The Original (which is the first part of this three game set) inspired the world. It perhaps started the idea that games could be a way to tell stories, and made the Final Fantasy series truly admirable. Of these three, I’ve only played Original and Dirge of Cerberus. Crisis Core (a prequel to those two) looks like it fleshes this new great world.
Let’s talk of the Original first, because it sends you to the action from the get-go. No drawn out music in the backround with text scrolling down saying what has happened before. Instead, you start with an unexplained fight at a train station, and slowly learn more about the world around you.
With your comrades in AVALANCHE (a resistance group), you fight against Mako Reactors, Shinra Company, and SOLDIER. Before the first disk even starts rolling, you fall from a bridge, see three allies get mortally wounded, and watch as Shinra company you’re fighting kills thousands of innocents just to get you. Yet that isn’t all, soon you learn of beings more dangerous than all of weapons Shinra company could throw at you -- Jenova, and Sephiroth.
Some say that Jenova controlled Sephiroth throughout the game, and that he didn’t want to destroy the world. Others say that the two were like symbiotes, like-minded. I, however, have a different view. Jenova warped Sephiroth’s mind, tried to gain full control..and failed. What the supposed ‘Calamity of the Skies’ (what some people call Jenova) created wasn’t a loyal son fighting for his alien mother like it wanted. What was made was a warrior that wanted to make an impact of his own across the stars, took control of Jenova, and began a quest that was far different than Jenova wanted. While Jenova wanted to control the world, Sephiroth wanted battle for the sake of battle. Hence Sephiroth (who became known as the ‘One Winged Angel’) searched everywhere for a worthy opponent; and when that worthy opponent dies either by his blade or by old age, he would search for another, perhaps destroying multiple worlds in that search.
Enough about the Angel and the Calamity, however. Let’s move on to the Dirge of Cerberus, where you fight a group called Deepground -- the elite Tsviets -- and play as a character who appeared in the Original as an optional character -- Vincent Valintine. His mysterious past is further revealed, though the gameplay doesn’t seem as challenging as the Original, the storyline and enemies are all the more interesting. From fighting a teenage girl trapped in a little girl’s body, to a blood-thirsty mistress of destruction, to a power-house who refuses to die, all the way up to a creature made for the world’s Armeggedon which was coaxed from its slumber too early. It’s a game to enjoy.
The last one, Crisis Core, I said I never got to play. That doesn’t mean I haven’t learned enough of the storyline from other methods. A character that was hinted at in the Original, a man named Zack, who set the stage for our heroes to defeat Sephiroth by watching over the main character..and to a degree, teaching him. This takes place when Sephiroth loses his mind (due to Jenova). I would ‘love’ to try my hand in it, almost as much as I’d like to try my hand at a remake of the Original. Unfortunately, it is only available on PSP (just about the only game system I don’t have at this point).
This is the game that inspired a whole series of games and two videos, plus a full-length feature film. Unfortunately, one of the two videos, Advent’s Children, focused on copying aspects of the earlier story rather then fleshing it out and continuing it. In other words, instead of adding to this great legacy, it damaged the overall storyline. Despite that, Final Fantasy VII, unlike so many sagas, will live on in our hearts, imaginations, and consoles.