With the release of this week’s Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, I’m feeling ridiculously nostalgic for the Final Fantasy that started it all for me. Though Final Fantasy VII wasn’t the first of the series released in the United States, it was the first on the PlayStation, the first to ditch tiny sprites in favor of 3D graphics, and the first traditional Japanese RPG I ever played. Clearly, I haven’t stopped playing them since.

This will not be a traditional Throwback Thursday old-school review, but just a trip down memory lane to revisit one of the greatest video games ever made, the impact of which is still being felt today. Step into the way-back machine with me, because we’re about to take a trip to 1997. The PlayStation was barely two years old, and I was fourteen. Final Fantasy VII started out as a weekend rental that my brothers and I picked because we thought it looked neat. Having never played a game like it before, I wasn’t really sure that I was going to get into it. My mind was changed within the first hour of gameplay, and it wasn’t long before we purchased the game, the copy of which I still have today.

Anyone in my age group or older who was a gamer in the late 1990s can testify to how amazing the polygonal, 3D graphics were at the time. Obviously they look primitive now, although not so bad that the game isn’t still enjoyable, but back then, Final Fantasy VII blew everyone’s minds. There is no voice acting, but the written dialogue is still great, if a little silly at times. Final Fantasy VII received overwhelmingly positive reviews when it first launched, including several perfect scores. It currently resides at a 92 average on metacritic.



Gameplay-wise, this game is still as fun as it was ten years ago. Earlier today I popped it in and played up to the first boss, just as a little refresher course, and it was hard to pull myself away. I haven’t played through Final Fantasy VII since I was in college; I used to love to become obsessed with it all over again every year or so, but it’s been about three or four years at this point since I last played extensively. However, I now intend to go back and play once more, which I’ll do when I’m not busy playing Crisis Core.

The battles, of course, are random and turned-based, and unlike other entries in the Final Fantasy series, only three characters can be in a party at once. As with most other RPGs a combination of attacks and magic is used to take down enemies. Final Fantasy also employed the use of summons, which was pretty damn amazing, especially since I had never seen anything like that at the time. The summon animations were incredible, with some of them being over a minute long. Sure, you might be over it by the twentieth time you deployed Knights of the Round, but that first time? Jaw-dropping.



What really made Final Fantasy VII so memorable, though, were the characters and the story. There was something completely loveable about this group of people who were dedicated to saving the world from a corrupt power company and a supremely evil and terrifying villain bent on the planet’s destruction. Though Cloud just seems like another emotionless mercenary at first, he soon proves that he is so much more, and is a very worthy protagonist. The ladies in the game, Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie, are all intelligent, strong fighters. Vincent, who is actually a secret character in the game and not even necessary to complete the story, has become a cult favorite and even got his own PS2 adventure, Dirge of Cerberus. (Though personally, I don’t think that one quite lived up to the Final Fantasy name, so let’s move on).

And then there’s Sephiroth—quite possibly the most frightening villain of all time. He’s merciless and cold, and has just as complex a backstory as anyone else in the game. Some moments with him were terrifying, and hearing his theme song still sends a shiver down my spine.



I could go on for days about every individual character in the game and what makes him or her great, but there’s really no need. Suffice it to say that this game would not have the extreme fanbase that it does if there wasn’t something really special about the world it created. Final Fantasy VII also had an emotional impact that, for me, no game since has matched—I don’t know if I still have to say “spoiler warning” after ten years, but let’s just say that the end of the first disc is absolutely heartbreaking.



At this point in video game history, it’s kind of cliché to call Final Fantasy VII your all-time favorite game, or say that it’s the greatest game ever made. Non-RPG fans and general haters will be quick to shoot you down, citing the game’s blocky visuals or melodramatic storyline as reasons not to love it. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, though; to me, this will always be one of the greatest games that ever existed.

Some gamers don’t understand why I’m constantly hoping for a next-gen or handheld remake of this game, and I get it. The Final Fantasy series, and RPGs in general, are not for everyone, and that’s fine. However, I would like to see this game made more readily available to younger generations of gamers, or anyone who missed out the first time around—not everyone had a PlayStation, after all, and original copies of this game are going for more than the original retail price on ebay. Also, and this is just me being a crazy fan here, I would love to see Final Fantasy VII remade frame for frame on the PS3 with next-gen graphics. I know I’m not the only one, but I doubt this will ever happen, sadly. Although with Square Enix having already remade the first six Final Fantasy games, who knows?

Final Fantasy VII had a huge impact on the history of video games, most notably making RPGs more mainstream in the United States, which they had never really been before. But what I care even more about than what FFVII did for the industry is what it meant to me. This game changed the way I looked at video games forever, it turned me on to role-playing games in general, and it introduced me to the world of Final Fantasy, which I have since spent countless hours immersed in. It also showed me that I could go outside my box that had previously consisted of platformers, adventure games, and the occasional first-person shooter and enjoy something completely different. It’s largely because of Final Fantasy VII that I have become the gamer I am today, and no game since has had that kind of impact on me. And that is why, my friends, Final Fantasy VII remains one of my absolute favorite games of all time.

Related Articles:

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (Hour One)

Final Fantasy VII Remake

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