Final Fantasy VII

Game: Final Fantasy VII
Company: Square
Type: Traditional RPG
Platform: Sony Playstation
Normal Characters: 7
Optional Characters: 2
Favorite Character: Barret Wallace/Cid Highwind
Most Powerful Character: Cloud Strife and Cid Highwind

I remember when Final Fantasy VII first came out. The graphics looked excellent, and I thought, “Wow, a 3-D Final Fantasy!” I never bought it until a couple years later, as I was a bit young then to really experience RPGs. But when I finally bought it, I was instantly hooked. For a whole week, I wouldn’t put it down.

The graphics didn’t please me, but this game was released in 1997, so I realized that they were stunning. The game opens up where you see an FMV Aerith Gainsborough, the main female character, picking up a basket of flowers and walking on a street, which then appears to be a huge city! You then control Cloud Strife, the main character, and lead him on a mission. You learn that he’s part of AVALANCHE, a group of people against the source of power in their land, Mako reactors, and the company that makes them, ShinRa. You meet Barret Wallace, the leader of AVALANCHE, and you control the two of them until you get back to their hideout and meet Cloud’s childhood friend, Tifa Lockheart. As the game progresses controlling the three of them, you learn n more about ShinRa, the evil company of the game, and you start to understand why AVALANCHE hates it. Cloud finally meets Aerith Gainsborough, the female lead, and you learn a bit about her. You control the two of them for a while, then you meet up with Barret and Tifa as the four of them go up against ShinRa. They meet up with a beast who is being treated as a lab specimen, Red XIII. He is very smart and he leads the group through the ShinRa tower. The group doesn’t beat ShinRa, but then Cloud explains a little about his past and about Sephiroth, the villain. The game starts to get deeper and more involved with the villains as you meet up with Cait Sith and Cid Highwind, and the two optional characters, Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine.

I was unable to put the game down… I was falling in love with most of the characters, feeling emotion for the villains, and excited to see what would happen next. Now I shall rate the game.

Graphics: 8/10
If you played the game now for the first time, you might think that the graphics are terrible. But they really aren’t. Back when it was released, the graphics were new and cutting-edge. They were excellent. The world map graphics weren’t all that great, as the characters were just huge polygonal chunks. The backgrounds, however, were beautiful and still look beautiful in my eyes. It was kind of strange, as the blocky characters seemed out of place against the beautiful backgrounds. When you entered a battle, the characters seemed a little more lifelike and their faces actually showed emotion, and they were more in proportion. Finally, the FMVs were very good, yet they were out of proportion. Cid’s and Cloud’s shoulders were huge, and Tifa’s breasts were very, very out of proportion. But, I still admire the FMVs as they showed a lot of emotion.

Music: 10/10
Nobuo Uematsu was probably at his best in this soundtrack. After I beat Final Fantasy VII, I immediately ordered the soundtrack, as I loved everything about it. All 9 playable characters and Sephiroth had themes that represented them perfectly. From the soft piano at the beginning of Aerith’s theme to the loud brass of Cid’s theme, they were all beautiful. The other music in this game was excellent. The songs I enjoyed most were One-Winged Angel, Cid’s Theme, Aerith’s Theme, and Electric de Chocobo.

Characters: 10/10
The thing I love most about a game is character development. The characters were developed beautifully in this game. Even the optional characters had great stories. I fell in love with all of the characters, except for Tifa. Everyone had a wonderful background story, and I felt much compassion toward them. I loved Cid and Barret, as they were both loud and swore all the time, which cracked me up.

Story: 9/10
Wow, what a story! There are multiple things happening, yet they all seem to tie together. I loved every bit of it. From the evil ShinRa company to everyone’s favorite villain, Sephiroth, the story was just too great. First you have AVALANCHE trying to stop ShinRa from destroying the planet just to “line their own pockets with gold” by building Mako Reactors which acted as the source of power for the world. Then you have Sephiroth trying to launch a meteor on the Earth to avenge the Cetra, the near-extinct race of humans. And it’s up to AVALANCHE to stop everything…

Gameplay: 9/10
Ah, I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay. Battles weren’t as extremely annoying as the other Final Fantasies, yet the characters didn’t have job classes like many other Final Fantasies. Instead of having job classes, you had materia, which you equipped on a person so that they could obtain that ability. For example, if you equipped restore materia on a character, they would be able to cast cure spells. Yet, if you wanted to level up that materia, you would have to keep it equipped and gain AP. There was also materia where you didn’t have to cast spells. Like, counter attack materia enabled you to counter attack. I enjoyed this system, yet it was very simple. The gameplay itself was very simple. That’s the reason why I didn’t give it a perfect score.

Overall rating: 9/10
Final Fantasy VII is a very good game. I recommend this game to any Final Fantasy and/or RPG fan. Actually, I recommend this game to any kind of gamer. Many of you would enjoy this game as much as I did, or maybe you wouldn’t. But please, give this game a try.

Janna Highwind's Reviews
Final Fantasy VII Reviews


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