Final Fantasy VII - A Literary Analysis
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 พ.ย. 2024
- Just in time for the remake, the Game Professor takes an in-depth look at the story and themes of one of the most beloved games ever made.
1:32 - Sector 1: "So let's hear your story"
20:16 - Sector 2: "A golden shiny wire of hope"
26:11 - Sector 3: "Constructed piece by piece"
29:27 - Sector 4: "The Planet's dyin'"
43:05 - Sector 5: "I don't wanna think of them as dead"
57:37 - Sector 6: "I am what you see"
1:12:44 - Sector 7: "After all, Cloud, you are..."
1:29:09 - Sector 8: "Nothing is meaningless"
Note: Some people are experiencing some distortion during Cid's portion of the summary; it's something on TH-cam's side, so I hope they fix it and I'm sorry if you get it!
Enjoy the series? Support it on Patreon!
/ gamesaslit101
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RESEARCH SOURCES:
Final Fantasy VII: An Oral History
www.polygon.co...
How Final Fantasy VII’s Cross-Dressing Segment Saved My Life
/ how-final-fantasy-viis...
How should we talk about Final Fantasy VII's crossdressing sequence?
boingboing.net...
On Barret's translation:
kotaku.com/fin...
Sephiroth and Me: Playing Final Fantasy VII As A Jewish Person
deorbital.medi...
The Kabbalah and FFVII
mythrauders.li...
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Music:
Arcade Academy, by Pixel Head -
/ arcade-acadmey
Art:
Jimi Bonogofsky-Gronseth - www.jkbono.com/
Twitter: / gamesaslit
Facebook: / gamesasliterature
Patreon: / gamesaslit101
One of my favorite moments in the game is, honestly, that filler-y section directly after the Kalm flashback. You either need to do a sidequest to dodge around a massive snake, level up enough to treat it as a possible boss encounter, or potentially use some sort of cheesy strategy. Either way, getting past the snake takes considerable, dedicated effort.
And then you make it past, only to see one of these monsters you just spent the last half hour or more trying to deal with, carelessly skewered on display.
Because of the flashback you just finished, you know how powerful Sephiroth is. But this is different. The flashback shows that, five years ago, Cloud was nothing compared to Sephiroth. Here, it shows that your full party, headed by a much stronger Cloud you spent the last several hours playing as... is still nothing compared to Sephiroth. Your considerable, dedicated effort most likely just avoids the snake; Sephiroth seemingly effortlessly skewers it as a trophy.
Yeah this ^
Was a great thing to put into the game and show us that he’s just as powerful as Frieza was on Namek!
Square were great at using gameplay as narrative. Tellah summoning meteor without enough MP springs to mind as another example.
Haha same here! I look forward to it every time. As a kid it was always an exciting part of the game. It meant I finally got to control my party, I finally got to grind, and individualize the experience. And explore an open world. And get matra magic which i used to grind for limit breaks. The story gives you wonderful breathing room there.
All of this, before being confronted by the snek that will casually wipe your party out no matter how you've prepared, and the reveal that sephiroth is a super being.
Midgar felt like it must be half the game when playing through it the first time. But in reality, the game starts only when you get out of it. The journey is going to be a long one.
The question now is, were those jenovas powers or sephiroths?!
@@FreeFlow__ pretty sure technically Genova, since the real Sephiroth body was in the northern crater.
Final Fantasy VII has been important to me since I was a child. It was more important to my grandfather. For several years after his wife of 51 years had passed away, he struggled to bring dementia to terms. He played Final Fantasy 7. Where he used to play multiple games or explore sidequests, in this time he just played the story over, and over, and over again. Restarting every 10 days or so for at least a couple of years until the time when his mind leveled out some, he had to have read this story more than 40, 50 times. Although I would always have said that I loved the game and knew it well, I never gave his interest much thought. In my lifetime, this is a tale from the spring.
So I was listening tonight about rebuilding identity, and corrupted memory, and letting go the person who has defined you. My eyes opened wide. For my grandfather, this is a tale from the winter. And suddenly I could see more clearly years after he died one of the men I knew best in the world.
"He even gave me a gift, look! Wait a minute. Aren't you supposed to give gifts AFTER you come back? Ha ha... Grandpa sure is strange! Haa... ha ha... ha......"
"Hmm... So maybe we'll run into him again somewhere."
"Yeah... maybe... Thanks, Cloud."
Bro practice your creative writing in school and leave the comment section alone.
Very moving, thanks for sharing.
@@sirgreedy88what a rude thing to say to a guy telling a touching story about his grampa
@@erikmclennan3934 It's a load of BS just like most things people claim to be true on the internet. Stop being so gullible.
@@sirgreedy88 by that logic (no logic at all), you are also BS
One extra bit of the "greed vs. life" analysis that I just got is Cloud's early dialogue. Almost every motivation he has in the initial Mako reactor mission is getting paid. "Where's my money." "I'd like my money now." And Barret explicitly indicates the fee is coming from Marlene's college savings.
It's also worth noting that he never gets paid for that second job, because he meets Aerith immediately after Airbuster, and his motivations change. Her impact on him is even more pronounced in the remake.
Some people say FFVII is overrated. Your video made me see despite all its accolades, the game is underrated. Great analysis professor!
I’ve thought this for a while, that game deserved all of the popularity and prize it’s gotten and then some. I’d agree on the underrated thing though, because if it was thought of the way it should’ve been, it would’ve never received expansions to its story like Advent Children or Crisis Core that think they can improve on what this game does, which would be near impossible for any game to do.
The way I've always said it is that the game's overrated for the wrong reasons.
It's almost biblical or something. I mean it could be part of the bible canon.. Epic and such an iconic game for me.. and many more..
It kind of is overrated. They literally slap ffvii on everything. It's the first 3d FF, yes the story is really good. But it doesn't mean it's not overrated
Those people have never played it.
Just barely over 19 minutes to summarize the core events of FFVII, including time to let the biggest moments have some impact and a few jokes. Genuinely impressive.
@@signalloss h
I watched this all the way to the end, and I gotta say, I think this is the BEST Final Fantasy 7 video I have ever watched. Absolutely AMAZING
I'm so glad to hear that!!!
I'd love if it got shared around when it goes public tomorrow; I worked so hard on it and I'm afraid the actual reception will be limited. I'm so happy you liked it. :)
I'd love a more compressed version just digging into the politics because I know most my boring ass friends probably won't listen to this whole thing like i did, but I'mma send it any ways.
An abridged version would be amazing.
Watched for my third time. All the way through. Still trying to get my wife to give it a shot (the video).
@Games As Literature would u do a long retrospective on suikoden 1 and 2?plus,Xzenogears
You need to hear Maximillian Dood
I think it would have been very powerful if when Nanaki declares his name proudly that the game forces his name to change in all menus. He becomes the one party member who you don't get to name because he knows so clearly and confidently who and what he is.
Love it
really, really hoping Rebirth goes with this!
That’d be amazing
@@magicalgirl4I mean, we don't name anybody in the Remake/Rebirth games, so... it wouldn't be quite the same, impact wise.
@@loganbigmothe closest we got, is after barret followed nanaki to the gi cave where they saw seto. barret never calls him red xiii again, only nanaki.
Also, I feel like Cait Sith's death is simply there to trick players into thinking death is not permanent and your character will survive anyway and then almost immediately having Aerith actually die makes the impact of her death even bigger.
Also Cait Sith plays a bit into the "heroic" Hollyeood-style sacrifice trope which Sakaguchi says was not what he intended to do with Aerith so we have that going on too.
I fully agree, it was used as a kind of fake out.
BOOM this character is dead. Nah jk.
BOOM this character is dead. Srsly.
For real though, I think it might have been more of a character development for Cait Siths sacrifice to have a real consequence, like if that puppet was the only one Reeve had to control and that he would need to step up and join the party physically and actively abandoning shinra. You may lose an informant from shinra but perhaps mayor domino could fill that roll.
It may be a stretch but it would give real consequence to the action while still serving as that fake out.
@@LeBluLemon Having reeve join the party physically thematically would have been the best approach.
I can imagine though that there were gameplay issues. You lose all of Cait Sith's abilities to be replaced by something else. Other game play mechanics that probably would have felt similar to the other characters.
@@David-uc4hc He could potentially keep the megaphone as a means to locally control small robots and attack in a similar way to Lulu from FFX, where his minion would just walk up to something, bonk it and come back. That way the slots and dice limits look would still be within the theme of being wacky and open a way to possibly get better limits. Cait Sith always felt unfinished to me in that way.
I was never able to feel any attachment to them and would have really enjoyed seeing the lighter side of Reeve if he were actually travelling with us.
That was all intentional if memory serves right. It was mentioned in an interview with the developers. It's exactly why Cait Sith's "death" was so overplayed. So that Aerith's death was even more jarring.
Dying in battle =/= DEATH
It is like a KO. Which you revive by Phoenix down.
If Phoenix down could have revived so easily, then President Shinra would be alive already .
18 years ago in college I said to a professor some day there will be analyses of stories in rpgs and he of course thought I was an idiot
Really, 18? He must have been oblivious to games, since that was after the ps2 came out. That's 3-4 generations of consoles with meaningful capacity for world building and story, not counting the computer.
Yep, and most people old enough to have been professors at that time didn't know the first thing about video games. They were still Pac-Man and Dig Dug in their minds, just more advanced and violent. Hell, lots of people that age STILL don't understand that video games even have stories at all.
@@GameProf I'm one of those lovers who play COD for the story, like a NERD.
I did film studies in the mid-2000s and immediately drew parallels between how movies were treated in the early days and games, and 95% of those same university lecturers who were passionate about that history swatted games away with a dismissive backhand like yours did. Only one of them tried to bring in a few shining examples like Silent Hill 2 when he could but the rest of the department saw him as the eccentric weirdo and just kinda humored him
Better than the ones we have now still…
I wonder if Cait Sith's arc at the Temple of the Ancients is a kind of tonal red herring for Aerith. Playing up the pathos of a sacrifice that's not a real sacrifice and is immediately reversed might be meant to prime the player to expect character choices without real consequences, which is then subverted hard with Aerith soon after.
That’s a great explanation for that scene, especially since it made a lot of people hate that character as a result. My main issue with it is that Cait Sith truly redeems himself later by saving Tifa and Barret from execution, but because of how that temple scene is framed people don’t think about that later part that serves the purpose his “sacrifice” is thought to be but isn’t.
I like this idea
Thanks for spending so much time talking about Barrett. Most discussions of the game tend to only mention him in passing despite him being one of the central characters (I wonder why 🙄) but he fits in so well with the themes of the game and is one of my all time favorite characters, there's so much depth to him and he's so often reduced to flat stereotypes, so thanks for giving him his due.
Kath Flynn because he’s a neighbor
I love Barret too and I think the reason why he's skipped over so much is mostly because people don't actually pay attention. His story isn't as in your face as Cloud's, Aerith's or even Vincent's so people just view him as a side character.
It's because although his arc is well done, it's pretty much one of the first things that happens. He gets his arc in north corel and with Dyne early on and it completes his motivation pretty much. Obviously he gets more development throughout the game but he's not focused on again after you leave North Corel and he doesn't really change much as a person until disk 3 when he talks about how maybe he was getting too far ahead of himself all along and that his terrorist acts just straight up weren't an ethical way to fight Shinra and he should have done something else. I als think your attachment to the characters is somewhat dependent on who you choose to have in your party most often. Usually, (after Aerith's death) I was using Tifa and Barret which is why I love Barret a lot but I'm definitely not as close with Yuffie or Vincent and definitely not Cait Sith. Even Nanaki isn't as close to me as those two because I just used him less and saw him less so I bet a lot of people just didn't use Barret a ton and didn't see the mature support he gave to the party when it was really needed or the fire that he sparked in all of them simply because the game makes you choose the characters you want to be most important.
@@ethanhudson2009 also it doesn't help that right afterwards we have the chocobo races which negates any time for processing what just happened to him.
I think a big reason they don't talk about Barret much is because he doesn't have some form of past connection between the hero and/or villain
I can still remember my first literature class, I was very excited for it, a class where we analyze books, stories... what's not to like? The teacher. One of the first things he said to us was that someone can't learn anything from fantasy. That left a bad taste in my mouth, but I (naively) accepted it as fact, he was the teacher after all. You have no idea how much I love your analysis, you gave a lecture treating a fantasy game like he treated his venerated classic literature books. You also didn't analyze it in spite of it being a game, but understood that the media can be used as a powerful storytelling device. Your video demonstrates that a story isn't lesser by having magic or monsters, one can still tell a moving and important story using these elements, just as the media doesn't diminish the quality or relevancy of the story being told. In the end, I guess this is a long way to say thank you and, deep down, I feel kinda vindicated.
P.S. The teacher wasn't old, late 20s maximum and this was about a decade ago, fantasy books were already very popular.
He was wrong.
It's often young teachers that teach their opinions as fact.
I wish I could bean em with a copy of Lotr complete all in 1 edition.
The literature academia world is pretty much all gatekeeping from the front door to the back wall. None of them can step off the smell of their own shit.
OMG I literally gave a presentation yesterday on just the Politics of FF7 to a group of friends as part of a quarantine activity and I covered a lot of the same topics and examples in your video. I feel so validated! The rest of your video was amazing too. Thank you!
Subscribed!
Jesus what underrated content, major props to you man, you exude professionally
I would love these on the Final Fantasy games. Tactics and FF9 would be my personal favorites in terms of narrative!
This is the best FFVII analysis to exist. The fact you managed to go in depth on all of the characters in the party and still cohesively cover Cloud's full story is amazing. This is so thourough and detailed, and puts into words everything that is so beloved about FF7's themes and story elements. Thank you for this video, thank you for caring to take so much time in writing this video.
You helped me relive my favorite story. This meant a lot to me.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you
I'm genuinely happy to hear that. 😊
I just wanted to say your channel is criminally underrated, I specifically seek out video essays on videogames as both a literature nerd and videogame fan, and your channel scratches that itch so well! I'm glad I've stumbled upon it :D
I just wanted to say a few things. One, this is an amazing FF7 analysis, that really cuts to the core of the themes in the game. You did a great job acknowledging both the darker themes in the game and the sense of hope it has despite that. Two, I wanted to mention that your thoughts on nihilism being fittingly pointless as a theme reminded me of a debate we had ages ago about Fatal Frame and it's cynical endings, ultimately leading to us butting heads over if life has meaning or not. Although I still bitterly feel that life is pointless, I want to say that I am glad you can acknowledge the harsher parts of life and still give people hope. Your analyses shows me that despite my cynicism, there are kind and smart people out there doing their best to help people. So, thank you.
If that's how you feel, I strongly recommend Nier: Automata and the entirety of FFXIV up to Endwalker. That second one may seem quite costly and a huge time commitment but, as someone not far off base of where you're at... I 100% assure you that it is worth it. And I don't use 100% lightly in my life.
16:20 no, it doesn't. Zack's (optional) flashback is my favorite scene from the game. It blew me away when I discovered it, by chance, on my second playthrough. That kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore. Truly amazing sequence
Back on college, I turned my senior thesis into a literary analysis on this game just to prove that it could be done. Really cool to see that becoming a more mainstream endeavor. Excellent video, loved your analysis!
do u still have it lol
@@maira_ae No, thank god. lol It was the peak of my academic pretentiousness and I'd probably die of cringe if I had to revisit it today.
@@kevinbrown8867Yeah, it sounded very cringe.
It’s been an emotional few years for me; politically, morally, ethically, emotionally, physically, and existentially. I dont know what it is about this game but seeing it presented in this way, with care and insight, brought me to tears.
I acknowledge you, you are worthy, and you are strong. I hope you are well and fulfilled
I work at a hospital, and the last few years have been unbelievably stressful and draining for me.
14:10 Also worth to note Scarlet isn't just a CEO, shes in charge of weapons development expert and literally blows off the head of a random shinra guard and shot Barret and Dyne better than a squadron of trained soldiers.
Only to lose a slap fight with a bartender.
@@BPTNY Tifa has a mean hook though.
@@BPTNY Eh, the whole scene is weird. In a weaponless 1v1, Tifa should have floored her immidieatly. Scarlet isnt a trained person by any means.
@Fion Silberpfeil Never know. Would you expect a bartender working at a dive bar in the slums to be a master martial artist who was trained in the mountains by a lone wandering drifter?
I made a mistake. My comnent was aimed @Fion Silberpfeil
this is a really great video, and i partcularly appreciate the character breakdowns. ive been replaying ff7 for the last few months and i really fully appreciate the complexity of the characters more now. i love that cloud, tifa, aerith, and barrett all are very different from their surface appearances, which is funny because i think you see so many people misremembering their characters as what they appear to be: barret is just remembered as an angry Mister T, when he actually has really sensitive and complex story and character moments, aerith is often remembered as a solemn and kind healer, when shes brash and impulsive, Cloud is remembered as cool and taciturn, when the real cloud we see develop as people break through the barriers hes built around himself is not like that at all.
Really beautiful stuff, for someone for whom it's been a favourite game for 12 years, and you managed to tie its themes so well in a way that I would have had a hard time trying to. FFVII is so huge and ambitious that it reached beyond itself and for me it represents the peak of video games. And while I'm a little cautious with the remake(right now I'm just praying that it holds up), it's good to know that the PSX game stands strong and has only superficially aged.
Your closing remark on whether the Planet chooses whether or not humanity will live I think was tastefully answered in the editing, just as the lifestream, being literally a primordial force of human spirits, rose to boost the effect of Holy magic. It was everybody's effort. The way you explained it made that closing scene so much more beautiful and significant to me.
I do enjoy Cait Sith's "heroic" "sacrifice" in the Temple as a sort of fake-out for Aerith's death, they play up this melodramatic heroic angle, show it means nothing, then while your guard is down the actual character death happens unceremoniously. But you're right that it doesn't do a ton for Reeve's own arc.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched this video. VII was my first Final Fantasy and one of the greatest gifts my childhood best friend gave me by introducing me to it on his brothers PlayStation.
This analysis doesn’t miss and I feel the emotion of all the memories I have well up with each section.
Thanks man. Keep doing the good work.
Awesome analysis, hope you make another one talking about the remake! Subscribed
no
@@johnr4836 yes
Thank you for doing this great video. This is impressive in its depth, and watching this now that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out is a really good way to remember the OG game.
Despite being called a literary analysis, you went above and beyond by talking about how the story and characters are expanded upon with the gameplay(in particular Sephiroth with him as a temporary party member). This is a very important detail that could easily be skipped over and couldn't be done anywhere else except for the medium of video games since it requires the audience to interact. Thank you for not leaving that stone unturned, this was a great video essay.
I do my best to acknowledge the interactive elements! Studying multimedia art forms as literature means looking at how the medium tells its stories and reinforces its themes in ways unique to itself, and video games have a LOT of interesting stuff to talk about on that front.
The shot that goes up to the president blasting opera while sector 7 gets crushed is so incredible every time I see it. So perfect.
You're back professor! I love your analysis videos more than the last review videos. FFVII is one I've been wanting to hear your thoughts on for the longest time. This is a real treat and the one that gets me to sign up for your patreon. Thank you. :D
The planning and writing involved in making this video must’ve been huge. Fantastic video. Appreciate all the effort you put in 👍🏻
Great video! It's probably one of my favorites you've put out, it's a really well done, in-depth look at a great game with a great story. Seriously impressed with how much you managed to touch on here, it's cool to have a video that really does feel like it manages to touch on every major subject in this huge game. Here's hoping that the remake can do justice to the original's highs while touching up the few lows that it did have, but even in the worst-case scenario if it's a total mess top to bottom, the original will always be as great as it's ever been.
This is genuinely the best channel on TH-cam. The quality and everything else is out of the roof. Definitely subscribed good stuff man
Reeve and Cait Sith aren't exactly one and the same, Cait Sith is implied to be an at least partially autonomous robot that takes orders from Reeve (it's not like he could be directly controlling it like a remote control car or something 24/7) so when Caith Sith sacrifices itself at the temple of the Ancients, THAT Cait Sith really did "die." It was just replaced by a manufactured copy. That's what Caith Sith is talking about before he "dies." It would be like if you died and were replaced by a clone with all your memories.
If you haven't looked info FFIX yet, I think it has some interesting contrasts on your life-affirming take on VII. To me, 9 is a story about the inevitability of death where most of the villains are desperately trying to avoid it (either for themselves or for their civilization) and the heroes accept it as a part of life. It also has something like a Red XIII/Nanaki naming situation, except where a character chooses a name for herself over the one that was given to her, and the player does get to choose that one.
FFXIV also has an interesting take on life and death.
"Hmm, so this is a 'dagger', is it? Alright, I've decided, from now on I shall be called 'StirFry'."
This is fantastic, absolutely worth watching all the way through.
This is fantastic, thank you so much for making this. I have played through this game probably 5 times and every time something else in it speaks to me. It truly is a special piece of gaming history. Downloading on Steam as I type this.
Amazing analysis thanks for making this. This game is my favorite game of all time for a multitude of reasons to long to list. Im sure fans of the game know what I'm talking about. From the themes, down to the music and the characters. Nothing I have seen in the gaming industry today has come even close to the impact FFVIII has had on me and the millions of players who have experienced this masterpiece of a game.
I love how vivid the symbolism is in this game. Each character must find an identity. But their identities are also tied to the central themes of life and exploitation of life. Each character is shaped by death, but they are also shaped by their own failures and by how Shinra has exploited them. Half the cast are experiments and Cait Sith is literally a puppet! In many ways, they must recognize that their failures are tied to the corruption of their world in order to find forgiveness, and atonement comes as they seek to heal the world in response to the corruption they've participated in. Also, each character is either born into or stripped of all sense of societal purpose by being reduced to classless puppets. These are people who are are defined by their society as being of no purpose other than to fuel the corporation. And they only find purpose through each other and through Aerith as they try to save the planet. Just look at the symbolism of the white materia. It has no value to people because it can't be used for power or battle. But, its ability to communicate with the planet is ultimately what helps Aerith save it.
I was not expecting to so completely and totally blown away. What a thorough and beautiful take on this game. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
I absolutely loved this video, it reaffirms why FF7 is such a special game, thank you so much for your insight.
Thanks for the video Professor. I think this is your best work yet, and one of the best analyses I've seen of Final Fantasy VII on the internet. I really enjoyed it.
This is so incredible, I watched the entire thing. Very underrated video. Thank you for this
Well I put this on to fall asleep too, here I am listening to it with my full attention, brilliant analysis. This is genuinely my favourite game of all time I still play it and do a full playthrough at least once a year! I just wish I could go back and play it for the first time one last time, I was 11 when this came out and absolutely blown away by it. Great video. New subscriber
@1:29:55 I love these long video formats where you can articulate yourself. Your videos have a mature and professional quality akin to a university lecture, fitting for a channel called "Games as Literature". I still remember your video on Phoenix Wright and faith and it helped resolve some challenging moments in my life, namely developing a healthy sense of faith. I didn't expect to come across that in a game about an attorney. Cloud's crisis of identity and the lifestream sequence hit really close to home for me, especially that line about being the master of his own illusionary world. It was that moment I realized he wasn't some brooding stoic but a very relatable character struggling with his own sense of worth.
If it's any assurance, my literature professor vouched for video games as a legitimate literary art form and recommended investigating the indie scene.
This is a brilliant video. I'm in the middle of the slow and painstaking process of arranging and recording the entire FFVII soundtrack on acoustic guitar, and this in depth look has offered a new perspective on a game I've know for so long. This fresh take has given me new inspiration and energy to bring to my own project. So, thank you!!
Oh cool! If you don't mind, post a link here or at my Twitter or something once you've got it done! I'd love to hear it!
@@GameProf for sure! Currently I'm through disc 1 of 4 (the end of Midgar), which up are up on my channel (I add them as I go rather than one super long video at the end)
Beautiful game and well written video. Modern games that act more as consumer products than as artistic endeavors simply cannot compete.
As strange as that is, it's clear that a fair number of people view FFVII's story as little more than Emo Sword Guy Versus Mommy Issues Sword Guy.
They'll claim that the environmentalist themes aren't really there after leaving Midgar, think that Shinra is "correctly" portrayed as being okay because Rufus took down Sephiroth's barrier with the Sister Ray, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's some overlap with people who had ignored Aerith's presence in the game up to the point where she died.
Anyway, I guess I should subscribe now so I don't miss videos I'm interested in for nearly a full year again...
Wait, I'm actually already subscribed and somehow still missed it? Jeez, thanks, TH-cam...
I just want to tell you brother, I really appreciate you for doing this. Growing up, I understood most (now I understand all) of the deepest themes of this incredible work of art, but it was impossible to explain to people. When looking for it on youtube, for the longest time I couldn’t find it there either. I love youtubers like ProJared and Happy Console Gamer and the videos they’ve made on this game, but they rarely or never get into the deeper philosophical aspects of it. You just spent an hour and a half laying it bare in the way I’ve been looking for since youtube was a thing (I’m 35, grew up in the 90’s.) Thank you dude. Just fucking thank you.
Who knows if you ever will, but I'd love this kind of deep dive on FFX. Sin, Zanarchin, The Summoner, Tidus. It would be great.
Nice to see some ffx fans. I lean towards ff7 but the conversation on final fantasy always gravitates towards 7. Talking about other games always mixes it up.
Yes... once again another one strong on identity!
I got you. If I do it before him anyway
@@josesosa3337FFVII and FFX are very similar. Very similar story progression and themes.
Dude. I played this game in 1997 at 13 and have played it nearly every year. You’ve comprehensively stated the reasons why the game is so great and why people keep coming back to it. “Caring for the planet, honoring those of the past, and refining your sense of self…being part of the same process” is brilliant. Well done my friend.
FF7 has the best story by far in all of FF and pretty much all RPGs.
There are few channels I am super pumped to see an hour and a half video from. This is one of those channels.
Only Final Fantasy 7 could reach Ferngully levels of environmentalist unsubtlety and yet NOT make it the main point.
If humanity ever solves the problem of megacorporations destroying the planet, FF7 will still be worthwhile and meaningful, as it tells us so much more about life and it's value than just what affects us right now, about how much we should value the people in our lives. It's only an "environmentalist" story in part, and that elevates it above features like Ferngully that put environmentalism front and center, that build their stories around it rather than use it as a piece of the whole like FF7 does.
yeah the environmental stuff is only really that important at the start and end of the story. it's dropped in the middle when it focuses more on the other themes.
@@megamike15 EXACTLY! And pretending it's basically Captain Planet: the JRPG is a HUGE disservice to the passion, creativity, and hours and hours of work that went into the game.
Simple reason this works (and why many politically charged modern stories fail): the most important part of any story is the characters and how they relate to the world and each other. Modern stories are just preachy horseshit with no thought to the actual characters, the MESSAGE is the focus of the story. In FF7, the environmental message is the canvas with which to tell a personal story that people can relate to, it's not the story itself.
Linkola!!!
What you need to not miss in this instance is that Barrett atones for his sins as a terrorist.
FFVII had the single biggest emotional impact on me any Video Game ever did.
Never before had an interactive story grip me the way this did.
I love playing this Game, it makes me feel comforted, yet still absorb the depth of the characters feelings and actions just like i did when i first experienced it.
Great video, very interesting 👍
Well Cait Sith's 'sacrifice' is not really about him or his arc, it is made as a contrast to the lost of Aerith. By undermining the seriousness of his redemptive sacrifice after the obviously cheap emotional manipulation of his final scene Aerith's sudden senseless death comes as the real gut punch that it is. Cait Sith's 'death' is framed to be like any other story's heroic meaningful sacrifice followed swiftly up with ...aaand he's back. Whereas Aerith's death truly does leave that hole in the party, that sense of loss.
This is the way I've come to view the Cait Sith "sacrafice" scene too. I think the gut punch is also heightened by the fact that Cait Sith betrayed the party and is revealed to be a spy just prior to this part.
So when you the player lose Aerith, you're left there frustrated even more so that the most hated character was able to be "revived"/replaced easily, but there is no changing Aerith's fate. Nothing you can do to bring her back.
Especially when you get the option to go on a date with her.
Here's just something I thought of to improve the emotional resonance with Cait Sith: make the original Cait Sith a true AI. Portray it as being created by Reeve, but treated as its own being, with thoughts and feelings that have grown beyond what Reeve initially gave it. It can choose to die against Reeve's wishes, forcing him to send a nascent Cait Sith v2 that he has to provide more manual control. The original AI would truly be sacrificing itself and the party would be truly sad at its passing, mostly Aerith, since she seems to be closest to it in the original text. Thoughts?
I love this video, I've played this game for about 8 years and you've helped to expand my appreciation for FF7. Thank you for putting the effort for this content, you have no idea how much this makes me happy!
This is so bittersweet coming immediately off of FF7R.
But wow, what an amazing analysis that captures nearly every detail that is important to me personally about this game.
A+ from me.
The love you have for the game is ever-present in your voice.
I love this. It’s an hour and a half of beauty and greatly expands my thoughts on the OG FFVII but also informing my thoughts on the remake.
Professor, will you be doing an analysis on the remake or will you be waiting to do so once the games are completed all together? I’d love to see you break down the differences between the two and the impact it’ll have as a peace of literature all together.
Great video dude. Ffvii will always have such a special place in my heart. I remember watching my older brothers play Back when it came out when I was way too young, and just being absolutely engulfed by the story. I remember when I started playing and finally finished the game on my own, I was just a kid but the story and these characters meant so much to me. As I got older and understood all the plot (some of the story deff can go right over your head as a child) it made the experience even better. I’m genuinely so thankful for these memories and thankful I live in a world where the remake trilogy exists lol
I've been waiting for this video all week lol. 90 minutes? lets go!
This was a really great analysis, honestly! I've thought a lot about Final Fantasy VII's themes and read others' takes on them, myself, but this one in particular does a great job of illustrating how all of them tie together and rely on each other. FFVII is such a fantastic and special game, and, while it doesn't deserve exemption from criticism any more than any other work of art does, it absolutely deserves to be loved, appreciated, and pondered.
this is freakin' brilliant. i'm just skipping around and you've already amazed me with just 10-15 minutes of analysis.
Thank you for this majorly in-depth look into the story and theme of this great game! And yes, there is so much more to this story-game than just that. What an epic job you did!
Your videos are just so damn good! I'm always like "oh, idk if I have an hour and a half in me right now but I guess I'll just start it..." before I know it, the video's over.
I could've listen to this dude for another hour this is awesome thank you
The music alone is better than a lot of full games 😅
This video is exactly three years as I post this. I've watched this several times over the years because I'm craving for content on final fantasy while waiting on the second part of the remake.
Outside of replaying the original game, watching this analysis video has been a reminder, a trigger of memories of why I love the original game. The scope is dense that it's inevitable to forget little details here and there. But when you get that "oh yeah, that happened." The emotions come flooding in.
There are messed up moments in the original game that make me worry about how it's going to translate to the remake games, but given how they handled the first one, I have faith they're going to do the original content justice.
It feels good to listen another person talk about a game you love just as much so I'll probably be back here in the next few years, even after all the remake games have come out 😆
Silly mechagurd, rEmAkE is garbage
I am one of those who would readily say that FF7 is one of the more overrated FFs. But your analysis has caused me not only to appreciate this important game in our shared history, but to be more critical of myself and defining for myself exactly who I want to be.
I'm so glad you're still making content. I'm ringing the notification bell so I can keep tuning in to you more timely. Wishing you well wherever you are professor!
Of course it's overrated, it's one of the most beloved games of all time. But that's a useless metric, tbh. "Not as good as people say it is" means little for a game that's this absurdly popular and beloved. Doesn't mean it's "horribly executed," because it's very much not.
Excellent work. Thank you for your analysis. I am genuinely moved by the extent to which this channel has gone to do justice to stories and interpretation.
Like the game itself, you have made the meanings behind the subject matter accessible to discussion. I find this to be very important work because the messages sent by the game are so relevant to today's world.
I would gladly watch more hour and a half videos like this one.
This analysis is wonderful. I still think that aside from probably the Lord of the Rings, this game is the best piece of fiction ever created. Also, thanks for the Palmer break 😂 perfectly timed.
Gosh, this was a lovely well made video. I can't imagine the effort and time you put in. Nice work!, I look forward to watching your other videos too.
Watched from start to finish, I really liked this analysis :)
I appreciate that! TH-cam's "time watched" statistic can be depressing sometimes. Glad you watched the whole thing!
Wow. This is the first video of yours I've seen. I will struggle to tell you how much the depth, precision, fluency, nuance, and care you devoted to this video and its subject matter means to me, but I want to try.
I originally played FF7 three days after its release, in September of 1997. I played for 12 hours the first day it came out and probably completed the game within a week or two. I've replayed the game numerous times (at least 7, not thematically intentionally) over the years, even bonding with a transient friend over the game in a snack-fueled, sleepless marathon of its entirety (we knew it well enough to keep that endeavor to under 30 hours). It has meant so, so very much to me, more than I could understand or articulate as a young teen when I first played it; my 39-year-old self can now only remember the twinkles of possibility and perspective from that younger me, bare and dim sparkles of memory and nostalgia and wonder.
I've recently begun exploring many old games via emulation on a handheld device and wanted to give FF7 a try with my current perspective (FF9 was a delight and held up well, so I was eager to see where this, an absolutely iconic experience, took me). I got to Junon for the first time, only 6 hours in, and lost interest, utterly repelled by the disjointed series of events, borderline infantile dialogue (almost every character felt caricatured and/or like cardboard), and often artless presentation (probably mostly linked to the very rough translation). I have enjoyed many of FF7's near contemporaries (Wild Arms comes to mind) at this age, so it seemed like this game had aged quite poorly.
I was disheartened. I wrote this game off as a product of its time, unpalatable to my "modernized" tastes.
Your skillful analysis has singlehandedly rewritten this perspective.
I am convinced I will give FF7 another try at some point and will capably look past its blemishes for the astounding gem beneath. I absolutely adore how you devoted such focused, careful attention to the time when Tifa helps Cloud reconstruct his core self when they both plunge into the lifestream. I had kind of forgotten this moment, but it always sang to me, defining and quickening this game's heart; this sequence's sweet presentation, the care Tifa and Cloud share, the acceptance and humbleness Cloud eventually achieves - that series of moments, and everything that leads to and makes them resound, are a wonder to experience.
Thank you so much for this. Games, like any work of towering literature, deserve this kind of attention. I am made more through and uplifted by the care and attention you devote to teasing out games' nuances and clearly articulating them.
Good stuff sir. You and Resonant Arc biggin up the thematic elements of this work of art. And who are these madmen worrying the Remake is gonna be too political? They should be rejoicing, because I guarantee you that whole project will marginalize those themes to the background and focus solely on big boys with their big toys.
But as vehemently opposed to the Remake as I am, people need something to cheer themselves up right now and I won't begrudge them enjoying it. I just hope SquareEnix doesn't take em for a ride.
Wow this video rules! It made me care about this game I knew very little about and now I'm gonna play it. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful analysis that video games as a medium deserve. I've watched a LOT of video essays recently and this is definitely one of the best, and the best pure analysis of a single game I have seen.
Final Fantasy VII is most likely *the* number one game that's most unnesecarry to bring into an ¨overrated¨ conversation. I have much more than i should have seen people downplay this game, it's colosally closer to underrated than overrated. It deserves it's place among the goat rankings, only Chrono Trigger has a genuinely greater scope than this game, despite VII having a better impact.
Not over-rated, but often mis-understood
Damn...24 years later and I can still cry for Aerith. Thank you for showing me that in such a respectful and beautiful way.
I'm not used to watch videos this long, but this one caught me from the beggining. Thank you for what you do and congratulations: beautifully crafted.
Wtf is this absurdly underrated channel? This was amazing! Thank you!
The creators of ff7 have said that at the end of the game there are no more humans left on the planet but, like the majority of the points of this game, the truth isn’t so simple and what the creators meant was the humans had evolved back into cetra. That’s why we hear children laughing and see midgar reclaimed by nature. After the events of the game the humans began caring for the planet once more and were no longer dependent on mako energy to live their lives, this is also why we see Nanaki with off spring of his own looking at the destroyed midgar given that he was the only other character besides aerith that had a deep connection to the planet since he lived off the planet and didn’t need mako energy in order to survive. Not many people realize just how deep this game actually was.
Why didn't they simply show some humans then
This made me cry multiple times
While I love your analysis, I personally found the game about identity. Identity is tied to life. Keep up the good work.
Sir, this video is absolutely fantastic. I love everything you had to say about it, and I picked up a few new things along the way that I missed, or didn't think about, in my playthrough.
Honestly, if this video was 3 hours, and you said every little detail you wanted to say, I still would've watched it.
Thank you for making this, Sir.
I’ve seen a few analysis’ of FF7 and this was the most amazing
Yay! So pleased you have uploaded again - one of my favourite channels! Amazing! Stay safe in these crazy times!
The Aerith name part was probably the most satisfying xD
Also, why do people get mad when someone says Final Fantasy VII is political? It never tried to hide it or pretend otherwise. Yes it's not just about that but still.
It's like saying X doesn't criticize how corrupt most organized religion leaders are.
“Political” is used to describe social commentary that one disagrees with or is uncomfortable with (except when used to satirize this definition).
Well, "political" in the 90's was not the shitshow it is today. The two are definitely not equivalent in any way.
"Political" content used to be more actual problems that pitted people against governments or corporations. It didn't pit people vs people. Nowadays, highly political people tend to worship governments and corporations and exist to antagonize other normal people. Very different then vs now.
FFVII and FFX are very similar in theme and story. Instead of a selfish and evil corporation wrecking the planet, FFX has a corrupt and false religion that subjugates and keeps the population of the world from advancing.
Very well done. Several theme looks at things I've never thought of top when analyzing this FFVII before
I don't know what you are talking about, the slap fight was great.
Wow... thank you for this. I enjoy hearing different non biased perspectives on this game and it was genuinely entertaining listening to this all the way through. I'm impressed, you've got a subscriber
Yes, time to finally spoil myself on FF7. Thank you for doing the deed, dear friend
Omg! This is an absolute thesis! It's a work of art. Well done sir.
Never saw how Cid and Shera was an abusive relationship. Sure he's brash and unapologetic and she's meek and self-flagellating but I've seen abusive relationships 1st hand (physical and psychological) and nothing in the game gave me that vibe.
This. Also, there is nothing to say that every character in a story needs to be a posterboy for what the reader thinks are good values.
Cid is an foul-mouthed and kinda mean uncle-type. That's fine. Some people are like that. The idea that every character should only have flaws if they're either meant to be redeemed or used as an example of something of an overall bad human is really reductive and confused.
Gonna respectfully disagree. I love Cid and he is definitely abusive but like John Lennon, learned to be a better man.
Well, looking at them objectively, this game's Cid is abusive. That gives little if any context to Shera's actions and behavior, however. Her behavior kinda resembles Stockholm syndrome, but also doesn't give you the "vibe" that you'd expect to receive from those who suffer from abuse or Stockholm.
What Shera's behavior reminds me of the most, is the cultural expectations of Japan, specifically about how wives are expected to behave. Submissive, kind, supportive, but also "strong" enough to help protect the home and family, and show her husband when he's wrong, in some way, shape or form. And that's ultimately what Shera achieves, slowly but surely. Cid was being ungrateful to his wonderful, supportive wife, and he realizes all of that, albeit unrealistically quickly, once she helps him achieve his dream.
The author is NOT DEAD- Just asleep. Just like how knowing that the overall theme of FF7 is "life" explains how the environmentalism, anti-corporatism, and identity crises all weave together, knowing about the cultural context of where the game was made helps one understand the concept of the Lifestream and the behavior of Shera, among many other things.
First scene they appear he throws harsh insults,.. for me its the typical abusive relationship that its well advanced and mature into the toxicity that seems normal life for both
Thank you so much for this video. It helped me understand somethings about the game better, and even myself. Keep up the AMAZING work that you do.
Im ok with the slapping scene between Tifa and Scarlet due to fact Scarlet slapped Tifa a few times while in custody. She was only giving her a taste of her own medicine.
I'll admit, that's a better reason than most comments I've gotten defending it, which usually just come down to variations on "that's just how women are." 😬
I still prefer the way Machinabridged tackled it, with Tifa just uppercutting the shit out of Scarlet and winning the "slap battle" right out of the gate.
Totally, they could have simply fouht normally, but this slap off was them trying to establish their sheer toughness over one another. Of course this cuck had to have a problem with it for some reason and completely miss the point lols
Man, I watched every bit of this, down to the last second. Absolutely amazing. Definitely the best ff7 analysis I’ve ever seen. Subscribed
Been binging theorycraft videos about Remake and where it's going and this popped up.
Thank you for clearly summarizing why I love this game and this story so much. This game has resonated since I was young, and dramatically influenced my politics and my beliefs, and you've presented everything that I'd want to say in a digestible manner.
I wish I could go back to the first time I ever heard Aerith's Theme.
Thank you for doing this game, story, world, and characters justice.
Great analysis on one of the only games that has had me on the brink of tears several times while playing. Thank you so much for giving this amazing video game story credit. And awesome tie btw! =)