The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is a metaseries produced by Square Enix. A subseries stemming from the main Final Fantasy franchise, it is a collection of video games, animated features, and short stories set in the world and continuity of Final Fantasy VII (1997). Officially announced in 2003 with the reveal of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the series' core products are three video games and one film release. Alongside these are tie-in products and spin-offs including books, mobile games, and an original video animation. Advent Children and the mobile title Before Crisis are a sequel and prequel to VII respectively, focusing on Cloud Strife, the original game's main protagonist, and covert operatives known as the Turks. Crisis Core follows Zack Fair, a minor character in VII, while Dirge of Cerberus, a sequel to Advent Children, follows Vincent Valentine, one of the original's optional characters. The series has since been expanded to include more products, most notably a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 original; the first installment in this trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Remake, was released in 2020, while the second installment, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was released in 2024.

The series was conceived by Yoshinori Kitase, the original game's director, and Tetsuya Nomura, the main character designer. Nomura would become the main designer for each entry in the Compilation. Other returning staff include writer Kazushige Nojima, art director Yusuke Naora, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The video games belong to different genres, with none of them being traditional role-playing games due to production pressures related to the genre. While the first title revealed was Advent Children, it ran into delays during post-production, so the first Compilation title to be released was the mobile game Before Crisis.

Of the core titles, Before Crisis is the only one still unreleased in the west due to issues with overseas platform compatibility and staff changes. Reception of titles in the Compilation has been mixed, with Advent Children being praised for its visuals and criticized for its confusing nature. Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Remake, and Rebirth have all received praise from critics, while Dirge of Cerberus garnered a mixed response. The presentation of the Compilation as a whole has met with a mixed response, and later staff linked it to the decline of the Final Fantasy series' prestige in the West. The Compilation inspired the creation of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy, a similar subseries of linked video games.

Titles

Video games

  • Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII is an action role-playing video game split into 24 episodes, with episode delivery working via a monthly subscription-based distribution system.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix, released for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. It is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 original.
  • Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis is a role-playing video game. Released in September 2023 for iOS and Android and in December 2023 for Windows, it is an episodic single-player game which retells the events of the canon Compilation titles while adding in new narrative material.

Films

  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the first title conceived for the Compilation, the second to be released, and a direct-to-DVD sequel to VII. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2005, and on April 24 and 25, 2006 for Europe and North America respectively.
  • Final Fantasy VII: The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, a novel and second book by Kazushige Nojima set a short time before Advent Children. The novel was illustrated by Shou Tajima and released on December 15, 2011.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts, a novel also authored by Nojima, was released on July 15, 2021, in Japanese and March 20, 2023, in English (as Traces of Two Pasts). It takes place during the early events of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and features Aerith and Tifa exchanging stories from their pasts.
  • Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Dear Destiny, a third novel by Nojima, a sequel to Traces of Two Pasts that continues the stories of Tifa and Aerith before the events of the main story of the Remake. It was released in Japanese on January 30, 2026.

A novella Hoshi o Meguru Otome (The Maiden Who Travels The Planet) was written by Benny Matsuyama and published in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Guide in 2005. The story describes Aerith's journey through the Lifestream during the second half of the original game. Despite being authorized by Square Enix the novella is disputed by some fans on whether it is canon and part of the Compilation. A Square Enix Customer Support e-mail stated that it was official, while others claim the story overlaps and contradicts with the events from "Case of Lifestream - Black & White" story from later novel On the Way to a Smile. It was also never officially localized in English, however various fan translations exist.

A mobile racing game based on a mini game from VII, Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, was released on October 30, 2014, for iOS and Android. A western release for the title was planned.

|game5 = Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

|mc5 = 92/100

Compared to the original VII, which received near-universal critical acclaim and later cult status as a classic game, the entries in the Compilation have often garnered a mixed reception, and the Compilation as a whole has been critiqued by some. In July 2007, Edge magazine wrote that the titles "could be of a high quality, but there is also a perversion of the original". Will Nelson of PCGamesN described the characters as depicted in Rebirth as "bursting with personality" and praised them for both their banter and their dialogue during more serious story moments. However, he lamented the repetitive nature of the open world and its activities. Meanwhile, Gene Park of The Washington Post complimented the game's world design, describing it as a "remarkably detailed and seamless open world, a true adventure that spans continents and cultures."

Sales

Many of the titles have received strong sales. Through 2006, Advent Children met with high sales, with 1 million units sold in Japan, 1.3 million in North America, and 100,000 in Europe, making a total of 2.4 million copies sold worldwide. This made it one of the biggest launches for a PlayStation 4 game and the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive in history. By September 2023, the game had shipped and digitally sold over 7 million units worldwide. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has sold over 3.5 million copies across both PlayStation and Steam.

Legacy

The process of thought behind the Compilation would later inspire the creation of Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy, a subseries of games linked by a common mythos, and would use lessons learned from the Compilation production process.

<!-- Setting -->

<!-- Production -->

<!-- Reception -->