The Game that Changed the World -- And Me.
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YouTube VideoFinal Fantasy VII. The game that popularized the JRPG in the United States, the game that has sold so many copies that it is mind-boggling. The series that, ultimately, changed my life and helped a 13 year old version of myself form the anti-corporatist viewpoint I hold today. Looking back on it, its hard not to see the game's faults -- first of all in its portrayal of women; secondly, the story is filled with troupes, deus-ex-machinas, plot holes and other writer's pitfalls that second half of the game almost feels like a romp through a fanfiction and not a well-thought out fantasy world. Third, its lack of any thing called diversity. I mean, come on -- one black dude on this entire planet? What the fuck is that? But back when I was thirteen, I didn't see those criticisms. What I saw was a masterpiece of fiction and story-telling -- a fantasy world filled with monsters and swords and magic, and a deep story line with as many twists and turns as a roller coaster ride. It was the first time I had ever really felt engrossed in a video game world. Sure, Super Mario World and F-Zero were great; they were fun to zone out to, they were awesome for your hand-eye coordination -- and ultimately they made me both better at platformers and racing games respectively. But what the games I had played before FF VII lacked was vision. Story. Grandeur. Drama. And a motivation to save the world from a giant mega-conglomerate bent on total resource acquisition.
The game was a commercial and artistic mega success, selling millions of copies and is still beloved by gamers around the world today. Nostalgia and artistic genius come together in a symphony of love, hatred, madness, and ultimately, destruction. It is one of the greatest stories ever told in gaming, and this E3, its remake dubbed FFVIIR Part 1, FINALLY got game footage a playable demo and a release date (03/03/20). So in the spirit of the game that change the world, and my life, I give you my write up of FFVII, written with all of the glee of a 13 year old boy, seeking to escape a bad life and finding the story of a lifetime.
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x YouTube Video Welcome to MidgarMidgar. A desolate city on a starved planet on the brink of collapse. An ugly, dirty place where income inequality is high, prices are even higher, and luck is hard to come by. The rich get by on the "upper plate" of the city, where Midgar is a bustling metropolis. Lights fill the perpetual darkness around Midgar on the upper plate, and it just happens to be where many of the ShinRa Corps in crowd eeside. Underneath the plate on which the city resides, however, is all slums. The people are poor and desolate, struggling just to make a semblance of a living. The houses are ramshackle, poverty is high, and the benefits of living in a place like Midgar are virtually non-existent for these second class citizens, too poor to make it to the upper plate. Midgar is split up into eight different sectors, all corresponding to a different "Mako" reactor. These mako reactors provide sorely needed energy for Midgar, and also make the mega-conglomerate that controls them, ShinRa, extremely, extremely rich. Midgar is a city is ruled with an iron fist by ShinRa. Their city government mere puppets to this giant corporation, ShinRa executives run the day to day operations of this huge city, as well as game for resources around the planet. ShinRa's main cash cow -- mako -- is quite literally the life-force of the planet and the universe. By draining off mako from the "lifeforce stream" -- an interconnected network of streams of mako energy not unlike a complex underground river system -- ShinRa has found a cheap and plentiful source of energy for its city, and along with it all of the "gil" (the world's currency) they could ever need. ------
Cloud Strife. Ex-Soldier. Part Amnesiac. All Bad-Ass -- Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura
As a player, you pick up the game as Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER (an elite blackops unit within ShinRa) and mercenary for AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group who has dedicated itself to saving the planet through stopping the processing of mako into electricity. You also meet Barret Wallace, Biggs, Wedge and Jesse, all of whom are dedicated members of AVALANCHE. The mission? Blow up the #1 mako reactor. AVALANCHE's strategy to get ShinRa to stop using mako is pretty stupid, admittedly, and ShinRa begins benefiting from the terrorism that AVALANCHE is unleashing on Midgar. Running throughout the very early plot is this tension between Barrett, a man dedicated to his ideology because of his past, and Cloud, a hired mercenary for AVALANCHE. All throughout the beginning sequence of events Barrett is annoyed with Cloud's outright hostility to their cause, and only reluctantly gives Cloud his pay. ------
Tifa Lockhart and Barrett WallaceIn the early sequences of the game you also learn that Cloud is the childhood friend of Tifa Lockhart, another member of AVALANCHE. Tifa and Cloud have been friends since childhood, and lived for a long time in the same town Nibelheim. Cloud joined ShinRa's military force in order to join SOLDIER, their elite military operations arm in order to emulate his hero Sephiroth. Barrett is the founder of AVALANCHE and seeks to end the iron grip the ShinRa corporation has on the City of Midgar. Later on in the game, you see his incredible, heart wrenching reasons for hating them so much.
Barrett Wallace — Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura
Tifa ends up going to Midgar after an incident in Nibelheim with Cloud and Sephiroth in which Tifa's father dies. This incident changes her forever, making her see ShinRa's evil ways, and she vows to get even with Sephiroth after the incident. AVALANCHE ends up blowing the hell out of the #5 reactor and after a big battle with a robot boss with a defense stance (and boy howdy 13 year old me didnt understand strategically yielding attacks to avoid counters), Cloud falls off a bridge leading to #5, seemingly to his death. Unbeknownst to the rest of the party, Cloud was save by a familiar flower girl and her bed of flowers that mysteriously grow where nothing else does. After some prodding, and a good talking to about putting a whole in the freshly repaired church roof, Cloud jumps to his feet. After a coversation and a run in with some...undesirables...Cloud agrees to be her body guard, thus beginning one of the most beautiful and tragic relationships in video game history.
ShinRa vows revenge for their terrorist acts. Determining that AVALANCHE's base is located in Sector 7, ShinRa plots to break the pillar holding up the top plate directly above the Sector 7 slums. They call upon the dastardly Turks, a special division of ShinRa's paramilitary forces (usually tasked with recruiting people into the SOLDIER program or other clandestine/mercenary missions that the regular ShinRa military cant be seen performing), to take care of the task. While all this is happening, another subplot is unfolding which turns the tenor of the game from dark eco-terrorist thriller to a mission to save the planet from a mad-man. -----
Enter Aeris x YouTube Video Chills.
Aeris Gainsborough -- Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura/Copyright Square-Enix
Aeris Gainsborough, Flower Girl…?
Aeris, one of the main focuses of the game. She is a small, meek, church-going girl who lives on the outskirts of the Sector 6 slums. She makes her living growing flowers in the old church which she often frequents and selling them in downtown Midgar, Cloud meets her in the introduction video to the story. In fact, Aeris is the first playable character the game introduces. Aeris lives on the outskirts of Sector #5 slums in a lovely house, comparatively to the rest of the slum, with a nice lady who has cared for her all of her life. Elmyra, Aeris' caretaker, found Aeris in the arms of a dying woman named Ifalna, a person who plays a part in the later sequences of the game as an Ancient and test subject. One of Aeris' main hobbies is picking flowers that grow in the hole of the abandoned church and selling them throughout Midgar. The Turks have been after Aeris from the very beginning, to investigate her connection to the Ancients and the long sought after Promised Land. The Promised Land is a mythical land in the world of Final Fantasy VII that exists only in legend. There, the mako energy flows like rivers, and ShinRa figures it could make itself a boat load of cash claiming the Promised Land for itself. The mako energy that flows from that area of the world could be used to power many homes and businesses, making ShinRa even more powerful than it already is. Thus, they seek Aeris. She, being the last surviving Ancient is the key that unlocks the Promised Land, at least in ShinRa's point of view. She is what is standing in the way between this big, powerful mega conglomerate that has merged itself with government of Midgar and even more total domination of the globe.
x YouTube VideoAeris and Cloud flee through the roof of the church, with the Turks and ShinRa goons hot on their trail. The remnants of Avalanche are left wondering after the flub at the number 5 reactor where exactly befell their paid compatriot.
As this section of the game ends, Cloud sit atop a...park toy (again, just play it) and as they talk, they see chocobo driven carriage with none other than Tifa, dressed to the nines and headed somewhere upscale. With a little investigation in the nearby slum, our intrepid heroes find out where she was going...to Don Corneo's Mansion to try to squeeze information out of him about ShinRa's next move. Cloud and Aeris decide they are going in after her. Only problem....Cloud is a man, and Corneo only let's women into his "establishment".
This section of the game really REALLY shines. So much so that if Squeenix botches this in the remake it'll be enough to end FFVIIR. I cant do it justice with words. You just have to play it.
Aeris and Cloud inevitably meet up with Tifa as a joint investigation by the two main groups converges. Both groups are investigating the connection between a two bit womanizer/pimp Don Corneo and ShinRa's plans to retaliate against AVALANCHE. They find out about ShinRa's plot to drop the Sector 7 plate right on top of the slums by threatening good ol' Don's family jewels, but Don tricks the group, opening up a trap door and throwing the group into the sewers. After a long trek through the sewers and the Train Grave Yard, Tifa, Cloud and Aeris finally arrive at the Sector 7 slums to find the area in complete chaos. Heavy battling along the main support structure of the Sector 7 plate can be heard everywhere. Tifa begs Aeris to bring Marlene back to her house near the church, and Aeris sets off to find her.
Cloud and Aeris Escape the Church where Cloud fell after the Reactor Bombing at Sector 5
Cloud and Tifa rush up the support structure, fighting enemies all the way to get to Barret, already at the top taking on the Turks who are trying to initiate the self destruct sequence of the support structure. After an epic boss battle with Reno of the Turks (who does an annoying pyramid attack that effectively places the stop status on one of your characters, who then cannot act until they are attacked by either a party member. All three party members get the pyramid status, game over), the self destruct sequence of the structure is activated, and the Sector 7 plate comes crashing down on the slums and many, many people die. All of this to eradicate AVALANCHE once and for all. And to make matters worse, in her quest to rescue Marlene, Aeris is abducted by the Turks and taken to ShinRa headquarters. Barret breaks down at the thought of Marlene not getting out of the slums in an underrated scene that touches me today. Barret begins firing multiple rounds into the rubble that was his home shouts his (what we think is) daughter's name and falls to his knees. It always chokes me up, but not to worry, dear readers, the emotional roller coaster that is Final Fantasy VII is just warming up (we later find out Marlene is just fine and is now under Elmyra's care).
After the plate collapse, the party is left scattered to the wind. Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge are gone. Barrett is distraught. Cloud is stoic as ever, but is now realizing that ShinRa does not intend to play games. Aeris is lost, and there is no way to get into ShinRa headquarters, one of the most heavily guarded places in Midgar, thus, the world of Gaia.
Luckily, the gang finds a hanging wire conveniently placed in the sector seven slum and with the help of the weapon shop owners batteries (dont ask, it won't make sense unless you've played) the party makes their way to ShinRa HQ, to save Aeris and Marlene. The player is faced with a choice to either assault the front gate or take the back stairs. I always chose the stairs, a frontal assault on ShinRa HQ seemed like suicide to me even back then. After about a thousand flights of stairs, puzzles involving floors of the building and obtaining keycards, finally the party — Barrett, Tifa, and Cloud get relatively near the top, are captured by Turks and are promptly thrown in jail. What incredible luck tho, the jail just happens to be where Aeris is being held! Talk about villain incompetence. Oh, yeah they didnt take our equipment either. What is up with JRPG jailers being absolutely terrible at their jobs?
This jail isn’t just a jail, though. It is the ShinRa research laboratory — and the place where you meet one of the games most inspired villians (besides the almighty Sephiroth, I’ll get into him later, perhaps even dedicate and entire diary to him), Dr. Hojo. Hojo is an intrepid researcher but his quest for knowledge has made him cruel and his experiments twisted. He reveals that he simply wants Aeris because of her Cetra blood, and nothing more, and he plans on using it (somehow) to get to the promised land. I didn’t pick up on this as a kid on my first or even my second playthroughs, but he says nothing about bringing ShinRa along. That is one of the reasons I love Hojo. He is a cruel bastard, but he isn’t a dog. He does what he does out of mobid, maniacal curiosity and nothing more. Seriously, one of the series best side villians. Oh, and we meet a talking dog (WAIT DONT HIT ME I KNOW HE ISNT) who is very useful and has a number in his name. Red XIII, the former lab subject joins the party. And this, my friends, is the full Midgar squad — Cloud Strife, Barrett Wallace, Aeris Gainsborough, Tifa Lockhart and the research subject, Red XIII.
We have our final party, we finally are close to President Shinra. No more games! Lets get this guys right now for screwing with Gaia!!!! Uhm, no. The leader of the worlds largest mega-conglomerate isn’t that stupid. In ShinRa’s office, we once again meet the infamous Turks, we’re told that the president doesn’t give much thought or time to our terrorist group, and throws us in jail in the research lab. After a night of figuring out what to do (and going back over major plot points for those who may have just picked back up the game again after months, FFVII likes to do that kind of thing when the plot gets heavy), Cloud falls asleep. And wakes up to a bloodbath.
Se. Phi. Roth….
x YouTube Video x YouTube VideoOne of the most iconic villians both in Final Fantasy lore and in gaming itself, Sephiroth is in a league of his own (okay, maybe in a league with Kefka from FFVI but thats for another review). He is a former SOLDIER, like Cloud, but rose through the ranks, and gained a lot of fame in Midgar during the war with Wutai, another city-state in Gaia. Sephiroth is amazing on the battlefield, a distinguished tactician and skilled fighter who has a meteoric (heheheh) rise to fame in ShinRa’s military forces.
During the war Sephiroth made quite a name for himself throughout Midgar, and even throughout Gaia. By the time begins, Sephrioth has been missing and presumed dead for years. The real proof left of him is his stories and legacies. Hojo seems to still believe he is alive, but he hardly has proof of his claim outside of his weird full body laughter. The world seems to have moved on from Sephiroth, making it much easier for him to operate from the shadows.
The bloodbath at the research lab is brutal. Hojo’s experiments lie broken and mangled on the floor, and yet strangely, someone let the party out of their cells in the research lab. No matter, our intrepid party exits their prison and quickly notices a gigantic streak of blood leading from the research lab all the way to...President Shinra’s office.
The party once again enters his office, this time more cautiously (theres like no security or background music, this usually means danger time in video games), and its nothing but a blood mess. At the center is President Shinra, dead, with a suspiciously long sword sticking out of his back. But that couldn’t be! Sephiroth is dead, but he is the only one who could wield a sword that large...what the hell happened here?
Before our crew can think too much about it, the President’s son, Rufus, shows up and claims control of ShinRa. After that, a fight ensues with Rufus and cloud alone on the roof of the ShinRa building. When I was a kid, this boss fight was tough. Not only do you have Rufus but also his dog to deal with and if you haven’t prepped like I learned how to do later, you’re out of potions for healing, or if you are still rocking the vanilla, basic equipment they gave you at the beginning (lookin’ at you, Buster Sword) you are gonna have a helluva hard time with this.
Once Rufus is defeated he flees the party meets at the base of the HQ building and one of the most exciting sequences in the game begins: the motorcycle chase.
I was hooked….
x YouTube VideoLuckily HQ had a bunch of vehicles just waiting for us to use, so we take the opportunity and bust the hell out of there. An epic motorcycle chase minigame ensues where Cloud is tasked with protecting the little truck the party is in by swinging his sword left or right to fend off attackers. The minigame is clunky, the controls FREAKING SUCK, and it is a slog to get through. But trust me, you are almost at the end!
At the end of the chase, a gigantic ShinRa machine called the vacuum buster speeds along the highway, gets ahead of the party and now blocks their path out of the city. A boss fight (a pincer at that) breaks out. I didn’t have as much trouble with this one as I did with Rufus growing up but still a challenge to keep everyone alive.
The vacuum buster eventually blows and the party free to leave Midgar as they see fit. But ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t the end of our story Its only the very beginning of the epic story told by Square-Enix lo those years ago.
(Part II to come….)