This is arguably the best of the “series”. It was also my first RPG.

Final Fantasy VII – PS1

It’s been ages since I last played this game so remembering details about it will be kind of hard.

I was only 10 or 11 when I first started playing this game. The gameplay came easy to me back then, and that’s something to be admired. Sure it took me a while to get a grasp of the materia system and some of the more complex features of the game but by the time I finished it, I had a full handle on every aspect of the game. Probably mostly due to the strategy guide.

Since this was my first RPG, it impressed me the most. It had characters I truly cared about, fantastic gameplay, lots of things to do on the side and an incredible story. I was blown away at first by the whole Shinra story, but my puny mind wasn’t prepared for the huge story that followed. The struggle between technology and nature. A young man’s struggle to make something of himself in the world. The loss of a great friend along the way. Absolutely amazing

I never was able to get much into FFVIII or IX. I even went back and gave the classics on SNES a try when they re-released them for PS1. But none grabbed me as much as VII. I think it was the wonderful mixture of sci-fi and fantasy. Technology and dragons. Such a bizarre and wonderful world they created. And the ability to go literally anywhere. FFX was the next Final Fantasy that I actually completed. Though I found many of the characters silly and the game was very linear for the most part. One thing I will admit though is that FFX has the best combat system of all the Final Fantasy titles. Even XII annoyed me and I really wanted to get into it but the combat was awful. I’ve yet to get XIII a try however.

I digress.

I do wish that I had time to go back and experience the wonders of FFVII all over again but after spending almost 100 hours on it already, I’m hard pressed to go through it all again.

Anyway, that’s number five for ya.

- Ryan