Final Fantasy VII Review

Final Fantasy VII was a legend of its time. Its revolutionary 3D graphics and heartfelt story caused gamers from around the globe to realize the amazing storytelling capability of Square Enix, the company creator of Final Fantasy. Not a single flaw could be found in the game back in the day and today, still not much wrong can be said about the game. The outdated graphics and gameplay are the only chink in FFVII’s armor, yet still it perseveres to remain one of the best video games ever created due to its heartfelt plot, incredible characters, and flawless music.

First, the plots of all Final Fantasy games are what define each and every one’s uniqueness and grandeur. FFVII has one of these, no doubt. With a story of soldier (Cloud) pretending to be an elite soldier who then goes out to stop an ex-elite soldier (Sephiroth) from destroying the world, nothing wrong can be said about it. Although, it really takes playing the game to understand the love and connection between gamers and FFVII. It’s not enough to simply read the story like a book. It takes knowing the characters and being around them in order to understand the true depth of FFVII. Also, the more specific details like the love between Cloud and Aeris and many others cannot be simply described in writing. When all of these little bits of love and hate, peace and combat, and trust and betrayal are all pieced together, an incredible game of FFVII comes about.

Also, the characters that are the story of FInal Fantasy VII deserve much praise for their own great stories. Finding the connection between oneself and the characters does take time, but once formed the bonds can never be broken. The deep admiration and love felt towards each and every character after long gaming sessions can only deepen with every step. From Cloud to Tifa to Aeris,to Nanaki, to Yuffie, and to Vincent, this near-friendship with each one of them is so great due to the incredible story that combines each of their stories into one. There’s always a big “Ohhhhhh” when a gamer finds out that these characters were actually connected to each other before hand and it makes gamers make their own bond to the characters.

Finally, the perfect music found in FFVII can only contribute to the greatness of the game as a whole. Each and every piece was well thought out ranging from lovely pieces such as Aeris’s Theme, to comical ones such as Cait Sith’s Theme, and to intense and epic songs such as One Winged Angel. At every cutscene the music played added so much emotion into the game. Each and every mood is accounted for in a song and they all simply make the game that much greater.

Unfortunately, seeing as games today focus on graphics and gameplay over storytelling and music, Final Fantasy VII does have its weaknesses in the present that it didn’t have 12 years ago. Back then the 3D graphics of it were new and exciting, but now looking back the disfigured bodies were poorly drawn out and seemed to be made of simple polygons and circles. Also, the gameplay is incredibly simple. The combat was made into an almost turn based type of fighting, but still with the multiple spells and summons available for casting, the animations of such wizardry still made the simple combat mechanism exciting.

Despite being dragged back for its poor graphics and simple combat, all of the other attributes of Final Fantasy VII overshadow them and still allow this incredible video game to remain one of the top video games ever made. FFVII will forever live in the hearts of many as being the perfect game.