[9] It was largely created with MIDI sounds,[9] which have been described as giving it a "distinctive mood and feel", and were used according to Uematsu to reduce load times. Regular items aren't usually very exciting, and Final Fantasy VII's selection is no real exception, though it is one of those games which features offensive items in addition to the usual restorative collection. [124] GamePro gave it a perfect 5.0 out of 5 in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and fun factor), calling the storytelling "dramatic, sentimental, and touching in a way that draws you into the characters", who "come alive thanks to sweetly subtle body movements". Support Materia can be linked with other Materia to produce various effects, such as protection against or enhancement of attacks with elements and statuses found in Magic and Summon Materia, or can boost the abilities in other ways, such as allowing spells to hit all targets or be used as a counter to an attack. Uematsu then decided that the higher quality audio was not worth the trade-off with performance, and opted instead to use MIDI-like sounds produced by the console's internal sound sequencer, similar to how his soundtracks for the previous games in the series on the Super NES were implemented. Additionally, each character has an ultimate weapon that calculates damage in a unique way to that weapon based on different factors. An energy manufacturing mega-company known as Shinra, Inc. is harvesting the sheer life energy of the Planet (known as the Lifestream) as a simple fossil fuel. [64] The team tried to create additional optional CGI content which would bring optional characters Vincent and Yuffie into the ending. in Junon the player must perform CPR, participate in a parade, free Tifa from a gas chamber and partake in a slap fight between Tifa and a Shinra antagonist. He also considers the Limit Break mechanic to be a gameplay representation of the survivorship theme. [36] It also currently holds an average rating of 92 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 20 reviews, again mostly online retrospective reviews years after its release. May 20, 2014 @ 6:02pm. [190], Since 1997, it has been selected by many game magazines as one of the top video games of all time, listed as 21st in EGM's "100 Best Games of All Time" the same year it was released,[191] 91st in EGM's 2001 "100 Best Games of All Time",[192] and as fourth in Retro Gamer's "Top 100 Games" in 2004. When linked with a variety of Magic Materia, it allows their spells to be multi-targeted to all members of the allied or enemy party. Locations are accessed through the world map hub. [44] The game's computer-generated imagery (CGI) FMVs were produced by Visual Works, a then-new subsidiary of Square that specialized in computer graphics and FMVs creation. On this screen, the player can review each character's status and statistics, use items and abilities, change equipment, save the game (when on the world map or at a save point), and manage orbs called Materia. [82] He followed up by stating it would take longer than he was prepared to invest. kalderasha's models are the best in my opinion because they are very true to the original. [44] Voice acting would have led to significant load times, so it was omitted. Five hundred years later Red XIII and two pups arrive on a precipice over the overgrown ruins of Midgar with children's laughter ringing in the background. [38] The script for the scene was written by Nojima. It won numerous Game of the Year awards, and was acknowledged for boosting sales of the PlayStation and popularizing console role-playing games worldwide. Many team members had never seen 3D development technology before. The port was handled by a team of 15 to 20 people, mostly from Costa Mesa and with help from Tokyo,[37] after the console version was finished. According to Luisi, the biggest hurdle was making "the direct Japanese-to-English text translation read correctly in English. This decision was influenced by the team's exposure to the 3D character models used in Alone in the Dark. [38] In previous entries, the sizes for characters and environments are fixed, and the player has a scrolling perspective. (Spoiler) As you can see in FF7 Advent Children he survives As the Sister Ray is used, it cuts trough Weapon, destroying it, and also opens up the crater where Sephiroth is. [230] He returned in the 2018 sequel, Super Smash Bros. As Cloud and Tifa are rescued from the Lifestream the restored Cloud returns to lead the party, revealing to the others he is not an ex-SOLDIER, as he had not been mentally strong enough to qualify. Though most simply require choosing the ability and then choosing its target, Tifa's Limits and Cait Sith's second Limit require the use of Slots, and Vincent's Limits as well as one of Red XIII's Limits transform themselves to become more powerful yet uncontrollable rather than choosing a target. [165] The PlayStation version went on to sell 7.24 million copies worldwide by 1999,[170] and 9.34 million units by March 2003, including 3.9 million units in Japan and 5.44 million units abroad,[171] making it the highest-selling Final Fantasy game[172][173][174] and the best-selling Square Enix title. During the journey, Cloud builds close friendships with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world. [54] Final Fantasy VII was released on January 31, 1997. It was arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi and performed by Seiji Honda, and reached #228 on the Oricon charts. Congratulations, you have completed all of the end game content available in Final Fantasy VII! GameSpot stated that Final Fantasy VII was "the RPG that would influence every role-playing game that would follow" after it, and that its cinematic approach to storytelling was widely adopted by later RPGs. [233][234] In 2002, GameSpot ranked it as the second most influential game ever made. [30], In addition to graphical resolution improvements to the previous port, the re-release also featured cloud saving, as well as unlockable achievements and a Character Booster feature. Sephiroth's look was defined as "kakkoii", a Japanese term combining good looks with coolness. You can now race your bred Chocobos (in turn making it easy to breed better and faster Chocobos), and Battle Square has its final set of enemies (and prizes). Genre [84] The European release was described as being in a worse condition, as the translations into multiple European languages were outsourced by Sony to another company, further hindering communication. Shinra had caught up with the pair on a precipice overlooking the Midgar Wasteland and Zack had been gunned down, but the soldiers had ignored the catatonic Cloud and left him for dead. Additionally, several references are made to previous Final Fantasy titles, including several character names such as Cid and Biggs and Wedge, and the repetition of soundtrack motifs, such as the "Chocobo Theme". [3]:20–27, When not in battle, the player can use the menu screen. [122] In addition to calling the graphics "bar none the best the PlayStation has ever seen", Next Generation said of the story that "while FFVII may take a bit to get going, as in every entry in the series, moments of high melodrama are blended with scenes of sheer poetry and vision". [40] The shift from cartridge ROM to CD-ROM posed some problems: according to lead programmer Ken Narita, the CD-ROM had a slower access speed, delaying some actions during the game, so the team needed to overcome this issue. Follow 144. "[39], Retrospective reception is also positive. [140] RPGamer cited its translation as "packed with typos and other errors which further obscure what is already a very confusing plot". Hill Valley is a fictional location from the Back To the Future franchise. [163][82] In the game's debut weekend in North America, more than 330,000 copies were sold and $16.5 million grossed, which was higher than any video game (surpassing Star Fox 64 at 300,000 sales) and most Hollywood blockbuster movies to date. [215], The game inspired an unofficial version for the NES by Chinese company Shenzhen Nanjing Technology. [238] According to Samuel Roberts of Retro Gamer, the game's "character designs would shape Japanese RPGs for years to come". ★ Intergrade Release Date and Features. After catching up to "Sephiroth" he transforms into Jenova∙DEATH, and after defeating it the party reclaims the Black Materia. Though it retains the Active Time Battle pseudo-turn based menu command system, Final Fantasy VII features three party members rather than four. [237] Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton listed Final Fantasy VII among the 25 most influential games of all time. [259][260] According to Comic Book Resources, the game's environmental and climate change themes are more relevant and meaningful in 2019 than they were in 1997. The combined trauma of these events triggered an identity crisis in Cloud; he constructed a false persona around Zack's stories and his own fantasies. [151], Final Fantasy VII has received some negative criticism. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Busts Sales Records. [270] Harry Mackin of Paste Magazine called the game "a subversion that deconstructs and comments meaningfully on how we think about heroism, masculinity and identity in videogame storytelling". Final Fantasy VII. [69], The first piece that Uematsu composed for the game was the opening theme; game director Yoshinori Kitase showed him the opening cinematic and asked him to begin the project there. Red XIII decides to accompany the others until he can return home in Cosmo Canyon. In 2012, Square Enix re-released the game for the PC platform. [290] The game is planned to be released over multiple installments, with the first part being released for the PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. He joins AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group trying to stop the powerful megacorporation Shinra from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. And lastly, children's laughter is heard as the epilogue sequence draws to a close. [53] Among Nojima's biggest contributions to the plot were Cloud's memories and split personality; this included the eventual conclusion involving his newly created character of Zack. The Cetra were all but driven to extinction by the "Calamity From the Skies" 2000 years ago, and Aeris Gainsborough is their only survivor, whom Shinra has been trying to capture for years. Barret must confront his past as they return to the site of his former home town, and in Cosmo Canyon Red XIII intends to leave the party, but changes his mind upon discovering the truth of his father whom he had thought cowardly, resolving to protect the planet by continuing to travel with Cloud and his friends. [43][58] GamePro praised the "massive world," experimentation "with spells and weapons, encounters with weird creatures," and "soap opera-ish story line", concluding it has "classic" written "all over it. [183] Google Play has had more than 100,000 downloads. He compared these efforts to the letter-writing campaign to convince Charles Dickens not to let Nell, the endearing protagonist of The Old Curiosity Shop, die at the end of the book. Shinra is opposed by a small terrorist organization known as AVALANCHE who seeks to stop Shinra from killing the planet by draining the Lifestream. [37] Combining both contemporary reviews from its time and retrospective reviews years after its release, MobyRank has given the game an overall average rating of 95%, based on 62 reviews. [93] The team needed to rewrite an estimated 80% of the game's code, due to the need to unify what had been a custom build for a console written by multiple staff members. The Limit Breaks serve a purpose in gameplay while also evoking each character's personality in battle. [3]:17, At random intervals on the world map and in field mode, and at specific moments in the story, the game will enter the battle screen. [146], In Japan, the game had over 1.1 million pre-orders about ten days before release. Recurring elements in the Final Fantasy series § Gameplay, Characters of the Final Fantasy VII series, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII, "IGN Presents: The History of Final Fantasy VII", "Final Fantasy VII – 1997 Developer Interviews", "Final Fantasy VII: An Interview With Squaresoft", "Final Fantasy 7 retrospective – The game that killed Squaresoft", "Final Fantasy VIII Kitase, Nojima, Naora and Nomura Interview", "The Final Fantasist: A Conversation With Yoshitaka Amano", "The Art That Shaped Final Fantasy: Thoughts From Famed Artist Yoshitaka Amano", "Readers' Choice Top 10 Most Cinematic Moments in Gaming", "Nomura, Kitase and Nojima Discuss Final Fantasy VII's Development", "Things Are Very Different For The Creator Of Final Fantasy", "You Should Know This Game: Final Fantasy VII", "A Day in the Life of Final Fantasy's Nobuo Uematsu", "A Final Fantasy VI Remake Was Once A Reality", "Full Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box Game List", "PlayStation's Final Fantasy VII Marketing Blitz Continues", "Where Final Fantasy Went Wrong, and How Square Enix is Putting It Right", "Square Enix Announces Release Date of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children", "Everything you need to know about Final Fantasy VII Remake, including news, trailers and release dates", "Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII Hits Japanese PSN", "Yamaha Corporation licenses its XG Soft Synthesizer to Square Soft", "Eidos Interactive Acquires Exclusive PC Rights to Epic Role-Playing Game Final Fantasy VII", "GameSpite Quarterly Interview: Richard Honeywood on The Rise of Square Localization", "FINAL FANTASY VII [PC DOWNLOAD] (Steam)", "Final Fantasy 7 is coming to PlayStation 4 next year", "DotEmu's bid to port Titan Quest to smartphones", "After Almost a Year on iOS, 'Final Fantasy VII' Is Out on Android", "Announcing PlayStation Classic's Full Lineup of 20 Games", "Final Fantasy VII lands on Xbox One in late March", "Final Fantasy VII for PlayStation Reviews", "Computer and Video Games – Issue 192 (1997–11)(EMAP Images)(GB)", "Final Fantasy VII: The game that made RPGs cool", "Final Fantasy VII: Better Than All the Rest", "Una Vida de aventuras: Final Fantasy VII", "PlayStation Rollenspiel: Final Fantasy VII", "Official Australian PSX Review of FFVII", PlayStation Official Magazine – Australia, "Final Fantasy VII Reviews and Articles for PlayStation", "The biggest selling game of all time: Final Fantasy VII", "Final Fantasy VII: The Voice of the Planet", "The console's greatest RPG has a difficult PC birth", "Ready to go again, soldier? After Cloud had hurled Sephiroth into the Mako pit below the reactor, Sephiroth's body had dissolved into the Lifestream, but his consciousness had been strong enough to remain intact. Cid refuses, and the party helps stop Palmer, a Shinra executive, from stealing the plane, but end up boarding it themselves along with Cid, who joins the party. Independent Materia provide other boosts that can be simple stat increases, or can change the way a character can be used (such as Counter Attack). Sephiroth is followed by a group of black-robed fanatics, the Sephiroth Clones, all bearing a tattoo somewhere on their bodies placed by Professor Hojo. [209][210] Users of GameFAQs voted it the "Best Game Ever" in 2004 and in 2005,[211][212] and placed it second in 2009. The gaming world’s attention rests on the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but the original is, in many ways, still better than Square Enix’s second take on a gaming classic. [28][29] Cloud, Barret, and Tifa rescue Aerith; during their escape from Midgar, they discover that President Shinra was murdered by Sephiroth, who was presumed dead five years earlier. [254] Tim Schafer cited FFVII as one of his favorite games of all time. Cloud and Tifa have nowhere to go and spend the night together under the stars. Coping with physical and psychological trauma had Cloud assume the persona of his late mentor, Zack, leading to a deep confusion of the multiple personalities that inharmoniously coexist in his mind. Through finding new Materia, weapons, armor and accessories, party members can be made more powerful and versatile. Final Fantasy VII follows the story of mercenary Cloud Strife, who is hired by the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE—led by Barret Wallace—to help fight the mega-corporation Shinra Electric Power Company, who attempts to drain the planet's lifeblood as an energy source to further their profits. Juxtaposition of nature vs. technology portrayed at Fort Condor where a condor has made the Mako Reactor its nest. Final Fantasy VII[b] is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. [21] Tetsuya Nomura came up with the idea of adding Limit Breaks to the battle system as an expansion of the Desperation Attacks of Final Fantasy VI as a way to bring out the characters' individual personalities and the unique character animations would further emphasize their individuality. [37], Final Fantasy VII features two types of cutscenes: real-time cutscenes featuring polygon models on pre-rendered backgrounds, and FMV cutscenes. Whether humanity is truly an important part of the ecosystem is contemplated when Bugenhagen reveals to the party the planet's Ultimate White Magic spell can wipe out anything the planet deems a danger, putting mankind's future in peril seeing as they have been exploiting the world's nature reserves wantonly. [235] Its Limit Break gameplay mechanic became a core mechanic in subsequent Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy is a video game series developed and published by Square Enix (formerly … The dominant faction of the world is the Shinra Electric Power Company, a powerful corporation that harvests Mako as an energy source. [66] The CGI FMV sequences total around 40 minutes of footage, something only possible with the PlayStation's extra memory space and graphical power. [63] Aside from the story, Final Fantasy VI had many details undecided when development began and most design elements were hashed out along the way. [62], With the shift from the SNES to the next generation consoles, Final Fantasy VII became the first project in the series to use 3D computer graphics. [217] The advances in technology used to create the FMV sequences and computer graphics for Final Fantasy VII allowed Sakaguchi to begin production on the first Final Fantasy film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It is the main setting of the movie series and the main setting in numerous video game settings in this franchise. It was decided the battles wouldn't be about characters with individual, innate skills, but that combat would change depending on the way Materia was used. The green and blue of the game's logo set the theme for the color tone for the rest of the game, reflected in the Mako energy and Lifestream that play crucial roles. Ever. It remains widely regarded as a landmark game, and as one of the most influential and greatest video games ever made. The party pursues Sephiroth across the Planet, but they do not search alone, as Rufus also wants to take Sephiroth in and has dispatched the Turks, a group of Shinra special operatives, to carry out the task. While the villagers had been turned into clones, Zack and Cloud had not reacted as desired, and were deemed failures to be contained in the Shinra Manor. [73] A single-disc album of selected tracks from the original soundtrack, along with three arranged pieces, titled Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks, was also released by DigiCube in 1997,[74] reaching #20 on the Japan Oricon charts. Tifa cannot refute Sephiroth's claims, and Cloud begins to believe they are true. Club notes that Barret and his terrorist cell AVALANCHE are one of the few examples of "heroic pop culture terrorists" in video games, and that the game's "political relevance remains" in a post-9/11 world. Shinra's management is concerned with the limited repositories of Mako energy available for harvesting, and fascinated with the legend of the Promised Land; a place of legend where Mako flows abundantly. For the mythological realm, see. As the first three dimensional title in the series, the default camera setting moves it throughout the battle to focus on the command being used and their effects, unlike previous entries where the camera was fixed on a top-down position. A later limited version, Final Fantasy VII International Advent Pieces: Limited was released in a collectible metal case that could be assembled into a display stand. Cloud and his friends fight their way through the remaining forces of Shinra to reach Hojo who reveals he wishes to give his son a boost from the Sister Ray's power; the party learns Hojo is Sephiroth's father and thus directly responsible for the crisis facing the planet. It won an Origins Award in the "Best Roleplaying Computer Game of 1997" category. Purchases of the title include an exclusive theme that uses screenshots from the E3 2015 trailer for the remake as wallpapers, "Aerith's Theme" from Piano Collections: Final Fantasy VII as background music, and menu navigation sound effects from the original game. The gameplay of Final Fantasy VII is mostly comparable to earlier Final Fantasy games and Japanese role-playing games. [4] For the first time in the series, this mode is represented in three-dimensional space. [108] A release for iOS, based on the PC version and adjusted for mobile devices by D4 Enterprise, was released on August 19, 2015, with an auto-save feature. The town is infested with people robed in black who rant on about Sephiroth, the numbered Sephiroth Clones Professor Hojo had created after Nibelheim's torching to test his Reunion theory. [109] After being announced at PlayStation Experience 2014, the PC version was released for PlayStation 4 on December 5, 2015. The two had later escaped into the Midgar slums, but Ifalna had perished during the escape and Aeris had been adopted by a slum dweller named Elmyra Gainsborough. [153] However, Next Generation found the higher-resolution battle visuals "absolutely stunning",[153] and Computer Games Magazine said that they showed off the potential graphical power of PCs. [249], The game has inspired numerous developers. [33] Sephiroth summons Meteor and seals the Crater; Cloud falls into the Lifestream and the party is captured by Rufus. After killing Hojo, who is revealed to be Sephiroth's biological father,[21] the party descends to the Planet's core through the opening in the Northern Crater and defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth. Buy Now! [5] Natural barriers—such as mountains, deserts, and bodies of water—block access by foot to some areas; as the game progresses, the player receives vehicles that help traverse these obstacles. [205] In 2012, GamesRadar also ranked it as the sixth saddest game ever. The party comes across Junon in … Abilities the character can use depend on their equipped Materia, which can provide additional Magic, Summon and command abilities, or in other cases swap out commands for more powerful equivalents (such as W-Item replacing Item), and allows them to use any combination of abilities. This could be seen as a larger theme in the game itself, Final Fantasy VII breaking new ground in the series. The interconnectedness of all life is part of the Lifestream study explored in Cosmo Canyon, and the party realizes this when they gaze down on the planet from space, cognizant for the first time how small their world is in the vastness of the universe, reaffirming their conviction to protect it. Nibel to Rocket Town where they meet Cid Highwind, an aeronautical engineer whose dreams of going into space had been dashed by Shinra's lack of funding. [265][266] According to Holleman, "no RPG has ever deliberately betrayed the connection between protagonist and player like FFVII does. Sephiroth then taunts Cloud by showing another SOLDIER in Cloud's place in his memories of Nibelheim, suggesting that Cloud is a failed Sephiroth clone. Final Fantasy VII introduced more widespread science fiction elements and a more realistic presentation, while the gameplay systems remained largely similar to previous entries, with the addition of new elements such as Materia, Limit Breaks, and new minigames. For the PC port, Square attempted to fix translation and grammar mistakes for the North American and European versions but did not have the time and budget to retranslate all the text. Cloud takes the Black Materia, but Sephiroth arrives and bends Cloud under his control. The game is the first in the series to use full motion video and 3D computer graphics, superimposing 3D character models over 2D pre-rendered backgrounds. Sephiroth's plan is to use the Black Materia, a Materia so powerful the Cetra hid it away that contains the spell Meteor, the ultimate Black Magic that summons a meteorite to crash into the Planet. Aeris travels to the Forgotten City, the lost city of the Cetra. [239] Fable creator Peter Molyneux considers FFVII to be the RPG that "defined the genre" for him. Events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a former member of the corporation who seeks to harm the planet and become a god. [37], In contrast to the visuals and audio, the overall gameplay system remained mostly unchanged from Final Fantasy V and VI, but with a researched emphasis on player control. The main method of customizing characters in Final Fantasy VII, Materia may be added to equipment to provide characters with new magic spells, monsters to summon, commands, statistical upgrades, and other benefits. Resolving to become stronger, Cloud leaves for Midgar to join SOLDIER but was never accepted into the organization; the SOLDIER in his memories was his friend Zack. [37] Final Fantasy VII was at the time one of the most expensive video game projects ever, costing an estimated $40 million (equivalent to $64 million). Visual Works had created the initial movie concept for a 3D game project. This can involve interacting with non-player characters to use their dialog boxes, which can involve purchasing items and equipment from shops or progressing the main story or sidequests. "[47] Game Informer called it "the most amazing RPG we've ever seen"[59][60] and "the best RPG ever made. [21], The series' long-time character designer, Yoshitaka Amano, was in the process of opening up art exhibitions in New York and France, and was unable to be as involved as in previous titles. Awards), Final Fantasy VII won in the categories of "Console Adventure Game of the Year" and "Console Role Playing Game of the Year", and it was nominated for "Interactive Title of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics", and "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design". The player controls the party leader—normally Cloud, but Aeris, Tifa, Barret, and Cid are party leaders briefly in the story—and can traverse and interact with the environment. The Lifestream is processed and made into products ranging from electricity and heat to Mako and Materia. The party's pursuit of Sephiroth leads them to discover several things. Square accepted Sony's offer as Square itself lacked Western publishing experience. Finding him at a Cetra temple, Sephiroth reveals his intentions to use the Black Materia to summon "Meteor", a spell that will hit the Planet with a devastating impact. The game with the changes made to the North American version was re-released in Japan as Final Fantasy VII International, the first International Version, a semi-recurring feature of the series. [62] At the second CESA Awards (now Japan Game Awards), it won the "Grand Prize" and the "Best Scenario" and "Best Sound" awards. It is the seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series. [67][68] The Super NES only has eight sound channels to work with, and the PlayStation has twenty-four. [247] The depth of its storytelling, along with its character building, emotional scenes, and cinematic production values, made it a landmark for video game storytelling. A long-thought dead warrior bent on becoming a god by draining all of the Lifestream from the Planet has risen again and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal.Now a small rebel group emanating from the slums must quell the various dangers toward the innocent, and one mercenary for hire must look amidst the lies and deception and find the man he is within. Initially unaffiliated with the project, Kato was called on to help flesh out some story scenes. Sephiroth will absorb the Lifestream as it attempts to heal the wound, becoming a god-like being. Cloud's mind had been shattered by the trauma of the events and as a result of Hojo's experimentation, and he had merged his ideal self with Zack and Tifa's memories, and replaced Zack with himself in his recollections. [37][79] The initial release date was at some point in 1996, but to properly realize their vision, Square postponed the release date almost a full year. Cloud and his party make a hair-thin escape from Midgar by fighting their way through the ranks of Shinra forces. They also considered the North American localization a dramatic improvement over the original Japanese version. Although Tifa knew it to be longer than that, she had never confronted him, instead asking him to join AVALANCHE so she would have more time to decide what to do and to keep an eye on him and his strange behavior. Music from the game has been commercially released on an original four-disc soundtrack, a single disc album of selected arranged tracks titled Final Fantasy VII: Reunion Tracks, and piano-only arrangement of selected tracks, the Piano Collections: Final Fantasy VII. After creating an early 2D prototype of it, the team postponed development to help finish Chrono Trigger for SNES. The commands change as the game progresses, and are dependent on the characters in the player's party and their equipment. Many Western consumers did not own a PlayStation, and Square's deal with Sony did not prohibit such a port. The victory comes too late, and when Holy is released Meteor has fallen too far for Holy to unleash its full power. [271] According to Gene Park of The Washington Post, with its "cyberpunk story about personal delusions, mental illness, climate change and class warfare, it was Blade Runner for millennials". [53], Regarding the overall theme of the game, Sakaguchi said it was "not enough to make 'life' the theme, you need to depict living and dying.