Whooboy that was a really cool trailer and I'm actually going to try to play this mobile game. I'm more excited for Ever Crisis, which I think will deliver the story in a more digestible format. Some thoughts:
1. Emphasis on three characters: White Haired Soldier, Black haired-caucasian Soldier (specualtion is young Angeal) and Dreads Soldier (person of color, rarer in the FF7 mythos). I'm not sure if any of them are going to be fleshed out and given a story, but part of me can't help but wonder if we're seeing a return to the "Three Saints" idea cut from early FF7 materials (in which one is named Gandalf/Gandof, recycled for FFX i think).
I expect a lot off these SOLDIERS were not born into the program, they were adults/kids injected. We know that has happened right? Zack, Cloud, most of SOLDIER - they're folks who came along, get tested, and get turned. It makes sense to me that Sephiroth was not the first SOLDIER to ever show up, and we know that there were others produced before (looking at you, Angeal! especially). Soooo, that leads me to believe that Sephitoh would show up among these ranks and out perform everyone. Maybe that's a sort of pastiche for the player character or the default dude getting famous before Angeal and Genesis join.
So what will happen with these characters? I think some of these SOLDIERs will die out during the war, including close friends of Sephiroth that makes him alienated by the time of CC (Genesis and Angeal being his close friends but probably the last humans he really cares about). I suspect one might end up as a pseudo-love interest for Seph. I think a few others will survive and show up in Junon and other places as retired SOLDIER or aged out commanders. I like to think some became the leaders of Deepground (Restrictors) and maybe we'll see Ragnarok in this. Something hilarious about online multiplayer characters in one game becoming the faceless online multiplayer badguys in another!
2. We've got some weird timeline questions. 30 years ago the project begins, 12 years ago they get the first candidates. Presuming SHINRA won't field anyone younger than 15-16 (which is kinda adulthood in the ff7 world), makes sense we'd see suitable candidates primed and worked on by the age of 3 or so. This make some sense that the early SOLDIERs weren't all done in the womb, and it raises questions in the SOLDIER-fication process. Did they improve it to make folks like Zack undergo infusion later in life? Or, are the "contemporary" SOLDIER vastly weaker in some manner to the original bunch? Really curious about the time and location this is taking place in, if it'll all be in the Midgar simulation, or if any of it will be on the Wutai battlefield.
3. Four classes so far: Ranger, Ninja, Monk, Warrior. Will we get other classes? There's no gunner, notably.
4. The Turks are curiously never seen in this, which while fine, has been a big part of FF7 marketing (imo). Vincent would rile folks up for sure. I'm not sure who Hojo is pointing a gun at. The scene looks slightly more like Icicle Inn to me, but I could also see the Mansion Basement getting revamped.
I really am incredibly happy to see them expanding the lore in this direction. I doubt many people agree, but I think the FF franchise can and should rival Star Wars in size, scope, and expansiveness and FF7 is a core part of that. I don't think the story is just Sephiroth and Jenova. There's more and I'd love to see it touched upon.
Finally? Gillian, Angeal's dad and stepdad, Ifalna, and possibly other Cetra. I wonder what characters are going to show up and suddenly matter a lot.
I'm all in. #lorejunkie
