How does Vincent already know who Nero is?

[Phantom Valentine]

I was rewatching a few clips of Dirge of Cerberus and came across the part where Nero shows himself to Vincent for the first time, and Vincent out of the blue just addresses him by his name right away. Was there a part where Vincent was briefed on Nero's identity before and I just missed it? Does he read some document about him or something? How does Vincent just know who this guy is right away when Nero was the one who had been creeping on Vincent the entire time? Either this was an oversight, or this was a deliberate choice made by the devs to drive home a point about who both characters are.

Assuming this wasn't an oversight, and there is no indication of Vincent getting briefed on Nero before meeting him for the first time, my only guess is that since Vincent is made up very similarly to Nero, there is this 'natural' understanding as to who Nero is. I also don't think it's an accident that they both have long dark 'chaotic' hair and red eyes. I'm assuming the Chaos gene and tainted lifestream in their bodies are the reason Vincent was able to recognize Nero as he is almost a mirror image of himself.

However, I am not extremely well versed in all of the ff7 lore so I'm curious to see what others think of this as I know many folks here have been a lot more involved in this for a lot longer than I have. Thanks in advance!

 

[Makoeyes987]

Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode.

He's briefed on the Tsviets and that includes Nero, furthermore Nero is the one who harasses and pursues Vincent on his way from Junon to Nibelheim.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

With or without Lost Episode (since its canoncity is still questionable), Vincent can be briefed by a WRO member on the bridge of the Shera as to the identities of the four Tsviets at the top of command in Deepground: Azul, Rosso, Nero, and Weiss.

Vincent has already met two of them by this point -- Azul introduced himself by name, and Reeve refers to the woman in red Vincent met by her name. Vincent has also seen the broadcast depicting Weiss, so should know who he is. Meanwhile, Cait Sith/Reeve recognized Nero on sight during the reconnaissance mission he goes on. And Vincent can be told by Cid on the bridge of the Shera that the rest of the attack force will concentrate on disabling the mako reactors while "You work on those four wackos."

Even if he was never shown a picture of Nero (he probably was), Vince should have been able to put who he was looking at together by process of elimination.

 

[Odysseus]

I wonder if Ever Crisis would adapt Lost Episode.

 

[BioTeach]

I hope so. I liked Lost Episode and didnt realize it might not be considered canon. Is there a reason for this (aside from the fact is was only released on mobile)? I don't remember there being anything contradictory in it.

 

[Tetsujin]

It helps they're all color-coded

Vincent: "So I have met Blue the Blue and Red the Red. Gee, I wonder if Mr. Darkpants over here is in fact, Black the Black"

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I hope so. I liked Lost Episode and didnt realize it might not be considered canon. Is there a reason for this (aside from the fact is was only released on mobile)? I don't remember there being anything contradictory in it.

It was once referred to in an Ultimania as "a work outside the Compilation," so that leaves some doubt -- especially since Nomura has even retroactively referred to the original game as part of the Compilation.

 

[Clement Rage]

It's not a big stretch to assume he was briefed, even if we hadn't seen it. Shelke certainly has that information.

Something as simple as 'the guy with wings' would be enough to pick him out.

 

[jeangl123]

It was once referred to in an Ultimania as "a work outside the Compilation," so that leaves some doubt -- especially since Nomura has even retroactively referred to the original game as part of the Compilation.

What exactly did he say? Doesn't Remake being the 5th part suggest that the OG is not part of the compilation even if the continuity is tied to it?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

What exactly did he say? Doesn't Remake being the 5th part suggest that the OG is not part of the compilation even if the continuity is tied to it?

The sentence (from this interview) was 原作以外のコンピレーションタイトルはこのルールで構成されていないですし ("With the exception of the original work, the Compilation titles aren't designed according to this rule") -- though in hindsight, I suppose he could have chosen his wording poorly and meant it as something like "Unlike the original work, the Compilation titles aren't, etc." ...

But I don't think so. ? It doesn't strike me as the appropriate word choice for a contrast like that. You will see 以外 in common use in phrases and signage like 立入禁止関係者以外 and 関係者以外立ち入り禁止 (basically, "Off-limits/Restricted access/No entry/Keep out, with the exception of authorized personnel").

 

[JBedford]

Remake isn't part of the Compilation, nor did Nomura say that (at least in the interview where this idea was popularised). What he actually said in that interview was that at the time of the Compilation, the Remake project started as a fifth entry, however the project never took off and it was put on hold. Drawing from that statement that FFVII Remake is the fifth entry to the Compilation is a stretch (but someone did make that stretch, and news sites then reported on it).

Spoiler

「コンピレーション オブ FFVII」を展開していた当時に、AC、BC、CC、DCのあとの5作目として、企画だけは打ち上げていました。ただ、所属が自分ひとりだけだったので、ほかの仕事で忙しくなったころから静かに休眠していたんです。

Lost Episode has never technically been a part of the Compilation. They use Compilation for the four core titles, AC, BC, CC, and DC. The term "Rebirth of Compilation" was used in marketing for ACC, two BC ports, and Lost Episode, but that didn't make it "one of the entries of the Compilation". It's like Compilation adjacent.

But being a part of the Compilation is a different thing from being canon. Compilation titles are canon, non-Compilation titles aren't necessarily not canon.

For extra confusion, the SE store marketed On the Way to a Smile on the SE store as the fifth entry, but this is never acknowledged anywhere else. The FFVII series Special Book released in advance of FFVII Remake states that Crisis Core is the final entry.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

The term "Rebirth of Compilation" was used in marketing for ACC, two BC ports, and Lost Episode ...

That's interesting. Can't remember if I ever saw that before, and Google doesn't seem to turn up anything. Do you still have an example?

But being a part of the Compilation is a different thing from being canon. Compilation titles are canon, non-Compilation titles aren't necessarily not canon.

Perhaps EC will help us finally establish complete certainty regarding this issue. I still wonder why the need was ever felt to make the distinguishing comment about LO and LE if not to impart a sense of their relevance to the rest of the Compilation.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

 

[JBedford]

That's interesting. Can't remember if I ever saw that before, and Google doesn't seem to turn up anything. Do you still have an example?

I think they used the term at TGS2006 when these things were announced. I initially found out about it via ffdic, but it is mentioned on the FFVII History timeline in the 10th Anniversary Ultimania.

I still wonder why the need was ever felt to make the distinguishing comment about LO and LE if not to impart a sense of their relevance to the rest of the Compilation.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

If we're talking about the 20th Anniversary Ultimania, yeah it's weird to name a header "Compilation works" then say "2/6 of these aren't actually Compilation works". But I think they wanted to promote and use the recognisable title "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" (which those titles did technically spawn from), while still sticking to their "technically the Compilation only refers to these core titles" thing they already made clear in the earlier 10th Anniversary Ultimania.

I can't see any need to decanonise the had-recently-released harmless Chiba-supervised Lost Episode. It just wasn't one of the four big complete FFVII projects that had already been conceived when the Compilation was announced. Small demake-like Compilation midquel and special edition DVD bonus didn't meet the criteria. But for those same reasons I'm sure they're also ripe for SE to just ignore.