LogFAQs > #897134411

11. Final Fantasy VII (Eerieka)


You never forget your first time with your favorite series, and that's certainly the case with me and Final Fantasy VII. Now I did not play RPGs in my early childhood. The very first RPG I played was Super Mario RPG, which came out when I was ten, and Final Fantasy VII was the second, which came out when I was eleven. I was familiar with the name "Final Fantasy" since I read a lot of gaming magazines (I had a subscription to GamePro for over ten years), but I had never been drawn in by it until I started seeing all the previews for this one. It looked like nothing I had ever seen before, with all the stunning visuals (at least in the FMVs and the pre-rendered backgrounds) and the cyberpunk elements. Midgar in particular was one of the most incredible locations I had ever witnessed in a video game. I remember being somewhat downcast when we had to leave the city because I would've been content to spend the entire game there.

When I finally got Final Fantasy VII and began playing it, it was everything I thought it could be and more. It sucked me in right away and mesmerized me from start to finish. Imagine my surprise when the game started throwing "mature" themes at me like rescuing a girl from a pimp while cross-dressing as a woman, and the characters (Barret and Cid in particular) spat out obscenities left and right. Keep in mind that I was eleven years old at the time, so this was pretty mind-blowing for someone like me to see stuff like that in a video game. This was the first time video games felt...adult to me, for lack of a better word. On top of that, the main character was an enhanced super soldier with a huge sword and ridiculously spiky hair (who could ride a motorcycle for good measure) traveling around with a black dude with a gun-arm and a martial arts chick with sex appeal to the max while trying to stop a silver-haired guy with an even bigger sword. Seriously, to a middle school kid who had never experienced anything like this in a video game before, Final Fantasy VII was the coolest thing ever.

Then there's the fact that this game was telling this epic, sprawling story that didn't totally make sense, but that was honestly part of the appeal back then. It was "deep." At that age, you stop wanting to be a kid and start wanting to be more like an adult, so you're naturally drawn to things that may go over your head a little bit while you posture and pretend to understand them anyway. Heck, that was Cloud's character arc in a nutshell, too, which made him even cooler than he already was. I found out that he was really an antisocial loner growing up, and suddenly, I feel like he's just like me! That was the magic of Final Fantasy VII. Then there was the fact that this was the first game to really make me "feel" anything emotionally about a character when Aerith...well, you know. Square knew exactly what they were doing and who they were targeting with this game, and they did a masterful job of it.

Obviously, I don't still believe it's the greatest thing ever, but I'll always remember how it made me feel back then. I think it's a great game even today, so don't think this is just me viewing everything through rose-colored glasses. I still play these Golden Era Final Fantasy games every so often, and they always remind me why this is my favorite series and probably always will be.

Bonus Question: What is the first game you played in your favorite series?
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