What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This is Final Fantasy VII, a game that to this day still defines the RPG genre. I’d argue that this game is one of the most influential games of all time, not only in the vein of RPGs, but videogames in general. this isn’t my first time playing Final Fantasy VII, I originally played the game through the Switch port. But because of certain features that the port had (There was an option where it was nearly impossible to game over, for example), I felt like I missed a major component of what made Final Fantasy VII as beloved as it was. And finally, after all this time I finally got around to replaying Final Fantasy VII properly, and I’d like to say that I get it now.
The Active Time Battle system of Final Fantasy VII is amazing, though of course it’s not unique to VII. It was originally introduced in IV, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s a great sense of tension while you wait for your next turn to be available, hoping that an enemy doesn’t do something extremely bad, or kill one of your party members. However, while you wait for your next turn to be available, you’re able to strategize and think of what your next move is, as if the game designates this time for you to think. It’s a really fun back-and-forth that I don’t feel like Turn-Based or Real-Time Combat can emulate. The spells you can use have a MP requirement but also have a number of times you can use them during a battle, which I think is really neat. It means you can’t just repetitively use the same spell or summon over and over again, which provides a nice balance. As well, it reminds me of the Spell System in Final Fantasy III, which is something I really liked from that game. Fun little tidbit about my time with the game, I never knew how to run away from enemy encounters, if I even could. So I fought every enemy I came across.
Obviously one of the noticeable introductions found in Final Fantasy VII is Limit Breaks. Though Desperation Attacks were a thing in Final Fantasy VI, VII is the game where they’re more thoroughly implemented. In particular, Limit Break focuses on a specific meter that each character has, and that meter fills up as the character takes damage. Once the Limit Break is filled, that character can use a special move unique to them. Sometimes they’re offensive, sometimes they’re supportive, it ultimately depends. And that innately is another fun back-and-forth! In most RPGs, you’d want to avoid as much damage as possible, to keep your health and defenses high. But in a way, Limit Breaks reward you from taking damage, especially since the amount of damage taken influences how much of the bar is filled. I also really love how characters can gain new limit breaks as they progress through the game. I’m deranged so I grinded them out as soon as possible for the characters I like, but I appreciate that you obtain most of the limit breaks generally naturally throughout the game.
And of course, how can I not talk about the Materia system. The Materia system is definitely quite complex, and I can’t deny that I don’t understand the ins and outs of it. However from my time with the game, I grew to absolutely love the Materia system. Being able to equip Materia on a character, level that Materia up, and being able to switch that Materia between characters while keeping its level is super nice. It allows for so much easy customization and builds you can properly make. I remember having this great offensive build with Tifa, and a really fun Summoner build with Yuffie. Though there’s even more than just this too. Almost every Materia increase or decrease certain stats, typically HP and MP. Certain Materia can effect other Materia, and equipment can determine how much Materia you have at a time, or how fast it grows. It’s absolutely absurd just how much customization can come from the Materia system alone.
And going off of how much customization comes from the Materia system, I want to talk about this game’s difficulty curve, cause I find it interesting. Though this obviously is a “no duh” type of statement, Final Fantasy VII’s difficulty is intrinsically connected to your engagement with the Materia system. I’d argue that I had a harder time with the last boss of Disc 1 than I did any boss at the end of Disc 2, or the final boss. In fact, I utterly destroyed the last few bosses of the game, while I had difficulty with the bosses in the early game. Obviously this isn’t a criticism of the game, and I absolutely loved being able to shred these bosses with these characters I’ve crafted. I’m just noting that Final Fantasy VII isn’t a difficult game if you understand what you’re doing with the Materia System.
Obviously one of the biggest aspects to why Final Fantasy VII is beloved the way it is is because of the story. And I mean, yet again, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? I mean, partially I don’t know what I can say. This game, yes, has been talked about to death so many times, but I always know there’s at least someone who may see this, and have never experienced this game’s story in any capacity. So even though there’s extremely well known scenes in the game, they’re also ones that I don’t want to spoil because of the previously mentioned possibility. But with what I can say, Final Fantasy VII’s story is absolutely beautiful. Sephiroth is an amazing villain, though I wouldn’t consider him my #1 Final Fantasy villain (don’t worry, he’s second place though). The main cast of Final Fantasy VII is also one of the strongest of the series. Properly replaying the game allowed me to better appreciate characters like Cait Sith and Red XIII. And of course while I wont explain in much detail, I find the themes of Final Fantasy VII to be really beautiful in a way, and the ending is absolutely amazing.
So, that leaves me to ask, why did I not get this game when I first played this game? With how much I absolutely loved my time with it during this replay, it makes me wonder what I missed in the game when I originally played. And I think I understand. As I had mentioned, my original playthrough of the game was through the Switch Port, which had options you could turn on to make the game ridiculously easy. Because of that, I never had to properly engage with the game’s systems or challenges, and that in itself removed parts of the game I would’ve enjoyed otherwise. Alongside that, because I was using those options, It never really felt like I earned the progress I was given. Now that I’ve played through the game normally, I have earned that progression, and it felt really good to actually succeed in the game’s challenges.
And through it all, I definitely think I get Final Fantasy VII now. Yet again, it’s one of the most influential RPGs of all time, and that’s probably never going to change. While it’s not particularly my favorite Final Fantasy, I still absolutely loved my time with this game. There’s so much I absolutely loved here, and I’m so glad I can truly appreciate this game for what it is. I definitely would argue that Final Fantasy VII is one of those games where it is a must play. Regardless of if you like RPGs or not, Final Fantasy VII is an extremely influential game in the entire gaming landscape, and it’s a really good one to boot. It deserves to play played not from just a gameplay perspective, but from a historical one as well.
The Active Time Battle system of Final Fantasy VII is amazing, though of course it’s not unique to VII. It was originally introduced in IV, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s a great sense of tension while you wait for your next turn to be available, hoping that an enemy doesn’t do something extremely bad, or kill one of your party members. However, while you wait for your next turn to be available, you’re able to strategize and think of what your next move is, as if the game designates this time for you to think. It’s a really fun back-and-forth that I don’t feel like Turn-Based or Real-Time Combat can emulate. The spells you can use have a MP requirement but also have a number of times you can use them during a battle, which I think is really neat. It means you can’t just repetitively use the same spell or summon over and over again, which provides a nice balance. As well, it reminds me of the Spell System in Final Fantasy III, which is something I really liked from that game. Fun little tidbit about my time with the game, I never knew how to run away from enemy encounters, if I even could. So I fought every enemy I came across.
Obviously one of the noticeable introductions found in Final Fantasy VII is Limit Breaks. Though Desperation Attacks were a thing in Final Fantasy VI, VII is the game where they’re more thoroughly implemented. In particular, Limit Break focuses on a specific meter that each character has, and that meter fills up as the character takes damage. Once the Limit Break is filled, that character can use a special move unique to them. Sometimes they’re offensive, sometimes they’re supportive, it ultimately depends. And that innately is another fun back-and-forth! In most RPGs, you’d want to avoid as much damage as possible, to keep your health and defenses high. But in a way, Limit Breaks reward you from taking damage, especially since the amount of damage taken influences how much of the bar is filled. I also really love how characters can gain new limit breaks as they progress through the game. I’m deranged so I grinded them out as soon as possible for the characters I like, but I appreciate that you obtain most of the limit breaks generally naturally throughout the game.
And of course, how can I not talk about the Materia system. The Materia system is definitely quite complex, and I can’t deny that I don’t understand the ins and outs of it. However from my time with the game, I grew to absolutely love the Materia system. Being able to equip Materia on a character, level that Materia up, and being able to switch that Materia between characters while keeping its level is super nice. It allows for so much easy customization and builds you can properly make. I remember having this great offensive build with Tifa, and a really fun Summoner build with Yuffie. Though there’s even more than just this too. Almost every Materia increase or decrease certain stats, typically HP and MP. Certain Materia can effect other Materia, and equipment can determine how much Materia you have at a time, or how fast it grows. It’s absolutely absurd just how much customization can come from the Materia system alone.
And going off of how much customization comes from the Materia system, I want to talk about this game’s difficulty curve, cause I find it interesting. Though this obviously is a “no duh” type of statement, Final Fantasy VII’s difficulty is intrinsically connected to your engagement with the Materia system. I’d argue that I had a harder time with the last boss of Disc 1 than I did any boss at the end of Disc 2, or the final boss. In fact, I utterly destroyed the last few bosses of the game, while I had difficulty with the bosses in the early game. Obviously this isn’t a criticism of the game, and I absolutely loved being able to shred these bosses with these characters I’ve crafted. I’m just noting that Final Fantasy VII isn’t a difficult game if you understand what you’re doing with the Materia System.
Obviously one of the biggest aspects to why Final Fantasy VII is beloved the way it is is because of the story. And I mean, yet again, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? I mean, partially I don’t know what I can say. This game, yes, has been talked about to death so many times, but I always know there’s at least someone who may see this, and have never experienced this game’s story in any capacity. So even though there’s extremely well known scenes in the game, they’re also ones that I don’t want to spoil because of the previously mentioned possibility. But with what I can say, Final Fantasy VII’s story is absolutely beautiful. Sephiroth is an amazing villain, though I wouldn’t consider him my #1 Final Fantasy villain (don’t worry, he’s second place though). The main cast of Final Fantasy VII is also one of the strongest of the series. Properly replaying the game allowed me to better appreciate characters like Cait Sith and Red XIII. And of course while I wont explain in much detail, I find the themes of Final Fantasy VII to be really beautiful in a way, and the ending is absolutely amazing.
So, that leaves me to ask, why did I not get this game when I first played this game? With how much I absolutely loved my time with it during this replay, it makes me wonder what I missed in the game when I originally played. And I think I understand. As I had mentioned, my original playthrough of the game was through the Switch Port, which had options you could turn on to make the game ridiculously easy. Because of that, I never had to properly engage with the game’s systems or challenges, and that in itself removed parts of the game I would’ve enjoyed otherwise. Alongside that, because I was using those options, It never really felt like I earned the progress I was given. Now that I’ve played through the game normally, I have earned that progression, and it felt really good to actually succeed in the game’s challenges.
And through it all, I definitely think I get Final Fantasy VII now. Yet again, it’s one of the most influential RPGs of all time, and that’s probably never going to change. While it’s not particularly my favorite Final Fantasy, I still absolutely loved my time with this game. There’s so much I absolutely loved here, and I’m so glad I can truly appreciate this game for what it is. I definitely would argue that Final Fantasy VII is one of those games where it is a must play. Regardless of if you like RPGs or not, Final Fantasy VII is an extremely influential game in the entire gaming landscape, and it’s a really good one to boot. It deserves to play played not from just a gameplay perspective, but from a historical one as well.