There’s one issue that players may run into while jumping into Final Fantasy 7 Remake and especially if they revisited the original before seeing how Square Enix decided to retell the classic story. This is that much of the legacy of Final Fantasy 7 is actually attached to the multimedia storm that came after the classic first launched, through spin-off games, movies, and a collection of anime and manga.
Among this extended universe that has been added to the canon bit by bit, is the inclusion of the PS2 exclusive Dirge of Cerberus, starring the optional character Vincent Valentine and a host of new enemies, including the villain Weiss. This kicked off an extension to the series that would eventually be continued in games like Crisis Core, that became as cemented into Final Fantasy 7 canon as the events of the original title.
Now, some of these themes seem to be getting explored in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade which had a few cameos throughout the trailer from Dirge of Cerberus. These include Deepground SOLDIER armor, and Weiss in a quick shot that flashes right at the end of the first look at the new episode starring another optional character from the game. Considering the ending of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, this could be a completely new scenario involving these characters that diverges from what some fans might be familiar with.
The PS2 Spin-off Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus introduced a new brand of villain with the Deepground subset of SOLDIER that had supposedly been a secret project of Hojo’s. Many of the newly named villains from Deepground all took on new titles based on different colors, with the leader Weiss and his brother Nero representing the opposing shades of White and Black. It’s a colorful cast, and by the end, the ultimate fates of many of the major players are fairly up in the air, especially Weiss, who might have actually survived the final confrontation.
A number of these characters even make additional appearances in the prequel title Crisis Core, acting more as a cameo in the PSP title than as more relevant characters to the narrative. In fact, the lead villain Weiss makes an early appearance with the prequel’s villain Genesis, setting up for a connection between the two that led into a secret ending of Dirge of Cerberus. Unfortunately for the series as a whole, the overall reception of Dirge of Cerberus was less than ideal and many of the characters and themes were never explored in future releases.
Most of Dirge of Cerberus actually goes on without running into most of Final Fantasy 7‘s main cast, including the primary antagonist Weiss himself. He only appears towards the end, and is essentially braindead right up until Hojo reveals himself to still be around in a pseudo digital form in Weiss’ mind, before monologuing out his entire plan. This lasts for an extended cutscene before Weiss’ brother Nero foils Hojo’s plan and the two fuse into one before taking control of Omega Weapon. It’s a strange game.
In this first outing, it had only really been revealed that Weiss was turned into a super soldier by having a direct line to the lifestream due to Hojo’s experiments, with the intention of being able to summon and control the final Weapon, Omega. Dirge of Cerberus also makes it clear that Final Fantasy 7‘s alien antagonist Jenova wasn’t originally present in Weiss’ body, though this is somewhat retconned in future releases. While Weiss wasn’t directly given these types of cells like Sephiroth or Cloud, he has been altered with the genes of one of the hero class one SOLDIERs, Genesis Rhapsodos.
The PSP title Crisis Core gave Genesis a bit more character, and depth, though the game did also introduce a strange quirk that hadn’t been established in his first appearance. Altogether, Genesis is a prototype of the Jenova project that eventually made Sephiroth, though he was the first to turn against Shinra in an attempt to find a cure to the degradation brought on by the experiments. However, since he was known to be dying, Hojo started splicing the hero’s genes into other SOLDIER recruits, including many of the members of Deepground, and most importantly Weiss.
Genesis’ genes are then implied to be the reason why Weiss and many of the others fought throughout Dirge of Cerberus are strong enough to offer even a minor challenge to Vincent. The aforementioned situation with Weiss and Omega Weapon eventually puts the villain on a completely new level of strength, but the fame that he had previously held in the story was due to Genesis’ genes. Of course, offering the genetic advantage isn’t the only interaction that Genesis has with Weiss by the end of Dirge of Cerberus, making for a vague ending that might have been intended to set up for a sequel.
It’s hard to say that the original Final Fantasy 7 left too many storylines unresolved by the end of the narrative, with the final shot even taking place 500 years after the fight against Sephiroth. However, as the game turned into a multimedia series, each new installment needed to continue a deeper, ongoing set of conspiracies and super soldier storylines with Marvel-style stinger after credits roll. In the case of Dirge of Cerberus, the game ends with Genesis descending on what players would expect to be Weiss’ body and claiming that their work isn’t done.
Given the way that the Whispers have changed Final Fantasy 7 Remake, this new introduction to Weiss could give Square Enix a second chance at touching on the elements from these spin-off titles. The lingering connection between Weiss and Genesis has been explored to a degree, but there were likely more ideas that the developer originally wanted continue with the duo. Players likely won’t be getting any slice of life for Vincent’s happily-ever-after with Shelke, but some version of whatever sci-fi epic that had been planned for these spin-off villains may at least appear in one form or another.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is set to release on June 10th, for PS5.
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