I played this over 15 years ago and didn't think much of it. Now that I've got more life on me, i see that this is one of the mostwe've ever seen stuffed in a game. This game feels more alive, more real, more sincere than what has come before or after.
At any given second, you can make a long and arduous trip back to a town you've previously visited. It might take an honest-to-god 30 minute walk back to said town. There's a good chance that there will be new dialogue or a new item waiting for you when you get there. Getting Aerith's "Great Gospel" feels such a cheat -- something that should only exist as a rumor. I didn't get it in my initial playthrough all those years ago. This time I did. I used a guide. I did the ridiculous sequence of events to get her final Over Limit. It's thrilling. I imagine there are maybe 10 people who have gotten the Great Gospel without a guide of some sort. Final Fantasy VII is stuffed to the brim with these goodies. Cutscenes that are absolutely vital to understanding the plot are locked behind extremely strange diversions. The best items require you to really hang out with the game and find a Chocobo. It is a game that is inexplicably bigger than itself.
The reason any of that matters is its blend of perfect music, deep characters, strong visual design, and an overwhelming combination of ideas befitting a great novel. The story expands out like never-ending fractals in scope. A lot of people on the internet will get hung on a mere fraction of the game. They will think of it as a vehicle for romance and shipping cute boys. And yes, it's great for that. Some will weigh it as a biting critique of capitalism. Yes, that's in there too. But you, my dear reader, you need to know that the beauty of FF7 is that it is a 100-sided dye with at 10 faces visible at any given second. It is blossoming romance and shattered dreams and involuntary loneliness and crippling double-think and love for technology and fear of the void. Never once does it stop being cool. That's the staying power.
I love this game, and you owe it to yourself to try it one day. And don't let anyone shame you for using those 3x speed, random encounter off, or god mode buttons. Lets mosey.
At any given second, you can make a long and arduous trip back to a town you've previously visited. It might take an honest-to-god 30 minute walk back to said town. There's a good chance that there will be new dialogue or a new item waiting for you when you get there. Getting Aerith's "Great Gospel" feels such a cheat -- something that should only exist as a rumor. I didn't get it in my initial playthrough all those years ago. This time I did. I used a guide. I did the ridiculous sequence of events to get her final Over Limit. It's thrilling. I imagine there are maybe 10 people who have gotten the Great Gospel without a guide of some sort. Final Fantasy VII is stuffed to the brim with these goodies. Cutscenes that are absolutely vital to understanding the plot are locked behind extremely strange diversions. The best items require you to really hang out with the game and find a Chocobo. It is a game that is inexplicably bigger than itself.
The reason any of that matters is its blend of perfect music, deep characters, strong visual design, and an overwhelming combination of ideas befitting a great novel. The story expands out like never-ending fractals in scope. A lot of people on the internet will get hung on a mere fraction of the game. They will think of it as a vehicle for romance and shipping cute boys. And yes, it's great for that. Some will weigh it as a biting critique of capitalism. Yes, that's in there too. But you, my dear reader, you need to know that the beauty of FF7 is that it is a 100-sided dye with at 10 faces visible at any given second. It is blossoming romance and shattered dreams and involuntary loneliness and crippling double-think and love for technology and fear of the void. Never once does it stop being cool. That's the staying power.
I love this game, and you owe it to yourself to try it one day. And don't let anyone shame you for using those 3x speed, random encounter off, or god mode buttons. Lets mosey.