Squaresoft stopped working with Nintendo right about the time I was finishing high school. I and Nintendo went one way, Square went the other. In retrospect, it seems like Squaresoft made the right decision. Nintendo's killer apps remain wonderful, but they've been lagging ever since. Now what all this means is that I only played through an hour or two of Final Fantasy VII when I was a teenager. I remember sitting in a friends attic one summer and getting a look at it. Then other friends came over and we moved on to Resident Evil... Anyhow, time marched on and I never did manage to pick up a Playstation. Then, just this past Christmas, some of my students tipped me off to the fact that Steam was selling Final Fantasy VII at an absurdly low price. I jumped on it and have logged about fifteen hours on the game.
I have to admit, it took me a little time to get used to post-apocalyptic, heavy-industrial feel of the game. Once I got my bearings, however, it turned out to be an enjoyable experience. Midgar seemed like an interesting, quirky world that I could enjoy getting to know. Then Sephiroth killed the president of Shinra Corp. and Cloud and company drove right off the map. Suddenly, I realized that what I thought was the entire world of the game was only one little city in a vast world. The feel of taking those first few steps beyond the dome and seeing the old, familiar map screen was enchanting. That's how far I've gotten -but now I understand why people put Final Fantasy VII forward as one of the best games of all time.
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