Final Fantasy VII - Prelude

Back in christmas '95 I made the leap into the 32-bit era of gaming when I got the original Playstation. It's one of the systems where I can find some of my fondest memories of playing games, any Capcom fighting game was a definite must, Konami's Metal Gear Solid, Square's Vagrant Story, Sony's own Ape Escape, Syphon Filter, Medievil, Spyro The Dragon and a bunch of others gave me hours of entertainment. And then there came Final Fantasy VII, a game like no other until then.
But a bit before that there was Final Fantasy VI, a game for the 16-bit SNES, that I played for hours and hours, and I'm not even sure if I ever finished or not. It was my very first JRPG and it took me a long time to get into the mechanics of it. When FFVII was announced, if you were there, man... the hype was immense. The promos, the ads, the reviews - everything pointed to an experience unlike any other.
And I didn't play it, for whatever reason, not at the time. At the time I was mainly playing beat 'em ups, and Capcom was delivering a huge amount of amazing games that commanded my attention.
But in '99 a couple of things happened : my son was born, and Final Fantasy VIII came out. I'd seen a TV commercial for it and finally got it for christmas that year.
So this is a cliché of having a newborn : the sleepless nights, either because your infant is keeping you up, or you're up because you're worried sick about something happening while he's asleep. What came to happen is that I eventually picked up the game on one of those sleepless nights, and started playing it, logging in an inordinate amount of gaming hours all the while. And as with all good things, it eventually came to an end and I felt utterly dejected because I wanted more. You'd figure that connecting the dots and just play FFVII would be a simple matter, but I did not immediately think of it. In truth, my first thought was get some beat 'em up to play, and so I went to this place that sold second hand games, where I usually got my games, to see what they got there. I found myself browsing their selection for a long while - nothing seemed to pique my interest. I'd almost given up. But a familiar white cover, a splash of green and the words Final Fantasy VII rising to the front.
I picked it up and got it.
Back home, I played it for the first time. My first impression? I was thoroughly unimpressed. You see, I have a deep, deep love for FFVIII, one of - if not the most - divisive games in the series. Still fresh in my mind, it held a ridiculously high standard to everything else. And VII... well, it just seemed so... muted in comparison. The characters were blocky, the soundtrack wasn't doing what VIII's did for me, I couldn't get into the story. I almost gave up.

But, gladly, I stuck with it, and eventually - as I recall it just before CD 1 ended - I started to really dig the game. The more I played it, the more I came to appreciate it, and soon enough I'd be completing it for the first time.
'For the first time?', I hear you ask? Yes, I played these games multiple times. And honestly, that first playthrough I did? I finished the game, but was nowhere near full completion. I didn't defeat any of the Weapons, I didn't get the Golden Chocobo, I didn't get a bunch of the summon materia... It'd take a guide that I borrowed from a guy to find all those secrets. That first time I fully completed the game, though? I was hopelessly in love with it. Cloud and company were an amazing cast, Sephiroth was the quintessential bad guy, and that soundtrack... how could I ever have doubted the brilliance of Uematsu?
It's over twenty years since that original release, and the remake was recently released. I can't wait to get my hands in it, but I'll have to wait, the boy's got the PS4 with him.
Until then, I'll be spinning the soundtrack and travelling back to Midgar!