Returning to Final Fantasy VII is truly one of my favourite things.
Final Fantasy VII was my first Final Fantasy. One Halloween evening, my best friend (dressed as Princess Zelda) and me (dressed as James from Team Rocket) sat down and played FF7 until the Mythril Mines. We were madly in love with it but it wasn’t ours and we didn’t have a chance to return to it. For her birthday a few weeks later, she got Final Fantasy VIII and we played that together over the course of a year and we were OBESSESED. I’ll always say VIII was my first real foray into Final Fantasy but VII was technically the first!
A while later I’d get my first summer job at 15. With my first paycheque I bought: a 17″ Philips TV with built-in VCR (I still own this), a PS1, and a Greatest Hits copy of Final Fantasy VII. I also grabbed an off-brand memory card which would wipe my save twice before I went and bought an official PS1 memory card. While it’s the first Final Fantasy I owned and played by myself, I think IX is the first one I beat? Either way, my memories of this game are full of good nostalgia and warm thoughts.
This is all to say that coming back to Final Fantasy VII feels like wrapping myself in a warm blanket. I think VIII is my favourite but I love PLAYING VII more? The music! The pre-rendered backgrounds! The atmosphere! The really WEIRD and goofy elements that don’t really happen in the other games. It’s been so fun engaging with systems I’ve never really touched before either – like the Enemy Skill Materia. I don’t think I’ve ever ONCE casted the Manipulate spell before so that’s new! I think I’m gonna get all of Aeris’ limit breaks before she returns to the lifestream as well. And Ruby and Emerald’s days are coming to a CLOSE!
Mostly, this is just a post to gush about Final Fantasy VII and how I always come to appreciate it more each time I return to it. I know it’s very hyped – I know everyone and their dog loves this game. But I think it’s all for a very good reason – it really is something special!
Whoa, spoilers! #CancelPando