Final Fantasy Grows Up (SquareSoft Write-Off)

The SS Write-Off
This Write-Off was started by Xeno3998. This Write-Off is about anything related to SquareSoft, so naturally I had to take part in it, I have fond memories of playing the Final Fantasy Series ever since the second grade. But what would I write about? It took me awhile, but I finally decided that I could not write about anything that isn't Final Fantasy VII!

Here are the Participants in the SquareSoft Write-Off:

Kanga14
Xeno3998
Trackgrrl
Crazy3237
Guile176
Mike_Bracken
Sephiroth2000
Rader6795?
WretchedPyro
Shampoo-Girl
Kenshin-Guy
Chris_Billings
Crucify
GasJocket214
Orestes84
Y2JMcDohl
Annexation
colldy
And Me: Jeremy1456

Final Fantasy VII is my favorite game in the series, this game is one of the major reasons why the PlayStation pulled ahead of the Saturn and Nintendo 64, it also attracted millions more to the Final Fantasy Series, and not to mention it also almost made me flunk the 7th grade. This game led the world into an RPG revolution! Even with the release of Final Fantasy VIII, IX, and the promise of part X Final Fantasy VII still remains the best by far (I think so anyway).

As the first installment of Final Fantasy on the PlayStation console, Final Fantasy VII boasted great graphics, tons of FMV Cinemas, and a very enthralling story, so naturally this game was hyped up in a major way. For a few FF VII didn't live up to the expectations that were expected, but for most this game surpassed all expectations.

For most gamers this game is the reason they picked up a PlayStation (Especially in Japan). FF VII gave Sony something to brag about, something so special that Sega would never be able to recover from the damage this game has done to their system and software sales.

The Battle System
The battle system of Final Fantasy VII is superior to that of FF VI in most ways. Square has created the unique "Limit Break" system for this game, as any character takes damage a little bar nest to their HP slowly sills up, and when this bar fills up completely then your character can unleash a Limit Break Move for massive damage or even healing. The 2 major bad additions are the Materia System (see below), and the 3 character party restriction. In this game you are only allowed 3 characters in your party, this is the first time that SquareSoft has ever put such a small restriction on the size of your party (Not Counting Final Fantasy Mystic Quest).

The Materia System
Every Final Fantasy game has a magic and ability system, without these then how would each character be different from one another besides through their stats? Well for FF VII Squaresoft implemented the Materia system as a means of using special moves and magic. In the materia system weapons and armor have slots that are used to carry materia. Materia is used to cast spells, use special moves, enhance your stats, apply an element to your weapon or armor, and there is a lot of Misc. things that certain materia are used for. The materia system was a bad idea, it basically strips away character combat differences by giving all characters the ability to use the same move/spell. I just wish that SquareSoft had created an ability system at least on par with FFVI's, but this doesn't spoil the experience of this game.

Well now, onto the ratings that I have given this game:

Graphics 4/5
"What is Jeremy thinking?", you might be asking yourself that very question right now, but I rated this games graphics so high for a reason. The Reason being is that, even though these graphics are considered sloppy, and bad, when this game was first released they were groundbreaking. Haha but I won't ever get over the fact that the hands of the characters in the game look like ill boxing gloves. Before playing this game I had never even seen an FMV cinema in a video game, can you just imagine the look on my face as I watch the opening FMV cinema of the game? I was absolutely amazed, I just couldn't believe that such a thing was possible with a video game console.

Story 6/5
I had to do it, no aspect of any game has ever made me go so far as to rate beyond my scale! Well I rated this with good reason, well I think so anyways. The story had me constantly drifting in class wondering what was going to happen next, I tried to make predictions but the game always came back and suprised me. Although some people don't think the story is as great as I believe, I will come out and say that I think that the futuristic setting and the outrageous happenings together present the best story a Final Fantasy game has ever had!

WARNING: This Paragraph Contains Spoilers
After hours of Playing Final Fantasy 7 I noticed something strange, events in this game were actually affecting my performance in school! Literally my grades dropped after I got to a certain very sad part that I will not mention. Strange considering that video games werent even a big part of my life back then! lol. Well the story starts out with the player controlling a Character named Cloud Strife, Cloud is an ex SOLDIER with an attitude. In the beginning of the game Cloud often fights with the leader of the Resistance group Avalanch, the leader (Barret) hired Cloud to help them battle the evil president Shinra who is trying to drain the earth of it's energy (Mako Energy). Well a lot happens and soon enough Cloud and friends set off to save the world!

Control 3/5
The first time I played this game one thing became evident, the controls are crap! I had big problems navigating through the first level of this game, although once I got used to it I could work my way around well. SquareSoft opted for the classic Final Fantasy controller scheme from the Super NES, and they did an Ok job of porting it over to the PlayStation, now even though the PlayStation has different buttons than the SNES, the buttons are placed in a very similar layout, so SquareSoft just kept with the same layout that Final Fantasy used on the Super Nintendo.

Sound 5/5
I believe that this is the first time I have ever given the sound on a video game a perfect score of 5, but Final Fantasy VII deserves it. Not since Final Fantasy 2 (4 in Japan) have I enjoyed music in a video game so much. I like the music so much that I spent well over one day downloading music from Napster, and guess which songs I got? Jenova, Boss Battle, Midgar, and the Airship music are all my personal favorites, but most of all I like the music for the last boss, you must hear it to understand what I mean. :)

MultiPlayer N/A
No MultiPlayer options for this one, it would have been a nice addition though.

Total 18/20

This is the game that helped sell millions upon millions of PlayStations. This game not only put Sony in the lead, but also is one of the biggest causes of the death of the Saturn. Now any game with that much power couldn't be all that bad, now could it?

I would like to thank Xeno3998 for holding such a great write-off, this was the first one that I have participated in thus far in my experiences with Epinions.com I hope to take part in many more write-offs!