FINAL FANTASY VII BLEEDS SPIN-OFF

Vincent the pseudo-vampire is back on PS2 as Square Enix announces Final Fantasy VII sequel for next year

10:57 As we strongly speculated back in July this year, Square Enix has announced a spin-off sequel to the much adored Final Fantasy VII, entitled Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus.

According to reports, the " major" RPG will be set one year after the recent-ish Advent Children CGI movie (which in turn is set three years after the original Final Fantasy VII), and will plump you into the well-worn boots of vampire-esque gun nut Vincent Valentine. The quest, it is believed, is to exact revenge on a mysterious enemy known as, funnily enough, the Dirge of Cerberus.

From the few screens released to the Japanese press, the visual style seems to evoke slightly more menacing tones than previous Final Fantasy instalments, with an almost gothic-style brought to proceedings. But then, hey, we guess that is just the vampire influence at work.

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus is the latest addition to the Final Fantasy VII compilation project, which has also seen the development of mobile games and the aforementioned DVD movie, and the second direct episode spin-off after Final Fantasy X' s well-received X-2.

Very few release details at present except that it will launch for PS2 in Japan sometime in 2005.


Stephen Daultrey

Damnit, I knew they' d do this eventually.

I have a bad feeling about this game...it' s tough to improve on near-perfection, IMO.

Look what happened to FF X-2! While apparently ' well received' I thought it sucked. Ohhh, I' m worried.

I am Still looking forward to the movie though.

Look what happened to FF X-2! While apparently ' well received' I thought it sucked.

I loved it.

I think it was the lack of a great story. I just didn' t feel compelled to play it, or get further into it. I don' t own it but I borrowed it from a friend. I didn' t agree with the ' mission' structure.

Nah, this time around, I didn' t care as much about the story as I did the gameplay. It' s got the fastest and most intense battle of any FF ever, and that' s what really made the game for me. The adaptation of the Job classes (from FFT, my favorite game ever) also kinda helped.

It was just different. Much less linear and very open to exploration. Nice change of pace, and although not as good as FF X, it was still a damn fine game, IMO.

(I did the review)