Okay, so I'm a decade or so behind with my RPGs, I know. And since I was reminded while playing of a post
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peppygrowlithe made when he finished FF7, I might as well add that
here. (If you're not one for spoilers, I'd advise not to follow the link.)
I have a terrible habit of starting a RPG and then not finishing it, preferring instead to start yet another game and hop between the two depending on what I feel like playing. Or, alternatively, start playing a third game. And perhaps a fourth as well. This does mean that I play lots of different RPGs with slightly different playing styles, and if I feel like playing something I have several to resort to. Currently the list of played-but-not-finished stands at FF4, FF6, Chrono Cross and Sailor Moon: Another Story, with the New Game + of Chrono Trigger also awaiting me. Final Fantasy VII has just been taken off the list this evening, after playing the final two or three boss battles for roughly three hours. Almost an hour of that involved shuffling materia around before the first battle, so that all my characters had decent magic and skills and none of the parties in the big all-of-the-characters battle would die. Then there was the first boss battle, which featured a lot of hitting the boss with weapons, abundant Cure spells and not much else, for roughly an hour. After that we had the battle against Safer Sephiroth, who looked absolutely ridiculous but whose battle was redeemed by having "One Winged Angel" playing throughout. He took a while to take down, but once he was down we were onto a final battle which only required one button press to win the fight. And then the ending cutscenes followed.
Ah yes, the ending cutscenes. They might have been interesting if I'd remembered what on earth had happened in the game, but several months of not playing an RPG - especially one as odd and plot-holed as FF7 - does tend to dull your memory. As it was, I sat and watched and marvelled at how I had no idea why they were ending it like this, no idea how the entire party had apparently forgotten that there was a
giant meteor heading towards their planet, and absolutely no idea what on earth this Holy was that they were all talking about.
As the credits finished, and the epilogue scene played (ending with what was presumably one of the characters with his children, standing on a hill, overlooking the now-green ruins of a city), I could have thought about the dangers of putting too much faith in technology, and the need to remember our responsibilities to the place we live in. I could have considered the value of friendship, so well demonstrated at times. I could have mused on the dangers of raising a child who is made without compassion, who when he learns of who he is and why he is can easily destroy his maker.
But those would have been too poetic for me. Instead, I gave a brief happy thought for the materia system, said, "Thank goodness that's over," and turned the game off. FF7 was good enough, but I've seen better - better battle systems, better plots, and especially better translations. Often all in the same game, from the same company, and in two instances in games that may never be released where I am.
Like I said, I suggest you read Peppy's post about the game. I think tomorrow I will play Chrono Cross instead.
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timeasmymeasure
