It's all in the story
What Final Fantasy has that most RPGs lack is a strong story. In describing the story, Squaresoft's Kenhi Mimura says, "It came from Japan, but it's not necessarily Japanese. I think Mr. Sakaguchi wanted to go with more universal themes, like love and hate. That's the main focus." He describes the game as "a story about love and life and these characters trying to save the planet from an evil corporation. It's a futuristic, fictional world; it's not Earth, but there are certain elements of Earth that you see in there." In addition to this main plotline, the story branches off into various sub-plots, often involving extensive character backgrounds told through flashbacks.
Final Fantasy VII is rife with environmental themes, which should come as no surprise considering the game comes from the country that invented Godzilla, the personification of every environmentalist's id. The game is driven by the concept of Mako, the spiritual energy that comes from living beings and that serves as the life blood of the planet. The initial antagonist is Shinra, an evil corporation intent on literally sucking that life from the planet. Cities are dark, foreboding structures that tower over their populace, often squelching life in smaller villages. There's even a sub-plot in which the players have to protect delicate condors' eggs from the heat of a power plant. "It's the Nineties and [these themes] are a good way to tell a 'saving the world' story," says Mimura. Final Fantasy VII would be the RPG of choice for Greenpeace and the National Audubon Society.
The game's unique charm lies in how it tells its stories. The characters are tiny polygonal models who speak in little boxes of text and stroll across hand-drawn backgrounds. But the story and the emotions are vast and deep, worthy of a Wagnerian opera or a David Lean film. There's something quaint and almost amusing about using these little cartoon figures to portray epic angst and delight. But it's done with sincerity and bold conviction, and it works. After thousands of innocents die when part of the city collapses, Barret shakes and quivers with anger, firing his gun in a blind rage. Standing before his friends, Cloud hangs his head in shame and painfully recalls his dark past. Sephiroth embraces his descent into madness as he learns about the identity and fate of his mother. Aeris coyly hints at her love for Cloud. Tifa wistfully recounts her childhood with him. All this is vividly drawn with these polygonal puppets and their stilted text, which drop hints rather than completed pictures into your head. Barret's rage, Cloud's shame, and Sephiroth's madness aren't explicitly shown so much as they're given a solid place in the story and then sketched out through a limited medium, leaving the bulk of the work to your imagination. In a way, it paints pictures in your mind very much like a book or the text-based games of old, only it does so with the help of some illustrations. Even though Final Fantasy VII has some gorgeous graphics, its domain is still very much the player's imagination.
Although the translations are often stilted and the language melodramatic, it's no worse than reading a Victorian novel or a comic book (err… graphic novel). Thankfully, there's no voice work in the Final Fantasy games, protecting the storytelling from the irreparable harm done by bad actors. The text boxes proceed apace, sometimes filling with large chunks of dialogue, sometimes darting through short snippets, sometimes lapsing into the silence of a row of ellipses (…). There are liberal sprinklings of profanity, but an odd stray "shit" is the strongest word you'll see; more often profanity is shown with the typical "*#!&@!." These eloquent little text boxes are a vital part of the series' charm. Aurally, the game is rather silent, with mood-appropriate music loops playing underneath the action and occasional sound effects. Fujimoto says that the PC version of Final Fantasy VII will be one of the first games to support Yamaha's new XG sound. "We've got the MIDI music right now, which is pretty standard. But XG is a step above that. You can hear a huge difference." Yamaha is making an XG software synthesizer that will run the music on any card.
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