Final Fantasy Dirge of Cerberus

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII is a third person shooter/RPG video game developed and published by Square Enix. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries, a multimedia collection set within the universe of the popular 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII.

The game was released on January 26, 2006 in Japan, August 15, 2006 in North America and November 17, 2006 in Europe and in Australasia.


Gameplay

Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person shooter (the first game of this genre developed by Square Enix) with RPG elements. Battles occur in real-time, with the HUD displaying information including Vincent's HP and MP, the currently selected item and the quantity thereof, and a cross-hair to aid in targeting enemies. Defeating enemies yields EXP, which is totalled at the end of each stage and can either be used to level up Vincent, increasing his statistics, or converted to gil, which can be used to purchase items and equipment upgrades at jukebox-shaped shops scattered throughout each stage, or the shop at the end of a stage, which also allows the purchase of additional equipment.

Unlike Final Fantasy VII, where a character could equip three types of equipment (weapon, armour and accessory), Vincent's equipment consists solely of his weapon, which has amalgamated the effects of armour and accessories through customization. Players can customize three weapons through the frame (Vincent's handgun, Cerberus, introduced in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and named after the Greek mythological creature of the same name, as well as a rifle, Hydra and a machine gun, Griffon, two new weapon types also named after Greek mythological creatures (although the spelling "Griffon" is incorrect in terms of the reference)) and the size of the barrel (short-, regular or long-barrel, with longer barrels affording targeting of enemies that are further away at the cost of weight). Accessories include a sniper scope, charms (such as the Cerberus charm) which can increase Vincent's defense and decrease the weight of the gun (which affects the speed of Vincent's actions) among other things, and materia, which returns from Final Fantasy VII and enables magic shots with special properties that use up MP. All weapons have limited ammunition, which is dropped by defeated enemies, but can also be bought at shops. Ammunition capacity can be increased through upgrades.

Limit Breaks also return from the original game. Two of Vincent's Limit Breaks are available in Dirge of Cerberus: the Galian Beast, Vincent's first Limit Break, can be activated in two different ways: in the Japanese version of the game, it can be activated when the MP gauge is full. Upon transformation, the gauge slowly decreases and, once the gauge becomes empty, Vincent returns to human form. In the American and European versions of the game, the Galian Beast transformation can be activated through the use of an item called the "Limit Breaker". The effect lasts for around 30 seconds, upon which time the transformation reverses automatically. In all versions of the game, the transformation can be reverted by the player by pressing the L1 and R1 buttons at the same time. The other Limit Break is Chaos, Vincent's final and most powerful form, who serves as a major plot device and is playable only in the final stage of the game, when it is permanently enabled. Also, in specific areas of the game, such as in Training Mode, when Vincent's Limit Break is activated, instead of transforming into the Galian Beast, Vincent's body would pulse a color; his firing rate would increase, and all his attacks would be more powerful.


Miscellaneous

Being modeled after many first-person and third-person shooters, the game takes a few liberties and implements minor features that are featured in many games that are similar in genre. A blinking disc icon appears whenever the game loads data from the disc, something akin to many console shooter games. The game can also be controlled using either the DualShock 2 controller or a USB mouse and keyboard.

Bonus material is available in the game, and the method of unlocking bonus material consists of shooting Memory Capsules, which are well hidden and found during the course of the game. Memory Capsules found during the story mode unlock the game's cutscenes, while a variety of Memory Capsules found in the Extra Missions mode unlock various other features, such as a music player, an artwork viewer, a character model viewer and additional extra missions.



Supporting characters


* Shalua Rui (Sharua Rūi?) is a female scientist, who first appeared in a small role in Before Crisis. She is a WRO scientist with a prosthetic left arm, that serves as her life-support system, and a missing left eye. Shalua is a workaholic who is actually searching for her sister, Shelke. Upon meeting her, she was heart-broken over how little of her sister there was left and blamed herself for it. In order to make up, she helped Shelke escape the clutches of Azul, who had turned on her, in exchange for her life.

* Reeve Tuesti, the former head of Shinra's Urban Development Department, leads the World Regenesis Organization (WRO; called World Restoration Organization in the Japanese version of the game), an operation dedicated to restoring the world and undoing the mistakes made by Shinra. Prominent members of WRO includeYuffie Kisaragi, in charge of espionage and intelligence gathering; Shalua Rui, WRO's chief scientist; and Cid Highwind, head of the WRO's airship division. Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, and Tifa Lockhart also lend their support to the WRO during the second half of the game.

* Grimoire Valentine, Vincent Valentine's father, is introduced in Dirge of Cerberus. He appears in the game's flashbacks with Lucrecia Crescent, serving as her mentor.

* Omega Weapon appears as the game's final boss and is the result of Professor Hojo's plans to merge with Weiss and bring destruction upon the earth.

* A new character, Genesis, appears in the secret ending of the game. An enigmatic character, three reports found in the game refer to him as "G" and must be collected in order to view the secret ending after the game's completion. The Deep Ground soldiers and the Tsviets are said to be the result of his evolution. Genesis's origins are revealed in the prequel game Crisis Core.

* Other characters that were featured prominently or otherwise in Final Fantasy VII also return. Lucrecia Crescent is shown mainly in flashbacks, further fleshing out her story. Hojo returns as well in flashbacks, and he then reappears in the penultimate moments of the game. Red XIII also makes a brief cameo in the game's ending, though he does not speak.



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Source by Wikipedia