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Final Fantasy VII
Asorie's Review


The first time I ever saw FFVII, I was skeptical. I had not been a part of the hype, so the only real thought I had when I started it was, "How can they possibly beat FFVI?" In my opinion, the story and music of FFVII's predecessor were good enough that it was unlikely VII would be able to surpass them. In many cases, though, it did.


Story

Overall, the story was very good. You had your good-guys, your bad-guys, and a little of the in-between people. Only...it wasn't so clear-cut. The "good-guys" aren't entirely good and saintly, and the "bad-guys" aren't entirely evil. This gray area made both the story and characterization much more interesting, as I found myself disliking some of the "heroes" and feeling sympathetic towards antagonists. The only thing that bothered me about the story itself was some vagueness. To fully understand what had gone on, you had to find things like the "secret movie/flashback", and a lot of people didn't the first few times around. As for the widely disliked ending, all I can say while avoiding spoilers is that it was well done. Mysterious, not incomplete, as many say. 		9.0
Characters

I don't think the characterization could possibly have been any better, had all the characters been covered equally. In this sense, VII repeated the same error VI had: ignoring minor/secret characters. Vincent comes to mind as the character most slighted, with Tseng, Reeve, and Shera following closely behind. When I finished the game, found all the secrets, and saw the ending, it still felt as though something was missing. Other than that, characterization was wonderful. I began to understand why certain characters acted and spoke like they did. They didn't just randomly do things; there was a reason. By the end of the game, I really felt like I knew the characters. 		9.9
Music

The music in this game was typical of the FF series-some songs were incredible, and others made you want to rip out your eardrums. Since there's four disks worth of music to the soundtrack, I'm just going to give a few examples to support my rating. First, the good stuff; the stuff that made you laugh, cry, or just say, "Wow!".
1. Aerith's theme- In my eyes, the masterpiece of the game, even when not connected to he events it was heard with. It so perfectly fits Aerith that no other character theme I've heard can compare with it. This piece is also one of the most emotional in the game.
2. One-Winged Angel- All in all, a very good final battle theme. It sounds like the end of the world put to music, and the Latin chanting very much fits Sephiroth. The whole feel of the song just screams "Final Boss!" at you. This is, in my opinion, the most memorable track on the soundtrack.
3. The Prelude- I thought the prelude in this game was very well done, sounding more...I don't know, ethereal than the past ones. It's a classic, anyway, and automatically has a place on the "good" list.
4. Interrupted by Fireworks- A beautiful track, this song is relaxing and sweet. It's another very emotional song, but it's soft enough that I could listen to it for a long time.
5. JENOVA- This is a "Wow!" *^_^* It's very weird sounding, and works quite well for the battles with Jenova. I really don't know how to describe this one; you just have to hear it.

Now, for the *grimace* bad stuff
1. Trail of Blood- On it's own, this is terrible. It's boring, and grates on my nerves.
2. I can't remember the name right off the top of my head, but one of the chocobo themes (plays in Mideel when the little white chocobo is around) is undoubtedly the most annoying theme I've ever heard, even beating VI's "classic"?.
That's about it...there were quite a few more good tracks, and a lot of mediocre ones, but not many bad. 		9.5
Appearance

What saved the rating in this category was the FMV's and backgrounds. I don't really have much to say about the character graphics the rest of the time, though. They were well done enough that you could differentiate between characters, but some things (i.e., the hands) probably could've been improved upon. Fortunately, the backgrounds more than make up for this. The detail involved is absolutely stunning. For the first time in the FF series, houses and villages have very different looks and decor (and people have bathrooms! ;D), and it really does make a difference in the game appearance. FMV's were another major plus. All of them were well done and looked spectacular. 		8.0
Miscellaneous

This category takes into consideration things like battle, magic system, world map, and transportation. The battle system was good; it was refreshing to see a character actually walk up and slash a monster rather than wave their sword around in the air, and limit breaks were just the coolest thing to a rookie FFVII player since sliced bread. When I first played, I thought that having three characters instead of four would be very detrimental, but I was wrong. It worked out fine. As a final battle note, the characters' different poses and such for victory and casting spells and limit breaks was good, as was the fact that they always kept moving and didn't just freeze in place after fighting.
Materia is a kind of a double-edged sword. It was good in its uniformity, level-ups, and possible combinations; it was bad in its uniformity, easiness to find, and lack of change from the basic spells of FFVI. The basic concept was very entertaining and opened itself up to a lot of possibilites ( you could never do something like the Final Attack/Phoenix combo in another game...), but it made it a little boring that everyone could do the exact same thing (like throwing or stealing) by equipping materia for it.
I loved the world map. It was varied, 3D, and took into account things like climate and terrain more than its predecessors. The controllable camera angles were also a lot of fun.
The wide variety of transportation in VII added a lot to its appeal. It had the standard Chocobo and airship, but it also added a land-vehicle, the Tiny Bronco (for travel in shallow water), and a submarine (for ocean travel). 		9.0
Overall

This is, in my opinion, one of the best games ever. It had so many elements, and combines them so well you can't help but like it. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who has never played. 		9.5

- Asorie