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As a 21 year old FFVII fan, it’s interesting engaging with a game that’s been the subject of so much discourse for years before I was even born (it was always “Aerith” for me, for example). Its pretty cool to see people twice my age still loving this game. Sometimes I get irked by people who use it to bash other games, some of which I also like, and I think it’s ironic that I’ve probably played FFVII more recently then they have.

Incredible video. I could listen to you talk about FF7 for hours

My first 3 JRPGs were FF7, BoF 3 and Suikoden. All these games blew my teenage mind in the late 90's. All are held in the highest regard even to this day

I owe it to the toy'r'us game salesmen when final fantasy 7 came out. He sold my mom on the game, saying it's going to be the biggest game of all time one day. I opened it on Christmas knowing nothing about it and it's what sold me as to what gaming could be

Interesting topic and great video as always.

oh! I would looove a video of you showing your old video game magazine collection. I threw all of mine out as a teenager. I miss the writing style back then, it was so casual and not corporate.

Perhaps I may be a bit off by saying this, but I think that the legacy of Final Fantasy VII is ultimately an attempt to resurrect the half-baked Secret of Mana (would probably have been a complete project if the SNES CD-ROM hadn't been cancelled) from Square four years prior, imo. There, I said it. If no one else dares or cares to do so. I've found thirty+ possible direct connections between Secret of Mana and Final Fantasy VII. That's not counting the possible indirect connections leaked through various adjacent games put into production in the mid 90s (Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, etc.). Yoshinori Kitase's first project was also on Adventure of Mana (Seiken Densetsu I), which he collaborated on with Koichi Ishii- Ishii having gone on to work on Secret of Mana. There are some dialogue similarities between AOM and FFVII as well (some boss fights, characters, elements, etc.) that seem to line up as well (beyond the simple fact that there's a chocobo in the game, etc.). I'm shocked that no one else has tried to connect the dots between the Mana series or adjacent games in production back in the 90s with the Final Fantasy series. I think it's even possible that there could be a few connections between Live A Live and Final Fantasy VII (in particular Sephiroth's sympathetic side seems similar to Oersted- they both make a "distinct sad pose", are betrayed in some way, and put their trust/sell their soul to a demon king/statue at the top of a mountain.). If Square-Enix can retroactively decide to have Zack acquire Tidus's personality (through Nojima) for Crisis Core or having Terra in Birth By Sleep say a line that Zack said in the Last Order anime/Crisis Core, etc., then I don't see why they haven't been recycling ideas and concepts for a long time now.- Final Fantasy VII is the extant Secret of Mana, as well as a combination of other adjacent games around the time.

I wonder how Sakaguchi feels about the FF7 Remake.

I am afraid I might not lucky enough to live so I can witness the Complete remake story of this game 😥😥😥

brilliant vid👍🎮🕹

I was aware of FFVII by my early teen years, but I didn't play it until I was adult and have no nostalgia for it whatsoever. I played the original and the Remake at around the same time, and I honestly love them both for different reasons. It's interesting hearing perspectives on how the franchise and perceptions of it have evolved though, especially as more and more is added to it. I think the only real thing that's genuinely making me nervous about the future of the Remake installments at this point is the likely survival of Biggs, Jessie, etc, along with the buzz about the possibility of Aerith and Zack surviving as well. I think maybe the developers are trying their best to surprise people and keep them speculating, since everyone already knows the original story. But while I don't mind them taking liberties and even changing certain parts of the story to fit their new plan, I hope they don't shy away from the more tragic elements of Final Fantasy VII just to surprise or please fans. What always made the game feel so raw and authentic was actions and events had consequences --- some really devastating ones that couldn't be reversed. There's a kind of depth to the original that I fear the Remake will not have if it pulls its punches too much.

5:40 Which Square had tried with the Super Nintendo Famicom CD-ROM (SNES CD-ROM) while it was in development with Secret of Mana, before Nintendo got cold feet over the deal with Sony and backed out, producing the CD-i Philips instead and leading to the cancellation of the SNES CD-ROM and cutting a large chunk off of Secret of Mana. I think it's possible that they always had their eye on games that would be on CD, if because production was cheaper and more space could be used for the games being produced. 9:45 The same theme is present in Secret of Mana, if not more low-key (if you check the videos (orbs) at the one temple mountaintop, there are a "news report" and a "debate on whether Mana is infinite"- both videos show the "modern environment" that took place before the fight with Mana Beast and the Mana Fortress destroyed civilization (though not humans). (Sound familiar?- this is literally the ending of Final Fantasy VII and the post-500 years past as well.). If anything, the feel is post-calamity (i.e. the lush environment that Red XIII and his progeny find themselves in- IS like the lush environment show at the beginning and near the end of SOM (especially with the main character being flanked by two other characters on a cliffside near the end section-Pure Lands- of SOM)). 10:00 Perhaps. Though I find that Shinra and its cabinet seems to be more in line with how the Emperor and his (four) Shintenno conduct themselves in SOM. Especially with how the party mysteriously finds Emperor dead in an (altar?) in SOM- similar to how the party finds the Emperor dead in his office. (Also, Thanatos/Sephiroth is (at least partially) responsible for the death in either case). ... Thinking about this hard has made me reconsider- maybe the "Promised Land" in FFVII is actually equal to the purpose of the "Mana Fortress" in SOM? If the Fortress uses/gathers a large amount of Mana (to be powered/to be used as a weapon), then it's not much different than Shinra trying to find a large repository of Mako to be used (for their own ends/to be sucked up slowly by people on Gaia).

I'm honeslty a bit annoyed about how they have changed Sephiroth's character so much. I always saw him as just a puppet controlled by a mysterious eldritch god, and that was super cool. Now he is just the ultimate evil, and I dont find that as interesting

Great video as always! As a new fan of the game I never considered that it might have become political over time and in retrospect (I simply assumed that it was political when I played it). If not the game, then at least the conversation around it has been politicized like you mentioned.

Saying that Square "needs" to expand a character such as Johnny is misleading. They don't need to do anything. If people like squeezing 200 hours of game play out of a 36.5 hour game, that's cool for them as an option, but let's not call it a necessity. Not everything new is needed or good. I'm sure FF7 will be played by my grandkids. Time will tell if the remake is. I wouldn't give you crap about the word needed if you said it in a podcast vs. A script that you took the time to write, rewrite, edit, record, edit, and upload. In general I like your work. Keep up the good work, bro.

Still waiting for a turn based ff game can't believe what they did to the series,ff,lost odyssey,legend of dragoon,earthbound,hell xcom was a suprise to me years ago only problem with that game was it was basically timed and the earth would always blow up that killed it for me,solasta and battle chasers are the only turn based games I've found that were really good.

Great trip down history lane

FFVII was only 1st real Final Fantasy published in Europe. Remember even in poland I saw adds.

Perceptions of Riku:

Breath of fire 3 was by far the best RPG they came out. Basically every game has been trying to copy it.

Everyone seems to get wrong what capitalism is. The world of FF7 is corporatist, not capitalist. Corporations do not become corporations until they are subsidized by governments. In FF7's case the corporation usurped the government, but there seems to have been a parasitic relationship between the two even prior to this. This is what everyone thinks capitalism is, and it simply isn't true. Capitalism is simply a free market. The market isn't free if a company receives government subsidy which stifles competition, which is exactly what Shinra is. Granted, a lot of people make this mistake nowadays. It may very well have been the intent of Squaresoft to illustrate the dangers of "capitalism" with FF7, but if that is the case--as much as I love FF7--in that they failed. This is made even truer when you consider that Square itself is a capitalist entity.

In my opinion, FF7 has lost it's original charm. You can only experience that threw the orginal PSX game. And it's honestly weird that people involved with the remake or care soo much about it. Has never beaten or will not touch the original game. FF7 is a prime example of something that was too loved for it's own good. It's becoming a title , that is losing it's original message/ mysterious fabric. I love FF7 but this is honestly my honest opinion on the title, in 2023.

I highly highly recommend the book "the moral case for fossil fuels" to get another perspective.

Well, ff7 was a turning point in the franchise. It was the move away from sakaguchis vision, which was rooted in western D&d, to a more Shonen jump style. Its where the series really lost me as i find japanese anime very kitschy. Sakaguchis final fantasy appealed to me in the way that Miyazakis dark souls or Kojimas metal gear did, its a japanese viewpoint on western things. Final fantasy increasingly just became another product of japanese anime culture.

Things are so much simpler without politics being everywhere, wouldn't you agree?

FF7r wasn't what I wanted. Story-wise. I find the story of FF7R to be extremely confusing now. The remake is a mess. With a story, straight out of Kingdom Hearts. That I hope, they can sort out. The battle-system I have no problems. With aside from the level designs, being straight out of a ps2 game. *& level designs was dragged out to no end, it was pissing me off. Then mix that with hidden loading screens as you duck under pipes.* Red13, Jessie, Wedge and Biggs isn't even playable to, justify part 1 being something to come back to when part 2 is released. I fail to see why the remake is split into parts. They could had competed that whole story in it's linear format they are using in 1 game. Advent children always been "meh" to me. CC was good. DC was just unplayable. Seriously, just watch the cut-scenes on KZfaq if you wanna get caught up to speed 🙄 you do NOT need to actually force yourself to play the actual game. Save yourself the time. CC, is still the strongest spin-off from the original game.