Final Fantasy VII is a classic role-playing video game, now commonly referred to as a JRPG style game (Japanese-style role-playing game). It was developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation platform. It was rushed to release on January 31, 1997, and is the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series (which are not really connected at all). It was the first in the series to break away from Nintendo, the first to use 3D computer graphics and the first Final Fantasy, that really establish a RPG market in North America. The original format sold over 9.8 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling title in the series, the best-selling Square game to date, and is one of the best selling games for the PS1. An insane amount of ports, re-releases, spinoffs and even a movie have been created around this single title, there is even a remake slated for release in 2017. It is award winning, critically acclaimed, carries an enormous fanbase and is widely considered to be one of the greatest games of all time.

Pros:

This game has some of the best video game music every, in my opinion. Now I know this is subjective, but no video game music, has had more reuse, recreation and sampling ever (maybe besides Zelda’s main theme, but thats found in almost every version of that game). The battles where some of the most beautiful, playable, graphics of that time and many argue is still the best version of that classic turn-based system. The “Materia” system was introduced in this game, was smoother than anything that came before it and is still in use with the more modern Final Fantasies. The characters are sincerely amazing. Your main character is a bad ass, but is also fundamentally flawed and you have to work through those issues with him, so the character development with this one guy alone is amazing. Each team member has a full story around them that you have to work through, creating an actual connect with them and one of them *spoiler alert even dies! And not arbitrary, they make you work at it and fail miserably (unlike FF6 where you have to might forget to wait for someone… ugh). Even the lame, comic relief character Cait Sith, is actually a machine piloted by an enemy spy. The characters have their strengths and weaknesses, but they are much more balanced than in previous Final Fantasies, so you’re not completely dependent on one or two of them and even you shittier characters are still ok and fun to work with. The bad guy is probably one of the best bad guy in video game history. A super soldier made in a lab from a fucking alien, the discovery of which drives him mad, is now drifting his way through the life force of the earth and even your main character can’t help but to get manipulated by him, fucking awesome! Also, unlike most RPG’s before this you don’t just simply run around battling until your fingers and eyes bleed (though there is still a good amount of that), there are several dynamic, storyline specific, mini games, that are legitimately fun games on their own, and the way you get the best attack in this game is by breeding Chocobo! And after all of that, in the American release they added two side-quest bosses (Emerald and Ruby Weapon) that are even harder than the actual final boss, if you chose to take them on at all. All that awesomeness being said the actual best part of this game is unbelievably rich, in-depth, good storyline, that you have to unravel piece by piece through out the entire game.

Which if you want insight into you can watch the video below. *spoiler alert obviously.

Cons:

After all that, there are SOME lame points to this game, like the hideous box shaped people that clash against the amazingly well done backdrops when you are roaming around. Which is weird because the battle graphics are awesome, but you can tell where the rush to meet the delivery date took its tole. They are kind of cute in a quirky way. Cloud (the main character) suffers from what I like to call “the classic anime, coming of age, main character issue” which is fancy for, he is at time whiny and unsure of himself.  And yes, the storyline is a bit convoluted, but I actually think this is kind of a plus, because trying to “rebuild” the main characters fractured mind is part of this game and the convolution (purposeful or not) is a legitimate connection to how this character would feel going through it all. Though it really could have been cleaned up a bit. Part of this is also because the world, and it history in it is just so massive, as you can tell by the video.

BEST RPG EVER?

So there is this pretty big argument as for what is the best classic RPG of all time and it’s usually between Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 7. Usually FF6 and FF7 get compared because of the franchise association, and FF6 and Chrono Trigger get compared because of their shared console (SNES). However, for me a more difficult comparison is FF7 and Chrono Trigger. The reason for this is because Final Fantasy 6 is a great game, but DOES have some short comings, and all of its good parts are done better by Chrono Trigger, with the exception of Kefka being a loony sociopath and the music in FF6 being arguably better, subjectively though. However Final Fantasy 7 is the best of the three with overwhelming examples. Now I know my nostalgia can play into this decision, but I am being objective as possible here. I played all 3 in close succession to one another and if you read all 3 of my reviews, you will see that even with FF7’s short comings, it outshine both FF6 and CT. I can go on for a long time (and have), breaking down each point of each game and line them up side by side by side. And after all of that useless fan chatter, I have only found 3 minor points that the other two games have on FF7. 1: The character attack combinations of CT, 2: The non-random enemy attacks of CT, 3: The fact that bad guy actually wins about half way through FF6. Everything else I can think of FF7 wins with objective examples and citable references. BUT the strongest argument and what keeps this battle going, its about what your preference is, and there is mine.