Pros: A deep game with an epic story line that's hard to break away from.
Cons: The ending left me with more questions then answers.
The bottom line: My favourite Final Fantasy!
FINAL FANTASY VII (Square, September 9, 1997)

When NetNut came up with the idea of a Insanity write off, one good game definitely came to mind for me, maybe you heard of it before? Final Fantasy 7 was, for many, the introduction to this popular Role Playing series, and some even think this is the best game of this long running million selling RPG's. Why? Who could forget how the main character's struggled to retain his sanity during some intense situations of the story line or the game's scary head villain, eh? Part 7 was also the most impressive major shift in the series thanks to the 3D graphics, souped up CD music, and even the newer gameplay. Final Fantasy 7 was very groundbreaking in so many ways.

Final Fantasy 64?
When the new Ultra 64 (later named the Nintendo 64) game system was being hyped in 1996, Squaresoft was already on board preparing a new Final Fantasy for the next Nintendo machine. Thing's seemed to be going well between the two companies but that all changed when Sony made a deal with Square to release Final Fantasy VII exclusively for the Playstation. The deal was so good that Square wouldn't release any new games for the N64, Gameboy, Saturn, or any other competitor at all. Squaresoft has been well known for making some of the highest acclaimed video games for the Super Nintendo like Final Fantasy III, Secret of Evermore, and Chrono Trigger, so many people were shocked when Square started to make games for Nintendo's new rival Sony and their Playstation but in the end, moving the series to the Playstation was a great decision because this game rules!

Do I exist?
"You want a insane storyline, you got one!" In the game you play in a fictional universe kinda similar to present day earth. You assume the role of Cloud Strife, a former Shin-ra Soldier (or was he?) who is looking for former friend and mentor named Sephiroth that betrayed you years ago. Cloud is currently a mercenary for hire for a man named Barret (a big bad Mr. T lookalike with a artificial gun arm), and he doesn't care if he attacks his former company to find some extra cash, however Cloud has a terrible past that soon comes back to haunt him. Sure, Cloud is as tough as it gets, but during the game his emotional state really comes into question, sometimes you watch helplessly as he goes mad and the man he once respected (Sephiroth) appears to be at the center of it all. Fortunately our hero has two good (and very lovely) friends Tifa and Aeris who support him on his mission, and the three have a strange love triangle too that's fun to watch. Help Cloud and his friends try to stop a fiendish plot by Sephiroth before he destroys the world.

The world of Final Fantasy wouldn't be the same without the magic and this game is no different. The only way to use spells now is by linking special multi-coloured gems called Materia to your characters weapons. Some of the weapons have anything from 1 to 8 slots for Materia so it always a good idea to be awhere of what your weapon can handle. Guys like Barret and Cid mostly have weapons that low slots for Materia while guys like Cait Sith have weapons with high slots that are perfect for lots of those little magic gems. Materia is fairly complex to new players thanks to some stat altering effects but once learned the spell system is really fun to play around with especially if you pair them up for different effects. Final Fantasy 7 is such a deep game that even the Materia can earn experience after each battle just like your characters. The only thing that drove me nuts was I really hated when that goofy Yuffie girl stole all the Materia because I spend a great deal of time to set up my perfect mixture for each person, it was very annoying and that's why she drives me nuts.

Watch the power!
Final Fantasy 7's graphics set the standard for Playstation and video games in general back in it's day. I think everyone's jaw dropped when they seen some of the over the top Summon spells (some of these spells are actually re-created attacks from Final Fantasy VI) in the fight scenes and who could forget all the awesome Computer Generated cinemas that set the mood of a particle moment. This Final Fantasy also has several cool looking 3D bonus games like a Motorbike chase (like in Road Rash), a free snowboarding game, and even some Chocobo Racing. Forget about those cheesy super deformed 8 and 16-bit Final Fantasies, this is far superior looking compared to those in the older style RPGs. The only problem with these character models is that there are super blocky during the map scenes plus some the animations of the battles is a little choppy.

Hear your fate.
Squaresoft does it again and FF7 also has one of the best soundtracks in the industry. Just to get a idea just how big this game is in scale, there are over 50 different music tracks here all together, even the 9 playable characters have their unique music track. Wait till you hear the stuff during the final battle, it's truly awesome! The only thing weak about the sound in Final Fantasy VII is the sound effects, you hear some minor crashes and beeps during battles but yours fighters don't talk at all in this game and some may be disappointed by this (although I'm glad that Cloud doesn't sound like Tidus from FFX, so maybe it's a mixed blessing).

The battle within?
Final Fantasy 7 still remands my all time favourite Playstation game, even though I played over a hundred games for this system alone. I absolutely loved the twist and turns of the story, I liked all the characters (except for Yuffie of course), and I don't even care that the characters look super blocky when compared to the guys in Final Fantasy X. Final Fantasy 7 is not only filled with tons of secrets, but you get a very long quest across 3 discs that should take a large amount of time to complete. I heard there were rumours about a true sequel to the events in FF7 but they only remand rumours at this point but I wouldn't mind playing another and if you haven't played this game yet then you'll be missing one of the biggest gaming events that even eclipses most big movies (including that stupid Final Fantasy CG motion picture that had little to do with the games). Can Cloud fight the battle in his mind to become strong enough to save the world or will he lose himself to the chaos in his head? That's up to you.

FINAL FANTASY VII overall rating: 98/100

For 1 player only
Rated (T) for Teen
graphics: 9/10 ................ great scenery, unforgettable battles.
sound: 9/10 .................. excellent music but some poor sound effects.
gameplay: 9/10 ................ lots of items and materia to discover.

This is part of NetNut746's Insanity Write Off, please read the other reviews from:
netnut746
paulyoungotti
Dbbum
E-kleptic
speeddemon531
cr01
DrDevience
Guildenstern
dedemw

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Starsoldier1 2002 (Ryan Genno)