Few antagonistic groups inFinal Fantasyare as iconic asFinal Fantasy VII’s Turks. Punch clock villains through and through, the Turks accomplish some of the most sinister deeds in the game, but always with a professional sheen and never with any personal feelings behind their acts. This doesn’t absolve them from the truly heinous things they do, but there’s a reason the Turks are so well regarded by fans.
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Taking note of how popular the Turks were, Square actually developed aFinal Fantasy VIIprequel focusing on them–Before Crisis. Setting up the events of the main game while fleshing outFFVII’s lore considerably,Before Crisiswas the first domino in the chain reaction that would inevitably lead toFinal Fantasy VII Remake.
10The Start Of The Compilation Of Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIIRemakebeing episodic isn’t actually new for the metaseries. In fact, the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII formally opens with an episodic game–Before Crisis. A prequel set during the six years leading into the events ofFinal Fantasy VII,Before Crisiswas a cellphone where players could pick one of many Turks and then help set up the events of the main game proper.
OverBefore Crisis' 28 episodes, the Turks intersect with the main party members, get a glimpse of lore the player wasn’t privy to in the originalFFVII, and help set up the rest of the Compilation– fleshing out just about every imaginable detail inFinal Fantasy VIIfor better or worse.
9Interest Was Shown In A 3DS Remake
Along with being the first official entry in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, it’s also the only one that never released outside of Japan– a pity as it was widely considered to be one of the greatest cellphone games ever made, if not something of a gold standard. Naturally, fans have been clamoring for a remake for years, but it’s seems the closest that idea came to fruition was in 2010
Hajime Tabata,Before CrisisandCrisis Core’s director, expressed direct interest in remaking the game for the 3DS. As that was a full decade ago and nothing has come out ofBefore Crisissince, this obviously never came into fruition and it’s unlikelyBefore Crisiswill see a rerelease or a modern remake at this point.
8The Game Has Been Unplayable Since 2018
Perhaps the greatest tragedy ofBefore Crisisisn’t the fact it was never localized, it’s the fact it’s straight up unplayable now. The servers which allowed players to swap between the 28 episodes unfortunately went down in 2018, permanently locking anyone out of the game. It was only a matter of time, really, but it shines a spotlight on the dangers of abandonware.
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Before Crisiswas not only considered an extremely good cellphone game upon release, it’s also very important to understanding the greater workings ofFinal Fantasy VII’s world, especially in regards to AVALANCHE, the Turks, and Shinra as organizations. That’s unfortunately all lost now.
7Elfe, The Leader Of AVALANCHE
The originalFinal Fantasy VIImakes it clear through ancillary dialogue that there was more to AVALANCHE than just Barret’s faction (and eventually just Barret himself,) but the implication seems to be that AVALANCHE is really just him by the end of the game.Before Crisisfleshes out AVALANCHE considerably, actually centering them as the chief antagonists for quite a while.
Although not their founder, Elfe is AVALANCHE’s leader at the time ofBefore Crisis. Elfe was essentially indoctrinated by Elfe, found as an amnesiac and raised into the role of leader. In truth, she’s actually the daughter of the Tseng’s predecessor, Veld.
6Veld, The Leader Of The Turks
Veld, also known as Verdot in some translations of Compilation material, is Tseng’s direct predecessor and the leader of the Turks at the start ofBefore Crisis. Unlike Tseng who has a friendlier demeanor with his fellow Turks (albeit a very professional one,) Veld’s Turks are outright intimidated by him due to how little he tolerates failure within the Turks.
All the same, this fear of Veld ends up creating a fierce loyalty in his Turks which result in them defecting en masse at the end ofBefore Crisis, leaving Tseng with simply Reno and Rude. Discovering Elfe is his estranged daughter, Veld likewise resigns from the Turks, dedicating his life to her.
5Rufus’ Coup
Rufus is a major antagonist inFinal Fantasy VII, one who very much wants to kill the party, but his goals do align with humanity’s best interests. The thing is,Final Fantasy VIImakes the case that it’s not alright for humanity to continuously put ourselves before the planet. All the same, it’s a complex, layered scenario which makes it easy to read Rufus in a semi-heroic light.
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Especially when one takes hisBefore Crisisbackstory into consideration. Rufus was secretly bankrolling AVALANCHE the entire time as a means to discredit his father and steal the company out from underneath him. President Shinra discovers this, but he is essentially forced to peacefully & silently exile Rufus without punishment as the public knowledge of Shinra funding AVALANCHE would destroy their reputation.
4Crisis Core’s Cissnei Is A Before Crisis Character
Final Fantasy VII’s PSP exclusive prequel,Crisis Corefocuses on Zack Fair’s life leading up to his death as depicted inFinal Fantasy VII. Kind of. As emotional asCrisis Coreis, it also makes a lot of major retcons toFFVII’s story while fleshing Zack Fair out. Although Aerith mentioned in the original game that he was something of a ladies man, Cissnei’s inclusion inCrisis Corealmost posits that Zack had two loves of his life. (Something the game does reject, admittedly.)
Still, the sheer chemistry Cissnei and Zack share make her a very memorable inclusion inCrisis Core, all the more so because she was actually a playable character inBefore Crisis– Shuriken (Female.) It should be pointed out that the Turks inBCall follow the same naming convention: Name (Gender.)
3The Evacuation Of Midgar
Although the majority ofBefore Crisisis a prequel primarily setting up the events ofFinal Fantasy VII(while also chipping away at AVALANCHE and the Turks as organizations,) the last two episodes actually take place during Meteor’s impact, explaining what the Turks were doing as Meteor was hitting Midgar.
As Reno, Rude, Elena, and Tseng try to evacuate Midgar as best they can, Veld and the playable Turks all band together one last time to help evacuate and protect the citizens of Midgar from Meteor. In a game all about the Turks, spanning years of history, ending on a note of solidarity is sound.
2Jade WEAPON
The WEAPON bosses are some of the most iconic in the originalFinal Fantasy VII, ancient beasts beckoned to wreak havoc on the planet Earth as punishment. Between Diamond, Sapphire, Ultimate, Emerald, and Ruby WEAPON,Final Fantasy VIIhas a nice roster going for it. Which makes it all the more surprising thatBefore Crisisadded another WEAPON.
Deemed far too dangerous to be alive, the Turks have a celestial target painted on their back as Jade WEAPON awakens to hunt them down. Interestingly, where in the world ofFinal Fantasy VIIthe fight against Jade WEAPON took place was actually based on the player’s real world location.
1The RPG Maker Remake
Unfortunately, anyone who wants to playBefore Crisisis completely out of luck. As of 2020, there is no way to legally playBefore Crisiswhatsoever, even in Japan. That said, a Brazilian RPGMaker user by the name of richterw actually developed a full remake ofBefore Crisisin RPG Tsukuru 2003. While there are translation issues, along with only one playable character, it is a solid enough remake.
It’s also the closest way of getting theBefore Crisisexperience right now. No, it isn’t perfect nor does it capture exactly what made the game so interesting, but it’s a great RPGMaker game that should be played by anyone even remotely curious aboutBC’s story.
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