Final Fantasy VII - Retrospective @ EDGE

EDGE has posted a new retrospective article for Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy VII’s greatest moment arrives when your party acquires an airship. From Midgar, and some local travels, the world had seemed large indeed (and by this point the average gamer would have spent days if not weeks on the game). The airship blows this all away: the world is huge, and packed full of towns, ruins and places to go and explore. It takes time to simply travel from one place to the next via airship, never mind exploring what now lies before you, and as the game unfolds the party travels to the upper limits of the atmosphere via rocket and to the bottom of the ocean via submarine. There are breeds of chocobo that allow you to cross previously closed terrain, or alternately you can breed up a racer and take him to the Gold Saucer to enter competition. It’s easy to forget that the world needs to be saved in Final Fantasy VII simply because, for once, it’s a virtual world that’s actually worth saving: the experience, and the memories, are permanent.