Crisis Core Novel

MY WEBSITE: TEAM WINGLESS - CRISIS CORE: THE NOVEL

UPDATE: Don't mean to necro-post but here are the links to all the places I have the story posted up, so that I can shamelessly plug myself in the fanworks thread.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10950378/1/Final-Fantasy-VII-Crisis-Core-The-Novel

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3241727/chapters/7062692

https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/31959107-crisis-core-the-novel-wattys2015


http://teamwingless.deviantart.com/gallery/54938699/CRISIS-CORE-THE-NOVEL


Also, here's the link to the pilot I just started writing for the game proper called CRISIS. (Currently up to the cross-dressing scene, which will impress some people way more than it should).

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11269517/1/Crisis-The-Final-Fantasy-VII-Novel

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4254738/chapters/9628950

Above is the impromptu cover art done by my exceptional (hah!) photoshop skills.




Hello all. I’d like to introduce myself to the community since this seems to be the main hub for FF7 fandom. I’m a member of an author/artist duo from New York City and we’ve just completed a full novelization of the game FINAL FANTSY 7 CRISIS CORE. It was a NANOWRIMO winner this year for the NYC chapter. It’s live on Deviantart and Fanfiction dot net and will be serialized in chapters bi-weekly, and if enough people like it I’ll commission a graphic novel. Just letting the community know that it exists and everyone’s more than welcome to check it out. You can find the link to the story in my profile.

We were frustrated with the original storyline of the game, so we wrote a new one. I can’t stress enough that we’ve made overwhelming alterations to the game universe, so here’s a summary of everything we’ve changed:


CHANGELOG-

Full ground-up alteration of the game universe and story arc

Full 360 degree Character Development and backstory of each character in addition to new ones

Complete scrap and rewrite of everything that happens after the level titled JUNON

Complete scrap, redev, and reskin of the character AERITH

A relationship development between the character ZACK and his girlfriend

Slight deviation and redevelopment of the character CLOUD

Expansion of the “Nibelheim Massacre”

Transition of primary antagonist from Sephiroth to Genesis

A full 360 degree development of the character SEPHIROTH

Merged Universes from multiple Final Fantasy games—the inclusion of

Lightning and Noctis into the FF7 storyarc (with a complete scrap of everything after FF12).

Original lore—stepping away from NOVA CRYSTALLIS

Implementation of actual philosophy from sources including Musashi and Marcus Aurelius


I hold a degree in Journalism from Santa Monica College and have worked as a wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service, I’ve worked closely with many high-profile organizations such as the Department of Defense, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, as well as crews who responded to the September 11th terrorist attacks. I believe I can put a fresh spin on the character Zack seeing as I’ve worked a similar job and understand a lot of agency nuances that could introduce a realistic feel to the story. We’re going in a completely new direction, giving a story that’s nearly 20 years old a facelift, taking out all the things that were cute when we were children but are cringe-worthy now that we’re older. We’ve crafted the story as if we’re writing for people who’ve never heard of the game Final Fantasy 7, or even play videogames for that matter. Our ultimate aim is to prove to Square Enix that yes, the game can be remade and sell to a new audience, and still generate a following. If we can revamp the story, maybe it will convince Square to revamp the game.

We hope you enjoy it!

You can follow the project on Twitter @CrisisCoreNovel

Hey there. I read through some of what you posted on ff.net and have to say that it was very well written and engaging. Your style suits the ff.net display format perfectly. As you mentioned above, your background knowledge on military jargon and actions really shines through here, and certainly does add a new dimension to the story. One criticism I might have, though, is your promotion of the piece as a Crisis Core novelisation despite by your own admission making huge changes to the characters and plot. That would probably fall far more into the categorisation of AU fan-fiction than novelisation, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Maybe links to the relevant pages on DA and ff.net would help.

I have to be honest: I like Crisis Core, so if you are going to: alter the game universe from the ground up; scrap and re-write everything after Junon; scrap Aerith and effectively replace her with an OC; and include Lightning and Noctis, these changes put it firmly in the Alternative Universe (AU) genre of fan fiction, and I'm not sure they would entice me to read it.

LicoriceAllsorts said:

Maybe links to the relevant pages on DA and ff.net would help.

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Well, the first poaster is a newbie, he's tried making links ten times already but our anti-spambot measures thwarted those attempts, . TBH I don't really like it when people sign up here just to advertise.

Sounds so amazing.
Actually I really wanna complete the novelization of Dirge of Cerberus in English cos I've already done it in Chinese LOL
But my English is always so shitty so forever it will just be a dream ;(

Team_Wingless said:

CHANGELOG-

Full ground-up alteration of the game universe and story arc

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cool

Full 360 degree Character Development and backstory of each character in addition to new ones

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You mean 180 degrees, 360 would take you all the way around right back to where you started from. And I presume you mean each original character

Complete scrap and rewrite of everything that happens after the level titled JUNON

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Nibelheim doesn't need that much touching up does it? This game actually does away with LO and BC's stupid ****. Sure, Genesis scene and stuff.

Complete scrap, redev, and reskin of the character AERITH

A relationship development between the character ZACK and his girlfriend

Slight deviation and redevelopment of the character CLOUD

Expansion of the “Nibelheim Massacre”

Click to expand...

cool

Transition of primary antagonist from Sephiroth to Genesis

A full 360 degree development of the character SEPHIROTH

Click to expand...

Not sure about this...

Merged Universes from multiple Final Fantasy games—the inclusion of

Lightning and Noctis into the FF7 storyarc (with a complete scrap of everything after FF12).

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I get that Lightning and Noctis fit CC best. but the complete scrap of everything after FF12 (whilst include post12 characters) implies you are keeping the other stories intact. Trying to fit them all together, preserved and well seems unwise to me. Just take what elements and character you actually need and no more is my advice.

Original lore—stepping away from NOVA CRYSTALLIS

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cool (hate their lore)

Implementation of actual philosophy from sources including Musashi and Marcus Aurelius

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cool

I hold a degree in Journalism from Santa Monica College and have worked as a wildland firefighter with the US Forest Service, I’ve worked closely with many high-profile organizations such as the Department of Defense, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, as well as crews who responded to the September 11th terrorist attacks.

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I'll have you know my life is just as interesting [no its not oh god].

Hi guys,

Thank you very much for the support and interest, my apologies for not posting back sooner, I've been busy with work and moving. I'm very glad to be contributing something to the community and appreciate the warm reception. As for the issues that have been raised, thank you for bringing them to my attention, I'll try to address them as best I can.

I originally started this project because my own original novel was becoming "work" and I needed a break. This game and the fact that it corresponded with NANOWRIMO provided a perfect opportunity for me to stretch my legs a little. The game itself was great right up until the last chapters, they just weren't my cup of tea. There are threads upon threads on game forums discussing it so I won't rehash them here. But writing this provided me personally with a sense of closure that the game just didn't give me, so I do consider this project a positive experience even if it really was just a big writing excercize. Some people have brought "categorization" of this work up as an issue, and to be honest I'm really not familiar with fandom genres yet, so I don't even know how to categorize it as anything else. It's a novel based off the videogame Crisis Core, basically

As for the changes I've made, I understand people's apprehensions to someone modifying a dearly beloved story, that's kind of how I feel with the whole Disney/Star Wars thing. I'll clarify that personally I feel like I'm "enhancing" a story more than anything, game devs are under a lot of pressure to meet playability criteria and often don't have enough resources to devote completely to storytelling, a novel doesn't have those same obligations though. As someone who never played any other game in the series, these characters felt like flat peices of paper--so I delved into who they are, what kind of music they like, how they act when they're uncomfortable and what their values are. For instance, Zack is portrayed as hyperactive, so I portrayed him as a character dealing with a learning disorder (ADHD). It feels more like an enhancement rather than a change. I wrote it for myself, so essentially it's written for someone who has never even heard of Final Fantasy 7. There's no way I can take away the original game, so it's a fun companion read to anyone who is interested in something different.

As for characters I've straight up changed, Aerith just felt necessary. There's a ton of people that like her and a ton of people that hate her, and it seemed like the devs didn't even like her with the way they portrayed her. I needed some sort of middle-ground, I needed her to do stuff--not just sit in a church all day. I just didnt make her an anime character, I just thought "flower" and went from there. I think people are going to like what I did with her regardless, I made the concept grow up. As for Sephiroth, he was like the shell of a really cool car with nothing in it, so I stuck a HEMI in that frame. Again, there's an epic war over that character and the proper workings of mental illness, so I'll just say I think I've come up with a way to make everything make sense...hence the rewrite of Nibelheim. As an example, the game makes that chapter seem like it happened in 2 days...I stretched it out over 6 months. Same goes for Lightning and Noctis--those games were the definition of unfinished (literally), and I saw a perfect opportunity to salvage their characters that really just made the lore of 7 shine. I'll just say I was almost able to finish NANO with backstory alone, so if you want a rich atmosphere I think I delivered.

As for links I would post them but yeah someone nailed my issue with the forums (haha). To be fair I'd deleted the links like 10 times and it still wasn't letting me post, finally figured out it didn't like the [at] symbol I was trying to use (doh). But the work is pretty easy to find, I'm updating once a week as I get edits done. Chapters are pretty long though so I am working on cutting them down, make it easier on everyone.

And finally as for my credentials--I only look good on paper There are DEFINITELY people whose lives are way cooler than mine, but just reassuring everyone that I know how to format a sentence...kinda.

Again thank you all very much for your support and for being open about your qualms. I'll do my best to interact regularly and give the community something they'll enjoy.

--Team Wingless

Hi everyone. I'd like to thank the community for the outpouring of support for my novelization project of both Crisis Core and Final Fantasy 7. Now I'd like to ask the community for their support in the upcoming Watty Awards 2015. Anyone who is on Twitter, if you could please RT either one or both of my stories (whichever one you think sucks less lol) with the hashtag #MyWattysChoice, I'd be eternally grateful and I'll give your work a shoutout to my 7k+followers. Winning this award would bring more publicity and help me attract serious team members to bring more awesome content to the community, and man I've got so much stuff I'd love to make happen; games, tshirts, comics, posters, the whole shebang. I wrote 300k words in 3 months, if there's any fan project you'd all be dying to see happen without becoming an orphaned work, my team is probably one of the strongest out there at this point and can make it happen. We're lawyered up and ready to go. So here's the Wattpad links you can RT, or share on Social Media if you don't have a Twitter (Twotter).

https://www.wattpad.com/story/31959107-crisis-core-the-novel-wattys2015


And here's the exceptional (hah!) cover art for my Final Fantasy 7 proper game novel that's also starting to slowly build a following. You can vote for this one too, or flame it to high hell if you so wish

https://www.wattpad.com/story/48572475-crisis-the-final-fantasy-7-novel-watty%27s-2015

Again, thank you to the community. Don't meant to spam my story up in your grill, but the more publicity I can generate, the more awesome content I can eventually bring to all of you. So hopefully it's a win-win situation all around. And please let me know either in this thread or by PM what stories you'd like me to RT for anyone else participating.

Cheers!

Hey all,

All the other novelists are posting updates so I figured I'd throw my lot in. Where it stands now I'm super psyched to be working with several new team members about new ways to express this story, potentially in micro-comics, and a full series graphic-novelization hand-painted in watercolor Amanoesque style.

I'm also working on a full overhaul of the manuscript (Editing Phase 2 ugh) with the working title of "CRISIS CORE REDUX" that WILL come in at under 120k words, an acceptable novel-length story by Barnes&Noble standards. Every other novel so far in the FF7 megaverse has topped out at megaverse in and of itself, some as long as phonebooks and some multiple phonebooks. So I'm pleased to announce a reasonable length version which you can find here for the time being:

CRISIS CORE: REDUX

I'm also going to be working with McNally Jackson Books in New York to get hardcopies printed, and there is a slim chance that these might actually be able to be shelved. I'm in talks with some people about making this happen and this is all very exciting. However, I'm going to follow suit like the other authors and do giveaways. These will be gifts for an upcoming Patreon page for the watercolor graphic novel my team is planning, but for now if anyone wants a copy here, post up and I'll get your name on a list.

This project has been shelved for a while, but returning to find my Facebook Page doubled in followers and very active has really reinvigorated my enthusiasm of this project, and the multitude of Soldiers and Marines who have PM'd me praise for writing a story true to military life has made me taken aback. I've added a dedication to the end of the existing novel for all of our Soldiers who came home.

As always, thanks for the support.

~Team Wingless

Why do you only ever come here when you want to promote your novel?

LicoriceAllsorts said:

Why do you only ever come here when you want to promote your novel?

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LicoriceAllsorts said:

Why do you only ever come here when you want to promote your novel?

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Because I get emails from people on this site all the time asking for updates. You don't have to reply though

(BTW your fake British accent is cute).

Team_Wingless said:

LicoriceAllsorts said:

Why do you only ever come here when you want to promote your novel?

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Because I get emails from people on this site all the time asking for updates. You don't have to reply though

(BTW your fake British accent is cute).

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Even though my version of Crisis Core on the Fanfiction.Net website isn't the same as a Final Fantasy VII Compilation Fan creation here, I usually update when I feel like it, reviews or not. Depends on how well I'm doing.

I re-did the Prologue Chapter of that story ages ago and hopefully be working on Chapter 12 today since the story is nearing on completion(finally).

By the way, I don't know why you have to keep on redoing your Crisis Core Novelization everytime, which can be confusing. You're doing your best and that's the most important part.

Tashasaurous said:

By the way, I don't know why you have to keep on redoing your Crisis Core Novelization everytime, which can be confusing. You're doing your best and that's the most important part.

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There's a forward in Redux about why, but it boils down to I don't want to write a boat anchor, I'd like to write a paperback. The canon story even shaved down can't fit into anything less than an encyclopedia. It just wasn't happening. Redux is a complete overhaul of the storyline to the point of original fiction, whereas before I just fixed the ending, now I've changed the entire thing so you can read it in one lifetime. But deleting a completed story to make way for an incomplete one was stupid, so now I've got two versions. I know it can get confusing but literally name one thing about this franchise that isn't :/

Team_Wingless said:

Tashasaurous said:

By the way, I don't know why you have to keep on redoing your Crisis Core Novelization everytime, which can be confusing. You're doing your best and that's the most important part.

Click to expand...

There's a forward in Redux about why, but it boils down to I don't want to write a boat anchor, I'd like to write a paperback. The canon story even shaved down can't fit into anything less than an encyclopedia. It just wasn't happening. Redux is a complete overhaul of the storyline to the point of original fiction, whereas before I just fixed the ending, now I've changed the entire thing so you can read it in one lifetime. But deleting a completed story to make way for an incomplete one was stupid, so now I've got two versions. I know it can get confusing but literally name one thing about this franchise that isn't :/

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I see your point, but don't you find it a bit exhausting?

Are you talking about the Final Fantasy franchise in general, or just the Final Fantasy VII franchise?

If it's the latter, then, well, bad guys like Rufus and the Turks working to redeem themselves in their own way is reasonable because it goes to show that, as in the events of Case of ShinRa, they've all started to understand their wrong doings and even Rufus was expericing a change of heart. Personally, if you ever watched the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, he reminds me of Lord Cutler Beckett, but unlike the former who wanted to stop the mad-man once human from destroying the world, the latter instead wanted to use the mad squid-face of the seas to control the world and destroy freedom by even sentencing children to death.

Then there's the fact that Cloud's head was messed up, especially when he lost some memories and even he knew this and it made more sense when he learns the truth.

Finally there's Zack's death as, if you combine both his battle against the entire army and the scene where three soldiers found Cloud's hiding spot while the battle was going on the background, it's all connected, and shown from two perspectives.

Tashasaurous said:

I see your point, but don't you find it a bit exhausting?

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A bit? Here's a hug

Also I'll redirect you to this thread, which I think is where all the explanation-y stuff about the game goes.

https://thelifestream.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16152