History VideoGame / FinalFantasyVII

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Barret tries to use this argument when Cait Sith [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out out]] on how many innocent people AVALANCHE killed when they blew up the mako reactor in Midgar, but Cait Sith calls him out on this as well, and even Barret doesn't seem fully convinced of his own argument.

%%* CoyGirlishFlirtPose: Aeris often uses this in Cloud's presence.

* EndIsNighEnding: After the midway point, the villain Sephiroth uses the Black Materia to summon a huge meteor that is gonna crash on Gaia in a few days' time. Cloud and Avalanche fly to the Northern Crater to stop Sephiroth. After the Final Battle, there is a credits scene: the group escapes from Northern Crater; the meteor is approaching Earth near the Northern Crater, but, as soon as it approaches the area, light green energy flows into the crater, and an image of Aeris is seen smiling to the camera. The scene fades to black; the on-screen text reads "500 years later: Red XIII is seen with its cubs among the wreckage of Midgar, which is now overtaken by nature".

-->'''Aeris''': Yeah, better leave it to Cloud!

** Some characters normally use "serious" weapons, but have a single joke one: One of Cid's weapons is a mop. One of Yuffie's weapons (the Oritsuru) is a giant paper crane. One of Aeris's weapons is an umbrella. One of Cloud's weapons is [[LethalJokeItem a bat with a nail in it]].

* PrayerPose: When Aeris/Aerith is killed, she is kneeling with her hands clasped in prayer.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Each of the playable characters bears similarities to the Sefirot in Jewish Mysticism. Cloud is Keter(Crown, Leadership), Barret is Gevurah(Strength, Judgment), Tifa is Tifaret(Spirituality, Beauty, Balance), Aerith is Chesed(Kindness, Mercy), Red XIII is Chokmah(Wisdom, Elder), Yuffie is Hod(Majesty, Splendor), Cait Sith is Binah(Understanding), Vincent is Netzach(Eternity), and Cid is Yesod(Foundation). The Lifestream could represent Malkuth(Kingdom).
* SadBattleMusic: In the battle against JENOVA Life. The music that plays is Aeris' Theme, because [[spoiler:Aeris was killed by Sephiroth moments earlier.]]

** [[spoiler:Instead of being left for dead after Sephiroth completely devastated them, Zack and Cloud are experimented on for four years by Hojo before Zack manages to break them out. Cloud is left a vegetable from being used as a test subject, and while he got better, his already weak mental state was completely shattered and he had self-induced Amnesia to cope with the events.]]

* FreudianThreat: Cloud, Tifa and Aeris threaten the resident pimp Don Corneo while likewise interrogating him by telling him they'll "cut", "rip" and "smash them" in turn.

* GambitRoulette: Arguably, [[spoiler: Aerith's calling of the White Materia, since she likely knew Sephiroth would be able to keep it under control.]] Doesn't actually work, however, since [[spoiler: By the time Meteor reaches the planet, it's too powerful for the White Materia alone to stop it.]]

* CowardlyBoss: Ultimate WEAPON runs away after the first, and only mandatory, fight against it in Mideel. The player is then given the option of fighting it again. It must be fought several times with it running away each time after its taken a certain amount of damage.

* FakeMemories: The Nibelheim incident, and the rest of Cloud's memories from his time with Shinra, have been corrupted in Cloud's minds due to the phsyical, magical, and mental trauma he's been through. The only person who can confirm his version of events is Tifa, and she was knocked out for some of it and is also traumatized to the point of not wanting to discuss it. The truth is more complex than Cloud imagined, and only gets explored once his entire false persona cracks.

* FakeMemories: The Nibelheim incident, and the rest of Cloud's memories from his time with ShinRa, have been corrupted in Cloud's minds due to the phsyical, magical, and mental trauma he's been through. The only person who can confirm his version of events is Tifa, and she was knocked out for some of it and is also traumatized to the point of not wanting to discuss it. The truth is more complex than Cloud imagined, and only gets explored once his entire false persona cracks.

* CowardlyBoss: Ultimate WEAPON runs away after the first, and only mandatory, fight against it in Mideel. The player is then given the option of fighting it again. It must be fought several times with it running away each time after it's taken a certain amount of damage.

* SticksToTheBack: Cloud's {{BFS}} somehow stays attached to his back without a sheathe or holster or anything.

* OurClonesAreDifferent: Has [[CallASmeerpARabbit one of the most bizarre definitions of the phrase ever conceived]]. In this case, "clone" refers to someone who's been injected by the cells of [[EldritchAbomination Jenova]] in an attempt to recreate the process that turned [[FallenHero Sephiroth]] into TheAce SuperSoldier. This one proved to be a little too different, since ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' refers to them as "Copies" instead.

** Dyne has reached the point where he simply wants to destroy everything. However, he doesn't get further than the mass murder of a handful of Gold Saucer employees.

** [[EarthShatteringKaboom Meteor]] is a spell that does just what you would think, summoning a giant meteor that plummets into the Earth and destroys everything. Though this qualifies more as [[OmnicidalManiac omnicide]] from above.

''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' recaps.

** The [[MyBloodyValentine Loveless]] posters in the opening movie.

** Master Tonberries can morphed into Ribbons. Also Sense, an ability that tells you when an enemy is weakened enough to morph, doesn't work on them.

->''"Beyond the edge of reality, lies a story of ultimate conquest. A story of war, and friendship. A story of a love that can never be, and a hatred that always was. And now, the most anticipated epic adventure of the year… will never come to a theater near you!''"\\

->''"Beyond the edge of reality, lies a story of ultimate conquest. A story of war, and friendship. A story of a love that can never be, and a hatred that always was! And now, the most anticipated epic adventure of the year… will never come to a theater near you!''"\\

->''"Beyond the edge of reality, lies a story of ultimate conquest. A story of war, and friendship. A story of a love that can never be, and a hatred that always was! And now, the most anticipated epic adventure of the year! Will never come to a theater near you!''"\\

->''"Beyond the edge of reality, lies a story of ultimate conquest.\\
A story of war, and friendship.\\
A story of a love that can never be, and a hatred that always was!\\
And now, the most anticipated epic adventure of the year!\\
Will never come to a theater near you!''"\\

-->-- '''[[https://youtu.be/DDxikKSDtZg?si=3EgFXds6vkzkOFNq US commercial]]'''

Will never come to a theater near you!\\

''Final Fantasy VII''"''

->''"There ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on!"''

** During the Wutai sidequest, Yuffie is supposed to steal all of your party's Materia, but she's programmed to take only 48. If you had more than 48 materia, then you will still have at least one.

* BonusBoss:
** The [=WEAPONs=]: Emerald and Ruby are powerful bosses can be found in the overworld in the later stages of the game's story.
** Going to Shinra Mansion will pit you against the Lost Number. It's a rough fight, but beating it nets you Vincent, the Odin summon and Red XIII's ultimate limit break.
** The five pagoda bosses in Wutai can be skipped, but beating them will get you Leviathan summon and Yuffie's ultimate limit break, so most players will go after them anyway.
** Snow in the Great Glacier is difficult to find and you might miss out on the fight even if you're looking. For beating her, you get the Alexander summon.

For nearly two decades, aside from the PC, this game, like all of Square's output in UsefulNotes/{{the fifth|GenerationOfConsoleVideoGames}} and [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames sixth console generations]], [[NoPortForYou was only playable]] on the [=PlayStation=] line of consoles, whether it be through backwards compatibility (up until the [=PS3=]) or UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}}. This since has changed with Square Enix bringing the game to Steam in 2013, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} phones in 2015, and {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}} phones in 2016. 2018 saw the announcement that ''VII'', alongside other [=PS1=] and [=PS2=]-era installments (''IX'', ''X/X-2 HD'', and ''XII: The Zodiac Age'') were at long last going to be released on a Creator/{{Nintendo}} platform through the Platform/NintendoSwitch, with the games being ported in 2019 to the Nintendo Switch and the UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

''Final Fantasy VII'' is the [[VideoGameLongRunners seventh entry]] in the [[RunningGag nerve-twistingly popular]] ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, released in 1997. It's one of the most famous [[EasternRPG Japanese role-playing games]] of all time, as it helped extend console {{RPG}}s into the West's mainstream gamer community and was seen as the UsefulNotes/PlayStation's KillerApp in its battle against Sega and Nintendo.

Squaresoft (now Square Enix) published ''Final Fantasy VII'' on Sony's [=PlayStation=] console after a falling-out with Nintendo over the latter's extreme censorship policies, as well as a reported refusal to move away from the industry-standard ROM cartridge for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, which severely limited the scope of games. Sony was more than willing to permit more "mature" content on its systems; coupled with the then-impressive storage capacity of the CD-ROM format, this proved to be much more accommodating to Square's design philosophy than Nintendo's restrictions. Squaresoft's change in platform allegiance is said to been a [[GameChanger major contribution]] to the [=PlayStation's=] massive success in the UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars, with many developers [[FollowTheLeader following Square into Sony's camp]].

For nearly two decades, aside from the PC, this game, like all of Square's output in UsefulNotes/{{the fifth|GenerationOfConsoleVideoGames}} and [[UsefulNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames sixth console generations]], [[NoPortForYou was only playable]] on the [=PlayStation=] line of consoles, whether it be through backwards compatibility (up until the [=PS3=]) or UsefulNotes/{{Emulation}}. This since has changed with Square Enix bringing the game to Steam in 2013, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} phones in 2015, and {{UsefulNotes/Android|Games}} phones in 2016. 2018 saw the announcement that ''VII'', alongside other [=PS1=] and [=PS2=]-era installments (''IX'', ''X/X-2 HD'', and ''XII: The Zodiac Age'') were at long last going to be released on a Creator/{{Nintendo}} platform through the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, with the games being ported in 2019 to the Nintendo Switch and the UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth'' for UsefulNotes/PlayStation5

* SpellMyNameWithAnS
** You could probably power several continents with the sheer energy spent on debating whether to use "Aeris" or "Aerith". As of recent English releases (such as ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'') and from the very beginning in Japanese publications, "Aerith" has become the canon spelling, but because people ''still'' cling to the "Aeris" spelling from the original US release (and it has yet to be corrected in reprints), even Website/TheOtherWiki uses it - but only when referring to ''Final Fantasy 7'' itself.
** The Spanish translation of ''Kingdom Hearts'' uses ''Aeris'' (for Aerith) and ''Sefirot'' (for Sephiroth), like in the original translation of FFVII, but they are changed to the canon equivalent in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. Some Spanish players find those unfortunate because Sefirot is the usual transliteration of the Hebrew word, and as such it was about the only thing the Spanish BlindIdiotTranslation did ''right''.
** "Shin-Ra" (in Japan) versus "Shinra" (in translations), which was rather curious because it clearly said "Shin-Ra" in the company's logo, in the English version as well. Japan has adopted the "Shinra" parsing in text, but the logo continues to read "Shin-Ra".
** More obscure examples (taken from the old ''Official Establishment File'' artbook) include "Yrena" (Elena), "Leno" (Reno), and "Liviathan" (Leviathan).