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Final Fantasy VII 
Release date: 31 Aug 1997
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Mygamer review
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...And I Am A Materia Boy!
You left your birthplace of Nibelheim to join SOLDIER, the elite military division of the world's largest conglomerate, Shinra, Inc. Through years of hard work you advanced through the ranks and eventually worked side-by-side with SOLDIER's most powerful and top-ranking officer - Sephiroth.
That was long ago and much has now changed. Sephiroth has disappeared and you've become a mercenary. Hired by AVALANCHE to assist in their battle against Shinra, you find that Shinra's reactors (designed to extract vital Mako energy from the ground) are actually destroying the planet. Caught up in AVALANCHE's cause, you suspect that Shinra's plans run deeper than just Mako energy, and that Sephiroth is still out there somewhere. You are Cloud Strife and, with your massive sword at your side, you set off on a saga that you'll never forget.
The city of Midgar is home to numerous Mako reactors - and the AVALANCHE resistance movement. Your epic journey begins here with your first covert job for AVALANCHE, and right away you'll notice that the game's cinematic transitions are almost seamlessly to the gameplay. Many of the backgrounds are fixed images, providing incredibly realistic environments, but the characters themselves are fully rendered. You start out by naming the main character (Cloud being merely the default) and as you encounter additional teammates you'll also have the freedom to name them, too. In addition to naming your teammates there are numerous occasions where you're presented with dialogue choices and your responses affect the progressive evolution of the game. One of Final Fantasy VII's many helpful innovations is the Beginner's Hall near AVALANCHE headquarters where interacting with NPCs leads to explanations for most of the basic gameplay.
When you finally emerge from Midgar you will find yourself on the beautiful 3D World Map. From here you can begin exploring the massive game world of Final Fantasy VII. You're free to roam wherever you like and, as you progress through your quest, you'll gain access to additional areas of the world. The map starts out ‘top-down' but either trigger button will change it to a third-person view where L1 and R1 rotate the camera around Cloud. You'll endure numerous random battle encounters as you make your way between towns (represented by small groups of buildings on the map). Walking to representative town structures will load the town itself, placing your party within its boundaries and safe from enemies. Each town has a save point, but on the World Map you can save anywhere by simply accessing the Menu screen. From the World Map you can switch specific active playable members - as the size of your party grows as you progress. You must have three party members at all times, and Cloud is always one of them. This is a great way for users to develop the characters however they see fit; you can switch characters around often to maintain well-balanced group or just level-up your favorites.
Towns are usually safe havens where you can forget about fighting and move about, explore, and gather information at a more relaxed pace. Here you will talk to people, purchase equipment and items and find a place to spend the night. Most of Final Fantasy VII's story and dialogue occurs within the towns and each has a unique musical score that complements the setting and the town's role in the story. The towns are rich with graphical detail and plenty of NPC characters for you to talk to or ignore as you please.
We've all been on side quests and, not to worry, Final Fantasy VII has plenty of them…but how many video games have allowed you inside an arcade? Video game Zen anybody? As you push forth on your main quest you'll find no shortage of distractions. In addition to arcade mini-games you'll also find a battle arena that gives away prizes and even a Chocobo racetrack. You can spend as much, or as little, time in these places as you wish.
The semi turn-based combat is dictated by ATB (Active Time Battle). Each character has a Time Gauge that must fill up before performing any action. After using a character the gauge empties and must refill before that character can be used again; this same rule applies to your opponents. The drawback to this system is that if everyone is recovering at the same time, all you can do is sit (helpless) and wait for their gauges to fill. In addition to the customary Attack, Magic and Item commands, Left on the directional buttons brings up the Change command, where you can move characters between the front and rear lines, directly affecting how much damage they receive and inflict. Right on the directional buttons places a character in a defensive mode to temporarily reduce damage sustained. The 3D graphics and moving camera make these battles some of the best you're ever likely to see.
Possibly Final Fantasy VII's greatest and most versatile innovation is the Materia system. Responsible for many of your spells and abilities, Materia are statistic-boosting magical orbs inserted into specific slots in your party's weaponry and armor. Equipment has varying amounts of Materia slots and Materia growth rates, affecting how long it takes equipped Materia to level-up. Each Materia orb that a character has equipped gains AP (ability points) from successful battles, allowing it to gain levels and become more powerful. For example, when Lightning Materia is initially equipped it provides the spell Bolt, but as further AP is earned the Materia levels-up and finally, when it is born (fully leveled), not only is Bolt much stronger, but you'll also have access to Bolt2 and Bolt3. Linked Materia slots allow two separate Materia to directly affect each another. Again, using Lightning as an example, equipping Lightning Materia in a slot connected to another with an All Materia orb allows you to attack ‘all' enemies at once with the same single spell.
There are two advantages to the Materia system. First, after equipping it to equipment it can be removed at any time - you're never stuck with one set configuration. Second - and most significantly - is that any character can use any Materia orbs, in any combination, and at any time. This means that you're not restricted to having a dedicated magic user, summoner, or healer. Any of your characters can perform any role simply by equipping the appropriate Materia. If you wish for Cloud to perform summon spells, all you need do is apply the correct Materia to his weapon or armor. You can have characters perform the same jobs if duplicate Materia is available.
The Menu screen can be accessed at any time outside of combat and contains everything you'd expect to find and more. Item displays all items that you've picked up through your travels and curative items such as potions and tranquilizers can be used here to alleviate status ailments and restore HP and MP. Magic lets you see what summon abilities, enemy skills and magic abilities each character has - magic and summon spells are dependant on the Materia each character has equipped. Here, spells like Cure can be used to restore HP, similarly to potion usage on the Item screen. Equip allows for the changing of weapons, armor and accessories, and shows how each weapon affects the selected character's stats such as attack, attack %, defense, etc. Status displays all of a character's stats, and what he/she has equipped. Order allows you to switch characters permanently from front line to rear line. You can quickly switch between characters on any of these screens with R1 or L1. Configure provides gameplay and customization options; you can change the speed at which text is displayed and how fast time flows during a battle. Beginners can have time freeze completely when scrolling through items and performing spells, while experts may want time to flow continually. You also have the option to have a fixed camera during battles or the auto camera that zooms in and around characters as spells and abilities are used. You can even change the colors that appear in the four corners of text boxes and on the Menu screen itself. It's a detail not crucial to gameplay but definitely a nice extra touch.
Each character has a Limit Meter that fills up during battle. When it is full a special Limit Breaker move becomes available. Cloud starts the game with a single Level-1 Limit Breaker and, as he fights and gains more experience, increased level Limit Breakers are learnt. You may even earn more than one Limit Breaker per level, in which case you'll have a choice of moves when you select to perform your Limit Breaker in battle. On the Limit menu you select which Limit Breaker level each character uses and view what each move does.
All of Final Fantasy VII's options provide extremely flexible and interactive gameplay. Materia allows near limitless weapon configurations and the game's intricate story will keep you investigating to see it through; you'll discover that every town and NPC has a tale to tell. With beautiful music, graphics and dynamic gameplay Final Fantasy VII is a testament to the evolution of video games.
Review by Dave Kaplan on 31 Oct 2004
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10 |
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