I know... nobody lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it.
Beaten: 2006, 2013 (twice)
Version played: Playstation, PC (Steam), Playstation 3
Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy VII is the inescapable juggernaut of the series. Its characters and story are the most well-known out of all of them. These days the original game is quite dated, but its story and world still stand the test of time in a way few games can.
I first played it in 2006, immediately after beating FFVI. I was in high school, which I bring up mostly to showcase how impressionable I was. Given how much I'd loved FFVI, I couldn't imagine anything topping it — and then FFVII blew my mind.
Back then, I even found the graphics incredible. I didn't grow up on console games, so aside from titles like Super Mario 64 DS, this was one of my first experiences with a 3D game at all. I was mesmerized by it from top to bottom.
In the years since, FFVII has lived rent-free in my brain. I haven't beaten it since 2013 and yet I can still recall virtually all of the major plot points. Part of this is because I've written half a million words of fanfiction for it, but it's also because I've read millions more. FFVII's characters and setting are one of my absolute favorites across any media. I have enormous attachment to each of the characters. I hold the story in very high regard. Nothing before or since has ever hit quite like FFVII did.
It's kind of a perfect storm. The setting is compelling from your first few moments in Midgar, only for that to be only one part of a massive world. The characters are immediately well defined and memorable, with perhaps Nomura's best character designs. The story has multiple shocking twists that build and build. The ending is one of the best.
That's not to say it doesn't have downsides. Some things have aged very poorly. The Compilation takes a perfect ending and muddies it. The sheer popularity of FFVII means that everyone's got an opinion on it, and mine tends more towards old school nostalgia: I like the original story more than anything else they've done with it.
I don't consider FFVII my favorite in the series. But the only game I've thought about even half as much is FFXIV, and I'm the protagonist of that one. FFVII stands in a class all its own, and probably always will.
Favorite character
If you'd asked me in 2006, my answer would have been Vincent, because I was a teenage girl and I thought he was dark and mysterious and really, what more could you want?
These days, Tifa is my favorite, and has been for a long time. Tifa's story isn't perfect — it's inexorably tied together with Cloud's — but she has always felt the most human of the cast. She makes mistakes borne of genuine anxiety and uncertainty. She's kind to a fault. She tries to be the best person she can be, and struggles to reach it.
My runner-up is probably Cloud, who I have always been very fond of. If there's one thing I wish the extended FFVII universe was better at recognizing, it's that Cloud is such a weirdo in the original game.
I really could name half the cast though. Barret, Nanaki, Cid, the Turks, all of them. I love this cast.
Favorite music
Can I just cite the entire soundtrack?
FFVII's soundtrack is one of Uematsu's absolute best. From the sweeping "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" to the absolutely iconic "Those Who Fight," the memorable character tracks, the atmosphere of "Sandy Badlands" and "Cosmo Canyon"... I could throw a dart and hit any track on the OST and adore it. FFVI might have my absolute favorite OST, but FFVII is a very close second.
If I have one complaint, it's that I think "One-Winged Angel" is overdone, at this point, but that's a minor quibble.
Favorite location
The whole world.
I'm serious. FFVII's setting is one of my favorites in all of fiction. Yeah, Midgar is compelling enough on its own, but this is unquestionably my favorite whole world. Each inch is dripping with character — Fort Condor, Costa del Sol, Cosmo Canyon, Icicle Inn, all of it. As perhaps the most modern-adjacent setting, FFVII manages to feel lived-in in a way that most other games in the series just don't.
Gameplay thoughts
With how much this particular game has been extended into its own properties, it's hard to remember that the original game was actually a delight to play. Yeah, random encounters get tiresome, but the materia system allows for almost unparalled flexibility in how you approach the game.
When I replayed the game in 2013, I did a self-imposed challenge run: I assigned each character a job class a la the earlier FF games and gave them a list of materia they could equip that I couldn't deviate from. For example, Cait Sith was my blue mage who excelled in Enemy Skill, Cid was my dragoon who focused on command materia, and so forth. I wish I'd taken notes, because I remember having a ton of fun with it. I almost always max out everyone's limit breaks regardless, so it was a nice way of forcing me to use everyone.
Further reading
