Games come and go, but this one sure stuck around.
25 years ago, a game came along that basically redefined a generation of gaming. RPG games were considered the ‘nerd’ gaming, a version of Dungeons & Dragons for your TV basically. At the time, the big genre of gaming was platformers like Super Mario Bros, fighting games, etc…but when Final Fantasy 7 came out? RPG was THE THING TO PLAY….25 years ago.
I remember seeing the ads for it in 1997, everyone was suddenly talking about Final Fantasy 7! My biggest example of this was my friends brother who was a jock sports fanatic that ONLY played Madden and NBA video games…when suddenly we went down to his basement and there he was, playing Final Fantasy 7….THAT’S the impact this game had. It broke a barrier for gamers that basically said, ‘Hey jocks, try out this epic game that isn’t sports!’
Even if you never played any of the game previous to it, FF7 is one of the greatest games ever. Has it held up graphically? Well no…but the graphics aren’t what matter, it was the ease of play, story, characters, etc. A YouTuber named ProJared said it best, ‘Final Fantasy 7 is the most IMPORTANT one,’ cause it broke that social barrier for games and game players.
It’s still fun to play today, so much so that the game got a Remake for modern consoles. While the remake is great, nothing beats the original and its charm.
