Hey guys. Just want to say thank you for sticking with me this year. At the end of last year I took a two month break from youtube, mostly for mental health reasons, and just wanted to let you guys know I will not be doing the same this year, some pretty positive changes to work life balance stuff mean Im in a pretty good place over all. I am gonna take some down time over the holidays which im super excited about (cause ehhh im on about three hours of sleep trying to get this out the door), but very excited for some vids out early next year. If you’d like to support this channel, please do consider the patreon, I know a dollar a video doesn’t seem like much, but one dollar donations are the life blood of this channel and let me do what I do: www.patreon.com/Supereyepatchwolf Thanks as always for watching the video, and Ill see you next year

I just found this game's story confusing as hell, but I named Cloud "Zack" so that was a big part of the confusion.

Came here for a deep dive analysis into Sega Bass Fishing 2, and I left severely disappointed when all you rambled on about was some obscure indie game.

One thing you dont mention in the last section is that despite seeing himself as a pathetic failure, Cloud DID kill Sephiroth at the reactor. Which is ironic because despite all the false memories about being a SOLDIER, he did not remember how the showdown with Sephiroth actually went down, which was the one thing he actually did right in all of this. And it kinda conveys the message that feeling ashamed and lying about yourself can make you forget the great things you actually accomplish.

What hit me the most is when Cloud found out he was an experiment, losing his identity as 'Cloud'. When he begged Hojo for a number and didn't receive one hurt, cause he had nothing, not even a number to define himself.

The fact that cloud was once a guy who got motion sickness on a truck and rose up to beat the world's most powerful warrior is pretty effing epic.

I love how they drop hints about cloud's false backstory. For example, when he tells the story of sephiroth in kalm, he's shown talking to the soldier in the truck about motion sickness, saying "I dont know... I've never had motion sickness." But on the trip to Costa Del Sol, cloud is shown getting motion sickness. Players who pay attention can see this and realize the contradiction in cloud's story.

Watching Aeris die in a cutscene: *single tear* Remembering that you put a Ribbon on her before she left your party and now you'll never get it back: *ugly cry*

FFVII is the rare moment where severe limitations and unknown novel technologies combined to force the developer to focus on story telling through the game's mechanics. I do not think we will see this combination of factors come together as successfully for a very long time.

next time, I want a 50 minute video about sega bass fishing 2 don't bait me like that man

Call it OCD, but it always used to bother me after Aeris's death that there was just an empty section in the character selection screen. And then I realized the reason they left the gap there, and once you realize it's never gonna be filled, it hurts more than just your desire for symmetry.

The Nibelheim portion of the game is the best "storytelling through gameplay" example I know of. It absolutely the best "holy shit he's strong' moment I've ever had in gaming. You basically tickle enemies, and then get KO'd, as Cloud, but one hit even the miniboss character, as Sephiroth. It's genius.

I'd also like to note how there's always an empty space where Aeris's character slot used to be when you go to shops. Just another way the gameplay compliments the story.

The thing I like about FF7 and Cloud's story, is that he wasn't some chosen one, there wasn't some prophecy. Sephiroth thinks he is the chosen one, and gets bested by this nobody. Cloud begins FF7 by thinking he's a hotshot, not because he thought he beat Sephiroth, but because he was so deeply ashamed of himself that he adopted an alter ego. As the audience, Cloud goes from being the hero to being pretty pathetic. But then it's revealed that he actually did get the better of Sephiroth, only after losing everyone he loved and his home town getting burned down. It becomes understandable psychologically why he made an alter ego, as a way of dealing with that trauma. Cloud becomes sympathetic again, and we want to see him put aside his lies and be who he really is. And when he does in the end, that makes his character arch satisfying, and is why his beating Sephiroth in the end game is great. Not because of some prophecy, or even saving the world, but because of what Cloud went through, and settling things once and for all with Sephiroth. It's a revenge story, but also a story of redemption. Cloud is an underdog. And Cloud's yin to Sephiroth's yang is special, like all great hero/villain parings. On one hand you have this deluded psychopathic demi-god with a messiah complex, and on the other you have this self-loathing loser/nobody who rose to the occasion. It's a fun combination.

I loved how Sephiroth wasn't portrayed as objectively evil. He went criminally insane and became a religious fanatic with mommy issues.

You have embodied everything about this game that makes FF7 a masterpiece. The story is real and hits us right the heart. This is why it is timeless.

As someone who had no idea about the story of this game, holy shit you took me on a ride.

Hey, don't knock on that 'Nobody Shinra Soldier', he's the guy who threw Sephiroth into a vat of Mako using that stupid katana that was stabbed into him.

Aeris: Looks like a pure sweet white mage, is actually a scrappy 'flower girl' tomboy flirt. Tifa: Seems like a rough, tough fighter, is actually a very soft-hearted and sentimental sweetheart.

It's really funny to me that Aerith's death scene was shown in the ads for it

You described why this is one of my favorite games of all time perfectly. The parts about Aeris’ death and Cloud’s whole identity crisis were just spot on. As someone who is currently dealing with such things, it hit so close to home. Thank you for this video. It’s a masterpiece.

Cloud's false backstory being revealed as nothing more than a lie was.....something. That had NEVER been done before in a jrpg, your hero isn't who he says he is. Just a loser. And that's what makes it so special when he finds the strength to defeat Sepiroth.

There’s also a point in the game where you can go into a hut looking for loot and meet a couple who ask you if you know their son who went off to join SOLDIER and never returned. At the time it seems like random NPC dialogue, but, when you realize that they are Zack’s parents- it’s absolutely gutting. It also makes subsequent play throughs of that scene really uncomfortable, since you the player are in the know but Cloud-you still essentially thinks he IS Zack and has no idea who they are talking about. The awesome thing is, the game doesn’t make you play this scene, it’s just an extra nugget for those who compulsively explore every place they can. It’s little details like that which make the game so rich and memorable.

43:00 "One of the cruelest things you can do to a person is take away the things they believe about themselves." This is exactly what happened to Sephiroth. It's was the catalyst of what drove him mad. While it broke both Sephiroth and Cloud, Cloud had a support system. He had his friends, he had Tifa. Sephiroth was alone. While he might have known people who would help, he was a "living legend". A man who was considered an island. He was at the top, and the top can be very...very...lonely. The closest thing Sephiroth had to friends where Angeal and Genesis...and they were dead. He had no family, no friends, and the last bits of foundation he had were ripped away from him. One of the base level assurances we have is that we're all human, and we feel like we belong to the human race. Now imagine even that's ripped from you. You now know you're TRULY alone. There is nobody like you on the planet. There is no community or foundation for you anymore. You. Are. Alone. Having that kind of existential crisis...who wouldn't lose their mind?

I think we can all relate to Cloud's insecurities and reasons behind his lies. Deep down Cloud was fighting against his inner demons and Sephiroth embodied his fears and insecurities in the physical form.

This game gave me one of my favorite visions of final fantasy ever. Some drunk homeless guy wondering towards a house monster stoked he's about to find a new house seemingly for free. But no this young guy runs up tells him to stop and pulls out a giant sword. And starts fighting the fucking house. This of course causes the homeless man to realize he has to stop drinking as he couldn't have just seen a teenager fighting a house with a giant sword...

I played FF7 when i was just hitting puberty in middle school and learning all sorts of emotions I had never felt before. Aeris was my go to party member I kept with me every chance I got. She was my healer and my favorite character of all the cast. So one night I was playing this game as silent as I could cuz my mother was asleep on the couch, I watched as Aeris was killed by Sephiroth and as a result I was traumatized as an adolescent. I was under the impression a phoenix down could cure her but KO only meant Knocked out, not death. I had to watch as Cloud lay her to rest in a pool of water watching her now lifeless body sink to the body of a lake and then the screen went black and the switch disc screen came on after I saved my game. So unable to make a sound for waking my mom, I turned off the game, went to my room and told myself "I'll revive her in the morning, it'll be ok." I was in a genuine state of denial over a video game character because even before playing other games with characters dying I had never felt such a sense of loss in my life since my grandfather died. As I continued to play the game I kept thinking "It'll be ok, they'll revive her" but they didn't. I kept telling myself things like "They'll find a materia that can bring her back" or "They could travel back in time and revive her like Chrono Trigger!" But they never did, it wasn't until I brought the Sage to Aeris's resting spot that I finally realized she was truly dead and never coming back. The reason why Aeris death affected so many people including myself is because Square-Soft knew at the time how to manipulate us into caring for her and showing us what real loss was. To this day now I can't stop crying when i hear Aeris's theme from Advent Children and I don't think I'll ever stop mourning the loss of my favorite Flower Child.

This is my favorite game of all time. This game changed my life and shaped so much about me. My interests, my morality, my taste in music, my love of rpgs and Jrpgs and my love of anime. It’s one of those pieces of media for me like yu yu hakusho for anime that will always stay with me and nothing will ever match. It was a massive part of my childhood and I still go back to it every 5 to 10 years even after beating it dozens of times. It’s also the first game that made me feel real emotions and make me cry, laugh, and actually feel like the characters were real.

I just finished Final Fantasy VII yesterday and I'm still in awe. I've never had a video game leave me speechless just absolutely perfect. I'm playing Final Fantasy VIII now and I'm so excited! I hope I have the same feelings with VIII!

I was telling someone earlier today after playing Remake how relieved I was that they captured Aeris' true personality with all its humor and flirtation and insight instead of just the pure and saintly Aeris we've gotten in post-FF7-adaptations-sequels-and-cameos....and here you are with the same point. Huzzah! I wasn't the only one.

"I draw terrible terrible fanart of it" Shows a bunch of pictures that are miles better than anything I draw.

As a fan of the actual series, Cloud and Sephiroth’s rivalry is among the most unique things the series has ever done. Sephiroth may not be the best villain in the series. But he’s undeniably the best antagonist. A man who cannot cope with his identity alongside the main character, and is driven by the hatred he has for the man who, in a way, mortalized him. Sephiroth acts solely to torture the man who humiliated him, and as the extended lore of Final Fantasy 7, and its remake continues expanding, it almost seems as if his external goal is secondary to his obsession with breaking Cloud. I’m a huge fan of this move and it depicts the antagonist to be just as broken and emasculated as the protagonist. Cloud Strife of course being my favorite character in video games. I love his arc about accepting everything he is, most importantly his failures, and his interactions with the party. He’s someone that has to be strong for people who perceive him that way, because he carries himself that way. Although, he’s being extremely disingenuous to who he actually is, so much so that he’s internalized it (with the help of his own trauma as an indirect result of his failures). I really like that, and truly feel as if it’s a story arc that a lot of people could relate to, even if I don’t care for how rushed the ending to that arc is.

This vid convinced me to finally play it and.... man. There are so many beautiful little touches everywhere in this game, from the lived-in environments to moments in the story to details about the characters. I would get frustrated with some clunky minigame or high encounter rate, just to forget about it immediately when I find out there's two kids that have taken over Aeris's flower patch in the church on their own despite not knowing her well. Or that Cloud can read sheet music, but can't play very well. Or that Yuffie, the literal ninja, gets seasick in the giant airship (I ended up keeping her in my party the whole time because of that lol). I'll admit I got a pretty choked up at a few points, especially during moments with Aeris. Knowing what happens didn't take away from all the wonderful little things along the way. When the game finally ended, I sat there watching the starry black screen, listening to the soothing music, quietly hoping that it wasn't over. I sold the game as a young child without getting past the first combat because I didn't get it, but I don't think I could have appreciated the qualities of it back then anyways. Having it drift away and then come back to me years later... it really made it hit different, and I'll remember it forever. Also Tifa ended my final boss fight with a one-handed chokeslam, which is enough for a 10/10 on its own in my book

Getting the Super Eyepatch Wolf treatment on one of your favorite games ever... Looks like Christmas came early this year.

It doesn't matter what people say, I'll always love this game. The story, soundtrack and it's characters... Everything felt so organic, like a game full of adventures and a game makes the player a part of the team. It's truly an incredible game.

I would've never even imagined how deep Final Fantasy VII is. Up to now, I thought it's just the only entry in the series that an average gamer is familiar with. I'm currently loving Final Fantasy VI, and half an hour earlier I would say to an FFVII fan "Would you please shut up about Cloud? Jeez!" , but now I see that this isn't an overrated game. I'd love to play it one day.

The ending of this video where you compare yourself and how you were feeling at the time of playing this to cloud and how he is a nobody.... that hit home for me. I felt exactly the same when I was growing up and still struggle with that to this very day as a 32 year old adult. Love the video, same with the dbz one. Subscribed

Pfft! Imagine naming your company “Square”! _-This comment was made by circle gang_

Speaking of feeling inferior to sephiroth throughout the game, when I 1st played, after getting to lvl 50 and being able to do a couple thousand dmg per hit, I distinctly remember telling myself “yes, I’m finally as strong as sephiroth was” 😂😂

I finished this game just 2 days ago and I now understand why this game is considered a masterpiece

24 years later and that scene with Aerith still brought me to my tears.

Cloud removing his helmet is probably the most iconic twist in gaming history. It's so good.

Fun fact, Nibelheim can be translated as "cloud home".

I still remember playing the game for the first time as a child. When Aerit-- I mean-- "Aeris", dies, I didn't believe it. I believed she would somehow come back and save us, and she kinda did in the end... And that's when I realized that she really was gone. It hit me like no other game before it. Great video. Thank you.

Final fantasy honestly was a huge part of my childhood. My dad and i have a tradition, that both of us play through every part of ff we have on every platform we have once every year. I'm 20 now and my dad is 41, this will be my 8th year I do this. The games give me so many flashbacks to the times I just watched him play these games. I cherish those memories because we live quite a while away from each other but we always call each other when we start one of those games to have some sort of race against each other. So as I grew up, so did the games and our tradition. I could never put a game as my most favorite game except final fantasy 7. I love it so much. Thanks for making me remember all of this once more to guide me through another year of a great tradition.

I can't believe I'm saying this as an Aeris stan, but I think.. I think I forgot who she was. Its been years since I played the game and since then my connection with it has been sustained through the movies/games ect that came after it. And tbh, I think I lost sight of her character. Reading her dialogue on screen and listening to you describe her made me remember she wasn't just this pure uwu flower angel child that she kind of gets regressed to. I remember now why I loved her so much. She was fun and cool and sweet and so much more than the generic white mage type. Why her death affected me so much - why I left equipment and armour on her even as I approached the scene of her death. Why I was so attached to her, and why just listening to you and watching her death scene legitimately made me cry again. Idk man, just thanks. You made me fall in love with my favourite character again.

me, 49 minutes ago: "time to watch john exaggerate for almost an hour" now: "im a fool. king of fools. i wear the dum dum crown. i was gravely mistaken"

I will never forget fighting Jenova right after her seeing Aeris die the first time. My emotions numb, I clumsily went through the motions, tears in my eyes. It was my first rpg aside from fumbling at Zelda in grade school, after years of not playing video games.

37:30 the day after someone’s death always feels so unsettling, very quiet, and very numb

You cannot talk about PS1 pre-rendered backgrounds without mentioning FF9 and Chrono Cross. Either way, my fav background in FF7 is when you are just close enough to the edge of Midgar to see the world outside and an insinuation of the world theme plays, that you realize once you leave the city that it was just a dim version of the world map music. Beautiful.

Aeris: *Dies* Everyone: *cries* Vincent: Lmao rip

this game had such a good sense of humor but knew when and where to get serious

With the part you said about Aeris being cool instead of innocent and pure: they really captured that in FF7: Remake. In fact she’s awesome, and became one of my favourite characters! I’m glad they gave her some justice’

CRAWWWWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIN Sorry sephiroth triggers AMV memories for me

The first time I realized that if Tifa is the only member of your party standing when Rude is the only Turk left, he'll just walk away and end the battle, I squealed like a deranged hog. I don't play many games, but I've been disappointed that none of the games I've played since then have had such wonderful gameplay and story integration.

For many of us, this game was our childhood. My first RPG - never had an interest in RPGs until my best friend showed me the game back in '97 and I couldn't resist getting it.

I literally did the same thing with Cloud, he just seemed like the kind of guy to protect his friends no matter what.

Me, 49 minutes ago: "I don't care for FF7, but SEW has never let me down before ... but FF7 really doesn't appeal to me" Me, currently: "Ah fuck, that's strong! I gotta play it"

Man they showed Aeris dying on the commercial?!

36:40 "Intimate wordless interactions that convey sadness." Ah yes, Cait Sith really displayed sadness when he danced in front of Cloud.

I dont care how beautiful the remake will be. The original will always be the best in my heart.

*Younger cousin playing FF7* Me, walking past: Remember to unequip Aeris before the City of Ancients My cousin: *Suprised pikachu face*

Basically: Sephiroth reads too much and almost ends the world.

I'm rewatching this video right now, because I've recently discovered myself how much I love this game and franchise, and how much it all means to me. Currently on another playthrough of both the OG and remake and I enjoy it more now than ever, a newfound appreciation. As a fellow european, 7 introduced me to the series, and it has meant so damn lot to me throughout the years, and last month I finally immortalized my love for the game by getting my very first tattoo, depicting the comet/logo of FFVII, on my shoulder. It's special. It's weird, fun, emotional, it sports such a unique style, aesthetic and identity. Nothing is quite like the original FFVII, and while I deeply love the remake, not even that manages to replicate or capture the uneasy and off-kilter atmosphere.

This is one of those videos that leaves you thinking so hard but with your head empty

Final attack + Revive Final attack + KOTR Final attack + Mime Final attack + Mime BECOME AS GODS

Also, something you forgot to mention Super Eyepatch Wolf, is that the reason Cloud's memories are messed up is because of Hojo's experiments with him and Zack. It's clear from the flashbacks that Cloud was mentally much weaker than Zack and didn't hold up as well to the brainwashing. This, combined with the effect that drifting through the mako-infused Lifestream has on him, is what leads to his break with reality. Tifa helps Cloud work through his memories, because she's the only person with a semi-clear picture of who he was, since they had memories together. Professor Ghast's failure was basically that Sephiroth still maintained his individuality, which is what Hojo was hoping to quash in his experiments and why they all turn up for the Jenova-cell reunion. Shinra's long-term goal was to engineer an army of mindless killing machines.

You know i really have to give you props for making such an amazing video. The background music the tone of your voice when your talking about a certain subject the editing. And never before has a youtube video made me cry. Seriously dude this is an amazing video.

The section on Aeris's death genuinely brought me to tears. I've always heard _about_ Aeris's death but never actually felt the impact of it before. It's just heartbreaking.

i've only played about 10 hours of ff7 (i know a lot about the overall story but that's what i've personally played) but the playable flashback was one of the most gripping gameplay experiences i've ever had. finally meeting the fabled sephiroth, watching him silently decimate that dragon while cloud does fuckall damage, showing just how much of an unstoppable force he is. then seeing him retreat into the mansion basement, not knowing exactly what he was doing or why, only to see him emerge a changed man, and destroy an entire village of innocents. all the while i was playing "cloud" as a young soldier, scared and uncertain as his idolized childhood hero descends into madness right in front of his eyes. i was glued to my switch, absolutely couldn't put it down. i'll never forget watching the cutscene of sephiroth surrounded by flames for the first time. it was incredible. i was horrified, morbidly fascinated, in shock. as someone born after the 90s who didn't grow up with video games, i'll admit that until then, i had unconsciously looked down on older games with less advanced graphics. we can all agree that ff7 looks quite primitive compared to what's standard today. but that flashback completely changed my mind. you don't NEED flawless graphics to tell a gripping, fascinating story! i haven't experienced anything like that part of the game before or since, and i think i'll be hard pressed to ever find something that'll floor me like that did.

I'm actually nervous about their portrayal of Sephiroth and Aerith. Aerith has a very snarky, playful and street smart demeanor that I'm afraid they'll straight up ignore for the sake of making her the white mage of purity. And Sephiroth had the mystique of not being shown at all till after Midgar and Cloud seems to already be hallucinating him multiple times in the game which has me nervous. More so the ESRB rating that lacks blood in the Shinra building has the aftermath of Sephiroth's work lose a lot of impact.

I don't now how it took me my whole life to come around to the Final Fantasy series. My best friend moved away for several months and in that time I played Chrono Trigger for the first time and FF6 immediately after. Being a big fan of your channel, I started watching this video to learn more about FF7. 10 minutes in, I paused the video, went to the retro game store and bought the game. This evening I defeated Sephiroth and treated myself to the rest of this fantastic retrospective. Thanks for the excellent content!

Excellent essay. Hit that button hard with the feels hammer. And always get a little shiver with how strong you close your videos

The thing I really like about the whole reveal Sephiroth forces onto Cloud about his identity is the fact that *Sephiroth doesn't know* who Cloud really is. Sephiroth thinks Cloud is just a random dude Hojo kidnapped and experimented on, who somehow developed delusions of having a bigger role than he actually did. But Cloud was actually there, with a mask on, and Sephiroth never knew. The whole interplay between Cloud and Sephiroth and Zack is implied in some places and stated in sideways terms in others, to the point where it feels almost totally ancillary to the plot, but once you put the pieces together, you realize the entire story you're playing through is just the final chapter in a much larger story in which Cloud is the spoiler, the Black Swan, rather than the protagonist. You, as the player, are fulfilling the hopes and efforts of an entire generation of actors before you who were desperately trying to stop Jenova, and who very nearly failed. You spend so much of the game being convinced that Cloud is powerful, and when Sephiroth rips that away and you realize that you have almost no power at all, it hurts you, the player as much as any of the characters. And when it keeps happening, over and over, and you realize that Sephiroth thinks of you as a combination of a funny joke and a punching bag, it hurts. So the realization that *Sephiroth doesn't know* who Cloud really is probably the most satisfying moment I've ever had in a video game. Everything anybody thought they knew about Cloud was wrong: he's just a kid with a handful of mental disorders. But him being weak is not the same thing as him being powerless, and underestimating him is even more devastating to the bad guys than overestimating him was to the good guys.

You, sir, captured the most essential and valuable lessons of this game when talking about Aeris's death and Cloud's physiological overcoming. You, sir, made a masterpiece. You made me cry, and I can't thank you enough. Subscribed.

You've done a heartfull service to the game and our memories. Thank you so much

I remember being a 16 yr old girl, falling in love with this game at my cousin's house, and needing to buy it so I could finish the story. I had always loved gaming, but FFVII was THE game that made it a passion. Awesome video.

no it's EXTREMELY cool that you named your custom class don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise

I really enjoy your video essays and the lovely way you read out your script. You have such control of your voice that it lends itself to a nice emotional impact. I *feel* when you make an emotional statement. You have talent.

The best part to me in Sephiroth's build up was something Cloud says just before the playable memory. After hearing everyone talking about how amazing Sephiroth is Cloud says "Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality that any story you might have heard about him" Who is stronger than the myths about them? That quote is etched in my memory but nobody seems to remember it. That's what made me scared of him

I literally had no interest in this game for my entire life because I’ve been fed nothing but misconceptions about the characters and story. Like I assumed that Aeris was just some pure waifu character that was killed off just for shock value, or that Cloud was emotionless. Thank you so much for consistently getting me invested in new things! Your storytelling skills are unmatched.

IMMORTAL: Neon Phoenix Bodyguard is my favorite anime

im glad someone finally brought up how messed up the hell houses are and the weight they bear on midgars socio economic climate

Really enjoyed this, if anything because I love spending more time looking back at one of my favorite games. This video was very well done, let's get it to a million views.

FF7 is a masterpiece. I remember it like yesterday. It's style of storytelling always being show don't tell. It's still amazing today.

Correction : Actually Uematsu wasn't limited by the soundchip of the playstation in the sense you seemed to imply. He consciously chose it because they decided that loadtimes and speedy transitions should trump soundfidelity on top of wanting a dominant synth sound to go with the setting. Suikoden 1, a JRPG that came out more than a year earlier, had proper prerendered tracks not running off the internal soundchip and Uematsu has expressed in interview that while he was impressed by how good it sounded, they ultimately felt the improvement to loadtime was worth the compromise. This is actually reflected throughout all of FFVII's design, including the lowpoly models. As a result FFVII is by far the fastest moving Playstation era FF. The ATB meter, at max, moves almost 3 times faster than FFVIII or FFIX's at max. Camera movement is snappier, and loadtimes in and out of battle, between maps etc. is also significantly shorter. FFVII took extra steps to preserve the snappy transitions of SNES era FF, which totally died with FFVIII and remained so all the way up to FFXII when transitions where largely removed. It was a conscious choice and a good one imo.

Dude this video was so amazing, and personal. When you talked about losing someone important I teared up because at 33 I have lost several. And the fiction about your life as a child you'd spin reminds me of something I did that was similar. Just a really great retro-introspective into this game and our lives. I'll have to sub to you for this, and it's the fist video of yours that I've watched.

The Aeris name debate is one thing, but saying "Reh-no" and "El-eh-na" is legit bananas.

How dare you, that fanart is cute.

When Aeris died. I hardly slept, I grinded a bit here and there, but I just made a mad dash to get to Sephiroth As soon as possible. I even beat Sephiroth without all the OP shit everybody else had. I'm not bragging. If I knew about Knights of the Round and other magic I just wasn't aware of, I would have used it. I was so blindly enraged. I just beat Sephiroth with the full cast of characters I had. I found Yuffie and Vincent but that was it. I gave Sephiroth the ass whipping he had coming. It took me hrs. But I did beat that son of a bitch.

Frickin excellent video. I watched (am watching ) this video on Christmas morning, half asleep/just woke up. bloody brilliant stuff!

You forgot about how cloud is A cybernetic space turtle from the future looking for the Mystic Mungis No but seriously I played this game and it is AMAZING. I burnt out on some older games and decided to give 7 a try, it is THAT good. You feel the stakes, and you become attached to characters, sometimes to an extent you learn from them. (Aeris my beloved) if you want to experience a classic, play this, Now.

As a 17 year old who played FF7 back in middle school without even knowing the remake had just been announced I can say this game holds up. Even after playing though a lot of the great final fantasy games and working my way through 12 as I write this none of them have clicked with me the same way 7 did. The closest were tactics and ironically 12. There is something special in 7 and while many will argue that there are better Final Fantasys it’s impact should not be ignored and the reasons as to why it got big should not be dismissed. It is an amazing game that while technologically was passed by quickly, the execution and techniques used can still be appreciated by someone who wasn’t even alive at its time of release.

“Draw terrible fan art for it” *proceeds to show actually pretty good art* good job man :D

What a great, great analysis of Final Fantasy VII this is. I first knew the world of FFVII through Remake, and have recently played the original game, and I couldn't have stated better than you what makes this game a masterpiece even today. Its story, gameplay, design and world are still some of the most unique I have seen in a video game, and I'll hold them dearly in my heart forever. Great video!

Amazing video. This game has always been my most memorable. From when I was 10 playing it at my friend's house for the first time, to finally getting my own copy and even playing it today. No matter what part of the game I'm playing, it always takes me back to the point circa 20 years ago. No game has ever come close to giving me this feeling. Keep up the great work dude.

The truth about who Cloud truly is hit me harder than Aerith's death. The entire time... Cloud was literally just the lowest tier NPC. He couldn't keep a promise, has no friends, was an outcast and a loser in his own hometown, the girl he likes from next door (Tifa!) doesn't even remember him cuz the one time they ever spoke... was during that promise scene! that's the only time! ever! The entire time Cloud believes he and Tifa are childhood bestfriends and she just... doesn't know when did they ever talk besides that one time in the first place. His ONLY friend was Zack... who died protecting him, and his hero, Sephiroth, killed his mom and burned all of his hometown. I always get annoyed when I see people saying Cloud is just an emo character. Clearly they've never played the game, and the only thing they know about him is his poor portrayal in Advent Children and KH. Love the video. Thank you so much. Cannot wait for the remake :")

I've never played FF7, but damn is that some good storytelling. The way they set up sephiroth is genius Edit: pls stop tagging me in your FF7R discourse I didnt play that one either LOL

Your narration was beautiful and made me cry. You had no right to hit me so hard in the feels hahaha

The story you shared at the end was touching. Thank you.