This is gaming history. It didn’t just sell millions of copies—it helped sell the PlayStation 1 itself along side crash bandicoot and gran turismo.
it introduced an entire generation to JRPGs. If you want to see where modern RPGs got their formula, this is where you start.
The Materia system is a masterpiece. Still ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ peak. one of the smartest RPG mechanics ever created.
It’s simple to understand but incredibly deep. It’s the kind of system that rewards both casual play and obsessive tinkering.

Knights of the Round + Mime + W-Summon → The “make some popcorn” combo. You summon 13 godlike knights, Mime it endlessly, and just watch bosses melt while you don’t press a button for 20 minutes.
Absolutely worth the grind.

Quadra Magic + Comet/Ultima → The “let’s break the PlayStation” combo. 4 casts of your strongest spell in a row—sometimes lagging the game harder than Sephiroth’s fire walk.

Counter + Mime → The “controller plays itself” setup. Enemy hits you → you Mime your last attack for free. Congratulations, you’ve invented turn-based auto-combat.

Morph + Sneak Attack → The “I’m farming this rare drop whether you like it or not” combo. Steal, morph, repeat—efficiency at its finest.

The story and characters are another reason it stands out. Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Sephiroth… these aren’t just characters, they’re icons of gaming. The game blends huge, cinematic moments with smaller, emotional ones in a way that still hits hard. Even knowing the famous twists, the journey is powerful and keeps pulling you in.

And then there’s the score. Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack is unforgettable—every location, every battle theme, every emotional scene is elevated by the music. Tracks like “One-Winged Angel” and “Aerith’s Theme” are burned into gaming culture forever.

Yes, it’s a product of its time—the graphics are dated, the pacing can feel slower compared to modern games—but that’s part of its charm. Playing it now is like stepping into a time capsule, and it makes you appreciate just how far ahead of its time it really was for 1997.

Team Tifa or Team Aerith? The correct answer is both.

I have played this game many MANY times since I was 8 years old. ♥♥♥♥ buying it on Steam whenever you can pay like $3 and get a PS1 emulator then download the game for free. The emulator provides a FAR SUPERIOR experience. On Steam, I can not Alt Tab to go look something up without it completely freezing my game, my controller won't connect half the time, and on an emulator you can save at any time, anywhere, and for any reason. Cheats are also enabled on an emulator. How the hell is Steam worse than the Switch version of the game? At least on my Switch I could use 3 cheats that dramatically altered the game so that I could breeze right through it. I'm about 3 hours in and I'm hating this compared to my Switch. No cheats to allow me to get through the game faster (I'm just tryna show my fiance the game) and I can't ALT TAB away without it freezing everything to the point of having to restart my PC. (my PC isn't old, I just spent 3k on it in 2024) this is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ AWFUL experience compared to an emulator or the Switch.

Bought it for a 2nd time because my physical copy is 2000km far away. Online DRM for an almost 30 year old game. ♥♥♥♥ you Square Enix!

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Game is a classic of course