Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier's opening movie sequence has arrived ahead of November 17 launch

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier is the second Square Enix game I'm reporting on today that could really use a colon somewhere in its title, and its arrival on mobile platforms is very nearly upon us. To dial up the hype, the battle royale's entire opening sequence is now viewable on YouTube. It's a lot.

I'm reminded of the fact that the original Final Fantasy VII included an in-universe calendar system with a timespan that just so happened to coincide with real-world chronology. In the game's manual, for example, Cloud's birthdate is listed as August 11, 1976. Subsequent games, such as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, kept this up but shifted everything forward by a decade presumably to aid in maintaining a contemporary vibe. For this reason, Cloud's birthdate was changed to August 11, 1986.

The preceding paragraph is, admittedly, a tangent that has next to nothing to do with the opening sequence. But I would hazard a guess that a fair number of fans who have either forgotten this in-game idiosyncrasy or were never aware of it are watching this thing and wondering why a young President Shinra is overseeing Midgar's development in 1977, and why 1989 looks like The Running Man  with dragons.

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier launches on November 17 for iOS and Android devices. Back in June, RPG Site's Scott White had the chance to take an extended hands-on look at the game; you can read his impressions here.