Other important characters in the series include Aerith Gainsborough, a flower seller who becomes a good friend to Cloud Zack Fair, Cloud's friend, a former soldier of Shinra and the protagonist of Crisis Core and Vincent Valentine, a man made immortal by Shinra experimentation and the protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus. Cloud and his team eventually face off against the game's antagonist, Sephiroth. As the story progresses, conflicts escalate and the world's safety becomes their central concern as new forces emerge to challenge the original group.

VII follows Cloud Strife, a troubled mercenary who joins with an eco-terrorist group to stop Shinra from draining the life of the Planet to use as an energy source. It is referred to as 'the Planet' in most of the games, and was retroactively named 'Gaia' in some Square Enix promotional material. The setting of Final Fantasy VII is a world that has been described as an industrial or post-industrial science fiction setting. Other media include spin-off books and the original video animation Last Order. VII has been followed by multiple sequels and prequels, grouped into the multimedia series Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: these include the 2004 mobile game Before Crisis, the 2005 movie sequel Advent Children, the 2006 shooter spinoff Dirge of Cerberus, and the 2007 action game Crisis Core. Final Fantasy VII, a role-playing video game developed by Square (now Square Enix) and originally released in 1997, features many fictional characters in both major and minor roles.

Genesis 8 female characters