Final Fantasy VII Review

Final Fantasy VII

Publisher: Square (Now Square Enix)

Year: 1997

ESRB Rating:  T

Platform:  PlayStation

Genre: RPG

• Fun Factor: 

    When it comes to the fun factor I would have to say that I rather enjoyed the first couple hours of the game as it starts off with a cinematic opening that hones in on the player and allows for the player to take over and almost instantly get into a fight. This allowed for the game to have the feeling that you are skipping the tutorial but due to the difficulty of the enemies being lowered it also allowed for the player to take their time when figuring out the controls.

• Learning Curve: 

Final Fantasy 7 had a weird learning curve as the battle themselves are quite simple for the start but the battle system does differ from the traditional turn-based combat that people were used to at the time. For example, pokemon has it set out where you get one turn and the enemy gets another and the person has the faster pokemon would be the one that goes first. When it comes to final fantasy 7 instead of having each character having their own set turn, there is a time bar that will fill up and once that bar is filled the character is allowed to take a turn. There are many different status effects that can speed up or slow the bar, however, there is an issue of the game not really having explanations for things which left it up to the player to get information from an outside source which does increase the difficulty a bit.

• Graphics: 

Compared to the other games at the time Final Fantasy 7 was groundbreaking with the use of pre-rendered backgrounds allowing for more intricate details as well as making the world more realistic, the use of CGI cutscenes was something that wasn’t new at the time but the amount that was in final fantasy 7 set it apart from the rest and was also a reason as to why the original game released with 3 discs of content, and Final Fantasy 7 was also apart of the games at the time who were breaking away from their 2D counterparts and going for a 3D world which caught the attention of many people at the time.

• Audio:

Final Fantasy as a series has been well known for its music and sound design and this game was no different. Final Fantasy 7 uses music in many different ways with different tracks for different areas as well as specific battle music and character themes that have withstood the test of time with many people still praising the music quality. Now in comparison to other games, I would actually keep most of how Final Fantasy 7 used its music as I feel they played to the emotions that the player would be feeling at the time and they used music as a way to create deeper memories in the person playing.

• Controls:

Overall the controls aren't too bad compared to the other games at the time but with FF7 being released on the PlayStation the controllers lacked an analog stick opting for a directional d-pad. This made it fairly easy to figure out how to play with and since the actual gameplay wasn’t that demanding with battles being turn-based having this base level of controls worked out well.

• Story:

Final Fantasy and RPGs as a whole have always put a much bigger emphasis on the story which can also be seen in Final Fantasy 7 as while the world of FF7 may not have that many similarities to ours the overall themes and messages that are trying to be portrayed definitely have their parallels to the real world. The game starts off with the story of Avalanche which is an eco-terrorist group that is trying to stop the corporation called Shinra from sucking up “the lifeblood of the planet” which is called mako energy and this can almost very clearly be seen in the real world with the use of fossil fuels and how using it for energy is hurting the planet in the long run. With this start to the game and the clear connection you can make to the real world, it does make it much easier to get hooked on the game and helps deepen the immersion so you can find out what the story is actually about. If I were to rate the story overall I would definitely give it a 10 just for how well it has held up over the years and how good it was compared to the other games that came out around the same time. 

• Characters:

There are a total of 9 playable characters in the game with two characters requiring the player to do an optional story quest to get them and the full list of the characters being Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, Vincent, and Yuffie. While each character did have their own story and development for this I wanted to focus on, what I would consider, the main 4 characters which would be Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Aerith who I feel the story is kinda focused around with Barret being a big tough guy in the beginning but slowly opening up to reveal a softer side, Cloud being the main character goes through a similar change as Barret but more so in him finding out who he actually is and he does this through the help of Tifa and Aerith who both, in their own ways, find a way to make Cloud see that the memories that he thinks he has are not his own. Overall though I loved each of these characters and would give them mostly 9s and 10s with the exception of Cait Sith who I feel could have been expanded upon more so I would only give him a 7.

• Level Design:

FF7 levels were mostly split into three categories with those being the world map, towns/cities, and dungeons. This works well with the concept of the game as you start off helping a group that is trying to save the planet and as you explore the world it works well to explain why the characters are trying to do this and you get to see a glimpse into all the normal people in the world who would be the ones that are paying the price for Shinra's use of mako.

• Changes:

The main changes that I would have made to the game are a lot of quality of life things that weren’t around as much at the time. The main thing that I would want to add would be descriptions for all of the items and gear as well as a more detailed map that updates based off of what cities you’ve been to. These were the two main things that caused me trouble when I played through this game because without any description of certain items and abilities you as the player were left in the dark and had to figure out what they did on your own which could cause some frustration. The game did have a map however but it was not very detailed and so when you would want to return to a specific place or a NPC was trying to tell you where to go next you were left to wander around until you found it.

• Recommendation: 

While I did have some things that I would change about the game overall I would still recommend it to this day. The story and music I feel all still hold up today and I feel that while final fantasy may start off as an intimidating series due to its long list of titles Final Fantasy 7 does a great job of introducing old and new fans alike to, what some would say, the prime example of what the Final Fantasy franchise strives to be.