izigame.me

Why should you buy this game? why, to catch yourself one of the finest chocobo there is. Forget the riveting story, gameplay and characters, and it's amazing background music, what you should be doing is catching chocobo, breeding the chocobo, and getting yourself a green, black, red, or even a gad damn GOLDEN chocobo, which can walk on water, and travel the very ocean.
Seriously though, this game is a classic, and it's not a classic for nothing. This game when it came out would basically be this days Last of Us for it's story, or Elden Ring for it's gameplay. I know some might hear that gameplay point and go "nuh-uh, it can't be, it's a turn based, only third-person action games have good gameplay". For one, that's not true, and two, consider that at the time, all different kinds of gameplay types were equally considered by all for gaming. it was decently rare for one to only play one genre of game. In fact, this game is probably the first ever AAA game.
The story is great. A simple description would be climate change, gotta save the planet. A better description but still decently simple would be that the Planet is dying. The human population rely on energy pumped from out of the planet, and the Company that does the pumping basically runs the massive city of Midgar (so it's also like a corporation controls the people game). Your main man is a mercenary, who gets paid to help a group of planet savers commit one persons terrorism, another persons freedom fighterism. However, the planet is in even bigger danger. The Shinra Corporation and their energy pumping aren't the only threat to the planet, as there is evil plotting from a certain someone on a mission to conquer what he believes to be rightfully his. This character I speak of is actually one of gamings most classic villains. He's like the Darth Vader of gaming (in terms of vibe and how much of a threat he is. If we're talking about terms of iconic, that'd probably go to Bowser or something).
The cast of characters you bring into battle with you (so the main cast) are easily the most recognisable in the series. They all go through their own trials and tribulations, with Cloud Strife's jumbled up memories, and his insecurities of being a failure. Tifa Lockhart's care for her friends, but being unable to tell them how it is. Barrett has to deal with the guilt of his past to his home and his friend. And of course Aerith, who doesn't really have any trials to go through, but is a key point to the plot of the story, and is single-handedly responsible for making a whole generation of children cry. There are plenty of other characters in the party, but I personally view those four as more of the main characters.
Now onto one of my favourite parts of any game, the background music. The music in this game is absolutely amazing, with the main composer being none other than the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, who worked on basically all the Final Fantasy games except for some non-numbered ones, and Final Fantasy XVI (I could be wrong about the non-numbered ones). I have so many favourite songs in this game, but I'm a bit of an idiot, and only wrote down about 7 of them. Some of my favourite include: Highwind takes to the Skies, Flowers Blooming in the Church, Life Stream, Those Chosen by the Planet, and Ahead on our Way. Ones I didn't write down but I remember the title of are Let the Battles Begin, and the Final Fantasy 7 overworld/main theme. I do also suggest hearing the remakes for these songs, Though I don't think Highwind takes to the Skies has a remake version yet, because the third game in the FFVII Remake trilogy will feature that one, and has not come out yet.
I also suggest the main Final Fantasy theme. Not the main Final Fantasy VII theme, but the main theme for the entirety of Final Fantasy. It's kind of hard to find, as the name is probably confuses the search bar, but if you look up "FFVIII - Final Fantasy" or whatever games version you want to hear, then hyphen, then Final Fantasy, you'll hopefully find it. I personally prefer The eighth and ninth games version of the Final Fantasy theme". I also Also suggest " Prelude". It's a simple going up and down the harp or piano for most of it, later games would then add in a bit more orchestral music alongside the harp or piano. I didn't think much of it when I first heard it, but when I played Final Fantasy VII Remake, it was the main menu theme, and at around the half way point of the game, I noticed it, and it made me feel like I'm playing a epic fantasy game. It really transports you to the world, no matter what game in the series you're playing.
This is the closing paragraph. If you like, or are fine with turn based games, and you also love to be told amazing stories, This game is a must buy. If you're still iffy on it, just get the Remake, then maybe you'll love so much you decide to play the older game. That's how I started playing this game. (This isn't my first playthrough, I played it on my Xbox first back in 2020 I believe). Easily in my top ten game series of all time.