Final Fantasy [Part 2] - Final Fantasy 7 + compliation
Recently, there was a big announcement at E3 that there is going to be a remake of Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy VII holds a special place in my heart since I highly enjoyed it when I played it as a teen. Since its popularity is so huge that for its 10th anniversary it has its own movie, ovas, novellas, and spin off games. Its 2015 now and in 2 years, 2017, it will be the game's 20th anniversary. I've seen people play it, and I plan on replaying the old game as well as playing the remake. This post is just me writing my thoughts on this game and its spin offs. Its a lot to cover and talk about so I will need to give this game its own post amongst my FF series posts. There will be spoilers as I will recap the story.
So lets begin with the original game, Final Fantasy VII for Playstation. The first FF game for PS1 and the first FF game to be 3D. Graphics wise its a pretty noticeable improvement and change from the previous FF games. Looking back to it, its a little funny as it still maintain the rpg style isometric kind of perspective since the camera is mostly far away making the character look small on the screen. But the camera tends to be still unlike the old rpgs where the camera follows the character, and is always centered. Though there are occasionally more unique camera angles which can sometime make it difficult to move the character. Also the 3D model of the characters are still smaller (chibi) low polygon versions of themselves. However in battle mode the 3D models are realistically sized with decent rendering. The game's backgrounds and levels look good even to this day in my opinion. I believe this is the first game that Yoshitaka Amano isn't the character designer for. Tetsuya Nomura is the one directing and designing the characters for this game. Despite that, I think Amano's style is quite prevalent in the FF series since his style is delicate, detailed, and tend to make males feminine looking since they don't differ much for his females.
The setting is more scifi like than fantasy due to more modern technology like trains, cars, and cellphones. Storywise I do think its quite unique due to the tricks, and characters. By tricks I mean illusions that make you think the fake is real. As a teen I for sure got confused by some of the tricks, but it did not deter my enjoyment or understanding of the game as the tricks didn't make a huge difference in the story. Despite how brooding Cloud and the story is known to be the game itself doesn't take itself seriously. It has some great humor and such that it balances out the darker parts of the story.
The story starts in a city called Midgar that is run by Shinra Electric Power Company that produces electricity, and also has a military force with an elite group called SOLDIER. The protagonist is name Cloud Strife who is an ex-SOLDIER member who joins the anti-Shinra terrorist group called AVALANCHE. They believe Shinra is hurting the planet with their Mako reactors which are like a fusion of power plants and oil drilling. The reactors harvest mako energy from the lifestream to make electricity. The lifestream is like the planet's blood, it heals the planet's wounds and is where the dead goes to. Cloud is only part of the group for the money rather than to save the planet. He acts rather cold and cocky. From time to time he has a voice in his head that disturbs him. He helps AVALANCHE destroy the reactors in Midgar, and meets Aerith when he gets separated from the group. Aerith is eventually taken to Shinra, so Cloud and co goes to rescue her. Cloud sees a headless JENOVA in Shinra, and frees Red XIII and Aerith before they get captured and locked up in cells. Cloud and co learns that Aerith is the last Ancient and is the key to finding the Promised Land. Shortly they are freed from their cells when Sephiroth appears and kills the president of Shinra. Cloud and co escape Midgar.
Sephiroth is thought to be dead, but since its false Cloud wants to go after him to take revenge on what he did to his hometown and the others follow suit. Tifa is like Cloud's childhood friend as they were from the same town as well as neighbors. She's also part of AVALANCHE and the one who told Cloud to join. She was also there when Sephiroth destroyed their hometown, and she is troubled when Cloud tells the group of what happened. Sephiroth is the famed hero of Shinra's elite SOLDIER 1st class. Cloud explains that he and Sephiroth were sent to his hometown to investigate the Mako reactor only for Sephiroth is discover his past. He learns that Jenova is his mother as he reads the data in the Shinra owned mansion in town. Jenova is said to be an Ancient, an extinct race of people that protected the planet and the humans from an extraterrestrial threat. Sephiroth goes insane and wants to exact revenge on the betrayal of humans. He kills the towns people, and burns the town to the ground. Cloud found him in the reactor, and fought him till he falls into the abyss of the reactor. After explaining, Cloud and co travel around the planet searching for Sephiroth as a man in a black cape. Along the way they fight against pieces of JENOVA. At one point, the party goes to Nibelheim, Cloud and Tifa's hometown, to find it not in ashes but rebuilt and filled with people hired by Shinra to be the townspeople. There are also people in black capes who are called Sephiroth clones with numbers tattooed on them. They talk weirdly of a reunion with Sephiroth. The party meets Sephiroth in the mansion. Cloud and co continue to follow him to Rocket Town where they meet Cid. Shinra is there as well, and we learn they are also chasing after Sephiroth.We learn Sephiroth is trying to get his hands on a dangerous magic called Black Materia. Cloud and co were able to obtain the Black Materia before Sephiroth, but Cloud handed it over to Sephiroth. Cloud was being controlled and starts to not trust himself. With a dangerous materia in Sephiroth's hands, Aerith summons Holy but loses her life to Sephiroth. Sephiroth tells them he'll be at the north crater, and so you head there to find the numbered black cape people dying. You fight the last Jenova boss, and Cloud learns that it was Jenova disguising itself as Sephiroth this whole time. Also Cloud now has the Black Materia back. They head in further into the crater where Sephiroth shows Cloud and illusion of the time in Nibelheim and showed him the truth as well as lies. He tries to convince Cloud that he's a clone and has Tifa's memories. This is where the story can get confusing. I didn't know what was true or lies the first time I played this. Rufus, the president of Shinra, Hojo, and Scarlet were following Sephiroth to find the Promise land. They are also in the crater, and Cloud and co suddenly reappear before them. Cloud entrusted one party member to keep the Black Materia safe, but Sephiroth was able to trick that person into giving it back to Cloud. Hojo explains that the Reunion was an experiment of his. He planted Jenova cells into people thinking they will are reunited back to Jenova that was stored in Shinra. However Sephiroth was controlling them, and Hojo had no idea where the clones where going until now. Cloud isn't himself and hands the Black Materia to the real Sephiroth who summon Meteor. The rest of the people quickly escaped the crater with Rufus on his airship.
Summoning meteor also has awoken the Weapons, big monsters made by the planet. A huge light comes out of the crater and the Weapons flew out of it. Next we see Tifa's dream of the time she found Cloud in Midgar. Tifa wakes up and Barret fills her in that the Weapons have been aggressive, and a huge meteor is in the sky. The gang are in Junon and then gets attacked by a Weapon. They take Shinra's airship to escape. The gang plans to save the planet though they are worried about Cloud since he's missing or presumed dead. With an airship the gang can go anywhere, and will eventually arrive in a town where Tifa overhears about a spikey headed guy that washed up on shore. Cloud is safe but he has Mako poisoning which makes him unresponsive. Tifa decides to leave the gang to stay by Cloud's side. The rest of the gang makes Cid lead them till Cloud gets better. They learn through Cait Sith that Shinra is collecting Huge Materia to fight Meteor. The gang doesn't like the sound of that so they plan to get them before Shinra does. After getting them the gang goes to check up on Tifa and Cloud. The ground suddenly shakes and a weapon starts attacking. The shakes get worse and the ground crumbles into a green glowing liquid below. Tifa and Cloud fell into it as well. Then things get a bit surreal. Tifa runs in the darkness till she finds Cloud and what seems to be his subconscious. He's trying to find out his real self, and Tifa is going to help him by telling him what she know is the truth. Cloud then takes Tifa through his memories and worked out his childhood past, and where he was during the Nibelheim incident 5 years ago. After Cloud was able to restore back to his true self, the gang are by their side when they woke. Cloud filled them in that he was caught up in an illusion of being in SOLDIER, and apologizes for what he has done. Everyone is glad to have him back, and they continue on their mission to stop Meteor. If you go back to the basement in Shinra Mansion, Cloud will have a flashback of what happen to him and Zack after Nibelheim was burned down. Cloud and co head to Junon where theres a Huge Materia located in its underwater reactor. Cloud and co prevents Shinra having the Huge Materia there by stealing the submarine. Next they go to get the Huge Materia from Cid's rocket. Shinra sets the rocket to hit the meteor, and Cloud and co have to escape it with the escape pod. The rocket plan failed to stop meteor. You go speak to the old man in Cosmo Canyon who you take to the Forgotten City. Also you leave the Huge Materias to the old man and you see that they look exactly like the elemental crystals in the previous FF games. It's a neat touch. The old man tells you that Aerith has summoned Holy but something is blocking it. Cloud figure it be Sephiroth. Cait Sith then alerts the others that Diamond Weapon is heading towards Midgar. The gang flies over there to battle it till Shinra shoots a Mako beam with the huge cannon that defeats the Weapon, and takes down the barrier around the North Crater. Rufus got caught in some fire, and Shinra starts to fall. Hojo is messing with the cannon preventing the others from stopping it. Cloud and co defeat the other Shinra members, and Hojo as well who is trying to give Sephiroth the energy he needed qith the cannon. Hojo tells them that Sephiroth is his son. After defeating Shinra, Cloud tells the others to go home and find what they are fighting for since there's only 7 days left till Meteor hits. They do leave and everyone returns the next day. They all are ready to beat Sephiroth and head to the North Crater. At this point in the game is where you do all the side stuff. When you're ready, go through the crater till you reach Sephiroth where he's standing in front of Holy. You have to make two parties so it be a good idea to not neglect the other characters. The final form of Sephiroth is kind of similar to FF6's with the heavenly clouds and the wings. His signature abilities are Supernova and Heartless Angel. Heartless Angel is the same attack as Kefka's where it reduces' everyone's HP to 1. After defeating Sephiroth, the game ends with a cutscene showing Holy and the lifestream stopping Meteor from destroying Midgar and the planet. The ending is definitely brief and it doesn't show what happens to Cloud and the others. The epilogue cutscene shows RedXIII 500 years later with a ruined Midgar overtaken by nature.
This game is a classic for a reason. Its has iconic characters and an even more iconic sword, the Buster sword. Cloud maybe seen as a sad fellow though he did went through a lot of bad experiences though he isn't as sad of a character in game to me. Sephiroth's wasn't a bad person, but a hero in the past. What made him become a villian is due to his hate for Shinra that soon became hate for the planet. Cloud's is mainly after Sephiroth due to his cruel actions to his hometown and friends. In a way, both are the same since they are fueled by hate. It probably be a better moral story if they saved Sephiroth or something but these fantasy games gotta have someone to defeat in the end. I mean he is sort of mistaken Jenova to be his mother and thinking he's an Ancient. No one even tried to correct him. The story is quite interesting, and the gameplay isn't too repetitive. This game is on the easy side for a FF game though. The materia system is probably my most favorite system in the FF series since its pretty fun and have lots of options. The minigames and side material are also interesting. This game is probably one that I would replay the most amongst all the other FF games. Definitely recommend it. I am looking forward to the remake though I won't have super high expectations of it.
Crisis Core is the PSP prequel to FF7 that came out 2007-2008. This is the best spin off game of the FF7 series. The writing isn't too bad, and there are some cool parts and cutscenes in this game. I personally like how it expands on characters like Zack, Sephiroth, Cloud, and the Turks. Especially Sephiroth since we've hardly see what he was like before he went insane. Cloud also had a nice change of what he usually is. He's unfairly cute in this game since he's 15-16 year old shy and upbeat guy. The best part though is learning more about Zack.
You play as Zack Fair, SOLDIER 2nd class. The gameplay is different than the usual jrpg, but its not too different that it doesn't fit into the FF7 world. You have no party members so battling is only just Zack fighting. There's a slot machine feature in the battle that will randomly give you limit breaks, summons, and buffs. Its called DMW, Digital Mind Wave, which represents Zack's memories of the characters and emotions. For the most part of the game, Zack does missions Shinra sets him out to do. He also works closely with members of SOLDIER 1st class like Sephiroth. There's a war going on with Wutai so your first mission to defeating them. Angeal is like Zack's mentor who goes with him and wields the Buster Sword. At the end of the mission Angeal disappears, and you get attacked by Genesis copies. Genesis is a SOLDIER 1st class who've betrayed, and is attacking Shinra. Zack is sent to Genesis and Angeal's hometown to investigate. He does find both of them there, but they got away. Shinra bombs the town to the ground to hide it from the public. Zack then gets promoted to SOLDIER 1st class but it did not make him happy. Zack and Sephiroth found documents about Project G which clues in that Genesis and Angeal had tainted births. Sephiroth tells how they were his close friends, and says that Genesis is degrading. Genesis is obsessed with a book called LOVELESS which tells about the Gift of the Goddess. It makes him want to be the "Hero" of the story. He received a wound that wouldn't heal so he partnered with Hollander who claims he can fix him. Zack tries to capture Hollander, but Angeal stops him. Zack finds himself in Aerith's church. He fell from a Mako Reactor just like Cloud did or rather will do. Zack is a bit of a flirt and convinces to go on a date with Aerith. Since Aerith has been living in the slums all her life, she never seen the sky and figures it be scary. Shinra gets attacked, and Angeal helps Zack fight off Genesis and his copies. After that, Zack gets sent to Modeoheim on the report that Genesis was spotted there. He meets one of the infantrymen that came with him, his name is Cloud. Zack finds Genesis who is angry at Hollander for failing at fixing him. Zack defeats Genesis who then falls into the abyss of the reactor. Chasing after Hollander, Zack finds him with Angeal who finds himself to be a monster. Angeal turns himself into a hideous beast, and Zack defeats him. Angeal gives Zack his Buster sword before he dies. His death emotionally hurts Zack.
Some time passes and Zack takes up a new look. Genesis suddenly attacks and Hollander escaped from his imprisonment. We learn that Director Lazard has also betrayed Shinra and is the one who freed Hollander. Sephiroth plans a mission to go to Nibelheim to find Genesis since he's attacking Mako Reactors. He tells Zack that it be his last mission as he plans to retire. The Nibelheim scenes are pretty much the same as in FF7 except Genesis is also in it. He asks Sephiroth for his Jenova cells that he thinks will cure him, but Sephiroth refuses. Then he locks himself in Shinra Mansion, and goes insane. The town is burned, and Zack and Cloud are badly wounded after defeating Sephiroth who falls into the abyss of the reactor like Genesis did. Professor Hojo takes Zack and Cloud to be experimented on for 4 years. Zack managed to escape his pod, and free Cloud just like in FF7. Cissnei, of the Turks, was sent to capture them but gives them a motorcycle and lets them go. They run into Genesis who wants their cells since they're now infused with Jenova cells. One of Genesis' copies eats Zack's hair and is turned into a monster instead of healing. Zack takes Cloud to his hometown, but Cissnei is there to warn him that its being watched and he will be caught. Hollander and Genesis comes out of nowhere and attacks Zack. They want Cloud since he has a purer form of Jenova cells than Zack. Zack defeats Hollander, and sees that an Angeal copy has protected Cloud. The Angeal copy turns out to actually be Director Lazard who wanted to help Zack. In order to truly stop Genesis, Zack figures out where he is hiding. They return to Genesis and Angeal's hometown which is glowing with lifestream. Zack goes underground, discovers some history, and fights Genesis. Genesis was suppose to die, but the Goddess gave him mercy. Zack returns to Cloud and see that Lazard is dying after being attacked by Shinra soldiers. An Angeal copy is also there who helped them but is also dying. With the Genesis, Angeal's copy, and Zack in place of Sephiroth they spiritually reenact LOVELESS to fulfill Genesis' dream. A letter from Aerith is left after Angeal's copy and Lazard's body fades away. Aerith has been writing to Zack for 4 years, and Zack plans to head back to Midgar to see her. They run for a year, and we get a little scene of Aerith and the Turks still looking for Zack. We then see Zack surround by hundreds of Shinra soldiers. Battle starts but its not working as well and the DMW goes wonky and the profiles are being whited out. It ends with Zack's passing on the Buster sword to Cloud before he dies. Midgar is seen not too far away. The game ends with an Advent Children quality remake of FF7 opening cutscene and a to be continued in FF7.
While some parts are weird, like Genesis being kind of chuuni with the Goddess stuff. It doesn't help that he is modeled after Gackt and is voiced by him in the Japanese version. I'm pretty sure he will be in the remake as well. Having certain story points echoed from FF7 like Zack falling into the church and Angeal giving his sword before he dies is an interesting. Whether to play this first or FF7 first is hard to say tough I definitely recommend both.
Advent Children is the sequel movie to FF7. It takes place 2 years after the FF7 game, and geostigma is plaguing the people specifically the children. Tifa still runs the Seventh Heaven bar and also houses orphans with Cloud supposedly. Though he has gone to live in Aerith's church to hid his own geostigma. Fitting for the wolf symbol his has. The Turks and Shinra are back as well and they ran into trouble. Three silver haired guys, Kadaj, Lazoo, and Yaz, have come to Midgar to find Mother and prepare for the reunion. They called Cloud their big brother and they fought a bit. Rufus turns out to be alive and has requested Cloud to help them out with the silver haired guys. Cloud refuses though Reno and Rude keep tabs on him and assist Cloud. These two are great in this movie though they are the comic relief.The silvered haired men gathered the children that have geostigma and made them their minions. Cloud tries to save them, but wasn't able to fight them by himself. The silver guys had the children in Midgar's center and summoned Bahamut to cause chaos onto the city. The old gang reunites and they all have red ribbons on their left arm to remember Aerith which is a nice touch. They all fight against Bahamut till its defeated. Kadaj was with Rufus during that fight, and Rufus then reveals that he had Jenova's head with him. He throws it out and Kadaj follows after it. Cloud goes after Kadaj and fights him. Kadaj clings onto the box that holds Jenova till he "reunites" with it and suddenly turns into Sephiroth. Sephiroth does not remain just a memory. He aims to use the planet as his vessel to find a new planet. Cloud fights and defeats him though Sephiroth is confident that he will return as long as Cloud still has him in his mind. Kadaj is back, but is dying though he is comforted by Aerith's voice. Mistaking her to be Mother. Rain falls and it heals geostigma. Cloud does get shot by the remaining silver guys. Cloud goes to fight them and the scene fades to white. Voices of Zack and Aerith tells him that he doesn't belong where they are. Cloud has been in guilt over their deaths it seems, and is seeking forgiveness. They don't even blame him so Cloud must forgive himself. Cloud wakes up in a pool in what was once the flower garden in Aerith's church. A crowd is gathered, and his friends welcome him back. The children then get into the pool to heal their geostigma. Cloud briefly sees Aerith and Zack at the entrance smiling at him before they disappear into the light. And everything is going to be ok.
The movie ties nicely with the game. It has good pace, and balance of action and story. The story isn't the greatest, but it dose gives a bit of a closer to the game that it lacked. Recommended for those who are big fans of FF7. The CGI isn't too bad despite how old it is now. The remake will most likely use the same models in this movie, but with the old outfits.
Dirge of Cerberus is a shooting game featuring Vincent that takes place a year after Advent Children. Personally I disliked this game so I won't take much about it. Its about the secret organization of Shinra's called Deeground that resurfaces to the outside world. Deepground consists of elite SOLDIERs and their goal is to summon Omega Weapon through sacrifices. Deepground is targeting Vincent and he has the help of Yuffie and Reeve through the game. The others have brief appearances. The game just revisits Vincent's past which also involves Lucrecia and Hojo. The is a secret ending with Genesis who refused Deepground and goes to sleep till the planet needs a Hero that he, Angeal, and Sephiroth were once before.
This game is not that interesting, and the Deepground thing is too much. I like Vincent so I think he deserved something better. The story in this game might get into the remake, and the thought of it is very unappealing. Though we'll just have to wait and see.
To end this very long post, I just want to reiterate this this series is good. I won't say its amazing or anything, but I highly enjoyed it. I definitely look forward to the remake, and after that its probably the end. As much as they want to milk it, its hard to really do anything new with it. Personally I would've love to see more of Sephiroth's early life as a hero, but I doubt they want to make him look like he isn't a villain or whatever. But who knows what they might do for the game's future anniversaries. Of course Square Enix is proud of their Final Fantasy games that they keep making FF games where the characters return and are playable so we'll still see Cloud and the others for many years to come.
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