Editor’s note: This review is written by David Hale, a game design student at Full Sail University. David grew up all over the country and was exposed to many different cultures. He was always interested in videogames and knew he wanted to be involved in their making somehow. After high school, David attended college for music composition. After moving some more and attending more music schools, he realized it wasn’t how he is going to get into the industry. That’s when David enrolled at Full Sail. He currently resides in Amish Country in Ohio and hopes his music history — along with his Full Sail education — enables him to help create a new level in gaming.

I have been playing videogames all my life. I started with Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Contra. Later, I jumped back to older games, like Centipede, Tempest and Pac-Man. As systems improved, so did the games — but not just depth of graphics and colors or addition of cutscenes. Character development improved vastly, and videogames became capable of more than just scoring high points; they started to tell in-depth stories.

For me, it started with a role-playing game. I would go to a friend’s house to watch him play Final Fantasy VII. I wasn’t even playing, and I was hooked! When my friend finally made it to the second disc, I borrowed the first one. I had never been so enthralled with a game. It became the talk at the lunch table; it was the reason I stayed up all night. I finally bought Final Fantasy VII as I soon caught up with my where my friend was in the game.

Final Fantasy VII flows through three modes: an overworld map, field maps and a battle screen. The overworld map consists of a 3-D, scaled-down world of Final Fantasy VII. The player can traverse this map on foot, by several vehicles — including the classic airship — and by Final Fantasy-series staple Chocobos. From this map, players can enter a field map, a more realistically scaled 2-D map of a specific area, such as a town or part of a forest. A battle screen is brought up whenever the player encounters an enemy to fight and is a 3D representation of an area such as the inside of a building or ship. The battle system follows an ATB (Active Time Battle) system in which time bars fill to begin a character’s action in battle. Another bar fills each time a character takes damage. When this fills, the character is able to perform a Limit Break. Every character has his or her own specific Limit Break and causes significantly greater damage than regular attacks or aides the party in a positive manner.

Each character has unique strengths and weaknesses but is capable of equipping Materia, special orbs that imbue a character with magic, special skills and summons. Materia is capable of being combined to create newer capabilities. This enables the player to customize each character with his or her own special arsenal.

Final Fantasy VII features fully rendered 3-D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds and is the first in the series to do so.

The player’s exploration is limited to the first city, Midgar. The player assumes the role of Cloud, a mercenary for hire. He is hired by Barrett and Tifa of AVALANCHE to help destroy Shinra, a military government type of energy corporation, and its reactors that are sucking the life energy out of the planet. As the missions progress, the team is soon captured by Shinra and framed for the destruction of an entire section of Midgar. They are able to escape Shinra after a dark character from Cloud’s past emerges, Sephiroth, and kills most of Shinra, including the president.

As the story continues, Cloud’s team is joined by others who have been troubled and betrayed by Shinra. The team learns that the planet is not in danger from Shinra but in fact by Sephiroth. Sephiroth plans to “injure” the planet by summoning Meteor. All the life energy that will be used to heal the planet, Sephiroth will use to become one with the planet and roam the cosmos. Cloud and his team struggle to defeat Sephiroth, and with the special help and loss of one of their own, they do so.

This may sound like any other RPG out there; the standard “save the world from an enemy that seeks a great power” story. You would be wrong to think that’s all there is to Final Fantasy VII. Character development dives so deep that it may feel overwhelming, but that’s what makes it so important. There are a number of subtleties.

Cloud has a dark past that, in the beginning, he is unaware of. Due to genetic testing, Cloud assumes the past of a deceased friend. Through a flashback, you’ll initially learn Cloud was ranked 1st Class in an elite military group named SOLDIER and good friends with Sephiroth. Later, it is revealed that Cloud was never in SOLDIER or befriended Sephiroth. As I played the game, I was confused but not detracted as Cloud’s story unfolded. His perception of himself changed, and he felt lost in himself and the world, and at the time, I could relate to that (new school and new friends). Through the story, Cloud goes through significant changes. He learns to trust others and not to take the burden of every little problem that arises.

Another staple character that pushes the story is Sephiroth, considered by many to be one of the greatest villains ever. Through a flashback, Sephiroth is perceived as a good person and strong fighter. On a routine mission, Sephiroth learns he is the result of a genetic experiment and believes his mother is an extraterrestrial being. Not only does his world come crashing down, but he becomes determined to destroy the planet and roam the cosmos destroying other planets.

Each character in Final Fantasy VII has a dark past that is difficult to overlook and blends so well to create a compelling story. It isn’t just another save the world story; it’s about finding your true self, which is something I think everyone can relate toFinal Fantasy VII’s story is so enthralling; it has multiple spin-offs and an animated movie to keep hungry fans full — all of which expand the story and make you want to play Final Fantasy VII all over again.