The FFVII Mobile Game Initiative (2004-2008 Era)

[NaoyaShinota]

I could see them thinking that the original is just too primitive for modern release. We never got KH Coded either, just the DS remake.

well to be fair we didn’t get Coded cause we got Re:Coded. Coded didn’t last too long. It’s story is not as good as the others. And nobody would play coded cause Why When you can by 1.5 iirc. But Before Crisis on the other hand is different. It has More to offer. It is a chapter that in the story that is missing. Before Crisis had more attention being updated on Coded and Before Crisis had constant updates and was around longer.

 

[Odysseus]

we didn’t get Coded cause we got Re:Coded.

We're also getting a remake of BC in ever crisis now, so assuming that has similar content to the original BC, or even more content, it will effectively replace the original in Square's eyes just like Re:Coded did. I know Nomura said something about people wanting to play the original versions of the compilation entries, but intuition tells me that was mostly in reference to Crisis Core and maybe Dirge.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

We're also getting a remake of BC in ever crisis now, so assuming that has similar content to the original BC, or even more content, it will effectively replace the original in Square's eyes just like Re:Coded did. I know Nomura said something about people wanting to play the original versions of the compilation entries, but intuition tells me that was mostly in reference to Crisis Core and maybe Dirge.

one person replied to me when asking on Twitter about Before Crisis and they believe that we are getting the original Before Crisis. I hope this is the mindset of everyone who has seen EC trailer. One can hope.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

I have decided to reach out to Did You Know Gaming. I have an immense knowledge of Before Crisis and its development history, the gameplay, the characters and more. Hoping they can make a video on it. Let’s hope they respond. I told them I had the demo and hopefully that will help convince them to talk to me and help make a “Did You Know Before Crisis video”.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

With Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII coming to us in the future and if it’s the original to not is still a mystery but as of now it seems to be a remake rather than the original. Hopes for the original. Anyway I was playing around with the demo I had and I remembered that when you go back to the HQ menu before ending the game it saves data. Does this work with the demo? It does, it turns out there is a slow way but a way to make this happen. Finishing the demo is when you reach the end and are given rank points at the end of the game. So here is how to work around this and some notes

1. Open your menu and navigate to the bottom and select return to HQ. Doing this saves your data until you close the app

Notes:

• You can suspend the app which places it on a hold of some kind.
• Turning off the phone will reset back to original stats.

Doing this I was able to level up my materia. For the first time ever I got to see what it was like to level up the game.

I’m now a little bit more anxious to dump the demo but still need help finding the data sheet for the Samsung chip.
So leveling up the materia did actually make it stronger like it is suppose to. Same AP as the last, 250 to get to the next level. I thought about trying to even level up the character himself. 4,334 EXP and only 1 per avalanche soldier is a lot of work and it will take a long time. But then this happens. “Now accessing” a message I would see when watching Before Crisis videos have yet to have seen on a phone screen for the first time appeared before my eyes.

This is the first time it ever happened. Did I break it? No It just crashed. It turns out that when you do this it creates data I guess? This means that it doesn’t delete data it adds. It doesn’t matter cause you can’t equip materia anyway. So now there are somethings I am curious about.

• The demo is under 1MB, will it crash if you go over 1MB?
• Will it crash if I don’t have enough data on my phone?

I can do this again, it will be a bit more tedious but I need the answer to this.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

When Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete was released on DVD, a video known as ”Turbulance of Final Fantasy VII“ was included. This video talks about Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and also Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII is mentioned that the game is still in service. however this was when the game was actuall in service. This can still be viewed in the Advent Children Complete 4K/Blu-Ray dvd. of course in the blue ray not sure what the 4K version is like or what it has to offer.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

Many FFVII games were announced in 2004. At Tokyo Game Show 2004 they had several titles of FFVII shown. One of them as you may know is Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII. Here is their advertisement in the pamphlet that is included when you are in this convention. While it may not be much it is however nice to see this advertisement.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

ATTENTION! THIS IS IMPORTANT! At the end of this month imode will go down. Their is one brave souls out in Japan who is helping us archive saga imode games. These games are not availed outside of Japan. Please help this person. This is our chance to help the games from being lost. Don’t let what happened to Rockman, FFVII and other games happen to Sega and any imode games. For the sonic fans I know you will be happy with what is being preserved. I know this isn’t FF related but the fact that an individual out there is helping is something we should support if possible.

if you can help support him here it is. If not that’s ok just please spread the word around about this.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1463121743003144192

https://ko-fi.com/suddendesu

 

[NaoyaShinota]

Let’s try to see if we can get this guy to help us. If he has a P900iV, he may be able to help us. Around 4:30

 

[NaoyaShinota]

W51H progress update: We are trying various methods. For now what seems to be a better substitute than searching for that data sheet that I mentioned earlier is finding a way to make the phone enter “Diag Mode”. While I’m not sure that doing this will guarantee a 100 percent chance of the getting the game it is a much better solution for now. If we obtain this then extracting the game should be much simpler. And less destructive on the device (hopefully). I’ve done some research and it seems as if smartphone Diag mode codes do not work. So how does one enable Diag mode? You need to enter a code that will enable it. So far I have tried the following and it does not work.

*#*#717717#*#*
##8778#
*#*#13491#*#* [recommended]
*#558#
###8789#

At this point when you have a second W51H you try just about anything for the sake of trying to get the game. I am new to this but it may seem that this code is for Qualcomm smart phones. Being that this phone hasn’t hit global like android devices, then finding it will be a very long process. But for now it is the e next step.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

I’m experimenting with the encrypted files. Here is FFVII Dirge Of Cerberus Lost Episode “Demo” from the P903i phone. P903i supports up to 2GB microSD card.

1. Create a folder and name it “SD_BIND” on the root of the SD card.
2. Drag and drop content directly into the the “SD_BIND” folder

This is for P903i devices. Docomo has made it so that you can’t view on computers but let’s see what others can do with this. Oh yeah Puyo Puyo Colums is in their. Have fun. Let me know if you are able to move it to your P903i.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/xdcclts1kue2bwh/DOC_%26_PuyoPuyo.rar/file

 

[Radigar]

I bought this and arrived today, really surprised at the quality of it since it looks brand new. it is more a pamphlet than book and doesn’t go into extensive detail

it covers each chapter of the main story, with a paragraph detailing each episode along with some images and captions plus the free mode side missions and occasional staff comments. there’s a few pages about the game systems, and the last few pages introduce other square enix mobile titles (monotone, dc lost episode, dragon quest mysterious dungeon, dq monsters mobile, friends of mana, and a remake of seiken densetsu iirc). it does not cover the special chapters at all except a bit on the back page talking about the i mode version including the legend chapter

i don’t have a scanner but i can try and get photos of it

First of all, thanks for keep interest in these old games, I really appreciated this thread updates ?, specially to @NaoyaShinota for his recent findings

@Strangelove could you manage to get a scan or at least a better front picture of this pamphlet's free mode side missions and occasional staff comments?

I was investigating and this info and screens (grey squareds of each chapter) are uniques and wasn't shared to much ,probably never before. We don't know so much about free mode and this is a key data for understand this play mode.

Most near I found was these pics with a lot of brightess and difficult to read at some points, but lack from most part of chapters

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1441384540161806340

 

[NaoyaShinota]

First of all, thanks for keep interest in these old games, I really appreciated this thread updates ?, specially to @NaoyaShinota for his recent findings

@Strangelove could you manage to get a scan or at least a better front picture of this pamphlet's free mode side missions and occasional staff comments?

I was investigating and this info and screens (grey squareds of each chapter) are uniques and wasn't shared to much ,probably never before. We don't know so much about free mode and this is a key data for understand this play mode.

Most near I found was these pics with a lot of brightess and difficult to read at some points, but lack from most part of chapters

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1441384540161806340

Anything to spread the info about this. Please take feel free to take the photos that I have found/scanned and spread it around as much as possible. I do have one more thing to scan for Before Crisis. I enjoy hunting for this stuff. I do hope that at least some people will make some comossion about the iMode version of this game during Ever Crisis. When talking to some people, some believe we are getting the iMode version some believe it is a remake. Personally I prefer both, but if we had to choose one over the other I would chooose the iMode version. That is the best I can hope for. As the W51H is very hard to get into.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

I come to you with another scan. For now this may be the last thing I can find that has info on Before Crisis. This is from Square Enix Party 2007 booklet. Sorry it took a while. But this is good cause it has info on more devices that the game supports.
Docomo: 703i devices are compatible. Which is good to know
AU: phones that support WIN Brew. For example W51H has Brew 3.1.2.42
Softbank: phones that support 3G.
this doesn’t do much but I think it pjs better than the last to be honest. Hope you enjoy this Before Crisis eye candy.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

An update on the W51H progress. Looking into other extraction method. For now I keep it vague to eliminate any chances of getting hopes up to high In case we don’t succeed. Also please if you can share any scans that I have uploaded/found and spread it around. I did This for the sake of preservation and spreading the information around about this game. For now I will focus on waiting for Ever Crisis. Since I can’t seem to make any more progress on dumping the game and having to wait on others due to the fact that I am not as knowledgeable on much. More and more are asking about Ever Crisis since it is 2022, And I am asking as well if you know me in discord and Twitter I don’t shut up about the game lol.
Janaury 31st 2022 is the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII. Some believe this is when we will get Ever Crisis news. Hopefully when Ever Crisis gets more info we will get more info on getting some Before Crisis content. I hope to inspire others to ask about the original. It’s hard cause not everybody is into retro gaming and not many realize that this game has more to offer then we see in the videos. Nomura did state that this was not meant to replace the original. but more of an overview. I’m not sure what to make Of this. But remain hopeful and inspire others to help us. Cause we need help.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

So this does explain that they didn’t intend on bringing the game to Over seas from the start. Kind of sad to be honest. Kind of makes sense for the rest of the things I know.

https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/square-spills-additional-before-crisis-details/1100-6108320/

 

[NaoyaShinota]

BEFORE CRISIS UPDATE
Update on W51H progress: working on it. Got my JTAGULATOR to find UART and JTAG. It’s a matter of ether or not we can actually penetrate it. So no I haven’t given up on it. I have a spare W51H and that is my sacrifice for this project. Hopefully I can deliver the demo to all of you soon.

And Finally of all Happy New Year to all of you. While we still don’t sadly have Before Crisis (yet) it is 2022 and last year despite what has happened to you we did get some nice news regarding Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII. Ever Crisis the IOS/ANDROID game that is stated for a 2022 release will feature content from Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII. Now so far it is not known how this is going to work. Before Crisis wasn’t released for American cell phones and they just kind of gave up on it. Not sure if they have permission to supply Before Crisis (iMode Version). As of now with lack of detail maybe we are getting the original again, maybe we will get it and be done with the search and get to experience something we missed out on or we may not get the original but get a remade version in a similar style to what we have seen with Crisis Core in Ever Crisis trailer. The Crisis Core part in the trailer kind of confirms that latter part. Either way personally what anybody believes we are getting, I want both.
As of now if you are looking for news on Ever Crisis just keep your eyes on Square Enix and Famitsu for any updates. As that is what I am doing as well.
FFVII will have its 25th Anniversary this January 31st Japan times. While obviously Square Enix hasn’t said they will announce anything for this it might be something to keep an eye on. So let’s just stay positive and hope for the best. Cause that’s the best we can do.
And also Hajime Tabata had an open ask Reddit? He is the one behind making Before Crisis a reality. And here is something here did get in his Reddit back in 2015.

Reddit User asks this:
**Do you think you’ll revisit Crisis Core and Before Crisis and give them the HD treatment?**

Hajime Tabata answers with this
That’s an interesting question. There are no plans at this time, but I’m curious as to how many fans would be interested in such games.

My source: https://novacrystallis.com/2015/01/everything-you-need-to-know-from-hajime-tabatas-reddit-ama/

Now it’s nice that someone did ask him this. Even if it was 2015, despite that we didn’t here anything for Before Crisis during that time and beyond until that dreadful day of it being shutdown. And it wasn’t made available for worldwide during that time as the service shutdown in 2018. But it seems as if Tabata for now has somewhat answered that Reddit user in some way.
If I do find anything Before Crisis related I will let all of you know as soon as possible. Until then I hope to make progress with this as I really want to give you all the demo. If one wants to help me they could get a JTAGULATOR, W51H and find a way to penetrate it that way.

 

[Makoeyes987]

You realize Tabata doesn't work at S-E anymore, right? That answer not only is out of date, but he isn't even part of the team to make a decision over this anymore either.

Ever Crisis is literally the closest we're getting to any modern revisit of the Before Crisis storyline.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

You realize Tabata doesn't work at S-E anymore, right? That answer not only is out of date, but he isn't even part of the team to make a decision over this anymore either.

Ever Crisis is literally the closest we're getting to any modern revisit of the Before Crisis storyline.

I’m not as familiar with who is with S-E anymore. To be honest I’m not sure if Square Enix has the rights to distribute the iMode, AU or SoftBank version of the game if they wanted to. But regardless I like looking at this stuff and knowing that it happened. Even if it’s out of date. Why? Cause it’s more evidence and proof that people want the game.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

Another person who has Before Crisis?
A discord user messaged me and showed me this video. This person has Before Crisis. Wonder what device it is. I think I can determine what device it is. But it will take some time.
1:17

 

[NaoyaShinota]

Once more G-mode asking for recommendations

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1486138270354272257

 

[Naga]

Hey just checking on progress. Has the firmware for the FOMA 900i phones been dumped? Have the game files been successfully extracted? How would we test if the game is still playable? Are there emulators that specialize in DOCOMA mobile phones

 

[NaoyaShinota]

So far nobody has been able to dump firmware for Docomo phones, we are working on it, it needs help and more people. However an AU W52SH phone, which is compatible with Before Crisis. I believe that these games can be played with the Docomo Emulator for DoJa/Star. No other emulator exists that can play these games.

 

[NaoyaShinota]

FFVII First Soldier References Before Crisis
I need to acknowledge this, as this is the first time in a long time that Before Crisis is ever acknowledged by SE since Feb 25th 2021 when they announced it would be apart of Ever Crisis. First Soldier has screen shots from all FFVII Games. Even Before Crisis. I focus on this game a bit more cause of the way it is. Rare and not possible to play anymore. The screenshots are from back in 2004 when SE was releasing new chapters for Before Crisis and even announcing what new devices support the game. Now while this obviously doesn’t indicate that we will be getting the original Before Crisis, it is on the game for First Soldier. Meaning everyone can see it. And for that I love it.

 

[Radigar]

It seems that a couple of years ago something similar to the sketches of the bc's animated trailer used in the ads was put up for auction in Mandarake, according to the description it would be about 39 sheets, some previews:

Source: https://k.mandarake.co.jp/auction/item/itemInfoJa.html?index=607824