In the real world it was somewhere in 1997. I still had my PS1 and borrowed this game of 4 CD's from my friend.
When I started the war was already underway. A war- anyway. At that stage the enemy was the Shinra Corporation that was slowly killing the planet by harvesting its life energy for commercial use. The actual threat to the planet and its beings was far greater, though...
It started with just Cloud Strife- a mercenary with a huge sword, Barret Wallace- big dude with a gun arm and Tifa Lockheart- a martial artist. For the rest of that month ahead the band of heroes would grow and the places we were to travel to were going to be an epic experience. And yes- all this was on the PS1.
Cloud- as well as any player- had enough time to meet and get to know Aeris Gainsborough, a beautiful mystical girl and descendant of the Ancients. Kind and sweet- her death at the hands of Sephiroth was a hash blow to us all...
Now Sephiroth... There was an enemy. No boss character after him has ever been that tough again...
He had merged himself with Jenova, an alien being that fell to the Earth from space. He was already endowed with superhuman strength from the Jenova cells Shinra had injected into him to make him a super soldier. Merged with Jenova he was endowed with godlike power!
After a month of travelling, raising Choccobos, upgrading weapons and fighting battles across the world we ended up facing him. We did not stand a chance to begin with. I still don't know how much HP he had, but I'll tell you our party's HP was not far above 5000... (It was my first Final Fantasy game- okay?!)
When the monstrous hybrid being as slain we found with a shock that Sephiroth had one more form- that of a six-winged seraph! We have already been an hour into battle and supplies were low. To make matters worse- some of us got turned into frogs!
I think that some of the allies that helped a lot to tip the scales in our favour were Bahamut, Neo Bahamut and Zero Bahamut- all powerful dragons we summoned in battle.
When the Seraph's body had disintegrated in a bright light Sephiroth stood before Cloud in his human form again. Cloud went in with everything he had and slain the villain for once and for all.
Before the battle, however, Sephiroth had summoned a giant meteor to destroy the Earth. This was still hurtling toward us...
When all hope seemed lost, the Lifestream- energy of the planet itself- flowed forth to shield the Earth and its inhabitants and to repel the meteor.
Aeris still lived in the Lifestream- and in our hearts.
This is a very short summary of what was the most epic war in Final Fantasy. Other games had enemies like Vegnagun, Ultimecia and Vane- but Sephiroth was by far the worst. When Sephiroth returned from the dead in Advent Children that battle was on a much-much smaller scale. Good thing, though, was that it was cause for a reunion of old comrades after 4 years since the War.
In Dirge of Cerberus the world was doomed to end for good when a being called Omega gathered the Lifestream to leave the planet barren and lifeless while it returned to the Cosmos. Thanks to our dear ally Vincent Valentine this never happened...
I have also played Final Fantasy 8, X-2, 12 and Dirge of Cerberus. :)
I'd love to hear about the experiences of others who had finished FF7. Feel free to email me at boshoffm3@gmail.com or to comment on this post.
