The Review you've all been waiting for...

Wing of Faith

Do you remember the year 1997? It was the year the Google domain name was registered, and the year Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was unveiled to millions of slobbering fans worldwide. But we left another friend back in 1997, one that has become the single most successful game in its series. Let’s welcome back into the limelight our good friend, Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy VII is probably on the top five most overrated games of all time. In all honesty, it didn’t really change much in the series. It added Materia and… that’s about it. No REAL innovation. Nothing special. Just 3D graphics, and materia. And, just for you hardcore “I will kill you in your sleep for not bringing him up” fans, Sephiroth.

Before I go further, I would just like to go on the record and ask “What’s to review? A quick trip to GameFaqs will hammer such a knowledge of the game into your head, you couldn’t erase it with a mind wipe!”

That said, I will now begin my review, though it will be a difficult review, as high emotions running on all sides of this game’s fanbase (yours truly included) deprive any real organization to this one. But who cares? IT’S FINAL FANTASY VII.

So shut up.

Final Fantasy VII introduced us to a now all too familiar cast of characters who have by now swarmed into every single convention hall in cosplay form for 11 years straight. The story starts off with Cloud, a mercenary who once worked for the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company (as part of its unexplainable private army. What the Hell does an ELECTRICITY COMPANY need an army for? O.o), now in the employ of his former boss’ worst enemies, the environmental group Avalanche (often spelled in all caps for some odd reason; so is Soldier. Who knows why? I sure don’t.) Things soon get complicated though, and Cloud and his ragtag team of allies soon are confronted by a much bigger problem; Cloud’s old C.O (Commanding Officer), Sephiroth, an effeminate man among men with a huge sword that is probably under-compensating for something. Stuff happens, the flower girl dies, and I’m sure you all at least know the story by now. If you don’t, then I guess there’s no hope for you.

Sephiroth is one of about 10,000 kabbalistic references within this over-esteemed game, and Final Fantasy VII can be noted for removing most of the then-traditional Final Fantasy monsters in favor of more unique monsters. From here on out, the D&D inspired bestiaries that filled prior games would be removed. No more Mind Flayers, no more Goblins. I’m still waiting on my much desired cameo by C’thu’lhu though.

Anyway, Final Fantasy VII plays a great deal like the Final Fantasy’s that preceded it, aside from being a 3D game, with world map navigation, airships, chocobos, moogles, a guy named Cid, and of course, turn based combat. The addition of the materia system added a new dimension of character customization as well as a significant plot element, but by itself isn’t really special. The gameplay graphics are sub-par, even for a 1997 PSX release, but the FMV’s are of appreciable quality, featuring a level of polish and presentation that was unheard of at that time. Final Fantasy VII definitely put Square on the map as a pioneer of cutting edge graphics. The music quality hearkens memories of the good old days on the SNES and Sega Genesis and the soundtrack might actually be more popular than the game itself. Composition and Arrangement of the soundtrack was handled by Nobuo Uematsu, one of the names that made Square Inc./Squaresoft/Squeenix far more than a simple dot on the radar screen of gaming. Numerous tracks from this soundtrack continue to be remixed by fans and recomposed and rearranged by Square itself in the numerous sequels, spin-offs and prequels to this game. Who can ever forget the majestic main theme of the game, or the electrifying boss theme? And what kind of fan of this game isn’t completely OBSESSED with One Winged Angel at some point?

The character design is another feature of the game touted as “one of the best”, and it was handled by Tetsuya Nomura, a man who gets WAY more credit than he deserves. Just to clear things up, he DID NOT direct, produce, or write the script for this game. He drew the pretty pictures that became those lovable characters that every FFVII fan is obsessed with, and that is the end of his involvement (he did, however, direct the Kingdom Hearts series and the FFVII sequel, Advent Children). Promotional art was handled by the original concept artist for the series, Yoshitaka Amano (whose art I completely ADORE), whom Nomura replaced.

Final Fantasy VII firmly rejected the “Knights and Damsels” formula followed by most of the previous titles, in favor of a tuned-up version of the sci-fi formula followed by FFVI, incorporating more high technology than ever before, while using the Materia system to keep the old magic system in the loop.

The dialogue sequences are long and frequent, and there might be more exposition in this game than in Frank Herbert’s Dune, but I can’t fault it for this because I have fallen in love with this fact over the years. Also, here’s a game to play with your friends: do a run through the game. Whoever spots the most “engrish”, or, badly translated English, by the end of the game wins. Much of the translation is shamefully bad in spots, but this has become a classic feature adored by many generations of fans, so much so that Square-Enix would likely be forced to keep it in under pain of death if they actually ever DO remake the game.

All of this adds together to create a classic Final Fantasy adventure, with a sense of epic-ness that will not only keep you playing for over 1,000 HOURS, but moreover 20 or so YEARS.

Final Fantasy VII is fun. It’s a great game. I love it to death. BUT, I do not let the fun this game has to offer COMPLETELY cloud my judgment. With this in mind, the game has several flaws. One, there’s the obvious, ever-present problem of level-grinding. I know it’s an RPG, but does it have to take so long to get Cloud to level 50? And with the massive cast of playable characters, level grinding is WAY more tedious than it has been in previous and subsequent titles. Then, there’s Materia Grinding. Level up that materia, master it, and you can do anything. You can even be god if you’d like. But first you have to get there. I really hate this feature, no matter what game it’s in. At least you don’t have to level up your weapon (I’m glaring at you, Soul Calibur Legends!). A sword is a sword. It cuts. How would leveling it up make any difference? However, the benefit of leveling up your materia is that spells you get in the beginning of the game can remain useful all the way through the game, but I still hate it. Also, the movement controls are AWFUL.

“WHAT THE HELL CLOUD?! TURN AROUND AND WALK BACK THE WAY YOU CAME!!!”

Because the backgrounds for each area are hand drawn, rather than rendered in 3D, moving Cloud around can get very irritating, because there’s no controllable camera, so you have NO idea where you REALLY are, and as a result Cloud will often get stuck, with no way to get out, and you’ll have to reboot the game or spend hours jiggling the controls trying to free our little chocobo-headed friend from invisible bondage.

Still, it’s impossible to deny that this game is pure magic. You’ll fall in love with every character by the end of the game, and there’s enough to explore and tinker with that gamers who bought it back in 1997 are STILL finding new things to discover in the game. That’s what I call well designed, and for that reason, Final Fantasy VII finishes this review with an 8 out of 10. If not for the annoying problems present in the game like lack of camera control, it would have been perfect.
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Creeping shadow · Lair Staff/ Lookout Joined: 19 Mar 2008 Posts: 410

A very nice review. I was wondering when the time would come when you would review this game. BUNNY!

Nightmare · Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:02 am Post subject:

Your review was rude...you told me to shut up... Sad

Warrior of the Dark Moon · Lair Staff/ Moderator Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 365

NEIN!! IT DESERVES A PERFECT 100+ out of 10!!! SEPHIROTH IZ TEH PWNZORZ!!!

...Yeah. Welcome to GameFAQs. heh. I am SO glad this is not there. Not that GameFAQs is bad. It's actually quite a useful resource, but the "hardcore fans" that are so rampant there just drive me CRAZY!!!

Nice review. You're getting better at this, Mary.
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Master Hero · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:47 am Post subject:

Nice! I like this review.
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Esperenza Grace · Chieftain Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 151

FFVII is WAY overrated, but I'll save that arguement for another subforum.

Mary, your talent never ceases to amaze. Great review. Keep them coming!
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