Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

This was the first Final Fantasy game I ever played, and as you might be able to guess from the score, I certainly made sure to play the rest...

~

Pros:

+ Story: This probably has the best story of any Final Fantasy game, and possibly any game ever made. It gets off to a running start, sucks you in, plays on your emotions, surprises you, and keeps up a great pace all the way through - and more than any other game in the series, it feels like the plot was properly planned from the start, without events feeling disjointed or haphazard.

+ Materia: The Materia system is very clever indeed, giving you lots of depth and options to think through, while still remaining accessible and easy to pick up.

+ Setting: Unusually for a Final Fantasy game, the setting of VII is more technological and anime-ish than the others, but I thought it worked really well. The sense of immersion, that you're truly part of this massive, varied world, is deeply impressive.

+ Secrets, Sidequests & Minigames: There's so much hidden and extra stuff to do, you're bound to come back to try and find it all. This game also has the best, most inventive minigames of the series!

+ Swearing: An odd thing to call a pro, perhaps, but it really did make the characters and setting seem more real to me - the other games in the series came off as a little tame after this.

+ Humour: Some of the humour in this game was so dementedly bizzarre and Japanese, it still sticks in the memory after all this time!

+ Levelling: The fact that the party members you're not currently using still level up, albeit at a slower rate, is a stroke of genius that every game in the series should have used - it means you're always free to switch to characters you haven't used for a while without crippling your chances in battle, while still rewarding you for sticking to your favourites if you so choose.

+ Music: Probably the best soundtrack of any game ever made.

Cons:

- Lesser Characters: While most of the characters are nicely concieved and developed throughout the story, some definitely don't have the same level of depth to them as others - having Vincent and Yuffie as optional characters may have been pretty cool, but it also meant they couldn't feature in any cutscenes!

- Slight Rehashing: Of course it's to be expected of such a long-running series, but it does still re-use a fair few elements from FFVI - not that I knew this at the time I played it!

- Dodgy Translation: The game is so very well produced in just about every way, so it's a shame to see some very suspect translation cropping up from time to time.

~

Really, this was a landmark game for its time, and still stands as a timeless game that everybody should try at least once. This is where the series' ambitions were finally realised with the new technology, and it shows through every element of the game. If for some reason you don't have it yet, hurry up already!