format with 55 tracks . Development . Hajime Tabata was chosen as a director for an upcoming " Final Fantasy " title for the PlayStation Portable console , and after a discussion with Tetsuya Nomura and Yoshinori Kitase , decided he wanted to make a game for the " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " . The original idea was to make PlayStation Portable port of " Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII - " , as it was released exclusively for mobile phones and the staff wanted to expand its gamer base ; for example , releasing it for PlayStation Portable would open the possibility of an international release . However , after casting Zack as the game ' s protagonist , the idea of a " Before Crisis " port was cancelled , and the original idea of naming the game " Before Crisis Core " was changed to " Crisis Core " without the intent of it matching with the other titles from the " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " series with the AC ( " Advent Children " ) , BC ( " Before Crisis " ) , and DC ( " Dirge of Cerberus " ) . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " was announced at E3 2005 and its first trailer consisted of clips from " Last Order " . There was pressure of developing a " Final Fantasy VII " prequel , something which Yoshinori Kitase has remarked about : " Obviously as part of a beloved series , part of a popular world , there ' s immense pressure to produce . It wasn ' t about paying tribute to the original , but to create a connection between the original and all the other Compilation titles as well . It was in a unique position , as it takes place in the past , to connect to all of the titles . " One of the primary reasons Zack was chosen as the protagonist was his predetermined fate . Kitase has stated that Zack ' s story had " been cooking for 10 years " as conceptual artwork and back story already existed for him , despite Zack being a minor character in " Final Fantasy VII " . The game was initially planned to have more scenes involving Zack and Cloud ' s escape to Midgar to expand on their connection , but it could not be included due to UMD limitations , and the staff chose to instead focus in Zack ' s work as a soldier . The game ' s main antagonist , Genesis Rhapsodos , was created as a collaboration between Camui Gackt and Hideki Imaizumi , the game ' s producer . Gackt ' s original involvement with Square Enix was singing " Redemption " , the theme music for " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " , and appearing in a minor role in that game , playing Genesis . Imaizumi thought such a passing role was a waste and asked for more involvement . Imaizumi and Gackt came up with Genesis ' s design , describing everything from his attitude to his clothes . " I went to eat with him one time and described the " Final Fantasy VII " universe in rich detail . And it turned into this process of collaboration , creating the character together . Then we went to the studio and recorded the Japanese voice with all that in mind . So he really was a creative partner in all of this . And we really wanted the connection between " Dirge of Cerberus " and " Crisis Core " . " One of the main background events from " Final Fantasy VII " , Nibelheim ' s destruction , was revised for the original video animation " Last Order : Final Fantasy VII " , but the staff of " Crisis Core " decided not to follow in this vein . Producer Hideki Imaizumi has said this regarding the decision , " When we made that feature , we changed the presentation of that event from the original " Final Fantasy VII " . And the fan response was — well , there was considerable negative feedback in regard to changing a part of the story that they considered integral to the whole lore . So we listened to that and learned from that . And in fact , the Nibelheim incident is presented again in " Crisis Core " , and we were careful not to make the same decisions that we did in " Last Order " . " Once it was decided Zack would be the game ' s protagonist , the story ' s nature barred the staff from utilizing a party of playable characters like in " Final Fantasy VII " . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " was originally envisioned as an action game , but because the staff was more experienced in RPGs , they decided to modify it , making battles closer to the ones from RPGs , and an action RPG in genre . " Final Fantasy VII " s battle system was used as the basis with action elements added to it ; the Materia system was designed so that players could choose between " RPG - oriented enhancements " and " action - oriented enhancements , " as well as to give the game balance . The Digital Mind Wave system ( DMW ) was added to give the gameplay an element of luck as well as to avoid combat feeling repetitive . Nomura and Kitase were inspired by the " pachinko " , a type of Japanese slots machine , in developing the system . The staff initially had difficulty in developing the gameplay due to its departure from traditional " Final Fantasy " battles . One of the development team ' s regrets regarding " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " is that they did not include a feature to skip cut scenes . By the time the team realized their mistake , it was too late to add it . Version differences . A new Hard Mode was added to the games released in the North America and PAL regions . Other version differences include the player no longer getting a Game Over for failing a mission , and the redesigning of the Minerva statue seen in the Banora Underground , as the original model was deemed to resemble depictions of the too closely . Themes . The concept of legacy is a prominent theme in " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " , and how the actions of one generation impact the next . The most evident display of this is the passing down of the Buster Sword and SOLDIER honor from Angeal to Zack and finally to Cloud . Legacy is displayed in Cloud and Zack inheriting S Cells from Sephiroth , Angeal ' s surviving copies representing Angeal after his death , and his will being passed down to Lazard after being transformed into an Angeal Copy . Lazard begins to act on Angeal ' s innermost desires , such as helping Zack , trying to save Genesis , and even to save the world . The legacy theme is alluded to in the game ' s tagline by Zack shedding tears over the loss of Angeal , and Cloud crying over Zack ' s death at the end ; thus " crying for their comrades " after inheriting their legacies . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " itself can be seen as a legacy for " Final Fantasy VII " it is based on , befitting its theme ; the game ends with " continues in " Final Fantasy VII " " . The story of LOVELESS is a prominent theme in " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " . Being obsessed with LOVELESS , Genesis tries to recreate the story to cure his degradation . His encounter with the goddess Minerva grants him a second chance at life and he realizes the Gift of the Goddess is his SOLDIER pride , something Angeal frequently spoke of and valued highly . Release and reception . The game was released in Japan in 2007 and it was a commercial success , becoming Square Enix ' s best - selling game from April through September 2007 . " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " sold 301 , 600 copies upon its first month of release in the United States , making " Crisis Core " the second best - selling game for the PSP during the month of March and the sixth best - selling game overall . Crisis Core sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide . Special edition silver PSP set . A special edition 10th Anniversary of " Final Fantasy VII " , " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " silver PlayStation Portable was released on September 13th , 2007 , along with the game ' s Japanese release . It came bundled with a retail copy of the game , the special edition PSP - 2000 ( slim ) unit covered in Tetsuya Nomura artwork , and a Buster Sword strap . Retailers also threw in a " Crisis Core " inner earphone set , supposedly as a pre - order bonus , although anyone who lined up on launch day was given one . All was packaged in a special box that seems to have been targeting collectors . The PlayStation Portable is region free , meaning the console can play any games from around the world , but it cannot play UMD movies from the USA . The version of " Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - " bundled with it is a Japanese language version that allows no options to switch to English . The bundle was produced in limited quantities of 77 , 777 copies and retailed for 25 , 890 yen . Each individual special edition PlayStation Portable is engraved with a serial number from 00001 to 77 , 777 . A re - release of the PSP was made in Europe , but it did not have the unique serial number , and the silver color was less metallic .