Cloud Strife, an ex member of the military group Soldier, is hired for one mission by rebel group Avalanche. Their mission is to save the world from Shinra.
A corporation who supplies the planet with Mako energy and also leads Soldier. The problem with this is that Mako is constantly draining the world’s natural resources. After the mission Cloud joins the team. Even if reluctant. The story mainly revolves around Cloud and his shadowy past. Although many times, the plot leads off into storylines based on the other playable and non playable characters. This has been one of the main reasons for Final Fantasy’s success.
The depth of the characters and the general amount of game play to be enjoyed. It stretches over three disks. Even though games later on in the series would top this, FF7 is still staggeringly big. Starting off in the slums of Midgar. You gradually move out of the city and explore the world map. There are towns, holiday resorts and even a sunken submarine.
The graphics in the game were brilliant. Although now looking very outdated and mocked by some gamers as being extremely poor. But this was 1997. And at the time they blew the world away. And even today the cinematic bits are quite good. And some of the spells and summons are colourful and spectacular to watch.
Each character wields there own weird and wonderful weapon. Each with different battle poses and animations. The battles themselves were kept the same. Following the old turn based system and random battles. Using three members of your team to send into battle, you and your enemies took it in turn to attack.
This simple system was made far more interesting by materia. Much like magic in previous games, materia gives you the ability to use magic, defence and numerous other skills. And the appearance of the all powerful summons in 3D, brought many die hard FF a bit nostalgia. Alongside favourites such as Shiva and Ifrit, arrived new summons such as Hades and Kjata. These special forces release attacks of unbelievable strength, and work the same way as material. Normal battles are often accompanied by the odd boss battles. These are usually quite long, dramatic and furious brawls. You’ll be seeing a lot of these battles along your journey. By defeating monsters you earn experience points and gil (money). Enough experience point’s leads to higher levels for your characters.
This may be the hardest part of the game. Keeping the patience to train up your team before a big battle. And the random battles can get slightly repetitive. But the result is well worth it when your well built team wipes the floor with a boss.
The FF series has always delivered us with strong, feisty and sometimes downright strange characters, but FF7 tops all of them. In what other FF do you play as a genetically modified tiger like beast? Or a ninja, brandishing a giant boomerang? All of the characters have a secret or back story to be uncovered. And you will want to uncover them. You get to know every character and choose your favourites. And it’s not just your team’s story you’ll get involved in. The locals all have something to say which may or may not help you on your journey.
Basically, FF7 is a fantastic, original and deeply engrossing RPG. It gave us Sephiroth, one of the best bad guys in gaming history. 3d RPG’s and is hailed by many fans as the best FF ever. If this was never such a big hit, we may never have been here waiting for FF12.
Last Updated on January 11, 2023