Final Fantasy VII - 20 Years old

Do you feel old now? GameSpew take a look back at Final Fantasy VII:

20 Years With My First RPG:
A Final Fantasy VII Retrospective

This month marks Final Fantasy VII‘s 20th anniversary. Feel old yet?

Originally debuting in Japan on 31st January 1997 for PlayStation 1, it later followed in the West, with a September release in North America and November in Europe. Whether or not you believe that VII is the best in the franchise, there’s no denying that the fan base behind it is arguably the most dedicated.

Final Fantasy VII was a big shift for the series, creating something bold, more mature and modern, with the intention of being more inviting to players who may not have been previously acquainted with the RPG genre. I’ve known friends, family members, classmates, and coworkers who were non-RPG fans that played this game upon release and I’m sure a lot of you out there could share the same story. From the original 1997 PS1 release to all ports in between, Final Fantasy VII is the best-selling title in the series with over 11 million units sold.

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I don't feel old.
Never played FF7 nor will. Sorry, in the meantime gazillion of RPGmaker games got made. Gimme some proper hair physics ingame, even if it's spikey.

You will, when the Remake is ready and done.

@HiddenX: I feel old when I remember my first experiences with Bundesliga Manager on a C64. One dot wandering between two vertical lines

One of the first RPGs I spent 99 hours, 99 minutes and 99 seconds with. The in-game save file wouldn't go past those numbers, and trust me, they were stuck there for a very, very long time!

I used to just play and do all sorts of different side events. Chocobo racing, breeding chocobos, leveling the entire party to level 99 and getting their ultimate Limit Breaks and weapons. Trying to find the dang Ghost Ship! There were many, many secrets in the game, and it wasn't until I got the proper strategy guide a few months later that I was able to figure out some of the more advanced things. Optional side-dungeon areas, secret items you can steal from enemies, hidden rare Materia, rare encounters, optional mega-bosses that were the toughest encounters in the game and on and on. The game had it all. It was a very childhood defining RPG for me. Although not #1 on my list as that would be Chrono Trigger, which I played some years before FF7. Still, the game is pretty great and a marvel for its time.

Final Fantasy 7 was legendary, no doubt. It was so captivating it didn't matter who was playing it, my young friends and I would simply circle around and behold it.

Embolus said:

Final Fantasy 7 was legendary, no doubt. It was so captivating it didn't matter who was playing it, my young friends and I would simply circle around and behold it.

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Lol, yup, same here. Sleepovers pulling all-nighters just watching someone play the game.

Final Fantasy 7 (the PC version, naturally was the game where I discovered walk-throughs, if I remember right. I was stuck… maybe two thirds of the way through the game and tried looking up some help on the internet thingy. GameFaqs.com to the rescue!

I was completely floored. There was so much I was missing! Some I could see and just didn't want to mess with (e.g. Chokobo breeding) but there were hidden characters!? I played through the rest of the game then, maybe a year later, played it a second time with a guide in hand.

Same here, Zloth. Except I played on the PS1 back in the day. Once I got the strategy guide awhile later I was floored as well. Tons of secret stuff! Ran through the game several times within a year or two.