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Reviews for Final Fantasy 7
JEFF's ReviewAfter playing FF7 200+ hours....I sorta got sick of it, and began to notice little flaws as if they ruined the game. Well, they didn't, so now is my chance to write a more fair review of FF7 because I don't think it deserved all of that bashing. Well, here goes. I couldn't quite believe the amount of hate mail I recieved due to our bashing review of the game. I was positive that FF7 was horrible. I was wrong. So, when I started FF7 and when the gentle music began playing, I started to remember all of the good parts of this game. For example, I remembered the parade at Junon and how funny the TV Station Character was when he said, "What the h*ll is that soldier doing?" And also I remembered the gun drill for President Rufus. Afterwards I thought of the memorable boatride over to Costa del Sol, when you find out something very important about Sephiroth and Jenova. Also, I was reminded of the VERY VERY COOL backstory of Cid and the Space Program. Basically, I thought of the whole game. It's not a bad game, and like anything, if you play it for too long, you will get sick of it. Of course my bad memories of the super-deformed characters remained in the game, yet I forgot about the lush 3D overworld. The overworld in this game looks a lot smoother and more colorful than FF8's, and I guess I completely forgot. The FMV's were better than ever, and made the graphics even better. Also what I forgot to say is that the super-deformed characters don't always look like that, because when you engage in a battle, they look like humans...well except Red XIII and Cait Sith... The sound wasn't as bad as I thought either. The "Hurry!" track, which can be found on this game's main page, was very good and set the game's events very well by building up needed adrenaline. North Corel's theme (Barret's home) is pretty dull, but almost everything else is enjoyable. FF7's control was awkward at some parts, and it might take you a couple times to get through a door if it's your first time, but that's being very critical if you make a big deal out of it. You'll be wondering what happens next rather than saying, "This game sucks! It took me two times to get to the next screen!" And also the battle controls are very decent, yet limited. Sadly, I personally think that the battle system was greatly flawed, because of the materia system which left no individuality for the characters. I'll talk about that more. The only thing that gets me upset about FF7 is that once you get Cid, your main party will consist of Cloud, Barret, and Cid, if you want to get through the game easier. First off, the only thing that is different between each character is their limit breaks, which is a powerful attack that your character unleashes once they get damaged enough. That's all. That is because of the materia system. Yuffie could be just as good as Cloud (magic-wise) with a simple materia exchange that takes about 10 seconds to complete. Boom! Yuffie is THAT GOOD NOW. However, there are limit breaks that set everybody apart quite a bit. Let me first say that the ultimate limit break is Level 4 (the highest level). Now, there are three characters whose Level 4 limit breaks hit more than once. Guess who they are? Cloud, Barret, and Cid!! Now when you get them to level 99, when each blow from their limit break damages at a whopping 9,999 (the highest HP damage), would you go to Yuffie for "All Creation" that only hits one time??? NO! OF COURSE NOT! I mean Cloud's "Omnislash only hits 16 times....as well as Barret's "Catastrophe"...not to mention Cid's "Highwind" hits 20+ times! Every other character will hit once, with a few exceptions. Tifa's limit break is WEAK compared to Cloud, Barret, and Cid's, even though it hurts more than once. See what I mean? It's boring being the same three guys, it would've been nice to give the other characters a chance like how things were for FF6. Aside from the materia system and the limit breaks, the game's objectives are very fun and interesting. I'd say the climax of my interest was in Disk 2, when you find out Cloud's true past. Now, there is a high lasting appeal because of the fact that you will want to level up to 99 and get all of the game's secrets, like using a gold chocobo to get the "Knights of the Round" summon, as well as other things. Well, as I end this review I would like to say that I didn't do FF7 justice by writing the bashing review, and it deserves a lot better than that. I'm very sorry. In fact, now that I realize it, I can't recommend this game enough for RPGers. If you've never played this game.....you haven't lived.
POO's Review I decided to write a re-review also, because of all the work I have done adding to the FF7 portion of the page has brought memories back. As I was adding, finding, and uploading pics and cheats for FF7, memories began to flood back into my mind. How could I have forgotten the Chocobo Racing? How could I have forgotten Gold Saucer in general? How could I forget the in-depth plot that unraveled slowly but surely? I did not know why I had forgotten these things. Maybe I had played it too much? Probably. I have played FF7 for almost 200 hours, and I can easily say that those hours were not all spent being disgusted at the graphics, or frustrated at a battle. Most of these hours are considered memories to me, like when I got a grenade for my pathetic preformance at the parade (How was I supposed to know you walk around from the front?), and like when I saw Diamond Weapon torn apart by a huge cannon. Like I said, the super deformed characters were slightly above par, considering the Playstation's poor polygon support, but the battle graphics were much better. I am suprised, now that I am playing through it again, how much those little super deformed characters could express themselves, and were not limited to small animations. There was a lot of character development for some of the main characters (Cloud, Barret, Cid, Vincent), while some were told in your introduction to them. At the end of the game it all comes together and you feel like you really have saved a planet. The FMV's were awesome, almost up there with Tekken 3 and Soul Edge. Although I myself did not like the timing of Aeris's death, I still felt shocked that Sephiroth killed one of my characters. Her death scene included one of the best tracks of the game, and it made it all the more touching. The sound served its purpose well. Except for some dragging themes, the other tracks provided you with the emotion Square wanted you to feel. Controls could be awkward at some times, and the fact that most of the time was spent holding X lowers the score a little. Although the battle system was well developed, the materia system made it seem worthless, because, like Jeff said, it wiped out most chances for individuality. Even though you might buy a different weapon because it has a better growth rate, it did not affect the gameplay much. And then we have the sidequests and minigames. How could Square fit all these into the game? Where else can you race chocobos, have target practice, ride a snowboard, and arm wrestle? The fact that I like the sidequests of FF7 is that they all dont have to benefit your fighting abilities. Getting a gold chocobo means access to many places, including the Knights of the Round Summon. But with that gold chocobo you can lay the smack down on good old Teioh (a chocobo racer), who usually is much better then your current chocobo. Wow. Even after all this I have only just arrived at the weapons. Defeating the 2 final weapons (Emerald and Ruby) can be a hard battle even if you think you are the best. I can now beat Sephiroth in 2 minutes, but going back to fight the weapons still takes much longer.
As you can tell by the length of this review, I have definitely enjoyed this game A LOT. I haven't even begun to talk about the ultimate weapons, or even Yuffie's sidequest. But I must finish the review someday, so it might as well be today. Overall, this game is a epic story told over 3 discs, and its memories will last you a long time
 PAULA's Review The overall plot of FF7 revolves around Cloud (main character) who is basically a mercenary who is currently employed to a rebel alliance. He meets up with a girl named Aeris who adds dramatically to the plot. Of course common to all RPGs you will meet up with other characters. The main antagonist is Sephiroth, who is trying to destroy the world ( a little cliché ). Throughout the game you will discover the characters' pasts. One of my favorite, and in my opinion, coolest, parts was the major sequence that added to the past of Red XIII. When the beginning cinema was over and Barret came out of the train I was shocked. Though I understand that PSX can't support polygons very well, those...things...or humans I guess, were appalling and hard to look at for very long at one time. However, these awful excuses for human beings were not always present in the game (whew), because the battle graphics for the humans actually resembled people. Plus, the rich landscapes of the world-map definitely improved my opinion on the game. And, the anime-based FMVs were really good, but compared to FF8 you can definitely see the improvement. The battle system was somewhat aggravating at the beginning, however, you would soon grow accustomed to it. You would need quick reactions and you would need to make quick decisions of what your character would do in that turn. The materia system on the other hand was AWFUL!!!! It left no room for character development because it was so formatted and strict. And, depending on the materia you equiped a weak character would automatically become more powerful than one of your most leveled-up characters. This portion was absolutely a BIG mistake (this might just be my misled opinion because I have experienced the FF8 draw system and that appealed to me more). The music of the game in my opinion was really good. It didn't always suck you into the mood but it was still good. The classical Final Fantasy music really did come through. The battle music was a little annoying to me but it was lively. The chocobo battles' music, however, was really tedious to have a battle in. The game could be appealing for the first time around, but if you dared to try it again you wouldn't get past half of the first disc. However, throughout the first time, all of the little mini-games were rally fun. The chocobo racing kept me in front of the TV for hours. Plus the whole quest for Knights of the Round would force you to obtain a gold chocobo. That would make you breed chocobos for a couple days.
Overall, FF7 was a great game. It needed to work out a couple mistakes, but for Square's first attempt, it was be awesome. If you are picky about in-game graphics, then maybe you should pass for this one. I enjoyed this one, it was very fun and will be enjoyed for a long time.
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