Line #53 YMMV/FinalFantasyVII


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2
3	!!Pages for other entries in the Compilation:
4	[[index]]
5	* ''YMMV/BeforeCrisis''
6	* ''[[YMMV/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]''
7	* ''YMMV/DirgeOfCerberus''
8	* ''YMMV/CrisisCore''
9	* ''YMMV/FinalFantasyVIIRemake''
10	* ''YMMV/FinalFantasyVIIEverCrisis''
11	* ''YMMV/FinalFantasyVIIRebirth''
12
13	[[/index]]
14
15	!!Tropes with their own subpages:
16	[[index]]
17	* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/FinalFantasy Alternative Character Interpretation]]
18	[[/index]]
19	----
20	!!In the original game:
21	* AccidentalInnuendo: Tifa's Limit Breaks have names that can be easily mistaken for sex acts. Examples include "Beat Rush," "Meteordrive," "Dolphin Blow," and "[[ImmodestOrgasm Final Heaven]]." Tifa's status as a MsFanservice character does not help matters.
22	* {{Adorkable}}: Cloud at times. He says things like "let's mosey" and has never been on a date before. Beneath his impersonation of Zack, this is his true personality.
23	* AmericansHateTingle:
24	** In a Famitsu poll for best video game characters held in 2010, the characters from this game that made the cut were Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Sephiroth, Zack...and ''Yuffie'', who, while [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap not nearly as disliked as she used to be]], is still a semi-BaseBreakingCharacter in the US.
25	** The ''Dismantled'' strategy guide is not regarded highly among American players and seen as dated at best, especially by American fans of the Compilation and American shippers taking the side of Tifa in the [[ShipToShipCombat love triangle debate]]. This is because of interpretations of the storyline and characterization that would be later contradicted by the Compilation combined with the character monologues both featuring a large dose of ShipTease between Aerith and Cloud and favoring her Gold Saucer date as the "official date" over anyone else's. In Japan however, it is viewed as one of the definite strategy guides for [=FFVII=] and featured as a "useful guide" for the original game in Square Enix's short film promoting the remake.
26	* AntiClimaxBoss: Palmer. By the time you fight him, you already fought some Shinra executives (Rufus, Rude, and Reno) that can dish out powerful attacks. Palmer? All he can do is use a Mako Gun, which has a fire, ice, or lightning effect and can be easily nerfed by casting M Barrier on the party. Other than that, that's all Palmer can do aside from having a lot of HP.
27	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The famous "One-Winged Angel" debuts here. Of course, [[AwesomeMusic/FinalFantasy this being Final Fantasy]], there are many more than just that.
28	%%* BaseBreakingCharacter: Cloud, Sephiroth and particularly Aerith. Some players just never got over her death, and hate that she died after they got so attached to her.
29	%%** Yuffie and Vincent are Base Breakers to a lesser extent as well.
30	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
31	** When the heroes arrive at Costa del Sol, they can meet Professor Hojo [[VillainsOutShopping relaxing on the beach]]. Even though he's already established as a deadly enemy by this point, the party doesn't pay mind to him beyond asking for explanations he's too drowsy to provide. You'de be forgiven for thinking this scene was all just a dream.
32	** Palmer getting ran over by a truck at the end of his battle. Where does this truck come from? We will never know and it's never brought up again.
33	* BreatherBoss: Palmer, head of Shinra's aborted space program. Although the game graces him with the boss theme, he is as much a joke in combat as in his company. He's not quite a ZeroEffortBoss, because his mako gun can dish out a respectable bit of damage to an unprepared team, but compared to the previous boss, Materia Keeper, he's a complete pushover.
34	* BrokenBase:
35	** While subsequent games have made it worse, this is the game that shattered the ''Final Fantasy'' fanbase, largely due to the sudden shift in art style, aesthetic, tone, and console. Camps of fans include those who never got into the series until ''VII'' came out and consider the six games that came before to be outdated and unremarkable; those that loved the original six games and think ''VII'' deviated from them too much and changed the direction of the series for the worse; those that consider ''VII'' the best ''Final Fantasy'' game and one of the best [=RPGs=] of all time; those that consider it SoOkayItsAverage but undeserving of the hype heaped on it; and those that consider it an unoriginal, overrated piece of junk that repeated similar beats as the earlier games but got more recognition for various justifications. And then there's fans who love the original game but hate its expanded universe.
36	** Whether or not the ''Compilation of Final Fantasy VII'' should have been made and which, if any, portions of it are worthwhile.
37	%%* CantUnHearIt: Cait Sith's Scottish accent from the 'Compilation' entries.
38	%%
39	%% Staff notice: CompleteMonster entries were approved by the CM cleanup thread. Leave them as is.
40	%%
41	* CommonKnowledge:
42	** A common assumption is that Aerith had to die to channel the Lifestream (and some would argue to summon Holy) against Meteor and that she walked into the Forgotten Capital fully knowing what the outcome was. Some of Tifa's dialogue in the original game speculates that Aerith didn't know, as do some spinoff media, but other ancillary materials imply that Aerith knew or at least suspected what would happen. At the very least, Aerith's death was intended to subvert "Hollywood" notions of a predetermined HeroicSacrifice by showcasing how random and senseless loss is in the real world.
43	** Many people correctly realize that Tifa and Aerith are an example of TomboyAndGirlyGirl, [[RightForTheWrongReasons but assuming that Tifa is the Tomboy and Aerith is the girly]] based on their designs and that Tifa is the one who mainly uses physical force, although in reality it is the other way around.
44	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/FinalFantasy here]].
45	* ContestedSequel: A huge one to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', undoubtably due to ''VII'' often being considered not only the best ''Final Fantasy'' title but also one of the greatest video games of all time (which inevitably leads to discussions if ''VI'' deserves that title or not). Supporters of ''VII'' praise its much more serious and involved story with its greater character focus, which they say ''VI'' could never accomplish because it has so many of them, and above all else for being such a groundbreaking game that set the standard for JRPG titles to come. Supporters of ''VI'' prefer the game precisely for its larger cast of characters (doubly so due to many of them being well-developed), like how open-ended and explorative the game is, and claim ''VII'' only gets that much attention due to being ''many'' people's first JRPG. Pretty much ''the'' defining factor in determining which entry one prefers, though, comes down to whether they think Kefka or Sephiroth is the better villain.
46	* DesignatedVillain: Shinra slips into this during the Huge Materia subplot. Their plan is to gather highly powerful Huge Materia from Mako Reactors, pack it up in their rocket, and launch it at Meteor to blow it up. The party decides to stop them for no reason other than "we can't let Shinra get their hands on the Huge Materia". This trope becomes particularly problematic when the party watches the rocket fail to blow up Meteor and expresses dismay that it doesn't work, prompting the question of why they sabotaged the plan at all. Shinra does perform villainous acts to ''acquire'' some of the huge materia (at Fort Condor and Coral, specifically), but that doesn't change the fact that the heroes keep the materia for themselves after they intervene, despite having no plan of their own to avert apocalypse.
47	* DieForOurShip: Aerith's murder is sometimes seen as an invoking of this trope, since it brings the LoveTriangle subplot to a decisive conclusion. There used to be fan rumors that, by manipulating the game's romance mechanics, one could get an alternate scene where Tifa would [[TakingTheBullet Take The Sword]] in Aerith's place.
48	* DracoInLeatherPants:
49	** Sephiroth is the poster boy for this. Although once most people realized/were [[WordOfGod informed]] that he was in control of Jenova and not vice versa, accusations and complaints of DracoInLeatherPants began to outweigh actual instances of it.
50	** Rufus Shinra is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who uses fear of Sephiroth and AVALANCHE to manipulate the public and tries to arrange a public execution for Tifa. Fans like to de-emphasize his bastardly traits to make him more of an AntiHero. By the time of ''Advent Children'' he canonically TookALevelInKindness.
51	** Reno. Okay, admittedly the flattening an entire city district (with the people inside, no less) and pinning it on AVALANCHE wasn't his idea and he had no real pleasure in doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the one who physically did the deed. A lot of people, however, ignore this and act as if he's a perfectly good guy without flaws.
52	** Tseng also gets some of this despite his introduction consisting of him [[KickTheDog slapping the captive Aerith]] and laughing at the party's hopelessness before the Sector 7 pillar collapses.
53	** Strangely enough, Hojo has a decent female fanbase both ''in-universe'' and out of it.
54	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
55	** A lot of fans are pretty irritated that Vincent was an optional character and therefore not important to the storyline. Later on, he had important role in ''Advent Children'' and starred in his own game ''Dirge of Cerberus''.
56	** Zack, who was pretty much a OneSceneWonder in the original game before he became the main character in ''Crisis Core.''
57	** The Turks, but primarily Reno. They take on more important roles in the Compliation, however.
58	** Rufus Shinra. There's a reason [[UnexplainedRecovery he came back]] for Advent Children.
59	** Kadaj, Yazoo & Loz, who were only filler versions of Sephiroth yet have enormous popularity; Kadaj even got his own Play Arts figurine.
60	** Reeve Tuesti, on account of being the only Shinra executive with a conscience. He's very dynamic for a relatively minor character, starting out as a good person working for an evil corporation and becoming the BigGood of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus''. And, depending on one's tastes, [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Reeve_%26_Cait_Sith.jpg he's quite good-looking]]. it helps that, [[spoiler: as the person controlling Caith Sith, Reeve is technically a party member]].
61	** Hell House is a stronger-than-normal enemy encountered in the Sector 6 slums, but is remembered and beloved by players for its unique and bizarre design: a sentient house that sprouts arms and legs once it takes enough damage.
62	* EpilepticTrees: A lot of fans used to think that Jenova, not Sephiroth, was the one who was really pulling the strings, and that he was just an UnwittingPawn. WordOfGod explaining that he was, in fact, the one in control put this theory mostly to rest, although it still prevails to an extent since not every fan has read the materials in which this explanation appears. (And even those who have [[DeathOfTheAuthor don't all agree with it]].)
63	* EvilIsCool:
64	** [[BigBad Sephiroth]], who is very well-spoken with impeccable style, has one of the best FinalBoss music in all of video games.
65	** [[AffablyEvil Rufus Shinra]], for being a BadassNormal [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] with lots of style and grace.
66	* FanficFuel: The franchise is very consistent about dodging detailed depiction of the period of time between the Nibelheim Incident and shortly before the start of ''VII'', which covers four or five years. The two games to take place before ''VII'', ''Crisis Core'' and ''Before Crisis'', both have their main character rendered inactive for several years (Zack during the Nibelheim Incident, the Turk a brief time later) and they wake up a few months before the start of ''VII''. However, according to the official canon, during these unseen years Shinra is fighting resistant remnants from Wutai, remnants of Genesis' army (and Genesis himself is still around), and the original incarnation of Avalanche. These are also the years when Barret arrives in Midgar and forms his cell of Avalanche, Zangan takes Tifa to Midgar and she joins Barret, Shinra completes construction of Midgar, and SOLDIER is folded into Public Security due to the mass desertions and loss of its director and prominent ranking members. Any of these events are ripe for storytelling potential.
67	* FanNickname: Sephy. Also, a lot of people rename Barret "[[Creator/MrT Mr. T]]." This makes for an amusing bit of dialogue when Aerith calls him "Mr. Mr. T."
68	-->'''Mr. T''': That don't sound right!
69	* FairForItsDay: The English localization of Barret [[DubPersonalityChange has him speaks in ebonics]]. Nowadays many see as gratuitously caricatural or even racist, with some even comparing him to a {{Blaxploitation}} character. However back when the game was released, Barret was praised for being one of the first black heroes in the [=RPG=] genre and a positive portrayal at that, since in spite of his stereotypical aspect, he's actually a badass and has a lot more depths than he shows at first.
70	* FanonDiscontinuity: A small but hardcore subset of fans (who mainly grew up with the original game before the ''Compilation'' and ''Remake'' trilogy came along) only acknowledge the original ''FFVII'' and refuse to accept anything else as canon. The reasons for this are many and varied--the most common being that the latter is inconsistent with and {{retcon}}s the original game in ways they dislike; that it threw a lot of FanWank out the window by establishing things like humanity not being wiped out at the end; that some of the characters are [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] (especially Cloud and Sephiroth), that it [[KudzuPlot needlessly over-convolutes the lore and backstory]] and/or because many of the entries are simply low quality (and even ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''--widely agreed to be a solid game in its own right--is still overshadowed by its massively popular parent). The rest of the fanbase was just glad to spend more time with ''FFVII'' 's world and characters.
71	* FauxSymbolism
72	** Aerith sounds similar to "Earth", especially if you factor in the English-to-Japanese and Japanese-to-English transcription, a fitting name for a MysticalWaif with a spiritual link to the Planet.
73	* GameBreaker
74	** On the [=PS4=] port, clicking R3 (right thumb stick) will give all the party members very quickly regenerating health and a LimitBreak nearly every turn.
75	** With the right Materia combination, it was possible to throw yourself into a loop of [[LastDiscMagic Knights of the Round]] until whatever you were facing was dead. This includes ''the final boss''. And the {{Superboss}}es.
76	** Also, it is worth noting that it is possible for Cloud to mime his own Omnislash, thus another loop of death for whatever you were facing.
77	** And if you want to mime [[InfinityPlusOneSword Knights]] [[ArtifactOfDoom of the Round]], you can [[ThatOneSidequest say goodbye to things like plot advancement]] [[SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer for a good while]].
78	** Here's another combo: Master Summon-MP Absorb, Master Summon-HP Absorb, W-Summon. Be prepared for the fun of raising Knights of the Round to level 5 six times.
79	** Cover, Long Range, and Counter-Attack makes for a nice DiscOneNuke, since most of the enemy's attacks will focus on one person taking half-damage, who will be counter-attacking for full damage constantly. Adding Counter->Mime makes the whole thing silly. Pop off a Limit Break and sit back while the character jumps in front of every attack and counters with Omnislash every time.
80	** The Midgar Zolom uses an attack called Beta, which counts as an enemy skill. If you can survive it with said materia intact you can essentially blaze through the first disc and much of the second.
81	** Yuffie's ultimate weapon, the Conformer, increases damage based on how much materia is linked to it. A full set will hit Sephiroth for 9999, every time. Unlike other weapons, the Conformer does full damage with the Morph command, so you can use Morph on the monsters in the crashed Shinra plane to rack up items that permanently increase stats.
82	** The final boss is not immune to debuff spells. Combine those with Knights of the Round, he'll be defeated in three turns or less.
83	* GeniusBonus:
84	** Jenova is a play on Jehovah (the Abrahamic God) and Nova, meaning "new", and serves to symbolize Japan's loss of spirituality in the face of rampant consumerism of the 80's.
85	** The equations flashed during the animation for Sephiroth's Supernova aren't random; they're equations for calculating the potential attractive forces of the sun, asteroid, and earth, as well as the energy being released by the astroid's impact. Though, some of the equations are still misstated.
86	* GoodBadBug: Red XIII's Howling Moon Limit Break gives him a major attack bonus, and also adds the Haste and Berserk status. Normally, this forces him to do nothing but attack for the rest of the fight. However, if you have some sort of equipment that blocks the Berserk status, like a Ribbon, Red will still get the attack bonus and Haste status, but you'll still be able to control him.
87	* HarsherInHindsight: See the WMG about mako energy representing nuclear energy. Now, about that earthquake and the ensuing reactor meltdown...
88	* HilariousInHindsight:
89	** [[http://www.toonzone.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-44558.html This archived thread on ToonZone]] talked about hypothetical voice acting in some the games, including this one. This dates back to all the way in 2002. One of the suggestions for Tifa was Rachael Leigh Cook, who later was indeed the one to voice Tifa.
90	** One of the original proposals for ''Final Fantasy VII'' ended up becoming ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', and the game itself is even referenced in ''VII'' during Cloud's delirium. Decades later, Creator/TetsuyaNomura (who designed the main cast of ''VII'' and cowrote the story) would go on to design the antagonists for ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', a BroadStrokes remake of ''Xenogears'', one of whom is even a CompositeCharacter of Cloud and Sephiroth.
91	** At the time ''Final Fantasy VII'' was originally released in the U.S. in September 1997, [[MediaNotes/ConsoleWars several of Sony's U.S. ads openly mocked the Nintendo 64's cartridge format]], which was a major contributing factor for Square developing this game for the [=PlayStation=]. The small print in one ad claimed that ''FFVII'' would cost over a thousand dollars at retail if it were released on cartridge, likely based on an estimate of what it might cost to manufacture a 1.5 GB N64 cartridge (and while the ad in question never mentioned Nintendo by name, it was an obvious TakeThat against Sony's largest rival for a mistake that pretty much handed domination of the console video game market to Sony for the next decade). 22 years later, ''Final Fantasy VII'' would be released on the Platform/NintendoSwitch, and it even got a cartridge release as a double pack with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' in the European and Asian markets (the cartridge version sadly skipped North America, but the Switch is region-free and both the European and Asian versions are in English by default, so it isn't too hard for physical game collectors in North America to obtain this version.) The two games required a total of seven [=CD-ROMs=] between them on Playstation (three discs for ''VII'', four discs for ''VIII'',) but ''both games together'' fit onto a single Switch cartridge.
92	** Towards the end of the game, Cloud tells the party to go home and remind themselves what they are fighting for, leaving him and Tifa (seemingly) alone. Depending on Cloud's RelationshipValues with Tifa, the two can share a tender moment under the airship that night which can be interpreted as them making love. The next morning, when they find out the party either returned or never left and saw them, Cloud reacts awkwardly while Tifa collapses in mortification. This reaction goes from funny to hilarious come 2022 when, thanks to a cybersecurity breach at a streamed Italian parliament session and a very explicit fan animation, a LOT more people than just the party have seen Cloud and Tifa [[UnusualEuphemism reaching Final Heaven]].
93	** Minor character Wedge is friends with someone named Jessie. In the remake, he would be voiced by Creator/MattJones, who famously played a friend of [[Series/BreakingBad a character named Jesse]], whose [[Creator/AaronPaul own actor]] would [[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV also star in a piece of Final Fantasy media]].
94	** The US version dubbed the first stage of the final boss "Bizarro Sephiroth". In the years that followed, Sephiroth would be voiced by Creator/GeorgeNewbern and Creator/TylerHoechlin, who both happen to have experience portraying a character by the name of [[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]].
95	* HypeBacklash: Regardless of your opinion of the game, it's undeniable that some people were turned off by the amount of gushing it's gotten over the years since its release.
96	* IKnewIt:
97	** Possibly somewhere between this and AscendedFanon, but the unnamed aquatic WEAPON which attacks Junon at the start of Disc 2 was dubbed the Sapphire WEAPON by fans, a name which was later confirmed via WordOfGod.
98	** For ''years'' everyone was saying it was only a matter of time until Creator/SquareEnix remade ''Final Fantasy VII''. On June 15, 2015, they ''finally'' announced it at E3, and the first part of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake FFVII Remake]]'' was released on April 10, 2020. [[note]]Due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, ''Remake'' was released earlier in Europe and Australia on April 1.[[/note]]
99	* ItWasHisSled:
100	** [[MemeticMutation Aerith dies]]. It used to be an emotional and unexpected plot twist: now ''everyone'' knows exactly when and how it happens.
101	** Cloud was never really in SOLDIER, he just thinks he was due to FakeMemories. Talking about his backstory without bringing this up is very difficult.
102	* ItsPopularNowItSucks: It actually got this treatment ''twice''.
103	** Some argue that, with the additional installments to the story, the franchise is starting to plummet. They argue that the fun factor of the game is relinquished for the sake of pleasing the fanboys and fangirls, sacrificing the deep integrated storyline that made the original RPG such an amazing game for the sake of indulging in characters such as Sephiroth, Vincent, and Zack.
104	** The main game itself. Oddly enough, some fans just don't seem to be able to grasp the concept that ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' was popular for two reasons: it was the first RPG to receive major advertising, and it was the first RPG to actively sell itself to the mainstream through said advertising[[note]]as broken as the base is, some dislike it for just those reasons: that its best virtue is PR[[/note]]. Neither of which makes it a bad game at all, mind you, but don't try to convince someone who hates it of that.
105	%%* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent...
106	* LowTierLetdown:
107	** Cait Sith. He statistically has the worst average stats of any party member except for Magic, but most characters can get their Magic high enough to hit the damage cap anyway. He only has two Limit commands, Dice and Slots, which both have random effects.
108	** As awesome as a character Vincent Valentine is, he is often considered bottom tier. His Limit Breaks are the worst in the game because they are either way too underpowered or too impractical to use.
109	* MagnificentBastard: Consummate businessman [[Characters/FinalFantasyVIIShinraInc Rufus Shinra]] spent his vice-presidency funding the activities of an early iteration of AVALANCHE to subvert his father in hopes of attaining the position for himself. When Sephiroth murders him and parts of the company in cold blood, a parade is held in the newly inaugurated President Rufus's honor to mark a new era. When the Weapons attack the world to protect the Lifestream, Rufus tries to get rid of them but is caught an explosion. Revealed to have survived, Rufus powers through restrictive circumstances to get his company back on top, including building the city of Edge with a Meteor monument to represent his rise to power and discovering the remains of Jenova to keep for himself. He later implicitly manipulates Cloud to battling Kadaj and the other Remnants of Sephiroth and derives great amusement in easily fooling Kadaj, having kept Jenova's head with him the whole time.
110	* MemeticBadass:
111	** Tifa power bombs [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever a monster]]. '''UNDERWATER! ON THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN FLOOR!'''
112	** Among many fans, [[BossInMooksClothing Midgar Zolom]] is regarded in fearful awe for its lethal Beta attack and terrifying appearance as a gigantic snake that towers over the party, and it is considered one of the most dangerous creatures in the entire franchise. Being able to defeat it while picking up Beta as an [[PowerCopying Enemy Skill]] (which means you let it use Beta and survived the hit, not simply killed it before Beta was used) is a mark of prideful achievement for some players.
113	* MemeticMutation:
114	%%** "Advent Children is the [[CutscenePowerToTheMax BEST CUTSCENE EVER]]!!"
115	%%** Cid would like you to sit your ass in that chair and drink your goddamn TEA!
116	** "This guy are sick."[[labelnote:Explanation]]A line which quickly became notorious among fans for the glaring typo in it. A screencap of it became widely circulated in the years after the game's release, being held up up as an archetypal example of bad translations in video games.[[/labelnote]]
117	%%** Cloud's infamous "Let's mosey," line right before the ultimate climactic battle for the fate of the planet.
118	** If you can think of a character pairing, there's a good chance you can find a version of the Gold Saucer date sequence for it on Website/YouTube.
119	** Look up "One-Winged Angel" on Website/YouTube. The comments will be ''filled'' with people posting their mondegreened versions of [[OminousLatinChanting the lyrics.]]
120	** The option to say to Aerith "you're the slum drunk!" is infamous. In response to the question of Aeris or Aerith, some suggest naming her "Slum Drunk" when she joins shortly after.
121	** With the advent of [=NFTs=] and their detrimental effects on the environment becoming widely discussed, an edit of Barret lamenting how users of [=NFTs=] and cryptocurrency "want to burn down half the rainforests for a damn JPG!" has become widely used.
122	** Italian Tifa[[labelnote:Explanation]]At the start of 2022, a Zoom meeting among members of the Italian senate was hijacked by a hacker who replaced the video feed with a pornographic animation of Cloud and Tifa. The audacity of the incident led to it becoming widely parodied online, with fans jokingly portraying Tifa as a patriotic Italian woman.[[/labelnote]]
123	** "Uh, guys? The door's locked."[[labelnote:Explanation]]At the end of the OverlyLongGag of running up the stairs, many people have made jokes about it ending with Cloud saying that the door was locked.[[/labelnote]]
124	* MemeticPsychopath: In March 2024, a couple weeks after the release of ''Rebirth'', it became a meme to insert Sephiroth into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1lZWqF-1sw every video game]] under the sun, leading to him being viewed as an unstoppable menace who will invade any and all worlds in order to [[HopeCrusher bring them despair]].
125	* MisaimedFandom:
126	** Vincent is ''not'' emo. Not until ''Dirge of Cerberus'', anyway. In the original game, talking with him whenever you get the chance shows that a distinct ''lack'' of expressing any feeling is a big characteristic of Vincent, rather than moping or being depressed.
127	* {{Moe}}: Tifa, thanks to being incredibly shy around Cloud.
128	* MoralEventHorizon:
129	** For the players it's usually [[spoiler:Sephiroth killing Aerith]], but it all truly starts when Sephiroth begins walking out of the Shinra mansion, and states to a bewildered Cloud: "Out of my way. [[OhCrap I'm going to see my mother]]." The nightmare begins with that sentence, complete with the beginning of a trend with Cloud and Sephiroth: Cloud being just a step behind, following a path of dead bodies and sprayed blood.
130	** For Shinra, especially its late President and Heidegger, it's destroying all of Sector 7 just to wipe out AVALANCHE, which has a grand total of ''six members''. The President in particular just watches on from his comfy suite while listening to classical music; though he's silent the entire time, it's pretty clear he doesn't care how many just died.
131	** What Scarlet did to [[spoiler:Corel and all of its residents, including Barret and Dyne]].
132	** Hojo's probably is how he [[spoiler:experimented on his unborn child.]]
133	%%* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Ultima spell. The LimitBreak sound.
134	* NeverLiveItDown:
135	** Regarding Cloud, out of all ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' characters who can NeverLiveItDown, he gets it the worst, pretty much being synonymous with the word "{{Emo}}" when he was just serious and didn't angst very much at all in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' save for during his MindRape, but you wouldn't know it from his spin-off appearances.
136	** When it comes to Yuffie, some people just can't let go of that [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear Wutai Theft]], even though if you level her up properly, she'll ''more'' than make up for it to you in battle.
137	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
138	** The game created, popularized, or deconstructed many RPG tropes and conventions that see popular use today[[note]]not nearly as many as some would have you believe, [[GoldenMeanFallacy but also not none]] as others would say[[/note]], but people who weren't there to experience the game at launch tend to see it as a dated ClicheStorm. Even the deconstructions became tropes in and of themselves.
139	** Of special note: characters with amnesia and/or who appear to be one thing but end up ''really'' being something else entirely have been used so often in Square Enix games since that, playing the game now, one wouldn't see anything remotely special or shocking about them.
140	* OneTrueThreesome: Cloud/Tifa/Aerith is one of the archetypical examples in video games. For yaoi fans there's Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack. ''Crisis Core'' added in Genesis and Angeal, and can be combined with the latter threesome in pretty much any way you like. Though not as widespread, Cloud/Zack/Tifa or Aerith is out there too.
141	* {{Padding}}: The Huge Materia subplot. After the escape from Junon, the main plot detours into Shinra wanting to launch Huge Materia from their reactors at Meteor with their old rocket, and the party sets out to stop them for little reason, then is disappointed when it doesn't work. As a result, several hours of gameplay are spent on a subplot that does little to advance the characters or the story.
142	* ParanoiaFuel: The sunken ''Gelnika'' happens to be in the same region of the ocean where [[{{Superboss}} Emerald Weapon]] swims around. It's entirely possible that when you get back into the submarine and exploring the ocean, a big green murderous mecha will be ''[[JumpScare right in front of you]]'' and immediately trigger a fight that's hopeless unless you've deliberately prepared for it.
143	* PortingDisaster: Not as bad as some games, but the PC version has a truly tragic cut because it made the jump to a 100%-Platform/{{MIDI}} soundtrack. However, this meant that the choral track of [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic One Winged Angel]] was lost for some people because it was in a format that not every sound card could play.
144	* PlayerPunch: Aerith is killed by Sephiroth at the end of disc 1, roughly mid- or one third of the way into the game.
145	* TheScrappy: Cait Sith. Many think he doesn't belong in this game due to his [[NonStandardCharacterDesign out of place goofy appearance]] combined with him feeling shoehorned into the plot due to how he seems to joins the party on a whim and is hardly ever [[GhostExtras acknowledged by the other heroes]]. In fact, by the time he becomes relevant, you may have probably forgot about him since he's also considered the least fun to play of all playable characters.
146	* SequelDisplacement: While obviously nobody thinks that the ''seventh'' game in the series is the first, since the wider distribution and promotion of the title compared to previous entries (as well as its status as the first high profile JRPG on the Playstation) means that many, many fans of the series played this game first and define the series by this game. It didn't help in Europe, it ''was'' the first mainline Final Fantasy to be released there. Mildly hypocritical ItsPopularNowItSucks and apathetic HypeBacklash followed among a minority of fans.
147	* ShipToShipCombat: Decades after the game's release, the Cloud x Tifa shippers and the Cloud x Aerith shippers still argue over which girl Cloud loves, and they're unlikely to ever stop, especially after the release of ''Remake''. It's probably the most infamous example in all gaming history: [[Website/TVTropes This very site]] locked down the main page, this [[YMMV/FinalFantasyVII YMMV page]] and the Characters/FinalFantasyVIIPlayableCharacters page for ''ten years'' due to rampant Cloti vs. Clerith [[Administrivia/EditWar Edit Warring]].
148	* SignatureScene: There are two, the first is Sephiroth's [[OutOfTheInferno walk into the flames of Nibelheim]] in Cloud's flashback, and the second is, [[ItWasHisSled of course]], Aerith's death at the end of disc 1.
149	* {{Squick}}: Hojo's plan to breed Aerith with Red XIII. Also, whether the headless body with the [[EyesDoNotBelongThere squid-eyeball-nipple]] in Shinra HQ had this effect on the player or not, it apparently did on Barret (or it just ticked him off a lot).
150	* ThatOneAchievement: "Materia Overlord", in the Steam release, requires having one of every materia mastered in your inventory. This is a meticulous and involved task that spans the entire game and requires the completion of several long sidequests, like getting every enemy skill on one Enemy Skill materia, completing the secret battle in the Battle Square, and [[ThatOneSidequest Chocobo breeding]] so you can access Knights of Round. Additionally, many materia and two enemy skills are PermanentlyMissableContent, so you'll likely have to use a walkthrough to get every single materia lest you accidentally miss one and have to start the whole save file over. And after all that, you still have to go through the trouble of grinding every materia up to max level. And finally, the game requires you to also have the Master Summon, Magic, and Command materia, which can only be gotten by either sacrificing one of every respective mastered materia to create their respective master type (requiring you to grind a second set up to max level), or by fighting [[{{Superboss}} Emerald Weapon]]. Have fun!
151	* ThatOneAttack: As with the other games in the series, the Marlboro's Bad Breath Attack.
152	** Midgar Zolom's "Beta" attack. (At least until [[MegaManning you learn it]].)
153	** Ruby Weapon's Whirlsand attack, which it uses as its first two attacks in every battle. It removes two of your players forcing you to fight it with just one.
154	** Sephiroth's Supernova attack is essentially a glorified percentage damage attack that has an extremely long spell animation time. (Though it looks WAY more powerful than it actually is.)
155	** Emerald WEAPON's Aire Tam Storm ([[MeaningfulName "Aire Tam" being]] [[SdrawkcabName "Materia" spelled backwards]]), which inflicts damage equal to (number of materia equipped) * 1,111 to each character.
156	* ThatOneBoss:
157	** For first-time players, the very first boss, the Guard Scorpion, thanks to a BlindIdiotTranslation. When it raises its tail it will counter attacks with a powerful laser blast, so you should not do that. The catch is that the way Cloud's warning is translated, it sounds like he's saying you ''should'' attack when it raises its tail to ''avoid'' its laser blast. Following his advice as given results in a faceful of laser.
158	** For first-time players, the fight with Jenova-BIRTH can be a nasty surprise. It has a lot more HP than the last boss, hits rather hard for that point of the game and can spam its lasers two or three times. Tail Laser is especially dangerous, as it hits all the team, and since Jenova always uses it twice in a row, it will deplete between one third and half of the health of your characters. Unless you level-grind a little in the boat or managed to snag [[DiskOneNuke Beta]] from the Zolom, it's a tough fight. It can also temporarily incapacitate a character with its Stop spell, crippling you considerably while using the previously-mentioned attacks.
159	** Materia Keeper on Mt. Nibel is infuriating to defeat with conventional means - it absorbs Fire (the element of Beta, the most powerful spell that it is possible for you to have access to at that point, and the element of the spells cast by your most recently-recruited character's [[TheBerserker Berserk]] Limit Break form), has ridiculous stats, likes to heal itself for thousands of points of damage, and will cast a powerful all-targeting lightning spell when it dies. The game leaves two gimmicky weapons in the area (Tifa's Powersoul and Vincent's Sniper CR) which are major {{Game Breaker}}s when set up correctly and will make the battle short, but both are non-obvious, advanced-level techniques.
160	** Rapps in Wutai, because of the fact that the party has no access to Materia, thanks to Yuffie stealing them all. In addition, he'll be able to use [[ThatOneAttack Aero 3]], a [[OneHitKO One Hit KO]] if you're not prepared. [[GuideDangIt The game never says this outright]], but you'll have to use your character's limit breaks to defeat him, such as Aerith's extremely helpful Seal Evil which can stop him from moving, or Barret's Mindblow that'll remove all of his MP.
161	** The Demon Wall from the Temple of the Ancients. It has some powerful magic and some nasty status effects, along with staggering magical defense and a mountain of health. This wouldn't be a problem, but you have to bring [[SquishyWizard Aerith]] along to this dungeon, whose primary role is to use support magic most of the time.
162	** Schizo at Gaea's Cliff. It has two heads that you need to attack separately, and when you kill one, it will unleash a nasty attack that can wipe out your entire party if you're behind with your healing. It gets even worse if you kill both of the heads at the same time.
163	** Carry Armor. Not only is [[ThatOneAttack Lapis Laser]] ''horrifyingly'' powerful (to the extent of taking off half your normally-leveled party's health per cast), but his arms can Grab party members and remove them from combat, smashing them against the floor and only returning them once they're dead. And as you wear Carry Armor down, he uses Lapis Laser more and more, often using Arm Grab to kill off two members and Lapis Laser-ing the last one. In addition, the game counts it as a loss if you have all your living party members Arm Grabbed. This occurs even if you roll Cait Sith's Transform spell on his slots, which causes him to grow giant in return for becoming your sole party member.
164	* ThatOneSidequest: The Chocobos, both the breeding and the racing. To get four of the best Materia in the game, you need to catch specific Chocobos in specific locations around the world, feed them thousands of gil worth of food, race them over and over to improve their rank, then breed them. Do the same with the offspring, then breed them, then do the same with ''those'' offspring yet again to ''finally'' get the Gold Chocobo you need. To complicate things further, there's the potential for them to produce the wrong color Chocobo when breeding so try again, the amount of food needed can potentially bankrupt you, racing them will force you to face [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Joe]] who is very difficult to beat, and the entire quest is a GuideDangIt from start to finish.
165	%%* ToyShip: Young Cloud and young Tifa in the past. Marlene or Moogle Girl and Denzel in the compilation.
166	* UnintentionalUncannyValley: Although the game's FMV cutscenes look amazing, the undetailed and very blocky character models have really not aged well, even for a 1997 Playstation game.
167	* ValuesDissonance:
168	** The game's characters use the word "retard" and variants thereof fairly liberally, usually as a synonym for "dumb" or "stupid," as was commonplace at the time the game was produced. Nowadays, the word is considered an extremely offensive and discriminatory slur, and totally unacceptable for usage in conversation.
169	** The Wall Market subplot centers around Cloud having to dress up as a woman to sneak into Don Corneo's mansion, complete with a make-up, wig, and even appropriate underwear. As part of this Cloud can visit the Honey Bee Inn and have a bath with several muscular men in swimsuits with {{Porn Stache}}s, and the scene is laden with obvious homoerotic undertones. Coupled with Cloud's embarrassment over everything to do with this scheme (and Aerith being very amused by his embarrassment), it can come off as insensitive and stereotypical towards gay and transgender individuals.
170	** Though the general theme of a big energy corporation wrecking the environment remains a relevant enough debate today (albeit one where the sides have shifted a bit), ''VII'''s treatment of it is very 1990s, mainly in how it uses Mako as a clear analogue to nuclear power. It's especially evident in the plot with Corel, which is, simply and textually, a story about how coal is good and natural and a coal mine being shut down in favor of an alternative energy source ruined everything. No story today could write something like that and call itself environmentalist, now that coal power has become increasingly maligned as one of, if not the, most environmentally harmful forms of power generation (one infamous 2007 study claimed that it even produces ''more radiation'' than nuclear power).
171	* ValuesResonance:
172	** The video game's GreenAesop would remain relevant with climate change issues from overreliance on energy sources that negatively affect the ecology along with many companies' attempts to slow or even stop any attempt on alleviating it through alternate fuel sources and curtailing their privileges. ([[BrokenAesop Even if the game itself presents fossil fuels like coal and oil as said alternate energy sources.]]).
173	** Its theme of income inequality, corporate dominion in society, and opposition against such system also remained topical long after its release.
174	* ViewerPronunciationConfusion: Some fans are unclear on whether to pronounce Tifa's name with a short "I" or a long "E". Officially, the latter is correct.
175	* TheWoobie: Cloud, oh Cloud. The guy saw his childhood hero burn down his hometown and try to kill his best friend and love interest, and then Cloud spent almost five years floating in a test tube while Hojo experimented on him. When Zack broke him out he was catatonic, and came to his senses just in time to have Zack die in his arms after fighting off Shinra's forces. That was all ''before'' the events of the game happened, which just keep the TraumaCongaLine going. Little wonder when faced with the reality of everything at the Northern Crater, [[HeroicBSOD he finally cracked]].

Context YMMV / FinalFantasyVII