Final Fantasy VII (Switch)

I can still hear the music!

So I finally finished Final Fantasy VII. I bought this game originally for the PSOne back in the early 2000's when I was on a street fair at my grandparents town where they had this game and was the only one I didn't have of the Playstation 1 Final Fantasy games since all the others my parents bought me for Christmas and birthday present after we got our first playstation console (that being PS2). Now, I didn't finish it then. I got to the "final dungeon", but I didn't feel as confident at my capacity to win and everything else that you could do so it drifted away (mostly due to not being able to make time to sit and play since someone always wanted the damn TV). Then when I moved out and finally got myself a PS3 I thought I would give the game a whirl. I got to Junon and the military parade, but got stuck with my OCD-tendencies to 100 % it at a time since I was following a guide. And I returned to it some years after that and it wasn't worth it since I forgot how to play it, but now when it was released on the Switch I got the perfect opportunity as well as it releasing in conjuncture with my summer semester giving me 4 weeks to finish it off. Now, I finished it just after 1 playing it for a total of 25-30 hours.

It's regarded as the best Final Fantasy and one of the best games ever made and I can see it. It begins so strong with some random flower salesgirl walking in the city of Midgar as a train is on its way into a station. From the train the ecoterrorist group AVALANCHE attacks the guards and break into a Mako-reactor owned by the megacorporation Shinra and blows it up. You pay the role of Cloud Strife, a former SOLDIER (Shinra's private army) who turned mercenary and is paid by AVALANCHE to be their big muscle. AVALANCHE is lead by Barret, a one-handed black man supported by Tifa, Clouds childhood friend that put them in contact with each others. After escaping the explosion they head back into the slums of Midgar below the city and tries a repeat on the next day. They are caught in a trap and Cloud falls below the city into a church where he meets the flower girl who will guide him to his own sector if he acts as her bodyguard from the Turks, After finding Tifa who got information from a sleezy pimp about an attack on the pillar holding the city above their sector they rush back and find it enveloped in a firefight as Barret is on top fighting of Shinra's soldiers while the other members of AVALNCHE dies protecting the pillar. Cloud and Tifa runs up the pillar while Aeris (the flower girl tries to save Barrets adoptive daughter Marlene). AVALANCHE fails to stop the bomb being activated and the Turks have kidnapped Aeris and taken her to Shinra's headquarter at the tower in the middle of the city. Cloud and friends escape on a swinging hook from the destruction and climbs to the tower for revenge. They save Aeris and Red XIII (a sentient wolf) from the deranged doctor Hojo, but are captured by the president of Shinra. In their cells they are suddenly released and find blood trails in the tower leading to the presidents office where they find him dead with a sword belonging to the famed SOLDIER Sephiroth through his back. The vice president Rufus arrives and takes control and Cloud and friends escape the city in a motorbike and car and the hunt for Sephiroth starts.

They might look a bit weird, but remember, late 90's PS1 graphics

That part of the game is amazing. First that compared to standard fantasy fair that it is cyberpunk in nature makes it look cool. The music and atmosphere is fantastic and the action of that part of the game is supreme. It helps that it only took me 2 hours to play through that part since a function of the Switch port is that by pressing the R-stick speeds up the game x3. Especially important when I decided to redo the first part at Don Corneos place since why not try to 100 %? You could also give yourself the advantage to always start with "the overdrive" attack or take away random fights. I didn't use those since it took away part of the game, but it was nice be able to quicken up the long summoning sequences. And that explains 25-30 hours instead of the 60 it would probably taken me on my original run. Now, that is interesting since I recall that in Final Fantasy IX to get some secret weapon or whatever you needed to make it to a certain location within 12 hours which was impossible on its original European release since due to the PAL format it would take to long. I wonder if I will be able to with the Switch version. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So what's different from other Final Fantasy games? Like Final Fantasy VI every one can learn magic, but only through equipping materia that you level up by fighting and gaining AP. How much materia you can equip depends on your equipment and also determines how fast they will grow (or at all). Equipment is simplified to weapon, armour and accessory. The materia system was probably another reason I didn't finish it since I didn't get it. Especially since I had a hard time realising that the best strategy is choose 3 main fighters and equip them and no one else. Saves money and materia, especially since maxing a materia creates a new one that you can level up as well. And I got the tips to sell fully mastered All-materia since that would ensure no cash-problems and it did. Feels nice finally buying the house in Costa del Sol. 

So what are the themes of the game? It starts with environmentalism which is all the rage these day. The planet is dying due to mankind sucking it dry due to the megacorporations greed and they treat other human lives as trash, and then the world gets a much more concrete threat in that a meteor is heading for the planet caused by Sephiroth and only Aeris, the last of the Ancients (a highly powerful lost civilisation). Which leads to the most iconic moment of the game which I think best is summerised by the Clan of the Gray Wolf:

I miss those guys

Yes, Aeris is killed and Cloud pretty much goes into depression since Sephiroth almost made him do the deed. And that's due to Cloud being injected with Jenova cells (like Sephiroth and other SOLDIERS), but Cloud was experimented on after the incident that caused Sephiroth go haywire and Cloud lose his memory and made him merge his life with the SOLDIER Zack, that was Aeris boyfriend and the SOLDIER sent with Cloud and Sephiroth. Cloud was only a red shirt that failed to become a SOLDIER and was so ashamed that when they returned to his home town he hid his presence from friends like Tifa. Cloud falls through the lifestream, the very life force of the planet so Tifa and Barret leads the group, but when they find Cloud strapped to a wheelchair due to Mako poisoning Tifa stays and Barret elects Cid, a pilot that aspired to be the first man in space, to lead the group. Cloud gets better after another trip through the lifestream together with Tifa that unlocks his memories and confirms that he is Cloud and not just failed clone of Sephiroth. And as usual this indicates the end game and I just move back and forth until I have enough and finished the game.

I don't have the extreme nostalgia for this game since it wasn't the first Final Fantasy game I played, and I played it way later than it's release. Still I see the fun in it. The first part is amazing, and it's still fine up to the point where Cloud falls into the lifestream for the first time. It gets into aimless meandering and pretty much stumbling upon the next story point. Like me just exploring the underwater section and finding a key. Apparently important story item that I was lucky to find. Obviously people would find it by searching the sea anyway. Also, certain side quest is irritating. Take the Golden Saucer where you can gamble and get the best items of all, but you need first to pay with gil to play and hopefully win GP that you can spend on playing in the Battle Arena to earn BP so you can buy items. I hate that. Dragon Quest got it with buying points in the casino so you could play and they also enabled you to buy items. I get that due to the ease in maxing All-materia and selling it for 1.4 million gil in one go that it would break the economy, but at least skip the play to win GP segment since I suck at it and the most I got was the 30 GP from the Mog adventure that you only can win once. Even though I won't buy a Playstation 4 (or 5) for the remake I hope they fix this mistake. It's annoying. Or maybe there is some scalper somewhere and I missed it. Another side quest is the Condor reactor where you gotta play some real time strategy game and this time it was fine since I had a guide that told me every time I needed to go back to fight off Shinra, but another tip for the remaking team is that they should use the telephone to warn players that Shinra is on the move since running back and forth without a guide to see when it's possible to play it is just obnoxious. My first run I played it twice, first time stumbling upon it and the last mandatory one since I always felt pushed forward and didn't think you could return to the continent until you got the Highwind. But overall satisfying finishing the game.