I just beat FFVII! Here is my review.

[soldier first class]

Iv'e beaten the game 5 or 6 times so here is my review.
Graphics aren't as great but that's to be expected now days. At the time they were amazing. The sound effects were pretty legit for it's era as well. The story was amazing, brilliant, and I wish I could have thought of something like that and made bank. The character design was wonderful, and the sidequests were very challenging yet very rewarding also. FFVII period including the prequels/sequels get a 10 out of 10 for me. But the game itself now compared to back then would probably get a 7 or an 8.

[|X wing| 死の]

When i first played it i was blown away by the game play and all... the fighting system is nice and easy and
the story line was the best out of all the other FF games in my opinion, the characters are great..
All of them have intresting personalities (Zack and Cloud)... When fighting Angeal you could only immagine how hard it was for zack to kill
him, fun game overall... Love less was nice, music was bad a** <GREAT GAME!!

[dutch710]

Personally i loved this game. The story i thought was great, beginning with the main enemy being a government that is sucking out the planet's main energy resource (reminds me of our world.) a family ran dictatorship that would spark similarities to the antichrist, and a government that stops at nothing to get what they want. And then the president gets killed and then we learn of Sephiroth. Sephiroth has his own agenda, far more psychotic than Shinra's, and his power seems endless. The fact that you spend the game chasing him, meanwhile he's playing with your heads something fierce, and Shinra is hell bent on destroying both of you regardless of damages. As far as the charcters go, I never felt so close to any characters of any game as I did this game. Cloud basically has the same memories as a close comrad he was in SOLDIER with who just happened to date Aeris before he got taken out. Having to solve Cloud's own personal mysteries before being able to continue the task of saving the world really intrigued me, and with Sephiroth killing off Aeris to further fuel the party's anger really made for a great story. Loved most of the music, the music for the Shinra Mansion basement is far and away my favorite tune in the series. The gameplay was easy to grasp, very easy to master the second time around. The cinematics were breathtaking although I don't think they were as good as IX's. I liked the graphics, they were ahead of it's time. But overall the journey made this game and the overall theme of this game made this a must play (over and over) for me. 9.8/10

[Sunken Gelnika]

First time poster, long time lurker.

Just replayed FFVII over the last 2 weeks or so. Figured this would be the best place to share my thoughts. Much easier game than I remembered it being, very quick playthrough.

When I was younger (when the game came out), I wasn't good enough at the game or mature enough to motor through it like I am able to now, and it slowed the game down so much that the plot was never in question in my youth.

Playing through it this time made the story seem extremely broken. It feels like someone came up with a great story for Shinra/ Midgar and then when they went to make the game, they realized they only had a fraction of what they would need to fill up a "game".

In the meantime, it feels like someone developed a pretty wild and epic story about Sephiroth/ Jenova/ Meteor/ Holy , etc.

When they realized that they would need both to make the game seem/ feel whole, they slapped the two together. At least, this is how it played out for me in my latest playthrough.

I only say this because the Kalm flashback is a terrible plot device used by lazy writers, and it doesn't fit the speed of the game at all. You've invested ~5+ hours in Midgar taking down Shinra, then all of a sudden the game isn't about them at all, they get put on the back burner. The Kalm flashback does nothing to inspire me to feel the need to play on. What happened to taking down the man!? Why are we now aimlessly tracking this mysterious Sephiroth. This obviously gets clearer throughout the game, but at that turning point, it really sucks the enthusiasm out of the game for me.

For its time, it is a nearly flawless game. In the context that this game came out in the mid/late 90s, on the PS1, it is nearly flawless. Graphics, gameplay, mechanics, soundtrack, etc. are all awesome.

I just have issues with the way the game tells its story at times. The writing is often lazy and confusing. We fans still argue/ discuss/ debate what occured ~15 years later, because the story is sloppily told in parts, and remains vague in other areas.