| Let me first start out by saying that this is by far the most fun game I have ever played in my life, so my views may be a little skewed from that of the average player. That being said, Final Fantasy VII (7, for those of you who dont know roman numerals) is a game that any gamer can enjoy. Setting the tone for all the Final Fantasy's to come, the end boss is somewhat of a pushover for a hardcore player, but however, there are sidequests that I have still not beaten with my 3 LV 99's that i have played for 100+ hours. Everyone will find something to like in this game, if it is taming and racing chocobos (giant chicken things) or carrying out all of the numerous side quests to get all of the unique items that this game has to offer.
This game is an RPG (role playing game for those that don't get out often) and like most RPG's, combat plays a central role. Final Fantasy VII features an ATB (active time battle.....do I have to keep explaining my acronyms?) system, as opposed to the turn taking system of other popular games, such as Legend of Dragoon. This means you have to keep on your toes during a battle, and know what you are going to do.
This game takes 1 hour to learn, but infinite time to master, which makes this game have huge replay value. Replay value is also enhanced by a lot of differences in your game depending on who is in your party of three, and what you say to people and what you choose as a course of action. I have beaten this game many times, and I learn something new every time I play through this game (like don't sell all your powerfull items just so you can buy a hotel in a resort town. It does nothing. Litterally).
The first time I played through this game, I was amazed by its complexity, something I look for in a game, because it usually means (as it does in this game) that since the characters have so much that could be different from game to game, they always end up unique. When I say this game is complicated, I don't mean that it takes an IQ of 140 (which I have) (heehee) to play this game. I only mean that there is so much that is changable, it gets hard to keep track of sometimes.
In combat, there are 5 main options in combat. There is always a normal attack, in which your character attacks with whatever weapon is equipped. There is magic, in which you use the power of materia, which are little stones put into your armor and weapons, to attack with elemental magic. There are also materia that allow you to do different commands, like steal, or deathblow, or sense the enemie's strengths and weaknesses. Then, there are summon materia, which allow you to summon a sometimes large and powerfull monster to unleash one large attack on all your enemies. Lastly, you can use items. Items range from curative items (potions, hyper potions, elixers) to items that deal damage to your enemies (bolt plume, fire crystal, dragon fang) to items that perform specific tasks (zeio nuts to breed chocobos).
If you are going to say anything about the combat system of FF VII, you must say something about materia. Materia are magic stones, that, when inserted into openings into armor or weapons (different armor and weapons have different amounts of slots) bestow abilities on the user. For instance, putting an 'ice' materia into a character's sword will allow the user the utilize the spell 'ice', and when the materia gets more powerful, 'ice2' and 'ice3'.
One of the only things that dissapointed me in this great game was that every character has a predetermined weapon type. For example, Cloud can only use swords, and Cid can only use spears. This is somewhat remedied, though, by the fact that all the main characters have many, over 15, different weapons to choose from, and apart from their ultimate weapon, there is often no clear best, with 2 or 3 very good weapons.
Like any good Final Fantasy, there are many sidequests to persue, with many of them having huge rewards. All of the character's ulitmate weapons are obtained through sidequests, and most of their final limit breaks.
A limit break is a large attack that can be used when the character takes enough damage to fully charge their Limit Gauge. For the main characters, there are 7 different limit breaks, ranging from level 1, basic, to level 4, which are pretty much doomsday attacks.
Overall........what is this rating system on? 1 to 10? Hmmmmm....I think I'll have to give it a twelve. Yes, its that good. To get everything, beat everything, minimum 120 hours. I would reccomend renting this game instead of buying it.....unless you CAN'T play for 120 hours in one day. (For those of you reading this who are slow, in other words, BUY IT) |
