Compilation References - Blog Posts
FFVII Remake Easter eggs and compilation continuity - Part 2: CRISIS CORE
RUDE BEING...RUDE
When Cloud and Aerith meet Rude in Sector 5 he unceremoniously asks if he’s “her new boy toy”, referring to Zack. Crisis Core established that the Turks knew Zack and were aware of his relationship with Aerith.
THE PUPPY
Stamp is a new element introduced in the Remake, which makes a mysterious appearance at the end of the game when Zack seemingly subverts his destiny. In Crisis Core Angeal used to refer to Zack as “puppy”.
“Are you Zack the puppy? My son wrote to me once about you, zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.”
BANORA WHITE
There are lots of billboards and flyers of “Banora White apple juice” around Midgar. Both Banora and its apples were introduced for the first time in Crisis Core and linked to Genesis.
ORPHANS
This may be not intentional but it’s still odd to be just a coincidence: one set of Crisis Core side missions involved some orphans who escaped from a Shinra “care facility”. In the Remake, the Leaf House is an orphanage and, according to the novel “Traces of two pasts”, it is under Shinra’s influence.
DATING
Just like in the OG, Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard in exchange of one date. Her gesture is exactly the same of Zack’s when he asked her for one date.
SELLING FLOWERS
When Aerith and Cloud arrive in Evergreen Park, she mentions the time she used to sell flowers there, which happened 5 years before with Zack.
“You know, a long time ago, I used to sell flowers here.”
YOUR EYES
In Chapter 9 Aerith comments about Cloud’s beautiful mako eyes the same way she did with Zack. In the Japanese version, Cloud and Zack answer her with the same sentence:
Aerith: きれい (...) 瞳 [Beautiful (...) Eyes]
Zack/Cloud: 魔晄を浴びた者の瞳 ソルジャーの証だ [Eyes of those exposed to Mako, the mark of SOLDIER]
PINK DRESSES
In Crisis Core Zack asked Aerith to wear something pink when they'd meet again. Even though Aerith’s dress has always been pink since the OG, her new optional Wall Market dresses are pink as well.
“From now on, why don’t we make a promise every time we meet? (...) For example, when we meet, you always have to dress in pink.”
TRAINING ROOM
In Shinra HQ there’s a battle simulator where Zack and the other SOLDIERs used to train in CC.
SOLDIER PROJECT
During the meeting with the President and the Shinra executives in Chapter 16, Hojo mentions SOLDIER types G and S. He war referring to the two main projects behind the SOLDIER program - Hollander’s Project G and Hojo’s project S.
CC: “Jenova project G gave birth to Angeal and monsters like myself [Genesis]. Jenova project S used the remains of countless failed experiments to create a perfect monster [Sephiroth].”
7R: “We could have the Ancient reproduce. (...) I would start with candidates from SOLDIER. These would of course include S and G types.”
CELLULAR DEGRADATION
In Chapter 7 President Shinra points out that SOLDIERs usually die prematurely due to cellular degradation. Genesis, after being wounded in the battle simulator, started suffering of severe and irreversible cellular degradation.
“Once a SOLDIER, always a SOLDIER. Though not, alas, for very long. Accelerated cellular degradation being the most common cause of death by far.”
FALLEN ANGELS
While Sephiroth’s black wing was shown for the first time in Andvent Children some visual elements of the Remake recall elements from Crisis Core related to Genesis and Angeal.
KUNSEL
In Shinra HQ some troopers recognize Cloud and mention Kunsel, a SOLDIER and close friend of Zack’s.
“Cloud? You’re Cloud right? (...) We went through training together. (...) Hey, sit tight man - I’mma go get Kunsel.
BARRET’S LAST STAND
“Worst route ever. Gimme a suicidal last stand. At least - At least - at least that’d have an end!”
Barret says this when he reaches the 49th floor of Shinra HQ backstairs - SOLDIERs floor. It’s a reference to Zack’s last stand.
THE LIFESTREAM
After the defeat of Whisper Harbinger the protagonists end up in a place full of light and walk on a watery surface. The same happened in Crisis Core during Zack’s dream that foreshadowed his death, a representation of the Lifestream.
FREEDOM
Before entering the sincularity in Chapter 18, Aerith says that beyond the portal there’s “Freedom. Boundless, terrifying freedom. Like a great, never-ending sky.” These words are a callback to Zack’s iconic “The price of freedom is steep”.
THE SKY
In Crisis Core Aerith told Zack that she felt safe under the plate because the real sky frightened her. She reiterates this concept at the end of the Remake when she said “I miss it, the steel sky” (aka the plate), in Japanese "The sky, I hate it”.
ZACK’S LAST STAND
This scene is repeated shot-for-shot in Chapter 18.
For the other parts refer to the masterpost
Talk about a coincidence!
A debated canonicity
(Previous post here)
Mad1en who Trave1s the P1anet (adding typos to prevent unpleasant comments) is one of the most controversial entries of FFVII lore.
It was included in FFVII Ultimania Omega, published in 2005. Fans have debated ever since if this short story is part of the canon entries of the compilation, as it was written by an external writer that never took part to the realisation of the game.
Part of the fandom thinks it's canon because Square Enix never said it isn't, another part thinks it's not canon because Square Enix never mentioned it again ever since it was published (neither ever provided an official translation nor decided to sell it outside Japan. Quite self-explanatory, considering that "Picturing the Past" has been immediately translated and it's sold everywhere in the world).
The particularity of this novel is that here Aerith states she loves Cloud more than Zack. Not a word is spent to describe how she feels when she understands that Zack didn't cheat on her but endured experimetations for years and died to save Cloud, and that Cloud had created an alter ego based on Zack's traits. These lines started to divide the fans after the release of Crisis Core, that describes a tender and sincere romantic relationship between Zack and Aerith.
Yes, SE never officially said if this novel is canon or not, but I'd like to point out a fact:
The Remake includes tons of references to all the entries of the compilation.
Some examples?
The Avalanche members that show up in Chapter 4 wear the original uniforms of Before Crisis:
Crisis Core references can be found everywhere in the game, for one thing, Zack's last stand:
Dirge of Cerberus was already hinted in the game when Cloud, Tifa and Barret fell in the misterious lab beneath Sector 7 and is going to be heavily referred in the Intergrade. From the trailer we can see Weiss:
There are many references to Advent Children too. For example, Sephiroth has the black wing that he only showed in the movie:
Last order is quite difficult to refrence, as it doesn't add anything new to the story but it's rather a reinterpretation of Nibelheim incident. Anyway, it is mentioned in FFVII Remake World Preview (Square Enix book that includes "Picturing the Past"):
And now talk about the novels:
New characters, like Kyrie, come from The Kids are alright, a Turks side Story:
And here's an example from On the Way to a Smile too: from a dialogue with Jessie it's revealed that Cloud doesn't know the names of vegetables:
...turned out he [Cloud] didn't know a carrot from a gysal green. At first, Tifa was amused that mighty Cloud's new life started with learning vegetables names... (Case of Tifa)
So:
Before Crisis
Crisis Core
Advent Children
Dirge of Cerberus
Last Order
The Kids are alright
On the way to a Smile...
Picturing the Past was written alongise the Remake to clarify the origins of the mural painting in Aerith's room...
They are all abundantly referenced multiple times during the game. Find a more exhaustive list here.
And now it's the turn of Ma1den who trave1s the P1anet.
The author of this novel based himself on the original dialogues and story of the OG and reinterpreted them adding some new elements to create a coherent narration (full of discrepancies that, ehm, have already been disproved years ago, like Aerith's age when she met Zack, Hojo being not really dead, Zack's personality being totally different from Crisis Core, Aerith already knowing about Zack's death, normal souls that should merge immediately in the Lifestream, Omnislash being not Zack's ability...not that this ever convinced anyone).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
There are no references at all in the whole game. Not a single word that inequivocally refers to this novel.
Not a word to hint the fact that bad people's souls will rot in the Lifestream and won't be part of it because their spirits are beyond redemption (like what happened in the novel to President Shinra and Hojo).
In the novel Biggs, Wedge and Jessie are tormented by the deaths caused by the explosion of Mako reactor n.1. Jessie feels guilty both in the OG and in the Remake but Biggs and Wedge don't show much regret and the Remake shows that Shinra caused the massive explosion of the reactor, not Jessie. But wasn't the Lifestream supposed to be the place where all knowledges are merged together? I may be wrong but this would suggest that Jessie would have known it after her death.
There are hints that suggest the Aerith of the resolution scene is the one who already died in the OG: she talks to Cloud as if they had passed a long time together, she talks about death and finally disappears in a sparkling greenish light.
It would have been a great scene to put any reference to Ma1den but...it didn't happen.
Well...wierd the devs forgot to mention just this entry...