>> final fantasy VII = true love

It’s about time I show some love to my all-time favorite: Final Fantasy VII. I know there must be about a thousand reviews already out there, but please, allow me to sing its praises. Even years after its release, I’ve never played a game that I thoroughly enjoyed so much, with so much depth in gameplay that it had me wholly involved and story that left me wanting even more. Can this get any better? Why, yes, it does – Final Fantasy VII features the baddest villain ever to grace a RPG: Sephiroth. Love him or hate him (and I do love him), there’s never been a character that inspired so many hate sites in his name and spawned a war of words between the sympathizers and, ahem, playa’ haters. If that isn’t an indication of this game’s success, nothing else is.

Sony struck gold when they made a deal with Squaresoft to continue the Final Fantasy series on the PlayStation. The ingenious move from the 16-bit SNES to the PlayStation’s 32-bit engine allowed for greater possibilities – and expectations for Final Fantasy VII soared, pushing the console’s sales to skyrocket. Some would say it was Final Fantasy VII that propelled role-playing games into the mainstream. What makes it so great is that it was pretty damn revolutionary for its time, tweaking the RPG formula slightly to bring something new but familiar to RPG enthusiasts and virgins alike. As you can see, this is one important game.

† Story †

Final Fantasy VII should be noted for a story that defies the traditional RPG setting, but through careful development and creative writing, works brilliantly. The storyline pitches a few good civilians against the forces of evil in the form of a mega-conglomerate called Shinra. In a darkly futuristic world, the corrupt company has found a way to mine “mako” energy, the essence that provides growth for plants and other forms of life. By constructing mako reactors to extract that energy, Shinra is hoping to turn it into a source of power for their own selfish use. In the city of Midgar, where it is perpetually night, flowers are dying and people are getting suspicious. A small underground rebel group called Avalanche are aware of the situation and conspires to destroy the reactors in an effort to save the city – and the world – before Shinra’s plans result in dire effects.

After the explosion of the reactors, the story dives into a deeper tangle, offering a plot that is much more complex than simply saving the world from corporate greed. Each new character introduced leads the plotline to branch out further in mystery, taking the story into turns that are as shocking as they are dramatic. As the group’s journey advances, the urgency of Avalanche’s mission begins to build as the twisted truth is finally revealed. Final Fantasy VII’s ambiguous ending, while it doesn’t explain everything, is beautiful and truly touching. Even in a video game, there are scenes that are especially poignant and painful. If ever there was a game to invoke so much emotion, it is Final Fantasy VII.

† Characters †

The characters in FFVII are an interesting and diverse bunch. They are:

Cloud Strife – the main character; a spikey-haired mercenary whose eerily luminescent green eyes suggest a tie to Shinra, although what we know of him is only revealed in flashbacks. He joins Avalanche for pay, but eventually cares enough to dedicate himself to the cause.

Tifa Lockheart – a member of Avalanche and Cloud’s childhood friend whose most powerful assets are… her fists, of course. She likes Cloud in the romantic kind of way, but is either too stubborn or immature to admit it.

Barrett Wallace – the tough-talking, muscle-bound leader of Avalanche, who fights for a better world simply because of one reason: his daughter, Marlene.

Aeris Gainsborough – a flower girl who turns out to be much more. She’s sweet in nature, but not docile. Shinra, who’ll stop at nothing for her capture, has pursued her all her life. Why? ‘Cus she’s special. ^_~

Red XIII – the last member of his tribe, Red looks like a wolf/dog hybrid animal who’s wise beyond his years - and a good fighter at that!

Cid Highwind – a pilot with a potty mouth who still dreams of flying into outer space. On the outside, he appears jaded by age, but inside, he’s warm-hearted and would like to serve you tea.

Cait Sith – he looks like a cat sitting on top of a giant balloon, yelling through a microphone, but his identity is rather mysterious and if you can tie it all together, it may surprise you to find out who he really is.

Yuffie Kisaragi – sneaky, selfish, obnoxious – a ninja chick who’s got a big mouth and too much time on her hands. [hidden character]

Vincent Valentine – *drool* … *drool* um… he’s very mysterious. Lives in a coffin, suffers for eternity and longs for some woman named Lucrecia. (Damn Lucrecia!) Vincent is, in every single aspect, a perfect man. [hidden character]

Sephiroth – the main villain of the game and a legacy in his own right. At one point, he was Shinra’s top soldier and his sudden disappearance years ago sparked a lot of speculation. He wields an, uh, unusually long sword (heh heh) and his relation to Cloud is a mystery.

† Gameplay †

Role-playing games require you to wander around half of the time, unraveling the plotline and developing your characters, and duke it out for the other half, while throwing things like item collecting and mini-quests in the mix. I wouldn’t want it any other way. As soon as the first fight broke out, I nearly fell over in joy. Fighting in Final Fantasy VII is essential and thank goodness for that. The multifaceted combat engine is the best of any Final Fantasy title: it’s strictly menu-based and utilizes an intricate Materia system to raise power. Materia are colored spheres that contain special abilities and equipping them on weapons gives its wielder those unique powers. To make it even more complex, weapons have materia slots that are sometimes linked, so assigning both Cure and All materia to the linked slots would heal the entire party when you cast the Cure spell. Linked slots are not always limited to two and with so many types of different materia, there are hundreds of ways to work the system to your advantage and create some truly painful combinations – so grab your balls and get violent. ;)

(My brother, more obsessed with FFVII than I, has apparently put together the most devastating combo of attacks in any video game. I, of course, don’t know it.)

In battle, three characters are allowed in your party and each has their own special skills called Limit Breaks. The limit gauges are filled as they receive damage and reaching its capacity enables them to unleash some fiercely fatal attacks. Giving enemies the beatdown will earn you EXP [Experience Points], thus raising your character level and stats, all the while empowering them. If you’re finding all this hard to understand, I think experience would be your best teacher.

The other fun part of the game is the main quest and everything around it. The mini-games are more fun than I dare say; in fact, breeding chocobos and fighting at the arena are games in themselves. Speeding down the freeway on a motorcycle while slashing at baddies is living vicariously through a video game. Doing side quests adds a lot of total play time to Final Fantasy VII, but the most worthwhile will be recruiting the two hidden characters, Yuffie and Vincent. For the American release, the makers threw in several optional bosses that would split you in a second if you haven’t built up your characters to god-like status. (Yummy.) I loved every aspect of Final Fantasy VII's gameplay and I can find no complaints here. You have a chance to direct your character at several points in the game and choosing certain options will alter some scenes in the game. Because there are so many things to do, I’ve played this game over and over, discovering something new each time.

† Graphics + Sound †

Developing Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation permitted Square to render the game in 3-D instead of using 2-D sprites as seen in its predecessors on the SNES. The result is a respectable feat – the pre-rendered backgrounds are softer to look at, forsaking the ugly pixels. Color shades are also noticeably enhanced. Even though the vertically challenged character models are a bit blocky and their movements are robotic, at least they can do more than wave their hands and glide across the screen. The FMVs [full motion video] are striking – ethereal and surreal. It will move you. What else would you expect from the talents of Square? Now that we’re in the 128-bit era of gaming, Final Fantasy VII might look a little ugly, but graphics have never been the basis of my taste for games. In my opinion, this game is a beauty and will be 50 years from now.

The music in Final Fantasy VII, composed by Nobuo Uetmatsu, is arguably his best in comparison to his works in other FF titles. When I’m not playing the game, I’m playing the soundtrack – a true work of art. The game’s music is a strange blend: digitized sounds are in used in some areas while other parts in the game feature compositions performed by a symphony – it may be weird, but whatever’s used, it effectively emphasizes the mood of its scenes. One piece I particularly love is “One Wing Angel,” Sephiroth’s theme, which perfectly captures the chaos and insanity that boils inside that silver-haired stud. The boss battle theme is a pop/rock piece that’s as catchy as it’s energetic, and there’s no better music to fight to. A fan favorite would be "Aeris’ Theme," a sadly beautiful piano piece – still, its illegitimate techno remix is more my flavor. Simply put, these sounds are classic.

† Flaws †

It’s been many years since Final Fantasy VII blessed this world with its presence, but it remains my favorite time after time. No, it’s not perfect – there are plenty of plot holes in the story and the graphics are funny-looking when you’re not accustomed to them. The optional bosses are nearly impossible to beat and there are some really dumb grammatical errors in the translation ("Hey boy, you shore got a good-lookin' heifer there!"). These minor flaws, however, are barely noticeable once you get into the game.

† Verdict †

Millions of gamers can't be wrong, so do I really need to recommend it to you? It still amazes me every time I load the first FFVII disk on my PSX to begin a new game and since I've owned this game for several years now, that alone should tell you something. Final Fantasy VII, for all its intensity, fun gameplay and epic storyline, is one of the few RPG greats; not having it is badly depriving your game library. Having played a fair share of other Final Fantasy titles, I can honestly say this one is the best in the series.

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Story - 9/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 7.5/10
Music - 9/10
Replay - 8.5/10
OVERALL - 9.5/10

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