is a
role-playing video gameRole-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
developed by
Squarewas a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
(now
Square Enixis a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
) and published by
Sony Computer EntertainmentSony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
as the seventh installment in the
Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series. It was originally released in 1997 for the
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
-based
personal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s and in 2009 on the PlayStation Network. The game is the first in the series to use
3D computer graphics3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, featuring fully
renderedRendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
characters on pre-rendered backgrounds, and was the first game in the main series to be released in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Final Fantasy VII follows
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Cloud Strifeis a fictional character and the main protagonist in Square's role-playing game Final Fantasy VII and several of its sequels and spin-offs. His original design was created by Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura...
, who, at the beginning of the game, joins the rebel organization AVALANCHE in their quest to stop the world-controlling megacorporation Shinra, which is draining the life of the planet for use as an energy source. As the story progresses, Cloud and his allies become involved in a larger world-threatening conflict and face Sephiroth, the game's main
antagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
.
Development of Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 and the game was originally intended for release on the
SNESThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, but was later moved to the
Nintendo 64The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. However, since the Nintendo 64's cartridges lacked the required storage capacity, Square decided to release the game for the PlayStation instead. The game was designed and produced by
Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is world famous as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and has had a long career in gaming with over 100 million units of video games sold worldwide...
, while the actual direction was done by
Yoshinori Kitaseis a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since April 1, 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and is currently the manager of 1st Production Department....
. The music was scored by Final Fantasy veteran
Nobuo Uematsuis a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, while the series's long-time character designer,
Yoshitaka Amanois a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include...
, was replaced by
Tetsuya Nomurais a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
.
Helped by a large promotional campaign in the months prior to its release, Final Fantasy VII became an immediate critical and commercial success. In the years following, it has continued to sell solidly—10 million copies worldwide as of May 2010, making it the best-selling title in the series. Final Fantasy VII received significant praise upon its release for its graphics, gameplay, music and story. There was also criticism pertaining to its English localization. It has retrospectively been acknowledged as the game that popularized the
role-playing video gameRole-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
genre outside of the Japanese market, and has frequently ranked highly on numerous professional and fan-made "greatest games of all time" lists. The popularity of the title led Square Enix to produce a series of prequels and sequels for different platforms under the collective title
Compilation of Final Fantasy VIICompilation of Final Fantasy VII is a series of games and animated features developed by Square Enix based in the world and continuity of Final Fantasy VII...
. An
enhanced remakeA video game remake is a game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game for newer hardware and contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, and story elements of the original game...
for the
PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
has been rumored since 2005, though Square Enix has formally stated no such product is in
developmentGame development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
at the time; however, in March 2010, Square Enix CEO
Yoichi Wadais the current president and representative director of the Japanese video game and publishing company Square Enix as well as its subsidiary Taito...
told the media the company would explore the possibility of a remake.
Gameplay
Like previous installments of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VII consists primarily of three major areas: an
overworldAn overworld is, in a broad sense, an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other video game genres....
map, field maps, and a battle screen. The overworld map is a 3D model, featuring a scaled-down version of the game's fictional world which the player navigates to travel between the game's locations. As with preceding games in the series, the world map can be traversed by foot, on
chocoboA is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...
s, airship, or sea vessel (in this case, a submarine and a plane used as a boat), but it also includes an additional means of transportation—a buggy. On field maps, characters are directed across realistically scaled environments, consisting of 2D pre-rendered backgrounds which represent locations such as towns or forests. The battle screen is a 3D representation of an area, such as a building's interior or an open grassland, in which the player commands the characters in battles against
CPUThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
-controlled enemies. While characters are
super deformedSuper deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
on maps, the character models are more realistic and normal-scaled in combat. Final Fantasy VII is the first game in the series to have character models with fully rendered
polygonsPolygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
, rather than 2D
spritesIn computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
.
Initially, the player is restricted to the city of Midgar, but as the game progresses the entire world becomes accessible. Progression through the game's storyline is largely developed by way of scripted sequences, although pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes are also used often.
Combat
During battle sequences, the game uses the Active Time Battle (ATB) system designed by
Hiroyuki Ito, also credited with the spelling Hiroyuki Itou, is a Japanese game producer, game director and game designer who has been working for Square Enix since 1987. He is famous for being the creator of Active Time Battle and Active Dimension Battle...
, first featured in
Final Fantasy IVis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan and has since then been rereleased for many other platforms with varying modifications. An enhanced remake with 3D graphics...
. Unlike previous games in the series, which allow 4-5 playable characters to participate in battle, Final Fantasy VII only allows three characters to be in the party at any time.
Final Fantasy VIIs skill system is built around the use of materia (which any character can use)—magical orbs that are placed in special slots on weapons and armor, allowing players to customize their party's ability to use magic, summons, and special abilities. However, most magic-based materia also lowers an equipped character's physical attributes. In addition, certain types of materia can be combined in a fixed number of ways to enhance their effects or produce other abilities. Summon spells feature in the game, equippable as materia, with elaborately animated attacks.
A modified form of
Final Fantasy VIis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square , released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Final Fantasy series. Set in a fantasy world with a technology level equivalent to that of the Second Industrial Revolution, the game's story focuses on a...
s "Desperation Attacks" appears in Final Fantasy VII as the "Limit Break". Every playable character has a bar that gradually fills up as they suffer damage in battle. When the bar is completely filled, the character is able to unleash his or her Limit Break, a special attack which generally inflicts significantly more damage on enemies than normal attacks, or otherwise aids the party in battle. Unlike materia, each character has their own unique set of Limit Breaks, which are divided into four levels of strength, although one character, Cait Sith, only has two levels.
Setting
The game's setting is similar to that of Final Fantasy VIs by presenting a world with considerably more advanced technology than the first five games in the series. Overall, the game's technology and society approximates that of an industrial or post-industrial
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
. The world of Final Fantasy VII, referred to in the game as "The Planet", but retroactively named "Gaia", is composed of three main land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial
metropolisA metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
that serves as the
capital cityCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the world as it hosts headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, which operates as the
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
world governmentWorld government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
. Other locations on the continent are Junon, Shinra's major military base; Fort Condor, a fort with a huge condor covering up a Mako reactor on top of it; a
chocoboA is a fictional creature from the Final Fantasy video game series. The creature is a large and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden and otherwise used by player characters during gameplay...
ranch; and Kalm, a small town inspired by medieval Europe.
The western continent features most of the accessible areas, which include the Gold Saucer, an amusement park with Corel Prison below; Costa Del Sol, a seaside resort; Gongaga, a small town containing the remains of a destroyed Mako reactor; Nibelheim, a town residing at the base of Mt. Nibel; Rocket Town, the location of Shinra's failed rocket launch; and a settlement called Cosmo Canyon. Wutai, a village inspired by pre-modern Japan and China, is located on a large island off the western continent. The tribe inhabiting Cosmo Canyon emphasize living in harmony with nature and dedicating causes to the planet's well-being. Their settlement features an
observatoryAn observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
and serves as a research facility for those who wish to participate in a philosophy known as the "Study of Planet Life", a lifestyle that encourages deference for nature and teaches that the planet has a life of its own. The northernmost continent is a heavily
glaciatedA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
landmass, and its few settlements include an excavation site; a ski resort; the mythical "City of the Ancients"; and the Northern Crater, where the game's
climaxThe Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
takes place. There are also underwater locations accessible only by submarine; for example, a sunken Shinra plane transporter.
Characters
The nine main playable characters in Final Fantasy VII are
Cloud Strifeis a fictional character and the main protagonist in Square's role-playing game Final Fantasy VII and several of its sequels and spin-offs. His original design was created by Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura...
, an unsociable mercenary who claims to be a former 1st Class member of Shinra's SOLDIER unit;
Barret Wallaceis a player character in Square Enix's role playing game Final Fantasy VII. Created by character designer Tetsuya Nomura, he has since appeared in the CGI film sequel, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children as well as other games and media in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series...
, the leader of the anti-Shinra rebel group AVALANCHE;
Tifa Lockhartis a player character in Square Enix's role playing game Final Fantasy VII. Created by character designer Tetsuya Nomura, she has since appeared in the fighting game Ehrgeiz and cameo appearances in other titles, as well as the CGI film sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children and related games...
, a martial artist and childhood friend of Cloud's;
Aerith Gainsborough— spelled Aeris Gainsborough in the English releases of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics — is a player character in Square's console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII...
, a flower merchant who has been pursued by Shinra's special operations unit, the Turks, since childhood; Red XIII, a wise lion-like creature who was experimented on by Shinra scientists; Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who rides an animated moogle doll; Cid Highwind, a pilot whose dreams of being the first man in outer space were not realized; Yuffie Kisaragi, a young thief and a skillful ninja; and
Vincent Valentineis an optional player character in Square Enix's console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII. Designed by Tetsuya Nomura, he also appears in various titles from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, a series of prequels of and sequels of Final Fantasy VII, and is the protagonist in the third-person...
, a former member of Shinra's Turks unit who was experimented on thirty years before the start of the game. The game's main antagonist is Sephiroth, a former member of SOLDIER who reappears several years after disappearing in a battle in which he was concluded to have died.
Story
Final Fantasy VII begins with Cloud joining AVALANCHE in a series of raids against the Mako reactors surrounding the city of Midgar. Although the first mission is successful, AVALANCHE is trapped at another reactor during a subsequent raid. The reactor explodes, launching Cloud from the upper levels of Midgar into the slums below. He lands on a flower bed, where he is formally introduced to Aerith. Prompted by the arrival of Shinra's Turks operatives sent to capture Aerith, Cloud agrees to be Aerith's bodyguard and defends her from the Turks. After the Shinra discover the location of AVALANCHE's hideout, they destroy it by demolishing the entirety of Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks also capture Aerith, who is revealed to be the last surviving "Cetra", a race closely attuned with the planet and previously thought extinct. President Shinra believes Aerith can lead him to the "Promised Land", a mythical land of fertility, where he expects to find Mako energy.
The remaining members of AVALANCHE infiltrate Shinra corporate headquarters to rescue Aerith. After freeing her and Red XIII, they escape because most of the personnel in the building, including the president, are killed by Sephiroth, a man presumed to be dead, who stated that he would never allow Shinra to claim the Promised Land. The party also learns that during Sephiroth's attack on Shinra, the headless body of a creature named "Jenova" disappeared from the building's research facility. While the president's son, Rufus Shinra, assumes control of the company, AVALANCHE pursues Sephiroth across the planet, fearing his intentions for the Promised Land may be more destructive than Shinra's. The party is joined by Cait Sith and Cid, and optionally by Vincent and Yuffie. The full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed: if the world is significantly damaged, the Lifestream will gather in an attempt to heal the wound. Sephiroth intends to use a powerful spell called "Meteor" to cause this injury, and then merge with the planet's energy, allowing him to be reborn as a god and rule over the planet. Aerith sets off to stop Sephiroth on her own. AVALANCHE follow her to the northern continent, where they enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aerith praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth fatally impales Aerith with his sword.
Influenced by Sephiroth, Cloud becomes suspicious of his memories and insists he is not a real human, but instead a specimen created from Jenova's genetic material by Professor Hojo. Jenova was an interstellar creature who crash landed on the planet roughly 2,000 years prior to the game's events. Jenova had intended to infect all living organisms on the planet with a virus inducing insanity and monstrous transformations; among its victims were most of the Cetra. Attempting to defend itself, the planet created giant monsters called "WEAPON". The majority of humans fled rather than fight Jenova; however, a small group of Cetra survivors managed to defeat and confine Jenova. Eventually, the remains of Jenova were unearthed by Professor Gast, a researcher for the Shinra Company. Mistaking the creature for a Cetra, Gast was given authorization to conduct an experiment to artificially produce a Cetra by combining cells from Jenova with the fetus of an unborn child. Sephiroth learned that he was the product of this experiment while on a Shinra mission in Cloud and Tifa's hometown, Nibelheim. He concluded that he was a Cetra who had been produced solely from Jenova's genetic material. He burned down Nibelheim, intending to kill all descendants of those he believed had abandoned his ancestors in the defense of the planet. Cloud confronted Sephiroth during this massacre, after which Sephiroth vanished under unknown circumstances and was presumed dead until his reappearance in the Shinra building. When AVALANCHE travels to the Northern Crater to confront Sephiroth, he tells Cloud that he was not in Nibelheim, showing him images of a SOLDIER with dark hair who occupies Cloud's place in his memories. Tifa is unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, and Sephiroth casts the Meteor spell, causing the planet to awaken the WEAPONs in response. During the earthquake that follows, Cloud is separated from his companions and falls into the Lifestream.
As the meteor summoned by Sephiroth slowly approaches the planet, the Shinra Company focuses its efforts on protecting humanity from the WEAPONs, as well as defeating Sephiroth, in the hopes that this will dismiss Meteor itself. Meanwhile, the members of AVALANCHE find Cloud in a
catatonicCatatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
state on a tropical resort where he washed up following the casting of Meteor. The WEAPONs' destructive activity causes the island to split open, and Cloud and Tifa fall into the Lifestream, where she reconstructs Cloud's memories and learns the truth about his past. It is revealed that Cloud never succeeded in joining SOLDIER, and that the dark-haired SOLDIER from his memories was actually Aerith's first love and Cloud's best friend,
Zack Fairis a fictional character from the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix. He first appeared as a non-player character in the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII. In the story, Zack is a late member from the paramilitary organization SOLDIER developed by the megacorporation Shinra Electric Power Company...
. Zack, Tifa, and Cloud had fought Sephiroth during the burning of Nibelheim. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating Jenova, Sephiroth was thrown into the Lifestream by Cloud, taking the creature's head with him. Rather than dying, his body and consciousness were crystallized in Mako inside Jenova's crater.
Cloud and Zack were among the wounded survivors who were apprehended by Shinra as part of a
cover-upA cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
of Sephiroth's massacre. Professor Hojo subjected these survivors to an experiment, performing the same enhancements given to SOLDIER members—a procedure which included Mako showers and the injection of Jenova cells. All but Zack entered a
comaIn medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
tose state, and nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. However, the alien Jenova cells in Cloud's body still allowed Sephiroth to modulate his behavior. Moreover, the cells' ability to duplicate information allowed Cloud's mind to construct a false persona built around Zack's behavior. This was prompted by Zack himself, who was killed outside Midgar by Shinra soldiers during the escape; he urged Cloud to live both their lives before passing on. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing a SOLDIER 1st Class uniform, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE.
After Cloud awakens, it is revealed that Aerith, in her final moments, was casting the spell "Holy" with the White Materia, the only means of opposing Meteor. Although she succeeded, Sephiroth had since prevented the spell from taking effect. Deciding to protect humanity from the WEAPONs before approaching Sephiroth, Shinra and AVALANCHE destroy the WEAPONs, although nearly all of Shinra's executives are killed in the process. Among the few survivors are Reeve Tuesti, who is revealed to be the repentant controller of Cait Sith, and Professor Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's biological father. He explains that he and his wife were assistants to Professor Gast, and offered up their unborn child as a test subject to research involving Jenova. After finding out that Hojo is trying to help Sephiroth gain mastery over the Lifestream, AVALANCHE kills him. In their final assault against Sephiroth, the group travels through the Northern Crater to the planet's core. They defeat Sephiroth and free Holy, but the spell is unable to destroy Meteor alone. Selected as Meteor's target, Midgar is almost completely destroyed. However, the Lifestream rises from the planet to aid Holy in destroying the Meteor. During the
epilogueAn epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
, taking place 500 years after the game's events, Red XIII runs through a canyon with two cubs at his side. He proceeds up a cliff-face, which reveals a lush land of greenery where Midgar had once been.
Development
Planning sessions for Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 after the release of
Final Fantasy VIis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square , released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Final Fantasy series. Set in a fantasy world with a technology level equivalent to that of the Second Industrial Revolution, the game's story focuses on a...
. At the time, the game was planned to be another 2D project for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. Series creator
Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is world famous as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and has had a long career in gaming with over 100 million units of video games sold worldwide...
intended the story to take place in modern New York City in the year 1999. Several of the staff members were working in parallel on
Chrono Triggeris a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
, and development for Final Fantasy VII was interrupted when the other project became significant enough to require the help of
Yoshinori Kitaseis a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since April 1, 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and is currently the manager of 1st Production Department....
and other designers. Some of the ideas originally considered for Final Fantasy VII ended up in Chrono Trigger instead. Other ideas, such as the New York setting and the sorceress character Edea, were kept unused until the later projects
Parasite Eveis a horror action role-playing game developed by SquareSoft . The game is a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve, written by Hideaki Sena. It is the first game in the Parasite Eve series.-Gameplay:...
and
Final Fantasy VIIIis a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...
respectively. The original script of Final Fantasy VII, which was written by Sakaguchi, was completely different from the finished product.
Tetsuya Nomurais a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
recalled how Sakaguchi "wanted to do something like a detective story". The first part of the story involved a "hot blooded" character named "Detective Joe" who was in pursuit of the main characters. The main characters managed to blow up the city of Midgar, which had already been developed for the story. The final scenario was written by
Kazushige Nojimais a Japanese game scenario writer and is the founder of Stellavista Ltd.. He is best known for writing parts of Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game series—namely Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2—and the Kingdom Hearts series...
and Kitase, based on the story idea by Sakaguchi and Nomura.
Masato Katois a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal".- Biography :...
was brought into the project later and wrote three scenes for the game.
Development of Final Fantasy VII resumed in late 1995, and required the efforts of approximately 120 artists and programmers, using
PowerAnimatorPowerAnimator and Animator, also referred to simply as "Alias", the precursor to what is now Maya and StudioTools, was a highly-integrated industrial 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects suite. It has had a long track record, starting with Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991 and ending in Star...
and
SoftimageSoftimage|3D was a high-end 3D graphics application developed by Softimage, Co., which was used predominantly in the film, gaming and advertising industries for the production of 3D animation. It has been superseded by Softimage XSI.-History:...
software. It was the most expensive video game in its time, with a budget of around
US$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
45 million, equivalent to $62 million in 2011. Final Fantasy VIs co-director and event planner, Kitase, returned to direct and co-write Final Fantasy VII and was concerned the franchise might be left behind if it did not catch up to the
3D computer graphics3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
used in other games at the time. Production began after the making of a short, experimental
tech demoA tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product...
called "Final Fantasy SGI" for Silicon Graphics, Inc. Onyx workstations. The demo featured
polygonPolygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
-based 3D renderings of characters from Final Fantasy VI in a real time battle. This experiment led the development team to integrate these design mechanics into Final Fantasy VII. However, as a result of the high quantity of memory storage required to implement the motion data, only the
CD-ROMA CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
format would be able to suit the project's needs.
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, for which Square had developed all previous titles in the Final Fantasy series, had decided to continue to use cartridges for its upcoming
Nintendo 64The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
console. This eventually led to a dispute that resulted in Square ending its long, tumultuous relationship with Nintendo, and Square announced on January 12, 1996 it would be developing Final Fantasy VII for
SonySony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
's PlayStation platform.
Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is world famous as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and has had a long career in gaming with over 100 million units of video games sold worldwide...
was the game designer and made the gameplay systems a priority over the story for the first time since working on
Final Fantasyis a fantasy role-playing video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and first published in Japan by Square in 1987. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series...
on the Famicom. Since the main concern during the development of Final Fantasy VII was how to implement 3D in the game, he made the gameplay systems the priority during its development.
The transition from
2D computer graphics2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
to 3D environments overlaid on
pre-renderedPre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputing or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of a footage that was previously rendered on a different equipment...
backgrounds was accompanied by a focus on a more realistic presentation. While the extra storage capacity and computer graphics gave the team the means to implement more than 40 minutes of
full motion videoFull motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
movies, this innovation brought with it the added difficulty of ensuring that the inferiority of the in-game graphics in comparison to the full motion video sequences was not too obvious. Kitase has described the process of making the in-game environments as detailed as possible to be "a daunting task". The series' long-time character designer,
Yoshitaka Amanois a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include...
, was busy opening art workshops and exhibitions in France and New York, which limited his involvement in the game. This issue was addressed by assigning
Tetsuya Nomurais a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
as the project's character designer, while Amano aided in the design of the game's world map.
Nomura has expressed that Final Fantasy VII was hindered by graphical limitations, and as such his designs were very plain in comparison to his real style. Cloud's original design of slicked back black hair with no spikes was intended to serve as a contrast to Sephiroth's long, flowing silver hair. Nomura feared that such masculinity could prove to be unpopular with fans, and therefore he changed Cloud's design to feature a shock of spiky, bright blond hair. Tifa's outfit with her dark miniskirt was designed to contrast Aerith's long, pink dress. Vincent's character developed from horror researcher to detective, then to chemist, and finally to the figure of a former Turk with a tragic past. Nomura has indicated that Cid Highwind's fighting style resembles that of a Dragoon Knight, a
character classIn role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
which was chosen because his last name is the same as that of two previous Dragoon Knights featured in the Final Fantasy series, Ricard Highwind of
Final Fantasy IIis a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the Sony PlayStation, Japanese mobile phones, the Game Boy...
and Kain Highwind of
Final Fantasy IVis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan and has since then been rereleased for many other platforms with varying modifications. An enhanced remake with 3D graphics...
.
In early August 1996, a demonstration disc called "Square's Preview Extra" was released in Japan as a bonus pack-in with the PlayStation game
Tobal No. 1is a fighting game for the PlayStation developed by DreamFactory and published by Square in 1996. The game was DreamFactory's first release, as well as Square's first release on the CD-based console....
. The disc contained the earliest playable demo of Final Fantasy VII and previews of other upcoming games such as
Bushido Bladeis a 3D fighting game developed by Light Weight and published by Square and Sony for the PlayStation. The game features one-on-one armed combat. Its name refers to the Japanese warrior code of honor, Bushidō....
and
SaGa Frontieris a role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation and released in Japan on July 11, 1997. The game was later published by Sony Computer Entertainment in North America on March 25, 1998. It is the seventh game in the SaGa series and the first to be released on the PlayStation...
. The demo allowed players to play through the first part of Midgar. However, there were some noticeable differences from the final version, namely that Aerith was featured in the initial party and that the ability to use Summons had not yet been implemented.
The game's release in North America was preceded by a massive three-month marketing campaign, which consisted of three 30-second television commercials on major networks, a one minute long theatrical commercial, a holiday promotion with
PepsiPepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
, and printed ads in publications such as
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
,
DetailsDetails is an American monthly men's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, founded in 1982. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, Details also features reports on relevant social and political issues.-History:...
,
SpinSpin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
,
PlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
and comic books published by
MarvelMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and
DCDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Several additions to gameplay and story were made for the game's North American release, such as easier exchange of materia, arrows highlighting exits on field screens, and an extra cutscene, prompting a re-release in Japan under the title "Final Fantasy VII International". In 1998, Final Fantasy VII was
portedIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
-based
PCsA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. This re-release featured smoother graphics and fixed translation and spelling errors, as well as gameplay-related glitches. However, the PC version also suffered from its own bugs, including errors in the display of some full motion videos when rendering in hardware mode on certain graphics
chipsetA chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
s.
Audio
The music for Final Fantasy VII was composed by
Nobuo Uematsuis a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
. Instead of recorded music and sound effects for the game, Uematsu opted for
MIDIsMIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
, using the PlayStation's internal
sound chipA sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
. Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the series to include a track with digitized vocals, "One-Winged Angel", which has been described as Uematsu's "most recognizable contribution" to the music of the Final Fantasy series. Uematsu has said the soundtrack has a feel of "realism", which prevented him from using "exorbitant, crazy music".
The game's soundtrack was released on four
Compact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s. One of the most famous pieces from the soundtrack is "Aeris' Theme", which is most noticeably played after Aeris is killed by Sephiroth. It has become popular among fans, and has inspired several arrangements. A single-disc album of selected tracks from the Original Soundtrack and three
arrangedThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
tracks, entitled Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks, was released separately. Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII, a piano arrangement of selected tracks, was released in 2003. Several tracks from the game have been remixed in subsequent Square productions, including Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts.
Reception
Final Fantasy VII was both a critical and commercial success, and set several sales records. Within three days of its release in Japan, the game had sold 2.3 million copies. This popularity inspired thousands of retailers in North America to break
street dateIn business, a street date is the date a particular product is to be released for sale to the general public.Typically, retailers receive shipments of stock prior to its street date release, so that the product can be placed on display shelves for store opening that day...
s in September to meet public demand for the title. In the game's debut weekend in North America, it sold 330,000 copies, and had reached sales of 500,000 units in less than three weeks. The momentum built in the game's opening weeks continued for several months; Sony announced the game had sold one million copies on the continent by early December, prompting business analyst Edward Williams from Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. to comment, "Sony redefined the role-playing game (RPG) category and expanded the conventional audience with the launch of Final Fantasy VII". Final Fantasy VII had sold over 9.8 million copies worldwide including Final Fantasy VII International as of December 2005, making it the highest-selling Final Fantasy title. Square's announcement that Final Fantasy VII would be produced for Sony rather than Nintendo and that it would not be based on the Final Fantasy SGI demo was met with discontent among gamers. The PlayStation Network release of the game was downloaded 100,000 times during its first two weeks of release, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation game on the PlayStation Network. As of May 2010, the game has sold 10 million copies worldwide.
Upon release, the game received near universal acclaim from critics.
GameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
commented that "never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined as well as in Final Fantasy VII", expressing particular favor toward the game's graphics, audio, and story.
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Jay Boor insisted the game's graphics were "light years beyond anything ever seen on the PlayStation", and regarded its battle system as its strongest point.
RPGamerRPGamer is a media and news website dedicated to covering computer and video game RPGs. Its coverage includes North American game news, European game news, Asian game news, gaming industry news, game reviews, game previews, hands-on game impressions, gaming conventions, game merchandise, release...
praised the game's soundtrack both in variety and sheer volume, stating that "Uematsu has done his work exceptionally well" and "is perhaps at his best here".
Since 1997, Final Fantasy VII has been selected by many game magazines—including
Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
,
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
and
GamespotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
—as one of the best and most important video games of all time, and has placed at or near the top in many reader polls of all-time best games. Upon its release in 1997, it was referred to by Gamefan as "quite possibly the greatest game ever made...," a quote which continues to feature prominently on the back cover of the game's jewel case. In January 2005, it was selected by Electronic Gaming Monthly as sixth on their list of "the 10 most important games ... that helped redefine the industry since ... 1989". Citing its "beautiful cut-scenes and a deep, introspective narrative", they claimed that "Square’s game was ... the first RPG to surpass, instead of copy, movie-like storytelling." In late 2007,
Dengeki PlayStationis a Japanese gaming magazine published by ASCII Media Works . The magazine originally featured information pertaining to PlayStation video games, but since then has also incorporated information from PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable games...
named Final Fantasy VII as the "best story", "best RPG", and "best overall game" in their retrospective awards feature about the original PlayStation.
GameProGamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
named it the fourteenth most important and most innovative video game of all-time, as well as the best RPG title of all time. Final Fantasy VII placed second in the "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time" poll by Japanese magazine
Famitsuis a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
during March 2006, while users of the video game website
GameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
voted Final Fantasy VII as the "Best Game Ever" in November 2005 and in 2004, and placed second in 2009. GamePro also featured it in their article "The 30 Best PSN Games" as one of the most downloaded games from the PlayStation Network. The game also made #15 on
Game InformerGame Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
's Top 200 Games of All Time, and came second place on
EmpireEmpire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
's "100 Greatest Games of All Time" list behind
Super Mario World, subtitled Super Mario Bros. 4 for its original Japanese release, is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo as a pack-in launch title for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System , and is the fourth game in the Super Mario series...
.
Final Fantasy VII has received negative criticism as well.
GameSpyGameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
rated it seventh on their "25 Most Overrated Games" list in September 2003. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (OPM) and GameSpot questioned the game's highly linear progression. OPM considered the game's translation "a bit muddy" and felt the summon animations were "tedious". RPGamer cited its translation as "packed with typos and other errors which further obscure what is already a very confusing plot". GamePro also considered the Japanese-to-English translation a significant weakness in the game, and IGN regarded the option to use only three characters at a time as "the game's only shortcoming".
Reviewers praised the game's
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
conversion, but criticized it for its lower-quality pre-rendered visuals and audio, and for its framerate and installation problems;
Computer Games MagazineComputer Games Magazine was a computer gaming print magazine. It was formerly Computer Games Strategy Plus, and before that, Strategy Plus, which had been founded as Games International in the UK in 1988. While its initial focus was on strategy games, it covered a wide range of game genres...
said that "[no] game in recent memory" had its "tendency to fail to work in any capacity on multiple [computers]".
Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
complained that the "music, while beautifully composed, is butchered by being dependent on [a] sound card", and
Next Generation MagazineNext Generation Magazine was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company . It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West...
found the game's pre-rendered backgrounds significantly less impressive than those of the PlayStation version. However, the latter magazine found the higher-resolution battle visuals "absolutely stunning", and Computer Games Magazine said that they "[show] off the power of [a] PC equipped with a 3D card". All three magazines concluded by praising the game despite its technical flaws, and
PC GamerPC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
US summarized that, while "Square apparently did only what was required to get its PlayStation game running under Windows", Final Fantasy VII is "still a winner on the PC".
Legacy
Final Fantasy VII is credited as "the game that sold the PlayStation", as well as allowing
consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
role-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s to find a place in markets outside Japan, and (as measured in copies sold) remains the most popular title in the series. The game's popularity and open-ended nature also led director Kitase and scenario writer Nojima to establish a plot-related connection between Final Fantasy VII and
Final Fantasy X-2is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
. The character Shinra from Final Fantasy X-2 proposes the concept of extracting the life energy from within the planet Spira. Nojima has stated that Shinra and his proposal are a deliberate nod to the Shinra Company, and that he envisioned the events of Final Fantasy X-2 as a prequel to those in Final Fantasy VII. In addition to the PlayStation and PC releases, the game was released onto the PlayStation Network in Japan on April 10, 2009, in America on June 2, 2009 and in Europe and Australia on June 4, 2009. The Japanese release is the International version. The game has also inspired an
unofficial version of Final Fantasy VIIFinal Fantasy VII is a Chinese unofficial, unlicensed remake of the 1997 console role playing game Final Fantasy VII, originally developed by Square for the PlayStation. The two-dimensional "port" was developed and published by the Chinese company ShenZhen Nanjing Technology for the SUBOR...
for the
Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
by Chinese company Shenzhen Nanjing Technology. This port features the Final Fantasy VII game scaled back to 2D, with some of the side quests removed.
The full motion video sequences and computer graphics presented in Final Fantasy VII would allow Sakaguchi to begin production of the first Final Fantasy film,
Final Fantasy: The Spirits WithinFinal Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a 2001 Japanese-American computer animated science fiction film directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series of role-playing video games. It was the first photorealistic computer animated feature film and also holds the record for the most...
. The game also introduced settings dominantly suffused with modern-to-advanced technology into the Final Fantasy series, a theme continued by Final Fantasy VIII and The Spirits Within. Re-releases of Square games in Japan with bonus features would occur frequently after the release of Final Fantasy VII International. Later titles that would be re-released as
international versionIn video games, an international version is a relocalized version of a previously released title in its native territory that has gained additional features and contents in foreign releases...
s include Final Fantasy X (as "International"),
Final Fantasy X-2is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
(as "International + Last Mission"),
Kingdom Heartsis an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
(as "Final Mix"),
Kingdom Hearts IIis an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
(as "Final Mix"), and
Final Fantasy XIIis a console role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. Released in 2006, it is the twelfth title in the Final Fantasy series and the last in the series to be released exclusively on the PlayStation platform...
(as "International Zodiac Job System").
Several characters from Final Fantasy VII have made
cameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in other Square Enix titles, most notably the
fighting gameFighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
Ehrgeiz, fully titled Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, is a 3D fighting game developed by DreamFactory and published by Namco in 1998 for the arcade platform. It was first ported to the PlayStation and published by Square Co...
and the popular Final Fantasy-
DisneyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
crossover series Kingdom Hearts.
Dissidia: Final Fantasyis an action RPG/fighting game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable as part of the campaign of the Final Fantasy series 20th anniversary. Information on the game was first released during the "Square Enix Party" event of May 2008...
is the newest game to include Final Fantasy VII characters such as Cloud and Sephiroth and lets players battle it out with characters from other Final Fantasy games. Aerith's death in the game has often been referred as one of the most emotional moments from any video game. Sephiroth remains one of the most popular villains in video game history, unanimously voted #1 by the staff of gaming publication
Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
in their "Top 10 Video Game Bosses" list in October 2005, and winning
GameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
' best villain contest in spring of the same year.
Related media and merchandise
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is the formal title for a series of games and animated features and short stories based in the world and story of Final Fantasy VII. The series consists of several titles across various platforms, all of which are extensions of the original story. The first title in the Compilation is the mobile game
Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VIIis a Japanese action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in 2004. It was the first original game to be produced by Square Enix exclusively for mobile phones, and was released on NTT DoCoMo's FOMA iMode line of phones on a monthly subscription basis...
, which is a prequel focusing on the Turks six years preceding the original game. The
CGIComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
film sequel Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was the first title announced in the series, but it was the second to be released. It is set two years after the conclusion of Final Fantasy VII. Special editions of the film included
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, also abbreviated as Last Order or LO, is a 2005 Japanese anime original video animation produced by Madhouse and released by Square Enix. It was directed by Morio Asaka and produced by Masao Maruyama, Jungo Maruta, and Akio Ofuji. Tetsuya Nomura acted as the supervising director...
, an
original video animation, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
that recounts the destruction of Nibelheim.
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VIIis an action role-playing third-person shooter video game developed and published by Square Enix in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII metaseries, a multimedia collection set within the universe of the popular 1997 video game Final Fantasy VII...
and its mobile phone counterpart, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, are
third-person shooterThird-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
s. Dirge of Cerberus is set three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII. The most recent title in the Compilation is the
PlayStation PortableThe is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
game
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VIIis an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. First released in 2007, the game is a prequel to the video game Final Fantasy VII and is also the sixth installment in metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII which includes products related to the game...
, an
action role-playing gameAction role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
that revolves around Zack's past. Also included is On the Way to a Smile, a collection of seven short stories written by Kazushige Nojima based on the events that immediately followed the end of the game, leading up to Advent Children. Originally only three short stories were released: "Case of Barret", "Case of Tifa" and "Case of Denzel". With the release of Advent Children Complete, "Case of Nanaki", "Case of Yuffie", "Case of ShinRa" and "Case of Lifestream - White & Black" were added.
Releases not under the Compilation label include, Maiden Who Travels the Planet, which follows Aerith's journey in the Lifestream after her death at the hands of Sephiroth, taking place concurrently with the second half of Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding is a mobile
portIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
of the snowboard
minigameA minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
featured in Final Fantasy VII. It contains different tracks than the original minigame. The game is downloadable on
V CASTV CAST is a 3G EV-DO network created by Verizon Wireless to deliver audio, video, and entertainment content. The typical download speed is between 800 kilobits and 1.4 megabits per second with burst speeds of up to 3.1 megabits per second...
-compatible
mobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s, and was first made available in 2005 in Japan and North America.
Possible remake
It was speculated the Final Fantasy VII Compilation would include an enhanced remake of the original Final Fantasy VII for the
PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. This speculation was sparked at the 2005 E3 by the release of a video featuring the opening sequence of Final Fantasy VII recreated using PlayStation 3's graphical capabilities, and furthering the speculation with thank-you notes to "the Final Fantasy VII PS3 testing team" in the credits of both Advent Children and Crisis Core; however, it is quite possible the note was aimed at the testers for the PSN release of Final Fantasy VII, or that either game used graphical assets from that demo. Square Enix president
Yoichi Wadais the current president and representative director of the Japanese video game and publishing company Square Enix as well as its subsidiary Taito...
has explained the presentation was intended only for technological demonstration purposes, and an official statement from the company said they had not announced such a project. In June 2009, Final Fantasy VII was released on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.
Yoshinori Kitaseis a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since April 1, 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy and is currently the manager of 1st Production Department....
, producer of
Final Fantasy XIIIis a console role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Released in 2009 in Japan and 2010 in North America and PAL regions, it is the thirteenth major installment in the Final Fantasy series...
, said at
Games ConventionThe Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment...
, "As for a VII remake, all I can advise right now is to play the PSN release that has come out for the time being. Maybe we'll have some news for you at a later time. I'm actually working on multiple projects right now, I don't know exactly what new projects I'll be taking on after XIII, but I am working on
Final Fantasy Agito XIIIis a video game published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable and it is developed by the company's 1st Production Department. The game was originally announced with the name ; "Agito" roughly meaning "to put in motion" in Latin. Director Hajime Tabata said he liked the Agito title, but the...
, too. Maybe I'll be able to focus a little more on that project once XIII is complete." In February 2010, Kitase stated creating a Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 3 in order to give it a similar quality to the one from Final Fantasy XIII "would take as much as three or four times longer than the three and a half years it has taken to put this Final Fantasy together! So it's looking pretty unrealistic to happen!" Also, Kitase commented making games with the same style of Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 3 is very difficult as it would take the staff too much time to make the graphics; because of this, Final Fantasy XIII is "more linear" than previous titles. In a March 2010 interview, however, Final Fantasy XIII director
Motomu Toriyamais a Japanese game director and scenario writer who has been working for Square Enix since 1995. He is the director in charge of the main series Final Fantasy games developed by their 1st Production Department, which is managed by Yoshinori Kitase....
stated, "If we had the manpower and the time to work on a project, if we were to remake Final Fantasy VII with the quality of Final Fantasy XIII it would become a tremendous project. If we can get the number of people we need by all means that would be the one I would really want to remake." In March 2010, CEO Yoichi Wada revealed they are exploring the possibility of a remake, following the high demand.
Due to the number of questions the site
GamesRadarGamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
received about the game's remake they featured it in their article, "5 reasons to hate Final Fantasy" in response to the number of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, yet they wished it could be released so that fans would stop asking them about it. GamesRadar later published an article called "The truth about the Final Fantasy VII remake", stating despite the staff's comments they will not make a remake; recent interviews from mid-2009 onwards gave gamers hope that it is still possible that a remake will be released. In 2011,
GameTrailersGameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
ranked it second on a list of the games that most needed remakes.
External links