The Final Fantasy VII Romance

For the past few hours I’ve been watching trailers and footages of demos of games for the PlayStation 3, and it’s nothing short of amazing. It hit me how games are getting more and more technologically advanced, mostly because of the progressively and aggressively modern consoles.

Graphics are enhanced as expected, but the gameplay… that takes you on a roll. Take the game Killzone for instance, which is an FPS (First-Person Shooter). Throwing away all the dull aspects of FPSes like Counter-Strike, you’re placed immediately in a real-life-like situation and..it plays as if you’re truly at war, unlike CS where the radio commands get so repetitive and fake, the artificial motions of players…

It’s utterly indescribable by words. You gotta watch it to know what exactly I’m talking about.

The E3 Expo has also brought news of the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a movie of sorts but it will not be a theatrical release – only on DVD and on a format exclusive to the handheld PSP.

For those who have played the game Final Fantasy VII, you might be able to understand my excitement and uncontained lust for the movie-sequel. Apart from the stunning graphics which recreated the main characters who have been very dearly missed, this movie brings me back to the days I played FFVII.

When Aeris was killed (which isn’t a big spoiler, just like how the Star Wars spoiler about Darth Vader being the father of Luke and Leia isn’t really a spoiler), I actually felt something for her – and people feeling something for a character made out of pixels would mean the game is really something. I’ve read how countless of people cried at that particular scene. >_> And I stupidly believed the hoaxes that Aeris can be resurrected, but in the end Aeris is only revived in my mind.

FFVII introduces me to the world of RPG games, and if you do not play videogames, I think it’s a little sad and you’re missing out a world not only for its entertaining benefits, but other subliminal educational purposes as well. Just like how if you don’t play sports means you are not living or associated with the sports realm, not playing videogames is just the same. FFVII brings me back HUGE nostalgia of this game ultimate storyline and gameplay – and remains as the best RPG I’ve ever played.

The first trailer for FFVII: AC is rather emotional and nostalgic - for me, at least. The voice of the little girl Marlene, adopted by Barrett, the faces of Yuffie and Tifa… and finally Cloud.

My romance with the game has just begun, and I’ll be marrying it on September when AC is finally, finally released after years of waiting. All the agony of waiting.

Memorable quotes from first trailer (not 100% sure of the Japanese transcripts):

Girl narrating: “Nomi mo shinjite mo ii -- nante moteiru?”
“It’s okay to die,” -- do you believe that?

Young kid: “Yada! Kuraudo ni ai tai!”
No, I want to see Cloud!

Cloud: “Un, ore wa yuru saretai.”
Yes, I want to be forgiven.

Girl narrating: “Watashitachi omoi de ni maketa no?”
Were we defeated by our memories?