Final Fantasy VII
Release Dates: January 31, 1997 - March 26, 2019
Platforms: PlayStation, Windows, iOS, PlayStation 4, Android, Switch, Xbox One
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment, Eidos Interactive, Square Enix
Developer: Squaresoft, Square Enix
Time Spent: 54 Hours 55 Minutes
Jesus H. Christ, where do I even start with this game?
This recent time playing Final Fantasy VII was my 4th time (I think) starting the game as I've mentioned many times throughout the years. My first was back in 1998 with the original PC release of the game. Then I made another attempt, likely sometime in 2000-2001 with the PS 1 version when I lived with Dr. Potts. Then I made another attempt with the PC version before my laptop died a half-death. Then I made another attempt around 2003 where I got to right before heading into the planet to take on Sephiroth in the final dungeon. So I guess this was attempt number 5. I stopped every time for various reasons, both real-world and annoyed with the story, but this was my first time finishing the game.
Wait. This might've been my sixth attempt? I seem to recall renaming Cloud "Fog" and a few other names below while playing on Dr. Potts' PS 1 at his house, which was before we went to college. But I did a lot of the same things that I always do, like rename Cloud "Fog" because I still enjoy 17-18-year-old me humor, but I kept the names for all of the other characters and didn't change them like I had done in the past:
- Tifa: "The Wife" because I thought she was Barett's wife upon her introduction before you can rename her.
- Barett: "Brutus" because he reminded me of Brutus from Popeye.
- Cait Sith: "Mog" for obvious reasons.
That might've been it, or at least what I can remember. I might've renamed Yuffie "Kid" because she seemed more kid-like than any of the other characters.
I talked in semi-length about playing the game on the Steam Deck so I'm not going to cover that again now, but you can read about it here. There were only a handful of additional scenes in the game that required a bit of brain power to figure out which buttons I needed to press since I had some of the more obscure keys remapped (like Insert and Switch), and I certainly wasn't going to be able to play Tifa's piano to earn her ultimate limit break. As evidenced by the fact that I was able to beat the game, there was never anything that made it impossible for me to progress through the game, just an inconvenience that felt unnecessary.
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While playing this time around, I watched Dan Floyd's playthrough in a similar way to how I watched him play through Dark Souls while I played at the same time. And if you don't want to go back and read all of that, I'll sum up. I would play through the game, and then watch episodes. If the episode started with events that I hadn't gotten to yet, then I would pause and come back after I reached that part in the game. True, there were times when something was revealed to me that I hadn't done (like acquiring the "Big Guard" ability for the Enemy Skill materia. And then there was the sleeping guy in the cave and how his special and obtuse mechanic worked. I also watched Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey" series where he does a deep and meandering dive into the translation of Final Fantasy VII, which added a lot of context to the characters, their interactions and motivations, and the general meaning that didn't always seem to come across from the English translation.
There was a fair amount of the game that I did not actively participate in, like the hunt for the golden idol..., sorry, the Golden Chocobo chunk to get the Knights of the Round materia. So I only raced chocobos once. I also only participated in the Battle Square the required one time and only learned Fog's Omnislash at the end of the game, which I thought was more dramatic than earning it after a luck-based draw in the Battle Arena. I didn't focus on everyone learning their ultimate Limit Break, but only if it came about organically. The only walkthrough I did was looking up the safe code in the Shinra Mansion after spending 20 minutes not being able to find the squeaky floorboard for the final part of the puzzle. Well, I did look up when you were supposed to recruit Vincent because I forgot that you didn't acquire him during your first visit to the mansion.
For most of the game, after losing Aerith, I used Fog (because you have to), Cid, and Yufie as they were both characters that I rarely used in the past. In previous playthroughs, I would usually have Fog, Tifa, and Red XIII in my party because I liked having a party full of heavy hitters, and since everyone can learn magic with the materia system, it always felt arbitrary and down to personal preference. Two of the things that made me decide on Yuffie was that one of her early Limit Breaks, Clear Tranquil, was the only Limit Break a character earns apart from Aerith that heals the party (not including the randomness of Cait Sith's 'Slots', because to hell with the chance of a TPK in a game that doesn't have an autosave feature). I also felt that I never really gave Cid a chance, but after leveling Tifa up and her hitting like an absolute beast when equipped with the Cursed Ring and coupled with the Added Effect and Odin materia (found out about this from Dan Floyd), I swapped Cid out for Tifa. I did briefly consider Cait Sith and Vincent, but by the end, I decided on Fog, Tifa, and Yuffie.
Let's now skip to the end of the game, because I feel like a lot of the first 30+ hours are just preamble for who you used in your final party to go up against Sephiroth. I did ask Dr. Potts if I needed to have other party members leveled up for required battles if the party separates like in Kefka's Tower in Final Fantasy VI, and after he said that I didn't, I focused my leveling on my final party: Fog, Tifa, and Yuffie. I had Tifa equipped with the Long Range materia and with Yuffie's standard ranged attacks, I had them both in the back to reduce damage and just in case there were any enemies that were immune to standard melee attacks. I also had Tifa equipped with a maxed-out Cover materia and Counter materia, with Yuffie equipped with a partially leveled Counter materia. I also had both Yuffie and Tifa equipped with the Slash All materia, because why not attack everything on screen given the chance? Apart from Tifa needing the Odin summon, I'm not 100% sure why I had Fog and Yuffie equipped with summons since their base attack damage would usually deal more damage than the damage from the summons; it might have been as a contingency, just in case.
The final series of battles went about how I expected them to go. There was the option several times during the battle with Bizarro-Sephiroth to switch to the other party the game prompted you to create, but I never felt I really needed or wanted to see how the others were doing. I was also oddly afraid that if I switched to the underpowered party and they were killed, then that would mean a game over. So I stuck with my main party heading into the One-Winged Angel fight against Sephiroth.
This battle had me on edge twice since my characters weren't particularly OP and Sephiroth did manage to cast Super Nova twice, which did briefly take out Yuffie and Tifa the first time around. The second time it only reduced everyone to under 500 HP, but I was able to quickly recover and get out of the danger zone. Big Guard was a huge saver for this battle and it probably would have been a lot more difficult had I not taken the time to learn that ability. I did enjoy the final confrontation between Fog and Sephiroth and thought that Fog learning his final limit break, Omnislash, in this manner was so much more dramatic and meaningful than earning it through the Battle Arena. I know it meant that I couldn't've used it against Sephiroth (or any other monster) earlier, but as I was still able to beat him without it, I'm all for having a moment feel more meaningful than easy.
Yes, I am glad that I finally finished Final Fantasy VII. It likely didn't deserve all of the vitriol I've given it over the years, and I recognize a lot of it was feeling that it overshadowed Final Fantasy VI in the cultural consciousness. Yes, the jump between VI and VII is pretty massive in terms of graphics, cut scenes, and visual storytelling, but I still prefer Final Fantasy VI. I also have a hankering to rewatch Advent Children with what new knowledge I've gained from this full playthrough. And maybe replay Crisis Core on the PSP, or buy the remake for whatever system has the steepest discount at the time. I will likely buy the remakes of FF VII whenever they are all released on PC and likely come in a cheaper bundle, then I will play them all on the Steam Deck 3. I think it boils down to that I enjoy the world of Final Fantasy VII more than I enjoy Fog as a required main character*.
*P.S. During Dan Floyd's playthrough, he brought up the rhetorical question of who the mage was in the party after Aerith died. It made me realize that apart from Fog being the fighter, Aerith being the White Mage, Tifa being the Monk, and Cid being the Dragoon, there really aren't clear traditional classes for the characters. Like, what is Cait Sith? What is Vincent? They're just characters without a clear class, which might be an advancement in JRPG mechanics, not nailing down a character's personality and function to their class, but it also just made the characters feel almost interchangeable, that it all comes down to personal preference to who you want in your party, not who you need in your party.
*P.P.S. I also feel like having a reaction to Fog being a required character in your party at all times (except the section when he's in a coma in Mideel, and then Tifa briefly leaving the party) might be unwarranted? I'm trying to think of other Final Fantasy games (apart from the first) when you have more characters than available character slots where you are required to have one character in your party at all times. Are you required to have Cecil in your party at all times in Final Fantasy IV? What about Zidane in Final Fantasy IX? I'll definitely come back to this thought during the next Final Fantasy** game I play.
** VIII, X-2, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, Type-0, XV, XVI...
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