Why Final Fantasy VII is the Best RPG of All Time

Final Fantasy VII has come to be the most well known RPG of all time.  Released in 1997, it has sold over 9 million copies worldwide.  But why did it become so popular?  Why did it become so famous while other good RPGs remained obscure?  The answer is much more than the fact that Final Fantasy VII was the first 3D RPG.

Final Fantasy VII is an incredibly well polished game.  Sure it’s old, but I remember back in the day how incredible the graphics were.  For its day, the graphics were actually quite good.  There are however, four main things that set Final Fantasy VII head and shoulders above the competition.  These are:

1. A well made and memorable plot, setting, and characters
2. An innovative and fun battle and magic system
3. Lots of side quests and areas to explore
4. A stunning musical score

Plot, setting, and Characters:

I recently wrote a story for a creative writing class.  I named a horse Cloud in it and I received about five comments asking if I had played Final Fantasy VII or how the horse was like Cloud.  This is fifteen years after the game came out and people still cannot forget Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and the rest of the gang in their adventure to stop Sephiroth.  My personal favorite character is the chain smoking Airship pilot Cid.

The setting is very well set up, setting most of the people living in the slums beneath Shinra’s massive constructions.  The setting begets a dying world, due to the fact that Shinra’s mako reactors are harvesting the Planet’s energy.  Enter the heroes who are trying to stop both Shinra and Sephiroth, who both seem to have the planet heading towards destruction.  I don’t want to spoil anything plot-wise, so I won’t summarize anything here.

Battle and Magic:

Final Fantasy VII used something called time bars.  These would fill up over time and once they the corresponding character would be able to take an action.  These made battles much more frantic and really upped the stakes of what you did.  If you spent a lot of time deciding what to do then the enemies could keep attacking you.  This kept the battles from feeling boring or too relaxed.  Also the enemy selection was well done, including boss fights.  Most boss fights feel unique and well placed, offering a fun and challenging experience.  Also coming into play was the possibility of putting fighters in the back row, which offered a defense boost, but decreased attack power if that character didn’t have a long ranged weapon.  This made party composition more interesting than just choosing the characters with the strongest attack power.

Magic is an important part of any RPG.  Final Fantasy VII introduced the concept of materia for magic.  Materia is really interesting because weapons and armor have slots, which allow you to place materia in them.  These materia, depending on what kind it is will bestow a certain ability to the character (for example the ability to cast bolt) and will increase their magic stats, but decrease their physical stats.  It’s a trade off that requires a lot of deliberation, really adding a layer of depth to character roles in battle and development.

Exploration and Side Quests:

The world of Final Fantasy VII is impressive.  There are quite a bit of things to do aside from the main adventure, for example breeding chocobos to get some really powerful items and materia.  There are also two characters that you have to find of your own volition to join the party (Yuffie and Vincent).  There are two sides bosses, (The Ruby and Emerald weapon) that are incredibly difficult to kill.  Also this game has a lot of little minigames for the player to complete, including the fun strategy based Fort Condor minigame that help to keep things fresh.  This game has enough content to last a player well over a hundred hours, not counting replays.

Musical Score:

I have played a lot of games in my time, and no game’s music comes anywhere close to the quality of Final Fantasy VII’s.  Everyone who has ever played the game will never forget the haunting, powerful melodies of “One Winged Angel” or “Jenova”.  Add to that the fitting music of the slums or the beautiful music such as “Interrupted by Fireworks” and you have a versatile score that fits with the story and characters and helps the player embrace the wonderful world of fantasy them enter into once they start the game.

Final Fantasy VII is truly a masterpiece.  If there is ever a remake it would sell extremely well, even if the only change is a graphics update.  This game has proven itself to be timeless, I find myself straying to it yet again, even though it’s a PS1 game I got for fifteen bucks all those years ago.

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