FINAL FANTASY VII

100% Achievement Review

This was my first time playing this legendary game and.... While I don't think it lives up to the hype, it is a very fun mess to play. The translation is a mess but the background visuals are incredible. Disc 1 and 2 are really fun and I'd love to replay them at some point. But Disc 3.... Oh boy. To be honest you could completely skip this disc and have just as much questions answered than if you did play it. It's a harsh quality drop and that hurts cause ending tend to be a very important part for RPGs. And if you're wanting to 100%, I hope you like running around in the same room for 20+ hours. But the Disc 3 is rather short if you just beeline for the ending. While Disc 3 puts a sour taste in my mouth, I don't think it detracts from how enjoyable the rest of the game is. So I still recommend this game, though it's far from the best in the series. In my opinion, that goes to 9 and 10. But I look forward to playing Remake soon, I hope it does better at protaying the story than this one did.

If you are wanting to 100%, just keep in mind that there are quite a few missable Materia due to how many locations you can't return to. And that you must play on Tifa's piano during the flashback otherwise you'll miss out on Tifa's final limit break. I'd recommend using Jegged's guide if you don't want to turn this into a trip down anxiety lane.

the game is great but having it here on steam i had 360 hours on one file and all of my save files have disappeared permanently. so no i don't recommend this game, because the game itself is great however that's too much to have everything wiped

This is a bad port of Final Fantasy 7.

The only good thing about it is the upgraded graphics for the sprites, even though the rest of the game is the same or noticeably different (Some better, some worse) like the pre-rendered cutscenes. A lot of cutscenes look like you took crisp flash videos and converted them to compressed MPEG format which leaves a lot of blobs.

The audio is very reminiscent of the PS1 game, but the volume is inconsistent. When you change the volume in the menu, it makes you think the game will be the volume that it is in the menu, but then battle music and sound effects are much louder. The volume when using summons seems unaffected by the volume setting and is just stuck at max volume for that one sound effect at the beginning of the spell.

The controls don't seem to work with my PS4 controller. I even used a premade controller map from contributors on Steam and it didn't have anything for the D-pad, those buttons don't do anything unless you map the buttons to the left stick directions. The L2 and R2 buttons also don't seem to work, so I remapped them to the L3 and R3 buttons which the game considers to be L2 and R2 anyway. The X button also has no effect in the main menu and I had to press the key on my keyboard until I remapped the X button to the same key on the keyboard. Very messy, but once you get it mapped correctly, it seems fine.

There are also parts in the game which have the wrong controls. It's possible this is because of the controller map I used, but I'll list my issues just in case.
- The wrestling "squats" challenge in Midgar swapped the X and Circle buttons.
- The Shinra parade at Junon seemed to swap X and Circle, but since it displays the corresponding button to press like a QTE, it was easy to get through.
- The pianos at Nibbleheim also swapped X and Circle, which made it very annoying trying to play the song correctly.

This version of the game has some quirks and bugs which probably wouldn't be noticeable unless you've played the PS1 version plenty of times.
- The left stick controls keep skipping as if I tapped it twice when I only tap it once to move around the menus.
- Character mouths either seem permanently open or missing entirely, except in a few scenes.
- Different assets on the world map rise up at different rates (which is how they simulated the curve of the planet with distant objects rising up as you get closer) and it makes it look like they're melting together.
- Some dead bodies in different areas were still blinking, and in the "finding yourself" version of Nibbleheim one dead body was blinking one eye but not the other.
- The finish line at the chocobo races is out of sync with the structure which is supposed to control it. Essentially it's a beam of light which detaches from the spotlight that moves up and down when you get close.

And the reason I am not going to play this game further: It crashed multiple times and has game breaking bugs.
- The first crash was right in the middle of Shinra HQ. Not too much of a problem if you save regularly.
- The first game breaking bug was in the Gold Saucer desert prison, after getting Barret's side of the story. I had Cait Sith in the party and stood next to the doorway on the left when I tried to swap party members, replacing Cait Sith with someone else. After exiting from the menu, Cait Sith walked into the side of the couch on the left and was permanently stuck and all controls were disabled. I had to alt+F4 and reload the last save.
- There was a bug at Gaia's Cliff when climbing the snowy cliffs where my character was permanently stuck walking into the wall after I pressed the button to start climbing. Luckily, it was Gaia's Cliff and there's a timer before you pass out and wake up at the cabin where I could save and try again.
- The game crashed at Battle Square about 30 minutes into it, which is a deal breaker. Battle Square will delete your points if you leave for any reason, including to save the game, so you could spend hours there trying to accumulate points to buy all the valuables. If the game can crash there, losing hours of progress, that's unacceptable.

But, with the exception of all those problems, this port is pretty close to the PS1 version. So there's that.

Be prepared! This game is awesome and you will need guides to complete everything! This game was designed with help of guides in magazines back in the day when it was released. So much great content and you will be having a great time playing the game without it too. Loved the story and the game play!

TLDR: The legendary JRPG is starting to show its age. This version has been forgotten to time while SE releases excessive new remasters. Still some good classic fun and nostalgia. Great with mods.

PROS:

➕Lots of mods to add various features/QoL
➕Huge narrative focus after FF1-6
➕Tons of mini-games
➕Materia system

NEUTRALS:

🔹Mods can make the game unstable (crashes)
🔹Doesn’t feel like the same series as FF1-6

CONS:

➖Could really benefit from an auto-save like the Pixel Remasters
➖No classes
➖Samey characters, mechanically
➖Constantly redoing materia can get annoying
➖Boring stats/equipment

Note: I have played FF7 many times in the past. This time I opted to play for the first time with various mods. I used this guide as a starting point: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3155131570

Content (Game world/Narrative) – [7/10]

The game world is vast, even more so than previous FFs. Shifting the game into the world of 3D has given life to the world that is unlike prior FFs. And while the vastness and locales are nice, I still can’t help but feel a lack of “Life”. There are no big cities sprawling with NPCs, and while this might be a limitation of the PS1 at the time, the world doesn’t feel lived in. I think if anything for the scope of this review, It’s a step up from prior FFs.

The narrative I feel is perhaps on par with FF6, my most lauded of the FFs. I think that FF7 has a good narrative, but it's a big departure from previous FFs with the more modern setting, and the backdrop of clones/Mako/lifestream. Characters feel very one-dimensional, with party members like Barret or Cid barely having any development outside of their single plotline. Once every character’s “Mission” is concluded, they are relegated to become a rarely-speaking background prop for the rest of the game. In this regard, I think FF6 and even FF4 win by a huge margin in the character development area.

Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [8/10]

The main mechanic that pushes FF7 to the frontline in terms of mechanical depth is the Materia system.
The materia system is by far the most creative thing aside from jobs that a FF game has had up to this point. To put it simply, you slot all of your typical FF skills, magic, and summons into your armor and weapons. This allows for nearly unparalleled customization at the time. Adding in links and some advanced materia, and you have the ability to create some interesting setups. Like attacking 4x and absorbing HP or MP after each attack. Or counter attacking with a magic spell like Ultima.
The unfortunate part of the Materia system is that swapping in characters to your party means a lot of time spent redoing materia combinations.
Otherwise, FF7 has some great additional mechanics like varied endgame content, limit break/ultimate weapon/ultimate materia grinding, chocobo raising, and just tons of minigames in general.

One note about the difficulty is that I found FF7 to be very easy. Especially when coming from the original FFs.

Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [3/10]

These aged exceptionally poorly, and while mods can do some heavy lifting in getting the game to look much better, there’s still the obvious feeling that the original FF7 has been left far behind due to the remake taking center stage. Even the pixel remasters are better graphically and are more modernized. Without a slew of mods, the base FPS is around 15, which is just dumb for PC. Mods will get you to a much smoother 60FPS, but as a base experience, FF7 is very poor.

Technical is a bit harder to rate because I did run into many issues when using mods like crashes. When I disabled mods there didn’t seem to be any issues, so despite its age I still think FF7 functions well technically, but it's still missing a ton of modern options.
i9-13900KF | RTX 4090 | 64GB RAM | 1440p @ 240hz | Windows 11 installed on SSD

Audio – [7/10]

FF7 has some very notable soundtracks, like Sephiroth’s One Winged Angel and the iconic Gold Saucer theme. Apart from notables though, I feel that previous FFs, namely FF6, had a better overall soundtrack. This is an even larger issue when you consider that the audio included in the PC FF7 game is the worst possible audio quality available. Thankfully, there’s a mod to fix that to the better quality, but still.

Replay Factor (Longevity) – [2/10]

No real deviation. All achievements can be grinded for in a single playthrough.

Final Verdict – [7/10]

I have a lot of history with FF7. It’s maybe my first JRPG aside from Pokemon Red/Blue. Often my friend group would tout FF7 as the best of the Final Fantasy’s and I have to say that replaying it now is a different world than first playing it back when I was in my early teens.

For my biggest negative, I would have to say it's the base game graphical limitation/issues. If you opt to not play using mods, then you’re playing a very rough game that seems like it has been intentionally left behind by Square Enix. For one of SE’s most beloved FF’s, I can’t help but feel that the reason it was decided to remake the entire game is because of how awful the original aged. This goes hand-in-hand with how excessive the remake is, but the conspiracy nut in me says that the remake was planned long enough to have SE deliberately leave this version of FF7 by the wayside and forgo any QoL updates like 60 fps, resolution options, and auto save.
I also want to give a shout out to the somewhat weird narrative and how most of the characters are neglected and how FF7 is only popular because of Cloud and his giant anime sword.

For my biggest positive, I would have to say its the creativity of the Materia system. This combat style really redefined what combat systems were capable of in the late 90’s.

Overall, I do recommend FF7 with the caveat that this version has not aged well. I’m trying to look at it past rose-colored glasses and what I’m seeing is good, but not as groundbreaking as it was when I was a youngster.
I’m very hesitant to put it above FF6. FF7 exceeds mechanically while FF6 exceeds graphically and technically. The deciding factor me to was the availability of mods which to me made this version of FF7 feel like the remaster I've always dreamed of.

My rankings of FF:
FF7
FF6: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173820/
FF4: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173800/
FF5: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173810/
FF1: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173770/
FF3: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173790/
FF4AY: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/346830/
FF2: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/1173780/

Recommend? [Y/N]

Yes

You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR

With 7th Heaven Mod Manager, this is the definitive way to play the original FF7. Having a blast going through this game again with Cosmo's Limit Break, 60FPS, Ninostyle character models/FMV's, etc. It looks absolutely stunning.

It runs perfectly with the 60FPS mod on Steam Deck as well, although it does use a surprising amount of power on the world map (up to 20 watts).

I wanted to play this game before the remakes and it did not disappoint. To just play the core game and learn the story, it is a short game with alot of heart.

If you enjoy RPGs at all, this game is part of your heritage.

I never played it when I was a kid and I will say you should probably use a walkthrough, definitely use 7th heaven to get better graphics. If you find it frustrating, use a save file editor to skip grinding.

But it is one of those things, the last fights of the game are worth the price of entry. It is one of those things you have to experience.

Even with primitive tech, they make Sephiroth feel unbeatable. Until, of course, you do.

One of the best games I have ever played. Stands strong to the test of time, and I can see why this is a lot of peoples favorite game.

I haven't played this game when it came out and only played it recently. While some mechanics are definitely outdated and the game has some questionable game design decisions it was still a lot of fun to play it. It has an insane amounts of main and optional content to offer as well as amazing osts, story and characters. Pre-rendered background art and the whole art direction is very gorgeous and charming, especially considering the year this game was released in.
Definitely would recommend this game to anyone. If you don't want to play it just because it's an old game - you are seriously missing out. At least consider playing it with some graphic enhancing mods

very interesting story, it is turn based, but somehow manages to keep me very engaged in combat

its one of the greatest of all time. idk what else to say its not even overhyped its just that good. play this before you try the remake, less bloated more focused and i honestly enjoy it a lot more

My first exposure to FF was FFXV, then FFXVI. This was my first experience with the older systems of FF and after finishing the game I can understand why this is so many peoples' favorite FF game. The story and characters are an emotional roller coaster ride. The gameplay initially felt a bit dated but it grew on me. The materia system initially seems shallow but the depth that exists within the system is impressive, you can do a free attack, make summons attack multiple times, give yourself resistances and so much more. Overall, FFVII is an amazing game and deserves its spot as one of the best FF games of all time. Just be prepared for a game that can feel dated at times.

What honestly hasn't been said about this game. This is my favorite game I have ever played on PC along with the remakes. The characters are expertly crafted. The turn based is intricate but also very easy to learn. The remakes combat is masterful along with the "new" additions to the story in the remakes. Cloud is easily one of the best characters ever made too. Easy 10/10 prob higher than that for me.

The launcher won't let me play on the steam deck.

I have always wanted to get into the Final Fantasy franchise, but now, I have lost all interest. What a waste.

One of the best games ever made. Having replayed it again recently, I can confirm that it has aged beautifully. Its themes still resonate as strongly as ever, and its characters are as endearing as when I first encountered them. The gameplay is also great fun - the amount of player control the Materia system provides keeps things interesting. Whole-heartedly recommend this game to anyone. This game is a core memory that shapes me, it might be the same for you!

Note, you may want to look into the use of some mods. There are some minor issues like certain characters having permanent ":O " expressions. But these can thankfully be remedied very easily.

it is good if you wanna replay it for the nostalgia or while waiting for the next part of the remake.
just play it with mods, otherwise it suck

Fiddle de Chocobo is now permanently engraved into my brain, on an infinite loop. Teioh and Joe were the real villains of this game.

Online DRM that requires to sign up to a square enix account to play an almost 30 years old game that is not acceptable in any way. Just let me play the game I bought.

Somehow they broke this ancient game with some recent update, now it just refuses to launch and there is not fix. Thanks Square, thanks Steam. Fuck you.

It's simply the greatest game ever made. Timeless, flawless masterpiece.

Its a classic, I bought this game on the triangle box way back when from Funco-land and this ver fixed the crappy midi music and does cloud save and Xbox controls

FF7 put JRPGs in the worldwide spotlight 20 some years ago, and it is still one of the most influential games from this time.

The game still holds up and it is very fun, the materia system while simple is very customizable and cool to find synergies between different spells and commands, the story and characters are charming, the game itself has a lot of charm behind it, it shows a developer coming to grips with designing games on a whole new scope with 3d visuals, and while it has aged quite a bit, during its heyday it would blow your mind. Alongside Chrono Trigger, this is one of my favorite classic JRPGs.

There is also an extensive modding community which can help you upgrade the visuals and whatnot while still keeping true to the original art style, or you can go wild with gameplay, visual, and script changes with 7th Heaven, which is always a plus and very nice.

What else can i say its the most iconic RPG Game ever developed and it is an incredible story along with all the emotional pulls you'd expect from the Final Fantasy series

I now understand why this is a classic. Holds up great and has emotional impact even in 2025 and being a PS1 game.
I definitely recommend 7th Heaven mods for textures & voice acting.

embarrassing that steam allows this scam on their platform. game won't open and there's no fix

For me, Final Fantasy VII transcends mere entertainment, it's a cornerstone of my gaming life and the title that first showed me the real power of this medium. Thirty years later, and its story and amazing cast of characters remain vivid in my memory, and very close to my heart. This game isn't just special, it's a cherished memory. Thank you Squaresoft for creating something so profoundly impactful.

10/10, my first J-RPG and i can´t stop playing until it finishes

FF7 is a great game. If you want to get the remakes go ahead but there is still one more game to go to fully compile this game. this is overall cheaper, really long playtime, you dont have grind as much, to but the graphics are the only down side. That is not a issue with me though but for some people it is. It is a ps1 game of course it has bad graphics anyways. I got this on a sale. FF7 goes on sale a lot so if you see it at full price I would wait around 2 -3 weeks then it will drop to 4-5 bucks. personaly this is the only FF game i will have played fully and is great.

I’ve tried playing this a few times over the years but never got far, think the outdated visuals just made it hard to stay immersed. I was pretty familiar with the story/characters, and knew how amazing the game was supposed to be, but I rlly couldnt stay invested for too long. I gave it another shot with some modern mods—mainly using visual upgrades and a new voice acting mod. and man it completely changed the experience for me. It really brought out the best of FF7 and really made me see just how great the game really is, the upscaled visuals make the game absolutely stunning, the Nomura based Ninostyle models are fking awesome, and the voice acting mod brought so much more character and charm to it all. Coupled with an FPS mod, and you’re quite literally playing the remake everybody always wanted. If you’re a FF7 fan and haven’t tried it with modernised mods, you are genuinely missing out. It’s a whole new experience, and frankly better in nearly every way.

Mods aside though, I was pretty amazed by just how great everything was, especially for its time—the crazy world building, the super fun materia/combat system, the charming characters, the compelling story, and of course, the incredible music. As someone whose new to JRPGs, i feel this was an amazing introduction to the genre, and definitely made me look forward to playing more in the future.

If you’ve ever struggled to get into this game, or are just a fan in general, I really recommend giving it another go with some up to date mods, but either way still an amazing game that was definitely wayy ahead of its time. This over remake any day of the week 10/10.

Why in the seven hells does your excuse for a entertainment product port not capable of using its implemented fullsize function? You just suck at your job or life in general?

Final Fantasy VII - Playtime: 37:00
This game is pretty cool overall. I was surprised with how much I liked it, I expected it to be a kinda cringe old game that didn't hold up well (which it kind of still is, but we'll get to that) but it was pretty neat.

Gameplay - The gameplay is pretty fun overall, the materia system is really cool and allows for alot of cool customization that makes you feel powerful and cool. Making your builds work and feel nice is pretty fun and it's all very intuitive. The "Active Battle" system (or whatever it was called) isn't the best, but it works. It ends up leaving you with alot of dead time waiting until your next move, which brings me to my next point...
Modding away problems - This game has a rather active modding community, and while I did say the game was pretty fun, I do think this game would be GOD AWFUL DOGWATER if it weren't for some of the mods I installed. There is only 1 real mod you NEED to play this game, and it's the 7th Heaven mod manager. This manager has settings to allow you to speed up the game using keyboard combinations that you can assign to unused controller buttons using Steam Input. If it weren't for the ability to activate x8 speed at will this game would be a SLOG because it REALLY likes to sniff its own farts. The animations in the game are kinda cool, but alot of them are ridiculously long, and those animations often accompany the best moves, so you'll see them alot. There are also many sections in the game that take a long time by themself, like overworld travel. Speeding up overworld travel and it still taking me a while to get places made me realize how long the navigation can take in this game. I'm doing x8 speed and it still takes a hot second to get from point A to point B. Another feature of 7th Heaven lets you turn off random encounters, which I tried to avoid, but holy hell are there alot and due to the aforementioned animations they still take a while, even when sped up. It can get really annoying constantly having what you're doing interupted by another battle. I think this game may have singlehandedly caused alot of turn based rpg hate, cuz it is honestly kinda draining. My final mod was just a mod to get 60fps, cuz I like the higher framerate, though it's hardly required. There are a bunch of other visual mods, but I found them unneeded because...

Aesthetics- This game actually looks rather charming. They really played with their limitations well and make things look pretty cool. These long animations may be a pain, but I can see the vision cuz they look pretty good. They worked with the low poly look really well and I found myself looking forward to what to see next. Alot of places are look really nice and the set pieces still work with their low graphics. I found myself partially wishing I could play at the original resolution so I could see exactly what the game was suppossed to look like while I'm playing, but that's hard to do. When playing on the PC port, all the models and gameplay sections are upscaled, but the FMVs are still their original resolution, which can be kind of jarring when they are expecting to seemlessly transfer between the two. I think it would actually be pretty cool if i could set my graphics to be the same easily.

Story - This game's story is pretty good. I found myself very endeared throughout, I ended up leaving caring for these characters far more than I expected to. Barret is frankly the man and his whole character and backstory is really endearing, and he's hanging out with you the whole game. I found Aerith endearing, even though I went into the game not really liking her. She is a very positive and fun force throughout the ENTIRE game. :slight_smile: Every character feels very fleshed out and cared for, despite some lackluster dialogue (which I've heard is partially from a bad translation). The whole story is basically just a "save the world" story, but things bringing you to save the world and the character's own stories really make it all feel worth it. I never really got Cloud from the outside, but playing though this game made me appreciate him a lot more, as his story is extremely cool.

Completion - I was originally going to gloss over alot of what the game offered when i was playing through it, but I ended up falling in alot of the game's hooks. The main one being chocobo breeding. The game puts these little inaccessible caves all over the map, and the only way to access them is through the chocobo breeding system, which also requires chobo racing to make it easier. I found it to be a fun side mission, but the rewards you get from it are a little too good. The materia you get is from it is very powerful. I didn't bother with either of the secret bosses, cuz I felt like I already had a handle on how this game works and want to move on. There are also some funny steam achievements like "Get to level 99" and "Master all Materia" which like, cool but I ain't gonna do all that grinding.

This game ended up being one of those old gems that istill holds up today (with a bit of polishing). This game has made me look forward to playing some of the other Final Fantasy games in the future.

This is a cautious recommendation - if you like old PS1 era JRPGs, you'll probably enjoy this one but keep in mind that.

The combat feels really slow by today's standards, hell even by SNES standards it's slow because of the cutscenes are animated with a lot of detail to look really cool..but that comes with a price

There are many totally unnecessary infuriating mini games, I think if it's the first time you're playing the game they might not be so bad..but on replays they are just furiating

Kinda underestimated how great this game is having not played it since near release. Truly one of the best of all-time.

Still a classic. One of the best games ever made.
First played it in my teens but never beat ruby or emerald weapon or got a gold chocobo (so no, knights of the round). Playing it again now in my 40s, I've done everything. Got all the steam achievements, feels great.

You won't regret buying this game. This was my first time trying out a final fantasy game and enjoyed every minute of it and am now a fan.

Genuine 10/10 for me.

I never understood how a near 30 year old game could be the best game ever,
I never understood how people can enjoy turn-based games,
I never understood the hype behind games with "bad graphics",
I understand now.
I am a person who likes to be corrected and over the years i was corrected for so many times.
I think video games corrects me in the most humbling way because holy shit FF7 has to be one of the best games i've ever played.
The charm this game has is quite literally unmatched.
The soundtrack, art design, characters, story and so on.
Must play for everyone.

I believe this game is a masterpiece. This is literally the RPG of all RPG's. When I think of the RPG genre I think of Cloud Strife. The cast and world felt so alive that I almost felt like I was on the journey with them.

I need to play Remake dude, this game is so peak. Please comment on my profile suggesting which game from the series I should play next or even recommend me a whole new RPG game/series.

Quite possibly one of the greatest games to ever exist.

I spent my childhood playing and adoring this game.

Now in 2025, I get to experience the game again but with a ton of mods that enhance the way it looks.

An incredible experience and far better than the remake (imo).

Parts of this game haven't aged well but, this game was just so fun even with the flaws. For the problems like the backgrounds being made for crt displays making it hard to read where your meant to go in some parts things like the characters, plot, music, overall ascetic, game play, and overall charm far out way it.

The story is good and game play is excellent (lots of side quest and mini games)

Fantastic world building and great story with an ending that is somewhat abrupt and lacking some resolution. Some of the supporting cast aren't the most fleshed out either. Definitely add some mods updated frame rates and models/backgrounds.

One enemy is literally a kamikaze house pretty weird but also pretty sick

hold up all these years later. works great on steam deck, but the way it presents controls is archaic and useless. you will need a glossary ready with your keybinds lmao

Possibly my favorite game of all time. that can always change but It's an RPG I can go back to pretty consistently due to the materia system and the endearing characters and amazing OST.

Let's Mosey

classic and a great game. this one really stood out as one of the best.

Y'know, I get it now. I can see why Final Fantasy VII so heavily influenced an entire generation of people. And why there was such clamor for an FFVII Remake. I know for certain if I was around back in 1997 and lucky enough to play it, this game would pretty much be my entire personality. Don't let age scare you off this truly wonderful adventure. Sure I've experienced stronger RPGs, both in the Final Fantasy series and from the PS1 era (looking at you in particular FFX, Suikoden and Xenogears), but that doesn't take away from my enjoyment of Final Fantasy VII one bit. And from my experience with the remake games, even if you've played or are interested in playing them, you can still dive right into the original. My slow, carefully paced journey throughout this game is a time I'll treasure for a long time. Give it a go people. And Farewell FFVII.

A launcher that needs to be online for a single player game from the 90s? Are you kidding me? And trying to map the controls on Steam Deck is tedious and cumbersome. Screw Square and just emulate it.

In spite of its age the game holds up pretty well. I played it after playing through FF7 Remake and Rebirth a lot first and it was nice to experience the original game.

First few hours were definitely the weakest. Going through all of Midgar didn't feel that great but once you enter the open world after a few hours, the game is actually very fun. Later on when the main story bits start to get introduced, that's when I was super hooked.

The combat is great. The RPG aspects with leveling and materia set ups hold up extremely well. I couldn't really get too immersed into the characters because of the low-polygon models, lack of voice acting and outdated music quality. Without knowing the characters from Remake and Rebirth I likely wouldn't end up caring as much about them. The open world is done extremely well with how you gain upgrades to traversal throughout the game. The open world exploration was probably my favorite part of the game, which I think is really impressive for how old the game is.

I didn't actually finish the game though. Throughout the whole game boss fights would be very well paced and feeling quite fair with you being able to save before them. Not the case for the final boss fight though. I have no interest in spending an hour getting to a boss that one shots my characters. I did have to just watch the ending on YouTube but the whole game was still great. I often get this issue with older FF games where there is a seemingly random massive difficulty spike towards the end.

7.5/10

Overall a great game, I like the story characters gameplay etc. Not a fan of how frequent random encounters were at some points, plus going back and forth places all the time though. The last hour and 30 minutes were ABSOLUTELY F///ING AMAZING.