FFVII is a Masterpiece
Yes, the whole series of Final Fantasy is really what we should take into consideration here.
Final Fantasy VI is probably even more of a masterpiece, but I have yet to play it. (Yes I am trying to get around to that soon).
But there is no doubting the impact of FFVII.
There is an incredible story involving a slew of characters and a beautiful art direction & sound track to follow.
Sure, it’s cheesy at some points, predictable sure. But ultimately FFVII has literally revolutionized the gaming atmosphere of the late 90s, which has revolutionized the game atmosphere of today.
There is no denying the fact that it is one of the great factors of Sony’s success. And all of that for a RPG game!? Haters gonna hate, but fuck, this game brought RPG to the mainstream.
There is a beautiful, timeless, narrative involving the destruction of a planet via the greed of corporations . There is the typical hegemonic romance of male anti-hero saves damsel in distress. But even so that narrative gets smashed halfway through, and there is the awesome adoption of bad ass female heros/characters of their own. Meet Tifa & Yufi. (It’s even littered with gender bending micro-plots) And on top of that there is an entire world of nuances to discover.
Accompany that with an amazing soundtrack, beautiful art direction, wonderful writing (for both US & Japanese versions… props!) And we have ourselves an amazing drama worthy of the praise similar to Shakespeare or otherwise.
Ultimately, I may be biassed.
I grew up on this game and I’m playing it again today. But there is truly magic to be held in certain game companies. Square I believe is one of them. But I have hope for the future.
Welcome Indie Games: There are companies like That Game Company or Molleindustria who are interested in furthering the social/political/artistic/ludist nature of games, and we’ve only seen the beginning.
So in my random assortment of thoughts, lemme say props to you Square. Props to you Babycastles. Props to you every person who has worked for, and produced fan art for the Final Fantasy series. You deserve it.
It’s only a matter of 5 years or less until we see games having a real place in the art world. Which means it’s only a matter of a short couple of years until we realize that the emotional/intellectual impact games can have the same emotional/intellectual impact of a Monet, Kahlo, Bourgeois, Warhol, Benglis, or Hirst.
