There were some RPGs before this one, but no doubt after this game this style got a lot of attention from a variety of players. This game have a complex and interesting story, a charismatic villain and a not so bland main character.
The character development is very simple, we just basically level up, but the magic system is very fun. The planet in this game is a living entity and produces “materia”, which are solidified “life stream”, the stuff the planet gives life to any being. We equip materias in our weapon and armor, and they level up as we kill enemies. Our characters can use magic and special powers depending on which materias he has equipped. The battle system is turn based, as most classic RPGs are, and we find aleatory battles as we walk around.
In the beginning we start in Midgar, a big city full of technology, while in the rest of the world they seem to be between medieval times and pre-modern technology, as it’s common on Final Fantasy titles. This city, Midgar, is sucking the life force of the planet to power it’s machines.
In Midgar the technology is far advanced, they were able to create soldier clones to serve them, and they have super-human powers. Theses soldiers have no family, but they implant false memories in them, so they think they are like any normal person. You are one of those soldiers, fight as a rebel against the Midgar government, or Shinra enterprises, to save nature and the planet, as everything is dying around the city.
Soon you find your true enemy, another clone soldier called Sephiroth that had discovered his origin and rebels against Midgar, using his superior powers to kill a lot of people in the Shinra Headquarters, the main building and enterprise behind the mining of the life stream from the planet. His motives are revenge, and soon after he discovers a menace to the planet and will try to use it to his advantage, bringing humankind to the brink of extinction.
This is just the very beginning of the game, the story is profound and full of details. Everything is grand and ambitious about this game, it was a revolution at the time. I’m glad to see they are doing a remake, this game deserves, it was a masterpiece.