Final Fantasy VII

Thoughts

Final Fantasy VII hardly needs any introduction. Considered one of the best video games of all time, it was one of the first Japanese RPGs to become mainstream in the Western market, and redefined video game storytelling. Somehow, I went 23 years of my life without touching it, until I finished Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. Its story captivated me and there were still many months left until the next instalment, so I decided to play the original in between to scratch that itch. It only made it worse!

I won’t lie. Some of the more dated aspects of the game had given me the impression that much of the hype was tied to nostalgia, so I played with a few mods to improve my experience. I specifically went for an enhanced UI mod, a 60 FPS mod, and upscaled backgrounds. I was very impressed with the modding scene; it is still very active and passionate.

Spoilers ahead

The rest of this post discusses some of the major plot points of the game. Proceed with caution!

Missing directions

The first portion of the game is fairly straightforward, but things change dramatically once you leave the city of Midgar. The world becomes huge, and there isn’t much indication on what to do once you finish the current action. This lack of guidance is characteristic of older games, so I wasn’t surprised by it. That didn’t make it any less frustrating. I relied on a spoiler-free guide, which was a great choice as otherwise I would have not seen some important backstory moments that are entirely missable!

Tifa said… what?

The characters are more fleshed out than your average 1997 cast, but unfortunately they are lackluster when compared to current story-driven games. They can be a bit… random at times, which definitely affected immersion. Or maybe I just can’t believe Tifa would casually drop the r-word. 😬 That doesn’t mean I didn’t love them, but I was thankful for my first impression of them being from Remake, to be completely honest.

I do think the English translation might have had some impact here, so maybe it’s less about how the original characters were written.

“So you don’t have a breakdown, okay?”

As you may know, this game’s narrative was deeply influential and set a new standard for RPGs. Pro-environmentalism and anti-capitalism aside, Cloud being an unreliable protagonist was a very unexpected twist at the time. The sequence where he pieces his memories together with Tifa’s help reminded me of modern psychological titles, which I have a special appreciation for.

Final Fantasy VII’s portrayal of trauma and its effects on one’s identity and relationships was way ahead of its time. Not only is there a character that suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and a dissociative disorder in a 1997 game, but he’s also the protagonist. It works incredibly well for the narrative, because the moment you notice something’s off about him, you want to know what’s going on and just can’t ignore it.

I also liked how the narrative was supported by the gameplay, in that oftentimes the party would change based on who was involved in certain events. It really added to the immersion.

Where it falls short

Gameplay-wise, the time-sensitive combat felt more engaging than classic turn-based combat. However, the frequency of random encounters was a bit excessive even to me, a big turn-based RPG fan. I was very tempted to turn them off, but having to create an account on some website just for that made me persevere.

I also didn’t particularly enjoy the finicky controls within the mini games, which sometimes made me feel like I wouldn’t be able to progress past them. Seriously, I spent so long trying to complete the Shinra parade that I thought the game was bugged. Maybe it’s just a me problem.

“Let’s mosey”

Playing Final Fantasy VII was enjoyable not necessarily because of its gameplay, but because of its story. The narrative pulls you in from the first moment that you see Cloud jump out of that train in the opening sequence. You’ll be wanting to find out more about the characters and their motives in no time. Just a small piece of advice: if you don’t want to deal with its gameplay quirks, go for the Steam version, which allows you to turn off random encounters and make your characters practically invincible.