Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is a video game that consists of 7 releases

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Join a reluctant young hero in this classic RPG for the PlayStation as he struggles to save the world and learn a little something about himself in the process. This game brought Final Fantasy into the mainstream and created an immense level of popularity for years to come.

Overview

Final Fantasy VII was developed and published by Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix) for the PlayStation on September 7, 1997. The game is credited for updating the role-playing genre, and many of today's RPGs use the story-and-cutscene heavy model as a blueprint. The game originally shipped on three CDs. The extra space was required to house the game's pre-rendered video content.

Plot

Final Fantasy VII revolves around a company named Shinra that is drawing energy called Mako out of the planet to power its technology, but this process is causing widespread ecological problems. The main character is a mercenary called Cloud Strife. He is hired by a rebel group called AVALANCHE to destroy Shinra's Mako reactors in an attempt to slow down the planet's decay. Fellow Avalanchers Tifa Lockhart and Barret Wallace join Cloud even after his quest takes his focus away from Shinra. Along the way, Cloud and his group discover that Mako comes from the life energy of the planet called the Lifestream, and when the planet is injured the energy focuses on that point to heal the planet. To make things even more troubling, Sephiroth, Cloud's former partner and the most powerful SOLDIER on the planet, plans to cause a planet-wide cataclysm by summoning Meteor and draw all the Mako to himself to gain god-like power.

Perhaps the most poignant moment and certainly the most well-remembered by many fans of the title comes just before the first change of discs, when Sephiroth kills Cloud's potential love interest Aerith Gainsborough (potential only because there are certain ways to play that minimize her in that role), sparking many debates along the lines of 'Can a Video Game Make You Cry?'
Though RPGs had an American audience throughout the 8- and 16-bit eras, many credit Final Fantasy VII for the genre's current level of popularity, as the game's beautiful pre-rendered scenes and wide scope were quite unlike anything that had come before it. A PC version of the game was later released, and even though Square has developed many Final Fantasy games in the years following VII, fans still clamor for a remake or more adventures from Cloud and the other members of the Final Fantasy VII cast.

Combat

Final Fantasy VII introduced a completely updated combat system. Utilizing 3-dimensional graphics it brought the "old-school" combat systems from earlier Final Fantasy titles into the future. Utilizing Active Time Battle system (ATB), the game allowed players to have a total of three characters in their party at any given time including Cloud as the necessary character being that he is the main character. During ATB the characters action bars would fill up indicating that they could attack. Choosing moves fast becomes a necessity later in the game because if you take too long choosing moves, other monsters would help themselves to multiple attacks towards your party. Final Fantasy VII also introduced the wildly loved materia system. It allowed players to collect magical orbs that contained magic. They would level up along with the characters, getting stronger, introducing better and more advanced moves and eventually even spawing another orb of the same name. You attach materia to the available slots on the two types of equipment any of the characters have on at the time (Weapons/Armor-Bangle), and depending on the types of slots (single/combined) you could create some pretty powerful combinations of magic characters to devastate the battlefield with. For example, a combined materia slot could have the magic "Bolt " in one side and "All" on the other, creating a magic attack that would attack all the enemies on the screen at once. Some of the more powerful materia in the game would actually require many hours of searching or side-questing but were usually worth getting because they allowed your characters to perform some of the more powerful moves in the game.

Characters

Playable Characters

Final Fantasy VII

Non-playable Characters

Development

Soon after the release of FFVI, Square started pre-production on FFVII in 1994. The game was originally planned as a 2D game on the SNES, that was not the only major change to how the game eventually turned out. The Creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi originally intended for the game to take place in present day New York City. Development on the game was stalled, due to priority going over to the Chrono Trigger project that was being developed at the same time.

Development recommenced later on in 1995. The original script saw a major overview, with a detective story theme being cast aside and co-director, Yoshinori Kitase, pushed for the game to go 3Din concerns that the series would be left behind back in the 2D era. Also, it was decided to make the game for Nintendo’s next console, the N64. Though due to FFVII’s ambitious design, Square expressed concerns to Nintendo over their decision to use cartridges instead of a new format capable of storing much more information, called CD-ROM’s, on their new console. This dispute continued and led to Square announcing on the 12 of January 1996, that it would be dropping relations with Nintendo and developing FFVII on Sony’s debut console, the Playstation. A reported $45,000,000 was spent over the extent of the games development.

Sales

Final Fantasy VII was a huge hit sales-wise. In Japan, the game moved 2.3 million units in three days. The game sold a million copies in the US in its first four months.

Original Soundtrack

Disc 1 (71 minutes)

Soundtrack Cover

   1. Prelude
   2. Opening ~ Bombing Mission
   3. Makou Reactor
   4. Anxious Heart
   5. Tifa's Theme RM sample
   6. Barett's Theme
   7. Hurry!
   8. Lurking In The Darkness
   9. ShinRa Company
10. Fighting
11. Fanfare
12. Flowers Blooming In The Church
13. Turk's Theme
14. Underneath The Rotting Pizza
15. Oppressed People
16. Honeybee Manor
17. Who Are You?
18. Don Of The Slums
19. Infiltrating ShinRa Tower
20. Still More Fighting RM sample
21. Red XIII's Theme
22. Crazy Motorcycle
23. Holding My Thoughts In My Heart

Disc 2 (64 minutes)

   1. FFVII Main Theme
   2. Ahead On Our Way
   3. Good Night, Until Tomorrow
   4. On That Day, 5 Years Ago
   5. Farm Boy
   6. Waltz De Chocobo
   7. Electric De Chocobo
   8. Cinco De Chocobo
   9. Chasing The Black-Caped Man RM sample
10. Fortress Of The Condor
11. Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony
12. It's Difficult To Stand On Both Feet, Isn't It?
13. Trail Of Blood
14. J - E - N - O - V - A RM sample
15. Continue?
16. Costa Del Sol
17. Mark Of The Traitor
18. Mining Town
19. Gold Saucer
20. Cait Chit's Theme
21. Sandy Badlands

Disc 3 (69 minutes)

   1. Cosmo Canyon
   2. Life Stream
   3. Great Warrior RM sample
   4. Descendant Of Shinobi
   5. Those Chosen By The Planet
   6. The Nightmare's Beginning
   7. Cid's Theme
   8. Steal The Tiny Bronco!
   9. Uutai
10. Stolen Materia
11. Racing Chocobos - Place Your Bets
12. Fiddle De Chocobo
13. A Great Success
14. Tango Of Tears
15. Debut
16. Interrupted By Fireworks
17. Forested Temple
18. You Can Hear The Cry Of The Planet
19. Aerith's Theme RM sample
20. Buried In The Snow
21. The Great Northern Cave
22. Reunion
23. Who Am I?

Disc 4 (68 minutes)

   1. ShinRa Army Wages A Full-Scale Attack
   2. Weapon Raid
   3. HighWind Takes To The Skies RM sample
   4. A Secret, Sleeping In The Deep Sea
   5. Parochial Town
   6. Off The Edge Of Despair
   7. On The Other Side Of The Mountain
   8. Hurry Faster!
   9. Sending A Dream Into The Universe
10. The Countdown Begins
11. If You Open Your Heart...
12. The Makou Cannon Is Fired ~ ShinRa Explodes
13. Judgment Day
14. Jenova Absolute RM sample
15. The Birth Of God
16. A One-Winged Angel
17. World Crisis
18. Staff Roll

General Information Edit

Game Name	Final Fantasy VII
Platform(s)	PlayStation PC
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Sony Computer Entertainment America Eidos Interactive Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated Square Co., Ltd.
Developer(s)	Square Co., Ltd.
Genres	Add a new genre Role-Playing (RPG)
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Sci-Fi Cyberpunk Anime
Original US Release	Sept. 7, 1997 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	FFVII, FF VII, FF7, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy 7