What can I say about this game? That it was revolutionary? That its story went deeper than most had tried at that point in time? Or that it is still relevant 16 years after its release. There is no question that Final Fantasy VII has stood the test of time. There aren't that many games that have affected this industry quite like the effects of Final Fantasy VII. The game is praised for all of the above graphics, music, game play, and story. But with every great game there are always flaws... Luckily in this game they are minuscule at most making an extremely enjoyable experience.
This story follows the path of Cloud Strife, an extremely talented warrior that used to work for an organization called SOLDIER, a sect of the Shinra CO. The game begins with Cloud (now a mercenary) Working for a group called AVALANCHE. These "Freedom Fighters" are working to destroy the Shinra Corp for sucking the life energy out of the earth. Cloud starts out the game very self centered but over time changes as he goes on this journey across the world with members of AVALANCHE to save the planet from destruction.
The games story becomes very deep and complex which in my opinion is what makes this game so great! It is easily one of the most well thought out stories that has ever been developed. The adventure that this game takes you on is only made better by the character development involved in it. So many games now a days will have a decent story but wont dive deep into the characters that make them up. The characters are all explained so well, they all have back story's that are laid out beautifully often with very thrilling and elaborate narrative,with cloud at the focal point. There is no one character that is left unexplained, which creates a real sense of realism when your playing the game. It really draws you in.
The game play is unparalleled in the genre. When you enter a battle you have a choice to attack with that of three characters that you had set up beforehand. Your characters have the choice to use a regular melee attack, offensive or defensive magic, Summons, Items and a super attack unique to the character once it has been charged. It is a turn based system so when you choose one of these options your character will go through an animation that acts out what you chose thus dealing damage. When you have won a battle you gain EXP which will go towards leveling up your character and increasing their base stats. The best part of the battle system is the customization of materia. Materia are small glowing orb like things that when equipped to a character give them special powers and abilities. There are 5 different types of basic materia Magic which gives you all your offensive spells, Command which give you special abilities such as death blow, Summon pretty self explanatory, Support Which helps support other materia, and independent to upgrade your characters stats. You can only equip as much materia as there are slots that your current weapon allows. The final cool thing about materia is that it has its own unique level separate from that of your character it gains EXP just like your character would.
The game doesn't differ much in the aspect of graphics from its play station counter part which is not a big deal. Some cool new features that you can look forward to is cloud saves as well as achievements that give you some incentive to destroy all of the secret weapons.
Some things that were were upsetting at the least was first most the music at first the music was awful upon release it was very low quality and just sounded bad. It was very unfortunate because music in these types of games add so much to the entire presentation of the game. Also if you don't have a game pad or controller and have to opt for the keyboard which is less than thrilling to play on. It really loses something when played on the keyboard (it always gets confusing when it tells you to hit square or triangle and its hot keyed to W or E).
Final Fantasy VII has stood the test of time, it remains one of the greatest games ever made. There were a few problems with the port to PC but other than that this game remains one for the ages. If you are looking for a game that will suck away your life just for the sake of playing you found your game. It defined the genre, It changed the way we look at games, It inspired us in ways that we still are trying to understand. This game is and will always be a Legend