I may or may not be a little late to the party in regards to playing Final Fantasy VII. As a youngster already drowning in backlog I started FFVII and made it to the first mission in Midgar before dropping it for Okami. All of these years I have been hiding my terrible sin from the world.

I never had anything against FFVII, I just always had other games I needed to play. With a 300+ gaming backlog I was always strapped for time. All of the drama surrounding the FFVII remake rekindled my interest in the game. I figured the remake (which I would play) would be a different beast to the original and I wanted to experience both versions.

The game releasing on PS4 with trophies made my decision that much easier.I will admit that I did use the boosts throughout the game. The 3x speed was a god send and now I want that in all of my games. The unlimited limit breaks also helped me to max them out quicker. Looking specifically at you Aeris!

It took me just under thirty hours to obtain the platinum for the game. I wasn’t following a guide for the majority of the game and I missed Cloud’s cross dressing scene and Barret wanting to date me. All things I easily amended.

I liked that even after spending years on the internet the story was still surprising. I knew Aeris died, I knew you thought Sephiroth, I knew that Cloud and Zac had crazy history. I even knew that Cloud and Tifa had a moment under the Highwind. Even with all of this knowledge there were still many parts of the story that completely surprised me. I found myself really feeling sorry for Cloud.

The fact that you couldn’t record during Aeris’ death was a nice touch. I like that even after all of this time they still tried to keep people from spoiling that scene. I am sure someone out there still mustn’t know about it so it was probably a nice gesture!

I enjoyed the games soundtrack. The most memorable track for me would definitely be Cosmo Canyon. There’s just something special about the beat. Every single time it gets to the peak I get super excited.

I liked the majority of the characters and their backstories. Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII were the highlights of the game for me. With Aeris and Vincent trailing at the end. I enjoy characters who face adversity and have a really hard life. I don’t mind whether they take that and become a stronger hero or fall down into the bits of despair. I enjoy watching their emotion filled journey either way.

Even though the majority of the mini games were small I appreciated the variety. In longer games it is always nice to have a break from the game and enjoy something a little different. Chocobo Racing was one of the highlights for me. I did do Fort Condor but I found that a little slow. All of the other mini games were worth a try. Nothing will ever top Triple Triad but I appreciate them all the same.

Taking into consideration the year that the game was released I thought it was well done. Most of the things I could openly criticise would be unfair to an old game. I can see why people like the game but I do not believe that it is the greatest JRPG of all time. I still think Final Fantasy VIII beats it hands down – orphanage story line and all.

After playing it I really don’t think it is as big and content filled as I was led to believe. I mean yes, it could be a huge game if the remake fleshes out all of the towns – especially Midgar. However in its current state it has a few decent sized towns and the rest have a few houses in each. I have no problem with this in anyway. I was just led to believe that the game would be bigger.

Why aren’t Cloud’s eyes glowing? Every single NPC seems to rant about how Cloud has glowing eyes. To me that means he should have lava lamps for eyes. Not just eyes slightly more blue than your average person. I just don’t understand. Why are Mako eyes so special when if you didn’t know Cloud actually had them you wouldn’t recognise them on his portrait. This is just a little nit picky issue I had. I just wanted those lava lamps.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with FFVII and I should probably have played it sooner. At least it is done now and this heavy burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. It was fun! I even enjoyed the grind towards the platinum. 3x speed made 999999999 gil a breeze as I just mastered All Materia. Sometime this year I may even get around to playing Crisis Core. I hear Zac has a much more heroic death in that version of the story.