Final Fantasy VII is The Catcher in the Rye of video games. A co-worker made this observation, so I won't take credit, but it's true. The original FFVII on the PlayStation 1 is a beloved, classic video game that hit a generation of young adults at precisely the right time in the late 1990s. But looking at the game now, while its quality craftsmanship is undeniable, there's something just so adolescent about the experience. Still, it's worth revisiting just to better understand the impact the game had on the Japanese role-playing game (RPG) genre and the medium as a whole. And with the PlayStation 4 remake barely in development, in the meantime you can now enjoy Final Fantasy VII as an iPad game.

Aeris Dies
Technically, the iPad version of FFVII is a port of the PC version from 2012. But both versions aren't really that different from the original. You'll still see the old Squaresoft logo, you'll still watch grainy FMV videos that were mind-blowing during the 2D to 3D gaming transition, and you'll still travel across pre-rendered backgrounds with your cute little polygonal party members. At first I was a little disappointed that the visuals weren't cleaned up a little bit. The menus look especially low-res on the iPad Air 2's screen.

However, on reflection, I appreciated the charm of the untouched aesthetic. There's something to be said about experiencing aged art in its original form. If teenagers in 1997 could be brought to tears by the death of a stubby little 3D Aeris model and mournful MIDI music, modern audiences shouldn't need a slick, new presentation to have that same emotional reaction.

Overall the story is what probably holds up the best. Despite the then-revolutionary leap from early, medieval-styled Final Fantasy games to a cyberpunk vibe, the overarching Final Fantasy theme of rebelling against an oppressive, planet-killing society firmly ties VII to the rest of the franchise. Cloud Strife and his band of AVALANCHE freedom fighters may be as insufferable as they are entertaining, but their hearts are in the right place.

Most importantly, beneath the cinematic camera angles, expansive dystopian landscapes, constant melodrama, and fancy action setpieces is a well-honed RPG combat system. The Active Time Battle system allows party members to perform actions as soon as their gauge is full, adding a tense, real-time element to an otherwise turn-based fight. You can augment your weapons and armor with different types of Materia to customize your strengths and weaknesses. Bosses change stances throughout fights, letting you know when to defend and when to push forward, and Limit Break attacks deliver big damage along with flashy animations.

Advent Children
Unless your rose-colored glasses are particularly thick, Final Fantasy VII on the iPad is pretty much the game you remember. However, some changes had to be made to accommodate the move to mobile. The controls are now entirely touch-driven. But instead of rethinking the game from the ground up to work on a touch device, which Square-Enix port The World Ends With You did beautifully, the game just slaps virtual buttons on the screen.

During the whole game the screen is cluttered with distracting icons for fake D-pads and face buttons. You can change buttons' opacity, as well as opt to use a virtual thumbstick that only appears when pressed, but it's still a lazy solution. When using menus, I had a hard time separating what could be touched and what had to be selected with a cursor.

This method does work, however, even if it isn't pretty. Whether you're exploring an overworld or playing a snowboarding minigame the controls never really get in the way. The bigger screen of the iPad helps, since your thumbs take up less of your view, and the relaxed pace of RPGs demands less precision and fewer quick movements. Just crank up the text-scrolling speed if you don't want to spend hours reading decent but lengthy comedic banter.

There's one more set of controversial additions to FFVII on iPad, perhaps included because iOS gamers are seen as more casual. You can turn random encounters on and off at any time. You'll still get to fight plenty of bosses and soldiers, but now you can freely explore areas without worrying about getting sucked into a brawl. Low on health and far from a save point? Fret no more!

There were some heated debates about this change in our lab from old-school fans. On one hand, reducing the amount of gameplay in a video game seems like missing the point. But on the other hand, why should players have to grind if all they want to do is experience the world and story? I fall in the latter camp and turned off random encounters almost immediately. Older RPGs also tend to feature more grinding than modern players can tolerate, so making it optional increases the game's accessibly. That's important if we want new generations to appreciate and engage with older games as the medium matures.

The problem with removing grinding is that you won't gain the experience and strength necessary to take on the game's tougher, mandatory challenge. So Square-Enix made one more quick and dirty change. At any time you can instantly max out all of your stats, as if you were using a cheat code. Your new overwhelming power and endurance will decimate everyone in your path, even Sephiroth! And if you want a more-balanced playthrough, just turn random battles back on when your level is too low. 

One Winged Angel
Who knows when the Final Fantasy VII PS4 remake will see the light on day. Heck, I suspect the reason this $15.99 iPad app is so expensive is because its revenue is directly funding that costly project. That and the developers know diehards will pay any price. If you have a PC, the comparably priced Steam version might be the better option, just because you can use a real controller.

Even if the remake was out tomorrow, though, I would still recommend at least checking out this original quirky, aging, video game blockbuster. Like me, you may be sick of hearing about the game, or you might be swayed to its boosters' point of view, but you should have an opinion either way. And best of all, now that it's available right on your iPad, getting a hold of a fine version of Final Fantasy VII has never been easier.