What you see will eventually become part of life's dream

From day one Final Fantasy VII hit big and within the first three days of its original release in Japan on January 31st 1997, it had already sold 2.3 million copies. This sales rate inspired thousands of retailers in North America to break the street dates in September in order to meet the public's demand for the title. Its Official American release on September 7th 1997 saw 330,000 purchases in that weekend and more than 500,000 by the end of the first three weeks over in the States, it had over a million by December. Final Fantasy VII had "redesigned gaming", and the public fell in love with it.

Tied in with Final Fantasy VII's quick popularity and longevity, it has been recognized as "quite possibly the greatest game ever made." by GameFan because it had "never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined." It received numerous 9 out of 10 and 10 out of 10 ratings in popular magazines including Edge and EGM. Other compliments of the game include the status of "epic" because it was "The first RPG to surpass, instead of copy, movie like storytelling", and that, without it, "Aeris wouldn't have died, and gamers wouldn't have learned how to cry".

Final Fantasy VII is still places in polls as one of the "Best Video Games Ever Made". Some of its awards include: VGCharts ranking it at Number 2 in 2009, Japan's Famitsu which is considered to be the premier of gaming magazines, had readers rank it at 2nd in 2006, just behind another Final Fantasy franchise member Final Fantasy X, in 2005 GamePro named Final Fantasy VII Number 3, it fell to Resident Evil 4, which was newly released at the time, and in Gamefaqs 2005 Reader Poll Final Fantasy VII was voted the best game ever made, beating out the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, another forerunner in the world of gaming.

Final Fantasy VII is a classic because of the unique storyline. In an era where video games were still stuck in their "saving the princess" phase, the game changed the world by taking it a step further. Final Fantasy VII tells the story of a young mercenary by the name of Cloud Strife and role in the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE as they fight against the evil Shinra Electrical Power Company. At least, that's how it starts. As the story progresses they end up fighting against a god-like being born from Shinra's experiments with alien DNA. The game faces real life problems including moral ambiguity, death, and saving the world.

The popularity of the game spawned an unrelenting fan base whose desire for more of the game could not be sated. This led the newly merged Square Soft and Enix to start production on a film sequel (originally a twenty minute movie) as well as consideration as to new games with the Final Fantasy VII seal on them. The expansions quickly became known as The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII was announced in 2003 in the form of a 20 minute movie sequel; however the support for the project soon led the project managers to milk three games, an animated OVA, a series of small novels, and an abundance of merchandise out of the aging game. The Compilation titles delve into the pre and post-game happenings in the world of Gaea. It takes the time to delve deeper into the stories of the minor character and groups (including Zack and the TURKS) and introduce completely new characters including two first class SOLDIERs, an orphan, and members of a secret organization under the Shinra tower.