FINAL FANTASY VII

FINAL FANTASY VII is a highly acclaimed role-playing game in which players can explore a vast world map and its ancient ruins, while encountering a variety of monsters and foes. In turn-based combat, you must strategically unleash skills and magic—or bide your time to execute powerful "Limit Breaks"—to defeat your opponents and earn rich rewards. The game also features a compelling narrative: follow the journey of the mercenary Cloud as he and his allies fight to thwart a massive corporation’s plot to control the planet, forging deep bonds along the way. As the story unfolds, you can unlock a variety of outfits for your companions, allowing you to customize their appearance and add an extra layer of enjoyment to your adventure.

Gameplay of FINAL FANTASY VII:

The gameplay of Final Fantasy VII is similar to earlier Final Fantasy titles and Japanese role-playing games. The game features three modes of play: the world map, the field, and the battle screen.  At its grandest scale, players explore the world of Final Fantasy VII on a 3D world map. The world map contains representations of areas for the player to enter, including towns, environments, and ruins. Natural barriers—such as mountains, deserts, and bodies of water—block access by foot to some areas; as the story progresses, the player receives vehicles that help traverse these obstacles, thus opening more of the game world for exploration.  Chocobos can be found in certain spots on the map and, if caught, can be ridden to areas inaccessible on foot or by vehicle.  In field mode, the player navigates fully scaled versions of the areas represented on the world map. VII marks the first time in the series that the mode is represented in a three-dimensional space. In this mode, the player can explore the environment, talk with characters, advance the story, and initiate event games.  Event games are short minigames that use special control functions and are often tied to the story.  While in field mode, the player can also make use of shops and inns. Shops allow the player to buy and sell items that can aid Cloud and his party, such as weapons, armor, and accessories. Inns restore the hit points and mana points of characters who rest at them and cure abnormalities contracted during battles.

In a cavern, three people face a dragon. Along the bottom is a blue display showing each character's health, magic energy, and waiting time before their turn in battle.

A battle scene with Cloud, Barret, and Tifa facing a dragon. At this point, the player must choose a command for Cloud to perform.

At random intervals on the world map and in field mode, and at specific moments in the story, the game will enter the battle screen, which places the player characters on one side and the enemies on the other. It employs an Active Time Battle (ATB) system, in which the characters exchange moves until one side is defeated. The damage or healing dealt by either side is quantified on screen. Characters have several statistics that determine their effectiveness in battle; for example, hit points determine how much damage they can take, and magic determines how much damage they can inflict with spells. Each character on the screen has a time gauge; when a character's gauge is full, the player can input a command for them to perform. The commands change as the game progresses, and are dependent on the characters in the player's party and on the abilities, spells, etc., the player has added to their equipment. Commands include attacking with a weapon, casting magic, using items, summoning monsters, and other actions that either damage the enemy or aid the player characters. Final Fantasy VII also features powerful, character-specific commands called Limit Breaks, which can be used only after a special gauge is charged by taking enemy attacks. After being attacked, characters can be afflicted by one or more abnormal "statuses", such as poison or paralysis. These statuses and their adverse effects can be removed by special items or abilities or by resting at an inn. Once all enemies are defeated, the battle ends, and the player is rewarded with money, items, and experience points. If the player is defeated, it is game over and the game must be loaded from the last save point.

When not in battle, the player can use the menu screen, where they can review each character's status and statistics, use items and abilities, change equipment, save the game when on the world map or at a save point, and manage orbs called Materia. Materia are the main method of customizing characters in Final Fantasy VII, and can be added to equipment to provide characters with new magic spells, monsters to summon, commands, statistical upgrades, and other benefits. Materia level up through their own experience point system and can be combined to create different effects.

Characters of FINAL FANTASY VII:

There are nine playable characters, two of which are considered optional. All of them are members of the resistance group, AVALANCHE. Sorted from earliest to latest in-game appearance:

Cloud Strife: The main protagonist of the game, Cloud is a mercenary employed by AVALANCHE. He was formerly a member of Shinra's infantry division, but trauma induced by Mako poisoning led him to believe he is an ex-member of SOLDIER.

Barret Wallace: The brash leader of AVALANCHE and adoptive father of Marlene. Barret has a robotic arm that he uses during battle, usually equipped with a gun.

Aerith Gainsborough: A friendly young woman who sells flowers in Midgar. Aerith is one of the few survivors of the Cetra race, and is sought after by Shinra, who want to exploit her connection to the planet in order to reach the fabled Promised Land.

Red XIII: A strong feline-like animal who joins AVALANCHE after being rescued from Hojo's laboratory.

Cid Highwind: Pilot initially recruited by Shinra for it's Space Development program, assigned to fly their spacecraft. Also built (and eventually stole back) the Highwind airship after getting recruited into the party.

Yuffie Kisaragi: Optional member recruited outside of Wutai. A ninja girl prolific in stealing materia.

Vincent Valentine: Optional party member recruited in the basement of the Shinra Manor. Ex-Turk who was experimented on by Hojo, making him capable of various monstrous transformations.

Tifa Lockhart: A young woman skilled in martial arts, Tifa is a childhood friend of Cloud. Prior to the start of the game, she was the person who convinced Cloud to assist AVALANCHE in the bombing of Mako Reactor 5.

Useful Tips of FINAL FANTASY VII:

Party members who are not in your party still gain EXP (half of what the main party gets) so there isn't a massive penalty in having whoever in your party. Aeris a mandatory party member for some portions so it's not a bad idea to take her along time to time, seeing that the party's dialogue in some places depends on who is in your party. Like if you go to Gongaga with Aeris in your party you can have a unique scene. (Tifa also has a unique scene when Gongaga the first time, so you can have both in the party for this place.) So if you find yourself liking Aeris and want to hear her commentary to story events during event scenes, then you should take her in your party even if not the most optimal levelling strategy. Because party members thusly participate in story scenes you can just use who you like, rather than an "optimal" battle party, seeing the game is easy.

Using the first Limit Break of a level enough times unlocks the second Limit Break of the level. You can unlock further Limit levels by having the character kill enemies in battle. Cloud takes much more kills than others to unlock his LV3 Limit. You can adjust Limit Level from the menu. LV4 Limits must be found in the world and taught to the character after learning all other Limits. Aeris's later Limits are very good, so if you want to see them you should have her kill the enemies in battles she participates in seeing she has limited time in the party.

Try inventive Materia combinations. You can link Support Materia to both Magic and Summon Materia and some link with Command Materia as well. If you have two copies of the same Materia you can link both to different Support Materia to stack different abilities to the same ability. Like if you link a Materia to Quadra Magic you can cast the spell four times in succession but the spell power is halved. If you link another copy of the Materia to MP Turbo, you can hit the enemy four times with boosted spell power to counter the halving effect. If you have a third copy of the Materia you can link it to Magic Counter to have the character counterattack with four spells of boosted power. If you had a fourth copy of the Materia you could link it to All Materia to counter four times in succession with boosted magic power against all enemies in a group. Just keep trying different combinations! Counterattacks stack so you can counter multiple times if you have multiple counters set up: there is normal counetrattack, Magic Counter and (Command) Counter.

Make use of the Enemy Skill Materia. Have it equipped to someone as soon as you get it even if it has no abilities yet, and you might learn some useful abilities when hit by enemy attacks in battle. Some are obscure and require you to use the Manipulate Materia on the enemy to learn.

Watch out for the Frogs. The battle with the Six Frogs in forests near Gongaga and Cosmo Area... can get annoying. Wear sleep and frog protection accessories!

Player Comments of FINAL FANTASY VII:

If you get the BSOD, install the game, but do NOT play it immediately. Install, then go to Settings, then to Apps, then scroll down to Final Fantasy VII and go to Permissions. In Permissions, allow the game to have access to all permissions available. It's an older app, so while you may not see a need for all of the permissions, it does need them to run! Exit Settings and re-start your device. Run the game and it should work fine! This also works for FF9!!!

Being able to play, not only the best game ever made, my favorite game ever: the game that changed my life: the greatest interactive story ever told; on my mobile device, is such a treat. All things considered, the app looks great, plays great, and there is zero to little lag, not to mention the decent frame rate. My only wish was that there was the "invincibility" mode and high speed mode that was introduced in the PS4 port. Other than that, I have nothing but praise for this classic piece!!!

Would give this game 5 stars if it didn't crash so much. There are parts of the game where it may be quite some time until the next save point and it's really easy to lose a lot of progress when a crash hits. Looking at the other reviews this seems to be a common complaint, I hope it is addressed. While saving often can help you progress, after many attempts I've found it will always crash prior to getting to 64,000 battle points needed for the w-summon materia. Edit 2024: No longer crashes.

Played the game all the way thru to the end without a single issue. I've read people had problems with the Mansion safe combination, but I got it within a couple of tries. I was able to do literally everything the game has to offer without any problems, so I've been saving at random points so I could go backwards just to play again. It's awesome.

Final Thoughts:

FINAL FANTASY VII retains the original’s dramatic narrative and introduces 3D backgrounds and full combat stages. Players can customize characters using a versatile material system and enjoy new features like enemy encounter toggles and a Max Stats command. Note that the app requires significant memory, and users should frequently save their progress to avoid bugs related to transportation mechanics. Check device compatibility for optimal gameplay.