The seventh installment of the Final Fantasy series takes place in a post-modern, steampunk, sci-fi world where high technology reigns and where robots and bio-engineered mutants co-exist with humans and dragons.
The story focuses on Shinra Inc., an evil mega-corporation responsible for all the world's high technology. Shinra supports this technology with Mako Energy, Shinra's patented source of power. Unfortunately Mako is the lifeblood of the living planet and by using it up Shinra is slowly upsetting the balance of nature.
In comes AVALANCHE, a rebel group of disenfranchised citizens who have taken it upon themselves to oppose Shinra's ambitions. The main character is an ex-Shinra soldier named Cloud Strife, an angst ridden fella with a complex history that's explained as the game goes on. Cloud joins up with AVALANCHE as a mercenary for hire, and together they take on Shinra's maniacal executives and their army of shock-troops, robots, and mutants. However after a while it becomes apparent that there are other forces at work, and ultimately Cloud must not only fight against Shinra, but also stop a powerful man from his past from destroying the world.
Final Fantasy VII updates the Esper character growth system from Final Fantasy VI into the Materia system. Instead of magic spells, abilities, and bonus stats being saved to a single character, they are saved to the materia itself, allowing you to change a character's spells and abilities from the equipment menu at any time. Also updated from VI are character-specific abilities, now called Limit Breaks. By sustaining enough damage without dying a character will build up their Limit Gauge, which when filled can be expended to do a much more damaging attack than normal. More powerful Limit Breaks are unlocked as previous ones are used, and acquiring the most powerful Limit Break of each character will require completion of sub-quests. Final Fantasy VII also features plenty of mini-games and many ways to explore the game world, including the submarine first introduced in Final Fantasy III.
This direct sequel to Arc the Lad continues the unfinished story of the first game, but starts from a totally different perspective. You control a bounty-hunter named Elk, who suffers from amnesia. On his quest for his own true identity he discovers the powers hidden within him, and the destiny of his entire tribe. While pursuing his archenemy, Elk meets up with Arc, the hero of the first game, and then both realize they have been looking to destroy the very same evil.
The battle system of Arc the Lad II is similar to the one used in its predecessor: in battles you can move your characters on the battle field, and your proximity to the enemies plays an important role. You cause and take different amounts of damage depending on your position on the battle field. Unlike the first game, this one is a full-fledged RPG, without the "strategy" feel of the predecessor. You move through the game world on your own, visiting towns and exploring dungeons.
The hero of the game, an apprentice knight (named Finn by default), lives together with his father's friend in a village called Isla, located in the Kingdom of Marion. All of a sudden, the neighbor land Bandore Empire attacks the village. Finn manages to escapes and seeks shelter in the royal castle of Marion. But the castle has also fallen into the hands of the enemy. Followed by a group of loyal friends and servants, the young man sets on a long journey...
This game is a RPG with random encounters and turn-based combat with an extra feature: the player can press a random combination of buttons before attacking (or during enemy attack), and if the combination is guessed correctly, the party member will deal critical damage or will block the enemy's blow.
An ordinary average earthworm named Jim goes about his normal daily life, cruising around avoiding crows and doing other general worm-like things. Jim is suddenly struck by a very large ultra- high- tech- indestructible- super- space- cyber- suit. Through sheer luck, Jim rests safely in the neck ring of the suit.
Suddenly, the ultra-high-tech space particles of the suit begin interacting with Jim's soft wormy flesh. A radical light-speed evolution takes place.
Jim soon realizes he is in control of the suit.
Gameplay is similar to the first game, with Jim jumping and running through the levels. There are 5 weapons more than the original game to collect. Characters like Princess Whats-Her-Name and Psy-Crow appear.
Similar to, Breath of Fire III, Breath of Fire IV is a menu-battle RPG that inherits many aspects of its predecessor, and creates new depths to gameplay via a variety of mini-games. When played, these mini-games enhance certain abilities, and add new skills that can be learned from training under masters as well as from enemies. These skills and ability enhancements, when combined with a new combo system, allows players to enhance the effects of attacks or create new spells. Breath of Fire IV features 3D backgrounds and 2D sprite-based characters.
