Final Fantasy VII Retells Its Epic Story On Switch And Xbox One

There are more than fifteen major Final Fantasy titles and innumerable spin-offs but the most famous one of all is probably Final Fantasy VII with its iconic characters that have seen more than one incarnation in other games. The first in the franchise to jump ship from Nintendo to Sony, FF7 is almost ironically making its way back home with the release of the game on the Nintendo Switch but is also setting foot for the first time on Microsoft's Xbox One system.

It was almost a perfect mix of elements that led to Final Fantasy VII's historic success. It was the first of the Final Fantasy games to use 3D computer graphics and full motion videos (FMVs) to accentuate its already gripping story. It switched from the regular fantasy theme of the first six games to a science fantasy one. Along with heavy marketing, the game and its characters have seen multiple incarnations over its 20-year career. All except, perhaps, for the photorealistic 3D remake that's yet to come.

While biding its time, Square Enix is making the original game at least more accessible to a new generation of gamers who may have only heard about the game in pop culture and media. In 2015, it was launched on iOS, followed by Android the year later. And now it comes to two current gen consoles to spread the experience even further.

Thoe expecting more polygons on Cloud and Sephiroth will, of course, be disappointed. It's pretty much the same original game that launched on the PlayStation but with some small added features. There's a 3x speed mode that lets you breeze through the repetitive gameplay that JRPGs were notorious for. If that weren't enough, though, you can even turn off enemy encounters, leaving only the necessary event battles. You might not gain enough experience to level up for those, though. Fortunately, there's a Max Stats god mode for that too.

Final Fantasy VII costs $15.99 both on the Nintendo eShop and the Microsoft Store. As for the Remake, there's still no hard date for that one, even for the first part of the multi-game release. Fans can only hope it won't become a never-ending fantasy instead.