Summary
The manifestation of what is great in console-style RPGs
The Good
"Final Fantasy VII" was the first console-style RPG I played - at the time the only gaming machine I had was my old trusty PC. I was shocked then by the sheer scope of the game, its totally unusual and new style, and its emotional, complex story. I was playing a game "with an open mouth", and every once in a while I wanted to cry out: "Hats off, gentlemen! Here's a genius!", just like Robert Schumann said when he heard Frederic Chopin playing his own music on the piano. If I rate games by the impact they have had on me, "Final Fantasy VII" has no equals: no game has ever fascinated and captured me they way this one did when I was playing it for the first time. But even objectively judged, it still occupies one of the highest places in my gaming "pantheon".
Why is "Final Fantasy VII" so good?
In terms of gameplay, it has virtually everything a console-style RPG is able to offer - naturally, without trying to borrow some elements from PC-style RPGs. It is far from being a true role-playing experience like
Ultima games or like modern classics such as
Fallout or
Baldur's Gate series. It also doesn't feature any unique gameplay system (like
Shin Megami Tensei and other
Megaten games), nor does it offer a good old-school difficulty (like
Lunar or
Phantasy Star series, or even early Final Fantasies for NES). "Final Fantasy VII" is all about gameplay gimmicks, flexibility of character customization, huge amount of items, and thousand ways to become stronger. It is never boring to try various materia combinations, to experiment with different characters, to make them belong to certain classes (by making them specialize on various types of magic or physical attacks), to discover bonus locations and items, to participate in countless mini-games. In short, "Final Fantasy VII" is all about
fun. Its story development is linear, but there are always ways to take a break from the story and to dedicate your time to experimenting, searching, and upgrading. The amount and the versatility of mini-games in "Final Fantasy VII" is astounding (there is even a mini-strategy game, where you command a whole army and can place catapults and other weapons in order to defend a top of a mountain) is astounding, but the best thing about them is their non-linear nature - you do have a couple of obligatory (and, by the way, quite fun) ones such as motorcycle race or skiing, but most mini-games can be accessed by visiting Gold Saucer - a huge entertainment area where you can gain lots of extra items and powerful materia. A very interesting (and a very difficult!) sub-game is chocobo-breeding, which includes tracking down various species of chocobos, catching them, finding rare nuts and other food for them, increasing their status by taking them to races, and finding appropriate mates for them. The results are more powerful types of chocobos that can take you to inaccessible areas, such as mountains caves, that you can explore to discover some killer items and spells. The main gameplay system itself is neither too complex nor too simple; its most noticeable trait is the
materia system - you find or buy materia orbs (which work like spells or supporting equipment), equip them on the weapons and armor you use, and gain special points in battles that increase their power and efficiency.
The story of "Final Fantasy VII" is once again nothing truly original, it is just great in a traditional way - as always in "mature" console-style RPGs, you have all possible things stuffed into it: politics, conspiracy, inner conflicts, social conflicts, history, ancient prophecies, megalomania, love, revenge, friendship, betrayal - you name it, "Final Fantasy VII" has it. The story is told in a typical Squaresoft fashion, with typical Squaresoft quality, complete with sudden revelations, brilliant plot twists, and excellent character presentation. The overall story is considerably deeper and more complex than in early Final Fantasies: instead of usual good guys/bad guys confrontation there are three main parties (the heroes, Shinra, and Sephiroth), with some very interesting conflicts within them. In general, the story of "Final Fantasy VII" is that of conflicts: political, social, historical, and personal ones. The architecture of the story line is very complex, and is backed by an excellent cast of characters. The following moral problem is introduced in the game: the cause for fighting fight is noble, but what about the means? The problem of "justified violence" is raised in the game. Can we really decide who should live and who shouldn't, even if we are absolutely convinced our goal is a worthy one and will bring happiness to people? Can we sacrifice even one life for the sake of the whole planet? This is the question the game's heroes must face, and this is also one of the conflict the game's main hero, Cloud, has to experience. He understands nothing can stop him from fighting those who bring misery and pain to the planet and to the people. But the causes of his firm decision are still unclear to him. Maybe he just fights to prove everybody he is capable of it? Does he fight for the sake of people or for his own sake? Those and many other problems appear in "Final Fantasy VII" all the time, and the answers the heroes find are not always clear or satisfying. The wonderfully chosen cast of the game's main characters consists of
antagonists, of people with entirely different life philosophy and values. For example, the "noble" terrorist Barret is a rude, primitive man, who knows no mercy and who is convinced that "the goal justifies the means". But later in the game he begins doubting his straightforward philosophy. He loves his daughter and is anxious about her fate, but what about all those people whom he sacrificed for the sake of humanity, didn't their families care for them as much as Barrett cared for his daughter? Barrett's antagonist in the game is the tolerant Reeve, one of the managers of the evil corporation Shinra. "Final Fantasy VII" doesn't feature only black and white characters. The "good guys" have their problems, and the "bad guys" are not all bad, as it appears.
The relationships between the characters and their development are also of true Final Fantasy style. The feelings of the heroes are not always constant: friendship begins with antipathy, and love emerges out of friendship. Although "Final Fantasy VII" is not a overwhelming love story, such as "Final Fantasy VIII", it has plenty of romance. And of course, there are some scenes that could make sensitive players shed tears - the tragic episode in the middle of the game is a part of a longtime tradition, but it is presented with so much intensity that it almost reminds a majestic death scene from a Greek tragedy.
The dialogues of the game can appeal to certain people and annoy others. "Final Fantasy VII" has an enormous amount of dialogues. If it had speech, the game would probably need ten CDs. The characters of the game talk to each other all the time, and some dialogues are quite long. Those who don't like reading might not enjoy "Final Fantasy VII". As in most Japanese games, the dialogue style is very melodramatic. People talk a lot about their feelings, complicate things which are not so complicated in nature, and there is a vast usage of short and meaningless phrases, just like in an American soap opera. There are no intellectual conversations like in
Planescape: Torment, but a rather primitive, yet effective and actually quite realistic dialogue. In real life we also prefer to speak about feelings, repeat ourselves and say things which don't mean much. That's why I think the dialogues in "Final Fantasy VII" are good. They are banal, but in every banality there's truth - it couldn't have been a banality otherwise. Besides, the dialogues are well written and reflect well the personalities of the heroes. Not every Japanese RPG was able achieve this. It's enough to read a couple of dialogue lines in
Legend of Dragoon to see the difference.
The world of "Final Fantasy VII" is huge - a large planet full with all kinds of secrets and non-obligatory places to explore. There are two characters with fully developed background story which might join your party and which you can simply ignore and continue with the game - a pretty rare thing for a console RPG.
The setting of "Final Fantasy VII" is quite new and original for the genre. Already
Final Fantasy VI was more inclined towards a modern setting than a traditional medieval fantasy - "Final Fantasy VII" introduces now a full-fledged science fiction/fantasy tale. It is not just any kind of sci-fi, but a moody, dark, "blade-runneresque" setting complete with a giant city controlled by an evil mega-corporation, robots, and advanced biological experiments on human beings and other species. The story fits this setting very well - one of the game's central ideas is the humans being's shameless exploitation of nature resources - a naive, yet nicely presented thought, with a clear parallel between Shinra and modern "polluting" corporations. The game also contains other sci-fi-elements, including even a space flight! The futuristic atmosphere is masterfully presented through appropriate graphics. It is always refreshing to play a RPG that set in a different world than the one with castles, kings, knights, princesses, and dragons. The game's setting is one of its strongest and most original points.
The variety of locations in "Final Fantasy VII" is a huge step forwards compared to earlier Final Fantasies - mainly because of the superior graphics, but also thanks to the creativity of the designers. This is the most interesting and colorful collection of locations in the entire series - starting with Midgar, a huge megapolis where you spend the first, introductory part of the game. Midgar is decidedly the coolest Final Fantasy location ever. Other cities are also very interesting and are far from being the generic towns of most RPGs. Particularly inspiring are the mysteriously looking Cosmo Canyon and the "Chinese" Wutai with its pagodas and unique architecture style.
The graphics in "Final Fantasy VII" are considered a mixed bag by many, mostly because of its character graphics. While most people were stunned by the completely new graphical quality "Final Fantasy VII" offered (just compare its graphics to those of the previous three games of the series), especially console players, who were shown the advanced technical abilities of the Playstation, some PC players considered the character graphics blocky and plain. The characters in "Final Fantasy VII" can't be compared to the proportional figures of its sequel. The game employs a graphical style very common to console RPGs: blocky, square characters with no mouthes, no fingers, huge heads and huge eyes. Such style is normally called SD (super-deformed). There are some people which feel bothered by those childishly looking characters. As for myself, I don't mind SD characters, although they did shock me quite a bit in the beginning, for "Final Fantasy VII" was the very first game I played which had SD characters. I consider the character graphics in "Final Fantasy VII" excellent. Each character looks different and memorable, however unrealistic.You never feel those character are somehow less appealing or interesting than the wonderful, realistically looking figures of
Final Fantasy X.
The characters look so SD mostly in the exploring part of the game. In battles, they miraculously turn into quite attractive 3D figures, and in the few CG sequences where they appear as a part of the CG video (some times, the designers use the usual in-game characters with video background), they shine in full glory. It is amusing to see how Tifa turns from a small funny girl first into a cool fighting babe, and then into quite a sexy CG animated woman. The battle graphics are spectacular: the monsters are finely animated, and there are tons of impressively looking spells. The summon materias are particularly stunning, and the battles look dynamic like never before - an amazing step forwards since the SNES days. The game is also full of wonderful CG videos, that are excellently integrated into fantastic pre-rendered backgrounds. Be prepared for a large amount of eye candy.
But what is the
best part of "Final Fantasy VII"? The music. The music in "Final Fantasy VII" is a world in itself. There are many video games with excellent music, and there are plenty of good game music composers, but Nobuo Uematsu is the greatest one for me. He has feeling, he has style, and he never repeats himself. Each tune is memorable, each harmony is at its right place, instrumentation is excellent, and overall, the music for Final Fantasy games is a treat for a musician and for a layman with a good taste for such things. But the music of "Final Fantasy VII" stands out even if compared to Uematsu's other works. It has so much of this incomparable Japanese melancholy, deep sadness and grief. It is my all-time favorite video game music. I often found myself just stopping and listening to the music while playing the game.
The Bad
I am tempted to write "Nothing" here. For the sake of accuracy, here are some minor complaints. The game is very large, and sometimes it almost seems
toolarge; it does suffer from occasional "empty" moments, especially during the last part - a common problem of many console-style RPGs.
The first part of the game was so unusual and interesting with its "gothic" feel of a huge, soulless city, that I almost felt pity other locations were so much more "traditional". They were still very interesting and colorful, but it would have been great if there were another huge city like Midgar, or if it were possible to explore more of it in later parts.
The game is really on the easy side, so don't play if you are only looking for a good challenge. Your characters are simply too strong, and with some bonus areas properly explored and powerful weapons or materia obtained, the battles become a joke. They are still fun, because there are always so many possibilities to become even stronger and to defeat the foes more efficiently, but don't expect anything really challenging here.
Some extra complaints about the PC version: the characters look much blockier than they do in the Playstation version. Using a keyboard is highly uncomfortable, especially because some in-game hints still refer to "square" and "triangle" buttons, which are now absent!
The Bottom Line
"Final Fantasy VII" occupies a very special place in my collection. This game introduced to me the world of console-style RPGs, and for that I'll always be thankful to it. No other game has ever had a greater impact on me. The days I spent playing it for the first time were the most intensive and unforgettable ones in my gaming career. I remember dreaming about this game during the nights. That's why until now there is hardly any other game that is more "sacred" to me than this one. Now, after I have played countless other console-style RPGs, I checked this special game again, trying to judge it more objectively. I discovered some minor flaws, but overall there is no doubt: "Final Fantasy VII" is indeed a great game. It is true to the spirit of the series, has plenty of interesting gameplay ideas and a lot of stuff to discover, magnificent atmosphere, cool setting, strong story and character cast, awesome graphics, and divine music. It has everything you'd expect from a great console-style RPG - and more. Another masterpiece by Squaresoft and a great testimony of their creativity and talent.
