Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Backgrounder

The first news of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, an upcoming CG movie using characters from the franchise's first appearance, was revealed at a Square Enix press conference during the most recent Tokyo Game Show.

This week, additional information on the game was publicized.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children will take place two years after the original PlayStation Final Fantasy VII game. The world looks to be peaceful, having avoided destruction, but inhabitants have begun suffering a new physical malaise called Seikon-Shoukougun.

Cloud has been living alone up to this point. While Sephiroth was seen in promotional footage at the Tokyo Game Show, it is not known if he has been resurrected or if his appearance was a dramatization from Cloud's past.

Two mysterious characters are seen in Advent Children--one is a gray-haired man in a tight black costume (actually seen fighting duels with Cloud during various promotional events at TGS). Another mysterious character is covered in white linen from head to toe, seen sitting in a wheelchair. No hints have been given as to who this character is.

The game's creative staff is listed as the following:

Director: Tetsuya Nomura (Final Fantasy VII character designer, Kingdom Hearts director)
Co-Director: Takeshi Nozue (Final Fantasy IX CG designer, Final Fantasy X animation director)
Producer: Yoshinori Kitase (Final Fantasy X director)
Co-Producer: Shinji Hashimoto (Final Fantasy VIII producer)
Script Writer: Kazunari Nojima (Final Fantasy X script writer)
Art Director: Yusuke Naora (Final Fantasy X art director)
Music Composition: Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series music composer)
Mech and Creature Design: Takayuki Takeya (Anime "Heat Guy J" mech designer, freelance figure artist)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is scheduled for release in the summer of 2004.