review: Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII features the best storyline I’ve ever seen in a game… It’s a tale of love, hatred between clones, the dangers of technology and magic. Now, when there’s a movie to be seen, Advent Children, serving as a follow-up to this game, you’ll surely understand the story better, specially if you also play Crisis Core, on the PSP, FF VII’s prequel. Back to this game’s storyline, you’ll control Cloud Strife throughout the title’s action spanning 3 CDs (quite an achievement for a 1997 game) and witness as he becomes the Planet’s savior after getting to know him as cold-blooded
mercenary.
The game starts with the blond main character (Cloud) aiding Avalanche (a rebel group) blow up reactors belonging to Shinra, the greedy corporation that’s leading the world right now. As you progress, you’ll find out that each new character who joins your party has his/her own complicated story and you’ll have to vanquish their enemies and get to know their past. In case you haven’t played the game, I could go on talking about it for hours, but I would spoil the experience, so I’ll let you find out for yourself how Cloud and Aeris, one of the most important feminine characters, fell in love. The arch-nemesis of the title is the famous Sephiroth, probably the best designed and the most complex villain I’ve ever seen. He’s pretty quiet, but when he does talk he can be the most diabolical creature ever and his actions are also an argument supporting this statement.
Final Fantasy VII is not to be judged by today’s standards! Keep in mind that it’s a game that was released in 1997 and there are still people playing it on a daily basis, being astonished by its complex characters, huge world and its emotional storyline. The cutscenes are class A, even for today’s standards and there’s plenty of FMV action to watch, specially if you’re playing the PSP version and traveling long distances while doing that. The characters are nothing more than polygons shaped like human beings, but this appearance was a sign of the times, while the battles look decent even if you’re a pretentious gamer. The magic casting and summon animations deserve a standing ovation, being extremely varied and featuring vivid colors, lots of character motion and a visible influence on the foes. Add a couple of hotties (Tiffa, Aeries, maybe Yuffie) in the mix and we’ve got a good-looking visual package, plus an extremely diversified world, that includes deserts, large fields, frozen mountains, underground areas and many other places to explore.
When a game gets you excited 10 years after playing it and you still manage to shed a tear when a very important and loved character dies, that means that you found your ideal game. For me Final Fantasy VII is the best game in the world and I’m not only judging it from my point of view. I’ve done research among RPG fans and there are many Final Fantasy players, Diablo players, Halo 3 players who simply love this title. It’s the best RPG ever created, the best game ever created, because it manages to portray human emotions, beautiful characters and a decaying world that’s sadly too similar to ours. Simply the best title a team of developers could ever come out with….
