Nicolas Courcier - The Legend of Final Fantasy VII: Creation - Universe - Decryption

For Erik Gronkh Range

The Legend of Final Fantasy VII
by Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi
is published by Third Editions
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Any copy or reproduction, by any means, constitutes a copyright infringement subject to the penalties authorized by French Law No. 57-298 of March 11, 1957 pertaining to copyright protection.

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Edition: Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi

Text: Nicolas Courcier, Mehdi El Kanafi
Chapter III The Secrets of Final Fantasy VII. Lonard Neveu
Subsection The Music in Final Fantasy VII: Damien Mecheri
Subsection: The Symbolism of Advent Children: Selami Boudjerda
Proofreading: Thomas Savary
Layouts: Julie Gantois
Covers: Johann Blais
Cover Layout: Frdric Tom
Translated from French by: Jennifer Ligas (ITC Traductions)

This reference work is presented by Third Editions as a tribute to the video game metaseries
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.
The authors propose tracing the history of the Final Fantasy VII video game in this unique collection, which uses original thinking and analysis to interpret the inspirations, context, and content of this series.

Final Fantasy is a registered trademark of SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All rights reserved.
The visual content on the cover is inspired by the work of Tetsuya Nomura:
Final Fantasy VII character designer.

English Edition, copyright 2017, Third Editions.

All rights reserved.

ISBN 979-10-94723-55-5

Final Fantasy VII is a game that left its mark on an era. With its multiple levels of symbolism, players find it either unnerving or fascinating. And yes, like it or not, the truth remains that it revolutionized the world of digital edutainment in several small ways, not only in France but worldwide. First, the games advertisements divided those familiar with the medium into two groups: for the first time ever, Final Fantasy broke with Nintendo and was released for use on a console made by Sony, an outsider at the time. Back then, as a journalist who was fortunate enough to specialize in video games, this was a bit of a galactic slap! Second small revolution: the very first pictures of the game did not appear in Famitsu, or in any other Japanese magazine, but rather on the publishers new website. In 1996, the Web was still new; in fact, it was practically non-existent.Looking up pictures on the Internet was unprecedented, something that my colleagues and I had never done before. A Sony console? Internet pictures? Square has gone berserk!

Today, in an era of multiplatform games and social networks, this seems rather comical. At the time, however, it was perceived as completely mad! Using the eras 33k modem, it took an entire night to load an MP3; we thought this was magical! Well, maybe not at first, because frankly, we did wonder how Square could possibly distinguish itself by plagiarizing Alone in the Dark and its punk hero, accustomed as we were to such adorable little sprites.

And then, the juicy gossip and amusing anecdotes began to circulate. Did you hear that Square was flagged by the CIA? The company was suspected of planning to launch missiles using the powerful computers they had purchased to work out their graphics! To call attention to the amount of work that theyd just accomplished, the developers would later boast about this episode, sharing it with avid fans in the chat rooms of the 3615 Joypad (Minitel page of a French magazine). What, you thought there were Internet forums in 1997? And, of course, there were flying cars too, right?

Nevertheless, back then, the CIA story fired up our imaginations, sustaining us until the first trailers were released. And then, finally, the game arrived. We were presented with three adventure-packed CDs narrated in a revolutionary style, interspersed with cinematic videos; it was a far cry from the animations produced by PC Engine who continued to offer titles such as Far East of Eden for Saturn. Attractive, time-consuming, and vibrant, FF VII was an influential precursor of Japanese RPGs. Given that this genre was only available at home (in France) in the form of a few timid English translations of Phantasy Star for Megadrive, fans of JRPGs had to have a good Japanese dictionary if they wanted to enjoy regular adventures! But then, FF VII arrived in France, bursting onto the screen. Distributed by Sony, the game was promoted in numerousmisleadingtelevision ads highlighting the quality of cinematic scenes using computer-generated images. Admittedly, the game was so widely advertised that it was quite successful, but a lot of unhappy customers returned it to the stores because they believed that they were buying an interactive film rather than an RPG. FF VII is also a leading precursor of manga culture, with its trendy characters and narration that resemble the works of Japanese anime. It must be said that it arrived at the right time: Japanese anime cartoons, considered too violent, were no longer on television and the explosion of comics at the cinema was still a long way away.

FF VII, distributed with great fanfare by Sony, opened the door to the publishers other big games: FF Tactics, FF VIII, FF IX, and Romancing SaGa. Today, Squares merger with its long-time rival Enix is now complete, and the company has an office in Paris. High priced goodies (mostly made in China) no longer exist, and an official store now offers the same items that are available in Japan; new products come to us entirely translated with only a short three-month delay. This was unthinkable twenty years ago. Back then, as I well remember, RPG consoles were regarded as UFOs or oddities. Robots with blue hair and cat-women were a far cry from the standards imposed by the Ultima series, and others such as Bards Tale, that were popular at the time.

In this regard, FF VII also significantly helped pave the way for both Japanese and Western RPGs to move in a different artistic direction, proving that fantasy, whether dark, steam, or punk, could be in vogue. Today, it is fashionable to openly mock Final Fantasy VII and its imagery: there is, of course, a tortured hero, with a great big sword, who is accompanied by a ditzy heroine. Nevertheless, if the game is equally mocked in the age of