Line #27 VideoGame/CrisisCore


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/438px-FFCCVII-PromoArt.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The story continues]] [[{{Prequel}} where it all began.]]]]
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4	'''''[[MemeticMutation ACTIVATING]] [[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere DESCRIPTION]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-7tgSmAMDQ MODE]]'''''
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6	''Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII'' is an entry in the [[RunningGag thirst-quenchingly popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, and a direct prequel to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. It is part of the ''Franchise/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII''.
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8	''Crisis Core'' follows Zack Fair, a character who had a minor but significant role in the original game, in the events leading up to the introduction to ''Final Fantasy VII''. It also expands on the backstory of [[BreakoutVillain fan favorite Sephiroth]]. Many characters from the original game, such as Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth, play roles of various importance in the story.
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10	Although the game is still an {{RPG}}, it contains more action elements in combat than its predecessor, and battles are faster-paced. The Materia system returns, if slightly altered.
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12	'''''[[MemeticMutation MODULATING PHASE.]]'''''
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14	An [[UpdatedReRelease HD remaster]] was announced on June 16, 2022. Entitled ''Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion'', it was released on December 13, 2022 for the PC, Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/PlayStation5, Platform/XboxOne, Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS, and Platform/NintendoSwitch. A VideoGameDemake version of ''Crisis Core'' is set to be included as one of the playable episodes in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIEverCrisis''.
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16	!!'''''[[MemeticMutation TROPE SURGE:]]'''''
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18	* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: All of Zack's stats cap at 255, which is readily achievable via a combination of equipment and Materia Fusion even before levels become a factor. While capped stats are extremely helpful for fighting Minerva, they're also enough to one-shot or two-shot every story enemy including the final boss. The real absurd cap, however, is Buster Sword proficiency in ''Reunion'', which has a cap of 100%, gains proficiency at a rate measured in hundredths of a percent, ''and'' has a cap on how much the proficiency can be raised in a single mission. Even doing everything else there is to do isn't likely to take the sword much above 50%.
19	* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Sephiroth's sword qualifies because of his special attack Draw Slash that was doing the actual cutting.
20	* ActionizedSequel: ''Reunion'' heavily revamps the game's combat to function more in line with ''Final Fantasy VII Remake''. The command bar in the original was removed, with Zack now gaining the ability to use normal attacks whenever he wants and Materia being assigned to shortcuts. Various quality-of-life features were also implemented, such as Limit Verge no longer interrupting gameplay and Limit Breaks being stocked and usable on command rather than being automatically forced by the DMW. [[spoiler:Zack even gets a taste of Cloud's StanceSystem from ''Remake'' once he acquires the Buster Sword, granting him access to Strong Style moves that hit harder and slower while boasting resilience to interruption similar to Cloud's Punisher stance.]]
21	* AdaptationalBadass: Zack gets two notable examples, compared to his treatment in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
22	** In the original game, Zack is spat back out of the Nibelheim reactor within seconds of running in after Sephiroth. Here, that only happens after a legitimate fight between the two.
23	** In the original game, Zack is [[spoiler:gunned down by three lone Shin-Ra soldiers]]. Here, [[spoiler:those three soldiers are shown to be all that’s left of a literal army that was waiting for Zack outside Midgar]].
24	* AlliterativeTitle: '''C'''risis '''C'''ore
25	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Sephiroth proves this to Zack when they square off.
26	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The ''Reunion'' remaster adds several to make the gameplay better-paced and less content subject to GuideDangIt.
27	** The DMW as a whole is less intrusive; it only pauses battles and fills the screen when a cutscene flashback is playing, and all other actions it takes occur in the upper-left corner, where they don't get in the way but the player can keep an eye on its results. When it triggers stat buffs for Zack, these are shown prominently in the center of the screen, and if three reels line up, the resulting attack is not used immediately but can be held in stock and used when the player wishes. Finally, when using DMW attacks, you can skip their animations.
28	** When missions that offer important items (like Summon Materia or a new shop) become available, you get an email telling you so and exactly which mission(s) you need to complete to get them. Each mission also has a display to let you know how many treasure chests can be found in it and how many of them you've opened.
29	** You can heal outside of battle easily with a quick button that has Zack heal himself to full HP by consuming Potions.
30	** Boss cinematic attacks are no longer unavoidable super moves that pop up with little warning; the boss displays a power gauge that warns the player an extra-powerful attack is coming, and the player can attack them to deplete the gauge, making the attack weaker or cancelling it entirely if the gauge drops to zero.
31	** The game occasionally sends you emails with hints on how to use Materia Fusion efficiently, including outright giving you recipes for powerful commands.
32	** ''Reunion'' does away with the original game's bad habit of sticking key items into chests, with them now being given as mission rewards instead. There are only two exceptions: the Goddess Materia, and Research Department QMC+, the latter of which is still technically missable but was moved to a super obvious location that you'd have to be blind to miss.
33	** When you reach a PointOfNoReturn in the story, the game is sure to make this very clear to you and warns you that any content you haven't unlocked yet, particularly optional missions, may not be accessible again if you proceed.
34	* ArmorPiercingAttack:
35	** The "Punch" Command Materia, which inflicts a NonElemental attack that ignores the target's Vitality and Spirit. Magical Punch consumes 99 MP, Hammer Punch consumes 99 AP, and Costly Punch is CastFromHitPoints.
36	** When using Battle Stance, the Barrier Piercing ability allows Zack's Strong Attack or stance-boosted commands to ignore Barrier and Null Physical. The Barrier Break ability outright removes those buffs too.
37	* TheArtifact: Aerith's line about being afraid of the sky is kept in ''Reunion'', despite the plate covering up far less of the slums than the original game. The specific bit they're under also has a massive hole in it, giving them a clear view of the sky above.
38	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: How do you fly with one wing? Less egregious, but humans can't fly no matter the size of the wings.
39	* ArtificialBrilliance: Enemies may coordinate their attacks such that Zack rolls to avoid one only to be hit by another on recovery.
40	* ArtEvolution: ''Reunion'' takes various influences from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' in its presentation. The in-game UI more closely resembles ''Remake'' while maintaining the original game's layout, and characters who appeared in it like Zack, Sephiroth, Aerith and Cloud even got their English voice actors changed to match in addition to having their models more closely reference their ''Remake'' designs too.
41	* ArtisticAge:
42	** Cloud doesn't look any different than usual, and is voiced by Creator/TakahiroSakurai and Steve Burton (Cody Christian takes over in ''Reunion''), like always. The only reasons you buy that he's a 14-year-old kid as the game tells us is his ''attitude'' and that he’s a little bit shorter, if you compare him standing next to Zack and then do the same comparison in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]''. His features are a bit softer, too, if you look - though that might be from not frowning all the time.
43	** Angeal. He looks like he's pushing forty, and numerous ''Final Fantasy VII'' fans speculated pre-release that he was Zack's father. He's only about ''25'' years old, and born ''after'' Genesis.
44	* AscendedExtra: Zack went from being a MinorMajorCharacter in the original game to being the main character of this game.
45	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Genesis,]] probably. It was assumed he died in Modeoheim, but was never fully confirmed. Could've been a case of HesJustHiding up until his next appearance.
46	* BadassNormal: Cloud. With no special powers, he takes down [[spoiler:Sephiroth]]. In a more "normal" example of his badassery, Cloud kills a monster that snuck up to Zack with a well-timed barrage from his machine gun in a DMW flashback.
47	* BadassLongcoat: Sephiroth and Genesis have these, serving to mirror their characters.
48	* BeachEpisode: Chapter 7's intro, Cissnei in a bikini ''and'' Zack in swim trunks. {{Fanservice}} for players of all demographics!
49	* {{BFS}}: The Buster Sword and the Masamune are joined by Genesis's Rapier.
50	* BGMOverride: In Shinra Manor, the minor-[[{{Tonality}} key]], disjointed piano theme continues playing over battles, rather than the buttrock-ish regular combat music.
51	* BigBrotherMentor: Angeal to Zack and Zack to Cloud.
52	* BirdsOfAFeather: Zack and Aerith are very similar people. Both are flirty, fun, good-hearted characters that nevertheless hide a strong determination, powerful abilities and deep wisdom. Their date in Wall Market has them mutually flirt with each other while Zack buys her gifts and she leads him around and plays pranks.
53	* BloodlessCarnage: With a handful of exceptions, [[spoiler:including the ending,]] expect to play the game seeing plenty of sword fighting and gunfire, and not a drop of blood will be spilled.
54	* BolivianArmyEnding: Zack's final stand is Retconned so he faces off against an entire platoon of the Shinra army. It has all the hallmarks of a Bolivian Army Ending except that you get to see the inevitable conclusion. [[spoiler:The same three guys still take him out though.]]
55	* BookEnds:
56	** The game opens with Zack riding on the roof of a train and introducing himself as SOLDIER 2nd Class, even with the iconic opening theme playing in the background. [[spoiler:The final scene of the game is the opening scene of ''VII'', with Cloud riding on the roof of a train and introducing himself as SOLDIER 1st Class while the iconic theme plays behind him.]]
57	** The first enemy type Zack encounters is the stock Shinra infantry (though they're stated to be Wutai troops in disguise). [[spoiler:His last battle is against the same enemy type, just a LOT more of them.]]
58	** Right before the first instance of combat in the opening cutscene, Zack bellows out "Come and get it!" as a PreAsskickingOneLiner. [[spoiler:Right before his LastStand, Zack bellows out "Come and get it!" as a FacingTheBulletsOneLiner.]]
59	** The first time Zack meets Sephiroth is in Wutai and is where Sephiroth defends Zack from Ifrit's flames. [[spoiler:The last time Zack sees Sephiroth is in the flames of Nibelheim, only this time Zack is on the receiving end of Sephiroth's sword.]]
60	* {{Bowdlerize}}: Minor example; the NA version redesigned a statue of "the Goddess" in the lair of the FinalBoss to look less like the Virgin Mary.
61	** It is not more modest compared to original ''FF 7'' and ''CC'' models, but ''Reunion'' [[{{Retcon}} ads]] [[DigitalBikini a black sports bra]] to Tifa's cowgirl outfit model, otherwise reused from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''. This change is retained for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth''.
62	* BraggingRightsReward: Heike's Soul, which you certainly no longer need if you managed to beat the {{Superboss}}, the hardest fight in the game.
63	* BreakMeter: In ''Reunion'', boss cinematic skills are now preempted by a purple Ability Gauge bar that appears while the boss is charging. Zack can attack the boss to deplete the gauge, weakening the attack's effectiveness, and if Zack manages to empty the gauge he can cancel the attack entirely.
64	* BreathWeapon: Played straight by Bahamut Fury's Exaflare, but averted in ''Reunion'', where its animation was altered to firing a WaveMotionGun using its wings instead.
65	* BrokenPedestal: Post-Nibelheim incident: [[spoiler: Sephiroth, to both Zack and Cloud.]]
66	* BunnyEarsLawyer: According to the in-game information, all prominent 1st Class [=SOLDIERs=] were often considered to be this, with Genesis being the most extreme case of them all. Then their relatively harmless quirks turned [[SanitySlippage into]] [[IAmAMonster something]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation much]] [[GodhoodSeeker worse]]...
67	* BusmansHoliday: A whole set of missions is dedicated to Zack trying to get a vacation at Costa Del Sol, with [[RunningGag predictable results]].
68	* ButThouMust: Justified. When Zack is asked by a carpenter to name the bar he's going to build, there are multiple choices, but only one will be accepted. [[spoiler:It's the Seventh Heaven, the bar that Tifa owns in the original game.]]
69	* ButtMonkey: In Fort Tamblin, the Wutai soldiers panic when Zack ambushes them with their own revolving door trap. One of them in particular gives an epic speech about not retreating in the face of danger, only for Zack to defeat the former's lackeys during the whole speech. When the soldier realizes what's going on, [[HypocriticalHumor he retreats]].
70	* CallForward: Sephiroth's first true appearance in the game is rescuing Zack from Ifrit. The way it happens makes the scene look just like the iconic scene of Sephiroth surrounded by flames during the Nibelheim incident.
71	* CastFromHitPoints: Darkness and Costly Punch, though the latter takes such a tiny fraction of health that you'll barely even notice it, especially if you have Regen status. Averted in the remakes, however, where the percentage has been multiplied by 10 so you ''will'' notice now, even if it's not a massive chunk of your HP.
72	* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: There is an optional spy-hunting sequence where Zack has to find Wutai spies in Midgar. When discovered, a chase would ensue and during a 1 second period where they are off camera while running, they will change from civvies to full Wutai soldier Armor.
73	** Even more hilarious, although the last spy also changes to a Wutai soldier, his [[spoiler:disguised form is a kid ''much smaller'' than his true form. That is ''some'' disguise.]]
74	** [[SarcasticConfession Even better, he says outright "I'm a Mighty Wutai Spy!", but of course no one believes him!]]
75	* ClippedWingAngel: After defeating the final boss, it shifts into a more human form for the final showdown. Besides the fact its attacks are much weaker, it only has 99,999 HP in this form so a single Costly Punch will end the battle in five seconds.
76	* CombatBreakdown: The final battle [[spoiler:pits Zack against the entire Shinra Army. You can try to beat them, and if you've been leveling yourself by doing plenty of sidequests, you may be even able to survive indefinitely. However, as this is a prequel to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Zack is DoomedByCanon to die, thus leading to a climactic showdown between a OneManArmy boasting a [[{{BFS}} massive sword]] and extremely powerful {{Limit Break}}s and a ''literal'' army with thousands of troops eventually devolving into one tired man who can barely swing his sword and the remaining ''three'' members of the army]].
77	* CommonalityConnection: In their meeting, Zack and Cloud bond over both being from the sticks.
78	* CompanionCube: Cloud for Zack post-Nibelheim. He can't speak or move due to Mako poisoning, but Zack converses with him as if nothing's wrong. Given Zack's attitude, it's likely his discussions with Cloud are an attempt to shake the guy out of his Mako poisoning. Also, possibly, an attempt to stay sane.
79	* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Absolute Stop Thread hits you with Stop even if you're immune to stop.
80	* CondescendingCompassion: In Fort Tamblin, a Wutai soldier asks Zack if the purpose of Shinra's invasion is to spread Mako Reactors. Zack confirms this and claims that doing so will increase the standard of living for the people in the region. This shows that Shinra came up with this justification to ease the consciences of their soldiers, but the Wutai make it clear that this boon is unwanted and that they don't appreciate losing their sovereignty.
81	* ContinuitySnarl:
82	** The game retcons the designs of SOLDIER uniforms -- in ''VII'', 3rd Class wore blue, 2nd wore red, and 1st wore purple. This is why Zack and Cloud had purple uniforms. This game sticks 1st Classes in black instead, and Zack's purple uniform is instead his 2nd Class outfit. Consistency of colors between games aside, this also raises the question of why Zack is the only SOLDIER with a uniform of a different color.
83	** Another uniform continuity problem is created with Cloud. In the original game, Zack found the uniform for him, and he wears it throughout the story - its beaten-up appearance was implied to be because it was an older model (probably pre-war) and well-used (Zack comments that it smells bad). In ''Crisis Core'', Cloud is given a standard-issue, good-condition black 1st Class uniform, with two shoulder guards... and later appears in the Secret Ending in the same purple uniform with asymmetrical, beaten-up armour he had from the original game.
84	* CopyAndPasteEnvironments: If you actually look at the maps in each mission, you'll notice pretty quickly that they're all set in the same eight or nine areas, you just get to explore different parts of them in different missions.
85	* CurbStompBattle: Any mission labeled "Very Easy" is expected to have these.
86	* CurbStompCushion: This game has Sephiroth of all people put in genuinely hard fights, as characters who are real SOLDIER 1ST Class levels face him. Genesis and Angeal can fight him quite well in a spar and when Genesis goes all-out, he briefly pushes Sephiroth back and forces Sephiroth to fight seriously. Though the odds turn against him at that moment, Genesis still manages to briefly overwhelm him with fire spells, though it does no damage, and the whole fight ultimately ends in a standstill with Angeal's interference as Genesis still fends off Sephiroth's attacks. Zack, who has surpassed both Genesis and Angeal, gives even an insane Sephiroth a serious and hard fight when they fought in Nibelheim, managing to block a full-scale energy slash at one point, and avoid defeat for quite some time, with Sephiroth showing actual effort in catching and overpowering Zack before he finally wins. Said fight also turns out to be the only reason why Cloud is able to defeat him at all. Even the arrogant Hojo commented that Zack really pushed Sephiroth to a significant amount of his strength and went as far as to wonder if it reached Sephiroth's full strength.
87	* CutscenePowerToTheMax:
88	** [[spoiler:The battle against Genesis]], SingleStrokeBattle against a Dual Horn-type enemy in a Sephiroth DMW memory, etc.
89	** The game opens with Zack jumping out of a helicopter, running across a train, dodging bullets, and pulling off all kinds of ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]''-style kung fu feats. Nothing in this game's actual battle system even ''resembles'' that cutscene. Zack can swing his sword, do a dodge roll, and run around and that is it. He can't even jump. Naturally, scenes like this happen throughout the entire game, and the playable battles never stop being any less dull in comparison.
90	** Later, Zack [[ParryingBullets cuts a missile aimed at him in half]] with his sword.
91	** Some of the summons cutscenes get improbably outrageous. Bahamut Fury flies in from space and uses the moon to help fire a laser beam that causes an explosion that covers at least 1/10 of the planet.
92	** Cloud actually kills a high-level monster with his standard-issue Shinra machine gun. Nowhere else in the entire Compilation does this gun demonstrate such deadliness.
93	* CuttingOffTheBranches: Cissnei's appearance as a supporting character heavily increases the prominence of the Female Shuriken PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis''.
94	* DamageSpongeBoss: {{Superboss}} Minerva, who has an astonishing 10,000,000 HP in a game where the highest amount of damage you can deal per hit is 99,999. Hard Mode ''doubles'' that to 20,000,000. ''Reunion'', however, inflates that number to an '''astronomical''' degree, to the point where the ''Reunion'' version of Hard Mode Minerva usurps the Aeronite from ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' as the ''Final Fantasy'' boss with the most HP, topping out at a whopping '''''77,777,777!'''''
95	* DarkReprise: The music that plays in Shinra Manor is a minor-key, strange-tempo version of the music in Aerith's church.
96	* DeathWail: Cloud gives such a scream when [[spoiler:Zack dies.]]
97	* DegradedBoss: Several missions do this, particularly the ones where Hojo recreates them.
98	* DefaceOfTheMoon: Exaflare, where Bahamut Fury surrounds the moon with its wing spikes before firing a WaveMotionGun at it, causing the bottom of the moon to ''explode'' and shoot an even bigger beam at the planet's surface. In ''Reunion'', it instead ''creates'' a moon, surrounds it with its wing spikes, and fires a beam powerful enough to penetrate through the space rock and hit the planet with even greater force.
99	* DefectorFromDecadence: Sephiroth was deeply considering retiring from Shinra and SOLDIER presumably due to growing distrust of the organization shortly before Nibelheim (where RetIrony kicks in). It's heavily implied that Angeal's defection was also due to this trope.
100	* DisneyVillainDeath: Implied with [[spoiler: Genesis]] during the Modeoheim mission.
101	* DiskOneNuke: Though you'll have to do a lot of level grinding to get the gil you need to buy them, and it's very difficult to do the missions due to the high level requirement, as early as the beginning of Chapter 3 you can do missions to earn access to a shop that sells Quake Materia, "Hell" spells, Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga Blade, and other high-level Materia.
102	* DoesntLikeGuns: Subverted, in that [=SOLDIERs=] seem to overwhelmingly favor swords, but Zack apparently has no issues about using a sniper rifle to eliminate some robotic enemies during the escape from Nibelheim.
103	* DoomedByCanon: If you've played through ''Final Fantasy VII'', then you will already know how this game ends.
104	* DoomedHometown:
105	** Zack's Home town of Gongaga goes up in a mako reactor explosion. However, he never learns this, and it doesn't factor into the plot at all.
106	** [[spoiler:As in the original game, Nibelheim for Cloud]]
107	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Zack gets shot down by the Shinra Army before he's able to return to Midgar. Cloud awakens from his coma in time to inherit the Buster Sword and see Zack die, shattering his mind and turning him into the character we initially see in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Aerith sent 89 letters to Zack, to which she received no reply and senses Zack's passing. Also, if you know the events to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', you know things are about to get [[FromBadToWorse a whole lot worse]]. Speaking of ''VII'', TheStinger is a CGI recreation of its intro, detailing Cloud's entrance into Midgar on top of the train leading to Mako Reactor 1.]]
108	* DramaticIrony: Much of the story is a ForegoneConclusion and the game makes full use of DramaticIrony for emotional torque. Of note is Zack and Sephiroth treating Nibelheim as a routine mission with Sephiroth mentioning wanting to retire and the agonizing section of Zack running from Shinra only to die outside Midgar.
109	* DugTooDeep: As Zack and Shinra continue to explore the depths of the Great Cavern of Wonders in Mission Category 9, Shinra's machines start to become overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of mako energy and go haywire, trying to kill everyone in sight. Zack, nevertheless, continues to the very depths of the cave and uncovers the source of the massive readings: Minerva.
110	* EasterEgg: In the first room of the final dungeon, Emerald Weapon's shoulders can be seen emerging from a crystal formation in the back of the cavern.
111	* EmptyRoomPsych:
112	** In most of the missions, there are only one or two chests, while the rest of the level is empty except for the boss.
113	** The layout of the missions invoke this a lot, as the rooms all look empty at first, but going to the center of a room would guarantee a random encounter. It can be exploited, though, by sticking to the walls of the room, avoiding the central part as much as possible.
114	* EnemyScan: The Libra spell, as usual, allows you to see enemy HP and MP. Some items provide it as well.
115	* EverythingFades: On death, enemies turn red and fade (though they do have death animations), just like in ''VII''.
116	* ExcusePlot: The mission briefings. With a couple of exceptions, pretty much every mission boils down to looking for the boss-type enemy visible on the map and killing it to win. AVALANCHE has infiltrated the slums? A shipment of experimental new Shinra robots has gone haywire? The science department wants you to recover rare materials for Materia fusion? They all play exactly the same, the only differences being the kinds of enemy you face.
117	* FaceHeelTurn: [[ForegoneConclusion Sephiroth]] in a game about the Nibelheim incident. We see it all play out with Genesis also being involved.
118	* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner:
119	** Zack, facing down half the Shinra army on his own:
120	--->'''Zack:''' Boy oh boy, the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic price of freedom]] is steep.
121	** ... Plus, his war cry of "IRASSHAIMASE!"[=/=]"COME AND GET IT!" has the added connotation in Japanese of being shouted out by staff at every shop and restaurant, and would probably be better translated as [[BadassBoast "COME GET SERVED!"]]
122	* FakeDifficulty: Hard Mode in general. Several early missions quickly leg it into being impossible by virtue of the enemy having a cheap cutscene attack that can't be dodged and will merrily hit you for more HP than you've got, even if you're using accessories for defense against whichever way it hits. The plot will also happily throw one-hit-kill attacks at you too. The only chance you've got for these missions is by exploiting the free Raise in Midgar in the best possible scenario, and in the worst case doing that on top of using at least one Phoenix Down to get another Raise for when you get oneshot again, of which there are very few to be had.
123	* FanService: The [[BeachEpisode beach scenes at Costa Del Sol]]. [[ShirtlessScene Shirtless]] Zack ''AND'' Cissnei in a bikini.
124	* FeatherMotif: All over the place, with Genesis and [[spoiler:Angeal]] sprouting one wing from their backs, as a reference to Sephiroth's One Winged Angel form.
125	* FireIceLightning: The usual triangle exists. Certain enemies also can use all three attack types. Minerva, for instance, has a massive fireball, an ice attack that freezes you where you stand, and a lightning strike from her scepter.
126	* FirstGirlWins: Subverted. Despite meeting Cissnei a few hours earlier, Zack [[TogetherInDeath "ends up"]] with Aerith.
127	* FlamingSword: Odin's Zantetsuken starts flaming, gets extinguished, then rekindles.
128	* ForWantOfANail: The game establishes numerous ways the ForegoneConclusion could be averted. [[spoiler:Zack could have been a bit stronger and killed those last three troops, the Turks could have found him before the army did, Cloud could have come to his senses earlier and possibly come to Zack's rescue.]] {{Fix Fic}}s where [[spoiler:Zack survives the final battle]] due to one of these factors are practically their own genre in the fandom. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' references these possibilities [[spoiler:when Cloud and co. alter the timeline by defeating the Whisper Harbinger, causing Zack to successfully defeat the whole army by himself.]]
129	* ForegoneConclusion:
130	** [[spoiler:Zack dies.]] Known to everyone who played ''FFVII'' and saw the optional cutscenes.
131	** Sephiroth’s FaceHeelTurn & [[spoiler:the destruction of Nibelheim]] are integral to the plot of ''FFVII''.
132	** The moment Banora & Modeoheim are introduced, ''FFVII'' players will know that both towns' days are numbered considering they’re nowhere to be found in the original game.
133	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
134	** In the beginning of the game's TrainingAccident: Zack encounters Sephiroth, who attacks him, making it seem as though he was behind the attack on Midgar. However, this proves to be a simulation. Guess what happens in Nibelheim?
135	** As they set out to Fort Tamblin, Angeal tells Zack the story of dumbapples, which grew in his hometown of Banora. He regularly stole them from the trees and defends the act by pointing out his family was poor, but because "[he] still had his honor", he never stole the apples belonging to his friend's father even though they were said to taste the best. He later uses the Buster Sword to save Zack from a Wutai anti-SOLDIER monster, and quips "you're a little more important than my sword. But just a little." Both of these incidents foreshadow his later actions and his reasoning for them: [[spoiler:he's torn between maintaining his personal honor and supporting his friend and rationalizes his amoral actions to try and reconcile this inner conflict, and eventually ends up sacrificing himself for Zack's sake.]]
136	** Throughout the first half of the game are mentions of budget cuts and the fact that SOLDIER is not paid as well as other branches of Shinra. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Lazard, the director of SOLDIER, was embezzling funds to support Hollander's research.]]
137	** When Zack meets Hojo as part of a mission to protect him from Genesis, Hojo goes on a condescending rant against Shinra's scientists, claiming that until recently, they'd been conflating all sorts of unexplained phenomena, including Jenova, with the Ancients. In another scene, Sephiroth discusses Project G with Zack, claiming that the G stands for "Genesis", only for Hollander to reveal in a later scene that the G actually stands for "Gillian", the name of Angeal's mother. These two scenes foreshadow both the fact that there's a lot of misinformation in the records kept by Shinra scientists, and that Sephiroth has a tendency of jumping to his own conclusions on things, both of which culminate in the catastrophe that is the Nibelheim incident.
138	* FriendshipMoment:
139	** Almost every scene with Cloud and Zack past the Nibelheim incident when he's helping Cloud along.
140	** Zack and Sephiroth get a host of scenes where he's shown to be a caring and kind superior. He ends up being a close friend to Zack. This makes his FaceHeelTurn all the more tragic.
141	* FreudianExcuse: Genesis rubs major salt in the wound for Sephiroth during the Nibelheim incident, when he reveals the truth about Sephiroth's birth. Genesis's presence in the Nibelheim reactor is a fairly big RetCon, and it certainly adds to the image of Sephiroth being [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation a tragic figure]]. The RetCon basically pins most of the blame of Sephiroth's downfall on Genesis's less-than-sensitive revelation, rather than Sephiroth originally coming to that conclusion himself.
142	* FridgeLogic: A rare in-universe case. Zack receives missions from Yuffie, and after each one she sends him an email telling him where to go next. Eventually, Zack stops and wonders briefly exactly ''how'' Yuffie managed to get his email address. The subsequent missions focus on finding out. Turns out when Wutai made peace with Shinra, Godo left something as simple as a phone number list lying around for her to pilfer.
143	* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The Digital Mind Wave is a manifestation of Zack's thoughts and emotions, and as such his emotional state can affect its results, and if that emotional state is connected to someone on the reel, they have a higher chance of appearing on the reels for a while. Famously reversed in the ending sequence -- [[spoiler:as Zack gets weaker and weaker fighting off Shinra's force, the portraits on the reels fade away, the reels begin to glitch up, and the sound and picture get full of static. His life is flashing before his eyes as his mental processes break down--and the last image it gets stuck on is Aerith]].
144	* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
145	** Zack says he swings the Buster Sword with the blunt edge to avoid damaging the bladed edge, and Cloud later comments he doesn't see Zack use it much. Of course, unless you stick to Materia you're definitely going to be using the sword since you can't equip different weapons, and in battle Zack clearly swings it to hit with the bladed edge.
146	** Zack is free to take missions from Shinra right up until the final area of the game right outside the chamber of the final boss, even though by that time he's a wanted fugitive being pursued across the world, and a good number of them aren't even available before he's on the run from Shinra. Even before this, these missions send him all over the world, even at times when he clearly is not free to just go wherever he wants, such as during the attack on the Shinra building.
147	** Zack can call Tseng to use [[GunshipRescue Air Strike]] on Midgar streets, inside of buildings (including Shinra tower), ''[[AirstrikeImpossible underground]]'', and even ''inside Hojo's virtual reality simulation'' and ''[[BeyondTheImpossible in whatever dimension Zack takes on Ifrit and Bahamut]]''. Not to mention Tseng is completely fine with bombing Shinra troops. It's even more bizarre when Zack is on the run from Shinra and the Turks are trying to find him so them showing up for an Air Strike and leaving makes no plot sense.
148	* GaussianGirl: Some of Cloud's memories of Zack at the end are shown in this manner.
149	* GenkiGirl: Aerith, although an unusually thoughtful variety.
150	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion:
151	** [[https://youtu.be/RjXBCaZexK4?t=130 The trailer]] for the ''Reunion'' remake reveals that the Buster Sword's handguard design was changed from the original PSP version's [[https://youtu.be/8cVjyc46eRQ?t=153 more ornamental design.]] In doing so, it matches up with the [[https://youtu.be/oPrqGOUtRLM?t=73 design]] seen in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''.
152	** While ''Reunion'' primarily reuses the same CGI animation from the original PSP release in all applicable scenes, TheStinger that leads to ''Final Fantasy VII'' has been altered. The footage of Cloud on the train is reused directly from the original version, but Aerith's scenes are instead cut and repurposed from the intro of ''Remake'' - AnimationBump and all.
153	* GratuitousEnglish: Zack says "T(h)ank You" to Cissnei in the Japanese Version, [[spoiler:after she helps him and Cloud.]]
154	* GreyAndGrayMorality: If you played the original game you already know how bad Shinra is. With the villains meanwhile, [[spoiler:Angeal is just trying to do the honorable thing between his childhood friend and his career, Hollander and Lazard want to bring Shinra down due to being overlooked in the hierarchy, and Genesis wants a cure for his genetic degradation and is just growing increasingly desperate]].
155	* GuideDangIt:
156	** Materia Fusion can be quite a pain to figure out. Basic recipes are fairly simple and straightforward -- "Status Magic" + "Special Attack" = "Status Attack", "Elemental Magic" + "Special Attack" = "Elemental Attack", and so on. However, the intricacies of the system are rather more complex than they seem. Most Materia are organized into categories and have tiers within those categories, and the "tier" of Materia, coupled with if either or both are Mastered or not, will affect the result of a Fusion. It isn't always obvious which Materia belong to which categories, which tier they occupy within it, and especially how Materia interact with each other between categories to determine the result, so it's difficult to tell what a Fusion may yield, sometimes to the point of ViolationOfCommonSense, like fusing two Magic Materia and getting a Command Materia out of it, or vice-versa. ''Reunion'' clears up some of the mechanics, but it's still quite in-depth and opaque.
157	** In ''Reunion'', the process of maxing out Buster Sword Proficiency is not thoroughly explained in the game. The menus only ever display the total proficiency, but not the individual proficiencies for each Battle Stance action, making it hard to tell that each action has its own proficiency cap to grind towards. The player also isn't informed that the Barrier Piercing and Barrier Break abilities exist for Battle Stance and that mastering them also contributes to total proficiency.
158	* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: The boss fight with Sephiroth. You are required to win the fight, but in the cutscene afterwards, Zack is still defeated.
159	* HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: The tutorial characters, such as Kunsel and Angeal in the early missions, give you information on how to use the PSP controls to do certain things.
160	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Zack dies to save Cloud.]]
161	* HeroWorshipper: Zack has elements of this in his first meeting with Sephiroth, and with Angeal throughout the game. [[spoiler: Sephiroth becomes a Main/BrokenPedestal, as does Angeal, who then achieves Main/RedemptionEqualsDeath.]]
162	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Angeal and Genesis, with Sephiroth joining them later.
163	* HighDiveEscape: Genesis after your first fight against him proper.
164	* HonorBeforeReason: Angeal and his SOLDIER Honor.
165	* HopeSpot: A cruel one for Zack at the end. [[spoiler:The DMW lines up Aerith's picture right at the end of Zack's last battle. As lining up Aerith triggers [[HealThyself Healing Wave]], a copy of Great Gospel that heals Zack fully and makes him invincible, it seems like Zack might have a HeroicSecondWind. Then the DMW fails and Aerith's memories vanish...]]
166	* HPToOne: Sephiroth's "Heartless Angel" and mooks' "Heartless Jump" and "Heartless Needle" attacks.
167	* HuntingTheRogue: Due to a variety of circumstances, Angeal and Genesis, the top two [=SOLDIERs=] aside from Sepiroth himself, wind up going rogue. Zack, Angeal's protégé, winds up having to track him down and kill him, an event that leaves him physically and mentally scarred. Tracking down Genesis eventually leads Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim, where the DisasterDominoes that lead into the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII original game]] occur.
168	* HyperspaceArsenal: In the boss battle with [[spoiler:Hollander]], his appropriately named "Dimension Missile" has him reach into his satchel and pull out a missile bigger than he is.
169	* {{Idiosyncrazy}}: Genesis is not exactly a supervillain, but monomania is a very prominent aspect of his character. If something or someone ever catches his interest, he gets '''obsessed''' with it.
170	* IgnoredEpiphany: There are moments in the game where Zack tries to question Shinra's more morally unethical actions, such as confronting Tseng for issuing the order to destroy a village, but these moments are rare and far between, and he never develops enough insight to seriously reconsider his stance with the company on his own terms, too blinded by shallow pursuits of glory and a fool's idea of heroism. It takes getting beaten to within an inch of his life by a post-madness Sephiroth, being made into a lab rat, and finally an escapee for him to wake up and see Shinra for what they really are, just barely enough time to perform that one powerful act of heroism he wanted for so long in a gallant HeroicSacrifice.
171	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Seemingly at the beginning when Zack faces three enemy gunners opening fire with automatic rifles and not one hits him, but we later find out this is just a holographic simulation and thus, even if he was hit it wouldn't matter. Played straight in a later scenes which is nearly identical, this time with real gunners, and Zack still doesn't get hit while holding fairly still.
172	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Zack uses a large beach umbrella to wail on some frogmen Genesis Copies midway through the game, and it has the same attack power as his sword.
173	* InformedEquipment: You can change all the equipment you want, but nothing on Zack actually changes.
174	* InsurmountableWaistHighFence: Actual traffic barriers, in all the missions. And when you're wandering around the Nibel countryside, actual waist-high fences keep you from going into the fields where the Shinra Sentry-bots roam.
175	* InterfaceSpoiler: Provided you know the characters of the original game, with the exception of Cissnei (who is a new character, mostly) you can probably take a good guess as to who's who on the blank DMW portraits - the spiky hair on one such portrait isn't very subtle. Averted with Genesis, who is added to the DMW reels but has no blank portrait as a placeholder in the roulette prior to being acquired, although he does have a placeholder in the DMW menu... in the summons column.
176	* InterserviceRivalry:
177	** All over Shinra. With pretty much every department fighting for funding while sabotaging others and security forces almost incapable of cooperation, no wonder Shinra was in such disarray during ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII FFVII]]''. Zack can help out the Materia Fusion department until they're able to embarrass Heidegger himself in a board meeting.
178	** The M1-2-X chain of missions has a Public Security captain challenge Zack to fight his men and various Shinra mechs, and gripes that SOLDIER and Turks always get more attention and funding than the Shinra Security Department. Part of this is because he fears his underlings will become complacent if they rely too much on SOLDIER.
179	* {{Irony}}:
180	** Zack and Angeal (especially the latter) love to harp platitudes about "heroics" and "honor" yet end up spending most of their military careers enforcing the oppressive system of a fascistic corporate empire. Barring the occasional questions and doubts, this irony is largely lost to them until change arrives too little, too late (in the case of Angeal) or just barely enough to do something truly heroic before death (in the case of Zack).
181	** [[spoiler:When on the run]], Zack believes that he and Cloud can probably evade the Shinra army, but not the Turks. [[spoiler:Of course, under orders from Tseng, the Turks are probably trying to ''save'' Zack. And as for the army, how did ''that'' turn out?]]
182	* JustAddWater: It's implied that materia fusion requires complex machinery, but Zack can apparently do it by himself out in the middle of nowhere.
183	* JackOfAllStats: Zack. Justified in both gameplay and story, as story-wise SOLDIER operatives have to be pretty good at everything and gameplay-wise Zack is the only person you have control over.
184	* LampshadeHanging: The game enjoys its lampshades of some of the more questionable or stylistic elements of ''FFVII'' and the rest of TheVerse, as well as [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality other RPG conventions]]. For example:
185	** Angeal (the original owner of the Buster Sword) makes a lot of noise about not wanting to cause unnecessary wear and tear so he avoids using his sword as much as he can (his very poor family spent a lot of money on it, and he sees it as more a personal symbol than a tool). Then in a DMW flashback when Angeal and Zack are surrounded by about a dozen enemies, Zack asks if now might be a good time to use the Buster - Angeal reluctantly admits the sword is "heavy and unwieldy." Cue an exasperated Zack asking why he doesn't just carry something lighter instead.
186	** A [[spoiler: Wutai spy]] complains about a huge building like Shinra HQ having only two elevators.
187	* LastDitchMove: Behemoth and its variants will use its cinematic attack when its HP hits 0, meaning you have to survive the attack before it will keel over. In ''Reunion'', you ''can't'' cancel its cinematic attack like you can with most bosses; you can only bring its Ability Gauge down to 25% to minimize the damage inflicted and increase your chances of surviving.
188	* LastStand: Zack versus an endless amount of Shinra troops comprises the game's finale.
189	* LargeHam: Hollander chews the scenery like nothing else. Genesis does too, but to a much lesser degree.
190	* LimitBreak: Controlled by a slot machine. We could write paragraphs about this mechanic, which is not actually random and integrates with surprising grace into both story and gameplay.
191	** DeathFromAbove: Meteor Shots.
192	** GunshipRescue: Air Strike.
193	** InstantRunes: Apocalypse.
194	** RapidFireFisticuffs: Rush Assault.
195	** SpamAttack: Chain Slash and Octaslash.
196	* LonersAreFreaks: During their [=SOLDIER=] days, both Sephiroth and Genesis are described as rather aloof and averse to other people's company, making an exception only for each other and Angeal.
197	* LoonyFan: A lot of the fan club members fall into this to varying degrees. One of them wants to ''abandon her child'' to go looking for [[spoiler:Angeal after his death.]]
198	* LostWorld: The Great Cavern of Wonders that makes up Mission Category 9 is a cave found near the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Northern Crater]] that Shinra discovers to be overflowing with mako energy and has been untouched by humans for millennia... at least until the entrance was revealed and Genesis' forces and Wutai troops rushed in, as well as Shinra's scientists and machines. By the later stages of these missions, Zack is the sole human being roaming the depths of the caves, even further than Shinra's machines.
199	* LuckBasedMission:
200	** Any mission that contains enemies with instant death attacks - remember, ''you have only one party member''. At least until you get a way to protect against it, and you can dodge just about all of them if you're careful.
201	** The Magic Pot enemy in a later mission asks you to use four specific attacks on it, the last of which is a DMW attack. Since you have no control over it all you can do is sit there and watch the reels spin, hoping they stop on the attack you need before Magic Pot gets bored and flees. You ''can'' equip a certain Materia to boost the odds of getting the attack, but it's still random. And of course, appeasing the Pot is the only way to get the [[ArmorOfInvincibility Genji Shield]].
202	** Even levelling up is entirely at random due to how the DMW works. [[labelnote:Except...]]While it is a slot machine, there's still an EXP system going on under the hood, and while it is random if you level up or not once you have enough EXP, when you do the slots become heavily weighted in your favor, with the game pushing Limit Verges on you in bulk to try to get you to level up. Since a 777 is likely but still not guaranteed at this point, this can be abused to level up Materia at a point before you have Moogle.[[/labelnote]]
203	* MarathonLevel: The Missions can get really, really long.
204	* MadeOfIron: The [[HowMuchMoreCanHeTake sheer amount of abuse Zack takes]] before [[BolivianArmyEnding getting taken out]] is simply superhuman, [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain including a point-blank bullet to the face when he's down]].
205	* MasterApprenticeChain: Angeal mentors Zack who mentors Cloud. This is shown through the transfer of the Buster Sword as it symbolically holds the dreams and honor of the previous generations.
206	* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords:
207	** Nearly everything Genesis says, and he knows it. Genesis only starts taking LOVELESS as especially important somewhere near the end of the game, when both his desperation and insanity hit their peak. Before that his recitings are more of a MadnessMantra.
208	** Here's a drinking game - play the game and take a sip every time Angeal says "honor" or "dreams" - and take two shots if he uses them in improper context. You'll be tipsy by the end of the second chapter. Lampshaded by Sephiroth who makes mention of receiving "one of his famous lectures... discipline, honor, dreams, et cetera". Even Genesis mocks him for it.
209	--->'''Genesis:''' You'd better do something about those plants in your room.\
210	'''Angeal:''' Those plants represent nature. Some of us converse with nature to hone our spirit and honor.\
211	'''Genesis:''' And some of us are getting bugs in our rooms because of those blasted things.
212	* MeaningfulName:
213	** Angeal later gets [[spoiler:white angel wings]].
214	** Genesis is the name of the first book of the Bible. Genesis is basically responsible for the events in the ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII''.
215	* MediumAwareness: Zack makes a reference to leveling up in a DMW sequence, and on a mission when he runs into Yuffie she shows him a save point, which Zack remarks he could use in case she steals something from him.
216	* MenDontCry: Averted a few times, mostly by [[spoiler:Zack; after he is forced to kill Angeal, he goes to the church and loses it while Aerith comforts him. He also sobs a bit when he discovers that the last two Angeal copies left (one of which was Lazard) died protecting Cloud from some Shinra troops while Zack was busy with Genesis]]. We also see Cloud almost avert this as [[spoiler:Zack passes away]], but he opts for [[spoiler:the DeathWail]] instead.
217	* MoodWhiplash: The end of chapter 7. [[spoiler:Genesis is apparently killed, Angeal forces Zack to kill him, and passes the Buster Sword onto him in his final moments. The final scenes of the chapter are Aerith comforting Zack in his final moments, and then Zack giving a speech to some infantrymen now bearing the facial scars and haircut he had in ''VII''.]] It's one of the saddest, most dramatic moments of the game. Begin chapter 8, with Zack on vacation in Costa del Sol. He and Cissnei are hanging out chatting on the beach, then some scuba-gear Genesis Copies rise from the water and Zack fights them off with a beach umbrella.
218	* MundaneMadeAwesome: You get scenes of Materia creation to battle music. The squatting minigame does the same.
219	* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: [[spoiler: At the end, Zack's DMW lines up three times as he recalls memories of his closest friends.]]
220	* MySiblingWillLiveThroughMe: [[spoiler:Cloud to Zack in the ending.]]
221	* MySuitIsAlsoSuper:
222	** Played straight when [[spoiler:Sephiroth gets encased in a firey ball of doom midair and gets out]].
223	** Inverted when Genesis [[spoiler:and Angeal]] degrade; their clothes degrade with them.
224	** Although, when [[spoiler:Genesis gets "better", his clothes get better with him]].
225	* MythologyGag: Oh so many. To name a few of the more blatant ones: Zack dropping through the Sector 5 Church's roof and offering Aerith a date, the rather familiar vehicles on display in the Shinra museum, Zack doing squats while on a mission in a snowy mountain to keep up his body temperature, and a carpenter in the slums who wants to build a bar managed by "a young girl with a big bosom and long legs". Zack also starts ''Crisis Core'' at Level 6, the same level Cloud starts the original game at.
226	** An easily-missed one is in Sephiroth's first appearance, where he defeats Bahamut in a single stroke. Zack can only sit there slack-jawed and say "Holy..." [[spoiler:Holy is the name of the spell that thwart's Sephiroth's plan at the end of the original game]].
227	** Angeal makes a big to-do about not wanting to use the Buster Sword to prevent "wear, tear and rust". In the already-released ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]], this happens to the Buster Sword specifically ''because'' Cloud decided not to use it.
228	* NamedInTheSequel: The game reveals that the Turk known as Shuriken from ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis'' is actually named Cissnei, although it's not actually her real name.
229	* {{Nerf}}:
230	** Costly Punch costs 10x the HP in ''Reunion'' than it did in the original game.
231	** ''Reunion'' changed how aborting missions works so that you are reset to your state prior to starting the mission when you abort. Notably, this nerfs the Minerva infinite money/SP trick into uselessness, since you can no longer just steal 99 Phoenix Downs and die; you must ''beat'' Minerva to keep the stolen Phoenix Downs.
232	** Certain enemies that gravity-based attacks worked against in the original game are immune to it in ''Reunion''.
233	* NervesOfSteel: You have to hand it to the Shinra guys. They don't quit. [[spoiler:At the end of the game, after Zack is forced to fight off an army of thousands, only 3 soldiers and 1 helicopter appear to be left. Instead of retreating, the last 3 soldiers look at each other. They then proceed to reload and blow Zack in half execution style.]] Most other armies would've broken a long time before that.
234	* NewGamePlus: And the gratuitously-named New Game++ which behaves the same.
235	* NiceGuy: Zack is unfailingly nice and chipper to everyone he meets, and a lot of his sidequests involve him going out of his way to help people out. Such as him having the option of building Aerith ''three'' different flower carts.
236	* NonIndicativeName: Sephiroth's variety of ''Octo''slash only hits you five times.
237	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Genesis.]] Also, [[spoiler: Sephiroth]] which isn't discovered until ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.
238	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Angeal battling Genesis in Midgar while Zack fights Bahamut Fury.
239	* OneManArmy: Zack.
240	** Even setting aside the monsters and enemy troops he slaughters in random encounters, [[spoiler:Shinra sends an entire ''army'' of soldiers to bring him down]] in the game's finale. When the battle finally ends, [[spoiler:the ''three'' of them still standing finish him off]].
241	** SerialEscalation in the Missions, where one series of missions consists of Zack fighting off hordes of Shinra infantry, culminating with him fighting off [[MultiMookMelee 1000 soldiers]].
242	* OneWingedAngel: How could it be otherwise?
243	* OnlySaneMan: Angeal, when compared to Sephiroth and Genesis. Made especially obvious during the ''1st Class Fun'' cutscene in which Genesis duels Sephiroth in a mock battle that goes horribly out of hand; by the time Angeal steps in to stop them from blowing up the building they're in, neither of the combatants are holding back. Though you can never really tell with Sephiroth, according to [[invoked]]WordOfGod.
244	* OrnamentalWeapon: The Buster Sword, when it was in Angeal's possession. [[LampshadeHanging Zack makes fun of him for hardly ever using it]]. Then, later, uses the ''exact same words'' as Angeal to explain how he keeps it in such good shape, and why he only uses ''the flat edge of the blade''.
245	* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: The summon movies are ''actual movies'' now. No more in-game machinima: pure pre-rendered cutscenes! Luckily, it's possible to skip [[strike:some]] all of them. Considering the shortest is ''twenty seconds'', that's a very good thing. If, however, the summon is used ''against'' you, well... get some popcorn. ''Especially'' when trying to get Bahamut Fury.
246	* PaletteSwap: PlayedWith. The G-Clone rank-and-files look like Shinra Infantrymen in red with the difference being that they employ kicks in close combat instead of striking them with a tonfa, however they have a subtle difference such as a slightly different helmet design (that gives them a raven motif) and face concealers (that a Shinra infantrymen don't possess).
247	* PermanentlyMissableContent: Once [[spoiler:you leave for Nibelheim at the end of Chapter 8]], pretty much ''every'' subquest you can take part in Midgar, as well as numerous missions triggered by interacting with people in Midgar, cannot be completed. Only for each time you play through the [[NewGamePlus game]]. Still doubles as a huge GuideDangIt.
248	* PetTheDog: Despite Sephiroth's air of aloofness and arrogance, it turns out that before the Nibelheim mission, Sephiroth could actually be a pretty nice guy - he has friends that he 'plays' around with, he tries to talk to and/or save Angeal before Shinra could hunt him down, he tried to help Genesis when Genesis is injured during a VR session, he gives permission for Zack to go back to the Midgar Slums to protect Aerith, and he even reassures Zack that they'll meet again. All of which makes Zack's shock and disbelief over Sephiroth's later FaceHeelTurn even more poignant.
249	* PinballProtagonist: Zack himself, despite being the sole playable character and ostensibly the star of this prequel, is far from the most proactive member of the cast. Throughout most of the story, he just bounces around doing whatever work Shinra points him to and is kept in the dark as to what's really going on, much to his frustration. The game's primary plot movers are in fact Angeal, Sephiroth, and especially Genesis, whose growing disillusionment of Shinra and subsequent rebellion provides the core conflict and character exploration, and most of Zack's own development is how he reacts to what they are doing. He finally grows out of this [[spoiler:after the Nibelheim incident, as his actions prove instrumental in saving Cloud from being doomed as Hojo's lab rat, neutralizes the lingering threat of Genesis and Hollander with Lazard's help, and his HeroicSacrifice sets the stage for Cloud's own path to becoming the true hero of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' proper]].
250	* PointOfNoReturn: The end of chapter eight. But at least you can still [[spoiler:run missions for the company trying to hunt you down]]!
251	* PowerDegeneration: Genesis' main stake in the game is that the Jenova cells inside of him are slowly degrading and he's afraid of dying. He goes from being his {{Bishounen}} self to being a withered man with white skin and hair by the end of the game. Lazard and Hollander end up as Angeal clones, but only Hollander actually dies from the degradation (though a battle with Zack probably helped it along).
252	* PowerTrio: [[TheSpock Sephiroth]], [[TheMcCoy Genesis]] and [[TheKirk Angeal]]. Made clear in a cutscene when Sephiroth's calm, unflappable nature goads [[FieryRedhead Genesis]] into a massive, destructive battle, forcing Angeal to step in and try to stop them.
253	* {{Punch Clock Villain}}s: Since the game is now from Zack's POV, you find that most Shinra employees, including SOLDIER, are just normal, decent guys with day jobs--they worry about getting promoted, discuss company hotties, and the higher-up members of the infantry are concerned with trying to get their division more funding.
254	* PsychoPrototype: [[spoiler:Played straight with Genesis, and averted by Angeal]].
255	* RandomNumberGod: The DMW. While it is possible to influence the results (and character level is eventually guaranteed), the fact that players only have limited control over the process invokes this trope. It gets especially frustrating when you are trying to get the Genji Shield from one particular Magic Pot, who requires you to use Octoslash on it, and your only way of making that happen is to load your Materia with Octoslash+ (outside of the ones needed to meet his other requirements) and just hope you get it.
256	* RelationshipValues: To a degree, and in two separate ways. Depending on how many bystanders Zack helps after meeting Aerith for the first time dictates how well their date goes, but it's a ForegoneConclusion that they get together anyway. How many people Zack helps while in Midgar also determines how many people end up in his fan club at the end of the game.
257	* {{Retcon}}: Several:
258	** Most notably the nature of Zack's death and how Cloud ends up the way he was in ''[=FF7=]''.
259	** Most of the iconic scenes at the Nibelheim Reactor were changed, though the end result is the same, and the parts that Cloud sees are left unchanged. Oddly enough, this is the ''second'' retcon of the scene; the first happened the cellphone Turk-centric game ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis'' and was reused in the OVA ''Last Order''. Crisis Core is a compromise of that version and the original game's with Cloud tossing Sephiroth into the mako pit but with the location changed to Jenova's chamber rather than the catwalk outside.
260	** [[invoked]]WordOfGod says that ''FFVII'' gave us Cloud's perspective of the scene, ''Last Order'' and ''Before Crisis'' gave us the scene as reported by the Turks and ''Crisis Core'' is what Zack perceived as what happened. The only thing we know for certain is that the Turks got it wrong about Sephiroth jumping into the Lifestream and Tifa waking up when Cloud arrived in the Mako Reactor.
261	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Angeal, who specifically invokes this due to believing he has become a monster. Later Lazard, after he becomes a degrading Angeal clone and fights to protect Cloud from Shinra troops.]]
262	* {{Retirony}}: Sephiroth is seriously thinking of leaving Shinra and SOLDIER (implied to be out of guilt for the deaths of his friends and growing distrust for the organization) just before the Nibelheim mission ([[StartOfDarkness where his madness began]]).
263	* SadBattleMusic: "The Price of Freedom" could be considered this, due to the nature of the event you're fighting to it.
264	* SelfMadeOrphan: Played straight with Genesis and subverted with Angeal. Angeal was initially believed to have killed his mother, and lets Zack believe it, but it is later revealed shortly before their battle that [[spoiler:Angeal's mother actually committed suicide because of the strain of knowing her part in creating Angeal and Genesis.]]
265	* SceneryGorn: The slums of Midgar, given the amount of scrap and refuse the residents below the Plate live in.
266	* SetSwordsToStun:
267	** Arguably done in the literal way with Zack's second weapon, [[spoiler:the Buster Sword, in which he strikes with the blunt part instead of the sharp side]].
268	** The ability "Power Osmose" most literally works this way. It stuns the enemy without causing any HP damage, only absorbing MP from them.
269	* ShoutOut: The Chocobo Stomp is one to ''Franchise/KamenRider'', with the Chocobo and Zack doing the traditional pose for whenever two Riders team up to do a Double Rider Kick.
270	* ShutUpHannibal: Sephiroth's delivers one hell of one to [[spoiler:Genesis]]:
271	-->'''Sephiroth:''' Whether your words are lies meant to deceive me... or the truth that I have sought all my life... it makes no difference. '''You will rot'''.
272	* SingleStrokeBattle: One of the Sephiroth DMW memories has Zack do this. When Zack does manage to defeat a monster with one hit, Sephiroth then tells him to try again with a harder target.
273	* SkywardScream: [[spoiler:Cloud after Zack entrusts the Buster Sword to him and finally dies at the end of the game.]]
274	* SpinAttack: There are plenty of attacks (namely Assault Spiral and any of its derivatives) where Zack spins around to hit enemies.
275	* StagesOfMonsterGrief: Angeal hates his nature and defies it, while Genesis fully embraced TheDarkSide and Sephiroth is in between (it's hinted that he hates his nature upon finding out, but ends up embracing it anyways).
276	* StartOfDarkness: The game shows that Sephiroth's mental breakdown was not a sudden out-of-nowhere snap but the result of a series of emotional traumas and betrayals with several days of sleep deprivation in addition to the [[GoMadFromTheRevelation discovery of a devastating half-truth about his origins]] being the straws that broke the camel's back. The sleep deprivation part was, however, already there in the original game: "Sephiroth didn't come out of the Shinra Mansion... He continued to read as if he were possessed by something, and ''not once, did the light in the basement go out...''"
277	* StylisticSuck: The voice acting in the ''Reunion'' version seems to fall under this. It's the new voice actors from ''Remake''... being directed to sound exactly as the original voiceovers for the PSP version did. Some of the resultant performances end up being hit-or-miss, but it appears to be intentional.
278	* SugarAndIcePersonality: Sephiroth, of all people, is a male version. He is aloof and coldly professional but also cares about his friends, is hurt enough by their loss to consider quitting his job and allows Zack to return to Midgar to check up on his girlfriend, showing that he at least understands the value of these kinds of relationships. This helps to nudge him out of DracoInLeatherPants territory and toward WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.
279	* SuicideByCop: Angeal trying to force Sephiroth (who refuses) and Zack (who actually does it) to kill him.
280	* SuperCellReception: Zack has access to a far better phone as a member of SOLDIER which allows him to receive e-mail and shop online and -- apparently -- ''fuse materia''. And it even continues to work as if the game's four-year TimeSkip never happened even though Zack himself was out of commission.
281	** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in a bit of FridgeBrilliance: He spent the past 4 years submerged in Mako. Almost everything is powered by Mako. His phone probably has a refillable Mako cartridge as a battery.
282	** If anything it's a case of StoryAndGameplaySegregation since Zack after he breaks free never uses his phone in cutscenes.
283	* SuperSoldier: Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Zack, and all the other members of SOLDIER.
284	* {{Superboss}}: Minerva, the end-boss of a mission chain involving Zack exploring deeper and deeper into a chasm that leads directly to the Lifestream itself (it's implied to be the Northern Cave). In-story, she's the Goddess mentioned in LOVELESS and she shows up at the end to spurn Genesis after his defeat at Zack's hands. As a boss, she's the only enemy capable of removing Raise status with her cutscene attack, and has ''ten million'' HP. As if that weren't enough, ''Reunion'' cranked her threat level ''far'' higher than in the original game. While Hard Mode in the original ''Crisis Core'' was strictly NumericalHard, Hard Minerva in ''Reunion'' was actually '''buffed'''; on top of getting a disgustingly huge HP buff, she hits so freakishly hard that having 255 VIT and SPI and 99,999 HP won't stop her from eating through massive portions of your HP bar, she now randomly inflicts Dispel with ''any'' attack, and Judgment Arrow becomes a FixedDamageAttack and is a OneHitKill unless you can deplete the BreakMeter below 100%.
285	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
286	** Delivering a [[BreakThemByTalking breaking speech]] and calling your [[WeUsedToBeFriends former best friend]] "the perfect monster" is not going to get him to do what you want.
287	** No matter how badass you are, [[spoiler:fighting against an entire army by yourself does not end well.]]
288	* SwissArmyWeapon: Wutai troops carry some polearm-gun combination. Then there's the massive Gunblades used by a few Genesis copies.
289	* TalkToEveryone: Absolutely necessary if you want to uncover much of the info relating to the world and characters.
290	* TalkToTheFist: You can interrupt small enemies' attacks by attacking them first.
291	* TakeUpMySword: Angeal passing the Buster Sword to Zack and Zack doing the same to Cloud.
292	* TakeYourTime: Sure, the director of SOLDIER is waiting for you in his office, but you've got time for another thirty or forty missions first. Kunsel even lampshades this in Chapter 2, where he invites Zack to go out to Midgar with him right as Tseng is asking Zack to deploy on his next mission. Should you accept the invitation and do side activities in Midgar, Kunsel will be quite apologetic when you return to HQ, claiming that he ''really'' shouldn't have asked you to tour Midgar when things are so hectic at the office.
293	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Level 5 limit break against a {{Mook}} you'd normally kill in one hit? The DMW makes this possible!
294	* TimeSkip: Happens twice:
295	** After [[spoiler:Angeal's death]], the game skips a year and three months.
296	** And after the events in Nibelheim, it skips four years.
297	* TookALevelInBadass: The entire game serves to show how Zack grows from an already exceptional 2nd Class SOLDIER who was trained by Angeal, who is on the top three of the SOLDIER 1ST Class, to the second greatest SOLDIER ever just under Sephiroth and there is even several demonstrations of how rapid and much Zack is growing.
298	** During the Wutai War, Zack wasn't able to finish Ifrit off, which left him off-guard when it recovers and almost kills him. Cue a few months later after the war had ended, he's able to defeat Bahamut, who on the chain of summons is clearly stronger than Ifrit.
299	** It was clear that at the beginning of the game, Zack was no match for any of the top three SOLDIER, Sephiroth giving him a CurbStompBattle, Angeal saving him several times, and Genesis, who is just as strong as Angeal, not seeing Zack as worthy of his time. Then he becomes a SOLDIER 1ST Class on his own and gets to show that he has surpassed Angeal and Genesis and taken the second spot from them by defeating Genesis both when he was weakened and when he had been cured of his degradation and easily holding off Angeal's assault before killing him in his monstrous form like Angeal wanted. Even though it wasn't enough to beat Sephiroth, Zack still managed to put up a much better fight than he did last time and if what Hojo was saying was true, he had forced Sephiroth to use a significant amount of his strength that pondered on his full might and considering Hojo's likely to keep an eye on Sephiroth and knowing of his spars with Genesis and Angeal, most likely gave him a harder time than Genesis and Angeal ever did. That said fight also turns out to be the reason why Cloud was able to defeat Sephiroth.
300	* TranshumanTreachery: [[spoiler:Genesis and Sephiroth]].
301	* TrueCompanions: Zack has this with a lot of his SOLDIER comrades. Kunsel even sends him messages [[spoiler:after Zack escapes from Shinra Manor, saying that he will come save him]].
302	* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Subverted in that it's ''extremely'' necessary to dodge attacks, granting you invincibility while rolling. With proper timing, Zack can roll ''into'' explosions and spells and the like and not take damage.
303	* UniformityException: While riding on a helicopter, Zack bonds with one of the faceless soldiers over being country boys. After the chopper crashes and they have to walk all to Modeoheim, the mook removes his helmet to reveal Cloud; the protagonist of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII the main FFVII]]''. Naturally, he's [[LateArrivalSpoiler still just another Shinra grunt]] for now and spends the rest of the game in his uniform.
304	* UpdatedRerelease: ''Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion'' straddles the line between this and a full on VideoGameRemake. Visually the game has been entirely redone in the graphical style of ''Final Fantasy VII Remake'' and features the new voice actors and updated soundtrack, but content-wise it is effectively one-for-one with the original game. The only major addition besides a shiny coat of paint is that the combat has been drastically overhauled, matching more closely to ''Remake''[='=]s combat system.
305	* UsedToBeASweetKid: Cloud pre-''FFVII'' is a friendly, dorky if slightly shy kid, very different from the [[spoiler:Jenova cell-induced]] DeadpanSnarker JerkWithAHeartOfGold of FFVII or brooding loner in Advent Children. Said Cloud pre-''FFVII'' actually [[spoiler:still existed in ''FFVII'' as a voice in his head through most of the game, but returned much later after a JourneyToTheCenterOfMind to put his mind back together.]]
306	* UselessUsefulSpell: Averted for once, mainly with Gravity. Due to the way side-missions are structured, it's possible to end up with enemies that have so much health that it's going to take an eternity to beat them to death with your sword. Sure, you can stack ATK to level off the difference to a certain point, but some enemies have cutscene attacks that (especially in Hard Mode) might unavoidably oneshot you unless you stack DEF instead, and at a certain point that stops holding up anyway. The thing is that these enemies ''don't'' usually have a Gravity immunity, and with all that health Gravity will do a solid 9999 to them until it doesn't, at which point you can finish the job by just beating them to death. One of the later story bosses also has a Mortal Shock that you can steal, which applies Death to your normal attacks. Considering this means you don't have to try to cast it at the expense of actually attacking, it's an incredibly convenient accessory for passively deleting anything that isn't immune to it.
307	* WalkingSpoiler: Zack, if you've played ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. You know how the story ends.
308	* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler:Zack and Angeal. Sephiroth and Genesis too, though Genesis considered Sephiroth more of a rival.]]
309	* WhamLine: The infamous event that was expected to happen sooner or later in the game, yet still delivered by a simple two-word sentence that would send chills to the player considering they would likely know full well what's going to happen. Especially with how it's framed at first as just being another dime-a-dozen mission.
310	-->'''Zack:''' By the way, where are we going?\
311	'''Sephiroth:''' [[spoiler:''To Nibelheim.'']]
312	* WhatHaveIBecome: Out of all the Jenova Project and its many variants, only Angeal manages to hold on to not only his sanity but ''humanity'' throughout the whole ordeal. To the point that [[spoiler:his copies and monsters went out of their way to help Zack]]. He nearly lost it early on, it seems, considering some of his words and actions. He must have been using a lot of willpower to hang on long enough for [[spoiler:Zack to be able to kill him]]. This is compounded by the fact that, compared to Genesis and Sephiroth, Angeal has two ''white'' wings instead of a black one. Zack even says that they're not the wings of a monster, but rather angel wings.
313	* WickedPretentious: Genesis, whose obsession with ''LOVELESS'' annoyed Sephiroth even at the best of times, but his SanitySlippage throughout the game pushes him into straight-up LoonyFan territory.
314	* WifeHusbandry: A very minor example of this trope plays when Zack talks to a small girl in the Sector 8 slums. She mentions a kind, rich uncle who smiled in agreement when the girl said that she wants to marry him. This goes straight into {{Squick}} territory when you realise that said Uncle is [[spoiler:Don Corneo, the pervert mob boss in the original game]]. Compounded further when you remember [[spoiler:Don Corneo would discard his lovers down the sewers to be fed to his pet Abzu when he was bored of them]].
315	* WouldntHurtAChild: Zack never really acts on his frustration towards Yuffie for managing to play him and take the treasures he was supposed to acquire. While he states that others on Shinra would be more willing to knock her down a peg, the one that tasked Zack to retrieve the Materias clearly aren't keen on hurting her either.
316	----

Context VideoGame / CrisisCore