CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION Pre-Order Bonus (DLC)

Let's be honest with each other: this is a DLC item bundle, not a game. The SOLDIER Materia Set pre-order bonus for Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion drops three pieces of materia into Zack Fair's loadout right after the tutorial, ones you would otherwise not see until deep into the mission grind or not at all through normal play. Specifically, you get Dark Fire, Dark Thunder, and Dark Blizzard, each of which deals elemental damage while layering Poison and Silence status ailments on top. On paper that sounds like a meaningful head-start. In practice, the community verdict is more complicated. The Dark trio are crafted items by default, sitting behind mission completion walls that in some cases require finishing content that only opens near the end of the game. Getting them early does give you a genuine edge across the mid-game, particularly Dark Thunder, which players on the original PSP release leaned on hard. The catch is that by the time a normal playthrough would have earned these organically, most enemies are immune to their effects anyway and you will likely have better Firaga and Thundaga materia sitting in your slots regardless. So the actual utility window is front-loaded: useful for a stretch of the early-to-mid game, increasingly irrelevant by the time you are stacking high-tier spells and Limit Break setups through the Digital Mind Wave system. For anyone playing Crisis Core Reunion fresh on Nintendo Switch and loving the fast action-RPG combat, where you juggle six materia slots tied to button combinations alongside Zack's basic attacks, dodge, and parry, the Dark materia set adds a bit of build flavour in those opening hours. It is not a power-level cheat code, and it does not unlock any story content, new modes, or additional missions. It is a convenience shortcut past a specific crafting gate, delivered before that gate even exists in your playthrough. If you already own the base game and are deciding whether this DLC key is worth picking up separately post-launch, the honest answer is that its value is situational at best. First-timers who want every possible tool available from the opening hours may appreciate having the set in their inventory. Veterans replaying the game on Switch who already know the mission structure and have materia routing planned out will find it close to irrelevant. There is no cosmetic reward, no soundtrack, no artbook. Just three spells with a side of status effects. Monika, Scout Team