Final Fantasy VII - Nintendo Switch

As I sit down in my lounge room waiting for the Nintendo switch download to finish, a wave of nostalgia pours over me. My misses asks what the silly smirk is on my face and I don't know how to explain it.

It's November 1997, i'm on the bottom bunk in my bedroom. my older brother has just handed me a new RPG game by square - Final fantasy vii. He knew that I would be a mad keen fan right from the start as he has seen myself pouring hours into the likes of legend of dragoon, breath of fire 1/2 and chrono trigger to just name the ones that can be see on my shelf. we weren't a well off family by any means but we all worked hard towards things we enjoyed, he pooled an immense amount of time into Final fantasy 6 and I had watched over his shoulder for days if not weeks, it was now his turn to watch over mine.

I put the disc into the playstation one and the start up sound kicks in. that's the last thing I actively remember, the rest is a blur. Hours race by but I don't even realise. My young mind is blown away especially by the cinematics. I distinctly remember thinking 'this is the future".... suddenly my bedroom door slams open, Smoke bellowing everywhere, I look up at my very irate fathers face with surprise.

'What the f*ck are you doing !?!" he screams

I am brought back to my senses, I had put on a deep frier to make some chips to binge eat while gaming. turns out midgar / cloud / aerith / avalanche ….. all had a different idea. I run out into the kitchen and the house is full of smoke, my father had grabbed the oil and ran it outside, but when it had gotten to the fresh air it ignited causing an enormous oil fire in the back yard.

'this isn't good …." I muttered to myself

I walk back to my room to see my psone get thrown onto the tiles, the words that came pouring out of my fathers mouth was soon reciprocated by my brother when he realised that it was his game in the console getting smashed..... what a time to be alive

fast forward nearly 22 years, I am now also a father. I made sure the chips were finished this time.... I wont make that mistake twice, they had plenty of time to cook while I was waiting for the download to finish ( thanks Australia NBN )

the realism that square had a nasty fall out with one of the biggest power houses at the time being Nintendo, 2 decades ago. over the capacity of cartridges over the benefits of jumping ship to playstation for discs puts a smile on my face. the circle of life has come to a close. what was 3 discs on ps1 was now a soft download onto the switch. I would love a physical copy for a collectors sake on the new cartridges.

The load up time seems fine to begin with. The start up music sends shivers down my spine.

The game is a port of a port pretty much so im prepared for whats to come. I have the game on every other possible devise im legally allowed to own it on. Unlike the port of final fantasy 9 I cant pick a fault with the background music etc, am I blinded by nostalgia ? I will have to keep playing to see. so far I have played the game on the controller on docked version with a 65inch LED LCD 4k tv also in the portable device mode on the switch console itself.

The new* (since release) addition of the x3 speed can be handy for a speed run (or when watching knights of the round table summon for the millionth time), or the other option that I call ' immortality" bonus of having never ending limit breaks and health that is replenished after every hit make it handy for people who have completed the game plenty of times and are just looking for the story line fix.

I decide I will do some things different this time around ( without the new cheats enabled of course )

man date with barret

aerith to get her maxed out gear and limit break before the never forgettable *spoiler*

get level 4 limit break for cloud from battle arena

defeat weapons

gold chocobo

I have achieved all of these over the years but it still brings a smile to my face.

all in all my first 'night" of playing the game on the switch has been more than enjoyable. I heavily say 'night" as it was well into the early morning by the time I crawled into bed remembering I have to be an adult in only a couple of hours. but the lure of escaping midgar, using enemy skill materia to steal beta and then defeating the midgar zolom. (I know I know I was supposed to outrun him with the chocobo but wheres the fun in not being OP ?) and lets face it, using the chocobo summon and getting fat chocobo still puts a smile on my face.

Do I recommend this game ? of course I do, nostalgia aside I still love the game, has life become abit fast paced these days and Action RPG's like ff15 becoming the norm ? maybe, but for now its good to just relax and let the music , gameplay and cinematics take you to a different world. don't get me wrong, the game still comes with its flaws, convoluted story line especially. was sephiroth even your enemy ? or was it just jenova clones taking on his form ? is he controlling the clones which are made by jenova cells but hes being controlled by jenova ? how did cloud survive getting stabbed ? and then over power sephiroth to throw him into the lifestream ? the list goes on. depending on what source you want to get your information off you get a slightly differet take on things.

I sit here staring at what is now 'square enix" 's website searching for more details of the remake - I prey they do the game the justice it deserves. should a master piece be redone ? will it ever live up to the standards we hold it to ? we will only find out with time. the reach ff7 had and still has is enormous world wide. some argue that it put jrpgs on the western worlds map. the game is still ranked frequently in the top rpgs of all times.

so the remake should be a beautiful thing, add in the likes of crisis core , dirge of Cerberus, advent children …. the list goes on with more and more content that could be added. I wont comment in regards to episodic release because I don't want to taint the review and until its a definite decision. but until then I will keep my fingers crossed and prey to the gaming gods the remake rings true to a true fan.

thanks a lot guys and girls and I hope to hear your own stories.

thanks

Steven Dalzell