Home » Final Fantasy Finally: Midgar, Materia, and a Big-Arse Buster Sword

Final Fantasy Finally: Midgar, Materia, and a Big-Arse Buster Sword

I have never played a Final Fantasy game to completion before. Honestly, it’s something that has perplexed me for a long time because, when you look at the types of games I play, it should be a series that is right up my alley. At the end of 2024, though, I finally broke that trend and finished my first Final Fantasy game (to an extent), and I loved every moment of it.

I guess my main problem was not knowing where to start. When you’ve got 16 main instalments and a myriad of standalone titles, spin-offs, and sequels (what the hell is an X-2/XIII-2?!), it can all feel very overwhelming. The internet is a polarising place, and no two people will ever be able to tell you definitively what the best Final Fantasy game to start with is.

My only experiences with the series before now were Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. With XIII, I barely made it through two chapters before losing interest. It left such a weak impression that I avoided the series for years. My Life as a King on the other hand was a quirky city-building game on the WiiWare service, and was more of a curiosity than a commitment (read: I played it for a week and forgot about it).

However, I did find that two titles would consistently pop up in conversation time and time again, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy IX. (Side note: I have been informed by BRB UK’s own Dan Gibbons that it is, in fact, Final Fantasy VI which is “the best one”). Ultimately though I gravitated towards Final Fantasy VII, and more specifically, Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PS5.

But why pick Final Fantasy VII? And why Final Fantasy VII Remake as well? The answer, I feel, lies in its undeniable legacy. Parts of it are so ingrained in gaming culture that even I, an outsider to the series, could recognise Cloud Strife’s spiky hair and massive Buster Sword from a country mile away. If a game such as this deserves a full-blown remake stretched across three instalments, there has to be something special about it, right? I could certainly have played the original, but given that Remake was sitting in the PS Plus Game Catalogue, tempting me, I felt that the more modern interpretation was going to be the ideal place to start.

As it turns out, I think I’ve found that “something special” that makes Final Fantasy VII one of the most popular games in the series. Or, at least, those special somethings would certainly enamour me.

To begin with, there are the characters that join Cloud’s party/act as support throughout the game. This is probably the biggest part of the game that stood out to me. There weren’t really weren’t any characters that I “hated” in my time with it. In fact, I was smitten with the entire cast, their motivations, and their backstories, and all of them grew on me in one form or another. Barret, the muscle-bound dude with a Gatling gun for an arm and the leader of a cell of AVALANCHE (an “eco-terrorist” group), might come across as an irredeemable and gruff hard-ass as you begin the game (and to be fair, he is), but as you play you come to understand the reasoning for his attitudes – such as his passion to save the planet and also look out for his adopted daughter, Marlene. Barret’s pursuit of justice against those who have wronged the world places him as somewhat of a moral compass of the party, even if his attitudes and ideals can cause friction.

Tifa, Cloud’s childhood friend, puts on a front to make sure everyone else around her is okay, but she has a habit of not looking out for herself sometimes and is plagued by self-doubt. Her quiet strengths and mastery of hand-to-hand combat are balanced out by the moments in which we see her emotional vulnerability as she comes to serve as the voice of reason and emotional anchor for the rest of the cast.

Aerith’s fun, boisterous, and childlike whimsy sometimes felt grating at first but, much like Barret, you come to realise that, on the surface, there is more to her character than meets the eye due to her wisdom and independence (and I will not elaborate any further because if you’re like me and have never played before then, I will leave it up to you to discover Aerith’s backstory for yourself).

Then, there is the roster of supporting characters. The trio of Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are a lot of fun whenever they are on screen, yet they also have enough time to be fleshed out to the extent that you grow to care about them. The few times I full-on cried during my playthrough, these were the characters that were ultimately involved in turning on the waterworks. They serve to ground the story as one that is intimately human in nature, with each of them highlighting the vulnerabilities and challenges we may face in our day-to-day lives, both physically and mentally.

However, it’s on the gameplay front that I decided to choose Remake over the original Final Fantasy VII. More often than not, when you go back to play an old game, it’s hard to deal with a lot of the jank that came as standard. Modern gaming has somewhat ruined my tolerance for going back to the old days. This is why Remake’s rebuilt combat system drew me towards it. The game seems to strike a balance between honouring the original’s mechanics whilst also modernising for new players like me. I know the 1997 version relied on the ATB (Active Time Battle) system, a turn-based mechanic where abilities activate as the character’s gauges fill. Remake keeps the ATB framework within its gameplay (you can slow down the fight to select specific character abilities), but it also layers on real-time combat, creating a hybrid system that feels intuitive and dynamic.

As someone who’s played countless third-person action games, the real-time combat made Remake far more accessible to me. Final Fantasy’s gameplay systems were what always seemed daunting to me. While I’ve dabbled in turn-based RPGs like Pokémon, I didn’t feel like I was familiar with Final Fantasy enough to dive straight into its classic systems. As a result, Remake’s gameplay felt like the perfect entry point.

It does make me wonder how I’d feel if I had played the original back in 1997. Did these changes alienate longtime fans, or do they enhance the experience? From my perspective, Remake seems to cater to both newcomers and veterans by blending nostalgia with modern mechanics. Perhaps veterans can weigh in – how do you feel about the updates to the gameplay?

I think what’s most striking though is how I felt nostalgia for the game despite never having played before. I’d experienced these characters and locations in other games such as Super Smash Bros., but finally seeing them in their home environment, and hearing all of those iconic tracks from Nobuo Uematsu (Let the Battles Begin! and One-Winged Angel gave me tingles) as they were intended to be just made me long for the simpler times.

I feel like Final Fantasy VII Remake has served as a gateway because now I’m curious as to what else I’ve missed with this franchise. I was eagerly eyeing Final Fantasy XVI the other day, and I’ve been contemplating whether I should give Final Fantasy XIII another go as well. Time will tell, but I’m eager to explore the worlds of Final Fantasy more, or even other JRPGs! Or maybe I should bite the bullet and give the next chapter, Rebirth, a go while riding on the tailwind of Remake?

All I can say for certain is this: my backlog will not be thanking me after these newfound discoveries.,

Written by
Mediocre anthropologist, occasionally writes about video games, Dan Gibbons’ biggest fan

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