The yard stick's out and the results are in: Crisis Core's main story quest is roughly 30 hours in length. That's according to an interview with Dengeki, where character designer Tetsuya Nomura and director Hajime Tabata teamed up to dish out some new details on the PSP Compilation of Final Fantasy VII installment.

But for the brave and the daring--the game's many side quests will jack that number up to a whopping 100 hours, giving some of the main entries a run for their money.

Both proclaimed an epic quality to the game, supposedly unknown to hand-held consoles. In addition, players will be able to combine Materia and level up their limit break attacks. Most interestingly, though, was the announcement that Crisis Core will feature the return of several Final Fantasy VII tracks, alongside a plethora of new tunes by Takeharu Ishimoto, the game's composer.

In related news, despite Genesis' appearance in the game, rock star Gackt will not provide a theme for the game. Instead, relative newcomer Ayaka Iida, whose musical career took off last year in Japan, will be providing the single for Crisis Core's main theme, titled "Why"

Crisis Core is scheduled for a Japanese release in September of this year.