Final Fantasy 7 Is, Arguably, The Best Playstation Game Ever Made. This RPG Has It All, A Very Deep Plot (For A Videogame), Great Characters, A Very Customizable Magic System (Materia), Great Sound, Great Graphics (Besides The Super Deformed Characters, But Other Than That, Excellent), Tons Of Secrets, Lots Of Minigames, And The Best Badguy Ever In A Videogame-Sephiroth!
Once You Start Playing This Game, You Wouldn't Think That There Was Much To It. Go Around, Destroy Shinra Reactors, Save The Planet From All Of The Mako Being Sucked Dry, Blah Blah Blah..... Soon It Can Fool You Into Thinking That That's All That The Game Is. Not So! After A While, You'll Be Able To Leave Midgar, And Then You'll Notice That The Entire City Is Just A Little Dot On A Vast World. Wow. Soon, You'll Be On You're Way, Exploring, Leveling Up, Earning Your First Summon Materia, Meeting New Characters, And Getting Involved In A Deep Plot, Learning That Shinra's Not Your Only Enemy. It Really Draws You In. And Something Happens At The End Of The First Disc. I'm Not Giving Anything Away But It Is An Extremely Dramatic Scene For A Videogame. Now It's Time To Change Subjects, On To The Materia System! The Materia System Is A Great, Fully Customizable Way To Set Up The Magic And Commands That Your Characters Can Use. All Of Your Weapons And Armor Have A Certain Amount Of "Slots", These Slots Are Where You Place Your Materia. Let's Say That You Want Your Character To Learn "Recover", You Would Place It In A Slot. This However, Also Affects Your Stats, Magic Materia May Increase Your Magic Power, But It May Decrease Your Physical Attack Power Or Defense. Some Materia Boosts Your Stats (HP Plus), But That's All It Does, Etc. Also, Some Of Your Slots May Be Connected Together. With These You Can Make Combos Or Combine The Effects Of Materia. For Example, "All" Materia Lets You Focus On All Of The Enemies Or All Of Your Characters When Combined With Materia. "All"+"Recover"=A Healing Spell That Heals All Of Your Characters At Once. "All"+"Lightning"=A Lightning Attack That Hits All Of The Enemies At Once. These Were Just Basic Examples, You Also Have Summon Materia Which Summons A Monster To Attack, Command Materia Gives You New Commands Such As Steal, Deathbow, 2XHit, Etc. On Top Of All Of That, Materia "Grows" And Becomes Stronger, And Eventually Splits Into Brand New Materia. For Example, "Steal" Becomes "Mug", "Mug" Steals An Item From The Enemy And Damages The Enemy At The Same Time, Whereas Steal Just Steals An Item And Doesn't Deal Damage. "Ice" Becomes "Ice 2" Which Damages An Enemy More. These Are Also Just Basic Examples. How Fast Your Materia Grows Depends On The Item You're Using It On. Some Items Have Materia Grow At A Normal Speed, Some Grow Twice As Fast But Has Less Slots, And Some May Have Many Slots But The Materia Doesn't Grow At All. So As You Can See, You Will Have To Use Strategy To Succeed. Oh Yeah! I Almost Forgot About Limit Breaks! Limit Breaks Are Powerful Attacks That You Can Only Use After An Enemy Has Damaged You So Much. You Gain New, More Powerful Limit Breaks As You Gain Experience, But Your Most Powerful Limit Break Can Only Be Learned From A Special Item. As If All Of This Weren't Enough, Some Enemies Have Weaknesses To Certain Attacks, And Not Hurt As Much By Others.
What Else Is There? Tons Of Minigames And Secrets! Such As Breeding Chocobos (Birdlike Creatures), This ALONE Is As Deep As Pokémon! The Chocobos Have Different Abilities (Some Can Walk Over Mountains, Over Water, Even Both). First Of All, You Have To Catch A Chocobo By Using A Lure, And Then Defeating The Enemies Around It Before The Chocobo Runs Away (You Can Feed It Greens During Battle To Distract It), Different Chocobos Are Different Grades Whan You Catch Them, How Good They Are Depends On his Grade. You Breed Chocobos With "Nuts", The Type Of Nut You Use And Their Grade Will Affect What Kind Of Chocobo Your New One Will Be. Then You Can Feed Them Greens To Increase Their Stats. Why Do They Have Stats? Because You Can Race Them! Fun! You Also Need To Breed Chocobos To Reach Secret Parts Of The Map That Contain Secrets Such As Powerful Materia. As For Some Other Minigames You Can Snowboard, Ride A Motorcycle And Slice Down Enemies, Ride In A Submarine And Shoot Missilies At Enemies, March In A Parade, Play The Piano, Bet On Or Race In A Chocobo Race (With Two Different Courses), Test You're Endurance At The Battle Square In The Gold Saucer (A Casino, Also Has An Arcade, A Roller Coaster, And More), Etc. Wow. All Of That Is Just The Extra Stuff To Do!
At Final Fantasy 7's Core Though, Is A Deep, Involving, Serious, Fun RPG With A Great Plot, Characters That You Actually Care About, An Involving Magic System, And Is Packed Full Of Secrets And Extras, Just What You'de Expect From A Final Fantasy Game. This Is What Gaming Is All About.
