Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII
As the first 3D Final Fantasy, this game really pulls no punches, considering the technology of its time. The main thing that stood out to me was all the minigames. There are just so many minigames: Bike chase, submarine chase, chocobo racing, Condor defense, that weird marching game???? It’s really hit and miss, though, which is a shame.
That being said, I think the main draw of FF7 is not the combat, but the story, the narrative. Don’t get me wrong though, Limit Break is a really cool mechanic that creates that “anime episode” feeling by allowing your characters to unlock their true potentials by taking damage. As such, every time you feel like the fight is going wrong, you have an option to recover and keep going. You can think of it as a way to convert HP into power. Blood magic!
But no, it’s the story that’s at the heart of this game. I thought knowing the big twist of FF7 (if you know, you know) wouldn’t affect my enjoyment of the game as much — but I was sadly wrong. I thought the anticipation of “Oh is it going to happen now???” would be enough, but it wasn’t. I wish FF7 was never spoiled to me :(
Still though, let’s talk about radical hope and why in JRPGs we always seem to kill gods. Ever since Nietzsche wrote about killing god and/or god being dead, it has been common to associate this concept with meaninglessness and futility. But I always felt like that’s half the story. It’s been a while since I’ve read Nietzsche, but even in his writings, the death of god is not an end, but rather a beginning.
Death of god is supposed to be liberating. It’s the ultimate affirmation of “existence precedes essence.” If the ultimate source of meaning is dead, then we are free forever to find our own meaning and our own purpose.
And I think JRPGs love emphasizing this. In FF7, there are all these characters who have been given some sort of purpose from someone other than themselves. Cloud and Sephiroth are prime examples. Sephiroth finds his own meaning by — well he doesn’t necessarily kill god, but he does a — wait a minute, he does kill a god, he kills the president of Shinra, right? Okay so he does kill a god and frees himself. (He then loses himself and the purpose he finds for himself is overall bad, but that’s a different kinda debate.)
For Cloud, the god he kills is the final boss of the game, but also himself, kinda. As he struggles to remember who he is, he needs to get rid of his own self-pity, his own disappointment in himself — both of which stem from his fear of being seen as lesser by others, especially Tifa.
Anyways, FF7 is a good game for sure.
FF6 is better though.
