Once again the Final Fantasy universe has another magnificent entry to soak away your free time.
The overall story is like most other FF and RPG games--hero must save the world. But the hero of Cloud Strife is unlike other protagonists, as while many go on a metaphorical journey to 'find themselves,' he literally has to find himself, as odd gaps in his memory, combined with equally odd facts he somehow knows, leaves him not knowing not just who he is, but if he's even real. While the story starts with Cloud joining an outfit called AVALANCHE to battle an evil corporation, the story becomes more desperate as things get out of control and the evil Sephiroth sets about a chain of events that threaten the very planet. Through it all, you meet several useful allies, most of whom will weave in and out of the story line, rather than being static companions. Of course, the beloved chocobos are back, and while there's more to do with them than ever, their use is also ironically less essential than ever. As always, there are sidequests and a host of secrets to be found, including Ultimate weapons for each character. The magic and command systems have been both overhauled and combined, this time with Materia that you fuse to weapons and armor, some allowing spell casting, some allowing new commands (most of which were part of character classes in previous iterations), while others add effects to weapons, enhance character attributes, or give summoning abilities.
The Materia system is the game's best feature--it's so highly customizable, that along with many of the basic materia being purchasable, you can have any character take on any spell or command you choose. Even though only 3 people at a time participate in battles, other characters in the party still garner some experience from the battles, so no one character falls so far behind as to become uselessly underpowered. The cut scenes show a tremendous amount of work behind them--you've just never seen anything close to the visual quality on any previous game/system, and they really add an extra layer of dramatic effect when used in conjunction with the game's most pivotal events. The sidequests offer fair variety of things to do to pass your time, and while some have clunky controls or little payout (specifically, many games at the Golden Saucer entertainment complex), there's something for everyone to enjoy, be it chocobo breeding/racing or the battle simulation minigame at Fort Condor.
You can take some issue with some cut scenes being way too long, and the fact that they're not skippable doesn't help. The story, while entertaining and deep, occasionally gets too metaphysically and psychologically complex for it's own good, to the point that when combined with an overly long story-telling sequence, your eyes glaze over and you just wish it would end. The character of Barrett, a black man, while not outright racist, is at minimum unfortunately stereotypical. In battle, targetting an individual enemy to attack or ally to heal can be very tough, as the hand pointer is very inexact and doesn't always move in the manner you think it would--there's little more agitating than trying to heal a desperately wounded character and realizing you've healed a fully healthy person instead. And seriously, it's time to change the battle victory fanfare. They may synthesize it a bit with each new game, but it's really the same one from FF IV.
Unskippable cutscenes and inexact targeting aside, the game controls well and battles are brief, yet satisfying. There are perhaps too many random battles, but that's forgivable since they provide needed levelling for your party. The graphics couldn't be nicer--they really got about all you can from the PS' hardware. The sound, while pleasant enough, could be better, and too much is repeated. With 3 discs (though the bulk is on the first), you can easily get 40+ hours, and that's without going to any extremes to do sidequests or obtain option power-ups. In short, this is a fantastic, long-lasting debut on the PS for all Final Fantasy and RPG fans to enjoy.