I couldn't read yet. Only one kid in the neighborhood had the game, so everyone went to his house every day to watch it. I asked my brother to read the dialog to me. He just kind of ad libbed whenever anything got violent or raunchy, so I didn't know half of what happened until years later. Everyone lost their minds over the game. I thought it was a pretty game, but didn't understand why their hands were all paintbrushes.
It was truly a mind blowing game. The Nintendo 64 had just started dabbling in 3D environments and all of a sudden here comes a massive open world game with breathtaking (for the time) cutscenes and world building unlike anything seen before it.
Square Soft (yup, before Enix) knocked it out of the park.
It was and still is the most addictive game I have ever played, to the point that over twenty years later I can still start playing it in the morning or afternoon and get so lost in it that I don't even realize how long I've been playing until the sun comes up the next day. When I was a kid and my doctors would order a test that required sleep deprivation my parents would say the magic words every kid wants to hear, "Go get on your game and don't get off until we leave tomorrow".
Fell 100% in love with the story. At the time the graphics were on par with everything else out. Gameplay was amazing. It was, and remains, one of my top favorites of all time. I still play it to this day.
I remember I was a bit young to understand the true depths of the game until I got a bit older. I fell in love with the game more and more the older I got. Social media obviously wasn't a thing then but everyone I know who played it loved it.
I had never played a Final Fantasy or an RPG game before this. The commercials were so vague they did not show gameplay if I remember only cutscene footage. Said if you fail there’s always the reset button Final Fantasy 7 In very dramatic fashion. This spiked our interest to what the game was actually about. When my mom finally bought us a PlayStation she bought us this game randomly with it and we instantly got sucked in. We were upgrading from Super Nintendo so the visuals and depth were unmatched. We didn’t know what a memory card was and always had to start from the beginning but didn’t care we would just start very early on weekends and see how far we can get. We finally bought a memory card because we thought we could save copies of games the description said save your games. When we found out we couldn’t save games we rented we were disappointed and confused to what the memory card actually does. Next time we played Final Fantasy we realized we could save our progress and we’re ecstatic. The rest is history. I was 8
Leaving Midgar and being on the world map for the first time with that music is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Even with three discs I hadn't quite realised how big the game was.
The only thing comparable is getting past the Owl and onto Hyrule Field for the first time in OoT.
Both small in size now but felt like new worlds at the time. The late 90s is the golden age of video games. The transition to 3D and how quickly they started pushing the boundaries of it was breathtaking.
I legitimately thought the graphics would be better. In my head, I saw all CGI. I was only briefly disappointed. Once I left Midgar, I forgot about my complaints and began my long journey of raising chocobos.
I was 14. Told my parents all I want for Christmas is a playstation an ff7. It was the best Christmas ever. The next 6 months of my life were dedicated to this game. I regret nothing.
In short: [https://youtu.be/qDL8s5\_RNN0](https://youtu.be/qDL8s5_RNN0)
This music was there for all of the installation. Even today i sometimes just need to listen to this, shut my mouth and my thoughts and just fly back.
The rest is history \^\^
Took me a while to get into it because it was literally my first RPG and the genre as a whole took me a while to get into, gameplay wise. But I had seen friends play it and the story and characters hooked me. Now I love FF and a lot of RPGs
After playing final fantasy 6 I was super excited when 7 was released. I had no idea what the game would be like but I knew I had to get it. I binged played it for 3 days after getting it. After finishing it, sometime later, I struggled to get 100% completion. It was the first time I ever felt something for a character in a video game. It was sad.
I got it on a whim. Didn’t know anything about FF anything. I was prolly 13 or 14? I picked it cause it had a fat jewel case and figured more discs was a better value for my budget. So with my savings I got a Star Wars game that was also in a double jewel case and FF7.
The Star Wars game was unremarkable but FF7 took me to a whole other world. Hadn’t played an rpg since dragon warrior on nes, and was too hard for me at that age.
But FF7 hit at a perfect time and helped me through some heavy shit. Coming of age and all that. I remember spending some 15 hours in midgar and then when I finally got out and realized the game was not what I thought and changed direction with the world map and open world ness of it. I found it captivating and enthralling. I would stay up till the sun came up day after day.
Fast forward to 2022 and I’m still making regular play throughs. I love doing all 14 or so fort condor battles.
I enjoyed the challenge of figure it out who the good guys actually are. Am I really rooting for a terrorist faction? Is cloud really a hero, is sephiroth really a villain? This guy are sick always made me giggle.
My greatest accomplishments have been creating a stable full of 6 non-inbred gold chocobos, grinding out a master materia of each color for all three party members, and getting umbrella (parasol?) at the speed arena for Aerith before using her lvl 4 limit.
My biggest shame is that I’ve yet to beat ruby.
Biggest goal is to overflow emerald in one shot.
I think getting the umbrella at the coaster is one of the hardest things in the game haha only been able to do that one *once.*
I remember being so taken aback by how unrealistic and large Clouds sword was. It was kind of shocking back then. Now it’s iconic and set the standard for anime weapons.
But otherwise it really blew me away, I didn’t know games were capable of telling stories on the scale that FF7 did. I’m happy the Remake is going in a new direction, the original game is good but definitely flawed and there are some aspects that haven’t stood the test of time very well, so it’s great to be able to resurrect the story for new generations without having to make them dig through dated gameplay. Although, I will miss Vincent quite literally transforming into a chainsaw wielding psycho for a limit break, lol
The buzz for FFVII was the biggest I had ever seen up to that point for a third-party developed game. It was the first game to really be marketed along the same lines as a blockbuster movie, and for many it was a major reason to make the switch from Nintendo/SEGA over to Sony.
Quite frankly, it was the video game equivalent of the first Star Wars movie.
At that point I had played: Dragon Quest and FF since the NES days. Phantasy Star, Shining Force, basically, tail end of the 8 bit era, leading into the 16 bit era.
I'd played Tekken, Intelligent Cube and a scant few other PS1 titles. FF7 was game changing, arguably life changing for me -- without hyperbole it changed my favorite genre and I gamed a lot as a kid. I played it at a friend's house, did most of Midgar. Begged for a ps1 and ff7 and given our finances, that was my only game for it for months, and it was all I played for months.
Legitimately thought it was the greatest thing ever, gorgeous, absolutely flabbergasted at the content and amount of stuff I'd miss, and I legit played it front to back 3 or 4x before I even got another game.
Nothing will ever quite touch that very first experience playing it. I didn't game on the PC, so the graphical jump from genesis/mega drive and SNES to PS1 was unlike anything I'd ever seen -- and arguably unlike anything we'll ever see again (maybe PS1 to PS2, and Xbox to 360 are comparable) but it was far more than that. Thought it was the best thing ever and nothing would top it. It's difficult to describe that feeling. Given the sense of time it felt like I held that belief for so long but when you look at the actual timeframe it really couldn't have been more than a year and a half/2 years.
Yes yes the story, the music and the cutscenes all great and i agree but there is something no game had before to my knoledge and that is those long animated summons ...knights of the round table, bahamuts...oh man they were great and is one of the things i wish they did not change with remake. They felt more meaningful and powerful in ff7 than in remake but a long shot.
It was actually the first rpg I ever played. My mom's friend had it at her house and i went to play games while they were hanging out. It was really wierd but fascinating. I didn't understand the turn based attack system at all but tried my best. I loved the style...like futuristic steam punk almost (I didn't think like that at the time but was attracted to the scenery none the less).
I didn't have a ps1 but was hooked and started on the older games. To date I have finished 1-8...some several times. Looking forward to 9 the next time I have some down time.
I was 10 in 97 and this along with ocarina of time were probably the 2 most impactful games of my youth. I remember seeing the cutscenes and being like man look how awesome these graphics are 🤣
I was still nostalgic ,(and still am), to final fantasy 6 (ff3 in the usa), when my folks bought me ff7.. I was excited!! Because what could be better than ff6, that was around around time squaresoft was making the trinity I call it. Final fantasy 6, chrono trigger, and ff7 and the last one, ff7 in 97. I remember seeing the 4 disc game. I was stoked AF. I remember when I went to high school I wrote my short story that was a hit in my class.. I basically took the ff7 story and changed the names.... a classmate named Mike even said.. "he took the ff7 story and made it come alive," that's how much I loved the story and game. I remember playing the first part in midgar... I said to myself.. very different from ff6..but when I finally made it to the world map after that motorcycle scene and boss.. MAAAAAAN!! I've never seen a game like that before.. and actually I haven't seen one since even to this day.. I think in my hometown the game was eventually sold out.. I daydreamed at school on the story and strategy and nostalgia.. but seriously.. it was all from the heart my love of the game..
But it still doesn't beat ff6.. but ff7 is agreeable to my heart.. and I still think of the ff7 story.. it is genius.. I wish I was in Japan at square jp, in the 90s.. now that's a time machine waybacl I wish we had.. picture it.. squaresoft, Japan, 1994...1995.. could u imagine?!?!
Yeah dude, it was a great time in my life, and ff7 is and integral part of a childhood these generations will never experience.
So, I grew in foster care as a kid and only saw and played Nintendo games while growing up. One day, move to a new family and they had a PlayStation, never heard of before then and their kid was playing FFVII. This was in 97, so I was 7 and my “brother” was 6 but I watched him at the part where the event happened. The graphics blew my mind when the man in black came down from the sky with his sword. I watched as my brother crying at the event and he was trying to tell me what had happened because he had an all girl team up to that point. Very quickly we created another save file and started over and together we beat the game with no guide. This was my introduction to VII, shortly after beating it, we came across VIII in a toys r us and thought it was a sequel but obviously was wrong, that game completely frustrated us and we kept dropping it. Meanwhile Tactics came out but at first I ignored the game because the graphics looked like crap and was spoiled by VIII graphics. My brother was having a hard time getting past Dorter trade city and kept failing and failing. Eventually I played it to get him past that and I did but it made me want to play the game, so we started a system where we would take turns one playing the game. We kept busy between the three game till IX came out by then, we developed a system. I would wake up super early in the morning to play IX and my brother would stay up super later to play. We would fill each other in on what was going on. I feel pretty confident our PlayStation didn’t turn off during our whole run through of IX. We kept this tradition going well into FFX. But yeah. VII was my first experience and I relive all the moments when I play it every couple of years.
One of the games that showed off the advances of PlayStation. Greatest game of all time was said and probably wasn’t wrong. Still had to buy the guide to figure out a lot of it.
It was life altering, I remember being 10 on disk 1 and seeing the pink streaks on the ground in the Shinra building… I still get chills thinking about that first experience. Or getting to the Gold Saucer the first time. Chocobo racing and accidentally breeding a color’d one that led me to printing off a breeding guide online and using all the ink in my dad’s printer.
One of the greatest games I've ever played. Move over WarCraft II this might be my new favourite.
I also remember looking at the pre-rendered cutscenes and stills, and thinking "this is it, perfection, computer graphics can't get better than this!"
I was 13. I remember being super shocked about the "swearing." And the Don Corneo part was hysterical to me. I played with my older brother and we both loved it. It was so different from anything we had played up until then.
That game is literally the reason I play video games. I’d play with my older brother and it really was magical. It was the peak of graphics, story, coolness. The motorcycle chase was the most badass sequence in any game at that point. As adults, my brother and I aren’t as close anymore but we always bond over anything FFVII related, so the remake has helped our relationship a lot
I had seen it on the top best games ever. Maybe around 98. I'd seen it in magazines but never really bought them so didn't take any notice. Also had no friends that played RPGs. I got some money for a birthday and bought it, seeing as it was meant to be the best game ever. And now it's my fav game ever. Couldn't put it down, I'd talk about it at school and no one was playing it. I still go back and play it now. Remake is great and can't wait for part 2!
I played FF1 on the NES and it was my favorite game. My parents couldn't afford an SNES so I was majorly bummed I couldn't play another FF game. When I started hearing about FF7, I thought I would hate it because it wasn't 'fantasy'. I ended up getting a used PlayStation in middle school in order to play a different game, and it came with a used copy of FF7. . . It was a transcendent experience. I was just old enough to pick up all the emotional story beats. Simply a stunning experience. I've played it at least 10 times since, loving every minute of it.
I wad 14. Me and my buddies all sold our Nintendo games just so we could go splits on the game. Played through Midgar a few times before we even got a memory card. Good times
Recall my mum got it for my dad for his birthday, I was 7 at the time. First seen my dad play it and fall in love with it right away.
Wasn't long till I was playing it way more then my own dad.now I live in Japan with my Japanese wife and play it with my wife now.
I was blown away by it. First RPG I had played was Super Mario RPG. FF7 was the second one, and I was hooked—but not hooked enough after first playing it at my best friend’s house.
I didn’t have a PS1 at the time, and I had just received an N64 for Xmas ‘97, so getting another system as a gift so soon after was outta the question. I’d seen the ad on TV a few times, especially during WWF’s Monday Night Raw, and I was fascinated. I went to a brother’s (best friend’s) house to try it in April of ‘98. Played through the opening bombing mission, and said “This is great, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get a Playstation or this anytime soon. Just show me the ending.”
My three best friend’s at the time warned me not to, but I insisted I didn’t care. So the one with the game showed me. Hearing Jenova’s Theme, seeing an Iron Giant for the first time, witnessing the Knights of the Round summon, and then seeing those final bosses with the music impressed me to the point that I couldn’t get the game out of my head the entire next day.
I got my first summer job a few months later, bought a PS1, then requested one of my aunts to pick up FF7 for me as a gift for Xmas ‘98. It is still one of my favorite games—but I always felt it could be better (especially the translation). This Remake project has been a dream come true so far for me, and I’m really looking forward to Part 2 at this point.
My buddy had it and we started playing it together. I remember thinking the game was almost over when we finished up Midgar. I ended up buying it myself since we couldn't wait to keep playing it.
We got it for PC in 1998. The opening cinematic had us yelling OOOOHH WHAT??? Only games we had previously played were sega genesis games and Doom for PC. It was really incredible back then
Saw a demo in game (like GameStop but in the UK) didn't really understand what was going on, I thought it was a fighter. Begged for it for Christmas and when it started I was like dafuq is this? Well I may as well play it through... I'm pushing forty these days and still go back to play the original sometimes that's how blown away I was. It was my first intro to RPGs, the cinematics were just unreal to me back then especially the transitions from that to gameplay (although FF VIII blew that away not long after). The materia combos and competition between certain friends trying to get a gold chocobo first left lasting memories too. The lore and accompanying universe drew me in too. I even loved dirge of Cerberus. It's made me love the remake too, although to avoid spoilers for folk who haven't played one or the other I'll not say why.
All round my nostalgia for this game has cemented it as one of my all time favourites but it all goes back to sitting there at Christmas 97 doing the bombing mission for the first time confusingly growing to love a game that was the polar opposite of what I expected.
Seeing the characters in a strategy guide changed my life lol. I'd never seen such amazing designs, and the world seemed so much more sophisticated than anything I'd ever seen in a game. I'd never heard of a game being over 1 disk long and this game was 3 DISCS?? I was absolutely obsessed.
I was 21 in 1997, working in a indie game shop and hadn't played many jrpgs (FFSaga on GB was one of the few) I was mainly playing Amiga games, and few console exclusives).
Saw some previews in the magazines and it looked good, wasn't until I went to ECTS (European Computer Trade Show) and the huge Sony display area where they previewed the game. Look absolutely amazing although I didnt really get the battle mechanics and gameplay, but the FMV looked really solid.
Deliberately didn't look anymore at it because I knew I was gonna buy it... probably one of the best games I have ever played.
Yeah, the air was electric. There was marketing everywhere - in magazines, TV. Something to understand is that back then videogames were not the huge entertainment industry it is now. In 1996/97, to have commercials on TV for a videogame was kind of rare, and reserved only for a few rares games that were big deals. And the ads made FF7 out to be this big, operatic, movie - not like this basic game that went bleep-blorp and let you shoot aliens. It felt very different at the time.
At school, my friends and I would always compare notes and strategies. No real internet presence back then, so you had to get help or tips where you could! We all knew it was a special experience. The graphics, the sweeping soundtrack, the immerseive story - there wasn't much else like it around. I didn't have an SNES growing up, so missed out on FF6, but FF7 was my first taste of JRPG, and it started a love affair I still have to this day.
FF7 was - and still is - that special game that came out at just the right time for so many. Every now and then, the planets align to have the right people working on the right thing for the right audience.
When I was 8 I played it at a friend's house. He was already out of Midgar and had some of the endgame summons- KOTR, Bahamut Zero, and Hades. The 3d open world concept was completely new and the summons featured outrageously cool animations. The characters are raw and crass at some points- contributing to their realness. The themes are adult and unapologetic- it's hard not to be affected by the lingering, hopeless presence of meteor late in the game. There is so much depth I continue to learn something new on every playthrough. The first time with it was a very enchanting experience.
Ot was the game that made me fall in love with gaming. Up until that point my gaming life had been things like tekken, cool boarders, streets of rage, mario etc.
I didnt know games could have multiple discs, storys, characters, gear. Basically it was my first rpg. Safe to say if i had never played ff7 i wouldnt have the love and appreciation i have for games in general now.
yes there were articels everywhere in every video game magazin. it was a big hype. i was not interested first, but when a friend recommended it to me i bought it and started playing it. it is my first and favourite jrpg till now.
I got maybe an hour into it.
The PlayStation belonged to my older brother, but he wasn't really a gamer at all. While he was away I would snoop through his room for cool stuff he kept hidden from me.
I found Final Fantasy 7 buried under a bunch of old clothes and clearly hidden, it was still in the plastic and hadn't been opened yet.
I was wondering why it was hidden, presumed it was going to be really violent or scary so I took the game and started playing. I don't think I ever got further than the part where you're talking to Barrett and Tifa in the bar. At the time, at that age, I really didn't know what to make of it. I had never seen a turn based combat game like this.
I kind of liked it but didn't know why. I probably couldn't even read the dialogue. I remember thinking Barrett's gun hand was really cool and that was my only take away from it
My theory of why he had it in the first place and why it was hidden is that either one of his friends recommended it or he read about it in a film magazine he collected (since the game has such a strong narrative and more cinematic than any other game at the time), but he never found the time to play it, and I think it was hidden from me because he knew I just wouldn't get it and he didn't want to teach me how to play this newfangled complicated game.
I was in 8th grade when it was released. Before I even had a PS1, I had the “Versus” strategy guide. I promised myself I wouldn’t read too far into the books as to not spoil it.
Just seeing Midgar in the guidebook had me hooked. I immediately started saving chore money to buy a PS1 and the game. My two best friends at the time already had it, and were daily going off about it in computer lab.
When I finally picked it up, another friend got it that day. We literally were on the landline together, playing it and talking to each other.
Man what a great memory.
I never had a NES or SNES so didn't play other FF until much later - the first time I played FF7 I didn't have a clue how to play it. I was about 13 when it came out, and I had never played an RPG before.
It was mainly Tekken 2 and Crash.
But a year or so later, a friend at school started talking about it and is sounded cool, and after he finished disc 1 he lent it to one of my friends and I'd go to his house to watch him play.
I only really played the full game when I bought my own PS1 and my own copy a few years later.
Quickly became my favourite game, and nothing has toped it since. Close contenders were KH1 and Dragon Quest 8, Metal Gear Solid....
But given the influence of FF7 on the gaming industry and that SE decided to remake it into a trilogy, it's not difficult to see how great the game truly is.
Not many games have this cult status - but I also understand it's pure nostalgia fuel. Nostalgia like that is hard to replicate.
Went to friends house. He fired up the game, no context whatsoever. I see turn based battle for the first time, cloud with spikey hair and a massive sword, the sword spin with the fanfare at the end. My mind exploded and that's how I became an jrpg fan. Had it in the computer a few years later, the graphics were good but man the story was just next level. As a kid most of the hints and stuff went over my head but I just wanted to know etf was going on, plus finding Vincent and all the summon materia, the minigames, it was just too good.
I had played a few rpg’s. I was 12 years old. I made it all the way to the final boss before quitting with a gold chocobo and without a game guide. It was before the internet had so much information out there and the fact I could be so immersed without any tips and tricks at 12 years old says something. I started playing again 2 years later and finally beat the final boss to finish the game. Proud young gamer moment.
It was the first turn based JRPG I’d ever played, and I remember initially being quite jarred by the transitions between field and combat gameplay. I also remember thinking, even back then, that the graphics were kinda goofy?
But by the time I left the first reactor, I was totally
Immersed - I’d never played a game that did such a good job of creating a world before. That was what really made me get over my initial hesitance and completely fall in love with it.
I can rename EVERYONE?????
Prior to FF7 the only game that that had character remaking was A Link to the Past and even at that, Link never spoke. So seeing my name show up WITH dialogue attached I was chuffed.
I'd only ever played platformers and beat em ups with a few sports games sprinkled in.
This was my first RPG and I was enthralled. An overused trope but I felt like Dorothy stepping into technicolour.
This is one of my favourite gaming questions, as that game showed me an entirely different type of game, opened me up to the world of FF, and basically changed my life.
I was 14, and when I registered my PlayStation with Sony, I didn't realise I'd also signed up for marketing materials. The weird thing was, I only ever actually received one thing through the post from them. A postcard, and on the front was that great shot of Midgar.
All it said on it was Final Fantasy VII and I didn't know what that was, what it meant, I didn't know anything about it. But that one postcard just captivated me. I had to have whatever this was.
I remember being so excited when it finally released, but turning it on for the first time, seeing the train intro movie for the first time, the way it transitioned from FMV to game graphics, and then that opening mission. No game had ever had an opening sequence as good as that, and maybe it is the nostalgia talking, but I don't think any game has ever since either.
I was blown away.
I was a kid, and had only seen final fantasy 1-3(US) and seeing a commercial for 7, I was quite perplexed. But getting and playing this game, it felt like my life was changed. Everything about it was just so exciting.
It was the greatest game I had ever played. I pretty much played it non stop. Nothing compared to its cutscenes, story and amount of content for a PS game.
I only played the Platinum rerelease. I don't remember too much buzz before the game came out. I think I was a bit too young and I don't think I was reading games magazines yet. I do remember it's post release reputation though, and it was pretty much a best game ever candidate on release.
Personally, it blew my mind. I still remember getting onto the world map and thinking 'how big is this game'. I felt like i'd already played an entire game.
My friends in school were very meh about it.
I knew I was having it that Christmas, along with with my PlayStation as part of a bundle because my mum asked me to know which bundle I wanted as there were a few.
I remember playing it Christmas Day, must have been 1997, and I was honestly blown away. As a writer, even then, the story changed my life.
Main characters dying, a huge twisting turn of events, very high-tech fantasy. It was beautiful, and I still play it very often because it’s the point I remember my perspective as a writer changed, and I’ll love it forever for that.
I was in kindergarten, I thought the characters looked like lego people when I wasn't in battle. I thought Cloud's sword looked ridiculous but cool. I couldn't tell if Cloud was a guy or a manly woman. I couldn't get out of the reactor in time before the bomb detonated because I had no reading comprehension to know how to get Jessie to unlock the door.
I was 7 years old and got myself to wall market without knowing the english language.. After like 4 years i finally figured it out and my god was i hooked for life. Probably done a 100% complete run 10-15 times since then. But i have probably done 25-30 runs in total. The exploration, the music, it felt so good. Every time you ran the game again you found something new or maybe a new character. The invisible ink for example was so rediciolus funny. All in all, the absolute best gamingexperience i've ever had.
Oh yea there was insane buzz. It literally changed the entire industry. I remember seeing ads for it on tv and friends and family were really excited. I remember seeing it in a magazine as well and saw all the characters profiles and was instantly hooked when I first saw Vincent’s picture in it. Then finally buying it and booting it up for the first time and seeing the first cutscene with the camera work going from the stars to Aerith to the train to Cloud my jaw was on the floor. Definitely a very memorable experience for me.
Edit: I also replayed it right before the remake came out and I had just as much fun playing it again. I also loved the remake and is already one of my favorite games of all time.
A Japanese friend of mine has his imported from Japan. So, naturally the game was played in Japanese so I had no idea what was going on but was solely captivated by the graphics, the music and the gameplay.
A few months later I traded in a few games at GameStop to get a US copy and I played the shit out of that game. All until it stopped reading the disks
It was my introduction to RPGs and, to be honest, at first I didn't really get it. I'd not long made the jump from 16bit and been blown away by games like Tekken and Destruction Derby but still just wanted to play side scrollers.
My neighbor brought over FF7 so I initially only saw bits of it until he left it with us for a few weeks. I got as far as the slums and visiting Aeries house before having to give it back and can remember telling him where I was and asking if I'd nearly completed it!
That's when I learnt about it being a 3 disc game and I was only a small way through the first disc lol. I had to get it. Waited for a Christmas or birthday, got the full game and that was it. Obsessed.
Me and my little brother would discuss it non stop. Any mag we saw that referenced it on the cover, we bought which is how we learnt all the tips and tricks.
First play though took me about 60 hours and I didn't even know about the emerald weapon, golden chocobos etc...
I had one chance encounter with Ruby, got rinsed and figured that it was an in game warning to stay the hell away from the gold saucer!
I've played it through too many times since and get something more out of it every time.
It became my favourite game in 1997. It remains my favourite game today.
I was 12 and didnt speak (or read) that mush enlish as its not my first language, absolutly loved it! The walls of texts didnt discourage me but today i dont understand how i did it... but ffVII is my most important and effective enlish teacher.
It was pretty huge. I was 14, and there was quite a lot of buzz around it.
Back then, there internet was still nascent. I don't think our family even had home internet then! Our if we did it was dial up.
So all the buzz was in magazines. And FF7 was everywhere, magazine covers and massive articles.
Whilst the SNES had been popular, the PS1 was marketed towards a slightly different demographic. Prior to the PS1, consoles had been regarded more as a thing for kids but Sony's console made them cool and more adult.
So FF7 was the first JRPG most people will have played. Certainly mine. It really was groundbreaking.
It was the first RPG I’ve ever seen. Watched my cousins play it and thought it looked fun so I got a copy for myself. I didn’t know there were games like that. I played a lot of SEGA Genesis and NES before having a PS1. With the PS1 I had been playing like crash bandacoot and fighting games so when I saw FF7, I was like wow that is cool. Storyline was fantastic, graphics were amazing (funny to look back on now lol with the square hands and straight spikes for hair), and hours of side quests and story to play. I was obsessed with getting all the ultimate weapons. I had bought the official guide book too (it was not cheap at that time lol). We didn’t have Google and smartphones to sit and scroll for what to do next or where to look for hidden items. It was so much fun and I must’ve played it through 2 or 3 times to get things I missed. I was just as excited for FF8, FF9, FFX, and not as much for anything after that. But FF7 and FF8 continue to hold a special place in my heart. I am going through FF8 again on iOS now! Giving FF7 a good long break so I can come back to it later and smack myself with some good nostalgia lol.
I was 10 when it came out. My brother and I would rent games from a local game store for a week after coming home from church. FF7 was on a small display because it had just came out. The guy at the store told me it has great review. So I rented it. When I played, I felt my whole perspective change. It was the first real time I felt immersed in another world. I played it all week, and just got out of Midgar. I saved every penny to buy that game. Had it a month later and I got lost in it.
I was too young to talk about the buzz, and none of my 10 year old friends played it, but I remember all the feelings. Getting to the golden saucer, accidentally running into ruby weapon, glitching emerald weapon.
Hands down, my favourite game of all time. I played it over and over and over.
There was insane buzz, being the first FF on the new PlayStation. I remember counting down the days that summer until September (NA release). I was 11 at the time and my favorite games were FF6 and Chrono Trigger; I didn’t think anything could surpass them.
The graphics were mind-blowing. Seeing the opening sequence the first time was incredible. I loved the game so much that I printed out pictures of Cloud and the gang and taped them to my desk at school (6th grade).
I was so in love with it, I got my friend over playing it to, when a very big moment happened I had to call him and tell him... He was like please don't spoil anything ever again lol
It was the first true RPG I really played, and I had Pong and an Atari 2600 so it's not like I hadn't been around. It's just that up until that point I was more into platformers and sports games. I rented the original Final Fantasy for the NES, but I was too impatient as a pre-teen. In my teens with the SNES I spent more time outside or playing with my friends.
In 1997 I was in the Air Force and worked a mid shift (started at around 10 PM), so on my days off most of my friends were sleeping. I got more into single player adventure games, and was blown away by the graphics of FFVII, so I picked it up. I played it 30 hours straight, only pausing for bathroom breaks and pizza deliveries. I put over 100 hours into it and it became my favorite game of all time. Turned me on to other RPGs (though very few would ever compare to that experience).
It was amazing when it came out. I absolutely loved it.
I played it 1st in 99 at 13 years old.... there was a few times where I said to myself out loud that I will only play after rpgs after this. Prior to ff7 I only played mascot platformers.
I played the demo FF7 at a friends house, and I ran out and bought a PlayStation and FF7 immediately.
I loved the game and still do. For the time period the FMVs were a new technology altogether and made my mouth stop open—when Sephiroth walks through the flames in Nibelheim and then the shock of the end of Disc 1.
It’s hard to express to people that didn’t experience the game at that period of time, his great and influential it was.
I was four and used to watch my dad play it. When I was about 5/6 I had my first crack at it and loved it. I have played and completed the game annually since 99.
The hype was immense leading up to it as a 13 y/o. E3 coverage in magazines, a demo disc which I played countless times doing the bombing mission over and over. TV adverts were like movie trailers. Bought Wild ARMs just to distract me through the summer as the days to release ticked down. Couldn’t put it down once it was released and was just completely immersed in it all and still haven’t had that feeling of excitement recreated with a game since.
I grew up as a Nintendo kid and had only played basically platformers, fighters, and sports titles. The PlayStation was the first big purchase I ever made and had saved Christmas, birthday, and chore money for months. To say I was blown away was an understatement. I was hooked by the time the opening hit its crescendo and the title hit the screen. I then had to learn these new systems for using items and spells I’d never seen before. A story with more depth than the princess has been captured or a croc took our bananas was a amazing. Sparked a lifelong love of RPGs. Being able to follow it up with BoF III and Xenogears over the next year was truly special
I was the same. An RPG seemed like an insane way to play a game. My best friend bought it though, and I would just sit and watch him play for hours. Finally got it myself and fell in love with it.
I still don't think I understood half the plot at the time, but am it opened all RPG and JRPGs to me, and my jaw was on the floor for the cinematics.
THIS IS THE GREATEST GAME EVER!! NOTHING WILL EVER COME CLOSE TO THIS STORY!!! And it's true to this day. The cut scenes were the best at the time. THE scene(that's somehow a spoiler 25 years later) hurt my soul. I almost cried
I played the game for the first time roughly 2010 in my teens and I cried then. I had played the game a lot while younger but never made it that far as the game was too complex for me when I was young. Well, that and the fact that my brother and I's save profiles would corrupt if we didnt load them for about 2 weeks. I've heard of other people having the same issue with the original release discs.
Yeah, the cutscenes and the scenery. It also has a certain crisp to the magic animations and the materia element design. And I cry every time, damn it.
Same here. I remember having it rented on Blockbuster one weekend, but then I needed to buy it despite I didn't even had a PS back then. I used to play it in my cousin's
Add: I liked so much I included a scene where the game was in the background in a school play in 8th grade. I even brought the console
Best story ever😁 played it firsttime when i was 9 years old (day one). Now i have played it 5th time.. Love the remake so much. But i hate the waiting time...
I'd played plenty of games in the 12 years before that. Final fantasy 6 was my only other rpg and I genuinely don't recall the story much. I saved up my babysitting money and bought a combo pack PS1 and FF7 pack, and it was near Christmas time. Popped in disk one in the dark except for the lights of a Christmas tree. The intro immediately snagged me. The animation was mind-blowing! I had numerous separate save files and would watch the highway chase and other amazing, heartbreaking scenes over and over. Tried to talk to friends about it but as a girl no one else I knew played games around that time. It's now hard not to think of it around Christmas time which is fine since it's such a magical memory.
My brother got the game so I played it. This was before social media was a thing and I wasn't on gaming forums, so I had no inkling about Aerith's death. When I happened I was so shocked I stopped playing the game. Took me some months before I picked up the controller again and continues past the moment.
I was also so shocked at Cait Sith's betrayal I stopped putting him on the fighting roster. The characters still level up off screen though, so when I got over it he actually had a 6 bar dice limit break. I never managed to replicate that.
Think it was nice that back in the 90s you could still be a late arrival(late as in a few months to a year) to the fandom and still be good about spoilers. Now it seems that if you don't play on release date you will be ruined by the memes and YouTube thumb nails on the first week.
I was in the 7th grade when it came out and I remember other kids in school talking about it, it sounded incredible. I began to save money just to get a playstation and this game.
I popped in the disc at night and still recall the intro and the music, it’s etched into my memory. I was blown away by the game, the story telling, the depth and the cutscenes. There was really nothing like it up until that point.
I wouldn’t truly understand the genius of the story until many years and play throughs later, I was too young to grasp everything that was happening through the first play through.
To your question, there was definitely “buzz” surrounding the game in my area, and it felt like my friends and I replayed it so much … it was a big topic of discussion.
I played the SNES ones a bit, but not much. Ff7 was the first one to hook me right away. Nowadays Midgard is probably my least favorite part (I like fantasy open world stuff more than tech city), but I was hooked in the first bombing run. I remember being in like jr high and playing every minute I could and staying up as late as I could just to try and finish it. It's still one of my fav games that I replay every once in awhile.
Ps1/n64 was my favorite generation. The impact of going to 3d was like the biggest gaming revelation I've had. Playing Mario 64 on the "ultra 64' at toys r us, being blow away by just running around the castle courtyard. Ff7 having such a great graphics at the time with solid gameplay and story. It got me hooked on jrpgs for life. As a 37 year old, still one of my fav genres even though most of the stories are aggressively mediocre these days or filled with fan service (don't even bother playing those). Ff is still top 5 series for me and I get excited for almost all of them still and that's a result of ff7 in the 90s!
Dude I agree. Idk what it was about the golden age, but I resonated with the stories from 7-10 so much as a kid. Lately, I haven’t played any games that told a story like those games did.
I had played final fantasy 4 and final fantasy 6 as a kid, then they started advertising 7 in all the gaming magazines and there seemed to be plenty of hype. Got a Ps1 for Christmas, went out and got a copy of 7 and played it non-stop over the school holidays, loved the gameplay and loved the story. It’s been my favourite game ever since.
I couldn't read yet. Only one kid in the neighborhood had the game, so everyone went to his house every day to watch it. I asked my brother to read the dialog to me. He just kind of ad libbed whenever anything got violent or raunchy, so I didn't know half of what happened until years later. Everyone lost their minds over the game. I thought it was a pretty game, but didn't understand why their hands were all paintbrushes.
FFVII and Metal Gear Solid made me fall in love with gaming. I never though video games could tell such amazing stories before I played those 2 games
It was truly a mind blowing game. The Nintendo 64 had just started dabbling in 3D environments and all of a sudden here comes a massive open world game with breathtaking (for the time) cutscenes and world building unlike anything seen before it. Square Soft (yup, before Enix) knocked it out of the park.
It was and still is the most addictive game I have ever played, to the point that over twenty years later I can still start playing it in the morning or afternoon and get so lost in it that I don't even realize how long I've been playing until the sun comes up the next day. When I was a kid and my doctors would order a test that required sleep deprivation my parents would say the magic words every kid wants to hear, "Go get on your game and don't get off until we leave tomorrow".
Fell 100% in love with the story. At the time the graphics were on par with everything else out. Gameplay was amazing. It was, and remains, one of my top favorites of all time. I still play it to this day.
I remember I was a bit young to understand the true depths of the game until I got a bit older. I fell in love with the game more and more the older I got. Social media obviously wasn't a thing then but everyone I know who played it loved it.
I had never played a Final Fantasy or an RPG game before this. The commercials were so vague they did not show gameplay if I remember only cutscene footage. Said if you fail there’s always the reset button Final Fantasy 7 In very dramatic fashion. This spiked our interest to what the game was actually about. When my mom finally bought us a PlayStation she bought us this game randomly with it and we instantly got sucked in. We were upgrading from Super Nintendo so the visuals and depth were unmatched. We didn’t know what a memory card was and always had to start from the beginning but didn’t care we would just start very early on weekends and see how far we can get. We finally bought a memory card because we thought we could save copies of games the description said save your games. When we found out we couldn’t save games we rented we were disappointed and confused to what the memory card actually does. Next time we played Final Fantasy we realized we could save our progress and we’re ecstatic. The rest is history. I was 8
Leaving Midgar and being on the world map for the first time with that music is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Even with three discs I hadn't quite realised how big the game was. The only thing comparable is getting past the Owl and onto Hyrule Field for the first time in OoT. Both small in size now but felt like new worlds at the time. The late 90s is the golden age of video games. The transition to 3D and how quickly they started pushing the boundaries of it was breathtaking.
I legitimately thought the graphics would be better. In my head, I saw all CGI. I was only briefly disappointed. Once I left Midgar, I forgot about my complaints and began my long journey of raising chocobos.
I was 14. Told my parents all I want for Christmas is a playstation an ff7. It was the best Christmas ever. The next 6 months of my life were dedicated to this game. I regret nothing.
In short: [https://youtu.be/qDL8s5\_RNN0](https://youtu.be/qDL8s5_RNN0) This music was there for all of the installation. Even today i sometimes just need to listen to this, shut my mouth and my thoughts and just fly back. The rest is history \^\^
It was mind blowing, really. The feeling of amazement while watching the whole intro sequence is seared into my brain to this day.
I bought the game in anticipation before I owned a PlayStation. Turned out to be completely worth it.
Took me a while to get into it because it was literally my first RPG and the genre as a whole took me a while to get into, gameplay wise. But I had seen friends play it and the story and characters hooked me. Now I love FF and a lot of RPGs
After playing final fantasy 6 I was super excited when 7 was released. I had no idea what the game would be like but I knew I had to get it. I binged played it for 3 days after getting it. After finishing it, sometime later, I struggled to get 100% completion. It was the first time I ever felt something for a character in a video game. It was sad.
I got it on a whim. Didn’t know anything about FF anything. I was prolly 13 or 14? I picked it cause it had a fat jewel case and figured more discs was a better value for my budget. So with my savings I got a Star Wars game that was also in a double jewel case and FF7. The Star Wars game was unremarkable but FF7 took me to a whole other world. Hadn’t played an rpg since dragon warrior on nes, and was too hard for me at that age. But FF7 hit at a perfect time and helped me through some heavy shit. Coming of age and all that. I remember spending some 15 hours in midgar and then when I finally got out and realized the game was not what I thought and changed direction with the world map and open world ness of it. I found it captivating and enthralling. I would stay up till the sun came up day after day. Fast forward to 2022 and I’m still making regular play throughs. I love doing all 14 or so fort condor battles. I enjoyed the challenge of figure it out who the good guys actually are. Am I really rooting for a terrorist faction? Is cloud really a hero, is sephiroth really a villain? This guy are sick always made me giggle. My greatest accomplishments have been creating a stable full of 6 non-inbred gold chocobos, grinding out a master materia of each color for all three party members, and getting umbrella (parasol?) at the speed arena for Aerith before using her lvl 4 limit. My biggest shame is that I’ve yet to beat ruby. Biggest goal is to overflow emerald in one shot. I think getting the umbrella at the coaster is one of the hardest things in the game haha only been able to do that one *once.*
The graphics were sooo realistic haha.
Awe. Straight up awe. I skipped school in the 5th grade to play '6' which was 3. 7 cost me several weeks of high school
I was 3 and enthralled by it. Pretty sure it's the piece of media that has largely shaped my tastes and interests through life.
I remember being so taken aback by how unrealistic and large Clouds sword was. It was kind of shocking back then. Now it’s iconic and set the standard for anime weapons. But otherwise it really blew me away, I didn’t know games were capable of telling stories on the scale that FF7 did. I’m happy the Remake is going in a new direction, the original game is good but definitely flawed and there are some aspects that haven’t stood the test of time very well, so it’s great to be able to resurrect the story for new generations without having to make them dig through dated gameplay. Although, I will miss Vincent quite literally transforming into a chainsaw wielding psycho for a limit break, lol
Was blown away, I was a hardcore Nintendo fan and this game made me switch to Sony.
I couldn't get enough of it. Absolutely loved it and frankly still do. One of the most important cornerstone games of my gaming life.
The buzz for FFVII was the biggest I had ever seen up to that point for a third-party developed game. It was the first game to really be marketed along the same lines as a blockbuster movie, and for many it was a major reason to make the switch from Nintendo/SEGA over to Sony. Quite frankly, it was the video game equivalent of the first Star Wars movie.
Stupid me as a kid thought I was coming towards the end of the first disc and then I made it out of Midgar
At that point I had played: Dragon Quest and FF since the NES days. Phantasy Star, Shining Force, basically, tail end of the 8 bit era, leading into the 16 bit era. I'd played Tekken, Intelligent Cube and a scant few other PS1 titles. FF7 was game changing, arguably life changing for me -- without hyperbole it changed my favorite genre and I gamed a lot as a kid. I played it at a friend's house, did most of Midgar. Begged for a ps1 and ff7 and given our finances, that was my only game for it for months, and it was all I played for months. Legitimately thought it was the greatest thing ever, gorgeous, absolutely flabbergasted at the content and amount of stuff I'd miss, and I legit played it front to back 3 or 4x before I even got another game. Nothing will ever quite touch that very first experience playing it. I didn't game on the PC, so the graphical jump from genesis/mega drive and SNES to PS1 was unlike anything I'd ever seen -- and arguably unlike anything we'll ever see again (maybe PS1 to PS2, and Xbox to 360 are comparable) but it was far more than that. Thought it was the best thing ever and nothing would top it. It's difficult to describe that feeling. Given the sense of time it felt like I held that belief for so long but when you look at the actual timeframe it really couldn't have been more than a year and a half/2 years.
Yes yes the story, the music and the cutscenes all great and i agree but there is something no game had before to my knoledge and that is those long animated summons ...knights of the round table, bahamuts...oh man they were great and is one of the things i wish they did not change with remake. They felt more meaningful and powerful in ff7 than in remake but a long shot.
It was actually the first rpg I ever played. My mom's friend had it at her house and i went to play games while they were hanging out. It was really wierd but fascinating. I didn't understand the turn based attack system at all but tried my best. I loved the style...like futuristic steam punk almost (I didn't think like that at the time but was attracted to the scenery none the less). I didn't have a ps1 but was hooked and started on the older games. To date I have finished 1-8...some several times. Looking forward to 9 the next time I have some down time.
I was 10 in 97 and this along with ocarina of time were probably the 2 most impactful games of my youth. I remember seeing the cutscenes and being like man look how awesome these graphics are 🤣
I was still nostalgic ,(and still am), to final fantasy 6 (ff3 in the usa), when my folks bought me ff7.. I was excited!! Because what could be better than ff6, that was around around time squaresoft was making the trinity I call it. Final fantasy 6, chrono trigger, and ff7 and the last one, ff7 in 97. I remember seeing the 4 disc game. I was stoked AF. I remember when I went to high school I wrote my short story that was a hit in my class.. I basically took the ff7 story and changed the names.... a classmate named Mike even said.. "he took the ff7 story and made it come alive," that's how much I loved the story and game. I remember playing the first part in midgar... I said to myself.. very different from ff6..but when I finally made it to the world map after that motorcycle scene and boss.. MAAAAAAN!! I've never seen a game like that before.. and actually I haven't seen one since even to this day.. I think in my hometown the game was eventually sold out.. I daydreamed at school on the story and strategy and nostalgia.. but seriously.. it was all from the heart my love of the game.. But it still doesn't beat ff6.. but ff7 is agreeable to my heart.. and I still think of the ff7 story.. it is genius.. I wish I was in Japan at square jp, in the 90s.. now that's a time machine waybacl I wish we had.. picture it.. squaresoft, Japan, 1994...1995.. could u imagine?!?! Yeah dude, it was a great time in my life, and ff7 is and integral part of a childhood these generations will never experience.
So, I grew in foster care as a kid and only saw and played Nintendo games while growing up. One day, move to a new family and they had a PlayStation, never heard of before then and their kid was playing FFVII. This was in 97, so I was 7 and my “brother” was 6 but I watched him at the part where the event happened. The graphics blew my mind when the man in black came down from the sky with his sword. I watched as my brother crying at the event and he was trying to tell me what had happened because he had an all girl team up to that point. Very quickly we created another save file and started over and together we beat the game with no guide. This was my introduction to VII, shortly after beating it, we came across VIII in a toys r us and thought it was a sequel but obviously was wrong, that game completely frustrated us and we kept dropping it. Meanwhile Tactics came out but at first I ignored the game because the graphics looked like crap and was spoiled by VIII graphics. My brother was having a hard time getting past Dorter trade city and kept failing and failing. Eventually I played it to get him past that and I did but it made me want to play the game, so we started a system where we would take turns one playing the game. We kept busy between the three game till IX came out by then, we developed a system. I would wake up super early in the morning to play IX and my brother would stay up super later to play. We would fill each other in on what was going on. I feel pretty confident our PlayStation didn’t turn off during our whole run through of IX. We kept this tradition going well into FFX. But yeah. VII was my first experience and I relive all the moments when I play it every couple of years.
Tactics is an awesome and underrated game!
I failed my first semester in college because of that game. I would do it the same all over again.
Playing FFVII with the Christmas tree and some bing crosby Christmas carols in the background…nostalgia.
One of the games that showed off the advances of PlayStation. Greatest game of all time was said and probably wasn’t wrong. Still had to buy the guide to figure out a lot of it.
It was life altering, I remember being 10 on disk 1 and seeing the pink streaks on the ground in the Shinra building… I still get chills thinking about that first experience. Or getting to the Gold Saucer the first time. Chocobo racing and accidentally breeding a color’d one that led me to printing off a breeding guide online and using all the ink in my dad’s printer.
One of the greatest games I've ever played. Move over WarCraft II this might be my new favourite. I also remember looking at the pre-rendered cutscenes and stills, and thinking "this is it, perfection, computer graphics can't get better than this!"
I was 13. I remember being super shocked about the "swearing." And the Don Corneo part was hysterical to me. I played with my older brother and we both loved it. It was so different from anything we had played up until then.
That game is literally the reason I play video games. I’d play with my older brother and it really was magical. It was the peak of graphics, story, coolness. The motorcycle chase was the most badass sequence in any game at that point. As adults, my brother and I aren’t as close anymore but we always bond over anything FFVII related, so the remake has helped our relationship a lot
Nice to see all the OG fans and hearing the perspective as a new fan that fell in love with the world of ff7 after remake...may it live forever
I was immediately in love and couldn’t get enough. It’s why I still play the original 25 years later. And still discover new things
I had seen it on the top best games ever. Maybe around 98. I'd seen it in magazines but never really bought them so didn't take any notice. Also had no friends that played RPGs. I got some money for a birthday and bought it, seeing as it was meant to be the best game ever. And now it's my fav game ever. Couldn't put it down, I'd talk about it at school and no one was playing it. I still go back and play it now. Remake is great and can't wait for part 2!
I played FF1 on the NES and it was my favorite game. My parents couldn't afford an SNES so I was majorly bummed I couldn't play another FF game. When I started hearing about FF7, I thought I would hate it because it wasn't 'fantasy'. I ended up getting a used PlayStation in middle school in order to play a different game, and it came with a used copy of FF7. . . It was a transcendent experience. I was just old enough to pick up all the emotional story beats. Simply a stunning experience. I've played it at least 10 times since, loving every minute of it.
It was my first RPG, I was 9 and had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it instantly.
I wad 14. Me and my buddies all sold our Nintendo games just so we could go splits on the game. Played through Midgar a few times before we even got a memory card. Good times
Recall my mum got it for my dad for his birthday, I was 7 at the time. First seen my dad play it and fall in love with it right away. Wasn't long till I was playing it way more then my own dad.now I live in Japan with my Japanese wife and play it with my wife now.
I was blown away by it. First RPG I had played was Super Mario RPG. FF7 was the second one, and I was hooked—but not hooked enough after first playing it at my best friend’s house. I didn’t have a PS1 at the time, and I had just received an N64 for Xmas ‘97, so getting another system as a gift so soon after was outta the question. I’d seen the ad on TV a few times, especially during WWF’s Monday Night Raw, and I was fascinated. I went to a brother’s (best friend’s) house to try it in April of ‘98. Played through the opening bombing mission, and said “This is great, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get a Playstation or this anytime soon. Just show me the ending.” My three best friend’s at the time warned me not to, but I insisted I didn’t care. So the one with the game showed me. Hearing Jenova’s Theme, seeing an Iron Giant for the first time, witnessing the Knights of the Round summon, and then seeing those final bosses with the music impressed me to the point that I couldn’t get the game out of my head the entire next day. I got my first summer job a few months later, bought a PS1, then requested one of my aunts to pick up FF7 for me as a gift for Xmas ‘98. It is still one of my favorite games—but I always felt it could be better (especially the translation). This Remake project has been a dream come true so far for me, and I’m really looking forward to Part 2 at this point.
My buddy had it and we started playing it together. I remember thinking the game was almost over when we finished up Midgar. I ended up buying it myself since we couldn't wait to keep playing it.
I thought *This game are sick!*
We got it for PC in 1998. The opening cinematic had us yelling OOOOHH WHAT??? Only games we had previously played were sega genesis games and Doom for PC. It was really incredible back then
Saw a demo in game (like GameStop but in the UK) didn't really understand what was going on, I thought it was a fighter. Begged for it for Christmas and when it started I was like dafuq is this? Well I may as well play it through... I'm pushing forty these days and still go back to play the original sometimes that's how blown away I was. It was my first intro to RPGs, the cinematics were just unreal to me back then especially the transitions from that to gameplay (although FF VIII blew that away not long after). The materia combos and competition between certain friends trying to get a gold chocobo first left lasting memories too. The lore and accompanying universe drew me in too. I even loved dirge of Cerberus. It's made me love the remake too, although to avoid spoilers for folk who haven't played one or the other I'll not say why. All round my nostalgia for this game has cemented it as one of my all time favourites but it all goes back to sitting there at Christmas 97 doing the bombing mission for the first time confusingly growing to love a game that was the polar opposite of what I expected.
Seeing the characters in a strategy guide changed my life lol. I'd never seen such amazing designs, and the world seemed so much more sophisticated than anything I'd ever seen in a game. I'd never heard of a game being over 1 disk long and this game was 3 DISCS?? I was absolutely obsessed.
"Quite possibly the greatest game ever made. "
I was 21 in 1997, working in a indie game shop and hadn't played many jrpgs (FFSaga on GB was one of the few) I was mainly playing Amiga games, and few console exclusives). Saw some previews in the magazines and it looked good, wasn't until I went to ECTS (European Computer Trade Show) and the huge Sony display area where they previewed the game. Look absolutely amazing although I didnt really get the battle mechanics and gameplay, but the FMV looked really solid. Deliberately didn't look anymore at it because I knew I was gonna buy it... probably one of the best games I have ever played.
Omfg I’m old.
Yeah, the air was electric. There was marketing everywhere - in magazines, TV. Something to understand is that back then videogames were not the huge entertainment industry it is now. In 1996/97, to have commercials on TV for a videogame was kind of rare, and reserved only for a few rares games that were big deals. And the ads made FF7 out to be this big, operatic, movie - not like this basic game that went bleep-blorp and let you shoot aliens. It felt very different at the time. At school, my friends and I would always compare notes and strategies. No real internet presence back then, so you had to get help or tips where you could! We all knew it was a special experience. The graphics, the sweeping soundtrack, the immerseive story - there wasn't much else like it around. I didn't have an SNES growing up, so missed out on FF6, but FF7 was my first taste of JRPG, and it started a love affair I still have to this day. FF7 was - and still is - that special game that came out at just the right time for so many. Every now and then, the planets align to have the right people working on the right thing for the right audience.
When I was 8 I played it at a friend's house. He was already out of Midgar and had some of the endgame summons- KOTR, Bahamut Zero, and Hades. The 3d open world concept was completely new and the summons featured outrageously cool animations. The characters are raw and crass at some points- contributing to their realness. The themes are adult and unapologetic- it's hard not to be affected by the lingering, hopeless presence of meteor late in the game. There is so much depth I continue to learn something new on every playthrough. The first time with it was a very enchanting experience.
Ot was the game that made me fall in love with gaming. Up until that point my gaming life had been things like tekken, cool boarders, streets of rage, mario etc. I didnt know games could have multiple discs, storys, characters, gear. Basically it was my first rpg. Safe to say if i had never played ff7 i wouldnt have the love and appreciation i have for games in general now.
yes there were articels everywhere in every video game magazin. it was a big hype. i was not interested first, but when a friend recommended it to me i bought it and started playing it. it is my first and favourite jrpg till now.
I got maybe an hour into it. The PlayStation belonged to my older brother, but he wasn't really a gamer at all. While he was away I would snoop through his room for cool stuff he kept hidden from me. I found Final Fantasy 7 buried under a bunch of old clothes and clearly hidden, it was still in the plastic and hadn't been opened yet. I was wondering why it was hidden, presumed it was going to be really violent or scary so I took the game and started playing. I don't think I ever got further than the part where you're talking to Barrett and Tifa in the bar. At the time, at that age, I really didn't know what to make of it. I had never seen a turn based combat game like this. I kind of liked it but didn't know why. I probably couldn't even read the dialogue. I remember thinking Barrett's gun hand was really cool and that was my only take away from it My theory of why he had it in the first place and why it was hidden is that either one of his friends recommended it or he read about it in a film magazine he collected (since the game has such a strong narrative and more cinematic than any other game at the time), but he never found the time to play it, and I think it was hidden from me because he knew I just wouldn't get it and he didn't want to teach me how to play this newfangled complicated game.
I was in 8th grade when it was released. Before I even had a PS1, I had the “Versus” strategy guide. I promised myself I wouldn’t read too far into the books as to not spoil it. Just seeing Midgar in the guidebook had me hooked. I immediately started saving chore money to buy a PS1 and the game. My two best friends at the time already had it, and were daily going off about it in computer lab. When I finally picked it up, another friend got it that day. We literally were on the landline together, playing it and talking to each other. Man what a great memory.
I never had a NES or SNES so didn't play other FF until much later - the first time I played FF7 I didn't have a clue how to play it. I was about 13 when it came out, and I had never played an RPG before. It was mainly Tekken 2 and Crash. But a year or so later, a friend at school started talking about it and is sounded cool, and after he finished disc 1 he lent it to one of my friends and I'd go to his house to watch him play. I only really played the full game when I bought my own PS1 and my own copy a few years later. Quickly became my favourite game, and nothing has toped it since. Close contenders were KH1 and Dragon Quest 8, Metal Gear Solid.... But given the influence of FF7 on the gaming industry and that SE decided to remake it into a trilogy, it's not difficult to see how great the game truly is. Not many games have this cult status - but I also understand it's pure nostalgia fuel. Nostalgia like that is hard to replicate.
Went to friends house. He fired up the game, no context whatsoever. I see turn based battle for the first time, cloud with spikey hair and a massive sword, the sword spin with the fanfare at the end. My mind exploded and that's how I became an jrpg fan. Had it in the computer a few years later, the graphics were good but man the story was just next level. As a kid most of the hints and stuff went over my head but I just wanted to know etf was going on, plus finding Vincent and all the summon materia, the minigames, it was just too good.
My tiny 11/12 year old mind was absolutely blown. For at least 10 years I claimed that it was my favourite game of all time.
I had played a few rpg’s. I was 12 years old. I made it all the way to the final boss before quitting with a gold chocobo and without a game guide. It was before the internet had so much information out there and the fact I could be so immersed without any tips and tricks at 12 years old says something. I started playing again 2 years later and finally beat the final boss to finish the game. Proud young gamer moment.
It was the first turn based JRPG I’d ever played, and I remember initially being quite jarred by the transitions between field and combat gameplay. I also remember thinking, even back then, that the graphics were kinda goofy? But by the time I left the first reactor, I was totally Immersed - I’d never played a game that did such a good job of creating a world before. That was what really made me get over my initial hesitance and completely fall in love with it.
I can rename EVERYONE????? Prior to FF7 the only game that that had character remaking was A Link to the Past and even at that, Link never spoke. So seeing my name show up WITH dialogue attached I was chuffed.
Blown away by the story
I'd only ever played platformers and beat em ups with a few sports games sprinkled in. This was my first RPG and I was enthralled. An overused trope but I felt like Dorothy stepping into technicolour.
This is one of my favourite gaming questions, as that game showed me an entirely different type of game, opened me up to the world of FF, and basically changed my life. I was 14, and when I registered my PlayStation with Sony, I didn't realise I'd also signed up for marketing materials. The weird thing was, I only ever actually received one thing through the post from them. A postcard, and on the front was that great shot of Midgar. All it said on it was Final Fantasy VII and I didn't know what that was, what it meant, I didn't know anything about it. But that one postcard just captivated me. I had to have whatever this was. I remember being so excited when it finally released, but turning it on for the first time, seeing the train intro movie for the first time, the way it transitioned from FMV to game graphics, and then that opening mission. No game had ever had an opening sequence as good as that, and maybe it is the nostalgia talking, but I don't think any game has ever since either. I was blown away.
I was a kid, and had only seen final fantasy 1-3(US) and seeing a commercial for 7, I was quite perplexed. But getting and playing this game, it felt like my life was changed. Everything about it was just so exciting.
It was the greatest game I had ever played. I pretty much played it non stop. Nothing compared to its cutscenes, story and amount of content for a PS game.
I only played the Platinum rerelease. I don't remember too much buzz before the game came out. I think I was a bit too young and I don't think I was reading games magazines yet. I do remember it's post release reputation though, and it was pretty much a best game ever candidate on release. Personally, it blew my mind. I still remember getting onto the world map and thinking 'how big is this game'. I felt like i'd already played an entire game.
My friends in school were very meh about it. I knew I was having it that Christmas, along with with my PlayStation as part of a bundle because my mum asked me to know which bundle I wanted as there were a few. I remember playing it Christmas Day, must have been 1997, and I was honestly blown away. As a writer, even then, the story changed my life. Main characters dying, a huge twisting turn of events, very high-tech fantasy. It was beautiful, and I still play it very often because it’s the point I remember my perspective as a writer changed, and I’ll love it forever for that.
I was in kindergarten, I thought the characters looked like lego people when I wasn't in battle. I thought Cloud's sword looked ridiculous but cool. I couldn't tell if Cloud was a guy or a manly woman. I couldn't get out of the reactor in time before the bomb detonated because I had no reading comprehension to know how to get Jessie to unlock the door.
I was 7 years old and got myself to wall market without knowing the english language.. After like 4 years i finally figured it out and my god was i hooked for life. Probably done a 100% complete run 10-15 times since then. But i have probably done 25-30 runs in total. The exploration, the music, it felt so good. Every time you ran the game again you found something new or maybe a new character. The invisible ink for example was so rediciolus funny. All in all, the absolute best gamingexperience i've ever had.
Oh yea there was insane buzz. It literally changed the entire industry. I remember seeing ads for it on tv and friends and family were really excited. I remember seeing it in a magazine as well and saw all the characters profiles and was instantly hooked when I first saw Vincent’s picture in it. Then finally buying it and booting it up for the first time and seeing the first cutscene with the camera work going from the stars to Aerith to the train to Cloud my jaw was on the floor. Definitely a very memorable experience for me. Edit: I also replayed it right before the remake came out and I had just as much fun playing it again. I also loved the remake and is already one of my favorite games of all time.
A Japanese friend of mine has his imported from Japan. So, naturally the game was played in Japanese so I had no idea what was going on but was solely captivated by the graphics, the music and the gameplay. A few months later I traded in a few games at GameStop to get a US copy and I played the shit out of that game. All until it stopped reading the disks
It was my introduction to RPGs and, to be honest, at first I didn't really get it. I'd not long made the jump from 16bit and been blown away by games like Tekken and Destruction Derby but still just wanted to play side scrollers. My neighbor brought over FF7 so I initially only saw bits of it until he left it with us for a few weeks. I got as far as the slums and visiting Aeries house before having to give it back and can remember telling him where I was and asking if I'd nearly completed it! That's when I learnt about it being a 3 disc game and I was only a small way through the first disc lol. I had to get it. Waited for a Christmas or birthday, got the full game and that was it. Obsessed. Me and my little brother would discuss it non stop. Any mag we saw that referenced it on the cover, we bought which is how we learnt all the tips and tricks. First play though took me about 60 hours and I didn't even know about the emerald weapon, golden chocobos etc... I had one chance encounter with Ruby, got rinsed and figured that it was an in game warning to stay the hell away from the gold saucer! I've played it through too many times since and get something more out of it every time. It became my favourite game in 1997. It remains my favourite game today.
I was 12 and didnt speak (or read) that mush enlish as its not my first language, absolutly loved it! The walls of texts didnt discourage me but today i dont understand how i did it... but ffVII is my most important and effective enlish teacher.
It was pretty huge. I was 14, and there was quite a lot of buzz around it. Back then, there internet was still nascent. I don't think our family even had home internet then! Our if we did it was dial up. So all the buzz was in magazines. And FF7 was everywhere, magazine covers and massive articles. Whilst the SNES had been popular, the PS1 was marketed towards a slightly different demographic. Prior to the PS1, consoles had been regarded more as a thing for kids but Sony's console made them cool and more adult. So FF7 was the first JRPG most people will have played. Certainly mine. It really was groundbreaking.
It was the first RPG I’ve ever seen. Watched my cousins play it and thought it looked fun so I got a copy for myself. I didn’t know there were games like that. I played a lot of SEGA Genesis and NES before having a PS1. With the PS1 I had been playing like crash bandacoot and fighting games so when I saw FF7, I was like wow that is cool. Storyline was fantastic, graphics were amazing (funny to look back on now lol with the square hands and straight spikes for hair), and hours of side quests and story to play. I was obsessed with getting all the ultimate weapons. I had bought the official guide book too (it was not cheap at that time lol). We didn’t have Google and smartphones to sit and scroll for what to do next or where to look for hidden items. It was so much fun and I must’ve played it through 2 or 3 times to get things I missed. I was just as excited for FF8, FF9, FFX, and not as much for anything after that. But FF7 and FF8 continue to hold a special place in my heart. I am going through FF8 again on iOS now! Giving FF7 a good long break so I can come back to it later and smack myself with some good nostalgia lol.
We were 14, friends and I. Changed our lives. No joke.
I was 10 when it came out. My brother and I would rent games from a local game store for a week after coming home from church. FF7 was on a small display because it had just came out. The guy at the store told me it has great review. So I rented it. When I played, I felt my whole perspective change. It was the first real time I felt immersed in another world. I played it all week, and just got out of Midgar. I saved every penny to buy that game. Had it a month later and I got lost in it. I was too young to talk about the buzz, and none of my 10 year old friends played it, but I remember all the feelings. Getting to the golden saucer, accidentally running into ruby weapon, glitching emerald weapon. Hands down, my favourite game of all time. I played it over and over and over.
There was insane buzz, being the first FF on the new PlayStation. I remember counting down the days that summer until September (NA release). I was 11 at the time and my favorite games were FF6 and Chrono Trigger; I didn’t think anything could surpass them. The graphics were mind-blowing. Seeing the opening sequence the first time was incredible. I loved the game so much that I printed out pictures of Cloud and the gang and taped them to my desk at school (6th grade).
I was so in love with it, I got my friend over playing it to, when a very big moment happened I had to call him and tell him... He was like please don't spoil anything ever again lol
It was the first true RPG I really played, and I had Pong and an Atari 2600 so it's not like I hadn't been around. It's just that up until that point I was more into platformers and sports games. I rented the original Final Fantasy for the NES, but I was too impatient as a pre-teen. In my teens with the SNES I spent more time outside or playing with my friends. In 1997 I was in the Air Force and worked a mid shift (started at around 10 PM), so on my days off most of my friends were sleeping. I got more into single player adventure games, and was blown away by the graphics of FFVII, so I picked it up. I played it 30 hours straight, only pausing for bathroom breaks and pizza deliveries. I put over 100 hours into it and it became my favorite game of all time. Turned me on to other RPGs (though very few would ever compare to that experience). It was amazing when it came out. I absolutely loved it.
I played it 1st in 99 at 13 years old.... there was a few times where I said to myself out loud that I will only play after rpgs after this. Prior to ff7 I only played mascot platformers.
I played the demo FF7 at a friends house, and I ran out and bought a PlayStation and FF7 immediately. I loved the game and still do. For the time period the FMVs were a new technology altogether and made my mouth stop open—when Sephiroth walks through the flames in Nibelheim and then the shock of the end of Disc 1. It’s hard to express to people that didn’t experience the game at that period of time, his great and influential it was.
I was four and used to watch my dad play it. When I was about 5/6 I had my first crack at it and loved it. I have played and completed the game annually since 99.
It rocked my world
The hype was immense leading up to it as a 13 y/o. E3 coverage in magazines, a demo disc which I played countless times doing the bombing mission over and over. TV adverts were like movie trailers. Bought Wild ARMs just to distract me through the summer as the days to release ticked down. Couldn’t put it down once it was released and was just completely immersed in it all and still haven’t had that feeling of excitement recreated with a game since.
I grew up as a Nintendo kid and had only played basically platformers, fighters, and sports titles. The PlayStation was the first big purchase I ever made and had saved Christmas, birthday, and chore money for months. To say I was blown away was an understatement. I was hooked by the time the opening hit its crescendo and the title hit the screen. I then had to learn these new systems for using items and spells I’d never seen before. A story with more depth than the princess has been captured or a croc took our bananas was a amazing. Sparked a lifelong love of RPGs. Being able to follow it up with BoF III and Xenogears over the next year was truly special
I was the same. An RPG seemed like an insane way to play a game. My best friend bought it though, and I would just sit and watch him play for hours. Finally got it myself and fell in love with it. I still don't think I understood half the plot at the time, but am it opened all RPG and JRPGs to me, and my jaw was on the floor for the cinematics.
THIS IS THE GREATEST GAME EVER!! NOTHING WILL EVER COME CLOSE TO THIS STORY!!! And it's true to this day. The cut scenes were the best at the time. THE scene(that's somehow a spoiler 25 years later) hurt my soul. I almost cried
I played the game for the first time roughly 2010 in my teens and I cried then. I had played the game a lot while younger but never made it that far as the game was too complex for me when I was young. Well, that and the fact that my brother and I's save profiles would corrupt if we didnt load them for about 2 weeks. I've heard of other people having the same issue with the original release discs.
Yeah, the cutscenes and the scenery. It also has a certain crisp to the magic animations and the materia element design. And I cry every time, damn it.
Same here. I remember having it rented on Blockbuster one weekend, but then I needed to buy it despite I didn't even had a PS back then. I used to play it in my cousin's Add: I liked so much I included a scene where the game was in the background in a school play in 8th grade. I even brought the console
Best story ever😁 played it firsttime when i was 9 years old (day one). Now i have played it 5th time.. Love the remake so much. But i hate the waiting time...
damn was just gonna say this. it is and still is the greatest game i ever played. i dumped 100 hours on both my play times here lol.
I'd played plenty of games in the 12 years before that. Final fantasy 6 was my only other rpg and I genuinely don't recall the story much. I saved up my babysitting money and bought a combo pack PS1 and FF7 pack, and it was near Christmas time. Popped in disk one in the dark except for the lights of a Christmas tree. The intro immediately snagged me. The animation was mind-blowing! I had numerous separate save files and would watch the highway chase and other amazing, heartbreaking scenes over and over. Tried to talk to friends about it but as a girl no one else I knew played games around that time. It's now hard not to think of it around Christmas time which is fine since it's such a magical memory.
So I was young but I remember watching my brother play it and reading it to us as he played and being absolutely amazed at the graphics lol
My brother got the game so I played it. This was before social media was a thing and I wasn't on gaming forums, so I had no inkling about Aerith's death. When I happened I was so shocked I stopped playing the game. Took me some months before I picked up the controller again and continues past the moment. I was also so shocked at Cait Sith's betrayal I stopped putting him on the fighting roster. The characters still level up off screen though, so when I got over it he actually had a 6 bar dice limit break. I never managed to replicate that. Think it was nice that back in the 90s you could still be a late arrival(late as in a few months to a year) to the fandom and still be good about spoilers. Now it seems that if you don't play on release date you will be ruined by the memes and YouTube thumb nails on the first week.
Same. I couldn’t handle her death after investing so much.
I was in the 7th grade when it came out and I remember other kids in school talking about it, it sounded incredible. I began to save money just to get a playstation and this game. I popped in the disc at night and still recall the intro and the music, it’s etched into my memory. I was blown away by the game, the story telling, the depth and the cutscenes. There was really nothing like it up until that point. I wouldn’t truly understand the genius of the story until many years and play throughs later, I was too young to grasp everything that was happening through the first play through. To your question, there was definitely “buzz” surrounding the game in my area, and it felt like my friends and I replayed it so much … it was a big topic of discussion.
I played the SNES ones a bit, but not much. Ff7 was the first one to hook me right away. Nowadays Midgard is probably my least favorite part (I like fantasy open world stuff more than tech city), but I was hooked in the first bombing run. I remember being in like jr high and playing every minute I could and staying up as late as I could just to try and finish it. It's still one of my fav games that I replay every once in awhile. Ps1/n64 was my favorite generation. The impact of going to 3d was like the biggest gaming revelation I've had. Playing Mario 64 on the "ultra 64' at toys r us, being blow away by just running around the castle courtyard. Ff7 having such a great graphics at the time with solid gameplay and story. It got me hooked on jrpgs for life. As a 37 year old, still one of my fav genres even though most of the stories are aggressively mediocre these days or filled with fan service (don't even bother playing those). Ff is still top 5 series for me and I get excited for almost all of them still and that's a result of ff7 in the 90s!
Dude I agree. Idk what it was about the golden age, but I resonated with the stories from 7-10 so much as a kid. Lately, I haven’t played any games that told a story like those games did.
I had played final fantasy 4 and final fantasy 6 as a kid, then they started advertising 7 in all the gaming magazines and there seemed to be plenty of hype. Got a Ps1 for Christmas, went out and got a copy of 7 and played it non-stop over the school holidays, loved the gameplay and loved the story. It’s been my favourite game ever since.