Are you a fan of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix’s most popular game series of all time? Have you already completed everything else the franchise has to offer and now want something new in the FF7 universe? Well, then let us introduce you to Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis.
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is a mobile game that celebrates the entire FFVII universe. From Crisis Core to The First Soldier, players are able to either relive the beloved franchise from the start or dive into it for the first time through this game. What’s more, is that it’s an official game made by Square Enix, much like Kingdom Hearts: Union X and Lara Croft Run.
Source: Square Enix
Today, we want to go through everything you need to know before you start your Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis journey. We’ll be going through some of the important mechanics found in this game and we’ll also be going through the potential code system of this game to help players get a head start.
Starting Off
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As soon as you launch the game, you’ll be asked to set the graphic settings. We suggest just going with the recommended setting as the game bases the recommendation on your phone’s specifications. Naturally, the higher the settings the better the game will look, but the more draining it will be on your device.
Source: Square Enix
Next, you’ll have to download some additional assets. Keep in mind that you’ll be downloading extra assets a lot, so we recommend you have more than a little extra space on your device. Also, this game requires a constant internet connection, otherwise, you won’t be able to play.
Source: Square Enix
With that done, you’ll go through a short tutorial battle that will be followed by a cutscene taken straight out of Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Fortunately, you can skip cutscenes easily by tapping the option on the top right of the screen.
Source: Square Enix
Before you can access the rest of the game, you’ll have to complete the initial prologue mission. If you’ve played either the original Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy VII: Remake, then you might recognize this mission as the first mission in those games as well.
How Does Combat Work
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Now, the most important thing in any Final Fantasy game is, of course, the combat. Fortunately, Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis’ combat is extremely engaging, and doesn’t make things difficult because it’s a mobile game.
While we’ll be going through this a little bit more later on, it should be established that there is indeed a level up system in this game. Every battle you complete grants every member in your party a set amount of experience, and getting enough experience levels your character up.
Combat Basics
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First things first. This game is technically a turn based game. We say this because both your team as well as the enemy team take turns using base attacks. These base attacks are done automatically, and you don’t really have any control over how or when they take place.
One thing you can do is select the enemy you want to target. To do this, you just have to tap the enemy you want to target, and that enemy’s health bar will get highlighted. All abilities and basic attacks will then be directed toward that enemy.
Using Abilities
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While you don’t control when your player uses their base attacks, you can, fortunately, use abilities whenever you want. At the bottom of the screen, at the center, you’ll see several icons that will represent the abilities your character has unlocked and equipped.
On top of the ability icons will be a blue bar that will automatically replenish as the battle goes on. When you have the same number of bars filled as the ability you want to use requires, you can tap that abilities icon to have your character use it automatically.
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One thing to keep in mind is that you can only control your own player’s abilities. While your allies can also use abilities, they’ll use their abilities automatically and you don’t have any control over them. So it’s best to play as the most strategic character yourself and let your allies be characters who only have one type of ability to make things predictable for yourself.
Source: Square Enix
Now, abilities range from those that deal a specific type of damage to those that heal one or more party members. Therefore, it might be a good idea to always take a closer look at all of your available abilities before marching into battle. Who knows, you might have abilities that the enemy you’re going up against is weak to.
Using Limit Breaks
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You might notice that under your character’s health bar, there will be a yellow bar that will slowly but surely fill up as battles go on and you take damage. Well, this bar is called the limit break bar, and it’s going to be your best fried.
Once your character’s limit break bar fills up, an extra yellow icon pops up to the left of your usual abilities. By tapping it, your character will use their limit break, which is basically their ultimate attack. One cool thing is that limit breaks don’t use up your ability bar (ATB Gauge), so don’t worry about not being able to use other abilities after it.
Source: Square Enix
Additionally, you can also choose when to use the limit breaks of your allies. Allies also have a limit break bar, and as soon as it gets filled, you get the option to tap the icon next to their health bar to have that ally use their limit break.
If multiple characters have their limit break available at the same time, then it’s possible to chain them together by tapping them all one by one. Chaining limit breaks grants you a damage multiplier depending on how many limit breaks are chained.
Stances
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The final thing you need to know about the Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis battle system is how the stance mechanic works. At the right of the screen, you’ll see an icon that will either be red or blue.
Source: Square Enix
Let us say it’s red. In this scenario, you’ll deal more damage to your enemies, but your defense will also be reduced so you’ll take more damage too. If it’s blue, however, then your defense will be increased in exchange for you sacrificing some of your attack.
You should be smart with what stance you use to ensure you’re able to deal damage at the right time while staying alive. To switch stances, you simply have to tap the icon once.
Source: Square Enix
Some enemies charge up strong attacks before using them. Against bosses like this, we recommend you switch to a defense stance before the attack hits to ensure you don’t have to take too much damage. Similarly, when some enemies are incapacitated, they’re open to taking damage, in which case you should switch to an attack stance and let the enemy have it.
The Story of Ever Crisis
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With the combat mechanics out of the way, we’re sure most of you are dying to know how the game’s story system works. Well, the game is what you might call the complete Final Fantasy VII experience. It includes story chapters from the original FFVII, Crisis Core, and even Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, which was the free to play battle royale game that was cancelled.
Source: Square Enix
Because this is a mobile game, Square Enix has announced that story chapters will continue to be released as time goes on. Therefore, it isn’t as though you can play everything from the get go.
However, fortunately, you can switch between the unlocked story modes without any issue and progress naturally in them. Just remember to download the additional assets to ensure you don’t have to pause your experience.
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While we’re unsure when more story content will be coming out, at the time of writing, it has been confirmed that Advent Children, and Dirge of Cerberus, among others, will eventually be made available.
To make the story experience as genuine as possible, players are given a premade party for every chapter of the story. However, we’re free to power up those party members however we want.
Other Story Content
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In addition to the core story content set in the FFVII universe, there are other modes players can eventually unlock. These game modes include:
- Solo content, which includes enhancement quests, training quests, daily quests, and more.
- Multiplayer content, which allows up to three players to fight together.
- Events that are made available for players to complete all the time. These events usually are available for a limited time and reward players with exclusive unlockables.
- Chocobo farm, which allows players to collect and interact with Chocobos. Chocobos are the game’s mascot bird characters that are popular enough to have spin-off games based on them.
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If all of these game modes are locked for you then worry not because they’ll be made available as you progress in the core story. While doing so should be relatively easy because of the premade parties we play as, it’s still recommended that you keep the characters strong enough.
Making the Perfect FFVII Party
While Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis might look like any other console release, you have to remember that it’s a mobile game at the end of the day. Therefore, it has certain mechanics that you can expect to find only in mobile games, such as gacha mechanics that Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius also has.
Source: Square Enix
You can use the gacha of this game by pulling for random gear and weapons. To do so, you’ll need a type of premium currency that can be collected from the story mode, achievements, and daily loot.
Additionally, much like every other RPG, there’s also a level up system in this game. To make things easier, we’re about to go through everything you’ll be doing in this game to make your characters stronger.
Leveling Characters Up
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Unlike other gacha games like Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact, you don’t pull for characters in Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis. Instead, all characters are unlocked from the get go, and you’re able to level them up as they become available in the story.
However, you still have to grind quite a lot if you want to level your characters up. After every battle, your characters gain a set amount of experience points depending on how difficult the fight was. Get enough experience points and your characters will level up causing them to become stronger.
Source: Square Enix
As you level up your characters, they will also unlock new limit breaks. Strengthen your characters and equip the most useful abilities and limit breaks to make the strongest party ever.
Gearing Your Characters
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Remember that gacha mechanic we told you about? Well, the most likely thing you’ll be pulling for will be equipment and weapons for your characters. Now, the thing about weapons in Ever Crisis is that every weapon has weapons designated only for them. This saves players a lot of time in organizing their weapons.
Source: Square Enix
However, weapons also have rarity types. The more stars a weapon has the rarer it is, but the better it’s likely to be as well. After acquiring a weapon you like, you can use the material you collected by playing the game to level that weapon up, making it even stronger.
In addition to weapons, players are also able to decide what materia, or abilities, the characters take with them. Once you acquire materia you like, it’s possible to strengthen them even more by synthesizing and enhancing them. You’ll be doing a lot of crafting to unlock some of the more sought after materia in the Final Fantasy VII universe.
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis Codes
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Remember when we said Ever Crisis had a bunch of mechanics that can be found in mobile games? Well, one common mechanic in mobile games is the mechanic that allows players to enter limited time codes to unlock in-game goodies.
With that being said, Ever Crisis does not have any such feature at the time of writing this article. However, the game is still pretty new, so we’re honestly expecting Square Enix to eventually release some codes for players to use, maybe for special occasions.
Source: Square Enix
Therefore, it’s a good idea to stick with us because we’ll be the first to let you guys know as soon as Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis adds a code system. With us, you won’t be missing out on any free goodies.
Conclusion
This was everything you need to know before stepping into the world of Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis. While this game is still relatively new, it has already amassed a rather sizeable player base thanks to its addictive yet simple gameplay mechanics.
We truly hope the developers continue to polish this game to make it live up to its potential. We would hate to have a repeat of Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, after all.
