The story basically throws players into the fast lane right off the bat. The opening video montage leads directly into a late-night raid on the planet's largest governing body, the Shinra, a raid in which the player is actively a part. As events unfold, the point becomes clear; you're a mercenary, aiding a terrorist organization in their efforts to destroy a significant portion of the city to make a point that the Shinra cannot ignore. Five minutes into the game and already it's covered more mature material than the previous six combined. Make no mistake, Final Fantasy VII is not a game you'll want to hand your six year old to help him pass some time in front of the TV. Not only does it cover some rough psychological terrain (mortality, semitism, terrorism and political espionage are discussed, in depth, and confronted... just to name a few) but the characters and dialog themselves aren't nearly as squeaky clean as they were in previous installments.

With that said, the in-game visuals of FF7 are very much lacking, especially in comparison to later titles. This was obviously a very early release for the rugged PSone. Edges were extremely jaggedy, especially so when not in a battle, live renderings of the characters left a lot to be desired and even the cutscenes themselves were compressed poorly, leaving huge artifacts all over the glorious video renderings. In sharp contrast, though, the animation and design of the hundreds of different enemies, players, items and boss characters is amazing, and the variety of static, immovable backgrounds are superbly concepted, executed and presented.

To a much lesser degree than the visuals, the musical score is undermined by the medium in which it's been presented. This is a soundtrack that would have shaken the earth if it were performed by a master orchestra. Unfortunately, the difference between a symphonic performance of these classic songs and the spotty, digitized portrayal that shipped with FF7 is as large as the difference between the sketches of the characters themselves and their eventual presentation on-screen. Sure, you'll recognize them without a second glance... but they've been crammed into a format that really can't do them any justice.

As has been the case with each new chapter in the Final Fantasy legacy, one new tweak has been thrown into the mix, in this case going under the name "materia." As the game progresses, you'll find these colorful blocks of concentrated energy (be it on the body of a defeated enemy, alone in a cave somewhere or for sale in a shop) that grant the holder magical abilities. They're the only way to upgrade your characters' abilities, and are completely interchangeable between the members of your party. By equipping a block of materia and then defeating enemies, the magic "levels up" and gains new abilities while simultaneously strengthening its previous benefits. Each weapon and bit of armor you find throughout the game has a slot for the employment of materia, which effectively limits the number of them you can use at any one time. You'll eventually need to make some tough choices over which materia to develop and which to ignore.

A lot of players have voiced a strong dislike for the materia system, claiming it kills the variety of your characters. The common consensus says that by giving the player the ability to assign any skill or spell to any character, Square has basically given you a bunch of clones with which to do battle. I'd have to disagree. If you really want to nitpick and pay attention to the specifics of each character's stats like that, you'll notice that each character has a different affinity to the various materia commands in the world. Sure, you can give anybody in your party the ability to cast "fire," but it's going to cause more damage if you give it to someone with an inherently high magic ability. Square's kept the variety in this cast, they've simply given you the ability to ignore each character's strengths and sculpt an army on your own accord.

The theory behind Final Fantasy VII is outstanding, yet simple: create a game with an untouchable story, tremendous characters, amazing design, mouth watering special effects and great musical accompaniment. It was the right game with the right pop culture appeal at the right moment. It accomplished every single one of its goals, and it's going to win "best video game ever" polls from now until the end of time because of it. What it won't win, though, is a perfect ten from yours truly. While I'd be more than happy to go so far as to say the story contained herein is the best of all the Final Fantasy games, I can't say the same for most of the other aspects of the game. The visuals and audibles are hampered by the PSone's own internal limitations, the characters are topped by those of FF8, and the mini games make me shake my head more than they entertain me. This is very, VERY close to perfection, but I've admittedly played a few titles that are better

The gameplay matches that of Final Fantasy VI (FFIII in the US), but the controller for the playstation adds a new stability element to control. The battle system is very simple any [person] can win random battles with the clean interface. Also, the Materia System (magic system) is very user freindly and gives the character's powers that you can almost feel you now posess yourself.

To add to this interactive realism is the greatest graphics before Resident Evil 2. The pre-rendered backgrounds are more artistic than most entire games are, the battles are cool with cool monsters and amazing spell effects, and the Cinematics, ..., well, just WOW!

To continue this interacive movie/addition to life itself is yet another great soundtrack composed by gamemusic god Nobuo Uematsu (bigger than any other composer name). The music arranges from mysical to energetic, from simple to epic, and from peaceful to apacalyptic. "Aeris", "Cid", "The World", "Jenova" and "The One Winged Angel" (the last battle theme) are the best tracks in the game, and some of the finest tracks ever devised.

To complete this circle, Squaresoft gave this game a storyline of true epic preportions. While I did tear several times in earlier Final Fantasy titles, I never really CRIED, but when the big plot twist at the end of CD 1 occurs, I still ball my eyes out. Never before has emotion and narrative been combined so well into one epic. When done with the game (and watching the stunning ending that's beyond description), I felt like I just finished a novel, one in which was beyond the puny use of words could elaborate. I was in awe, and I think anyone who pays attention to this game would be too.