如果游戏角色死亡，没有人会为之哀恸。毕竟，他们终究只是虚拟人物罢了——你可以重置游戏，再试一次；也可以用某种手段让角色起死回生。在我看来，这些人物的生命变得无足轻重。《最终幻想 7》以“生命”为主题，当时我就想，我们要刻画一个死得真真切切的角色，一个永远无法复生的角色。为了达到震撼人心的效果，这必须是一个关键人物。

When a character in a video game dies, no one thinks it's that sad. They're just characters in a game, after all — you can just reset the game and try again, or you can always revive them somehow. I felt that their lives just didn't have much weight. With ‘life’ as our theme for FFVII, I thought we should try depicting a character who really dies for good, who can't come back. For that death to resonate, it needed to be an important character.

Tetsuya Nomura,
《最终幻想 7》角色设计总监

Tetsuya Nomura,
FFVII's character director

游戏的战术性乏善可陈，因为在开发者看来，剧情才是重中之重。这也就解释为何游戏的主线任务简单地令人发指。除了两三个首领有点难对付外，玩家不会为战斗难度过高而发愁。这款游戏的核心受众是那些热衷于研究剧情、分析人物形象的玩家，如果他们因为游戏难度过高而萌生退意，那就有违开发者制作这款游戏的初衷。

如果细细分析 FF7 的方方面面，我们不难发现，从某个角度来看，它确实有独树一帜之处。但若纵览全系列历史演变，那些初看新奇的设定也就显得理所当然。游戏剧情遵循同一个套路，即看上去八竿子打不到一起的各路豪杰，因为种种机缘巧合聚在一起，齐心协力战胜嗜杀成性的大反派，成功拯救世界。套路虽然简单，但魅力在于，根据不同的外界，人物所做出的反应、互动、一言一行都耐人寻味。游戏里几乎每一个重要角色都受过身边人、身处社会、身周观念的影响，都曾体悟过痛苦、迷惘、惆怅与绝望，但最后，他们能打破外界施加于自身的桎梏，实现自我蜕变。游戏角色的内心刻画细腻生动，发人深思，让那些不再年少、饱经岁月沧桑的玩家深受触动。

Tactical considerations always take a back seat, because storytelling was the primary concern of the developers. This is also the reason why the main quest is notoriously easy. Aside from two or three difficult bosses, the game presents few mandatory challenges. They did not want to alienate a core audience that was playing for the story and characters.

Like everything else in the game, FFVII's story is remarkable in one sense, and in another sense it is completely normal for the series. As usual, an unlikely group of heroes bands together to save the world from a homicidal maniac. The real magic of the story is in how the characters react to their circumstances. Nearly all of the important characters in the game, including the antagonist, are survivors who have outlived the people, places and ideas that once defined them. The characters' maturely written internal struggles make the grandiose plot relevant to an audience that might otherwise have outgrown it.

有几款适用于 PC 版《最终幻想 7》的模组，旨在提升画质、UI 界面、音乐音质，增加游戏难度等。Tifa's Bootleg 是一款易上手的模组管理器，能一一展现模组功能，便于玩家从中挑选、自主安装。

Several mods were made for the PC port, improving the graphics, UI and music quality, as well as increasing the difficulty. Tifa's Bootleg is a handy mod manager that lists the improvements available and allows you to choose which to install.

《最终幻想 7》的趣味性也很强。虽然主线任务过于简单、除了几处动人剧情外能吸引玩家多周目游玩的因素少之又少，但到了后期，游戏愈发引人入胜。为了在引入一系列关卡的同时，不影响游戏剧情进展，开发者采用慢热的节奏。越到游戏末期，神来之笔就越多。过了 30 个小时这个游戏节点，玩家才能遇到不少独具特色的关卡，如培育陆行鸟（Chocobo）^[3] 、打造复杂魔晶石（Materia）^[4] 等。

后人将类似体裁的游戏统称为日式角色扮演游戏（即 JRPG），FF7 就是 JRPG 的代表作。传统 RPG 爱好者要做好心理准备：线性剧情叙事才是此类游戏的重心所在，传统 RPG 游戏的道德抉择与战术选择要么不复存在、要么大不相同。不过，如果我们能够结合 FF7 的设计初衷来鉴赏这款游戏，不难发现，《最终幻想 7》艺术性之高，毋庸置疑。

Final Fantasy VII remains a fun game to play, as well. Although the main quest is easy and only replayable for its best story moments, the endgame is still quite engaging. To deliver a complex set of challenges without interfering with the story, most of the really interesting content is pushed towards the end of the game. All of FFVII's most idiosyncratic features (like Chocobo breeding and complex Materia setups) only become available to the player after the 30-hour mark.

Overall, Final Fantasy VII is an excellent example of the subgenre retrospectively called the “JRPG.” Enthusiasts of traditional PC or tabletop RPGs should be aware that linear storytelling is the primary concern, and the traditional moral and tactical choices are either omitted or relocated to places they might not expect them. But, if we assess it in the context of what it aims to accomplish, Final Fantasy VII remains an artistic triumph.

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³ 译者注：陆行鸟起到交通工具的作用，角色可以骑乘陆行鸟在大陆肆意驰骋。游戏共有五种陆行鸟，黄色陆行鸟（只能在陆地上行走）、绿色陆行鸟（可以过山地）、蓝色陆行鸟（可以过河）、黑色陆行鸟（可以过河、山）、金色陆行鸟（过河、山、海）。除了黄色陆行鸟可以野外驯服外，其他陆行鸟只有通过杂交育种的方式获得。
⁴ 译者注：人类装备魔晶石后能激发自身潜力获得各种增幅效果。魔晶石大多由人工提炼而成，天然魔晶石极其稀少。按颜色分为五类，魔法系（绿色，装备后即可施放魔法，最为常见）、支援系（蓝色，为相应的绿色魔晶石提供增幅）、指令系（黄色，装备后可使用各种主动技能或特技，如洞察、ATB 增幅、祈祷等）、独立系（紫色、强化角色自身属性和战斗效果，无法与蓝色魔晶石的效果叠加）与召唤系（红色，装备后可使用对应召唤技能，最为珍稀）。获得金色陆行鸟后，玩家可跨过大海，找到召唤圆桌骑士的魔晶石，圆桌骑士是最强召唤技，对地方目标发起 13 次打击、伤害极高，无视魔抗。