Final Fantasy VII/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Pages for other games in the Compliation

In the original game

  • Americans Hate Tingle: In a Famitsu poll for best video game characters held in 2010, the characters from this game that made the cut were Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Sephiroth, Zack... and Yuffie, who, while not nearly as disliked as she used to be, is still a semi-Base Breaker in the US. In terms of gameplay, however, this makes sense. She, apart from Aerith, is the only party member to get a healing Limit Break, and her multi-hit limits like "Bloodlust" were pretty damn useful, not to mention her high magic stat.
  • Anticlimax Boss: Palmer. By the time you fight him, you already fought some Shinra executives (Rufus, Rude and Reno) that can dish out powerful attacks. Palmer? All he can do is use a Mako Gun, which has a fire, ice, or lightning effect and can be easily nerfed by casting M Barrier on the party. Other than that, that's all Palmer can do aside from having a lot of HP.
  • Anvilicious: The "anti-pollution" message of the game's Midgar sub-plot (in fact, the entire game has a "protecting the planet" theme that easily qualifies as this).
  • Awesome Music: The famous "One-Winged Angel" debuts here. Of course, this being Final Fantasy, there are many more than just that.
  • Base Breaker:
    • Correspondingly, Cloud, Sephiroth and Aerith. Aerith in particular, some players just never got over her death, and hate that she died after they got so attached to her.
    • Yuffie and Vincent are Base Breakers to a lesser extent as well.
  • Broken Base:
    • While subsequent games have made it worse, this is the game that shattered the fanbase, largely due to the sudden shift in art style, atmosphere and console. Camps of fans include those who never got into the series until it came out and hate the games that came before, those that loved the games before and consider this one to have killed the series, those that consider this game the best RPG of all time, those that consider it So Okay It's Average with too much hype, and those that consider it an overrated unoriginal piece of junk. And then there's fans who love the original game but hate its expanded universe.
    • Whether or not the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII should have been made and which, if any, portions of it are worthwhile.
  • Can't Unhear It: Cait Sith's Scottish accent from the 'Compilation' entries.
  • Complete Monster:
    • Sociopathic Mad Scientist Hojo, whose experimental atrocities arguably led to the main conflict. And the conflict before. And the conflict after. And the conflict after that. Let's face it, Hojo could almost be the poster child for Complete Monster-ism.
    • Scarlet and Heidegger are borderline cases as well. They're both totally okay with testing Humongous Mecha of mass destruction against... well, anything. They converse about two things in the game: weapons that kill people, and the funds to build weapons that kill people. Scarlett is responsible for what happened to North Corel, Barret and Dyne; Heidegger was responsible for the destruction of Sector 7 along with another Complete Monster listed below.
    • President Shinra runs a Mega Corp that makes its profits off of energy that is actually the life force of the planet, as well as all beings on said planet living or dead... that's right: his company is actually built on selling souls. His Moral Event Horizon is destroying Sector 7 - an entire town - to wipe out the rebel/terrorist group based there, and then blaming it on said group. While listening to classical music. Also, given how eerily emotionless and cold Rufus is, growing up with this guy for a father probably wasn't the ideal childhood...
    • And lastly there's the ultimate Big Bad him/her/itself: JENOVA, whose legacy Sephiroth has inherited. Since Sephiroth is now JENOVA's rebirth, every evil deed he commits is another crime for this Cosmic Horror.
  • Die for Our Ship: Loads of it: some people even took the game's most infamous scene as a literal example of this trope.
  • Draco in Leather Pants:
    • Sephiroth is the poster boy for this. Although once most people realized/were informed that he was in control of Jenova and not vice versa, accusations and complaints of Draco in Leather Pants began to outweigh actual instances of it.
    • Rufus Shinra: pre-Advent Children at least.
    • Reno. Okay, admittedly the flattening an entire city district (with the people inside, no less) and pinning it on AVALANCHE wasn't his idea and he had no real pleasure in doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the one who physically did the deed. A lot of people, however, ignore this and act as if he's a perfectly good guy without flaws.
    • Tseng also gets some of this despite his introduction consisting of him slapping the captive Aerith and laughing at the party's hopelessness before the Sector 7 pillar collapses.
    • Strangely enough, Hojo has a decent female fanbase both in-universe and out of it.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • A lot of fans are pretty irritated that Vincent was an optional character and therefore not important to the storyline. Later on, he had important role in Advent Children and starred in his own game Dirge of Cerberus.
    • Zack, who was pretty much a One-Scene Wonder in the original game before he became the main character in Crisis Core.
    • The Turks, but primarily Reno. They take on more important roles in the Compliation, however.
    • Rufus Shinra. There's a reason he came back for Advent Children.
    • Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz, who were only filler versions of Sephiroth yet have enormous popularity; Kadaj even got his own Play Arts figurine.
  • Epileptic Trees: A lot of fans used to think that Jenova, not Sephiroth, was the one who was really pulling the strings, and that he was just an Unwitting Pawn. Word of God explaining that he was, in fact, the one in control put this theory mostly to rest, although it still prevails to an extent since not every fan has read the materials in which this explanation appears.
  • Evil Is Cool: Sephiroth, the Tsviets, Rufus Shinra.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Same as above, but averted by Sephiroth. He was just as sexy before his Face Heel Turn, if not more so.
  • Fan Dumb: Hoo boy. From people declaring it the Best Game Ever ad nauseam, to the incredible Shipping wars that rage to this day, the Fan Dumb is strong with this one.
  • Faux Symbolism:
    • Jehovah is the Hebrew God and Sephirot is the attributes God can manifest through. It is no coincidence that the antagonists are Jenova and Sephiroth respectively.
    • Cloud baptizing the children in Advent Children.
    • Aerith sounds similar to "Earth", especially if you factor in the English-to-Japanese and Japanese-to-English transcription, a fitting name for a Mystical Waif with a spiritual link to the Planet.
  • Foe Yay: Infamously with Cloud and Sephiroth.

"On your knees. I want you to beg for forgiveness."

  • Freud Was Right: Sephiroth, who wants to penetrate the Planet (a symbolic mother) and become one with it.
  • Game Breaker:
    • Too many to name. Among other things, with the right Materia combination, it was possible to throw yourself into a loop of Knights of the Round until whatever you were facing was dead. This includes the final boss. And the Bonus Bosses.
    • Also, it is worth noting that it is possible for Cloud to mime his own Omnislash, thus another loop of death for whatever you were facing.
    • And if you want to mime Knights of the Round, you can say goodbye to things like plot advancement for a good while.
    • Here's another combo: Master Summon-MP Absorb, Master Summon-HP Absorb, W-Summon. Be prepared for the fun of raising Knights of the Round to level 5 six times.
    • Cover, Long Range and Counter-Attack makes for a nice Disc One Nuke, since most of the enemy's attacks will focus on one person taking half-damage, who will be counter-attacking for full damage constantly. Adding Counter->Mime makes the whole thing silly. Pop off a Limit Break and sit back while the character jumps in front of every attack and counters with Omnislash every time.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: See the WMG about mako energy representing nuclear energy. Now, about that earthquake and the ensuing reactor meltdown...
  • Hate Dumb: The Hype Backlash below goes a wee bit too far at times, often with bashing without even playing it. Goes along perfectly with the Fan Dumb: no matter what happens, both sides are complete idiots arguing about something pointless with unimaginable passion.
  • Hell Is That Noise: Some of the music is used to good effect. "Those Chosen By The Planet", with its bassline simulating a heartbeat, stands out.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: This archived thread on ToonZone talked about hypothetical voice acting in some the games, including this one. This dates back to all the way in 2002. One of the suggestions for Tifa was Rachael Leigh Cook, who later was indeed the one to voice Tifa.
  • Hype Backlash: Regardless of your opinion of the game, it's undeniable that some people were turned off by the amount of gushing it's gotten over the years since its release.
  • It Was His Sled: Aerith dies.
  • It's Popular, Now It Sucks: It actually got this treatment twice.
    • Some argue that, with the additional installments to the story, the franchise is starting to plummet. They argue that the fun factor of the game is relinquished for the sake of pleasing the fanboys and fangirls, sacrificing the deep integrated storyline that made the original RPG such an amazing game for the sake of indulging in characters such as Sephiroth, Vincent and Zack.
    • The main game itself. Oddly enough, some fans just don't seem to be able to grasp the concept that Final Fantasy VII was popular for two reasons: it was the first RPG to receive major advertising, and it was the first RPG to actively sell itself to the mainstream through said advertising.[1] Neither of which makes it a bad game at all, mind you, but don't try to convince someone who hates it of that.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent...
  • Magnificent Bastard: Rufus; he tries but doesn't quite get to manage it until Advent Children where he goes all out on Kadaj. Sephiroth also shows shades of this from the Temple of the Ancients all the way to the Reunion. Also in Advent Children. And very arguably, Yuffie in the Wutai sidequest.
  • Memetic Badass: Tifa power bombs a monster. UNDERWATER! ON THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN FLOOR!
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • "Advent Children is the BEST CUTSCENE EVER!!"
    • Cid would like you to sit your ass in that chair and drink your goddamn TEA!
    • "This guy are sick."
    • Cloud's infamous "Let's mosey" line right before the ultimate climactic battle for the fate of the planet.
    • If you can think of a character pairing, there's a good chance you can find a version of the Gold Saucer date sequence for it on YouTube.
    • "Shall I give you 'dis pear?"
    • Look up "One-Winged Angel" on YouTube. The comments will be filled with people posting their Mondegreened versions of the lyrics.
  • Memetic Sex God: Zack, Reno and Sephiroth. In Sephiroth's case, if you can think of a character, he has probably been paired with her/him in fanfic.
  • Misaimed Fandom: Vincent is not emo. Not until Dirge Of Cerberus, anyway. In the original game, talking with him whenever you get the chance shows that a distinct lack of expressing any feeling is a big characteristic of Vincent, rather than moping or being depressed.
  • Moe: Tifa, thanks to being incredibly shy around Cloud.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • For the players, it's usually Sephiroth killing Aerith, but it all truly starts when Sephiroth begins walking out of the Shinra mansion, and states to a bewildered Cloud: "Out of my way. I'm going to see my mother." The nightmare begins with that sentence, complete with the beginning of a trend with Cloud and Sephiroth: Cloud being just a step behind, following a path of dead bodies and sprayed blood.
    • For Shinra, especially its late President and Heidegger, it's destroying all of Sector 7 just to wipe out AVALANCHE, which has a grand total of six members.
    • What Scarlet did to Coral and all of its residents, including Barret and Dyne.
    • And where to begin with Hojo? Probably with how he experimented on his unborn child.
  • Most Annoying Sound: "Rufus Welcoming Ceremony", which plays when the party sneaks through Junon to the oil tanker, is by no means a bad song. But when you have to listen to a straight hour or more of it as it plays during the entire sequence except for a brief break in a single room where the Turks are...
  • Most Wonderful Sound: Ultima spell. The Limit Break sound.
  • Never Live It Down:
    • Regarding Cloud, out of all Final Fantasy characters who can Never Live It Down, he gets it the worst, pretty much being synonymous with the word "Emo" when he was just serious and didn't angst very much at all in Final Fantasy VII save for during his Mind Rape, but you wouldn't know it from his spin-off appearances.
    • When it comes to Yuffie, some people just can't let go of that Wutai Theft, even though if you level her up properly, she'll more than make up for it to you in battle.
  • Non Sequitur Scene:
    • The chocobos dancing when you first arrive at the stables.
    • Most anything that happens in the Honeybee Inn borders on this.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Zack in the original game.
  • One True Threesome: Cloud/Tifa/Aerith is one of the archetypical examples in video games. For yaoi fans there's Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack. Crisis Core added in Genesis and Angeal, and can be combined with the latter threesome in pretty much any way you like. Though not as widespread, Cloud/Zack/Tifa or Aerith is out there too.
  • Porting Disaster: Not as bad as some games, but the PC version has a truly tragic cut because it made the jump to a 100%-MIDI soundtrack. However, this meant that the choral track of One Winged Angel was lost for some people because it was in a format that not every sound card could play. However, there are literally dozens of patches created to make the game run correctly on modern systems. Not only that, but now there's an ongoing effort to create the remake that never was. Using Final Fantasy VII PC as the base, characters and 3D models are gradually being rerendered in Open GL to be more detailed (though it's still VERY alpha in that department); add-on programs exist to swap out every music track for a hi-def recomposition or remix; and slight modifications to the Materia system introduce spells and abilities from later titles.
  • Player Punch: Walk with the Planet, Aerith.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Ron the Death Eater: Thanks to the Love Triangle, both Aerith and Tifa—depending who you ask, Tifa is a slutty jealous bitch who won't accept Cloud's love for Aerith and wants him to forget about her, or Aerith is a clingy skanky bitch who pushed herself between Cloud and Tifa so she could steal Tifa's man (even though in-game and stated by Word of God it's clear that Tifa and Aerith were very close friends). Even though the competition has ended, really the arguments in defending the ship were 90% saying why the other sucks.
  • The Scrappy: Cait Sith is an intentional one, as he joins your team against your will, hasunimpressive stats, Limit Breaks that are unpredictable at best (granted, one possibility is instant victory, but that occurrence is freakishly rare, and another possibility is instant death for your own party), and players' dislike of him only increases when you find out he is actually a Shinra spy robot who is holding Marlene hostage. He is often considered Rescued from the Scrappy Heap later in the game though, as shown above.
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny:
    • The game created, popularized, or deconstructed many RPG tropes and conventions that see popular use today[2], but people who weren't there to experience the game at launch tend to see it as a dated Cliché Storm. Even the deconstructions became tropes in and of themselves.
    • Of special note: characters with amnesia and/or who appear to be one thing but end up really being something else entirely have been used so often in Square Enix games since that, playing the game now, one wouldn't see anything remotely special or shocking about them.
  • Sequel Displacement: While obviously nobody thinks that the seventh game in the series is the first, since the wider distribution and promotion of the title compared to previous entries (as well as its status as the first high profile JRPG on the Playstation) means that many, many fans of the series played this game first and define the series by this game. It didn't help in Europe, it was the first mainline Final Fantasy to be released there. Mildly hypocritical It's Popular, Now It Sucks and apathetic Hype Backlash followed among a minority of fans.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: The game came out in 1997. A decade and a half later, there are still websites, forums and debates about who Cloud loves between Aerith and Tifa. While the original game gave evidence for both, supplementary creation materials and the expanded universe have established that Cloud ends up with Tifa. The original draft of the game even had an implied sex scene between the two that was toned down because it was too risqué.
  • Squick: Hojo's plan to breed Aerith with Red XIII. Also, whether the headless body with the squid-eyeball-nipple in Shinra HQ had this effect on the player or not, it apparently did on Barret (or it just ticked him off a lot).
  • Tier-Induced Scrappy: Cait Sith.
  • That One Attack: As with the other games in the series, the Marlboro's Bad Breath Attack.
    • Midgar Zolom's "Beta" attack (at least until you learn it).
    • Ruby Weapon's Whirlsand attack, which it uses as its first two attacks in every battle. It removes two of your players forcing you to fight it with just one.
    • Sephiroth's Supernova attack (though it looks WAY more powerful than it actually is).
    • Emerald WEAPON's Aire Tam Storm ("Aire Tam" being "Materia" spelled backwards), which inflicts damage equal to (number of materia equipped) * 1,111 to each character.
  • That One Achievement: The 2019 ports add the "Coming Up All Nines" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect 99,999,999 Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an agonizingly long grind to get even close to that number.
  • That One Boss: Even by Bonus Boss standards, most people will be sent into shiver-fits just by mentioning the Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon.
  • That One Sidequest: Chocobo Ranching. Just... Chocobo Ranching.
  • Too Cool to Live: Zack.
  • Toy Ship: Young Cloud and young Tifa in the past. Marlene or Moogle Girl and Denzel in the compilation.
  • Unfortunate Implications: So, a bunch of evil Elite Mooks are called "The Turks". Oh dear...
    • Possibly a reference to the notably brutal government of the "Young Turks", which makes the implications a lot less unfortunate.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: With that said and done, some of the cutscenes still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith's body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
  • Villain Sue: Genesis for many, but Sephiroth has a few of these qualities as well, particularly past the original game.
  • The Woobie: Cloud, oh Cloud. The sheer amount of crap he goes through....
  1. ↑ As broken as the base is, some dislike it for just those reasons: that its best virtue is PR.
  2. ↑ Not nearly as many as the Fan Dumb would have you believe, but also not none as the Hate Dumb would say.
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