Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #480 in Video Games
• Brand: Playstation
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Number of discs: 3
• Platform: PlayStation
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Features

• For Sony Playstation
• 3 discs
• 69 page manual

Editorial Review
Long recognized as role-playing games par excellence, the Final Fantasy series gets a technological makeover in this installment (and series debut on the PlayStation). Shedding the two-dimensional graphics and limited sound capabilities of its predecessors, Final Fantasy VII features lush 3-D graphics, beautifully animated "movie" sequences, and soundtrack-quality music. Coupled with the game's intricate storyline, endearing characters, and immense yet highly imaginative world, these new advancements make for a quite an engrossing experience.

The story of Final Fantasy VII centers around a solider named Cloud Strife, who joins forces with Avalanche, a group of resistance fighters, to take down an evil mega-corporation known as Shinra. (The fate of the world hangs in the balance, of course.) Truly epic in scope, this four-disc game requires a considerable amount of time to complete---this reviewer gladly gave up over 80 hours of his life to finish it. But it's definitely a rewarding adventure that every PlayStation owner should consider undertaking, especially since it's now one of the low-priced "Greatest Hits" titles. --Joe Hon

Pros:

• Intricate and absorbing storyline with endearing characters
• Immense and highly imaginative game world
• Special battle system
• Beautifully animated movie sequences

Cons:

• Your friends and family may feel neglected

GameSpot Review
Never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined as well as in Final Fantasy VII. The culmination of Square Soft's monumental effort is a game that will enrich just as it will entertain. Yet, for all the boundless praise it so rightfully deserves, Final Fantasy VII is not without its shortcomings and occasional design problems. These are enough to make some gamers (who are unfamiliar with RPGs, to be sure) wonder just why anyone would bother playing through it in the first place.

This is the most dazzling visual experience to date on any console. Film-quality computer-generated cinematics blend seamlessly with pre-rendered background artwork to create the strikingly realistic world of Final Fantasy VII, both beautiful in its grandeur and terrifying in its detail. The overworld and battle sequences are presented in full polygonal splendor with just a touch of texture mapping for good measure. But you haven't seen anything until you witness some of the more powerful magic spells in the game. Massive dragons heed your bidding, dwarfing your gigantic enemies tenfold; an earth titan tears the ground up from beneath your enemies' feet, flinging them aside like toy blocks. Some of these summoning spells cut to over half a dozen different camera angles as the catastrophe unfolds. Meanwhile, a masterfully orchestrated soundtrack - courtesy of veteran composer Nobuo Uematsu - is a major force behind the intense emotion of Final Fantasy VII. The synthesized musical score hearkens Final Fantasy's golden age on the Super Nintendo, consciously staying true to its roots.

Yet for all its top-notch graphics and sound, truly the best aspect of Final Fantasy VII is the plot that these peerless aesthetics help weave. Join the enigmatic mercenary Cloud Strife in a journey that will take him to the very source of his being in an incredible quest where the fate of the world hangs by a precious thread, threatening at any instant to be torn by the charismatic, tormented villain of the story. Final Fantasy VII's moving plot is influenced by some of the greatest works of science fiction film and literature, including Frank Herbert's Dune, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and even Godzilla.

If you were to strip away the story, scenery, and musical score, Final Fantasy VII would otherwise be very much like any other Japanese RPG you've ever played. You still must face countless random monster encounters while keeping a close eye on your hit points and magic points, and you will witness your characters grow stronger with every experience level they attain. Battles are fought in typical Japanese RPG fashion (albeit with fully polygonal graphics), with your team on one side and any number of opponents on the other. You exchange blows until you or the enemy is defeated. Fights are made interesting with the introduction of Limit Breaks (devastating desperation attacks) and Materia, the curious colored crystals that let your party use magic and other special abilities. Materia can be found or purchased and mixed and matched to create all sorts of interesting effects. Best of all, there are more than enough hidden Materia, weapons, and optional plot sequences in the game to merit playing it through at least twice.

Some have gone as far as to call Final Fantasy VII the hands-down best game ever made. And if you enjoy a good Japanese-style RPG, chances are you will agree. However, Final Fantasy VII, for all its astonishing features, is not a game with the sort of mass appeal that its massive marketing blitz may lead you to believe. For one thing, you can't finish it in a sitting, as Final Fantasy VII will be a solid 40 to 50-hour commitment for the average role-playing gamer. Otherwise, you might be taken aback by the extensive, text-heavy dialogue; there is no speech at all in Final Fantasy VII, in the interest of letting your imagination do a little work. Though you will make many small-scale decisions over the course of the game, on the whole, the story follows a very linear path. This linearity is a by-product of the plot's complexity, however - certainly a respectable sacrifice.

Sony's translation of the original Japanese dialogue is direct and first-rate, much to the relief of Final Fantasy purists everywhere. Nitpickers may identify a very occasional spelling or grammar error ("Off course!" agrees Cloud at the Golden Saucer battle arena), but otherwise this text-heavy game reads just right, flawlessly conveying each character's distinct personality. Even the foul-mouthed costars of the game retain their affronting attitudes, as Sony went as far as to translate certain four-letter words in the interest of staying true to the Japanese script. --Greg Kasavin
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Simply an amazing game.
This was the first game I played when I got my PlayStation, and it's what got me hooked on RPGs. It's also one of my favorite games ever. The story is based around a group of people trying to save the world from an evil corporation named Shinra that is sucking all the energy from the planet. It soon becomes clear to this group of misfits, especially to the leader, Cloud (who is the game's main character), that they have an even worse enemy - Sephiroth, a genetically engineered soldier long thought dead, who has returned with only one thing on his mind: total destruction of the world he believes punished him with his very creation. Now it's up to this group of unlikely heroes to stop Sephiroth from causing the end of the world, even as Cloud struggles to find his identity and uncover the secrets of his own mysterious past. This game has awesome graphics, an incredible story, and even moved me to tears at times, something a video game has never done to me before. I highly reccomend this to all RPG fans. Even you're not an RPG fan, I'd even suggest giving it a try. You might just end up enjoying it, like I did.

Out of the Dark Ages
I'm old enough to remember when RPGs weren't called RPGs. In those days the essence of the game was to move the players about a game board, fighting battles, collecting treasure, and finding clues. Origin's Ultima series was the grandparent of these games - immensely entertaining, but essentially two-dimensional. Among its heirs were the first games in the Final Fantasy line.

This was also a time when computer capabilities and capacity seemed to double every few months. Final Fantasy VII is the result of an inevitable synergy between technology and imagination. Players found themselves in a three-dimensional world where they could wander at will. They were playing with characters that were not only more animated and lifelike, but also had something that resembled personalities. In a very real sense, FFVII changed the gaming landscape, and RPGs reached a new level of credibility.

What is inside is the story of Cloud Strife; an ex-soldier turned mercenary who is drawn into the struggle between Avalanche, a revolutionary group, and Shinra, a rapacious company that is rapidly draining the resources of the planet. Starting out in the city Midgar the battle moves back and forth across the planet, as Cloud gathers team members, accessories and power. Everyone has a history, often mysterious, and an important role to play.

Eventually it becomes clear that the real enemy is a laboratory experiment gone horribly wrong. Shinra's effort to produce supermen has created Sephiroth, who has become one of the legendary villains of the gaming world. Physically beautiful, his mind has been ruined by his knowledge of what he is, and his goal has become the destruction of the world.

The plot is remarkably rich. Within the main story arc are many smaller stories that build the players understanding of the nature of each of the characters. There seem to be an unending number of weapons, powers, and monsters. More than enough material for many replays. The graphics are a bit primitive for our time, but were startling when this game first came out. As your imagination adapts to the imagery, the game becomes truly engaging on many levels. Final Fantasy VII is still one of the best of its genre, Whether you are a student of gaming or an aficionado, it belongs on your shelf.

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Final Fantasy VII is, and remains, a pretty astounding winner of a game -- that I won't dispute. But, call me old-school if you wish, the trends of modern console RPG's annoy me immensely. Specifically, I (and I believe, sadly, I am largely alone in this) prefer a *game* and NOT a movie or novel. I am not against video games, especially RPGs, incorporating developed storylines -- but I am against those storylines usurping as much of the experience as they have in so many Playstation RPGs. During the first 10 hours of gameplay in FFVII, I was in constant dread of yet another annoying "story break," and perpetually frustrated by the feeling that I didn't really have much freedom as a player, and that I was just guiding my pre-designed characters through a pre-designed story and that I was supposed to be made happy strictly by fancy graphics and cinematic interludes.

Final Fantasy III (for the SNES) is a console game that *successfully* interwove story with gameplay, although even that could be a bit much at times. It was also a better story, because it was as cartoonish and silly as your blocky little men. Another problem I have with FFVII is the fact that the storyline aspect of the game seems torn between cliche cartoonism and a more realistic, in-depth feel. I could get into the story of FFIII because I knew I wasn't obliged to take it very seriously. FFVIII felt heavy-handed at times, which under the right conditions would be fine, but the characters and plot were still too cartoonish and juvenile for me to get into it at that level.

I will say that at the very least, the constrictively linear feel of the game loosened up a bit as I got further into it, and that I do feel FFVII has a lot of good things going for it. It is certainly a high-quality game. But it is far beneath certain contemporary computer RPGs, which always tend to offer a lot more freedom and less often suffer from the need to make their games acceptible to little kids. Ultima VII and Fallout 2 come to mind -- two of the greatest RPGs I have ever played.