A paper I wrote (with Meredith's help)

I had to write a paper about a game that came out in the the 1990's, and why it was enjoyable to play. Here it is:

Final Fantasy VII
“The RPG by which all others are to be measured” – IGN Staff

In 1987 when Hironobu Sakaguchi created the game “Final Fantasy”, he had no idea that 10 years later he would be instrumental in releasing what is arguably the best role playing game of all time. For its time, Final Fantasy had the best graphics available. The game play was on a level that had not been seen before. And the story had people in tears.

Both the story and back story of Final Fantasy VII is profound and multi-faceted. The plot is varied with aspects reminiscent of “Dune”, “Frankenstein”, and “Godzilla”. (Kesavin) The game takes place in a futuristic world on a planet called “Gaia”, referred to as just “The Planet”. The Planet is ruled by the Shinra Electric Power Company, an unscrupulous entity that holds the population in a grip of terror.

There are 9 playable characters, each with their own unique and engaging back story. Some of the best characters include Cloud Strife, a member of SOLDIER, the elite fighting force for Shinra; Barrett Wallace, who leads the resistance force of AVALANCHE against Shinra; Tifa Lockhart, a childhood friend of Cloud’s and a member of AVALANCHE; and Aeris Gainsburough, a simple flower merchant. (Williams) The greatness of the characters provides a realistic dimension that no other game has been able to match.

Part of what makes Final Fantasy VII an excellent game is that the player can take on side quests that further the back stories of the characters themselves, but have no effect on the main storyline. A player can complete the game without doing the side quests, but in my opinion they would be robbing themselves of some of the most excellent writing and storytelling.

At the start of the game it seems that the main protagonist of the story is Shinra Corporation, but through twists and turns we learn that it is actually Sephiroth. Sephiroth is the hero to Cloud and the long lost leader of SOLDIER. (Williams) His goal is to be revered as a god and will stop at nothing to reach that goal. During the course of the game he kills one of the main characters. This cut scene is one of the most talked about cut scenes of all time. This act alone makes the game stand out from previous games of this type and certainly from the other Final Fantasy games.

As an extremely immersive role playing game, there are no levels to conquer; instead, like the original game from 10 years earlier there are expansive areas to explore. Most areas are not accessible to the player until certain criteria are met, such as discovering an airship or a submarine. Each area gets progressively harder than the previous area. In a fairly new twist to immersive role playing games, players are allowed to go back to areas that they had previously explored. What truly adds to the richness of the game is that each area stands out from the others. For example, when exploring the Shinra Corporation, the player can sense the “industrialization” of the scene expressed through both colors and sounds. When entering the jungle areas, the scene is quite different with bright colors and birds in the background.

The graphics for this game are simply fantastic. Many of the locals are static and hand drawn. Also, the 16 different summon monster spells each have their own cut scenes, such as the “Leviathan” spell. This spell was on the demo disk, and this “sneak peek” is believed this scene provided the high demand for the game. (Boor) The graphics stand out even further when the game switches to the unique combat system. Each player and weapon has a distinct look to be equipped for every attack. Each time a character updates a weapon, the graphics show the change during combat. When a character learns a new attack, the animation during combat changes to reflect this. Prior to Final Fantasy VII, animation change was never seen.

There is also a fantastic soundtrack to the game, composed by Nobuo Uematsu. (Kesavin) Nobuo is also the composer of the original Final Fantasy game from 10 years ago. As mentioned earlier, one of the main characters is murdered by Sephiroth, and one cannot help but to get teary eyed as the mournful music plays in the background. During combat, each attack has a distinct sound, and the monster summoning spells really come to life with their own sounds and soundtrack.

The game play really grabs the players and gives a never before seen control over each character’s development. Weapons can be upgraded and made more powerful with different colored crystals called “materia”. “Materia” crystals can be mixed, and depending upon what colors are used, special abilities are given to the characters. Combat itself is menu driven and simple to use. Navigating the open world was even more simple. Even the side games have quick little instruction snippets that instruct the player. Over all, it is an expansive game that is simple to play.

The artificial intelligence from the original Final Fantasy has been greatly improved in VII. Nothing seems senseless or useless. In the original game the AI “silences” players (prevents them from casting spells or using abilities) that have no ability to cast spells. As each player has special abilities they all can be “silenced”. If a player relies too heavily upon one character for their special ability the game “silenced” that character. Attacks are still pretty random, though, without the monsters trying to single out the healers or any other specific character. The game would have been much harder had specific characters been targeted by the AI.

The ultimate goal is to stop Sephiroth. That is the “win” condition of the game. Even if you do this, the player still feels a sense of loss at the death of one of the main characters. There is an actual “lose” scenario written into the game and can be seen if everyone in the party dies during combat. If you play like I do with frequent saves, this is not a problem because one can go back to the last save point. All characters seemed to die during the big “boss” battles which made the save points especially important.

Many would argue that “Final Fantasy VII” is the best RPG game available. Definitely “the most shocking moment in video game history” (Gouskos) occurs when Sephiroth kills one of the characters. Today the graphics still look good. When the game debuted, the graphics were amazing. The game play, the combat system with the addition of the “material” components and the monster summoning spells made this a game to be remembered for all time. Is it worth all of the attention and praise that it has received, including spin-off games and a feature length movie? Many players including myself think that the attention and praise is deserved.

Works Cited
Boor, J. (n.d.). Game Details for Final Fantasy VII. Retrieved 04 15, 2009, from IGN Entertainment Games: http://psx.ign.com/articles/150/150494p1.html
Gouskos, C. (n.d.). Greatest Games of All Time. Retrieved 04 15, 09, from Game Spot: http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6155700/index.html
Kesavin, G. (n.d.). Final Fantasy VII Review. Retrieved 04 16, 2009, from Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/ps/rpg/finalfantasy7/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review
Williams, S. (n.d.). Final Fantasy VII - Characters. Retrieved 4 17, 2009, from RPG Gamer: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff7/text/char/ff7char.html
Sakaguchi, Hironobu. "Final Fantasy VII", video game, 1997

3 more weeks to go ...

And then this term will be done. I am still waiting for a grade from my art class back from week 4, but it seems so are a lot of people.

Life Drawing for Animation: 3236/3522 (91.88%)

College Algebra I: 590/620 (95.16%)

Game Analysis and Playability: 548/560 (97.86%)

Doing good! As a matter of fact, for my Algebra Mid term, I got a 290/300 ... I would have aced it, but I fat-fingered a "9" for a "6".

The picture I have posted is an "environment" picture. Here is what my professor had to say about it:

This is pretty solid work overall. You demonstrate a good understanding of informal composition. You also understand perspective. More refined shading would have put this over the top.

Shading always seems to be my downfall. It will definately be something that I will be working on in the future. I either leave out the shading, or it looks unnatural. So ... practice makes perfect, right?

Also ... I have my class schedule for next term. I will be taking two classes, and they are:

Advanced Drawing and Perspective for Games

In this course students will build upon their traditional drawing skills and apply them to the design of vehicles, environments, and props. Topics covered will include the techniques and materials relevant to generating game design concepts. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to develop final concept art for 3D environments, vehicles, and props.

Character Development and Design

This course will prepare students to create characters with personality. Students will design a character from scratch and carry the process through to the level of detail expected in the animation industry. Topics include brainstorming ideas, elements of character, expression, facial anatomy, ethnicity, poses, costume, accessories and human psychology. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to take a character development project from its conceptual stage to a final end product.

These classes look pretty interesting. Once again I am anxious for these to start so I can see what they are and how they will play out. I am loving school, and as much as I cannot wait to get it over with and move on to a better life with Mere and the kitties, I am really enjoying myself.

So ... that is it for now. I'll be posting one of my reports here, probably, just to show some of the writing I had to do this term.

Take care everyone!

Where has the time gone?

Wow. Here it is week 3 in my 4th term, and I haven't posted in sucha long time. Truth to tell, i've had a few migraines and ended up in the ER once again. The meds that I have been on have not helped, and the only had negative side affects on me. Mostly, I was irritable and got angry really easily, which I was told AFTER I hadbeen taking these pills that it was a possibility that this would happen. Great! So they now have me on something else now, which has a small chance of playing havok with my liver, so I a have to be tested ever 3 months to make certain that it is ok. My neurologist says that finding something that will prevent the migraines is hard because I have them so far apart. It is the severity that has him worried. My stepfather thinks I need to have something that tells doctors in the ER that I am having am igraine, not a stroke or am on drugs, and just treat the migraine as they normally would. My arguement against that is that what if I AM having a stroke, and they treat me for a migraine, as they symptoms are pretty close? Great!

Anyhoo ...

My grades so far are:

Life Drawing for Animation: 1855/1948 (95.23%)
College Algebra I: 210/220 (95.45%)
Game Analysis and Playability: 264/275 (96%)

So I am doing pretty good right now. I really enjoy the Game Analysis and Playability course. We ahve jsut formed teams and will be picking a game that is not doing so well and relaunch it ... or basically come up with ideas that would have made the game do better when it first came out. There are 7 people on the team, and there are about 4 of us that are doing all of the work, with the other 3 practically being no shows. The professor is aware of this and said this is our real world experience. So ... the game our team chose is "The Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures." It is an online game so we have a social aspect to deal with, as well as we can all hop on at the same time and try out group things together as well. We just need our professor to approve the title now, and we will be good.

So ...

The job is going well, and it has its ups and downs. I really do not like the amount of time that Meredith and I are apart, but it does give me plenty of time to get my homework done. Also, some of teh customer can be downright nasty. They are calling me to run a quote on their automobile insurance and sometimes lie about accidents and tickets hoping to get a better quote. Once we run our reports and find out that they werelieing, they get upset at US. They are the ones with the accidents and tickets, and it was our time that they wasted. Go figure.

Well ... that's it for right now. It's Easter and the wife and I are gonna spend some quality time together. I hope that you are all well and good and safe.

Love you all!