Review of: Final Fantasy 7

Reviewer: David Lam

Title: Final Fantasy 7

System: Playstation 1

Genre: RPG

Mario was seen as a revolution that brought out a totally new idea in the gaming industry that was much better than Pong. Final Fantasy 7 set a whole new bar to reach for all RPG games. According to Jay Boor from IGN Next Generation Online it took a total of 49 hours to complete the game. For those who don’t know; Next Generation Online is definately familiar with RPG games and were not new to the game style. The game has a comprehensive and rich plotline and an intriguing combat system at the time. Final Fantasy 7 also has many easter eggs and hidden bosses along with secret special moves. Many of the easter eggs deal with revealing the history of the many characters you can gain along with some of the secret characters such as Vincent, a gun wielding vampire. The plotline centers around your mentally distraught character known as Cloud who suffers the pain of losing his friend Zack Fair. You start out  in the city and meet Aeris, a flower girl. Eventually adventure takes place as you uncover the secrets of your past, and the corporation you worked for known as Shinra. You also uncover the mystery behind Sephiroth who is the main villain. Cloud’s past ties into the plot and is important while other characters allow you to discover new plot twists you don’t have to uncover their past. Also Cloud is a dynamic character that at first wants revenge for Zack but as he meets the other characters it becomes more about him stopping Sephiroth and his evil plan to destroy everything. As a point of comedy relief until Aeris’s death both Aeris and Tifa have feelings for Cloud which allows for some comical dialogue about their love triangle. The story spans through 3 discs and it was the longest RPG game at the time.

The graphics are pretty lame in comparison to the consoles of today but this game came out when the play station one was popular. The characters are made up of square pixels and at the time people found that not to be a problem to the quality of the game. Even if the game graphics were not of a high quality the cinematics were something new and rare. Gamers liked the cinematics because they were of a high quality considering the game only had graphic quality that the play station one could achieve. 

The combat style is no different than other Final Fantasy games. However the summons were different and had new cinematic openings. Also the was more suspense and the 3D element added allowing you to see the battle from different angles as you entered gave gamers a new aspect of gameplay. Final Fantasy 7 set a bar that not many RPG games or final fantasy games could reach. The plot was well developed, with some new aspects added to the combat. The game had many easter eggs that required some investigation to uncover along with a soundtrack that stuck with the mood in the game. A new Final Fantasy 7 on amazon is 168 dollars. Now Final Fantasy 8 only costs 11 dollars on amazon. This tells gamers that Final Fantasy must somehow be worth that amount of money and it is. I remember how sad I was when I decided to go back and dust my playstation; to play the game only to realize that as a kid I scratched the disc so much that I couldn’t play it. If you have a playstation that works, memory card, controller, and a very good deal on Final Fantasy 7 then play the game. Reminisce for a little while and play the most influential RPG game of all time. Final Fantasy 7 deserves a solid A.