It's now in the books! Final Fantasy 7 is now available on the Nintendo Switch EShop!
Final Fantasy 7 is the undisputed masterpiece by Squaresoft. Whether your favourite is FF8, FF6, FFX, or even FF9, nothing in the franchise had the tremendous impact - or controversy - that was Final Fantasy 7. The controversy is that a lot of longtime fans were attached to this franchise on Nintendo platforms. While Final Fantasy 7 was the first official FF game released in the Western market, that didn't stop people from importing earlier FF games by the tens of thousands; or playing games via emulator by maybe even the millions. It marked one of the darkest days for Nintendo fans when a feud erupted between Nintendo and Square, and the two parted ways... seemingly never to reunite. Then worse, Square released by far their most high-profile game to date - it is like your dad dumping your family and getting Rachel Riley. But 22 years later that legendary divorce is finally resolved!
Final Fantasy is back on Nintendo! (I use the Roman numerals here, because they look more important. Pretentious, I know!). The first mainline debut of a Final Fantasy game since Final Fantasy 6 on Nintendo in 25 years! Albeit 22 years late.
The Playstation RPGs were home to some of the best examples of dystopian societies in videogames to date. The two most notable are FF7's Midgar and Solaris from Square's own Xenogears about a year later. Of those two, there is no doubt that Midgar is by far the most famous. A saucer hanging above the lower-world slums below, while on the top corporate entities dominate - particularly Shinra, who owns the power generators surrounding the city.
The story tackles the hardships of poverty, and the unsustainable of finite sources of energy, and how their usage damages the world. The game was brave for its time as well; in the first few hours you'll take part in an eco-terrorist act where you blow up a power generator and kill hundreds in the process, and second where your main character cross dresses to break into a Mafia headquarters (Boondock Saints literally did this about 2-3 years later).
There's an Akira-esque bike scene, with wheel skidding and everything. The arrival into the world outside, which is larger than any FF game before FF7.
The rest of the game follows the digging into various historical elements of the world, including the rise of the Shinra corp, the origin of peoples on the planet, and a very Chrono-Triggerish alien story about visitors from the stars.
Some improvements over the original have been made:
1. There is an encounter off option (Thank you! Now we're as good as FF8 on that front).
2. Load times are GONE, though they left in the fade-transitions, but it is not even CLOSE to how bad it was before. Something different
3. Some graphics are more vibrant (3D, transitions, other non-rendered elements)
IMO, the backgrounds aren't as nice looking as they once were due to stretched out resolution. The fact that they upgraded some and not other parts looks a little off. Of course, I am a person who gets very attached to flawed older graphics - give me the original 8-bit NES Final Fantasy sprites made up of like 72 pixels, not these new "improved" models!
The game is still beautiful to my eye, despite her age.
And for some it's the upbeat operatic "SEPHIROTH!" One Winged Angel that they remember musically. For me it is those unforgettably haunting tunes of the darkest part of the dystopia. They remind me of people who simply live their lives to the fullest even when only misery is possible.
Welcome home!
Last edited by Jumpin - on 26 March 2019I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
