Amazon.com: Final Fantasy VII: Playstation: Video Games

1,240 Reviews

5 star:		(932)
4 star:		(116)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(147)

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4.4 out of 5 stars (1,240 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply an amazing game., January 17, 2001

By	Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This was the first game I played when I got my PlayStation, and it's what got me hooked on RPGs. It's also one of my favorite games ever. The story is based around a group of people trying to save the world from an evil corporation named Shinra that is sucking all the energy from the planet. It soon becomes clear to this group of misfits, especially to the leader, Cloud (who is the game's main character), that they have an even worse enemy - Sephiroth, a genetically engineered soldier long thought dead, who has returned with only one thing on his mind: total destruction of the world he believes punished him with his very creation. Now it's up to this group of unlikely heroes to stop Sephiroth from causing the end of the world, even as Cloud struggles to find his identity and uncover the secrets of his own mysterious past. This game has awesome graphics, an incredible story, and even moved me to tears at times, something a video game has never done to me before. I highly reccomend this to all RPG fans. Even you're not an RPG fan, I'd even suggest giving it a try. You might just end up enjoying it, like I did.

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84 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Dark Ages, December 8, 2004

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

I'm old enough to remember when RPGs weren't called RPGs. In those days the essence of the game was to move the players about a game board, fighting battles, collecting treasure, and finding clues. Origin's Ultima series was the grandparent of these games - immensely entertaining, but essentially two-dimensional. Among its heirs were the first games in the Final Fantasy line.

This was also a time when computer capabilities and capacity seemed to double every few months. Final Fantasy VII is the result of an inevitable synergy between technology and imagination. Players found themselves in a three-dimensional world where they could wander at will. They were playing with characters that were not only more animated and lifelike, but also had something that resembled personalities. In a very real sense, FFVII changed the gaming landscape, and RPGs reached a new level of credibility.

What is inside is the story of Cloud Strife; an ex-soldier turned mercenary who is drawn into the struggle between Avalanche, a revolutionary group, and Shinra, a rapacious company that is rapidly draining the resources of the planet. Starting out in the city Midgar the battle moves back and forth across the planet, as Cloud gathers team members, accessories and power. Everyone has a history, often mysterious, and an important role to play.

Eventually it becomes clear that the real enemy is a laboratory experiment gone horribly wrong. Shinra's effort to produce supermen has created Sephiroth, who has become one of the legendary villains of the gaming world. Physically beautiful, his mind has been ruined by his knowledge of what he is, and his goal has become the destruction of the world.

The plot is remarkably rich. Within the main story arc are many smaller stories that build the players understanding of the nature of each of the characters. There seem to be an unending number of weapons, powers, and monsters. More than enough material for many replays. The graphics are a bit primitive for our time, but were startling when this game first came out. As your imagination adapts to the imagery, the game becomes truly engaging on many levels. Final Fantasy VII is still one of the best of its genre, Whether you are a student of gaming or an aficionado, it belongs on your shelf.

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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ., March 12, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

Final Fantasy VII is, and remains, a pretty astounding winner of a game -- that I won't dispute. But, call me old-school if you wish, the trends of modern console RPG's annoy me immensely. Specifically, I (and I believe, sadly, I am largely alone in this) prefer a *game* and NOT a movie or novel. I am not against video games, especially RPGs, incorporating developed storylines -- but I am against those storylines usurping as much of the experience as they have in so many Playstation RPGs. During the first 10 hours of gameplay in FFVII, I was in constant dread of yet another annoying "story break," and perpetually frustrated by the feeling that I didn't really have much freedom as a player, and that I was just guiding my pre-designed characters through a pre-designed story and that I was supposed to be made happy strictly by fancy graphics and cinematic interludes.

Final Fantasy III (for the SNES) is a console game that *successfully* interwove story with gameplay, although even that could be a bit much at times. It was also a better story, because it was as cartoonish and silly as your blocky little men. Another problem I have with FFVII is the fact that the storyline aspect of the game seems torn between cliche cartoonism and a more realistic, in-depth feel. I could get into the story of FFIII because I knew I wasn't obliged to take it very seriously. FFVIII felt heavy-handed at times, which under the right conditions would be fine, but the characters and plot were still too cartoonish and juvenile for me to get into it at that level.

I will say that at the very least, the constrictively linear feel of the game loosened up a bit as I got further into it, and that I do feel FFVII has a lot of good things going for it. It is certainly a high-quality game. But it is far beneath certain contemporary computer RPGs, which always tend to offer a lot more freedom and less often suffer from the need to make their games acceptible to little kids. Ultima VII and Fallout 2 come to mind -- two of the greatest RPGs I have ever played.