Table Of ContentReverse Design
Final Fantasy VII
Reverse Design Series
Author
Patrick Holleman
Series Titles
Reverse Design: Final Fantasy VI
Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger
Reverse Design: Super Mario World
Reverse Design: Half-Life
Reverse Design: Final Fantasy VII
Reverse Design: Diablo II
Reverse Design
Final Fantasy VII
Patrick Holleman
CRC Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Holleman, Patrick, author.
Title: Reverse design : Final Fantasy VII / Patrick Holleman.
Description: Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018021677| ISBN 9781138324770 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781138324107 (paperback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Final fantasy VII. | Computer games--Design. |
Fantasy games--Design.
Classification: LCC GV1469.35.F4 H65 2018 | DDC 794.8--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018021677
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Contents
Introduction vii
1 Final Fantasy VII and the History of RPGs 1
2 Narrative and Design 17
3 Quantitative Analysis of the Game Script 37
4 Game Difficulty and the Four Phases of FFVII 63
5 Finding Complexity in Wide Levels 97
6 Enemy Archetypes 113
7 The Design of Towns and Dungeons 125
8 Music and Design 145
9 Conclusion: 10 Lessons from FFVII 155
References 159
Index 163
v
Introduction
This is the Reverse Design for Final Fantasy VII, the fifth entry in the Reverse
Design Series. The goal of the series has been to reverse-engineer all of the game
design decisions that went into classic games. Before this entry, I published books
on Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario World, and Half-Life. You do not
need to have read any of those books in order to understand this one, although the
entry on Final Fantasy VI makes for a good point of comparison. This is because
many of the historical trends expressed by Final Fantasy VI continue, and indeed
culminate, in Final Fantasy VII. (Hereafter, I shorten the title of all the Final
Fantasy games to the traditional “FF,” (except at the beginning of a sentence).
Everything you really need to know about this game or the history of the Japanese
role-playing game (JRPG) will be recapitulated in the early sections of this book.
The principal challenge in writing about FFVII is that it is one of the most-
criticized videogames in the history of the medium. From the time it came out
until the present day, critics have considered the merits and failures of FFVII time
and again. Admirers of the game have defended it for almost two decades. Critics
have poked holes in the game and in what they perceive to be the game-playing
public’s nostalgia for it. Many writers still feel a remarkable ambivalence about
the game. That is, they can’t make up their minds about the game, but they’re still
writing about it even now. Such a mixed field of criticism makes the writing of this
book somewhat different than the writing of any of the previous Reverse Designs,
which were all about games that are classics by consensus. My task in this book
is to explain why FFVII was a classic game because of its game design ideas, but I
won’t try to persuade you to like it. I do not believe in persuasion, as such. Rather,
I believe the only honest and upright way to change someone’s opinion about a
subject is to reveal that subject more fully, and let that other person reconsider
their opinion in the light of that revelation. This is exactly what I intend to do for
vii
FFVII, for I believe that critics on all sides (positive, negative, and ambivalent)
have not seen the game for all that it truly is.
There are three criticisms that have typified the negative perception of FFVII
that I feel are important to address. The first and oldest criticism is that there
is too much story and too many cutscenes and the game is boring as a result.
Because it uses so many of these cutscenes, FFVII was once a lightning rod for
critics who thought games should eschew storytelling. Thankfully, this criticism
is mostly obsolete because dozens (if not hundreds) of games have since surpassed
FFVII in regards to story, cutscenes, and other non-interactive forms of content.
Some critics still do not like it for this reason, but now it is clear that such an
objection is a matter of taste and not really worth debating. The second typical
criticism is that the game is too simple and/or too easy. Critics point out that
FFVII has been denuded of all the interesting tactical choices that are present in
games like Pokémon, Shin Megami Tensei, or even Final Fantasy V. Final Fantasy
VII is not a particularly hard game, but in Chapter 3 of this book, I will explain
how FFVII didn’t get rid of complexity and difficulty—it simply moved those
things to a place in the game where players don’t necessarily notice or expect
them. Indeed, the decision to do this is very important in the historical context
of the JRPG. The third typical criticism of FFVII is that its plot and characters are
juvenile. Some critics say that FFVII was originally popular because it appealed
to an immature audience through immature themes. By tapping into the “teen
angst” of its audience, it cemented its place in the audience’s memory in the same
way that bad, old pop songs do. This is the most easily rebutted criticism and the
one that I will address first.
Final Fantasy VII tells a story about survivors. To use a bit more nuance, it
tells a story about characters who have outlived the people, places, and things
that gave them their identities. Most of the characters in FFVII are motivated by
the loss of something that once defined who they were. The loss of something—
usually a loved one or a hometown—is a common motivation for videogame
characters. It’s something that prompts them to seek revenge, and that revenge
gives structure to a violent game. This kind of motivation can often come across
as very lowbrow. Everyone understands the motivation for revenge because it is
one of the petty, hasty, and emotional reactions we have all felt from the time that
we were children. Since everyone knows from personal experience how childish
and base those emotions are, many videogames come across as inauthentic and
shallow. Final Fantasy VII isn’t just a story of revenge, however. The story it tells is,
at times, a deconstruction of a revenge story. Some of the characters appear to be
seeking revenge, and indeed they sometimes even fool themselves into believing
they are, but we’ll see in Chapter 2 of this book (characters and their motivations)
how the FFVII team dismantles the idea of revenge in an insightful way. With that
in mind, I do want to give a brief example of the point I’m trying to make.
Barret Wallace is the easiest example to use in illustrating the theme of tragic
survivorship in FFVII. Barret was a coal miner in the town of Corel until Shinra
Inc. arrived and made coal obsolete. Rising tensions between the former coal
viii Introduction
miners and Shinra led to the slaughter of the townsfolk and the destruction of the
town. Barret, an important figure in a coal mining town, reacts to the loss of his
identity by becoming a militant environmental activist. This unlikely change of
career captures the wonderfully imperfect ways in which all the FFVII characters
deal with the loss of their identities. Several characters remark how badly Mako
energy damages the world in which FFVII takes place, but presumably coal (if it
is anything like its real world counterpart) is quite environmentally damaging
as well. In the 20th century, Japan was beset by serious pollution problems, and
so there is simply no way that the writers of FFVII didn’t know what coal mines
and coal power plants do to the environment. Having a survivor of a coal mining
town become an environmental extremist is a deeply ironic and totally intentional
move on the part of the writers. Indeed, Cait Sith points out that Barret’s crusade
is not nearly as noble as he imagines it.
In a later scene (also taking place on the airship), Barret comes to realize that
his true goal was much more personal and much less political than he originally
claimed, and that revenge was never the right motivation.
Beneath the idealism and the violence that are products of his pain, Barret’s real
goal is to safeguard the life of the only connection he has to his past and to his
identity: his daughter, Marlene.
Final Fantasy VII’s central theme is not about growing up. If anything, it’s the
opposite: it’s about characters who are left behind with no meaningful identity
after the world changes. All but one of the main characters behave the way that
Introduction ix
