This is the big one. The game that supposedly blew the U.S. RPG market wide open. Well, if that is the case, then I belive that quality games will never sell here, simply because this game set a poor standard. Too much emphasis was put on marketing, flashy graphics, and what "the next big thing" will be in terms of control and battle engines. It seemed like they wanted to make an action game with occasional RPG scenes. By no means is it a poor game, though - indeed, it was an instant classic - but it just isn't Final Fantasy, in my opinion. It was by far the greatest deviation from previous games.
It features a story that is, at times, tremendously deep. All sorts of environmental, religious, psychological and moral issues are raised. It is the story of what happens to ex-soldier Cloud when he joins a radical terrorist group, AVALANCHE, which is out to destroy his former employer, the all-powerful monopoly company known as Shinra. The characters are forced to confront life, death, sacrifice, greed, madness, devastation, recovery, and all sorts of emotional rollercoasters. Set in a world that is partly gritty and futuristic but partly pastoral and green, it is a beautiful game from start to finish. But...
The only thing that ruined it for me, honestly, was calling it Final Fantasy. If it had been given a different name, it wouldn't have struck me as so radically different. It could have been perfect. As far as Final Fantasy games go, it doesn't even make par. As far as RPGs in general go, though, it is fantastic. That's the tough part about trying to review it.
No Amano artwork is found anywhere in the game. Uematsu's music sounds more synthetic than ever (but it is still very high quality stuff). There are multiple action sequences. It tried to please everyone, and there probably is something in the game that anyone can like. So feel free to browse through what I offer here, and remember that no matter what bad things I say about it, it is still an excellent game. It's just a typical Final Fantasy game.
2600 Release: Movies
Believe it or not (well, you'd better not), this game is being released for Atari 2600! Here is a downloadable movie from the new version (okay, so it's just an animated gif, but it might as well be a movie). Be warned, however. This is a major spoiler!!!
Artwork
Surprisingly enough, Yoshitaka Amano actually did make a whole bunch of sketches of the characters for Final Fantasy VII, but for some reason or another, they were not used in the game itself. The most logical explanation to this is that Amano's character designs would translate poorly into 3D graphics. Furthermore, as you will see, these drawings don't capture the futuristic feel of the game's setting. Still, it is Amano artwork, and I am happy to post anything this genius draws.
Cloud and Aeris.
Cloud and Aeris, again.
Cloud and Red XIII.
Tifa.
Cloud.
MIDI Music
These are not the best reproductions of the music of FF7 out there, but they are the best I have found. This collection comes with a text file describing where each of the few songs available here are played in the games. Of course, this music is some of Nobuo Uematsu's finest ever. Savor it.
The Final Fantasy VII MIDI Collection: A few selected songs in a handy ZIP file for quick downloading.
Information
Lots and lots of text here. You'd better thank me for this - I'm wasting nearly a meg of precious disk space to bring you all this, not because I like FF7, but because it is the most popular game in the series. So enjoy.
The Final Fantasy VII Walkthrough: Part one of two. It's got everything you could hope for. Many kudos to the author.
The Final Fantasy VII Walkthrough: Part two of two. Concentrates on sidequests.
The Chocobo Manifesto: A complete guide to breeding, etc.
Game Shark Codes: Get any item, any materia, any character.
One-Winged Angel: Text, translation, and explanation of lyrics from the popular game track.
How to Date Yuffie: How naughty! A complete guide to satisfy your need to date a teenage ninja chick.
Let's see... This is where I'll put my in-depth review of the game when it's completed. For now I'll leave you with this: Watered-down Final Fantasy is better than no Final Fantasy at all. That's the only reason why I appreciate this game at all. Of course, that's no reason to like a game. Why, I have a friend who once said of the film Face Off: "Watered-down John Woo is better than no John Woo at all." But Face Off was a phenomenally bad film in my opinion. Then again, that's the only John Woo film I've ever seen, so they could all be that bad as far as I know.
You may think I'm just wasting space here, but the fact is that this sort of applies to the FF7 situation. There could be thousands, maybe even millions of people out there who have felt their lives to be incomplete. What these people needed was a good, traditional RPG, but they never knew it. One day, they decided to pick up a copy of Final Fantasy VII, and said: "This is what RPGs are like?" or "This is what Final Fantasy games are like?" and was turned off of both Final Fantasy and RPGs as a whol because they were looking for more of a traditional game. But for all they know, all FF is as futuristic and image-obsessed as FF7. It is a well-known fact that there is an entire army of zombies who have only played this one game in the series. Just think what they're missing out on.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that as a Final Fantasy purist, and indeed as a traditionalist when it comes to console RPGs, I am dissatisfied with this game. As a fan of video games in general, I liked it, but as an RPG fan, I am disappointed. So this will have do to for now until my full review is available for you.
