Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion seems like it was made, originally on the PSP, as an excuse to highlight characters that didn’t get a lot of time in Final Fantasy 7. For example, what was Sephiroth like in his days as a dutiful SOLDIER within Shinra?
While the game highlights some of his meager days, Sephiroth is not given a lot of time to breathe. The same is true for two of the new antagonists as well: Angeal and Genesis. So, of the characters remaining, who were the best in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion? There will be spoilers for the entire Final Fantasy 7 franchise.
8 SOLDIER 3rd Class Lv. 3
SOLDIER 3rd Class Lv. 3 is the only name given to players for a specific SOLDIER set of missions in the game. About halfway through Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, Zack has a chance to run into this comrade as he is being chewed out by a superior in the prep room.
When Zack asks what’s wrong, the recruit explains his situation and asks Zack for help in return. Well, one favor turns into a handful more, with this ally guilt-tripping Zack into more. One of the character’s best lines is “Bury my body on top of a hill” when Zack initially refuses to help again. His role is small, but it is memorable.
7 The SOLDIER Fan Club
There is a fan club for SOLDIER that players can interact with after the first couple of missions. There are three women chatting around the fountain in Sector 8 who all love a different member of SOLDIER between Genesis, Angeal, and the ever-classic Sephiroth.
None of these characters have names, but this interaction turns into a series of quests that goes through the end of the game. Players will even get newsletters from the heads of each fan club. It’s another small role in the game but all three characters, as well as every other member Zack interacts with in these clubs, deserve to get recognized.
6 Kunsel
Kunsel is like the personification of a tutorial menu in the game. He tells Zack how to get his gear in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion as well as several other key mechanics. He may start as a glorified help menu, but his friendship blossoms with Zack over time.
His face is never revealed and he isn’t in many cutscenes, but he does write to Zack often with emails. He’s a subtle character in the story but players that keep up with his emails will find an engaging character within. It’s nice that he gets recognized years later in the remake of Final Fantasy 7.
5 Cissnei
Cissnei is a member of the Turks and one of only a handful in the game. While Tseng pops up more often, Cissnei will actually speak to Zack more. Tseng is more of a one-note character that is all business. It’s great to see Reno and Rude pop up for a few cameo appearances as well, but Cissnei is overall the star Turk in the game.
She’s the one that allows Zack and Cloud to get away from Shinra initially. If only she were faster, she may have been able to save Zack completely and have prevented Cloud from becoming a puppet for so long.
4 Yuffie Kisaragi
Yuffie was one of the wilder cameos from Final Fantasy 7 to appear in this game. She is also one of the first ones as she pops up to stop Zack when he invades a fort in Wutai. She wants to be a strong ninja but Zack makes her run away crying since she is only a child.
There’s a great series of side missions wherein she returns as well. One of her best interactions with him has Yuffie call Zack a perv. It’s a very anime moment for a very anime-inspired character and Yuffie is even more anime-like in the remake of Final Fantasy 7.
3 Aerith Gainsborough
There were a few things fans knew they were going to see in Crisis Core when it first launched. They could assume Aerith was going to be a big character since she mentions dating Zack to Cloud in Final Fantasy 7. That’s why she becomes so infatuated with Cloud as he reminds her of Zack.
Little did she know in Final Fantasy 7 that Cloud was stealing his identity, making the whole thing a bit darker. She’s a bit more naive in Crisis Core, which is cute. She learns to be more forward from Zack which is why her personality changes between the two games besides the obvious passing of time.
2 Cloud Strife
Cloud is almost a completely different character in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion compared to his dour self in Final Fantasy 7. He has a goal in his heart and is ready to serve the company next to heroes like Zack and Sephiroth. The trauma that he faces in Nibelheim after Sephiroth goes rogue messes him up though.
This game finally sheds some more light on how the original character used to be prior to the Mako poisoning and amnesia. He has similar character traits to how Yuffie acts in Final Fantasy 7 actually. For example, he gets motion sickness as he says in Junon, “I’m just not good…with vehicles…” before presumably vomiting.
1 Zack Fair
This game is a prequel about Zack, so of course, he has to be the best character in the game. He is the complete opposite of Cloud, or at least the Cloud must know from Final Fantasy 7. Zack is kind, energetic, and willing to lend a helping hand to whoever he faces.
Even when he is ordered to fight his former compatriots, Zack hesitates knowing full well that something must be up. Most tragically he gives his life so that Cloud can survive. His noble sacrifice created Final Fantasy 7, as it were, and with it a giant sub-series in the popular RPG franchise.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion was released on December 13, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.