The Shinra Building[note 1] is a location in the Final Fantasy VII series. It is the head office of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a colossal skyscraper at Sector 0, the heart of Midgar, and the most dominating building in its skyline.
The building houses the head administrative offices of the business divisions, acts as the army headquarters for the Shinra Public Security Forces, contains highly classified laboratories used for nearly all of the Research and Development Division's projects under Professor Hojo, and is also the location of Midgar's governmental office for Mayor Domino. At the very top of the building is the Executive Office of President Shinra, who oversees the city from its highest point.
The Shinra Building is a major dungeon in both Final Fantasy VII and its remake. It is visited by a party of Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, and Tifa Lockhart, who infiltrate the building to reach Hojo's laboratories and rescue Aerith Gainsborough, meeting Red XIII on the way. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, it serves a similar role but is the final dungeon of the game and includes the Shinra Combat Simulator. In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the building is a recurring location for Zack Fair between his missions. The location is visited a few times between Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.
History[]
Before Final Fantasy VII[]
Early history[]
The Shinra Building under construction in Crisis Core opening.
The Shinra Building presumably began construction around 1976, when work began on a plate above Midgar. It finished construction in 1976, and once finished, Shinra relocated their headquarters to the building.[1]
In 1982, President Shinra showed a five-year-old Rufus Shinra the blueprints to the Executive Office. Rufus Shinra proposed the idea of a secret escape route, which President Shinra reluctantly agreed to.[2] As of 0000, 24 years later, it was still partly under construction,[note 2] though most offices were complete. Mayor Domino, despite his role in Midgar's government, was given a small office in the Corporate Archives and effectively made into a librarian, a role he resented.[3]
From February 27 of 1985, Ifalna and a recently born Aerith were held in Hojo's laboratory within the building, looked after by a caretaker named Marielle, her son Lonny, and a number of researchers including Faz Hicks and Geddie Bach. In 1992, when Hojo learned Aerith had inherited Cetra powers, he began crueler experiments on Ifalna. Eventually, the two escaped with the help of researcher Faz Hicks.[4] In 0006, a beast named Nanaki was taken into the building, branded by Hojo as "Red XIII".
The Shinra Building served as the home base for SOLDIER members, including Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley, Sephiroth, and later Zack Fair, under Lazard Deusericus. At some point after their creation around 1977-82, the trio would used the Virtual Reality System training room together when they were close friends.[5]
At some point, plans for a Neo Midgar were developed within the building.
Attacks on the building[]
Shinra mech go haywire and attack the Shinra Building under Genesis's influence.
During April 0001, depicted in chapter 3 and chapter 4 of Crisis Core respectively, the Shinra Building was attacked twice by Genesis copies after Genesis had deserted. The first time, the day Zack was promoted to First Class, the army attacked recover Dr. Hollander, and retreated after recovering him, Zack and Sephiroth chasing them to Mako Reactor 5.[6] The second attack, the day after, Genesis's army came for Professor Hojo, but Angeal turned on Genesis, instead stopping Genesis' attack.[7]
In June 0002, depicted in "The Lone Discerning Alignment", Avalanche infiltrated the building, releasing monsters from Hojo's laboratory. Because the monster research was highly classified, SOLDIER could not be deployed and the Turks were called in. Fuhito, an Avalanche commander, used the infestation as a diversion to visit Hojo, his hero, wishing to show off the Ravens, modified SOLDIER members. Though Hojo was willing to betray Shinra for Avalanche, as his loyalties lay only with his research, he was prevented from doing so by Sephiroth.[note 3]
Original continuity[]
Infiltration to retrieve Aerith[]
In December of 0007, after Aerith was captured by Shinra in "Prevent the Fall of the Plate", she was held once again in Hojo's laboratory. Hojo struggled researching her, deeming her an inferior specimen to Ifalna with an 18% difference. He predicted research on her to find the promised land would take 120 years, and prepared to breed her.[8]
A security guard sleeping as the group entered the building.
Cloud, Barret, and Tifa infiltrated the building, after climbing a wire from Wall Market to reach Sector 0. Barret guessed from what he had heard of the building that Aerith must be held above the 60th floor. He suggested charging through the main entrance guns blazing, while Tifa objected and preferred using the stairs to avoid confrontation.[note 4] After reaching the 59th floor, the group sneaked past guards to floor 61 and made their way up the building. On floor 62, the group met Mayor Domino, who bemoaned he was effectively "mayor in name only" and his only role was to watch over Shinra's documents, offering to give the group a keycard to floor 65 if they could guess his password.[8]
At the Conference Rooms on floor 65, the three used an air duct from the bathrooms to eavesdrop on a board meeting. There, President Shinra rejected rebuilding Sector 7, wanting to restart the Neo Midgar project instead due to Aerith giving them a chance to find the fabled promised land, and announced a 15% mako rate hike to be divided by Reeve Tuesti and Scarlet. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret followed Hojo up to his laboratory, where they saw Jenova within a tank, and found Aerith held in another. Barret freed Aerith by shooting the tank, also freeing Red XIII whom Hojo had transported to the same tank with her, who agreed to help them. After defeating one of Hojo's monsters, the trio attempted to leave, but were caught by Rude, beginning the events of "The Nightmare Beginning Anew".[8]
Cloud escaping on the bike.
When captured, President Shinra taunted the group and had them imprisoned in Hojo's laboratory. Some time later, Cloud awoke to find his cell door open, Jenova's cell empty, and a trail of blood leading up to the president's office. They found President Shinra dead there, the Masamune stabbed in his back, leading Cloud to conclude only Sephiroth could have done this. Rufus Shinra, succeeding his father's position as president, arrived by helicopter. Cloud urged the rest of the group to flee while he would handle Rufus alone, but Tifa remained behind out of concern. Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII destroyed two Shinra machines on the elevator trip down, while Cloud forced Rufus to retreat before meeting up with Tifa. He stole the Hardy-Daytona motorcycle from a showroom in the building, while Tifa stole a Shinra Hauler SA-37 pick-up truck, and the group fled the building on the Midgar Expressway.[9]
Sister Ray[]
Shinra Building with Meteor looming over in Final Fantasy VII.
In January 14 of 0008, after the Meteor was summoned, Rufus planned Shinra's assault against Sephiroth in the Northern Cave inside the North Crater. The Sister Ray was relocated to Midgar so it could be powered by the city's seven remaining mako reactors. The cannon fired and destroyed the barrier surrounding Sephiroth while simultaneously destroying the Diamond Weapon.[10]
A moment before its destruction, a barrage of energy was unleashed by the Weapon destroyed the building's upper levels. Rufus Shinra appeared to be caught in the blast, but escaped via the secret route that he had proposed at five years old.[2] Hojo took control of Sister Ray and attempted to fire it again to give Sephiroth a boost of mako energy, and in "Mako Cannon Rampage" Avalanche, Cloud's group assaulted the city to stop Hojo from destroying Midgar by overloading the mako recators.[10]
After Midgar's destruction[]
Flashback of Shinra Building being destroyed.
In 0010, depicted in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the defunct ruin of the building could be seen from the distance of the city of Edge. When Sephiroth fought Cloud, he used the building as a weapon, cutting off chunks of the building's debris sending them hurtling toward Cloud. They also fought within the Executive Office.[note 5]
During 0011, depicted in Dirge of Cerberus, the Shinra Building became Deepground's home base during the battle between them and the World Regenesis Organization, and was the only way of access into Deepground. Vincent Valentine arrived at its remains after defeating Rosso the Crimson, needing to use President Shinra's private entrance through to the headquarters' basement.
Making his way through the corridors, Vincent took a lift down to the building's lower areas where secret research had been carried out, and where the top-secret Deepground files were located. Many crystals and materia were kept here in display cases, and during his time collecting the files and making his way through Deepground soldiers, Vincent faced off one final time against Azul the Cerulean on the lift before arriving in Deepground.
Remake continuity[]
Wutai infiltration[]
Scarlet and Deepground SOLDIERs.
In "Covert Ops" in Final Fantasy VII Remake "Episode INTERmission", Yuffie Kisaragi and Sonon Kusakabe infiltrated Materia Research at the basement of the building in search of an "ultimate materia".[11] However the two were found out almost immediately by Scarlet who trapped them and put them through trials against experimental weaponry on that floor. After facing her in a mech, The Crimson Mare, Scarlet revealed the ultimate materia was unfinished and told them of Shinra's plan to drop the plate, before unleashing Deepground.[12] The two fought Deepground SOLDIERs before Nero the Sable killed Sonon, giving Yuffie just enough time to escape.
Rescuing Aerith[]
During "Fight for Survival" in Final Fantasy VII Remake, Aerith voluntarily agreed to be taken by Tseng to the Shinra Building in exchange for Marlene Wallace' safety.[13] Though Elmyra Gainsborough originally objected to Cloud, Tifa, and Barret going after her, they eventually resolved to go. In a vision to Cloud, Aerith told Cloud the building was "not all bad" as it was akin to returning to her childhood home, but still did not wish to stay, and thanked Cloud for following her.[14] The group eventually arrived using grappling guns provided by Leslie Kyle to climb the Sector 7 plate, commencing "The Belly of the Beast", and entered by jumping from a Sector 0 walkway connected to the outer wall onto a truck headed for the parking lot.
Unbeknownst to them, Mayor Domino, Avalanche' inside collaborator, interfered with security footage and kept alarms quiet, believing the three were there to assassinate President Shinra;[3] although Tifa used her acrobatic skills to obtain a keycard from the reception desk, the energy barriers shut down without them. The three were given a choice to reach the 59th floor using either the emergency staircase or the elevator.[note 6]
Aerith held captive by Hojo.
Meanwhile, the directors at Shinra prepared for a board meeting. Scarlet was called there after the failed fusion of materia in Materia Research Facility on B13. A sleepless Reeve of the Urban Planning Division prepared a cost report for rebuilding Sector 7, urged by an employee not to repeat his disdain for Shinra's actions in the meeting.[16] Palmer strolled the Executive Suite, before seeing Sephiroth on the way and running in fear. Hojo interrogated Aerith, taunting and mocking her about Ifalna, before leaving. Heidegger of the Public Security Forces remained at the President's side, escorting him there, happily informing him the public had accepted the narrative that Avalanche was funded by Wutai and that Wutai were yet to respond.[17]
The party admiring the view.
Cloud, Tifa, and Barret arrived at the Skyview Hall, admiring the view of the city. They then participated in an interactive visitors' tour that led them through a propagandized history of the company, culminating in a showcase at the Visual Entertainment Hall about the Cetra and their plans for Neo Midgar. The presentation ended with Sephiroth's vision of a Meteor destroying Midgar and haunted images of men in dark robes, until Deputy Mayor Hart stopped the display, saying that the theater has been acting up.[16] Hart then took them to Mayor Domino's office in the archives, who revealed he worked with Avalanche much to their surprise (as Barret's cell had been unaware), expressing longing for Shinra's downfall due to the humiliation of being given menial administrative tasks. Though disappointed that they had not come to assassinate the president, he agreed to help them to hurt Shinra, giving them a keycard up to the Recreational Facility and pointing to another Avalanche collaborator there.[3]
On their way there, passing through the Urban Planning Administration after the fall of the Sector 7 plate, Tifa remarked seeing how diligently their staff were working in response made her feel a little better.[3] After reaching the collaborator and using the Shinra Combat Simulator, they made their way to the Conference Rooms floor. A Public Security trooper recognized Cloud as a former Shinra military man and offered to find Kunsel, but they hurried away.[17]
Cloud and Tifa eavesdrop on the directors' meeting.
At the Conference Rooms floor, Cloud and Tifa sneaked into an air duct from the men's bathroom to eavesdrop on the directors' meeting, while Barret kept watch below. Palmer frantically tried to convince the others that he had seen Sephiroth in the building, but was dismissed. Reeve wanted the president to direct funds to rebuild Sector 7, but his request was denied, as both Scarlet and the president wanted to focus on the Neo Midgar project, with Aerith now back in their grasp. Hojo wanted permission to use torture to extract information from Aerith and everyone but Reeve gleefully approved, though the president warned Hojo not to repeat his mistake with Aerith. Hojo suggested breeding Aerith with SOLDIERs of S and G types in order to mitigate the risk and create 'backups'.[17]
Encountering Sephiroth at Jenova chamber.
As the directors ended the meeting, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret shadowed Hojo to his lab. Barret threatened Hojo at gunpoint into letting them in, only for Hojo to unleash Specimen H0512. Thereafter, they found Aerith being kept in a tank and broke the locking system, unwittingly also releasing Red XIII, another of Hojo's captive specimens. As they were escaping with Aerith, they made their acquaintance with Red XIII who became pacified after Aerith touched his head tenderly. Cloud sensed Jenova nearby and collapsed, waking up in Aerith's old room in Hojo's lab, commencing "Deliverance from Chaos".[18]
Fleeing the building[]
In the Turks office at B3, Tseng suggested Reno rest to recover from injuries, and both Reno and Rude expressed guilt over their role in the Sector 7 plate drop. Tseng attempted to ease their conscience before informing them that Rufus Shinra had asked for their help. Meanwhile in Aerith's room, she told the others of her childhood, before the Whispers attacked. Red XIII, having found knowledge of them when Aerith reached out to him, described them as "arbiters of fate" and embodiments of the will of the planet itself. As Tifa pulled Aerith from the Whispers' attack and promised to protect her, the group were called by Mayor Domino and Wedge to tell them Avalanche HQ were sending a helicopter to extract them.[19] As they headed to the top, they encountered Sephiroth at Jenova's chamber, who broke the walkway they were standing on, sending everyone falling into the Drum, the depths of Hojo's research site.
Sephiroth kills President Shinra.
Hojo watched through security cameras Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Red XIII make their way out of the Drum while fighting Hojo's creations, as he used it as an opportunity to gather data for his research.[20] As the group made their way back to where Jenova's tank was, they found the tank broken and Jenova gone, only a trail of dark liquid leading upstairs to the president's office. There, they discovered the president barely holding on and pleading for help, promising riches.[21]
Barret rescued the president, demanding he clear Avalanche's name and answer for his crimes. President Shinra scrambled to his desk, grabbing his gun that he turned on Barret, mocking him and pointing out his lack of conviction to save the planet by not demanding he shut down all mako production. Marco appeared, transformed into Sephiroth and killed the president, also impaling Barret on the Masamune, before transforming into the Jenova Dreamweaver, whose illusions distorted the entire office.[21] Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Red XIII defeated Jenova Dreamweaver, and another man in a dark robe appeared, carrying Jenova's body wrapped in dark cloth. The Whispers revived Barret, and began to swarm all around the building.[21] Cloud followed the dark-robed man who transformed into Sephiroth and left the building, but he leapt off still carrying the body of Jenova.[22]
Cloud blasting his way through the Shinra forces on the Hardy-Daytona.
The helicopter sent by Avalanche HQ was downed by the Turks, as they escorted Rufus Shinra to the building. Cloud asked the others to escape while he would hold Rufus back. As he triumphed against Rufus, Rufus fled on Reno and Rude's helicopter which shot at Cloud, causing him to hold on for life until Tifa, staying behind out of concern, rushed to his rescue, telling him he must be better if he is to "play the hero".[22] Meanwhile, Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII fought Shinra soldiers and armaments sent by Heidegger, including a machine known as the Arsenal, but Cloud and Tifa came to their aid in vehicles stolen from the Shinra showrooms and they escaped onto the Midgar Expressway.
As they left, the Whispers hounded Wedge, apparently throwing him out of the window, and covered the entire building, until they disappeared as Cloud and the others defeated the colossal Whisper elsewhere.[23] Rufus, escorted by Tseng, declared himself the new president of Shinra, refusing to answer to "Vice President", and greeted the division directors. Hojo discovered that Jenova had gone missing from the tank and burst out into maniacal laughter.[24]
Another reality[]
Shinra Building in ruin.
The party who escaped the Shinra Building and fought Sephiroth in the singularity has left the metropolis behind and the road back to Midgar was blockaded by Shinra. However, reality dovetailed from this event and another reality emerged where the Shinra Building was toppled by colossal tornadoes. In the escaped party's reality however, Shinra Building stayed intact. Rufus took over his father's office in the top floor, where he was at times haunted by a figure from his past. Reeve at one point used his office in the Shinra Building to sabotage Shinra's efforts in hunting down the Avalanche splinter cell members and Aerith by changing their wanted posters. Hojo's office was also still in use, from where he at one point spied on Cloud's party via Chadley.
Geography[]
Shinra Building amidst rest of Midgar.
The Shinra Building is located in the middle of Sector 0, at the heart of Midgar. The structure towers over the rest of the city, being far larger than any of the city's other skyscrapers. The width of the building covers most of the space of Sector 0. The building itself is surrounded by a large wall around its perimeter, with an empty moat from the wall towards the circular plate on which the building stands.
Around the perimeter are offshoot structures, highway bridges, immense pipes, and walkways. The offshoot tower-like structures appear to be extensions of the main building, built in the same aesthetic with dome roofs and chimneys emitting smoke in the middle. The winding highway bridges lead around the building towards its underground parking lot, though never above the first floor of the building. The pipes of the building, seemingly used for feeding mako energy, lead from the central structure itself to each of Midgar's surrounding plates. The metal walkways cross the moat at the building's perimeter and are connected to its surrounding wall.
The building has two entrances, a front and a rear. The front entrance is a vast, curved, wide plaza beneath the front gates of the building, with a few Shinra trucks parked outside. Signposts outside read "shinra bldg." in white text,[note 1] and plants are found between the staircases. This entrance is accessed via skybridges with curved roofs connected to the outer walls. The rear entrance, leading directly to the underground parking lot, is located beneath the building, with a few of the highways leading towards it.
As the building is located in the heart of Midgar, each of the mako reactors of the surrounding city are connected to it directly.
Design[]
Model of the Shinra Building, as seen within the museum complex.
The Shinra Building is a colossal tower at seventy stories tall that looms over the surrounding city. It is an almost entirely metal construct, with a bulky lower portion connected to its surrounding pipes, a middle portion with a cylindrical structure on the front, and a slim upper tower for the highest executive floors.
Offshoot tower structures adjacent to the building reach up to the middle portion, and the pipes connect to its bottom portion. A helipad is located on the roof, adjacent to the president's office. Beneath the main floors is a parking garage complex with a service entrance to the lobby on the first floor.
The building embodies the industrial aesthetic of many constructs in Midgar, with metal walls (resembling iron), large pipes, and a green hue from the emitted mako energy. The red Shinra logo is engraved above the front entrance, in the middle of the building, and near its upper tower. The building has large lamps at the bottom, similar to the larger sun lamps providing artificial light to the undercity.
Structure[]
Overview[]
Front entrance.
The Shinra Building is 70 stories tall, with elevators and an emergency stairwell used to navigate between them. The first three floors constitute the lobby, but the higher floors require an elevator or the emergency stairwell to visit.
The most important floors are located above floor 59, the Skyview Hall, as floors 60-70 restrict access to high-level employees. The standard elevators from the hall at the lobby stop at 59, and further floors are reached using an escalator hall or a restricted access glass elevator. Below ground, the building has a parking lot and an underground research facility.
Though the research facilities and offices retain the industrial look of the exterior, other rooms, primarily those for executives or visitors, are more decorated, with red carpets and a cleaner look. In rooms for visitors, such as the lobby and Skyview Hall, kiosks and billboards advertise Shinra. Decorative plants are found here, either in pots or glass tanks (contrasting with the otherwise entirely industrial look of the building's exterior and interior).
Underground[]
Underground parking.
Beneath the building is a parking garage complex that comprises multiple floors connected by spiral ramps, as seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake. It hosts aisles of parked Shinra trucks, cars, motorcycles, as well as containers and boxes for cargo. A storage room for cargo and service entrance to the top floor are located on the top floor of the garage.
General Affairs: Auditing on B3.
The basement levels comprise a network of steel corridors twisting through the plate interior.[note 7] Also below ground are rooms for general affairs, as an auditing room is located three floors below ground.[note 8] This room is an office space used by the Turks, with granite walls, a desk for Tseng in front of a large screen, and a long table with blue tablet-like screens across it.
B13 - Materia Research Facility.
Further below underground, research facilities for heavy machinery and materia are located, development on B13, maintenance on B14, and production on B15.[25][note 9] These vast facilities, frequented by Scarlet. As well as housing prototype Shinra mechs in vast facilities connected by moving platforms, it also houses materia research laboratories. Materia is developed through fusion, with reserve tanks of mako used to combine and cool the materia while testing.[26]
Lobby[]
Lobby.
The lobby is a vast open space to the height of three floors reached via parallel staircases. It is overlooked by balconies across the upper floors, and illuminated by a number of lamps hanging from the ceiling.
The exhibit in the back of the first floor.
The reception desk is on the bottom floor. Near the back is an exhibit showroom exhibiting cars, motorcycles, and locomotive parts on display stands, though this portion is locked behind a forcefield when closed off. The second floor contains an item store along with a video showcase of Shinra's vehicles in Final Fantasy VII,
but little of note in Final Fantasy VII Remake.[note 10]
The third floor allows access to further floors via the elevator hall and emergency stairwell. The Hardy-Daytona is stored here on a display stand just in front of the elevator hall at the back, and there is a cafeteria for visitors. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the emergency stairwell is located to the west of the cafeteria, providing an evacuation route from the upper floors, and to the east is an exhibition hall similar to that at the back of the first floor.
Floors 4-57[]
What floors 4-57 entail is largely unknown. Floor 10 is used for general affairs, floor 20 is for research and development, floor 30 for urban planning, floor 40 for space and aeronautics, floor 45 for advanced weaponry, and floor 50 for Public Security.[note 11] Floor 45 also contains archives for the building, where important documents are kept.[27]
Off-Duty SOLDIERs.
Floor 49 serves as the SOLDIER Floor, seen only in Crisis Core. It houses the SOLDIER Training Room, the Materia Room for materia development, the mission briefing room, and a lounge area for off-duty SOLDIER operatives. The Training Room also has a Virtual Reality System capable of projecting holographic interactive elements of a per-programmed surrounding, complete with digital enemies to fight. Health experts also train and supervise the mako-enhanced SOLDIER members. The floor's residents get free equipment from the company for missions and sign up for extra missions in the briefing room antechamber.
Floor 51 contains the SOLDIER director's office.[note 12] The office holds the director's work station as well as a small library. The floor is accessible at will by SOLDIER 1st Class members, and is used by Sephiroth after Director Lazard Deusericus goes missing.
Skyview Hall[]
Located on the 59th floor, the Skyview Hall[28] is a space for visitors named after the view it provides of the entire city from its large windows. A holographic receptionist begins a tour guide, giving tourists access to floors 60-64. At the back, with access granted by keycard, an escalator hall provides access to the upper floors by escalator or by the restricted glass elevators.
Directly beneath the Skyview Hall on floor 58 is a wide, open space comprising the Skyview Atrium, seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake.[29] It similarly has windows overlooking the city, but is contained in a smaller overall space.
Memorial Museum[]
President Shinra exhibit.
Seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake on floor 60, the Memorial Museum exhibition focuses on the life of President Shinra, Business Division operations, and on the invention and use of mako energy. The museum's entrance resembles a real-world outdoor museum with its stone walls and Greek pillars, both on the walls outside and within the President Shinra and Business Division exhibits. Between the exhibits, metal rooms feature large screens with videos for tourists to watch while waiting to enter the next room.
Business Division exhibit.
The President Shinra exhibit reflects his own self-pride,[16] and features a golden statue of him, images of him throughout his life and his major accomplishments. The Business Division exhibit showcases the work of each Shinra Company department, with a holographic recording of their respective director: Scarlet with Shinra robots at Advanced Weaponry, Palmer with rockets for Space and Aeronautics, Hojo with mako projects for Research and Development, Heidegger with Shinra soldier models for Public Security, and Reeve with a robot arm crane as well as design blueprints with Urban Planning.[note 13]
Mako Energy Exhibit.
The mako energy exhibit contains a model of the city of Midgar, recreated in 1/1000th scale,[16] and a staircase to floor 61.
In the original Final Fantasy VII, on floor 60 is a single guarded room
with rows of golden statue in the shape of President Shinra, vaguely resembling the Memorial Museum. The mako energy exhibit instead comprises the contents of a separate floor on floor 65.
Visual Entertainment Hall[]
Seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake, floor 61 contains the Visual Entertainment Hall, linked to the Memorial Museum below. The Cosmos Theater is a dome-shaped virtual reality theater with a movie on Shinra's knowledge of the Cetra civilization, how Shinra are upholding their legacy as stewards of the planet, as well as their plans for Neo Midgar. When Cloud, Tifa, and Barret visited, the theater was experiencing problems.[16]
Corporate Archives[]
Corporate Archives.
Located on floor 62, the Corporate Archives,[28] seen in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake, is a library where Mayor Domino's office is also located. The appearance of the archives changes between releases.
In Final Fantasy VII, the archive is separated into four rooms in the center, each of which is categorized by one area of research conducted by Shinra, and Mayor Domino's office is located left of them.
In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the archives is contained in a single large circular chamber with wooden bookcases lining the walls. The area is set up as a series of concentric rings, with each inner ring being set in a lower recessed space. The largest outer ring connects to the mayor's office on the south end, and to the middle ring through small sets of stairs. On the level below, the middle ring connects to the inner area, where a series of desks and chairs stand around a short central pillar.
The mayor's office is a secluded, dimly-lit room with a wooden desk, where he keeps a computer as well as several trophies. The office also contains several large screens with security footage. 
Storage area[]
Storage area.
Seen in Final Fantasy VII, a storage area is located on floor 63. It is a metal area comprising four rooms between a network of locked gates. Access to these rooms is provided by a security process from a computer terminal to allow a single person to enter. However, air ducts connect two of the rooms, allowing one to somewhat bypass the process and obtain the rare items within.
Recreational Facility[]
Floor in Final Fantasy VII (top) and Final Fantasy VII Remake (bottom).
The Recreational Facility[28] appears on floor 64 in Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core, and on floor 63 in Final Fantasy VII Remake (adjacent to the Urban Planning Administration on the same floor). The facility serves different purposes between appearances.
In Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core, the facility of floor 64 includes a small rest area and a gym, with an associated locker room, showers, and restrooms. The gym includes treadmills, benches, and vending machines, while the rest area contains small beds used by employees.
In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the facility contains a large food court across two levels linked by a spiral staircase, where food is served from a cafeteria across both levels. The upper level has a lounge outside the Shinra Combat Simulator, located in a dome at the back of the room. The lower level has a large atrium with a tree held within, along with tables for the cafeteria, and a projector screen that shows news. Similar to the Skyview Hall, large windows provide a view of the entire city.
The cafeteria around an atrium, as seen in the Recreational Facility on Final Fantasy VII Remake, are instead located separately on floor 61 in Final Fantasy VII.
Urban Planning Administration[]
Located on floor 63 in Final Fantasy VII Remake, adjacent to the Recreation Facility, the Urban Planning Administration is directed by Reeve Tuesti. His office is located on the floor itself, secluded from the rest of the administration room, a busy and hectic room where rows of desks with computers are used by the regular staff.
Conference Rooms[]
Conference Rooms.
Located on floor 66 in Final Fantasy VII, and on floor 64 in Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Conference Rooms[28] hall contains smaller rooms for administrative board meetings, around one larger room in the center for the Business Division executives. The hall also contains a small kitchen with vending machines and tables, as well as two bathrooms.
The hall has an exquisite design, with many decorative plants and well-polished marble tiles around the hall and in the bathrooms, notably cleaner than those in the city below.[17] The smaller conference rooms have clean carpets with screens and whiteboards around inner tables. The larger conference room has much more grandeur, with red drapes and Greek pillars in between the marble tiles on the walls. The larger conference room has a long table with tablet-like screens across it, placed on a red carpet in front of a display screen.
Close to the board room is a metal stairway passage leading to the floors above where Hojo's laboratory is located, which requires a keycard to access.
Hojo's laboratory[]
Hojo's main laboratory is spread across two floors, floors 67 and 68 in Final Fantasy VII, and floors 65 and 66 in Final Fantasy VII Remake. The lower floor contains the sublevel, while the floor above contains the main level on floor 66. Disconnected from the other floors of the Shinra Building, the laboratory floors are connected from a freight elevator with an industrial appearance, and the laboratory is accessed through a metal staircase passage from the Conference Rooms floor.
The laboratory comprises metal chambers dimly lit. Most rooms contain tanks with mako for use in Hojo's experiments, while others contain specimens normally in blue cylindrical tanks, such as those holding Aerith and Red XIII. Some rooms contain human-sized boards to strap subjects on, along with robotic arms holding syringes, likely used by Hojo for torture.[30] Larger specimens, such as Specimen H0512, are kept in metal tanks; in Final Fantasy VII, Jenova is kept in such a tank on the sublevel, but in Final Fantasy VII Remake she is located in the Drum.
Both floors have a larger area, lit by red lights. On the main level floor, above this area, is a control bridge with terminals from which Hojo can remain at a distance while tests are ongoing, and a tubular metal elevator at the back to the Executive Suite. The main level also contains an employee break room with a Shinra Combat Simulator dome.
Aerith's room in the specimen enclosures.
The sublevel of the laboratory also contains the specimen enclosures, which includes several small rooms across a hall. In Final Fantasy VII, these rooms are used as a prison. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the rooms including Aerith's room where she lived as a child.[31] Her room is a tight, enclosed metal chamber that resembles the rest of the laboratory. However, it has basic furniture, several books, sticky notes, and colorful drawings (likely by Aerith of what she knows of Cetra civilization).
The Drum[]
The Drum.
The Drum is seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake. It is a highly classified extension of Hojo's laboratory that few employees are aware of,[32], filled with the most advanced technology in Midgar.[20] The Drum is located between floors 67 and 68[note 14]. It is a vast, wide, circular chamber around an immense central tank housing Jenova at the top. The facility's research involves the enhancement of lifeforms and machines by applying Jenova's biological data.[33] It contains several wards housing and training test subjects, and is dimly lit by a few lights and a green hue emitted from the mako. Throughout the facility, makonoid subjects are held in mako pods along the walls, and cooling devices are located behind fences. PHS terminals provide communication between separate parts of the facility.
Jenova's room at the top of the Drum.
The central tank is filled with mako, and large wires and pipes connect to the tank, as well as bridges to access it. Below the tank housing Jenova is a central control terminal around a circular walkway, with a control for each pipe leading to the four wards. Several metal walkways surround the outskirts of the Drum, connecting to the four wards across nine different levels.
The four wards consist of well-lit hallways and chambers housing various facilities and equipment. Some wards hold medical supplies, drugs, and robotic arms used for dissection or enhancement purposes,[34] while others serve as storage areas. The first two wards feature training spaces where Hojo's creations are tested against each other to enhance their capabilities.[33] The second ward is filled with debris from destroyed robots, suggesting it hasn't been cleared, and it includes a control deck for Hojo to observe the tests. The third ward accommodates nurseries for refining and breeding subjects, with large rooms containing storage containers for feeding specimens and metal cages holding them. Most cages are empty, but some house genetically modified bloodhounds[35] and zenenes,[36] which are synthesized from other lifeforms. Lastly, the fourth ward is wider and hollow, housing a chamber for subject synthesis.
Bottom levels.
Large cooling fans and cylindrical test subject pods with makonoid remains are situated between the walkways for the ward entrances across the walls. Adjacent to many wards are small break rooms, also with computer terminals, mako container tanks, and cooling systems alongside the benches. The fourth level has a monitoring area, a room with large terminals locked behind a forcefield, and the floor above has a room with filing cabinets and desks.
The bottom levels of the Drum are heavily damaged, with rubble from fallen walkways and bridges, likely left from various rampaging test subjects. At the very bottom level, white metal pods are arranged over a mess of wires in a pattern circling the central tank, with a walkway around them. This floor, too, has been hit by rubble, as several pods are knocked over, and parts of the walkway are impassable.
Executive Suite[]
Executive Suite.
The Executive Suite,[28] located on floor 69, is a grandiose room directly beneath President Shinra's Executive Office. A long red carpet leads from the elevator hall through the suite to the grand staircase up to the Executive Lobby. The floors, ceilings, and walls are of polished granite, as well as the large pillars with gold-plated edges that are located across the suite. Electric chandeliers hang from the ceiling to light the room, and at the back, tall windows overlook the city.
Executive Office[]
President's Office.
The Executive Office[28] on floor 70 is the office of President Shinra. Continued from the room below, a red carpet leads to the President's desk in front of tall windows at the back. The room has wooden black pillars and electric candlelights hung on the side. The President's black metal desk is elevated and has a golden Shinra logo at the front, and blue screens in front of the President's chair.
A heliport is located outside on the roof, with a metal walkway from the Executive Office leading to it. The heliport is suspended at the top of the building high above the rest of the city. In addition to the heliport, a secret escape route that only Rufus and President Shinra knew about exists within the office.[2]
Gameplay[]
Final Fantasy VII[]
Sneaking past guards (top) and fighting Rufus (bottom).
Shinra Bldg. is visited during "Storming the Shinra Building" by a party of Cloud, Tifa, and Barret as they must infiltrate the building. Aeris and Red XIII join later in the quest, which leads to "The Nightmare Beginning Anew" as the party attempt to flee.
The building has a variety of minigames and objectives across 11 different floors that can be visited. It is entered either by taking the stairs or charging through the front door, where the former is a combat option, and the latter is slower but involves no battles. Throughout minigames, the new Materia found here are the Elemental Materia, Poison Materia and Enemy Skill Materia.
H0512 is fought at the end of "Storming the Shinra Building" with Cloud, Red XIII, and either Barret or Tifa depending on player choice. A variety of bosses are then fought throughout "The Nightmare Beginning Anew", beginning with Rufus in a solo boss battle with Cloud, and followed by a gauntlet of Hundred Gunner and Heli Gunner, fought with a party of Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII.
The entire party returns to Midgar for the Raid on Midgar during "Mako Cannon Rampage". During the return, the party can find optional weapons, including Cid's Grow Lance, Red XIII's Behemoth Horn, Tifa's Master Fist, and Cait Sith's HP Shout, his ultimate weapon.
Final Fantasy VII Remake[]
Climbing the stairs (top) and fighting Rufus (bottom).
In the base game, the Shinra Building is the setting of chapter 16, "The Belly of the Beast", and chapter 17, "Deliverance from Chaos". In the former, it is visited by a party of Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, and Barret Wallace to infiltrate the building, and in the latter, the party switches between Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith Gainsborough in various quests on their way out, including a length quest through the Drum. New weapons can be obtained for every party member, throughout both chapters.
"The Belly of the Beast" includes similar events to "Storming the Shinra Building" in the original game, as the party receive help from the mayor and eavesdrop on a board meeting before rescuing Aerith from Hojo's lab, but other gameplay events are different. The party enter through the parking lot where several battles are fought, and a solo quest as Tifa takes place as she grabs a keycard from the reception desk, following which the player can choose to use the elevator or stairs from the inside. The elevator leads to combat, but it is relatively minor, and the choice is mostly between which scene the player prefers. Additionally, many of the minigames, including the storage area and the mayor's puzzle, are removed in favor of interactive quests through Shinra's museum.
"Deliverance from Chaos" includes some of the events from "The Nightmare Beginning Anew". Red XIII does not become playable, but joins as a guest for many battles. The biggest addition is a dungeon through the Drum, in which the player switches back and forth between a party of Cloud and Barret and a party of Tifa and Aerith to make their way through the facility. After this, a new boss against Jenova Dreamweaver is added. The final battles against Rufus and the Arsenal (Hundred Gunner in the original) are mostly intact, though the Valkyrie (Heli Gunner in the original) is not fought, as it instead appears earlier in the game in chapter 15, "The Day Midgar Stood Still".
The most notable addition is the Shinra Combat Simulator, first seen in chapter 16, and later in chapter 17 after returning to it with chapter select. Here, the player can select a variety of combat challenges, including a few that are exclusive to hard mode only in chapter 17, the final being battles against Pride and Joy Prototype and Weiss (in Intergrade).
In "Episode INTERmission", during "Covert Ops", the basement levels are visited by Yuffie Kisaragi and Sonon Kusakabe. These are all-new missions not present in the original game. New boss battles are fought against the Crimson Mare and Nero.
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-[]
Shops[]
Shops can only be visited from the menu. Shinra Building Shop is available from the start of the game.
| Name | Cost |
|---|---|
| Potion | 50 gil |
| Ether | 200 gil |
| Soma | 200 gil |
| Remedy | 200 gil |
Items in the locker[]
At the start of chapter Zack can inspect the locker in the SOLDIER Floor and find new items. If the player fails to collect an item from the locker before the end of chapter, the item will be lost.
This section about a location in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Floor 67 - SP Recovery Devices[]
During Chapter 4 when the Shinra Building is being attacked by Genesis's forces, Zack can find Professor Hojo in his lab. There is a device in the room, the 'SP Recovery Device'. A counter initiates and shows the rhythm up to three whereupon the player must count down and press the button at 0. If timed correctly, the player can earn 10-100 SP. If not timed correctly, the player will lose 50 SP.
The sample tube in the middle will give several options and the player earns SP based on their answers.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1st Question | Option 1 = 300 SP Option 2 = 100 SP |
| 2nd Question | Option 1 = 200 SP Option 2 = 400 SP |
| 3rd Question | Option 1 = 200 SP Option 2 = 300 SP |
Floor 67 - Stealing Keys[]
For this the player must have the Steal Materia equipped. The player must head down and battle the six Experiment No. 97s in the Cell Area. The player can steal a Key from each and use the keys to open the six cells, which hold three treasure boxes per cell. There is a timer of three minutes which does not count during battles.
- The first cell has an Ether, a Silence Materia, and an ATK UP Materia.
- The second cell has a Cure Materia, 2000 gil, and 500 gil.
- The third cell has a Potion, an HP Up Materia, and a Blizzard Materia.
- The fourth cell has a Hi-Potion, 2 gil, and a Remedy.
- The fifth cell has a Fire Materia, a Potion, and a Hi-Potion.
- The sixth cell has a Soma, a Thunder Materia, and 3000 gil.
Squats minigame[]
In Chapter 6, the player can play a squats minigame at the Training Room where the player must perform as many squats as possible within a time limit. This mimics the minigame played in Final Fantasy VII at the Wall Market, where Cloud is trying to win a wig off "Beautiful Bro". The most the player can do within the time limit is 58 squats.
The player must tap 
when Zack is going down. After five squats he will become faster, until he reaches max speed after gaining speed for three times. If the player misses one, their speed slows again. The items obtained from the minigame are used to make a flower wagon for Aerith later. The player needs 21 squats for Shinra Lunch Cart Specs, 29 squats for Shinra Ceramic, 41 squats for Shinra Treads and 52 squats for Shinra Solder. Each opponent is faster than the one before.
Musical themes[]
In Final Fantasy VII, the background music for the outside of the headquarters is "Shinra, Inc." (神羅カンパニー, Shinra Kanpanī?, lit. Shinra Company), and in the inside the music is "Infiltrating Shinra" (神羅ビル潜入, Shinra Biru Sennyū?). After Jenova escapes her capsule and the party escapes the prison, the background music switches to "Trail of Blood" (血の跡, Chi no Ato?) on the field and in the battle screen.
In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the building has its own theme in "The Shinra Building" appearing in the perimeter, which interpolates "Shinra, Inc.". Inside the building, a variety of other tracks in the soundtrack play during different quests. Most of these are new compositions, though arrangements of "Infiltrating Shinra HQ" and "Trail of Blood" appear during their respective quests.
In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the theme of the Shinra Building early in the game is "Mako City", which later on changes to the "Pipes and Steel (from LAST ORDER FFVII)". After Zack changes his hair style, the music at the Shinra Building is "Mako Monopoly (from FFVII "Shinra Company")".
Other appearances[]
The Shinra Building appears in other titles as a representative location for Final Fantasy VII. In Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, the building appears on the background of the Midgar arena, and in World of Final Fantasy, the towering building built over Nibelheim town resembles the Shinra Building. Outside the series, it also appears on the background of the Midgar-themed stage in Super Smash Bros.
In Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade and Final Fantasy Record Keeper, the building is visited as a dungeon. In the latter, it appears in various Final Fantasy VII Challenge Events, and all seventy of its floors served as the sole location for Of Shinra and Legends. The Jenova Project, Lost Memories, and Blood Madness all featured a few select floors. In Aspiring Hero a virtual reality version of the building's entrance and 68th floor could be conquered.
_dissidia_arcade_2.jpg "Midgar (Final Fantasy VII) dissidia arcade 2.jpg (134 KB)")
Behind the scenes[]
Design[]
The Shinra Building is not based on any real-world building. However, the recreational facility's name was inspired by a floor in Square's offices in Meguro, Tokyo, while they developed the original Final Fantasy VII.[37] Similarly, the Shinra Building's bathrooms in Final Fantasy VII Remake were modeled after the Square Enix building's bathrooms at their Japan headquarters.[38]
Typically, in real-world high-rise buildings, elevators are divided into sections of floors, which the developers believed was done for efficient transport; therefore, the Shinra Building's elevators were made to go anywhere, as Shinra are not opposed to reckless consumption of mako energy, and thus ignore efficiency.[37]
Alternately, appropriate for the nature of Midgar's and the company's real life etymological namesakes, the Shinra Building may bear an anthropomorphized aspect to its design, as if a robotic entity seated upon the center of Midgar's base. This gives impression to the Great Buddha of Kamakura, one of the world's largest Buddha statues located in current day Kanagawa Prefecture, designed after Daichi Nyorai, the buddha of light and transience, and was the only thing left standing upon the destruction of Kamakura in 1333.
Unused text[]
Concept artwork for the Shinra Building for Final Fantasy VII.
In Final Fantasy VII, unused dialogue found in game data implies Barret had been to the Shinra Building. As in the final game script, while outside the building, Barret would suggest Cloud knows the place well, to which Cloud would have answered it to be his first time there. Following this, Barret would then have said that he has been at the headquarters before, back when he still had both his hands.[39] In the final game, nothing suggests that Barret would have ever visited before.
More unused text relates to Mayor Domino's puzzle. Unused text implies it originally would have been much more difficult, the player needing to construct the entire sentence themselves. This is reminiscent of the Japanese version where the player constructs a full sentence comprised of four kanji characters. The more difficult version would include 256 different possible answers. Deputy Mayor Hart would give out the password for 70,000 gil, and if he was asked enough times for a hint, would become impatient and give the party his own keycard. The text also contained multiple different responses to wrong passwords.[39]
Mayor Domino's puzzle has discrepancies between the Japanese and English version. Text is contained for some books that cannot be read in both versions, and some books can be read in the English version and not the Japanese text. Professor Gast's full name is mentioned in one of the Japanese books, but is never mentioned anywhere in the English version.[39]
Remake[]
For Final Fantasy VII Remake, the exterior of the Shinra Building was kept relatively untouched, because it could affect players' memories of what Midgar should look like. However, the floor structure on the inside has seen major rearranging,[40] and inside, the building was made to be more technologically advanced.[37]
The floor plan from 60–68 is greatly altered, with some floors from Final Fantasy VII being merged into other floors or removed entirely, in favor of new floors being added in the form of the Visual Entertainment Hall on floor 61, and the Drum on floor 68. Floor 60, originally a mere buffer floor with a few gold statues, is instead transformed into the Memorial Museum, and the scale replica of Midgar on floor 65 is merged into it. The cafeteria with an atrium on floor 61 is moved to the Recreational Facility, located on floor 63 rather than 64, and its gym is not seen. The storage area floor on 63 is removed with no replacement, and consequently, the Conference Rooms are bumped down to floor 64, while the floors of Hojo's laboratory are bumped down to floors 65 and 66.
Entering the Shinra Building is slightly different, wherein the original game, the player can bypass a fight entirely by taking the stairs following Tifa's advice, or rush in and fight to the elevator following Barret's advice. Instead, a fight always occurs as the party attempts the back entrance, followed by a battle in the garage, a platforming segment as Tifa in which she must acquire a keycard to get in, and either the elevator or the stairs follow. The platformer segment was added as one of the set pieces for the developers to allow players to control other characters; for Tifa's, they wished to utilize her agility.[37] Between the stairs and the elevator, two thirds of players (65%) reported taking the stairs, while one third (35%) of players reported taking the elevator.[41]
The developers decided a museum would be a good addition to give the building a role as a place where citizens could learn about the company. The Visual Entertainment Hall, on the other hand, was added as a faux-PR reel to give players a better understand of keywords important to the story of Final Fantasy VII, including the Ancients and the promised land.[37] The Shinra Combat Simulator in the building was added as a tribute to the Virtual Reality System in Crisis Core.[42] However, it is unconfirmed if the two are canonically the same system.
"Sephiroth" holding the headless Jenova wrapped in black cloth in the remake.
Getting Jenova's design to pass the ratings restrictions was something of a challenge. Even though Jenova is not human, her being headless and naked was a potential issue. To rectify this, the developers reluctantly added a mechanical apparatus to her head and covered her in a cloth when Sephiroth was carrying her. The developers wanted to include Jenova's blood trail, but using red blood was not possible to keep a lower age rating. Instead, she leaves behind a fantasy-like purple substance. They still needed it checked numerous times before it was permitted.[43]
Because the team lacked the man power, Producer Yoshinori Kitase ended up being in charge of finishing the designs for the Mako Reactor 5, President Shinra's office and the Shinra Building roof, as well as Midgar Expressway. Kitase put more emphasis on tempo of the scene where President Shinra is cornered by Sephiroth in the Shinra Building and "ended things quickly".[44] The scene where Tifa saves Cloud from falling off the Shinra Building was designed as complement to the scene in Mako Reactor 5 where Tifa failed to save Cloud from falling.[45]
If the player finds Johnny's father during Chapter 3 and talks to him, they can learn that he once thought about starting an attraction for "adrenaline junkies" to jump off the Shinra Building using grappling guns, but the Shinra Company was not interested in such a venture.[46]
Gallery[]
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
- Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
- Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 In Final Fantasy VII, the building is named "Shinra Bldg." on the in-game menu. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the name "Shinra Building" is used in the in-game Midgar City Map, and the "shinra bldg." white text on a signpost outside is a reference to the original Final Fantasy VII menu name. The building is also referred to by the names Shinra's Headquarters, Shinra Tower, Shinra Corporate Tower, Shinra Corporate HQ, Shinra HQ, and Shinra Headquarters in the Official Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide.
- ↑ The events of Crisis Core begin in 0000, when the building is visibly still under construction.
- ↑ The Shinra Building also appears in "Special Episode: Reno" in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, although no exact or approximate date of the episode are given. The episode depicts Reno and Rude investigating floor 45 after Dr. Hollander stole important documents.
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII, depending on Cloud's choice to agree with Barret and charge in or agree with Tifa and sneak around, the incident unfolds differently. Taking the front entrance, Barret threatened a receptionist and the three fought some of Shinra's forces, and took an elevator up to floor 59, being stopped numerous times along the way. While taking the stairs, the three climb 59 flights much to Barret's objection, with Tifa running ahead of the group. Barret complained out of exhaustion throughout the trip, eventually causing Tifa to lose her patience, snapping at Barret.[8]
- ↑ In Advent Children Complete, Cloud and Sephiroth are locked in combat in the top floor of Shinra Building (the presidential office), though it is only identifiable by its luxurious carpeting. Aside for the absence of the iconic presidential desk, the office lacks any sign of Diamond Weapon's attack.
- ↑ The choice to use the elevator or staircase in Final Fantasy VII Remake is a reference to the choice in the original Final Fantasy VII. When taking the staircase, the three ran up the stairs, with Tifa running far ahead of the others and taunting them on the way while Barret complained, and the group finally arrived exhausted at the 59th floor. When using the elevator, the elevator stopped at floors 10 and 20 where they fought Shinra soldiers, though when stopping at floors 30 and 40, they encountered frightened employees. Tifa remarked how easy it was to forget that many of Shinra's employees are simply trying to make lives for their family, though Barret interjected that "a good man who serves a great evil is not without sin" and must "recognize and accept his complicity" to redeem himself.[15]
- ↑ The basement levels are visited during the course of side missions in Crisis Core, and in the main plot of Dirge of Cerberus. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, a few of the rooms are seen during cutscenes, and in "Episode INTERmission", the basement is explored further.
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII Remake, this floor is named on-screen as "B3 - General Affairs: Auditing", in a cutscene at the end of "Save Aerith".
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII Remake, floor 13 is named on-screen as "B13 - Materia Research Facility", in a cutscene during "Reach for the Skyview Hall" after climbing the stairs or using the elevator. In the chapter "Covert Ops" in "Episode INTERmission", Yuffie and Sonon explore the basement further.
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII Remake on the map, the second level is labeled "2F - Atrium", implying an atrium exists elsewhere on this floor but is not seen by the player.
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII Remake, during "Use the Elevator" and "Use the Emergency Stairwell:, the map takes the player to the levels 10F - General Affairs and 20F - Research and Development, though only the Elevator Hall of each are ever explored. Upon arriving at floor 30 during a cutscene, 30th Floor - Urban Planning appears on-screen, followed by 40th Floor - Space and Aeronautics, 45th Floor - Advanced Weaponry, and 50th Floor - Public Security. The 45th floor displays only during "Use the Elevator", and the 50th floor displays only in "Use the Emergency Stairwell".
- ↑ Although it is never openly stated, the director's office is known to be on this floor since "Floor 51" is printed on a wall within the office in Crisis Core.
- ↑ At Advanced Weaponry, robots include a Sweeper, Monodrive, and a Slug-Ray, and Scarlet recorded no message for it. Space and Aeronautics displays a single rocket and a brief recording of Palmer who explains the projects are on hold until there is a demand for mako. Research and Development features a 3-C SOLDIER Operator model and mako containment tanks, and a recording of a frustrated Hojo insulting the intelligence of the tourists. Public Security showcases Shinra soldiers, and a hologram of Heidegger who did not record a message. Urban Planning showcases a large robot arm as seen in the Collapsed Expressway at Sector 6, concept art of Neo Midgar, and early blueprints for Sector 8, as well as a personable message from Reeve discussing the proposed intra-rail expressway.
- ↑ In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the area labeled "The Drum - Top Level" on the map is named "68th Floor - Hojo's Laboratory: Restricted Level" on-screen.
Citations[]
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania § "Midgar Timeline", p. 259
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile, "Episode: Shinra"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "A Helping Hand"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts, p. 201-203
- ↑ Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- script § "Chapter 3"
- ↑ Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- script § "Chapter 3"
- ↑ Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- script § "Chapter 4"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Final Fantasy VII script § "Storming the Shinra Building"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII script § "The Nightmare Beginning Anew"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Final Fantasy VII script § "Mako Cannon Rampage"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "First Challenge"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "A Fateful Confrontation"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Saving Marlene (continued)"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Resolve"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Use the Elevator"
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Playing the Tourist"
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Reconnaissance"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Operation: Save Aerith"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "A Way Out"
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Find the Others (continued)"
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "The Ominous Trail"
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "The Showdown"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "The Great Escape"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "The Turning Point"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "The Hunt Continues"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Reach for the Skyview Hall"
- ↑ Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, "Special Episode of Reno"
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 Final Fantasy VII Remake, in-game map
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake, "The Great Escape", named on-screen in cutscene proceeding the battle
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Reconnaissance"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "A Way Out"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake, loading screen
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Use the Central Terminal"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "2nd Ward"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake, Enemy Intel § Bloodhound entry
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake, Enemy Intel § Zenene entry
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 Final Fantasy Portal Site August 12 2020
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania, p. 175
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 The Lifestream.net
- ↑ McAllister 2020
- ↑ Final Fantasy Portal Site August 14 2020
- ↑ Hamaguchi 2020
- ↑ Team, FF7 (2020, August 28). "Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania Interview with Motomu Toriyama, English Translation". From game8. Archived from the original on 23 February, 2021.
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania
- ↑ Famitsu July 2020
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Remake, field dialogue
References[]
- Video games
- Square Co., Ltd. (1997). Final Fantasy VII [Game]. Square Co., Ltd.. PlayStation.
- Square Enix (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 4.
- Square Enix (2004). Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. NTT DoCoMo FOMA 900i Series.
- Square Enix (2008). Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation Portable.
- Square Enix, Monolith Soft (2006). Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 2.
- Books
- (1997). Official Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 978-1-56686-714-6.
- Studio BentStuff (2009). Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-2560-3.
- Kazushige Nojima, Melissa Tanaka (translator) (2018). Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile [Book]. Yen Press. ISBN 978-1-9753-8235-3.
- Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-6586-9.
- Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-6869-3.
- Kazushige Nojima (2023). Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-7348-2.
- Films
- Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue (Director) (2005). Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children [Film]. Square Enix.
- Websites
- Square Enix (2020, August 12). "Special Interview: Digging Deep into the World of FFVII REMAKE! Part 2". From Final Fantasy Portal Site. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020.
- (n.d.) . "FINAL FANTASY VII: THE UNUSED TEXT – PART 5". From The Lifestream.net. Archived from the original on 14:22, May 02, 2020 (UTC).
- McAllister, Gillen (2020, March 6). "Final Fantasy VII Remake Creators Discuss Rebuilding Midgar". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 19:12, March 06, 2020 (UTC).
- Hamaguchi, Naoki (2020, June 22). "How Square Enix created the Summons in Final Fantasy VII Remake". From PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020.
- (n.d.) . "Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania Interview With Tetsuya Nomura". From Game8. Archived from the original on 12:00, July 17, 2020 (UTC).
- [translation], MKillerby (2020, July 22). "Translation: Kitase interview in Famitsu - "The story of the new FF7 has only just begun"". From Famitsu (original). Archived from the original on July 22, 2022.