Final Fantasy VII (1997)

Best game in the series so far. Changes from the previous entry really make the game feel more dynamic. The story is nothing extraordinary, but feels much more alive in this entry than those prior. In terms of gameplay, one of the most beneficial changes is the move to only having three characters in control at a time as opposed to four or five. At first, I thought this change was strange and would take away from the game. However, I soon realized what a benefit this provided to gameplay. One of the points where I felt I missed out in previous Final Fantasy games was in not utilizing the full complexity of the game's systems. I did this because there seemed to be too much information to easily adapt to, and with the relatively fast paced combat it did not seem practical to learn them. With one fewer character in the ring, more complicated moves and strategies felt much more manageable. I still didn't sink my teeth in 100%, but I did find myself experimenting more with materia and such than I normally would. Other nice features include: a smaller and more manageable cast of slightly less two-dimensional characters, experimental little breaks from the core gameplay, and a quite cool setting. Overall, this is a very strong showing, and not a bad place for someone to jump into the FF franchise.

When I was in high school a friend of mine talked to me about some important plot points of FFVII, because I didn't have a PS1 and because back in 1999 there wasn't a 'culture' of not spoil things I didn't mind at all, then years later I watched Advent Children and I really liked it (still), the years passed and it was till February 2019 that I first played and completed FFVII and damn, at first I was reluctant of the title of "Best RPG" or "Best FF" but as the thing went along, by the credits I was really moved on and I was converted to another Jenova believer.

The thing is that I can't imagine how amazing would be if I played the whole thing not knowing anything about it, the characters, the story, the passing, the music, everything is an ambitious piece, the graphics are obviously from the PS1 era but they have aged so well, this game has everything, comedy, horror moments, kaiju, doublecrossing, philosophical stuff, really just everything. There are a few issues with the controls or in more than a few battles, because of the camera angles I couldn't heal or revive the right character, but just that.

The story is so masterfully crafted that even when I think I knew everything (because of my friend and well... the internet) I was so invested and wanted to see how it will unfold next. This game made me reconsider all the classics that I still haven't played and set a really high bar for all the others FF that I still have to play, a true masterpiece that everyone should play, so if you haven't played it before, just give yourself a favor and go right ahead.