Retrospective: Reliving your Final Fantasy

In today’s world of CGI and increasingly immersive video game interfaces, it can be hard to understand the allure of a game like Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). With its rudimentary graphics and 8-bit music, it could feel rather primitive to a modern gamer. However, looking past the limitations placed on it by its age, FFVII is a classic in video game history.

The story begins by following the story of Cloud Strife, a soldier-turned-mercenary with a mysterious past who was once affiliated with SHINRA, an incredibly powerful organisation who rule over the world with an iron fist. Cloud teams up with a group of eco-terrorists, known as AVALANCHE, who are trying to stop SHINRA from sucking the lifeblood from the planet for energy. At first, he is purely with them for monetary reasons, but as the story progresses, Cloud becomes invested in the fight to end SHINRA’s corrupt reign.

He travels with the group to find out who he really is, meeting new friends (and indeed losing some) along the way. On their journey, they find that SHINRA have unleashed a power more dangerous than they could have imagined, and they are the ones who must stop the mighty Sephiroth.The plot of FFVII is one that broke the boundaries of its time. Square originally tried to make the game with Nintendo, who had produced all of the Final Fantasy games to date, but were turned down due to censorship reasons. This forced them to move over to Sony, who not only gave them more freedom, but gave them a more powerful machine to work with. Relaxed censorship allowed FFVII to have a grittier storyline than its predecessors, as well as a plot twist which shocked the gaming community. If you’ve managed to avoid spoilers since 1997, it will still shock you today.

Creating the game for the Playstation rather than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) enabled FFVII to have some of the first 3D game sprites, as well as including vocals in ‘One-Winged Angel’, a feat which had never been accomplished by any game at that point. The game was spread over 3 discs, so instead of relying on the space of one cartridge, Square were able to create a massive, sprawling world, with a complex history. The backstory is one of the most fantastic things about the world of FFVII, and it has inspired three spin off games, a series of animated shorts, and a full length movie. Whilst it occasionally feels as though the creators themselves get lost in the complications of the plot, the number of extra works it has inspired shows how influential the game really is.

A plot twist which shocked the gaming community- If you’ve managed to avoid spoilers since 1997, it will still shock you today

FFVII is not without its critics, and very few games suffer as badly from hype aversion as it does. Some people will say that it’s not as good as the reviews make it out to be, which could be a fair comment. The magic of the game can be lost today, purely because of the massive leaps and bounds technology has made since its release.The nostalgia of that first play-through is strong enough to make the veteran gamer forget that what was revolutionary 16 years ago is outdated today. My advice is this – if you are a fan of RPGs with a solid (if somewhat convoluted) plot, real, relatable characters, and a  fascinating extended universe, then the age of FFVII shouldn’t put you off playing this phenomenal game. If, however, the idea of a turn-based battle system makes your blood boil, you’d be best off giving it a miss