Pros: Excellent gameplay, good graphics, excellent music, involving storyline
Cons: Somewhat dated now.
The Bottom Line: Final Fantasy VII is/was a remarkable achievement both as a video game and piece of technology, and is an RPG no gamer should be without.
marty1982's Full Review: Final Fantasy VIII for PlayStation 1
Even though Final Fantasy VII wasn't the first Final Fantasy I'd ever played, it was probably the game that got me interested in the franchise. Up until the game was released, the only RPG (excluding the Zelda series) that I played was Super Mario RPG. I heard a lot about the Final Fantasy series by word of mouth and on television, not to mention all the critical acclaim "a game called Chrono Trigger" was getting, but it wasn't until reading all the rave reviews for FF7 and what a technological marvel the game was that I finally took an interest in the franchise. Of course, being that I didn't own a Playstation at the time, I couldn't rent or buy it just yet, so instead I checked out the Final Fantasies for the NES and Super NES. Finally, in late 2000(!) I bought a Playstation with Final Fantasy VII and can confidently say that, despite what some of the "hardc0re FF-Freaks" will tell you, it is one of the best RPGs ever made.
Story After Squaresoft started to branch away from the Arthurian settings of most RPG's in favor of a slightly more technological environment with Final Fantasy III/VI, the developer finally brought the franchise to a 75% futuristic setting in Final Fantasy VII. I don't at all mind it seeing as to how I think the medieval Lord Of The Rings-esque environments prominant in just about every RPG were getting a little old. The main character is Cloud Strife, a mercenary for an underground rebel alliance known as Avalanche plotting to put an end to the exploits of an evil corporation named Shinra, inc. bent on world domination. Throughout the game, Cloud meets up with many new friends and enemies, such as childhood chum Tifa Lockheart, (politically incorrect) Avalanche leader Barret, and research specimen Red XIII. As with Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII is loaded with plot twists and character development (*Spoiler* just when you think Sephiroth may actually be a "good guy" at the beginning, you soon find out that he is the game's main villain rather than President Rufus of Shinra). Unfortunately, the translation from Japanese to English is quite poor compared to later Final Fantasies. So some scenes (the Life Stream for example) become a little difficult to really understand.
Gameplay Some will disagree with me, but I actually prefered FF7's Materia System over FF6's Esper System. You don't have to worry as much about spending God knows how much time building up magic points and hoping to finally learn a spell. You can pretty much just gain new spells as you go through the game depending on which materia you have equipped. Rather than each character having his/her own ability like in previous Final Fantasies, each character in FF7 has his/her own fighting style. Cloud fights with a sword, Tifa fights with her fists, Barret fights with his gattling gun, etc. The menu system is just as easy as it was in previous games, so you should have no trouble figuring it out as you play.
Final Fantasy VII is a long game. It should probably take you a good 40/50 hours to complete if you do all the side quests and find all the hidden characters. As for the difficulty, it's about on par with FF6, meaning it's difficult but not to the point of being frustrating. There's just so much to see and so much to do, that even with its relatively long length, the game never gets dull or boring.
Graphics I actually found Final Fantasy VII's battle graphics to look better than Final Fantasy VIII/IX's in some ways. The characters look quite a bit crisper and cleaner, and the battle arenas look decidedly more detailed. As for the in-game graphics, the prerendered backgrounds look spectacular. Unfortunately, Square opted to use "super-deformed" character models instead of the more realistic looking characters in FF8. Somehow, it just looks a little odd to see such great battle graphics only to end up seeing a bunch of cartoon characters with big eyes, hig heads, squat bodies and boxes for hands. The spells, even today, are awe-inspiring. The FMV is a little on the grainy side, but looks pretty good nonetheless.
Sound There are two sides to FF7's music. One one hand, the compositions are fantastic, and melodies very memorable. On the other hand, the quality of the midi samples is quite poor, giving the music a very tinny/mechanical sound. The Super NES Final Fantasies actually had better sounding midi samples. Nonetheless, FF7 has one of the best soundtracks ever to grace the PSX. Sound effects are effective, but nothing truly spectacular.
Overall Despite what some of these snooty "RPG-fanboys" will tell you, Final Fantasy VII is one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Both the storyline and characters will draw you in and never let go, while the gameplay is consistent enough that the 40+ hours it takes to complete the game will definitely be well worth it.
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