Yesterday I beat Final Fantasy VII for the first time. I started playing this game at some point in the early 2000s when I got a Playstation. The PS2 was coming out so I got a PSX and had a mod chip put on it to play the best games in the PSX's library and Final Fantasy VII was firmly on that list. I got to the end of Disc 1 and something or another got in the way. I never went back. Eventually I lost my pirate copy, but I actually still have that memory card and that save file, though I didn't go back to it. This time I started over.
My friend Shane game me an original copy of FFVII, but I played it on the Playstation Classic this time around. The PS Classic is by no means a great retro console, but it was nice, simple save state features that made it easy to backtrack if I made mistakes.
Anyway, about the game, it's great. It hits a lot of good spots. You can nerd out on the battle and materia systems. You can get lost in the story and the characters, and the script is actually kinda fantastic in that it doesn't try to give you all the answers. Some stuff is still left to interpretation, which is nice.
I played this game A LOT. I used a couple strategy guides and a ton of stuff from the internet, and I'm not ashamed. I tried to get every item. I missed just two materia (sneak attack and enemy away, as far as I know) and one of my four enemy skill materia is missing a single spell. I beat Ultima, Emerald, and Ruby Weapons. I powered up enough materia to create three Master Magic, two Master Summon, and one Master Command materia. I mastered the W-Item glitch. I leveled my characters to a ridiculous degree. My timer stopped at 99:59:59 a few days ago, so I can't say how long I played but, yeah, over 100 hours.
I leave this game fully satisfied. Would I ever try another play through? Possibly. There are still other games in my shelf that I haven't finished. No rest for the wicked.
