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I started doing these some months back and they seemed to be well received, and so now I'd say it's become one of this year's writing projects for me: to review the entire main line of the Final Fantasy series. Now having completed ones for IV, VIII, and XIII, I present my fourth, a look back at perhaps the most iconic entry in the franchise.
As always, I look forward to any sort of discussion this write up will spark, and I very much appreciate feedback on the writing.
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pZBQ9DK.png?1) Final Fantasy VII reviewSquareSoft, 1997
Final Fantasy VII spans across several forms of graphical perspective, all introduced not more than a few minutes after selecting a 'New Game' with that squeaky, white gloved cursor. In truth, it's not at all different from Squarsoft's usual avenues of storytelling: an opening movie sequence, an explorable environment, and finally a battle screen. Now leaping to 3D, however, the context switching between the three looks nothing short of audacious. CGI pulls a camera sharply away from the city of Midgar, a bleak and unquestionably Japanese image of science fiction. Barreling across the slums and upscales residences, towards the power reactors that run the piped fortress, a train arrives at its destination as the movie stills itself, its static image becoming the background for the game to be played upon.
Leaping onto that gritty movie frame is a brightly colored, purple mess of blocky polygons named Cloud, an elite but retired soldier, now mercenary to a passionate group of activists labeled AVALANCHE. Before you can get a hold of the confusing visual stimuli, however, Cloud will run into his first random battle encounter, smearing the screen once more to a new representation. No longer a boyish looking clown of pixels, Cloud stands tall, giant sword in hand, a spiky haired 21 year old lined up with his employer, Barret, a hulk of a man with a gun grafted for an arm. Just like that, Final Fantasy VII trades its goofy lego figures in for more anatomically sound heroes, then engaging in over the top, turn based anime action.
Getting over the enormity of that constant transition takes time. Given the grim premise and sullen main character, watching textbox dialogue between quirky caricatures with limited animation and forms of expression can be awkward. Cloud shrugs when he talks, Barret flails his arms and cusses through a language filter, and though the game experiments with a lot of cool camera angles, many insist on zooming up on these lacking models, only doing them more disservice. An already melodramatic script covering topics of mass murder, suicide, and the terrors of genetic engineering, it can appear damaged by the childish look of the sprites. A crummy localization is partly to blame, but watching a little dude curse his life and the entire world as he fires his gun and jumps off a cliff is undeniably -- if unintentionally -- hilarious.
Unfortunately, there are more than just a handful of such moments throughout Cloud and company's quest to battle the corrupt power company, Shinra, a corporation whose monopoly on the planet's life energy has lent them control of Midgar, and in turn, the entire world. Oddly (or perhaps appropriately), however, Final Fantasy VII is largely comprised of comedy. For all its depictions of terrorism and armageddon, it jumps from drama to humour without second thought. Sometimes that can be only more jarring, where immediately after the aforementioned suicide, for example, the plot leads Cloud to jockey a horse sized chicken race in a carnival reminiscent of Willy Wonka's wonderland.
Though its wild experimentation may forget its timing, the humour is more often inviting than not, poking fun at the strange graphics. Cloud sets a cold tone with his "I'm here just here to get paid" indifference to the world's problems, but he is quickly neutered of any personality afterward. He nods along with others' ideas for half the game, his vagueness opening opportunities to stand him in for whatever outrageous role is required of him. He'll dress in drag and threaten to cut the balls off a pimp, enter a squatting competition against the jocks of a rundown gym, and get some mean air on the snowy mountains of the North Continent. He pretty much exists to do entertaining things, the mystery behind his true identity the dark and focal point of the game.
Understanding when to take that plot seriously would depend on its cues, namely, the musical ones. Uematsu's strongly varied contribution guides you among the countless and unique backdrop environments, all host to stunning detail, so much so that Cloud's beacon of bright ugliness makes for quite an excellent marker. Otherwise it'd be rather easy to lose yourself in all of Midgar's grimey, graffiti stained junkyards and Shinra's intricately plumbed, gear churning reactors. Up and down vines and ladders, through ant farm like dungeons and hidden caverns, you'll follow a lot of methodical, mysterious tunes, periodically interrupted by a catchy and heart lifting battle track. Then, with pockets full of new equipment and magical marbles called Materia, perhaps you'll leave those dungeons, towns, and temples to greet the world map again, squeaking through your character sheets as a majestic ensemble cradles your thoughts.
Indeed, Final Fantasy VII really is a bundle of the simplest pleasures, the Matera system in question being in no ways elegant, yet at the same time, completely accessible. The colored spheres socket into the weapons and bracers of your 3 person party, lending their corresponding magic to your characters' move lists. Basic Elemental spells like 'Fire' and 'Ice', as well as Command abilities like 'Steal' should paint a fairly clear picture of the ideas at work here, but there's also some cool modifiers like the 'All' type Materia. Link it with another type of magic, and you can then target multiple enemies (or allies) with that spell. Such creative workarounds are fun to discover, can often prove powerful, and lend a child like imagination to how you battle through VII's world.
As far as character roles go, they do become blank Materia boards for you to customize and switch around, but Nomura's artistic direction combined with flashy ultimate attacks set them well apart as individuals: A tribal feathered, talking lion, a shrimpy girl that fancies herself a deadly ninja, or an aging pilot with dashed dreams. Or Tifa, the spiked knuckle bartender, a pair of red work boots to match her clenched gloves. The game is total punk. And while you can have Tifa dash up for a clean one-two melee, she could also be your black mage, the powerful gust of a spellcast billowing her hair upwards as she ravages the opposing field with lightning. Pick your favorite characters. Play with their identities. Enjoy yourself.
That can seem like the overlying point of Final Fantasy VII. To take it in stride. Boss fights don't have much to show for challenge, the difficulty falling in line with the comical stage play. Whether facing fat businessman and their killer robot toys, or disguising yourself among Shinra's ranks to win viewer ratings in a televised marching parade, the power company becomes more amusing a villain than the genocidal kind it's touted as. Their stormtroopers, the Turks, come onto the screen accompanied by a cool snapping of fingers, fully self-absorbed in the trendiness of their navy blue suits, your rivalry with them viewed as somewhat of a parody, paling in comparison to the world's actual dangers.
It's only when the music reaches its lower octaves -- the darkest pitch of the piano -- that Final Fantasy VII sheds all its silliness in not more than an instant. Demonic pipe organs scream through the PlayStation's MIDI soundcard, a sense of dread shadowing the true villain, Sephiroth, a supersoldier never once treated lightly by any of the game's charm. An old battle buddy of Cloud, his presence makes profound use of Final Fantasy VII's combat screen as you meet him for the first time in a flashback sequence. Cloud, who hits for a measly, say, '64' damage, fights alongside the towering, silver haired man, who rips into a monster for thousands. For all it's dependence on visual variety, it's a high damage number that truly sets the most somber tone. It allows Sephiroth to single handedly haunt your adventure, popping in and out, leaving trails of blood, corpses, and questions -- mainly concerning Cloud.
What surrounds these two characters and the world they inhabit is an overwhelming theme of robbed humanity. Brought about by science, greed, and corruption, the emptiness of Final Fantasy VII is remedied by its frequent sparks of humour, but ultimately hints at a looming loneliness, laughing in the face of eventual destruction. It's a kind of doom that both Cloud and Sephiroth face, the only difference being who surrounds them in their time of need. While one loses himself in the horrors of science, clinging to a monster for acceptance, the other must look to friendship. And though VII's characters really aren't much more than mouthpieces for encouragement, their cheering punctures something primal and warm. Something worth hearing in a game well worth playing.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/AK9TOt6.jpg) 9.0/10
 
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Northern Ireland23064 Posts
I really enjoyed your writing, although as with many reviews I found your score didn't realy correlate with the impression your writing generated of your opinion of the game, if that makes sense?
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Curious question, can you explain to me why the characters had good character development? I didn't see any in anyone besides Cloud.
And why exactly did Sephiroth go insane? I mean, finding out your mom is a monster wouldn't change that much. Old news, really.
+ Show Spoiler +Also, technically it was Zack who was Sephiroth's "battle buddy."
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On April 19 2013 09:31 Antylamon wrote:
Curious question, can you explain to me why the characters had good character development? I didn't see any in anyone besides Cloud.
FFVII really isn't host to characters with incredible depth or development. As I mention, Cloud is a pretty much a stand in action/comedy hero for half the entire game before we get to know what's really going on. But it's the vagueness of him that makes the conundrum with him and Sephiroth so compelling, because we find he isn't so well put together, after all. That's development of a sort, but it's not the script writing kind you probably have in mind. All games hide messages in their design, and not just in the dialogue in cutscenes. FF games in general are very visual, aural experiences, that rely on simple characters to get their points across.
And why exactly did Sephiroth go insane? I mean, finding out your mom is a monster wouldn't change that much. Old news, really.
The basic gist of it, which is all you're supposed to be concerned about in a silly game like this, is that he learns that everything about his past and identity is false, and he reacts in the worst way. Cloud faces the exact same dilemma which is why the two present such interesting drama. And then the support characters chime in with their cheesy, smaller scaled self discoveries, some of which are cute, others that are quite stupid.
+ Show Spoiler +Also, technically it was Zack who was Sephiroth's "battle buddy."
Well now why would I spoil that in the review?
On April 19 2013 09:31 Wombat_NI wrote:
I really enjoyed your writing, although as with many reviews I found your score didn't realy correlate with the impression your writing generated of your opinion of the game, if that makes sense?
I find that understanding a scale comes along with getting to know a reviewer and his material. Maybe the 9.0 would make more sense if you saw what I wrote about an 8.0, and so on. Of course, I might just be coming off as a vague, for which I apologize. Scores are more for official outlets with rubrics, but I really don't put to much science behind them.
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On April 19 2013 09:47 holdthephone wrote:Show nested quote +On April 19 2013 09:31 Antylamon wrote:
Curious question, can you explain to me why the characters had good character development? I didn't see any in anyone besides Cloud. FFVII really isn't host to characters with incredible depth or development. As I mention, Cloud is a pretty much a stand in action/comedy hero for half the entire game before we get to know what's really going on. But it's the vagueness of him that makes the conundrum with him and Sephiroth so compelling, because we find he isn't so well put together, after all. That's development of a sort, but it's not the script writing kind you probably have in mind. All games hide messages in their design, and not just in the dialogue in cutscenes. FF games in general are very visual, aural experiences, that rely on simple characters to get their points across.
You're talking to a Mother 3 fan here. 
On April 19 2013 09:47 holdthephone wrote:Show nested quote +
And why exactly did Sephiroth go insane? I mean, finding out your mom is a monster wouldn't change that much. Old news, really.
The basic gist of it, which is all you're supposed to be concerned about in a silly game like this, is that he learns that everything about his past and identity is false, and he reacts in the worst way. Cloud faces the exact same dilemma which is why the two present such interesting drama. And then the support characters chime in with their cheesy, smaller scaled self discoveries, some of which are cute, others that are quite stupid.
Waitwaitwait, you're admitting this?
+++Respect
Although imo it's not intentional silliness... Final Fantasy has always been somewhat cliche, with a couple exceptions. :/
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Northern Ireland23064 Posts
Yeah I do feel FFVII's appeal is very much in an intangible 'mood' that doesn't really stand up sometimes if you dissect individual parts. However the cumulative effect of the overall story arc, the often beautiful soundtrack and the general aesthetic (+ lashings of nostalgia) just really do it for me.
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Part of the Greatness Comes from the characters backgrounds. Only Tifa is relatively 'normal'. Her life struggles coming from a rough childhood, but nothing that people don't deal with all the time. The true suffering that most characters in the game have been through really speaks volumes.
+ Show Spoiler +Sephiroth Coming to terms with being merely an enhanced clone of the real sephiroth, who had been killed by cloud.
Cloud's memory loss and the experiments done to him
Red XIII's rejection of his ancestors based on a false belief
Yuffie's Realization that everything she had dedicated her life to and her families lives meant truly nothing.
Cait Sith coming to terms with the knowledge that his job and his actions could directly lead to the death of everyone he knows.
Barrett losing everyone he ever loved except his adopted daughter.
Vincent Being Torn apart from his family in order to further a madman's experiments.
Cid giving up on his dreams in order to save the life of a woman he cared for, despite her being willing to sacrifice everything for him.
Aeris/th being the last of her race and having grown up alone.
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United States24484 Posts
Tifa is forced to come to terms with the odd inconsistencies between now and then regarding Cloud, so I think she makes the list as well.
Regarding Cloud for the first half of the game, I think he (inadvertently) injects humor/fun at all the right times.
I'm going to nitpick for no reason and point out that your first battle in the game isn't necessarily side-by-side with Barrett :p
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Damn, it's like a newgrounds review.
"FFVII was a terrible game. 9/10"
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On April 19 2013 13:46 -Kaiser- wrote:
Damn, it's like a newgrounds review.
"FFVII was a terrible game. 9/10"
Hey, at least it's not "Everything about this game is perfect, 9/10"
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FF7 is the only game that I physically could not keep playing as I was simply falling asleep. That's how boring it was. Now, that might be slightly subjective.
But the graphics definitely are objectively awful. Oh sure, single pieces of graphics aren't too bad in the game. For the time, the backgrounds are ok, the movies are ok, even the 3D models are ok. But the way all of this is combined feels like artistic suicide. The worst part however was that I had to watch all these lame combat animations (at least until the point where I stopped playing, they were lame) for such a long time because the combat system was so damn slow.
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A lot of people overrate this game with nostalgia glasses because it was usually the first Final fantasy that they played. FF8 and especially 9 were much better games overall but almost no one except enthusiasts raves about 9 anymore =( (not gonna talk about X as that one is as popular if not more than VII although for good reason).
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FF8 sure as hell was not the better game. Why? It's story is downright retarded if your not willing to just "put in" stuff to make it at least a bit coherent... It's Combat/Magic-System is utterly boring... Nearly all characters in it are totally interchangeable... Well.. CD1 of it was cool tho, but after that it goes "down".
I could also rant about FF10 and how totally underwhelming, boring and stupid it was, but this is not the place  (my main problem was that the whole gameworld and the characters are just "bad"... And worst of all, the one you see the most, is in fact the worst of all...).
FF7 has it's problems... The graphics outside of the battlescreen are horrible but the main problem was the constant "flickering", which you don't have on the PC... It still does not look "good", but at least it does not hurt your eyes :p).
The general difficulty is too low (aside from the hard weapons).
There is a bit to much weird/funny stuff BUT whenever it gets "gritty", it gets awesome.
I actually had more fun with FF7 when i played it a second time 2-3 years after my first playtrough, suddenly tons of random comments/mumbles from random NPC's in Midgard made sense...
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On April 19 2013 19:54 Velr wrote:FF8 sure as hell was not the better game. Why? It's story is downright retarded if your not willing to just "put in" stuff to make it at least a bit coherent... It's Combat/Magic-System is utterly boring... Nearly all characters in it are totally interchangeable... Well.. CD1 of it was cool tho, but after that it goes "down". I could also rant about FF10 and how totally underwhelming, boring and stupid it was, but this is not the place (my main problem was that the whole gameworld and the characters are just "bad"... And worst of all, the one you see the most, is in fact the worst of all...). FF7 has it's problems... The graphics outside of the battlescreen are horrible but the main problem was the constant "flickering", which you don't have on the PC... It still does not look "good", but at least it does not hurt your eyes :p). The general difficulty is too low (aside from the hard weapons). There is a bit to much weird/funny stuff BUT whenever it gets "gritty", it gets awesome. I actually had more fun with FF7 when i played it a second time 2-3 years after my first playtrough, suddenly tons of random comments/mumbles from random NPC's in Midgard made sense...
Well 9 was my favorite, not really going to try and hold up 8 as being way better but I still felt combat was a lot more interesting than stacking imba materia (Knights of the Round x the copy one, etc.) and Squall at least was a lot more personable than Cloud.
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Huge FF fan reporting in.
VII was the first game I ever finished 100%, I think. Knights of the Round was so overpowered, it's fantastic. Oh, final boss? Two hits see ya mate.
Personally I liked a lot of VIII; but even I'll admit the draw system and quite a lot of the story was a big sack of sh*t.
IX was fantastic though; played through it a ridiculous amount back in the day.
Sadly I don't know if I could ever commit the time I spent on them ever again, unless they remake the games with completely new graphics (not just a HD remake).
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United States24484 Posts
On April 19 2013 15:25 spinesheath wrote:
FF7 is the only game that I physically could not keep playing as I was simply falling asleep. That's how boring it was. Now, that might be slightly subjective.
But the graphics definitely are objectively awful. Oh sure, single pieces of graphics aren't too bad in the game. For the time, the backgrounds are ok, the movies are ok, even the 3D models are ok. But the way all of this is combined feels like artistic suicide. The worst part however was that I had to watch all these lame combat animations (at least until the point where I stopped playing, they were lame) for such a long time because the combat system was so damn slow.
When did you play ff7? This was hinted at, but a lot of whether people like it or not depends on when they played it. When it came out it was amazing. Today it seems crappy.
The fact that you got bored is unfortunate but I don't think most people find it boring. I think you just need your games to be ADD-defying or you lose interest.
I just re-watched a good movie from 1953: Shane. I've decided it's objectively amazing, but most people under 30 would just get bored because there isn't constant action/music/violence/screaming/sex/etc.
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On April 20 2013 00:19 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On April 19 2013 15:25 spinesheath wrote:
FF7 is the only game that I physically could not keep playing as I was simply falling asleep. That's how boring it was. Now, that might be slightly subjective.
But the graphics definitely are objectively awful. Oh sure, single pieces of graphics aren't too bad in the game. For the time, the backgrounds are ok, the movies are ok, even the 3D models are ok. But the way all of this is combined feels like artistic suicide. The worst part however was that I had to watch all these lame combat animations (at least until the point where I stopped playing, they were lame) for such a long time because the combat system was so damn slow. When did you play ff7? This was hinted at, but a lot of whether people like it or not depends on when they played it. When it came out it was amazing. Today it seems crappy. The fact that you got bored is unfortunate but I don't think most people find it boring. I think you just need your games to be ADD-defying or you lose interest. I just re-watched a good movie from 1953: Shane. I've decided it's objectively amazing, but most people under 30 would just get bored because there isn't constant action/music/violence/screaming/sex/etc.
It's been a while ago, yet quite a while after it was released. But that actually doesn't matter because I like playing old games. I really don't care how advanced the graphics are or how good the sound quality is. But even 20 years ago people knew how to tell an interesting story, how to create a consistent, good design and how to create a fun combat system regardless of technological limitations. Look at Chrono Trigger, the combat system is similar to the one in FF7, but you don't have to read a page of a book each time you're waiting until you can do something again. And CT is older than FF7 by 2 years or so. You can tell a story without having hour long cutscene/dialog sequences where the player can do nothing at all.
To be honest, FF7 could be a good game in the later parts and I wouldn't know. But that would just make it even more inconsistent, just like the graphics.
Not too long ago I played Tales of Destiny, released around the same time as FF7 and it certainly was a lot more fun than FF7 despite being rather disappointing for a Tales game. Currently I'm learning Japanese to be able to play Tales of Eternia (I immediately stopped when I heard the first word of the English dub, so awful), among other things.
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Like any hobby, the more you explore it, the more you'll learn to appreciate all of its aspects. So I don't really judge anyone who can't get into old games like this. You almost always have to start with what's new and exciting before you can work your way back to different eras, and even then, there are plenty of poorly designed titles to sift through. That said, I think VII holds up pretty well. It was a super hyped title when it first came out, and I think a lot of the praise towards it was misplaced, but it's a great game, nonetheless.
edit: not sure why i wrote this, it's directed at nobody, lol.
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I didn't really like this game when it was brand new. We got it on release day, and my brother was going bonkers over it, and he ended up beating it in like 2 weeks. I remember playing it then being like... meh. I was really enjoying Wild Arms at the time a lot more.
Then for some reason, I picked up again like 3 or 4 months later, and started to "get it." I ended up basically 100%'ing the game (all ultimate weapons, black chocobo, knights of the round, etc.) because after I beat it I still wanted more. My biggest beef with the game would probably be that you can only have 3 people in your party ( I know this is standard for most FF games, and jrpgs at the time), but I really wanted to play with 5-6 of the characters (I ended up going with Red XIII and Vincent).
I think that was why I enjoyed FF X so much, because you could have everyone participate in every battle and level up with everyone else.
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That's why FF6 will always be the best.
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