Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

Final Fantasy VII is, to me, the best game ever. A perfect combination of RPG elements, great visuals, memorable soundtrack, great cast of characters, and the best storyline in videogame history, this game never ceases to amaze me.

The first thing I'll review in Final Fantasy VII is it's playability. I know the ATB battle system recieves a lot of criticism, but it is my favorite RPG battle system. You upgrade your stats automatically when you level up, which is customary for most Final Fantasy titles. I'll assume this is a SquareSoft original, because Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VIII have this as well.

The graphics of Final Fantasy VII were the cream of the crop back in 1997, and are still kind on the eyes today. Sure, they recieve a lot of criticism for being blocky, but that was the discovery of polygons being put to use. Pre-rendered CG backgrounds are thrown in, along with some beautiful CG cutscenes. Overall, this game looks fantastic.

No voice acting is made up for with a phenominal soundtrack. Songs like "Under The Rotting Pizza" and "Valley Of The Fallen Star" will be echoing through your cerebellum for days. This game also has various sound effects, but honestly, who hears a sound effect in any game and thinks "Wow, that's really something!" Really, you have to hear this game to believe it.

Finally, the storytelling. To call the story of this game anything less that perfect, or, at least the best story in any videogame is just stupid. It's so goddamn complex, yet, so mesmerizing. Each character has their own interesting story, and the dialogue is so well written. %#$@, the story is beautiful, I can't even begin to describe it. I'm sorry, the story is just too good. Seriously, get ready for a 50+ hour, 3 disk long epic.

I give this game a 10/10 because no other game has made me feel the way this game has. Wow, that was cheesy. If you can shovel out the usual 65-70$ asking price of most retailers, it's worth it, I promise.