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Final Fantasy VII: Cerberus Update
The first hi-res screenshot and another announcement from Vincent Valentine's return.

September 21, 2004 - Final Fantasy fans are still buzzing from last Wednesday's news that Square Enix revealed yet another sequel in its popular FF7 franchise with the announcement of Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. First unveiled in the Japanese publication, Jump Magazine last week, the new title has now been officially announced through more traditional means via old-fashioned press release on Square Enix's official Japanese website.


Though the specifics of the gameplay have not been revealed, it has been confirmed that Dirge of Cerberus takes place three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII (that is, the cool CG-ending part, not the 100-years later deal after the credits). The confirmation of this time frame puts the game a full year after the happenings of the upcoming DVD and PSP full-length movie, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children -- and ten years after the events of the unreleased mobile phone game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII.

As far as the storyline in this new iteration is concerned, there is still very little known about it -- except that it involves an underground soldier movement, a powerful Meteo spell hitting an unsuspecting town, and that somehow, Vincent Valentine is connected with both events. Of course, it could be a little clearer than that, but my Japanese is rusty and that's the best I can make of it.

Interestingly enough, Dirge of Cerberus' gameplay genre hasn't been divulged yet; leading several fans of the series to believe that it may not be an RPG title at all, but rather the Devil May Cry-style action clone that was rumored in Electronic Gaming Monthly eons ago. Whether or not that's really the case remains to be seen, but we expect to hear more on the subject in a few days at the 2004 Tokyo Game Show regardless.



FF7 had a trio of Badasses in Sephiroth, Cloud, and Vincent. But Vincent had guns. So screw the rest of 'em.

 
Since everybody else is taking their guesses at what kind of game Dirge of Cerberus will be, however, I feel compelled to get in on the action too. So my guess before the big reveal is that it will be a Metroid-style first-person action/adventure with little to no scanning elements. Take that speculative market, take that!

IGNPS2 will be back with more on Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII in the coming days. But don't forget to click on the media page below to check out the first hi-res image that hasn't been scanned from a magazine -- ya pirates.
-- Jeremy Dunham