Advent Children

"Never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined as well as in Final Fantasy VII. The culmination of Square Soft's monumental effort is a game that will enrich just as it will entertain. Yet, for all the boundless praise it so rightfully deserves, Final Fantasy VII is not without its shortcomings and occasional design problems. These are enough to make some gamers (who are unfamiliar with RPGs, to be sure) wonder just why anyone would bother playing through it in the first place.
This is the most dazzling visual experience to date on any console. Film-quality computer-generated cinematics blend seamlessly with pre-rendered background artwork to create the strikingly realistic world of Final Fantasy VII, both beautiful in its grandeur and terrifying in its detail. The overworld and battle sequences are presented in full polygonal splendor with just a touch of texture mapping for good measure. But you haven't seen anything until you witness some of the more powerful magic spells in the game. Massive dragons heed your bidding, dwarfing your gigantic enemies tenfold; an earth titan tears the ground up from beneath your enemies' feet, flinging them aside like toy blocks. Some of these summoning spells cut to over half a dozen different camera angles as the catastrophe unfolds..." - Review by Greg Kasavin on www.gamespot.com

Final Fantasy VII was the first RPG that I ever had the chance to play, and I must say that even today it still has the ability to amaze me. It was made in 1997 by Square Enix for the playstation. I only had a chance to play it after the Playstation 2 came out, and therefore its graphics didn't look so amazing to me. I was kind of shocked to see those polygon images where characters had no mouths or no hands unless in cutscenes. What held me was the story to the game, and the fact that it was so mind boggling. Since I first played it, I have actually managed to play it about 6 times (yes, I am a little crazy!). Its funny because each time I actually play it, I get a chance to understand more and more to the story. I don't really want to give away any spoilers to the game for those of you who haven't played it, but I think that Greg Kasavin explains it best:
"Some have gone as far as to call Final Fantasy VII the hands-down best game ever made. And if you enjoy a good Japanese-style RPG, chances are you will agree. However, Final Fantasy VII, for all its astonishing features, is not a game with the sort of mass appeal that its massive marketing blitz may lead you to believe. For one thing, you can't finish it in a sitting, as Final Fantasy VII will be a solid 40 to 50-hour commitment for the average role-playing gamer. Otherwise, you might be taken aback by the extensive, text-heavy dialogue; there is no speech at all in Final Fantasy VII, in the interest of letting your imagination do a little work. Though you will make many small-scale decisions over the course of the game, on the whole, the story follows a very linear path. This linearity is a by-product of the plot's complexity, however - certainly a respectable sacrifice."

On September 14, 2005 Final Fantasy Advent Children was released in Japan. Instead of a game, this is actually a film which continues the story where it left off. As soon as it was released in Japan, it was leaked out to the rest of the world through the internet. Hackers even got in and put in english subtitles. While I can't wait to see it in English, we got a copy from a friend who downloaded it, and in super quality, and we couldn't resist seeing it. What began as a polygon game has resulted in an artistic piece of work in which every detail is so important (using CGI).

I just thought I'd show the differences in the images through these screenshots (I just learned how to use the images section, I feel so dumb for not seeing that before (all screenshots from gamespot.com)). Of course there is a great difference in graphics between the two, but all the same the movie only lasted for about 90 minutes. More than the story, Final Fantasy fans were just so fascinated to relive their nostalgia of the FFVII days, especially through the amazing scenes of battles between characters. The movie is set to be released on DVD and UMD (for the PSP) in the next few months (in english) and should be here by January if I'm right.

For all the Final Fantasy fans out there, the movie was amazing. Of course there was such a difference as you couldn't connect with all the characters on such a level as in the game. This time you weren't Cloud, you were seeing Cloud fighting to save the world. I felt rather detached in a way, but I still loved it. Now all I can look forward to is the hope that there will be a remake of Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation 3 (the demo was beautiful, that's the only word I can use to express my awe). You can also see that on gamespot. They are also making Dirge of Cerberus (for all the Vincent fans).

I know this post was more of a fan dedication but what can I say, I am one of those crazy fans of the Final Fantasy series. Its nice to live in a world of fantasy where so many things can happen, and yet leave it in a second and return to ours. As Sony says "Live in your world. Play in ours".