Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for multiple Final Fantasy 7 spin-offs.
The Final Fantasy 7 remake is one of the most ambitious remake projects of all time, bringing one of the most influential RPGs to a brand new audience. Final Fantasy 7 has had a profound effect on video games for years, and before the remake was even an idea Square Enix fleshed out the universe with a wealth of different projects.
The Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 told stories surrounding the main game and helped detail the timeline even more. This included prequel games, sequel games, a feature film, and spinoff novels. The Remake will be incorporating certain elements from the Compilation, although Square Enix hasn't made it clear exactly what.
Before the Final Fantasy 7 Remake hits, fans might want to catch up with the entire timeline of the Compilation and see where things stand. Here's an overview of the major events and details for every part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7.
The Timeline of Final Fantasy 7
The Compilation fills in the time around Final Fantasy 7, rather than telling events that take place during the main game, mostly. The first title is Before Crisis, which focuses on the Turks and takes place six years before Final Fantasy 7. After that is Crisis Core, another prequel focusing on the story of Cloud's friend, Zack Fair.
The lesser-known part of the Compilation comes with the two novels. The first of these, The Kids Are Alright, takes place near the end of Final Fantasy 7 and carries through after it. The book focuses on two new characters and heavily involves the Turks. The other book, On the Way to a Smile, is a collection of short stories after the events of the main game. The final piece is the film Advent Children, taking place years after the main game and showing the return of Sephiroth. At the very tail-end is Dirge of Cerberus, a PS2 shooter that starred Vincent Valentine, and takes place after Advent Children. It's all a bit complicated, but here's an overview of everything in the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7.
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy 7
Before Crisis and Crisis Core both detail different aspects of Shinra, and the struggles facing the company before the events of Final Fantasy 7. While the main game only has a handful of Turks, the organization originally had many more members and a leader named Veld. The most interesting thing about Before Crisis is that it details the resistance group Avalanche, outside of the small group in Final Fantasy 7. The Avalanche in Before Crisis is a major group that's caused a war with Shinra, and the Turks' job is to stop them.
During the game, President Shinra suspects that Veld is leaking information to Avalanche. However, there's a bombshell revelation that reveals Rufus Shinra as the traitor. Meanwhile, Veld and the Turks find out that Avalanche is using Veld's missing daughter as a catalyst to bring back an ancient summon monster named Zirconiade. As the Turks rush to put a stop to Zirconiade, President Shinra doesn't want Rufus' betrayal to come to light and decides to end the Turks. The Turks stop Zirconiade, but President Shinra orders a select few Turks to hunt the others down, in exchange for their own survival. This new group is led by Tseng, who lies to the President that the defected Turks were killed, while they, in turn, go into hiding. This leads to only Reno, Rude, and Tseng as members during the events of Final Fantasy 7, although the Turks in hiding do reemerge to help with the evacuation of Midgar at the end of the main game.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7
Crisis Core focuses on Zack Fair's rise through the ranks of SOLDIER and provides extra context into the fall of Sephiroth. Zack Fair was, of course, Cloud's close friend who sacrificed his life to save him. Crisis Core introduces two vital characters to the overall story of Final Fantasy 7, Genesis and Angeal. These two are Sephiroth's closest friends and the most powerful SOLDIER members after him.
Genesis and Angeal were both part of Project G, another project that involves infusing a fetus with Jenova cells, the same way Sephiroth was created. However, Project G was a flawed experiment run by Dr. Hollander, a fierce rival of Dr. Hojo. Angeal and Genesis receive similar power to what Sephiroth has, but partway through the game, their bodies start to degrade. Genesis uses copies of himself to fight a war with Shinra, and he meets Zack and Sephiroth at Nibelheim. Just like in the original game, the events at Nibelheim, spurred on by Genesis, cause Sephiroth to go insane and burn the town down. Zack and Cloud are captured by Shinra and put in Mako incubators. Some time later Zack manages to wake up and free both him and Cloud, who is now in a catatonic state. Now on the run, the two become high priority targets for Shinra, especially Cloud, as he's the only test subject to successfully survive being infused with Sephiroth's genes. Genesis wants Cloud's genes to stop the degradation process and heal himself.
Zack manages to defeat Genesis, but the villain's body is taken away by two mysterious SOLDIERS. Throughout Crisis Core Zack has befriended Aerith and after defeating Genesis he and Cloud are on their way back to Midgar to see her. A legion of Shinra troops stop them, and with the help of the Turks, Zack manages to save Cloud. In a tragic turn, though, Zack is gunned down while fighting off hordes of Shinra soldiers, in order to protect his friend.
The Novels - The Kids Are Alright and On the Way to a Smile
The two novels are much less important than the other aspects of the Compilation, but they do have some interesting developments. The faster novel to go over is On the Way to a Smile, which is a collection of short stories that take place after Final Fantasy 7. There isn't any major revelation but the book shows what each character is up to. Cloud starts up his delivery service and meets Denzel, Barret goes on a journey to find his purpose, Red XIII embraces his animal instincts, and Yuffie learns about the disease Geostigma. Small sections in between each section show the thoughts of Sephiroth and Aerith's consciousnesses in the lifestream.
The second novel, The Kids Are Alright, heavily involves the Turks and introduces a set of new characters. The story focuses on Evan Townshend and Kyrie Canaan, who start up Mireille's Investigative Services after the destruction of Midgar at the end of Final Fantasy 7. Evan lost his mother during the events at the end of the main game, and he joined together with Kyrie and other delinquents to survive. Interestingly, trailers for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake confirm that Kyrie Canaan has been introduced to the game.
Evan and Kyrie come into contact with the Turks while investigating a disappearance. Evan learns some shocking truths about his past, and the big reveal is that Evan is an illegitimate child of President Shinra, making him Rufus' brother. During the events of the book, Evan and Kyrie encounter a disturbing entity that tries to harm them, which turns out to be the first appearance of Kadaj and his gang from Advent Children.
Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children
Advent Children was a marvel when it released in 2005, a feature-length film created with gorgeous CGI. The film takes place two years after Final Fantasy 7 as the world and the city of Midgar start to rebuild. A disease called Geostigma has ravaged the city, making those infected seep a dark black ooze out of their body. The film introduces Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, remnants of Sephiroth that are on the hunt for the remains of Jenova. These three are a physical manifestation of Sephiroth's evil will that's trapped in the Lifestream. The gang recruits children infected with Geostigma by promising to cure them, which leads to Cloud confronting them at the City of the Ancients.
The big theme of Advent Children revolves around Cloud finally trying to come to terms with Aerith's death, and his failure to save her. A climactic battle takes place in Midgar between Kadaj's gang, the Turks, and the main group from Final Fantasy 7. Kadaj summons Bahamut to attack the city, but the combined force of the main party manages to defeat it. However, during this time Kadaj gets his hands on Jenova's head and fuses with it, thereby turning into Sephiroth. Cloud defeats Sephiroth in battle, but the barely alive Loz and Yazoo shoot and kill him. On death's door, Cloud is, somehow, saved by Aerith and wakes up in the Sector 5 Church. At the church, the water has been purified and can cure Geostigma, so Cloud and others set about curing those infected.
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7
Dirge of Cerberus is the last piece in the timeline of Final Fantasy 7, taking place one year after Advent Children. The game focuses on Vincent Valentine, the Turk turned test subject and an optional party member in the original Final Fantasy 7. Vincent is in the town of Kalm when a surprise attack comes from an unknown military force. This is later revealed to be Deepground, a force of supersoldiers created by Shinra and housed underneath Mako Reactor 0. Vincent also learns that the experiments he went under instilled him with a Protomateria that helps him control the Chaos gene. Deepground wants the Protomateria for themselves so they can use it to control a being called Omega.
Omega is similar to the Weapons from Final Fantasy 7, as it's also a being created by the planet whose sole purpose is to absorb the lifestream from the planet and use it to start life on a new one, leaving the inhabitants of Gaia to die. Vincent works alongside his past friend sand the World Regenesis Organization to fight Deepground, and stop their plans. Leading Deepground is a group of elite soldiers called teh Tsviets, and near the end of the game, Vincent learns that Hojo managed to survive by uploading his consciousness to the Worldwide Network. From there Hojo infected and took over the find of the leader of Deepground, Weiss. It's Hojo that wants to activate Omega and complete the evolution of life.
Deepground succeeds in summoning Omega, and a final battle ensues in the ruins of Midgar. Vincent uses the Protomateria to transform into Chaos and is able to stop Omega. The end of the game sees Vincent visiting Lucrecia's tomb, and life slowly returning to the planet. However, Dirge of Cerberus also has a secret ending that seems like it was hinting at a future story.
In the secret ending, a mysterious figure comes to pick up the dead body of Weiss. As the camera zooms in it's apparent that this figure is Genesis, the villain of Crisis Core, who's finally awoken from a three-year sleep. It was Deepground that took Genesis' body at the end of Crisis Core. At this point, the end of Dirge of Cerberus has never been developed further.