Final Fantasy VII
A gamer’s retrospective
Final Fantasy VII (FFVII for short) is the game that introduced me to the wonderful world of Japanese-style RPG. Even today it’s one of my fondest memories as a player.
Story
…or why we love FFVII
Cloud Strife is a former SOLDIER from Shinra Company whose memory is jumbled up. His past is full of inconsistencies and closely resembles that of fellow SOLDIER Zack Fair.
SOLDIER is a body of elite warriors whose members have been enhanced by exposing them to Mako poisoning. Mako is a form of energy that Shinra extracts from the Lifestream and converts into electricity. Thanks to Mako energy people live comfortable lives. Of course, Shinra has the monopoly on Mako energy and that makes for many enemies (really? but it has no rivals on the market…?). But never fear! ‘cause the Company owns a powerful military and within this mammoth army are two very special corps, SOLDIER (the gun) and Turks (the brains).
Among Shinra’s many enemies (?) is Avalanche, a small group of environmental conscious rebels, led by Barret Wallace.
Tifa Lockhart, Cloud’s childhood friend, is one of them and offers Cloud a mercenary job with Avalanche.
As Cloud Strife, the player is thrust right into action. With Barret, Wedge and Biggs (familiar names; where’d I heard them before…?) the group is off to sabotage a Mako reactor in Midgar City. During a second sabotage, Avalanche members are ambushed by the Turks. Cloud is separated from the others and finds himself in a ruined church in Midgar Sector 5, one of the seven underground areas of Midgard slums. Enters Aerith, a girl who makes a living selling flowers (wait, flowers? I thought nothing was supposed to grow in Midgar’s poisoned soil…).
Aerith asks Cloud to act as a bodyguard. The two of them head to Sector 7 to rejoin Barret and company, only to set off a trap set by the Turks in retaliation to Avalanche sabotages. But it’s actually a diversion to capture Aerith, the last descendant of the Cetra, ancient people that possess the power to activate Holy and keepers of the Promised Land sought after by Shinra as well as Sephiroth.
…and I’m not spoiling the rest of the story for you guys. If you’ve played it already you know how it unfolds; if not, grab a copy of the game. No, you don’t need a functioning PS to play it; there’s a digital edition that runs on several platforms. Here’s the link to the official site where you can purchase the Windows PC download. PS3–4/PSP-Vita versions can be purchased via PSN.
Gameplay
…or why we love old school rpgs
A lot of characters to play as!
FFVII gives the player control to up to 9 characters, some unlocked during normal gameplay, others requiring to clear specific quests to be added to the party roster. Among the playable characters, Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith, Red XIII, Caith Sith and Cid are obtained in the course of the adventure. Vincent and Yuffie are obtained by participating in their respectives quests.
Heroes and villains have each his/her own personality, story and background and they add depth to the main narrative.
ATB System
The Active Time Battle (ATB) System is a staple feature of Squenix FF franchise (it’s still there in FFXIII).
On top of the typical old school turn-based battle it adds a time bar which slowly fills and gives player acces to the action menu only when it’s full. And that’s all there is, really — come on! you don’t really want me to explain how the ATB works.
Materia
Spells in FFVII can be cast only if the corresponding Materia is equipped.
Materia is crystallized Mako energy that holds enormous powers. It’s not just there to make a nice addition in battle, but it’s also a fundamental plot element.
Anyone can equip Materia, but since it cannot be artificially reproduced (it has to be harvested; Materia crystals take a lot of time to generate spontaneously) its use is a privilege for the few (Shinra dudes). Of course our heroes have access to Materia too or what would be the whole point of setting up the system???
Materia crystals are color coded: green is for magic materia, red for summon, blue and yellow for support and special abilities, purple to enhance stats.
Materia is attached to slots on equipment and it has a growth system of its own. AP (Ability Points) earned in battle can be used to level Materia crystals up to MASTER.
World Map
Ah how I miss the old fashioned world map with towns and villages, mountain ranges and forests scattered about, marked by conventional symbols. By touching the symbol the player enters the instance (town, forest or dungeon). It’s all about size, y’know? Nowadays maps (if there are any at all) are grandiose or mimic vintage explorator’s like maps. I mean, Cloud is bigger than anything on the map!
Wait, no voice acting?! You serious?
Of course there’s no voice acting in FFVII (duh!) so the story is told via text screen. Imagining the voices of the character is up to the player’s imagination. 😉
Visuals
Visuals are…not stunning. It’s a 1997 game, designed and developed for a 32-bit console that was still in its infancy (PS was launched back in 1995).
In the history of the franchise, the 7th title is a milestone for its 3D graphics but suffers from the limitations of the hardware as well the creators’ choice. I mean, there must have been better ways than to make the characters super-deformed and blocky, right?
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Between 2004 and 2005, Square-Enix released a series of prequels and sequels to the game. Worth mentioning is the CGI movie Advent Children, set two years after the events of the original story. If you always wanted to see Cloud or Aerith in human form, the movie is your chance, because a remake isn’t happening (stop pestering Squenix about it!).
Actually, scrap that! Did I say it wasn’t happening? OMG it is happening!
