Final Fantasy 7

Rating:
Summary: On par with its predecessors
Review: I am an avid Final Fantasy player, having been a fan since Final Fantasy 1 for the NES, and having played each game since, including Japanese versions not released in the U.S. Final Fantasy VII certainly was no disappointment.

Some other Final Fantasy games, such as 2 and 3 (Jap: 6), have better plots than VII; however, VII was certainly very close, and far exceeds the standards of most other RPGs. The plot in VII is more complicated than in its predecessors. Hordes of details are tightly interwoven in a magnificent latice. However, there are some scenes and characters that I will describe, for lack of a better word, as stupid. People who have played the game may recall Cate and the funhouse or Don's House of Love.

The graphics are superb, and the game engine is great. Battle scenes are realistic, the scenery is beautiful, and well-rendered full-screen MPEG videos are seamlessly integrated into the game. My only regret is that the controls in a 3D environment are a bit more challenging, especially if you're using the keyboard.

I can't say I like Materia or the new magic system, whereby a person knows only the magic spells corresponding to the limited number of Materia he or she equips. Furthermore, the game isn't nearly as challenging; I played it all the way through with only two deaths, and there are places to save the game all over the place, which means that even if you do die, you have as many chances as you'd like. The game doesn't necessitate purchasing any new equipment; the gear you find along the road will get you all the way through if you're good at battle tactics.

For the benefit of people who haven't played a Final Fantasy game before, I'll describe the basic workings. The game is an epic adventure centered around one character, but including about 7 others. It requires no coordination to play, since your success in turn-based battle depends on your strategy, not your timing. There is a good balance between the storyline and battle scenes, so you should enjoy the game regardless of which you like best. The game is really something, and it's fairly cheap. If you play one Final Fantasy game, make it this one. If you play two, get a Super NES and play 3 (6 in Japan) as well. Then play 8 or 2, or see if you can get your hands on 5.

Rating:
Summary: Great for adventure gamers and RPG fans!
Review: I've never played the Playstation version of this game and this was my first time playing any sort of Final Fantasy game. I originally purchased it to watch the computer animation but quickly fell in love with the world, the characters, and the dozens of things to do.

You start off playing Cloud (or whatever you decide to name him) and are an ex-soldier now fighting for a group called Avalanche who want to shut down a company called Shinra because they're using Mako energy to power the city. Mako energy is the life energy of every living thing on the planet and once its used up the planet will die. From there you're quickly plunged into a story about love, betrayal, duty, and saving the world.

I easily got 40+ hours of gameplay and the story blew me away. Every time yu think you know what's going on another clue pops up and blows everything else away. There's an even balance between combat and actual RPG where you talk to folks in towns.

This game also has great replayibility with dozens of sub-quests and side games to keep you busy. Can you raise a gold chocobo? Can you defeat all three weapons? Can you find all the mega-elixers? Can you gain the secret characters? Can you find everyone's super technique and ultimate weapons?

The story was amazingly detailed, the characters were all unique, and the game pulled no punches. I highly reccomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Wow...Where to start
Review: I must say that this is the best game i have ever played in my life. It seriously blew me over. I'll give an overview of the game for people just checking out reviews for the game...

~~WARNING~~ Small spoilers ahead, mostly on the first one

Storyline: 10/10 This is by far better than any movie or book i have read or seen. Cloud Strife's life turns out to be a big joke, although he said in a long (and relatively boring) flashback that he was a Class A fighter in Soldier. He really is putting himself inhis friend's shoes. Very epic,sometimes almost made me cry.

Characters: 8/10 Wide variety of playable characters here, who you will be using all of eventually. The only disappointment was Cait Sith, who is a big loser and a lousy combatent.

Gameplay: 9/10 WHOAH. There are so many things to do here, and i sometimes spent 4 hours or more playing this game without even realizing it. There were many puzzles and tricks with your fingers, for example when you need to free Tifa from being suffocated by gas in an execution chamber (why, you will soon find out in the game). And when you are finished with around 3 hours worth of gameplay, theres a whole crapload of side quests and stuff.

Graphics/Backgrounds: 7/10 for graphics, 6/10 for backgrounds.
In spite of this being one of the first games for playstation, they did an excellent job on 3-D graphics here. Backgrounds look like paper mache, though :-P

Music: 10/10 Once again, they dish out wonderful music to stay in your head all day. Within the first week i played this, i was humming the reactor music all day long.

Sound: 8/10 Dazzling spell sounds, pushes, pulls, drops, smacks, and so on. I ate this up.

Fighting: 9/10 Turn based combat to keep you on your toes. If you dont move those fingers fast enough, you get hit. I like it. Only annoying part is thereare a few too many random battles, but there are a very wide variety of monsters to fight.

Script: 7/10 Although there are only text boxes, you can tell the emotion going through the voices whenever someone speaks. Another high point.

Controls: 6/10 Takes a little getting used to when played on the PC. Num pad only.

World map: 11/10 Very original world map, instead of a cursor and a bunch of little dots to choose from like in other games, you are an actual character walking around and ebtering cities. Quite good.

Overall, i love this game. Plenty of things to do, many side things, but dont play it on XP like i did, it messes up near the end so i never got to finish it :(

~~~~~83/100~~~~~ Drum roll please.........B++!!!!! yes, ++ because it probably deserves an A. I love it, buy it NOW!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great Game, Easy to get addicted to
Review: Wow, this is probably the best game I've ever come across! FF7 has a great storyline, nice background music, fantastic battle sequences and short videos, and the characters are very easy to get attached to. A warning: This game can be very addictive! :)

I, being the teen I am, spend a lot of time on the computer and half the time I'm playing this game. I've beaten it 3 times and each game I play I find out new things that makes the game last longer and makes it even more fun. There are a few subquests you can go on, secret characters to get, chocobos (those cute giant chickens you ride) to raise and race, and near the end there are a some powerful bosses called Weapons that you can challenge to defeat (if you want to). I think FF7 is a great game overall and is really fun to play. I would recommend this more to the teen age group due to the mild violence, language, and suggested material (sex). I hope this review has been helpful. Feel free to tell me if it was. Good luck on the game and please don't get too addicted! :)

Rating:
Summary: The best game I have played besides Final Fantasy 8
Review: This game is very addictive with an AWESOME storyline, a load of GORGEOUS FMVs(Full-Motion Videos), and PLENTY of hours of play! The best part besides the awesome graphics and FMVs is the storyline. It is so good that about 10 minutes into the game you are deeply and personally involved and you will be happy, mad, sad or whatever when something happens in the game. The game's characters and storyline are SO detailed and awesome that I still can't believe I had played a game this good! It really grabs you. Man, you will be wanting sequels!!! This is the first real Final Fantasy game I played and it has addicted me to the series!!! PLEASE buy this game...you will understand once you start playing......Let the story begin...

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: In a word: Magnificent! FF7 is one of the greatest games I have ever played. It's not that FF7 does anything different than other RPG's, its that it brings everything you had ever wished for in an RPG together in the same game. It has an engrossing plot that keeps you thinking. The characters are presented in a way that really makes you fall in love with them and find yourself caring about their well-being as the game progresses. The materia element of FF7 is probably the only feature that is a little ambitious and it works perfectly. Each weapon has slots in which you equip orbs (materia) which endow the character with magical abilities or summon abilities. There are many different kinds of materia as well, the trick is to find them all. The battle system is one that has been seen before. There's an ATB system in place as well as an 'overdrive' for each character similar to FFX. Again, it works perfectly and hardly becomes repetitive. There is at least 50 hours packed into these four disks. There is so much to be done and so many sidequests to attempt.
The graphics are archaic by todays standards, however it is easy to overlook them. The characters are blocky and definitely no where close to what is being presented today. But for its time, they were above average. Graphics does not make a game, gamplay does and this is where FF7 truly excels.
For most, this is their first Final Fantasy experience and is probably the most memorable. Again, not that it does much different than other games, FF7 just incorporates so many different elements like story, character development, plot development, numerous and engrossing sidequests with EXCELLENT incentives for those with much time to burn, and just an overall enjoyable experience that any game has yet to duplicate. Im sure most would agree that if a sequel were to be made out of one FF, it would be this one by far, not FFX. The story is THAT good. This game is highly recommended and its only like $9. So do yourself a favor and get this.

Rating:
Summary: Um what do you think the title should be....
Review: Well this may not be my favorite game of the Final Fanstasy series but I still think it may be one of the best games ever made. Squaresoft has once again made and involving game thatll keep you coming back for more. I played this particular version on both my PC and Playstation however I enjoyed it more on the PC. In this game you assume the role of Cloud who may be named otherwise. You are a mercenary who was formerly part of a government type group SOLDIER who is protecting Shinra. In the game you are being paid by an enviromental revolutionary group AVALANCHE. As you start the game you must destroy a power plant that uses Mako energy which is the life blood of the planet. As you get deeper into this very long and involving game the story unfolds to much more entertaining experience. It's packed full of fun mini games plus you get to do alot of funny things like dress up ass a girl ect. The battle system is the typical FF/Square timed battle. Magic is used by aquiering Materia, each Materia gives you certain Magic abilities. The Chocobos are also back along with amazing graphics and cinematics. I feel the only flaw of this game is the sound which isnt so bad. The music is good for a mood setter and is anything but repeptative but sound affects where to me of. But anyway you see it this game is a definate buy!

Rating:
Summary: Well Well Well! Square spins an awesome RPG out.
Review: As was expected this game kicked butt. You, Cloud Strife, are on a mission to save the world from Shinra, the Mako sucking corporation. However, this is not the true plot of the story. That will be left up for you to find... The battle system is very unique. Every player has a charge counter. When that fills after a few seconds, its your turn to do your stuff, whether it's your attack, limits, magic, summon, deathblow, or sense. I'll explain those later. The plot is so thick and rich its wonderfully interesting. Limit Breaks are special moves each character uses. Magic are spells like Fire,Ice, and lightning. Summon are moves that use demons to attack like Ifrit, Shiva, Levithan, and Bahamut Zero. Deathblows are powerful attacks. Sense is a move that tells you what the enemy is and what it's like. I could go on and tell you about the Materia and chocobos but heck that would take ad infinitum. I'll just lay out some characters you'll get. Tifa Lockheart, Aeris Gainsborugh,Barret Wallace, Red XIII, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, Cait Sith, and Vincent Valentine. P.S. Any question e-mail me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: An incredible experience, far better on Playsation than PC
Review: Square's Final Fantasy series of Japanese style "role-playing" games has won legions of fans around the world with its incredible storylines and profound philosophical and moral messages to players. Many people's lives have been changed just from experiencing games from this series. To veteran Final Fantasy players, this game is not likely to disappoint. In fact, the release of Final Fantasy VII vastly increased the popularity of the series outside of Japan, bringing it truly into the "mainstream" market of games (even though the heart of its appeal remains less mainstream).

This particular game is about the subject of "Life," and what it means to live, to exist, to have an identity. The main character, Cloud, represents a major leap in character development for video games. You will laugh, you will almost certainly cry, and you will be amazed. This is an experience you won't want to be spoiled. In light of this, I cannot with a clear conscience recommend getting the PC version of Final Fanatsy VII unless there is no conceivable way you could play the Playstation version. The reasons are that the game simply doesn't play anywhere near as well, the movie scenes are far less impressive, and the music is stripped of its beauty (this ain't no cheesy video game fare -- the CD soundstrack for this game actually reached #3 on the Japanese *popular* music charts!). If you absolutely cannot play the Playstation version, go ahead and get the PC version. The PC version certainly comes highly recommended and easily earns its five stars. But the true experience of this game as it was intended -- on the Playstation -- is really what the fanfare is all about. Remember that you'll be spending a good 50 hours of your time playing this game: experience it in all its glory.

Rating:
Summary: So far, the best RPG in America
Review: Final Fantasy 7 is the best rpg I've ever played (but ff8 is coming out soon)! You play in a world of nature vs. technology, complete with commercial corruption, the supernatural, and a world crisis thrown in. The game is so much fun, it takes hours and hours to finish, the graphics are stunning (especially the full motion movies), and you can explore a huge beautiful world. The music is beautiful too, some songs just set up the mood for the setting, especially towards the beginning in the urban slums. Others are beautiful and symphonic, like the character Aeris' theme. This game is the best! The only problems with the PC version is that the CD's always fall out of the case they come in, and you need a fast computer with 3-D capabilities to fully appreciate the game.