Amazon.com
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
Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Still great after all these years, April 19, 2003
Reviewer: Lisa - Gaming Host (see more about me) from Massachusetts
Final Fantasy VII was the first release for the Playstation, and the advance in graphics and gameplay brought new popularity to this great series.
You play as Cloud, a member of a team of environmental bandits. This rebel group is trying to stop Shinra, an evil corporation, from stealing all of the planet's energy, "Mako".
The leap in graphics between Final Fantasy VI and this one is pretty amazing. Where FF6 was a 2D game with 16 bit graphics, this one was fully rendered 3D graphics. You move your polygonal character through a richly painted "mural" of a world. The sound quality is also much better.
Along the way, Cloud is joined by Barret, who looks and talks like Mr. T from the A Team. Tifa Lockheart and Aeris Gainsborough also join him - both are characters that are found on the FF/Disney blend Kingdom Hearts.
Of course there is a Wedge and Biggs, named after the Star Wars characters. In fact, one of Biggs' early lines is almost straight from the movie. There's a Cid too - he's an airship pilot. This is the Cid they used in Kingdom Hearts.
Finally you reach and meet Sepiroth, and his many forms. The game is very rewarding to play, even though its graphics have been surpassed by later versions of Final Fantasy.
 I DONT KNOW WHAT THE FUSS IS ALL ABOUT, June 10, 2003
Reviewer: Donovan Doyle from Suffolk UK
mmmm.... all the other reviewers said that this is the greatest game ever , is it just me or does this game have bad grafics, dont get me wrong, i like this game, but you dont know if your playing the game right and sometimes you miss charaters because you dont know where you are or what you are doing
 This is where i started to play FF, July 27, 2003
Reviewer: Larry M. Smith (see more about me) from USA
FF7 was my first game to play from FF. Great graphics, very mundane story, and the mini games were very well worth it. This game should be added towards your FF collection.
Timeless., June 22, 2003
Reviewer: rirath_com (see more about me) from USA
Final Fantasy VII is easily one of my favorite games of all time. No game before it and no game since then has managed to pull me so deeply into the story and have me hanging on every word like this one did. The characters, the music, the graphics, the story... it's all golden.
The characters are simply unforgettable. Cloud, Aeris, and Yuffie were my favorites of the bunch. Each character has such wonderful design, half realistic half cartoonish, full detailed backgrounds, and such personality and potential to develop that I enjoyed following everyone one of them.
The music and graphics sticks in my mind like nothing else. They worked so well together. From simple cut scenes to the most glorious of FMV. And unlike today's games that throw long boring FMV in just for the sake of filling 2 DVDs, this game used FMV to make a point so poetically you couldn't help but feel like you just watched an epic film.
I wish I could sit here and just ramble on and on about the beautiful story and the twists, turns, and major events, but obviously that would ruin it for any who still haven't played this masterpiece of a game. I see many, many people today who have never played a game like this and are simply enthralled by today's crop of PS2 RPG wanna-be's and it really irks me. They simply don't know what they've missed and 9 times of 10 simply don't care.
It may not have the 200 hours of today's games, but unlike today's games it's not freaking simulated boredom. It's 30 hours of FUN and story like you've never seen before. This game changed my perspective of how videogames could be, and is guaranteed a lifetime place in my favorite collection.
|
Final Fantasy VII Official Hintbook