More Final Fantasy essays, metas, and examinations can be found here.

Today is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII’s North American release.  As with prior years, I always attempt to post something to commemorate the occasion, and I was fortunate enough to have this essay half completed (also fittingly as you’ll soon see).  Despite being on vacation this week and the next, it was still a challenge to finish, and I nearly had to find an alternative to post, but my stubbornness prevailed, and I am able to celebrate my favorite story of all time’s release on the day it happened with writing, the method I love the most.

A Greek tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience.  A true or full tragedy should evoke such, as they are natural human responses to the spectacle of suffering and pain, which causes relief at the end through catharsis as the spectators are purged of these feelings.  There is a release in witnessing painful pageantry and its subsequent resolution, but when tragedy is halved, leaving all of the sorrow and none of the purge, the tale lingers without this necessary release.

The story of Final Fantasy VII has endured for two decades where countless other games are antiquity’s lost.  It is frequently discussed and forever argued.  There are neither clear cut answers to many of the questions the narrative asks, nor a satisfying release to the tragedy it presents.  Lifting one side of the scale high in the air without the resolution of catharsis to balance.  Like an unresolved seventh in music, the tragedy of the story lingers in respect to Sephiroth.

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