text: compilation of final fantasy vii the compilation of final fantasy vii is a metaseries produced by square enix . a subseries stemming from the main final fantasy series , it is a collection of video games , animated features and short stories based in the world and continuity of final fantasy vii . officially announced in 2003 with the reveal of final fantasy vii : advent children , the series ' core products are three video games and one movie release . alongside these are tie - in products and spin - offs including books , mobile games and an original video animation . advent children and the mobile title before crisis : final fantasy vii are sequel and prequel to vii , respectively focusing on cloud strife , the original game 's main protagonist , and covert operatives known as the turks . crisis core : final fantasy vii follows the story of zack fair , an important minor character in vii , while dirge of cerberus : final fantasy vii , which acts as a sequel to advent children follows vincent valentine , one of the original 's optional characters . the series was conceived by yoshinori kitase , the original game 's director , and tetsuya nomura , the main character designer . nomura would become the main designer for each entry in the compilation . other returning staff include writer kazushige nojima , art director yusuke naora , and composer nobuo uematsu . the video games belong to different genres , with none of them being traditional role - playing games due to production pressures related to the genre . while the first title revealed was advent children , it ran into delays during post - production , so the first compilation title to be released was the mobile game before crisis . of the core titles , before crisis is the only one still unreleased in the west due to issues with overseas platform compatibility and staff changes . reception of titles in the compilation has been mixed , with advent children being praised for its visuals and criticized for its confusing nature . before crisis and crisis core have received praise , while dirge of cerberus garnered a mixed response . the presentation of the compilation as a whole has met with a mixed response . the series inspired the creation of fabula nova crystallis final fantasy , a similar subseries of linked video games . titles video games before crisis : final fantasy vii is an action role - playing video game split into 24 episodes , with episode delivery working via a monthly subscription - based distribution system . after going through beta testing in 2004 , it was released on september 24 , 2004 for ntt docomo 's foma imode , and on january 30 and april 5 , 2007 for softbank mobile and ezweb respectively . the game was never released to western markets , despite plans to do so . dirge of cerberus : final fantasy vii is an action game featuring both first and third - person shooter elements . there was originally a multiplayer mode , but this was removed in the western version . it was released on january 26 , august 15 , and november 17 , 2006 in japan , north america and europe respectively . the localized version received an overhaul before release , as the developers were not pleased with the japanese version of the game . an international version , featuring the improvements made to the localized version , was released in japan on september 11 , 2008 as part of square enix 's ultimate hits lineup . a mobile spin - off taking place during the events of the game , dirge of cerberus lost episode : final fantasy vii , was released on august 22 , 2006 in north america and july 26 , 2007 in japan . crisis core : final fantasy vii is an action role - playing game . crisis core has the player controlling zack fair in a real - time combat system enabling the player to move zack around , activate abilities and attack or block attacks from enemies . it was released on september 13 , 2007 in japan , and on march 24 and june 20 , 2008 in north america and europe respectively . films final fantasy vii : advent children , the first title conceived for the compilation , the second to be released , and a direct - to - dvd sequel to vii . it was released in japan on september 14 , 2005 , and on april 24 and 25 , 2006 for europe and north america respectively . it received a single special western cinema screening on april 3 , 2006 , at the arclight theatre in los angeles . a director 's cut of the film , advent children complete , was also produced , featuring graphical , extra footage and rerecorded voice work for the english and japanese versions . a blu - ray exclusive , advent children complete was released on june 2 , 2009 in north america , on july 27 , 2009 in europe , and on october 7 , 2009 in australia . a demo for final fantasy xiii was included in the package . last order : final fantasy vii , an original video animation detailing the destruction of the town of nibelheim , a key event in vii . last order was packaged with a limited edition of advent children called advent pieces , released on september 14 , 2005 in japan and february 6 , 2007 in north america . advent pieces was limited to a quantity of 77 , 777 copies . the oav is no longer available to purchase . related media multiple pieces of tie - in media have been created for the compilation , nearly all relating to advent children . to promote advent children complete , a series of short stories were written by kazushige nojima under the umbrella title on a way to smile . the stories were later collected into a single paperback volume and released on april 16 , 2009 . an animated adaptation of one story , " case of denzel " , was included in all copies of advent children complete . nojima also wrote final fantasy vii lateral biography : turks ~ the kids are alright ~ , a novel set a short time before advent children . the novel was illustrated by shou tojima . a mobile racing game based on a mini game from vii , final fantasy vii g - bike , was released on october 30 , 2014 , for ios and android . a western release for the title was planned . it was developed by japan - based developer cyberconnect2 as part of a planned subseries of mobile games based on vii 's mini games . while related to vii and the compilation due to its nature , the developers confirmed that it was not related to nor affected the compilation itself . due to difficulties delivering continual satisfactory service , g - bike was shut down in 2015 without seeing a western release . setting the setting of final fantasy vii is a world that has been described as an industrial or post - industrial science fiction milieu . it is referred to as " the planet " by the series characters , and was retroactively named " gaia " in some square enix promotional material and by game staff . the planet 's lifeforce is called the lifestream , a flow of spiritual energy that gives life to everything on the planet . its processed form is known as " mako " . during vii and its prequels , the lifestream is being used by the megacorporation shinra as an energy source . this is in turn causing the planet to dangerously weaken , threatening the existence of everything and everyone on the planet . the main narrative of vii focuses on an eco - terrorist group known as avalanche , chronicling their conflict with shinra president rufus shinra and his subordinates , including the covert turks , and soldier , an elite fighting force created by giving humans raw mako . eventually , all come under threat from sephiroth , a member of soldier created through shinra experimentation and driven mad when he learns the truth about his origins , and jenova , an alien lifeform which seeks to destroy all life on the planet . among the main characters are cloud strife , a mercenary and self - proclaimed ex - soldier , aerith gainsborough , a flower seller and last member of an ancient tribe known as the cetra , tifa lockhart , cloud 's childhood friend , and vincent valentine , a former turk who was made immortal by shinra experimentation . during the conflict , sephiroth summons a destructive spell called meteor to mortally wound the planet . when aerith attempts to summon holy , a defense mechanism that can stop meteor , she is killed by sephiroth . eventually , the party are successful in defeating sephiroth , and the lifestream reinforces holy , successfully stopping meteor . the compilation titles act as continuations and expansions on the core narrative , with them focusing on various characters . advent children begins two years after vii , when people across the world are succumbing to a disease called geostigma and cloud , suffering from guilt , is forced to confront kadaj , loz and yazoo , avatars of sephiroth 's will . before crisis begins six years prior to the events of vii , and follows the confrontations between the turks and the original incarnation of avalanche . crisis core takes place in a similar time period , but follows events from the point of view of zack , a soldier who befriended cloud and was killed by shinra troops after turning against the company . among the characters who interact with zack is genesis rhapsodos , a member of soldier who successfully rebels and eventually decides to protect the planet . dirge of cerberus is set a year after advent children , and focuses on vincent 's conflict against deepground , a sect of soldier that was trapped beneath midgar during meteor 's descent . last order takes place during the events at nibelheim , where jenova was originally stored and sephiroth first found out about himself . production creation the compilation of final fantasy vii was created by yoshinori kitase and tetsuya nomura , the respective director and character designer for final fantasy vii . it was at one point defined by square enix as their first step towards " polymorphic content " , a marketing and sales strategy to " [ provide ] well - known properties on several platforms , allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible . " speaking on why vii had been chosen for such a project , kitase explained that the ending left far more development opportunities open for characters and setting than other games in the series . the first title to be conceived was advent children , original envisioned as a short film presentation created by visual works , the animation studio behind cgi cutscenes for the company 's games . early in pre - production , plans to make advent children a video game rather than a film were considered , but due to several factors including visual works ' lack of experience with actual game production , it remained a film . one of the main conditions for the project 's launch was to reunite the original staff members of final fantasy vii : nojima , art director yusuke naora , composer nobuo uematsu . after advent children began development , it was decided by the team that one title was not enough to fully explore the vii universe . in response , before crisis , dirge of cerberus and crisis core were conceived so as to embrace more aspects of the world and characters . nomura himself was surprised at the creation of the games , having originally assumed that the film would be the sole product of the project . development each title had a different impetus fueling its creation and development : before crisis was thought up by hajime tabata , a new employee at square enix 's mobile division , when asked by nomura to create a video game featuring the turks . dirge of cerberus was inspired by vincent 's choice of weapon , kitase 's love of first - person shooters , and the challenge it would provide developers . prior to the series solidification and the release of advent children and before crisis , the team had considered other gun - wielding final fantasy protagonists for such a game . crisis core originated simply as a final fantasy spin - off for the playstation portable , and after talks with kitase and nomura , it was decided to make it another title in the compilation , although it was originally going to be a remake of before crisis . the creation of before crisis after advent children began a lettering formula for the series later used by the staff as common abbreviations : ' ac ' stood for advent children , ' bc ' for before crisis , ' cc ' for crisis core and ' dc ' for dirge of cerberus . the sequence was nearly disrupted when crisis core 's title was considered as before crisis core , but the " before " part of the title was soon dropped , coincidentally creating the sequence . before crisis began development in 2002 . the compilation was first unveiled in 2003 with the announcement of advent children . none of the video game titles in the series are traditional role - playing games like the original . the explanation for this was that traditional rpgs took long production periods and a large staff , which would have made the project stand out a bit too much . one of the other considerations for the team was not to make the titles lightweight as x - 2 had been , due to backlash from parts of the fanbase . conversely , making x - 2 reminded the team that they did not need to stick to completely serious traditional rpgs , enabling the original creation of the compilation . while advent children was the first compilation title to begin production , it ran into problems during post - production , resulting in the first released title being before crisis , despite it being the second title to begin development . before crisis was also originally planned for release in north america , but the mobile phones available in north america at the time were not able to handle the game . in addition , the producer kosei ito left square enix in 2008 and tabata moved on to other projects , leaving its localization unlikely . japanese animation studio madhouse created a commercial to promote before crisis . due to its success and staff feelings that important scenes from vii represented in advent children had been needlessly disjointed , the studio was chosen to produce an animated film : this eventually became last order . yoichi wada , then the president of square enix , has stated that the compilation could remain an active franchise until 2017 , the twentieth anniversary of final fantasy vii 's release . after finishing work on advent children complete , the team decided to take a break from the series , although they stated that they still have various ideas for future titles . reception compared to the original vii , which received near - universal critical acclaim and later cult status as a classic game , the entries in the compilation have often garnered a mixed reception , and the compilation as a whole has been critiqued by some . in july 2007 , edge magazine stated that the titles " could be of a high quality , but there is also a perversion of the original . " rpg site 's alex donaldson , during a review for crisis core , said that the compilation was " too far detached from the lore of final fantasy vii . " while critiquing advent children and dirge of cerberus , and faulting before crisis 's lack of the original game 's characters , he felt that crisis core was the compilation 's " first classic [ final fantasy vii ] spinoff . " rpgfan 's stephen meyerink said that the compilation titles prior to crisis core had " expanded , extended , and retconned [ the story ] into what some would call an unrecognizable mess . " alexa ray corriea , writing for polygon , was highly critical , saying that few of the compilation titles were good , and only served to " cheapen the 1997 [ playstation ] original . " reviews for advent children have been mixed to positive : while critics have praised the presentation , graphics and fan appeal , all reviews agree that the story 's context and delivery were confusing for people new to the series . while western critics were positive about last order , the oav received heavy fan criticism in japan due to its retconning of key events , which prompted the team to ensure that the event was faithfully recreated in crisis core . before crisis , due to remaining in japan , has received limited attention in the west , but previews have been highly positive , with many praising the gameplay and graphics as being impressive for a mobile game . opinions for dirge of cerberus were decidedly mixed . while many praised the story and characters , especially the focus on vincent 's character and development , critics were mixed to negative about the graphics and gameplay . japanese magazine famitsu notably gave the game a delayed and highly critical review . crisis core was generally praised , with many enjoying the story 's intimate presentation of the characters and action - oriented gameplay , despite some criticism for it being aimed at fans of vii . critics of the compilation have generally cited crisis core as the best title of the series . sales many of the titles have received strong sales . through 2006 , advent children met with high sales , with 1 million units sold in japan , 1 . 3 million in north america , and 100 , 000 in europe , making a total of 2 . 4 million copies sold worldwide . the original version went on to sell four million copies worldwide by 2009 . advent children complete also met with strong sales , selling 100 , 000 copies on its first day of release in japan . advent children complete was cited as a reason for the increase in sales of the playstation 3 console . before crisis registered 200 , 000 users on launch day , making it the best - selling mobile game up until that time , and was accessed 1 . 6 million times by june 2006 . dirge of cerberus shipped 392 , 000 units in its first week , and went on to sell 460 , 000 units in north america and 270 , 000 units in europe . crisis core sold 350 , 000 copies in japan on its release date , while it sold 301 , 600 copies in its first month of release in the united states . it went on to sell 3 . 1 million units worldwide . legacy the process of thought behind the compilation would later inspire the creation of fabula nova crystallis final fantasy , a subseries of games linked by a common mythos , and would use lessons learned from the compilation production process . on an individual level , before crisis 's popularity would inspire the creation of another mobile title within the fabula nova crystallis subseries : originally titled final fantasy agito xiii , it would later change platforms and be renamed final fantasy type - 0 . the battle sequences in advent children also served as inspiration for motomu toriyama when creating the battle system for final fantasy xiii .