One of the most talked about role-playing games for the Sony PlayStation is now in the stores.
After keeping us all in suspense last year, the Japanese version of Final Fantasy 7 (FF7) officially came out on January 31.
The game was originally intended for release on two CDs, but the game's complexities meant its manufacturer, Square, decided a three-CD package would be better. This led to a month's delay in the release date and a pricing of 6,800 yen (about HK$422).
The usual development crew were aboard, with Hironobu Sakaguchi as the producer, Yoshinori Kitase as director, Nobuo Uematsu as composer and Tetsuya Nomura designing the characters and writing the scenarios. Reservations for FF7 were accepted in Japan last year. If you reserve a game at a store, you should receive an FF7 guidebook. Buyers of games who did not reserve copies will receive an FF7 1997 calendar instead.
Several FF7 products, such as plastic models, collector's cards, pins, badges and stuffed dolls should by now be available in toy shops and video arcades in Japan. It seems Square is trying to market FF7 way beyond the realm of video games.
The gist of the game is the struggle between the Shinra Company, a large conglomerate that possesses the world's energy supplies and which controls the lives of all the world's people, and Avalanche, a rebel group set on resisting its evil dictates.
The player is Cloud, an ex-Shinra soldier-turned mercenary, who has teamed up with Avalanche to blow up a power plant. While Avalanche's aims are altruistic, Cloud is in it just for the money. Boy, these stories are as racy as a trip to the movies to see Bladerunner.