Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is one of the 2 new mobile games announced recently by Square Enix, and an interview by Famitsu with Tetsuya Nomura provides more details into the game, specifically about the story chapters being free and the gacha mechanics for weapons.

Nibel on Twitter summarizes the main points of the interview quite well.

Apart from the free story chapters that will be released, Nomura outlines that Ever Crisis will try to fit the story of the original FF7 into 10 chapters, but will also have new episodes just for Ever Crisis, and will even tackle the First Soldier story as well.

You can see the full transcript of the interview below as sent over by a press release:

• In our previous interview, you described how FFVII EC would be divided into chapters. Will the new chapters be released for free? Also, what are the monetized elements, and will you be able to enjoy the story without paying?

“You will be able to play the chapters released for free. The monetized element is basically loot
boxes containing random weapons. Some of the special weapons also come as a set that includes
new costumes that were not in the original games, adding in a new way to enjoy the story that
you won’t have seen before.“

• What volume of content will be in each chapter? For example, how many chapters do you envisage the original FFVII story covering?

“We are trying to fit the story of the original FFVII into 10 chapters. To be a bit more specific,
the team will escape from Midgar in chapter 3. I think that should give you an idea of how much
the other titles will cover as well.“

• Will there be completely new, original episodes in FFVII EC as well?

“Yes, naturally we have created some of those too. The first one will be a new episode we are working on that covers the story behind FFVII FS that was announced at the same time. The events of FFVII FS take place around 30 years before the FFVII main story, and go into the founding of SOLDIER, so it goes without saying that you will see some of the legendary heroes in their younger days, as well as younger versions of the future Shinra executives and other characters who will appear in the REMAKE sequels. I think that it will really add depth to some of the characters who we do not have room to show fully in the main games.“

• If the footage released showing the Scorpion Sentinel fight takes place in Mako Reactor 1, is the presence of Aerith and summons here because it is an introductory video or because story progression and battles are separate?

“The game has a story mode where you will follow Cloud and the gang on their journeys, but also features special dungeons and battles that go outside of the timeline delineated by the various compilation titles. These will allow players to enjoy taking on the mightiest enemies from the series using their dream party, in ways that the story battles do not allow.“

• For the music, will you be using arrangements of the original tracks from FFVII?

“Yes, the music is all based on the originals, but has been newly arranged for FFVII EC.“

• What have you focused on and taken most care with for FFVII EC?

“I would say it is the visual presentation being aligned with the original FFVII, with the exploration sections done in a stylised, super deformed style and the proportions of the characters increased in battle. The compilation titles outside of the original FFVII were not structured with these rules and have completely different battle systems, but I wanted to unify them all in one format for FFVII EC, while not losing the individual character of the different games. Making the battles interesting was also something that we couldn’t overlook, so I was quite cutting in my feedback about them. We have also seen that people want to be able to play the various different series titles on the current console hardware, so the design concept behind FFVII EC is not intended to be a replacement for that, but a convenient and casual way to touch on these games.“

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is scheduled for a 2022 release date for iOS and Android devices.