Square Enix trademarks Ever Crisis, The First Soldier, and other Final Fantasy VII names - but what might they mean?

Square Enix has filed a bunch of new trademarks that sure look like they have a lot to do with the world of Final Fantasy VII. 

The trademarks were filed in Japan for the titles 'Ever Crisis' and 'The First Soldier'. In addition, a trademark was also filed for the in-universe logo of FF7's Shinra Electric Power Company. The trademarks were caught by the folks over at Gematsu. 

These three trademarks being applied for in the wake of the success of Final Fantasy VII Remake - the winner of RPG Site's overall best of 2020 award - perhaps isn't all that surprising. The trademark for the Shinra logo is more simple; that logo is frequently used on branding and merch, after all. But the titles in particular raise tantalizing questions - such as what they could actually be for. 

Ever Crisis is a project name with obvious connotations. The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII features titles in an alphabetical order. There's FF7 spin-off movie Advent Children, Turks mobile game Before Crisis, PSP prequel Crisis Core and PS2 sequel Dirge of Cerberus. That's AC, BC, CC, and DC - and now, with Ever Crisis, we have a trademark for what appears to be a new Compilation of Final Fantasy VII title in EC. 

Ever Crisis could, of course, be the subtitle for the second part of the FF7 Remake. But honestly, we think this far from a certainty - especially since the 'EC' title makes it look and sound more like another entry in the compilation. We now know the remake does relate to the compilation and is even considered the fifth part of the compilation, however, so it's possible. The choice of the word 'Ever' in the name is interesting, and to us immediately brings to mind the idea of something ever-present or eternal; it'd be an ideal name for a multiplayer or service-based game in the setting of the FF7 universe.

There is one more, slightly crazy alternative. The later stages of FF7 Remake reveal its true nature as a story that isn't just a remake, but rather also a sequel to FF7. After release, Director Tetsuya Nomura referred to it as the fifth entry in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. We know the game is due to be released on other platforms beside the PlayStation 4 once a one-year exclusivity window expires. Could that release of the game be given the subtitle 'Ever Crisis', a nod to its true nature, now the secret is out there?

Given it's timing alongside these other obviously FF7 related trademark filings, The First Soldier isn't the generic-sounding name it seems, of course referring to Shinra's Elite, genetically enhanced super-human military group within the world of FF7. Based on the general meaning of SOLDIER as described in FF7, the identity of the 'first' SOLDIER is pretty obvious: it's Sephiroth. He was the first to be injected with the cells from Project Jenova. 

However, within the lore of FF7 the SOLDIER program is actually mentioned as existing in some form before Sephiroth - for instance, the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania mentions SOLDIER forces being used in the Wutai War, and on other occasions before the Jenova Project existed. However, these same books are also clear that Sephiroth is the first Jenova-enhanced SOLDIER in existence. Could this be a game, anime or other story that tells the origins of Sephiroth? Naturally, only time will tell - and before then, we have an as-yet unannounced but inevitable next-generation and PC version of FF7 Remake to look forward to first - hopefully in a matter of months.

In the meantime, however, fans can now feverishly speculate as to what these trademarked names might mean.

If we were making a prediction, though, it'd probably be a new, unique FF7 compilation title, possibly multiplayer, to release sometime around FF7 Remake 2, and some sort of anime or CG movie telling the origin story of Sephiroth... but these are strictly us throwing ideas out. And now you can too!

What do you want this duo to be? Let us know in the comments below, and consider our musings here a starting point...