THE GOOD:- Gripping storyline
- Loveable characters
- Stunning graphics for the time of release in terms of FMVs
- Easy controls
- Great traditional FF battles
- Story cliff hangers and plot twists
- Most loved and iconic video game villain to date
THE BAD:
- Dated graphics in normal game time
- Short for a Final Fantasy
- Unneeded nuisances, such as bad mini-games
- Too easy in general
SUMMARY:
You'd have thought for a game to be so highly rated and hyped by millions, for it to be worthy of it's own series of spin-off games and films, that it would be something really special - something that sets the bar above any other game to date, but honestly, it really doesn't.
I would be lying to say that Final Fantasy VII was anything worse than a great game, because that's what it was, a great game. It has an amazing storyline for one. Following the cold-hearted, ex-SOLDIER Cloud aid a terrorist group know as Avalanche to prevent the death of the planet, who ends up finding the real feelings inside of him as the one he is seen to love die, and is slowly finds the realisation that what he thought was his life were actually all lies and memories stolen from another. Yet he struggles on, overcomes almost death and leads an ever-growing team Avalanche to the saviour of the world – despite the agenda of the team completely remapping and instead aiming to stop also ex-SOLDIER, Sephiroth, who plans to summon a meteor to destroy the planet. Okay, I probably lied, on it's own, the storyline itself does sound rather average compared to a lot of other RPGs floating the world today; that's why Squaresoft were very fortunate to have a team of characters that would greatly impact the future of RPGs forever.
Without the likes of Aerith, the one name that saddens every FFVII fan to date, to the crazed Sephiroth who changes from such an innocent and heroic idol to the most sinister villain to date, FFVII would be average at max. There are lots of romance strings between the characters too, mainly the infamous love triangle between Cloud, Tifa and Aerith, which breaks hearts seeing Tifa wishing that something could be, but she knows it can't. Even the sad story of Nanaki, who finds out that his dad was really a hero to his now extinct(besides him) tribe rather than a traitor, who then has to see his loved adopted father die grabs us in too, even if he isn't the loudest and most noticed hero of all time. It's these characters that grab the player, that speak to the player, that suck you into the game without letting you escape until the final credits start scrolling.
Plots and characters aside, FFVII is everything you would expect from a Final Fantasy game(well, nearly). It is fair to say, the in-game graphics are fairly shoddy(and just seem to scream LEGO in my face), but the coming of the new console, the PS1, meant that nothing at the time was expected and really, the graphics were pretty good for the standard of the current games. Thankfully though, it was that this game was released on the Playstation, rather than the N64 originally, as the FMVs that, though not very often, were shown were truly remarkable, and could never have been achieved on the '64. Sadly, the general graphics do ward a lot of new generation gamers away, but I believe it is quite easy to adjust to within a short amount of time.
Battles and the exploring of the game were pretty much in the same style as the older FF games(besides now being in 3d) and there is nothing great about them, or that I can think of. It chooses to stick to the idea of a word map outside of every town, and other than the 3d-ness, there is not much change. However, there are several modes of transport, most importantly chocobos which were not found so often, which do provide fun and unlock several secrets used wisely.
Yes, Final Fantasy VII did have some great features about it, but some others just shined two and a half stars. In comparison, I do believe many other Final Fantasy games surpass it in terms, of well pretty much everything besides character's personalities, but there is something else about it, maybe something that can't be covered, that really makes it feel special in our hearts - and that something is the reason why it is and will always be my favourite game.
4/5 – Just for that special something.
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