Be my Valentine
Earlier today, it was revealed thatCrisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunionhas a piece of artwork in it with a great big Getty Images watermark slapped across it. The eagle-eyed staff over atKotakuposted an image of the offending painting, found in Nibelheim’s ShinRa Mansion where Zack and co find themselves toward the end of the game, and having gone back in to see for myself, I can confirm that, yep, the in-game painting ofJohn Crowther’s Ludgate Circus, London, 1881does indeed still have the watermark on it. Oops! Might want to sort that licence fee, Square Enix, or at least patch it out before Getty starts a’knockin…
Whoopsie artwork isn’t the only thing hiding in Crisis Core’s ShinRa Mansion, though, because down in the basement is a rather cute nod aFinal Fantasy VIIfav. Spoilers within, obvs.
The ears of many a FF7 veteran will have no doubt instantly pricked up at the mention of the ShinRa Mansion, it being the home of a certainoptional party memberin the main game. And yep, when you’re exploring the basement of the mansion to find where Sephiroth’s been holding himself up for the entirety of your Nibelheim holiday, you’ll notice that some enemies start dropping ‘Coffin Keys’.
At first, it’s not entirely clear what these Coffin Keys are for, but look around and you’ll see two adjoining doors in the room leading to, you guessed it, a couple of crypts. Each room contains half a dozen coffins, but four of them can be opened with these special keys. Open all of them, and the following little cutscene ensues. As the coffin lid slides back, Zack lets out a yelp, surprised to see someone’s sleeping in there. The other coffins all contained monsters to fight, but Zack’s so wigged out by this sudden turn of events (and given they’re sleeping so peacefully) that he decides to leave them well enough alone.
See you again in seven years, pal.
Speaking of Reunion-specific oddities, can someone please tell me what’s going on in this photograph scene with Zack, Tifa and Sephiroth outside the ShinRa Mansion? Tifa is absolutely tiny, and somehow seems to have shrunk quite considerably from both theoriginal FF7 version of this photo, and its2007 Crisis Core equivalent. Sure, she’s only meant to be 15 years old in this photo, but seriously, something’s not right here, and Idon’tthink we can blame it on timey-wimey Remake nonsense (mostly because there is none).
Still, Tifa’s mysterious shrinking and Getty goof aside, it’s good to know our red-robed, sorta vampire pal continues to be alive and well. Kinda. Maybe we should have left that coffin open a crack, let a bit of fresh air in. Sorry Vincent. Please don’t hold it against us.
