What Made Final Fantasy 7 A BIG DEAL?

00:00:01.290with only a few days until the release

00:00:03.850of Final Fantasy sevens remake it's

00:00:06.370worth asking why so many people wanted a

00:00:09.400remake this was one of those games where

00:00:11.679people demanded a remake for years

00:00:14.110decades even and in a lot of ways it's

00:00:16.720amazing we finally gotten to this point

00:00:18.910but why did so many people love the

00:00:20.860original hi folks its Falcon and today

00:00:23.080I'm game ranks we asked the question

00:00:24.670what made Final Fantasy 7 a big deal now

00:00:30.340just as a quick disclaimer this is going

00:00:32.710to contain mild spoilers for Final

00:00:35.230Fantasy 7 we're all about to play it

00:00:37.749again in a possibly even more detailed

00:00:40.780context so I don't want to spoil

00:00:43.239anything too big however that being said

00:00:46.149we're not gonna be able to talk about

00:00:47.649the original game and why it's so great

00:00:49.420without talking about the story but

00:00:51.219before we do that in 1997 video games

00:00:54.339had made some big leaps and graphics

00:00:56.649Tomb Raider was a few years old by then

00:00:59.170Super Mario 64 had come out the year

00:01:01.989prior and 3d games existed albeit in

00:01:04.960low-poly form which for certain does

00:01:07.840create an interesting style when you do

00:01:09.880it intentionally but back then it was

00:01:11.740the best they could do Final Fantasy 7

00:01:13.750set out to change that but using

00:01:16.090pre-rendered backgrounds and full motion

00:01:18.610video Final Fantasy 7 am to be a

00:01:21.659multimedia experience on top of being a

00:01:25.229Squaresoft RPG and it absolutely

00:01:28.109succeeded at that for the very first

00:01:30.399moments of the game you're treated to

00:01:32.409visuals that want to absorb you into the

00:01:35.140story completely from the intro star

00:01:37.479field to Aerith praying in the middle of

00:01:39.789the city to the big zoom out to the

00:01:41.740Train making it stop at the reactor with

00:01:44.500cloud jumping out the first few moments

00:01:47.049of this game set a tone that it just

00:01:49.659wasn't possible to you in any previous

00:01:51.729squaresoft game that's not to say

00:01:54.030Squaresoft wasn't great at tone it's

00:01:57.009just that there were technical

00:01:57.909limitations that had recently been

00:01:59.950annihilated by hardware developments and

00:02:01.929Final Fantasy 7 took advantage of them

00:02:04.539the tone the game sets introduces us to

00:02:07.719a kind of mystical cyberpunk world in

00:02:10.899some ways it's more technologically

00:02:13.030advanced than our

00:02:14.069world in others not so much mid ger is

00:02:17.129this sprawling metropolis that works as

00:02:20.430a modern analog for a kingdom it is

00:02:23.219essentially a corporate kingdom entirely

00:02:26.069run by the Shinra Electric Power Company

00:02:28.499there is technically a city government

00:02:30.840but it's entirely symbolic as the

00:02:33.269corporation actually runs everything

00:02:35.340governs everything makes all the

00:02:37.620decisions and honestly that's kind of

00:02:40.019scary

00:02:40.650you don't elect anyone to a corporation

00:02:43.499someone owns it in a lot of ways the

00:02:46.409type of situation that Final Fantasy 7

00:02:49.069immediately establishes is one that

00:02:51.930connects the way things are in our world

00:02:54.359with corporations and supposedly

00:02:56.669decentralized power right back to the

00:02:59.340idea of fiefdom serfdom subjects of an

00:03:02.639empire and it does it gracefully in a

00:03:05.099manner that's interesting and doesn't

00:03:07.019ask the player to check any of the

00:03:09.000fantasy expectation at the door either

00:03:11.189this corporate dystopia was built on top

00:03:13.889of macho energy which is harvesting the

00:03:17.250lifeblood of the planet that all of

00:03:19.470these people live on as a fuel now like

00:03:22.259I said it is a lifeblood it's a mystical

00:03:24.269force all the souls and living beings of

00:03:26.759the planet come from and go back to it

00:03:29.519it's in some ways like the force in Star

00:03:31.919Wars however it's a visible tangible

00:03:34.379material that can be mined commodified

00:03:37.799bought-sold you learn so much about the

00:03:40.560inner workings of how this world works

00:03:43.079and what danger this corporation is

00:03:46.319putting the planet in by continuing to

00:03:48.569mine Mach Oh more or less simply to

00:03:51.689perpetuate its own dominance over the

00:03:54.239people of Midgar and the rest of the

00:03:56.849planet it's endlessly rich in lore and

00:03:59.729the world it sets up is in my opinion

00:04:02.449unparalleled even in the Final Fantasy

00:04:04.949series but it's not just the lore the

00:04:07.769world building its the characters - to

00:04:10.799be frank the character set in Final

00:04:12.959Fantasy 7 for whatever reason is just

00:04:15.870the most fun I think you can have with

00:04:18.509characters you of course got your sort

00:04:20.909of gruff seemingly uncaring even

00:04:23.940slightly brooding leading man in Cloud

00:04:26.880Strife you

00:04:28.080you're muscle-bound tough guy in Barrett

00:04:30.360Wallace but you've also got a cast of

00:04:32.669very different in some cases risky

00:04:35.879characters like Kate's if the robot cat

00:04:39.210riding a stuffed MOG red 13 a Shinra

00:04:43.620experiment

00:04:44.550it's got characters that represent

00:04:46.110different feelings regret in the form of

00:04:49.530Vincent Valentine attachment in the form

00:04:52.409of Tifa Lockheart innocence in the form

00:04:54.689of Erath resurgence in the form of Syd

00:04:57.689Hyland

00:04:58.500I could go on and on about the cast of

00:05:00.629characters too because there's a large

00:05:02.669number of characters you can bring into

00:05:04.530your party but there's also tons of

00:05:07.139characters that you'll never play as

00:05:08.849which are worthwhile to learn about and

00:05:11.940uncover elements of their story like

00:05:14.460Professor Hojo who is a lunatic there's

00:05:17.159the Turks all of them which essentially

00:05:20.580act as like an FBI for Shinra and then

00:05:24.270there's Sephiroth who is by many people

00:05:26.909revered as one of the best videogame bad

00:05:29.370guys of all time through the game he in

00:05:32.310the main character clouds relationship

00:05:34.680is sort of filled in in some cases there

00:05:36.990were a lot of misconceptions and others

00:05:38.909cloud has every right to feel like he

00:05:41.279does like I said because we're all about

00:05:43.800to play this game again possibly with

00:05:46.199the most amount of detail we've ever

00:05:47.969played it I'm not going to get too far

00:05:50.159into these characters relationships or

00:05:52.589the events of the game but these

00:05:54.690characters and events of the game are by

00:05:57.270far the biggest reason why Final Fantasy

00:06:00.3607 is so great very few games right in

00:06:04.110the beginning make you a mercenary for

00:06:06.419what is very technically speaking an

00:06:09.409eco-terrorist group it forces you to

00:06:12.360examine immediately why this corporate

00:06:15.419state would label you as terrorists it

00:06:18.089asks you to critically evaluate your

00:06:20.279position as a character in so many

00:06:22.740stories as the player controlling a

00:06:25.169protagonist railing against an evil

00:06:27.539empire to anybody who doesn't understand

00:06:30.569that Empire is evil

00:06:32.550you're just a terrorist that's a wild

00:06:35.219place to start a game but if it was just

00:06:38.399story and good characters and a good

00:06:40.740setting

00:06:41.360that doesn't mean the game itself is

00:06:43.520automatically good does it in my opinion

00:06:45.949the active time pseudo turn-based battle

00:06:49.430system of Final Fantasy seven is the

00:06:51.770most enjoyable mainly traditional battle

00:06:55.699system in a JRPG of all time I

00:06:59.139absolutely love playing this game

00:07:02.319grinding is a joy from it is it

00:07:05.270sometimes annoying sure but I actually

00:07:07.870enjoy for the most part not only the

00:07:11.060battle system but the in story

00:07:13.009justifications for it you see your

00:07:15.349character's abilities depend greatly on

00:07:17.449equipping materia material is

00:07:19.909crystallized mokou when you are holding

00:07:22.550materia you are holding a small bit of

00:07:25.789the lifeblood of the planet and

00:07:27.939according to the lore materia calls upon

00:07:31.069the wisdom of the lifestream in order to

00:07:34.009manipulate nature this is perhaps the

00:07:36.680most complete explanation for magic in

00:07:39.710any Final Fantasy game and it ties in so

00:07:43.279well to every aspect of the entire story

00:07:47.419it doesn't ever feel weird to be

00:07:50.479collecting materia where in some cases

00:07:52.909it can feel weird to be going out in

00:07:55.580leveling up certain abilities or jobs or

00:07:59.029what-have-you equipping materia gives

00:08:01.580you access to magic it can also change

00:08:04.069your status give you certain abilities

00:08:05.990etc and honestly it's not that different

00:08:09.229from a lot of systems it just allows a

00:08:11.449lot of flexibility in your characters

00:08:13.610while remaining very simple and entirely

00:08:16.370justified by the story of the game

00:08:18.680battles themselves are for me really

00:08:22.069enjoyable your party is only limited to

00:08:24.379three characters which has always been

00:08:26.180probably the only downfall in my mind

00:08:29.180typically Final Fantasy gives you four

00:08:31.099but instead of full-blown turns you have

00:08:33.890an active time meter that can be

00:08:35.719interrupted sped up slowed down etc and

00:08:38.839when the meter itself fills up you get

00:08:41.599your turn there's also a system called

00:08:44.000Limit Break in which you have a limit

00:08:45.649meter that as you take damage fills

00:08:47.930itself up once that fills up you get

00:08:50.270access to an incredibly powerful attack

00:08:52.399and in my opinion this battle

00:08:54.470system is just the perfect combination

00:08:56.240of simple and flexible I enjoy the

00:08:59.960battles in this game still now in 2020

00:09:03.950and I'm not necessarily upset that

00:09:05.990they're changing it for the remake but I

00:09:07.910am also very interested to get my hands

00:09:10.280on the two different modes they're

00:09:11.660giving you in the remake I want to know

00:09:13.730if they'll hold up the world map of

00:09:16.040Final Fantasy 7 is just big feeling

00:09:19.640where we sometimes complain about open

00:09:21.800world maps being a little empty it's

00:09:24.350actually that feeling of emptiness that

00:09:26.720makes Final Fantasy sevens world map

00:09:29.330feel so big there's a sense that you're

00:09:32.420alone when you're in mid ger this huge

00:09:35.180sprawling corporate Kingdom you're given

00:09:37.490the impression that the entire world is

00:09:39.740just stolen by these people and when you

00:09:42.710get out to the world map yes Shinra has

00:09:45.560tons of control in the world but you

00:09:47.450also get this sense that they can't

00:09:49.610control everything

00:09:50.750towns are sparse nature isn't a ton of

00:09:54.290the monsters that you're fighting are

00:09:56.150probably just natural

00:09:58.010they just exists they're hunting the

00:10:00.620towns feel so far removed from Midgar

00:10:03.110usually not nearly as technologically

00:10:05.780advanced Shinra basically regards

00:10:08.120everywhere but mid ger as untapped land

00:10:11.380holding resources they can eventually

00:10:14.120take well ordinary people live their

00:10:17.030lives and that's a recurring theme in

00:10:19.400this game the ordinary people that's

00:10:21.920what we're supposed to think about even

00:10:23.930as this amazing huge story happens that

00:10:27.230honestly it's almost impossible for me

00:10:29.600not to get emotionally invested in every

00:10:31.610single time this game is about power but

00:10:34.610the way it handles its mechanics

00:10:36.350graphics and characters was basically

00:10:39.410unheard of for 1997 and on top of that

00:10:42.530beyond charming and enjoyable this is

00:10:45.560one of my favorite games of all time and

00:10:47.690as such it's basically impossible to

00:10:50.510tell you everything about why it's

00:10:52.370amazing in eleven minutes but it is it's

00:10:55.850amazing it's just such a great game and

00:10:58.370I can't wait to go through this story

00:11:00.500again seeing what they cook up for the

00:11:03.140remake what do you think

00:11:04.610do you enjoy Final Fantasy 7 leave us

00:11:06.810comment let us know and if you like this

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00:11:19.980thank you very much for watching this

00:11:21.480video I'm Falcon you can follow me on

00:11:23.100twitter at falcon a hero and we'll see

00:11:24.960you next time right here on game ranks