By the time I spent about an hour withFinal Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis, I was hit with an overwhelming wave of familiarity. Not because of nostalgia forFinal Fantasy 7, though I have fond memories of that game. Rather, it was because I have seen virtually this exact same game on mobile devices for the past seven years now.
Despite what Square Enix’s frankly confusing marketing might leave you to believe,Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisisisjusta gacha game. Calling it “another possibility for a remake” maybe isn’tuntrue, but it’s a bit misleading. Games likeGenshin Impactor even Square Enix’s ownOctopath Traveler: Champions of the Continenthave really raised the bar for mobile games, so I don’t blame anyone for thinkingEver Crisiswould be more than it is. But rather than reaching for those loftier heights of quality on the back of theFinal Fantasybrand,Ever Crisisis a firmly complacent title. It is as gacha as any gacha that you’ve ever played, and we need to establish that before we continue.
So in short,Ever Crisisis probably not the game that I imagine many hoped it would be. But what if we set all of that aside and just judged the game on its own merits? Does it, at the very least, function well as a simple time killer to put on your phone?
Well, now’s as good a time as any to reveal myself as a gacha game sicko to you all.
Disclaimer: All screenshots have been cropped to fit on the page. Some shots may not be fully reflective of the game.
Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis(iOS[reviewed],Android)Developer: Square Enix, ApplibotPublisher: Square EnixReleased: September 7, 2023MSRP: Free-to-play with microtransactions
Reroll for initiative
My relationship with gacha games is much like my relationship with fast food. I’m never proud of having a Big Mac, but it is an itch I need to scratch here and there. During periods of my life when I had more time than money, I dipped into virtually every notable gacha game I saw just to see how meta I could make my account for free in each game. I’ve played everything fromDragalia Lost(RIP) toArknightstoSdoricatoLangrissertoBanG Dream! Girls Band Party!to… I think you get the picture.
Ever Crisisspecifically comes to us via Applibot, whose bread and butter veers more towards the “put game on auto battle and watch numbers get bigger” brand of gacha games. Their most notable work nowadays is Square Enix’sNieR Reincarnation, which I did generally like. However, that one was carried by its writing and original story, which makesEver Crisisan interesting case. Sure, jamming what appears to be the all of the “Compilation ofFinal Fantasy 7” into one game is an interesting hook. But Applibot is absolutely working within their usual wheelhouse here, which makesEver Crisisfeel as strange as it is unremarkable.
Learn the battle system, or not, it doesn’t matter
At first blush, I did think Applibot might do something different here. The tutorial sequence takes you throughFinal Fantasy 7’s iconic opening, because whywouldn’tit. You have free reign to move around and explore, plus the battle system initially appears to havesomestrategy. Players have to manage their ATB and select attacks that often need to counter specific enemy mechanics. For example, boss monsters will occasionally put up shields that require certain elemental attacks to dispel.
Also, you’re able to switch between offensive and defensive stances so you can prepare for stronger attacks. I first thought this might set the stage for a combat system that could, theoretically, grow in complexity as the game progresses.
Then you see the main menu proper, where the game quickly turns into, again, agacha. Those free-roaming dungeons become rarities as the game takes you through the same menu-based motions you’ve seen a thousand times. Select a stage, watch a cutscene, play a battle (typically involving three waves of enemies), collect rewards. Additionally, you soon unlock auto battle and X2 battle speed, both of which I have yet to turn off since. Combat is so basic that auto battle doesn’t ever do much that I wouldn’t normally do. It even stance dances perfectly and targets those enemy shields as long as you have the right elemental attacks.
The good news is that the game doesn’t use a Stamina system to progress through the story. The “bad” news is that it does use a Stamina system for all the supplemental stages you’ll need to run to strengthen your team. Character upgrade items, equipment upgrade items, items to increase level caps, it’s all here in full force. I put “bad” in quotation marks because Idoprefer Stamina systems over the hours-long grinds that gacha games without them tend to devolve into. It’s still all dancing around a time-gated system, and I’m sure you know where your tolerance lies when it comes to that by now.
Final Fantasy 7The Abridged Series
As for the story itself, I honestly dread the idea of anyone first experiencingFinal Fantasy 7like this. While the PlayStation-style graphics are charming, the structure of the game quickly devolves intoFinal Fantasy 7Cliffs Notes. Sure, that intro stays faithful to the original. Then you meet Aerith on the street, get some text summaries, fight some battles, and next thing you know you’re at Seventh Heaven talking to Tifa.
The entire game seems to focus mostly on the major scenes, letting all the in-between fall to the wayside. If you’re the type of person that’s still mad that Tom Bombadil wasn’t in Peter Jackson’s TheLord of the Rings, you’ll have a rough time here.
Additionally, the way the game integrates the “Compilation of” content isn’t particularly coherent. As you’re progressing through theFinal Fantasy 7story, you’ll make your way to crashing down into Aerith’s garden in the church. You see Reno of the Turks chasing after you, and then… it’sCrisis Coretime? I mean, I could understand the game shooting over that way if they at least finished this immediate arc. It’d make sense to play as Zack after Aerith mentions him at the playground. But here it just cuts off any momentum the story had built up.
I’m less versed inCrisis Coreand the rest of theFinal Fantasy 7extended universe, so I can’t specifically explain how those plots measure up compared to the originals. But overall,Ever Crisisseems more intent on givingFinal Fantasy 7fans some nostalgic feels than doing these stories justice. I think there’s a place for that kind of experience, but I don’t thinkEver Crisisquite pulls it off so far.
Let’s talk Gacha
Of course, I’m sure the big question here isjust how badthe gacha is inEver Crisis. It’s, well, definitely a weapon gacha. Honestly, the way the game introduces its gacha is one of the most abrasive I’ve ever seen in a gacha game. And in this genre, that’s saying something.
When you’re introduced to the system, you’ll see a series of banners. There are the banners you can roll on with paid currency, which of course show up first. Then there’s the Featured banner, which introduces alotof rules. Here’s where you roll on weapons for your protagonists to use, but only by doing 10-pulls can you collect stamps. Every 10-pull can grant anywhere from 1-12 stamps, which fills out your Stamp card. Collect 12 stamps, and you can earn a specific costume.
This is theonlyway you can earn costumes, which donotappear in the gacha anddoincrease stats. However, this isn’t to be confused with gettingweaponsfrom the stamp card, which just guarantees a certain weapon will appear in your pull and isn’t an actual bonus. Also, don’t mix this up with Ticket pulls, which operate on a different banner and don’t grant stamps. So actually it doesn’t matter if you 10-pull or not here, just make sure you know what ticket you’re actually using, because there are several different ones (including many that cost real money). Still with me?
I understand all of thisnow, but getting there was a journey. Generally speaking, if I need to study a monetization system like I’m deep in a Wiki learning how to play aSoulsgame, it’s probably too complicated. There’s also an element of FOMO to this too, since stamp cards expire with no indication that your stamps will carry over afterwards. Many gacha games feature “pity” systems that work like this, but few lock unique items like costumes to them. I have zero doubt this exists to get you to spend more so you don’t miss out on that cool Cloud outfit you’re so close to getting.
Grind it out
Having said that, even though the game coaxes you to spend money, I’ve done just fine as a free player. As mentioned above, I’ve kept the game on auto battle and have progressed easily. I have to press my Limit Break buttons so they’re timed properly, but that’s it. If you’re stuck, you just have to identify which resource you need to strengthen your character or weapon and go to the right stage to farm it. This will eat your Stamina, but the game gives Stamina restoration items out like candy. I’m literally farming things as I type this.
Ever Crisisautomates so much for players that the only strategy really comes from identifying what you need to grind. Hitting the “recommended party” button does all your team building for you, right down to outfitting your party with the elemental coverage you need. And for the most part, the story content has been a cakewalk. I’ll need to see how the later stages of the game play out, but you certainly don’tneedto pay-to-win. Don’t get me wrong,you absolutely can pay-to-win, I just haven’t hit a wall that mandates it. Someone who just wants to see the story should get through fine for free.
I will say that, for a game that almost completely centers around its grind, it really needs to streamline its menuing. I often find myself tapping around for far too long just to, say, toss upgrade materials into a weapon. Even accessing your main grind stages requires more tapping and scrolling that most games of this variety require. I’m used to it now, but for a 2023 gacha bearing theFinal Fantasyname, it feels outdated.
It’s not likeEver Crisiscompletely lacks redeeming qualities. It obviously looks and sounds great, even if it does reuse several assets fromFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. And while the story takes many shortcuts, it is charming to see the extendedFinal Fantasy 7world presented in that PlayStation-inspired graphical style. The cutscenes themselves don’t cut corners, even if the overall story does. It still looks downright quaint compared to, say,Genshin Impact, but the appeal is there.
Additionally, these more passive gacha gamesdokind of work. I mean, there’s a reason we see so many of them on mobile devices. It’s a primal “watch numbers go up and feel happy brain chemicals” kind of experience, similar to an idle game. For someone who wants that,Ever Crisisdoes the trick. It’s one for people who want to play something but also want to rewatchThe Officefor the seventh time.
However, the question for me becomes “why would I want to playEver Crisisinstead of other gacha games that do the exact same thing?” And honestly, aside from theFinal Fantasyfan service, I’m struggling to find the answer. It’s a pretty game, and it’s the newest one on the block. But beyond that, I don’t know what to tell you.Ever Crisisis another possibility for a remake, but so far, I’m good with the one we already got.
I still want to giveFinal Fantasy 7:Ever Crisisa fair shake before declaring a verdict. While I’m a decent ways into the game, I haven’t seen how the game might evolve at the upper thresholds of its available content. Tune in next week for my final thoughts onEver Crisis, and we’ll see if there’s any Mako to uncover underneath its surface.
