Final Fantasy VII
| Final Fantasy VII | |
|---|---|
| File:Final Fantasy VII logo.jpg | |
| Developer(s) | Square Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Windows |
| Release | January 31, 1997 (Japan) August 31, 1997 (North America) October 7, 1997 (Int. version) November 1 1997 (Europe) June 25, 1998 (Windows) |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Final Fantasy VII is a computer role-playing game released by Square Co., Ltd. in 1997. It was the first game of the Final Fantasy series to be produced for the Sony PlayStation video game console, and the first game in the series to be ported to Microsoft Windows-based personal computers. Not counting spin-off or related titles (such as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest), it was the first Final Fantasy title to be released in Europe and Australia, and it was the first Final Fantasy game to be released under the same name in both Japan and North America since the original Final Fantasy. The North American, European, and Australian localizations of the PlayStation version were published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the Windows version was published in North America by Eidos Interactive. Although it is the seventh game in the Final Fantasy series it is not a sequel and offers an original storyline.
Final Fantasy VII is the first Final Fantasy title to utilize 3D computer graphics, with fully rendered characters and prerendered backgrounds. The game was a success, both critically and commercially: it received rave reviews from most video game magazine, and by 1999 the game had sold more than eight million copies worldwide. It became inextricably linked with the console it was released on, leading a journalist to call it "the game that sold the PlayStation." It was one of the first console role-playing games to achieve widespread popularity outside of Asia.
The game incorporates references to a variety of religious and philosophical systems, reflected in character names like Sephiroth (drawn from the Kabbalah) and Heidegger (likely a reference to German philosopher Martin Heidegger), and place names such as Midgar and Nibelheim (both from Norse mythology). Additionally, several references are made to previous Final Fantasy titles, including several character names (such as Cid, Biggs, and Wedge), and the repetition of soundtrack motifs, such as the chocobo theme .
Gameplay
Final Fantasy VII is a turn-based, largely menu-driven role-playing game. During battle sequences, the game uses the same Active Time Battle (ATB) system utilized in the three Final Fantasy games preceding it. Unlike previous games in the series, which traditionally allowed for a maximum of four friendly characters to participate in battle, Final Fantasy VII allows for only three characters to be present in the party at any one time,
Final Fantasy VII's skill system utilizes materia, magic orbs which can be placed in special slots on weapons and armor. Materia allows characters to access magic spells, special commands, and a variety of other abilities. Materia can be combined in fixed number of ways, and strategic use of the Materia combinations can make many battles easier.
A feature introduced in Final Fantasy VI, the "desperation attack," reappeares here in modified form as the limit break. Every playable character has a special "limit bar" which fills up slightly every time the character suffers damage in battle. When the limit bar is completely filled, that character has access to his or her limit break, a special attack which generally inflicts much more damage on an enemy than normal physical attacks.
Story
Template:Spoiler The world of Final Fantasy VII is economically, militarily, and politically dominated by a powerful conglomerate called the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company, which profits from the use of machines known as "Mako Reactors." These reactors pump a special type of energy, named "Mako," out of the planet and convert it into electricity. One of the by-products of the extraction and refinement of Mako energy is materia, a strange substance with magical properties.
In actuality, Mako energy is drawn from the Lifestream, a flow of souls beneath the surface of the planet. All life originates from the Lifestream, and returns to it upon death. In short, the Lifestream is the sum of all the souls that have ever and will ever walk upon the planet. The process of extracting Mako energy literally drains the life of the planet in order to make electricity.
Shin-Ra's management is concerned with the limited repositories of Mako energy available for harvesting, and are fascinated with the idea of a "Promised Land"—a place where the land is incredibly fertile and where Mako flows abundantly. Only a race called the Cetra, or the Ancients, are, according to legend, able to find it. However, the Cetra have been driven to extinction, save for one child, Aeris Gainsborough, whom Shin-Ra has been trying to locate for years.
The city of Midgar, created and run entirely by Shin-Ra, and the location of their main headquarters, is home to a resistance group called AVALANCHE. The game opens as AVALANCHE hires an mercenary named Cloud Strife, a former member of Shin-Ra's elite special forces team, SOLDIER, to aid in the destruction of eight Mako reactors situated in a ring surrounding Midgar.
Cloud shows little interest in AVALANCHE's cause at first. By his own admission, he is interested only in the money. Eventually, however, Cloud discovers the connection between Shin-Ra's ecologically destructive actions and a shadowy figure from his own past, a man named Sephiroth, a legendary SOLDIER, whom Cloud had long believed dead. As Cloud is drawn deeper and deeper into the three-way conflict between Shin-Ra, AVALANCHE, and Sephiroth, Cloud's identity and his past come into question....
Characters
The main playable characters in Final Fantasy VII are Cloud Strife, Barret Wallace, Tifa Lockheart, Aeris Gainsborough, Red XIII (real name: Nanaki), Cait Sith, Cid Highwind, and two secret characters: Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine. Sephiroth joins the party in a series of flashbacks, but he cannot be controlled or equipped.
Important characters in Shin-Ra are Reeve (Head of Urban Development), Hojo (Head of the Science Department), Heidegger (Head of the "Peace Preservation Department"), Scarlet (Head of Weapons Research and Development), President Shinra, his son Rufus, and the assassin-like Turks (Elena, Rude, Reno, and Tseng).
Subsequent appearances
Final Fantasy VII proved to be so popular that several characters from the game have appeared in other Square/Square-Enix games. Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent, Yuffie and Zack are playable characters in the fighting game Ehrgeiz. Tifa appears on a poster in Solaris in the role-playing game Xenogears. Cloud appears as a secret character (in a scene with Aeris) in Final Fantasy Tactics. Cloud, Aeris (as Aerith), Yuffie, Cid, and Sephiroth appear in Kingdom Hearts and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories with the exception of Sephiroth. Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Sephiroth appear in the game Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special. Cloud also appears in Chocobo Racing as a secret character. Most of the characters from Final Fantasy VII reappeared in the four-part spinoff series Compilation of Final Fantasy VII released between 2004 and 2006 and consisting of Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, the CG movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and the original animated video Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.
Locations
The world of Final Fantasy VII is divided into three unnamed continents. The largest of these three land masses, the eastern continent, is the heart of Shin-Ra's power, and is dominated by Midgar, the headquarters of the corporation, and Junon, a major Shin-Ra military base.
The western continent, meanwhile, is notable for its two major vacation resorts, the beach town of Costa del Sol and the Gold Saucer theme park. Several main characters of the game were raised on the western continent, as well. Cloud and Tifa lived in Nibelheim, a ghost town previously razed to the ground by Sephiroth and rebuilt by Shin-Ra to cover up the incident. Barret, meanwhile, lived in the town of Corel until it was destroyed by Shin-Ra in retaliation against a terrorist attack on a nearby Mako reactor. Finally, Cid lived in Rocket Town, and Yuffie lived in Wutai, the ancient village of the Wutai clan of ninjas.
Finally, the northernmost continent is a heavily glaciated wasteland, and most of the settlements on the land mass are largely concerned with research the Cetra, whose long abandoned city is situated on the continent. There are, however, a handful of other settlements, notably Icicle Inn, the site of Aeris's birth, and Mideel, a hot springs town. Additionally, in the far north lies the Northern Crater, where the energies of the Lifestream can be seen from the surface, and the site of the Sephiroth's "reunion."
Musical score
The soundtrack for the game was Nobuo Uematsu's twenty-second work for Square. Music from the game has been commercially released on an original four-disc soundtrack, a single disc album of selected arranged tracks titled Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks, and piano-only arrangement of selected tracks. Popular pieces from the production include Aeris's Theme , a subdued and melodic character anthem, and One Winged Angel , the first composition for the series to utilize recorded voices. Several tracks from the game have resurfaced in subsequent Square (and Square Enix) productions, including Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Fanbase
The characters of Final Fantasy VII remain popular among fans of console role-playing games. Cloud won the 2003 GameFAQs character battle, suggesting that he is one of the most popular video game characters of all time. Sephiroth placed second, and recently got the first place in the GameFAQs 2005 Best Villain Contest, beating Ganondorf from the Zelda series by 16.34%. In addition to the character contests, Final Fantasy VII won the GameFAQs 2004 "Best Game Ever" tourmament by a significant margin.
Versions
The most famous version is of course the PlayStation version, which sold millions of units and brought the popularity of the Final Fantasy series to those outside of Japan. But initially there complaints of poor translations from the Japanese versions to other languages. For the PC release a lot of the text for the game was re-written and re-translated from the original.
Packaging artwork
-
Final Fantasy VII
Sony PlayStation
Japan, 1997 -
Final Fantasy VII
Sony PlayStation
North America, 1997 -
Final Fantasy VII International
Sony PlayStation
Japan, 1997 -
Final Fantasy VII
Sony PlayStation
Europe, 1997 -
Final Fantasy VII
Microsoft Windows
North America, 1998
External links
- Square-Enix official Final Fantasy VII website
- Final Fantasy VII Citadel
- Final Fantasy Compendium Final Fantasy VII Hub
- Final Fantasy VII Shrine
- Final Fantasy Net - Final Fantasy VII Section
by Square Enix (formerly Square) | |||||||||
| Main games | |||||||||
| Subseries | |||||||||
| Other games | |||||||||
| Related series | |||||||||
| Films and animation | |||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
