GAME CLEAR No. 104 -- Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII (1997, PlayStation)

Developer: Square
Publisher: Square/Sony Computer Entertainment
PS4 Developer: DotEmu
PS4 Publisher: Square Enix
Clear Version: PlayStation 4
Clear Platform: PlayStation 5
Clear Date: 8/11/22

For years, Final Fantasy VII was probably the most significant member of the “game canon,” as it were, that I had not beaten. That finally ended two days ago.

It’s interesting to come to a piece of media like this so late. It always felt like being one of those people that has never seen a Star Wars movie or whatever. Part of me kind of wanted to just never play it because it was a little funny not to. The other part of me realizes the absurdity of trying to talk about it now.

“Y’all heard of this game Final Fantasy VII?”

It never could have lived up to the hype, I suppose, but I kept my expectations in check accordingly, and the good news is it still rules.

It’s funny to think that the story of this game was ever regarded as especially good (as it so often is with games), but it’s certainly serviceable. And fortunately, pretty much everything else about the game is great. I love the active battle and materia systems, the characters are mostly likable, and the pre-rendered world has a nostalgic charm and beauty to it.

But above all, this game has become yet another entry in my long list of games supporting my belief that a great soundtrack will make any game stick with you forever. Composer Nobuo Uematsu is obviously one of the best to have ever done it in this industry, and the FFVII soundtrack is another of his fine works.

When a game has a soundtrack as good as this, I’m naturally inclined to listen to it while working or running errands or things of that nature. Of course, that’s partially just because they’re good tunes, but it has a nice side effect: with each track, I’m experiencing a little bit of the game even when I’m not playing it. I find this particularly valuable since my brain is cursed to hyper-optimize my hobby time, so I seldom replay games I’ve beaten before. A great game soundtrack can be put on anytime and keep my positive sentiments toward game perpetually fresh and alive.

That’s why it’s such a shame that video games have much more ambient and forgettable music these days. There are obvious modern exceptions like fellow JRPG Persona 5, but generally newer games don’t have great, melodic themes playing on a constant (but never tiresome) loop to give each game area a bit of flavor and personality. I’d love to dive deeper on this to get some data behind what is mostly a gut feeling, but I think the driving causes here among big-budget releases is some combination of not wanting to clash with voice acting and also wanting games to feel more cinematic and less gamey. Kinda sucks if you ask me!

I try not to say this too often about industry trends — I really try — but when it comes to video game soundtracks, they really just don’t make ’em like they used to.