About

Final Fantasy VII is a Japanese role-playing game developed by Square (now Square Enix). The game takes places in the fictional world of Gaia and centers around Cloud Strife, a mercenary fighting for the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE who are battling against Shinra corporation. The game is notable for being the first in the Final Fantasy series to have been developed using 3D graphics.

History

Final Fantasy VII was directed by Yoshinori Kitase and released on January 31st, 1997, for the original Playstation. A PC port of the game was released on May 31st, 1998. The game was later released digitally in June 2nd, 2009, on PSN and in July 4th, 2014, on Steam.
On December 6th, 2014, Final Fantasy VII was announced for the Playstation 4 during the Playstation Experience press conference. The announcement was met with criticism due to the announced game being a digital remaster instead of a full remake. The announcement was covered by several news sites such as IGN^[1], Cinema Blend^[2], Crave Online^[3], and Kotaku^[4].

Remake

On June 15th, 2015, an upcoming high-definition remake of Final Fantasy VII was announced during the Sony press conference at E3 2015. It was revealed that the game would be directed by Japanese video game artist Tetsuya Nomura and produced by Yoshinori Kitase, the director of the original 1997 version.

Within 24 hours, a PlayStation announcement tweet^[5] gathered more than 8,400 retweets and a YouTube upload of the remake trailer received upwards of 2.8 million views and 8,800 comments (shown below). In the trailer, high-definition CGI scenes of Midgar City are shown before revealing the protagonist Cloud wielding his signature Buster Sword alongside his ally Barret.

That day, several posts about the remake reached the front page of Reddit.^[6][7][8][9] Meanwhile, various news sites published articles about the announcement in the coming days, including Tech Crunch,^[10] The Huffington Post,^[11] Wired^[12] and USA Today.^[13]

Following the showcase at E3, many videos were posted on YouTube that showcased various portions of the Final Fantasy fanbase reacting to the Remake's trailer. Said videos have subsequently been made into compilations and mashups across the site, the most popular of which having on average 350,000 views.

On December 5th, 2015, PlayStation Experience 2015 reveal the reaction videos of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer, and a brand new Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer featuring cutscenes of the protagonist Cloud, Barret, and the members of Avalanche. The trailer also includes the preview of the gameplay which is similar to Final Fantasy XV.

The next day after PlayStation Experience 2015 reveal the latest Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer, Square Enix explain that Final Fantasy VII Remake will be a multi-part series, making the game episodic. This brings the fans in questioning and disappointment.

Spin-Offs

On September 24th, 2004, an action RPG spin-off titled Before Crisis was released exclusively to Japanese mobile phones. On April 25th, 2006, a CGI animated film and Square Enix's second movie titled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released on DVD and UMD disc for the PlayStation Portable as a sequel to the orignal game. An extended version of the movie titled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete was released to Blu-ray April, 2009, and released alongside this was the collection of short stories titled On the Way to a Smile: Final Fantasy VII, a collection of novels detailing the life of the characters in between the original game and Advent Children. One of the stories, The Case of Denzel, was adapted into an OVA named On The Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel, albeit only voiced in Japanese, and was released in America on June 2nd, 2009.

On August 20th, 2006, a third person shooter spin-off titled Dirge of Cerberus was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2, garnering average to negative reviews for its story and gameplay^[22]. A midquel of the game titled Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was released on August 22nd, 2006, for mobile phones. On March 25, 2008, an action RPG spin-off titled Crisis Core was released exclusively to the PlayStation Portable, garnering very positive reviews ^[23] and typically is seen as the one of the best games on the PSP ^[24].

Reception

As of June, 2015, Final Fantasy VII holds a 92 metascore rating on Metacritic.^[14] Empire placed the game at second place on their list of the 100 greatest games.^[15] Final Fantasy VII was also placed by Times magazine in their 100 All-Time Video Games list.^[16]
In the face of this popularity, however, this lead to many of the other games in the Final Fantasy series being compared to Final Fantasy VII, most notably of them Final Fantasy VI, although discussing which is the "better" installment has lead to many flame wars and heated discussions about the flaws of both games. Despite this, the game is often placed alongside Ocarina of Time as one of the "Best Games Ever".

Online Presence

Final Fantasy VII has become the subject of discussion in a number of sites such as 4Chan, ^[17] Tumblr, ^[18] and Gamefaqs.^[19] On June 11th, 2003, Urban Dictionary user FlowersInMidgar2 submitted an entry regarding Final Fantasy VII.^[20]

Videos

Final Fantasy VII has inspired a number of parody videos which pokes fun at some aspects and mechanics in the game.

Alongside these parody videos are various critical analysis and documentary videos that discuss how the game became so popular, how it resonated with the gamer crowd, and the history of its development.

Fanart

On the art sharing site Deviantart, typing the keyword "Final Fantasy VII" would yield more than 117.600 results.^[21]

Related Memes

One-Winged Angel

One-Winged Angel is a musical theme in Final Fantasy VII. It became notable for being the background theme music for Sephiroth. The popularity of the character, combined with the popularity of the game itself, has made the theme one of the most notable songs in gaming history.

Omega Kawaii Cloud Song

Omega Kawaii Cloud Song is a flash animation of a chibi caricature of Cloud from Final Fantasy VII singing about potions giving him cavities and fighting cactuars.

JENOVA Remixes

JENOVA Remixes features a series of remixes and videos from the J-E-N-O-V-A song in Final Fantasy VII. Since 2008, the song has been occasionally used for MAD videos on Nico Nico Douga (NND) and YouTube Poop Music Videos (YTPMVs) on YouTube.

Those Who Fight Further

Those Who Fight Further (Japanese: 更に闘う者達, Sarani Tatakau Monotachi) is one of the popular soundtracks in Final Fantasy VII.

Buster Sword

The Buster Sword is an iconic weapon from the Final Fantasy video games series, being Cloud’s default weapon in Final Fantasy 7. Its massive size has made it one of the most well-known examples of “unreal sized swords on media^[1].” Due to the success of the series, the weapon has since become popular among fans which spawn discussions, fanart and even custom made replicas. Other Final Fantasy characters such as Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy XII and the protagonist Lightning from Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII can also equip the Buster Sword.

Aerith’s Death / “Why Didn’t They Just Use a Phoenix Down?”

Aerith (エアリス・ゲインズブール Earisu Geinzubūru), or Aeris in the English releases, is one of the main characters in Final Fantasy 7 who dies in a dramatic cut scene during the game. Online, the scene has frequently been used as a death spoiler reveal.
The phrase “Why didn’t they just use a Phoenix Down?” is a joke associated with the character’s death, pointing out that her companions could have revived her using the “Phoenix Down” in-game resurrection item.

Search Interest

External References