Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII (ファイナルファンタジーVII, Fainaru Fantajī Sebun?) is a role-playing video game developed by Squaresoft (now Square Enix) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 1997 for Sony's PlayStation and in 1998 for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers, and released onto the PlayStation Network in 2009. The game is the first in the series to use 3D computer graphics, featuring fully rendered characters on pre-rendered backgrounds.


Set in a dystopian world, Final Fantasy VII's story centers on mercenary Cloud Strife who joins with several others to stop the megacorporation Shin-Ra, which is draining the life of the planet to use as an energy source. As the story progresses, the situation escalates and Cloud and his allies must battle the game's main antagonist, Sephiroth.

Development of Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 and the game was originally intended for the SNES, but it was later moved to the Nintendo 64. As the system's cartridges lacked space, Square decided to release the game for Sony's PlayStation instead. The music was scored by Final Fantasy veteran Nobuo Uematsu, while the series' long-time character designer, Yoshitaka Amano, was replaced by Tetsuya Nomura.

Noted for its graphics, gameplay, music, and story, Final Fantasy VII is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential games of all time. As of December 2005, the game has sold more than 9.8 million copies worldwide, earning it the position of the best-selling Final Fantasy title. The ongoing popularity of the title led Square Enix to produce a series of sequels and prequels under the collective title Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Gameplay
Like previous installments of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VII consists of three modes: an overworld 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 emu-like chocobos, airship, or submarine. 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 CPU-controlled enemies.While characters are super deformed 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 polygons, rather than 2D sprites.

Initially, the player is restricted to exploring the city of Midgar, but as the game progresses, the entire world becomes accessible to the player. Progression through the game's storyline is largely developed by way of scripted sequences, although pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes sometimes also advance the story.

Combat
During its turn-based battle sequences, the game uses the same Active Time Battle (ATB) system designed by Hiroyuki Itō and first featured in Final Fantasy IV. Unlike previous games in the series, which allow 4-5 playable characters to participate in battle, Final Fantasy VII allows only three characters to be in the party at any time.

Final Fantasy VII's skill system is built around the use of materia, magical orbs that are placed in special slots on weapons and armor, allowing players to customize their characters' access to magic spells, summons, and special abilities. Magic and summon materia also make the characters physically weaker. In addition to their individual attributes, materia can be used together in a fixed number of ways to enhance their effects or produce other abilities.

A modified form of Final Fantasy VI's "Desperation Attacks" appears in Final Fantasy VII as the "Limit Break". Every playable character has a bar that gradually fills up when 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, which any character could use, each character has their own unique Limit Breaks. In addition, elaborately animated summon spells were incorporated in the game, and are also present in future games in the series.

Setting
he game's setting follows in the footsteps of Final Fantasy VI 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 near-future science fiction.[8] The world of Final Fantasy VII, retroactively named "Gaia" but referred to in the game as "The Planet", is composed of three main land masses. The eastern continent features the city of Midgar, an industrial metropolis that serves as the headquarters of the Shinra Electric Power Company, a ruthless megacorporation operating as the de facto world government. 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 chocobo 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; Costa Del Sol, a seaside resort; 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 observatory 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.[9] The northernmost continent is a heavily glaciated wasteland, 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 climax takes place. There are also underwater locations accessible via submarine, such as a sunken plane transporter.

Characters
The nine main playable characters in Final Fantasy VII are Cloud Strife, an unsociable mercenary who claims to be a former 1st Class member of Shinra's SOLDIER unit; Aeris Gainsborough, a flower merchant who has been pursued by Shinra's special operations unit Turks since childhood; Tifa Lockhart, a martial artist and childhood friend of Cloud's; Barret Wallace, the leader of the anti-Shinra rebel group AVALANCHE; Red XIII, a wise lion-like creature who was experimented on by Shinra scientists; Yuffie Kisaragi, a young thief and a skillful ninja; Cid Highwind, a pilot whose dreams of being the first man in outer space were crushed; Cait Sith, a fortune-telling robotic cat who rides an animated moogle doll; and Vincent Valentine, a former member of Shinra's Turks unit who was killed and brought back to life as an immortal. 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.

The game's character designer, Tetsuya 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 Aeris' 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 Dragon Knight, a character class which was chosen because his last name is the same as that of two previous Dragon Knights featured in the Final Fantasy series, Ricard Highwind of Final Fantasy II and Kain Highwind of Final Fantasy IV.

Due to their popularity, several characters from Final Fantasy VII have made cameo appearances in other Square Enix titles, most notably the fighting game Ehrgeiz and the popular Final Fantasy-Disney crossover series Kingdom Hearts. Sephiroth remains one of the most popular villains in video game history, unanimously voted #1 by the staff of gaming publication Electronic Gaming Monthly in their "Top 10 Video Game Bosses" list in October 2005, and winning GameFAQs' best villain contest in spring of the same year.

Final Fantasy VII 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 Aeris.[18] Prompted by the arrival of Shinra's Turks operatives sent to capture Aeris, Cloud agrees to be Aeris's bodyguard and defends her from the Turks.[19] After meeting up with Tifa in Sector 7, they infiltrate the mansion of crime boss Don Corneo. The party learns that Shinra has discovered the location of AVALANCHE's hideout and plans to collapse the upper plate of Sector 7 onto the slums below.[20] Shinra destroys Sector 7, killing its population and three members of AVALANCHE. The Turks capture Aeris, who is revealed to be the last surviving "Cetra",[21] a race closely attuned with the planet, and previously thought extinct. President Shinra believes Aeris 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's headquarters to rescue Aeris. After freeing her and Red XIII, they escape when most of the personnel in the building—including President Shinra—are killed. Cloud suspects that Sephiroth, a man presumed to be dead, was behind the attack, suspicions confirmed by an executive who claims to have witnessed Sephiroth murder the president and state 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 Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent, and Cid. Each member of the group must come to terms with personal conflicts from their past. The full scope of Sephiroth's plan is eventually revealed: if the world is significantly damaged, the Lifestream within will gather in an attempt to heal the wound. Sephiroth intends to use a powerful spell called "Meteor" to fatally injure the planet, inciting a reaction in the Lifestream to safeguard the planet. Sephiroth would then merge with all of the planet's energy, allowing him to be reborn as a god and rule over the planet.


At an ancient temple created by the Cetra, AVALANCHE attempts to undermine Sephiroth's plot by claiming the Black Materia needed to activate Meteor, but Sephiroth displays a mysterious power over Cloud, forcing him to relinquish it. Fearing Sephiroth may cast Meteor, Aeris sets off to stop him on her own. AVALANCHE follows her to the northern continent, where they enter an ancient Cetra city. After finding Aeris praying to the planet for aid, Sephiroth begins affecting Cloud's behavior, and attempts to force him to kill her. Cloud resists Sephiroth's command, but Sephiroth appears and kills Aeris. After laying her body to rest, the party resolves to defeat Sephiroth.

Cloud, however, begins to doubt his ability to control his own actions. 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 "WEAPONs". 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.[29] With Tifa unable to refute Sephiroth's claims, Cloud surrenders the Black Materia to Sepiroth, allowing him to cast Meteor. This in turn results in the WEAPONs' awakening. 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.[30] Meanwhile, the members of AVALANCHE obtain Cid's airship, the Highwind, and begin searching for Cloud. They find him in a catatonic state on a tropical resort where he washed up following the casting of Meteor. The WEAPONs' destructive activity causes the island to split open, depositing Cloud and Tifa 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 Aeris's first boyfriend and Cloud's best friend, Zack Fair. Zack, Tifa, and Cloud had fought Sepiroth during the latter's attack on Nibelheim. Although Tifa and Zack were defeated, Cloud and Sephiroth severely wounded one another. After decapitating Jenova, Sephiroth is 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-up 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 comatose state, and nearly five years later, Zack broke free from his confinement and took Cloud with him. However, the alien cells inhabiting Cloud's body also 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, leading him to believe that he had been the 1st Class SOLDIER in Nibelheim. Zack was killed outside Midgar by Shinra soldiers after saving Cloud's life; during Zack's final moments, he tells Cloud to live both of their lives. Afterward, Tifa discovered Cloud, who was wearing a 1st class uniform that Zack found, and offered him a job with AVALANCHE.

After Cloud awakens, it is revealed that Aeris, 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. Cloud tells his team to go find what they are fighting for, before they begin a final assault against Sephiroth. With each member of Cloud's group at peace with his or her past, 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 epilogue, 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 Shinra's destroyed Midgar had once been.