It's time for another round of Final Fantasy lore tidbits! We're several weeks - and several games - into this series at this point and this time around we have a certified heater. In 1997, a game graced the Sony PlayStation and took the world by storm, showing off just how cinematic video games - particularly those in the 3D age - could be. That game was Final Fantasy VII, the title that not only kicked off the true enduring popularity of the Final Fantasy series, but role-playing games among Western players everywhere.

I've already covered the lore of this classic game in its entirety with my coverage of the Final Fantasy VII Commander precon, Limit Break. There I cover the story in a card-by-card fashion. However, here I'd like to zero in and focus on some of the more specific cards from the main set and the Through the Ages bonus sheet set. I also won't be covering any of the cards that I discussed during the previous first look and debut streams, but make no mistake: there's no shortage of cards to discuss.

Grab your potions and equip your materia, it's time to talk about Final Fantasy VII!

The game's first section takes place in the great city Midgar. The entire city is run by the conglomerate known as the Shinra Electric Company and is powered by a set of mako reactors that pump mako out of the earth to use as a fuel resource. This powers the city and keeps it going. Making up the city is an upper plate where wealthy individuals live comfortable lives and the slums below where people struggle to make a living. At the center rests the mighty Shinra Tower, a place we'll revisit shortly.

First, though, let's talk about this robot goober. You play as Cloud Strife aiding the rebel group Avalanche and their leader Barret Wallace in blowing up one of the mako reactors in Midgar. At the end of the first one you attack, a huge robotic scorpion is waiting for you: the Scorpion Sentinel. Being the first boss, it's not difficult to defeat, though what's noteworthy here is that the flavor text retains the original mistranslated quote from the North American version of the game. You're supposed to not attack when the tail is up or it will counterattack.

A little further into the game, Aerith Gainsborough is captured by Shinra and held at the Shinra Tower for experimentation and study due to being the last of the Cetra. The group mount a rescue effort to recover her and lead an assault on the tower, where they can opt to go in the front door up an elevator or take the long, funny way and climb several flights of stairs instead. At the end of this escapade, President Shinra is killed, with his son Rufus Shinra taking his place. Reach the Horizon shows the group leaving Midgar and pressing onward.

Shortly after, the group gathers in the town of Kalm where Cloud recounts the Nibelheim incident from 5 years prior. Sephiroth, the game's primary antagonist, visits the aforementioned town - Cloud's hometown. Here, they investigate the local reactor where they discover it contains Jenova, who Sephiroth knows as his mother, and is turning people into monsters. Sephiroth, realizing he was created to be like one of these monsters himself, reads on the Jenova Project that made him. Realizing his origins, he goes berserk, burns the town of Nibelheim to the ground, and goes after Jenova to reunite with her with Cloud in pursuit.

In reality, though, Cloud was never there. Zack Fair, originally from the small town of Gongaga where a nearby reactor exploded and was left abandoned by Shinra, is revealed to be the one who actually joined with Sephiroth. However, in a further revelation, it turns out Cloud was there all along, dressed as a Shinra soldier and hiding behind a uniform so the locals wouldn't recognize him. Thanks to experiments performed on Cloud and Zack after the Nibelheim incident, Cloud took on Zack's identity and personality after he perished, as well as taking up his mighty Buster Sword that would become Cloud's signature weapon in turn.

Soon after leaving Kalm, the group must traverse the dangerous marshes to reach the Mythril Mines. To do so, they must catch one of the chocobos who wander around in the wild, and are able to do so with the aid of the breeders at the nearby chocobo ranch. Additionally, while visiting the ranch, speaking to the chocobos will give you your first summoning materia: Choco/Mog. This materia summons both a chocobo and a mog to attack your enemies, however it will sometimes drop a Fat Chocobo on them instead.

Additionally, players can later return to the chocobo ranch and engage in a lengthy sidequest to raise chocobos. By catching more wandering chocobos, training them, racing them at the Gold Saucer, and breeding them, you can acquire many special chocobos. The blue chocobo lets you pass small waterways while the green one allows you to cross mountains. By breeding two of these together you can obtain a black chocobo that can do both things.

(card pic: Traveling Chocobo (Golden Serialized) and Summon: Knights of Round)

The real prize at the end, though, is the golden chocobo. By raising a black chocobo and a top-tier normal chocobo, you get this super special bird. This chocobo can go anywhere on the map - most notably to a small island not accessible by any other method. Here you acquire the Knights of Round materia, the most powerful summon in the game. It takes a mighty 90 seconds to resolve as 13 knights crush enemies with blow after blow - an attack so strong it can easily wipe out almost any enemy with ease, including Sephiroth himself.

Toward the end of the game, Sephiroth successfully summons the powerful destructive magic: Meteor. In doing so, it triggers the Weapons - a group of powerful monstrosities born of the planet to protect it in times of crisis. Diamond Weapon is one such entity, which rises from the depths to lead an assault on Midgar as it gears up to fire the Sister Ray to bring down the shield at the Northern Crater. Following an extensive battle with your party, it exchanges fire with Midgar, blowing it up and seemingly killing Rufus Shinra. The Sister Ray's blast blows right through Diamond Weapon, killing it, and opening the path to the Northern Crater for the group to lead one final assault on Sephiroth.

I previously covered Sephiroth in my article on the debut stream, but I missed one key detail: what's going on with the backside of the card? At the Northern Crater, the party confronts Sephiroth and he transforms into a massive god-like entity (you can see this somewhat on the bottom of the artist showcase version of his main set card). When the party defeats this form of Sephiroth, he then takes the form of an angel with one wing on his arm (though also several others to make up his lower body). This is his ultimate form which the party must defeat in order to save the world.

That wraps up this round of coverage of Final Fantasy lore with one of the greatest games of all time! Final Fantasy VII is a milestone of gaming and is one of my favorite games of all time. Thankfully, there is no shortage of excellent representations for the game in this set. It's a classic for a reason and, best of all, it's easily accessible on just about every platform imaginable - including your phone. Give it or the remake games a try and check out what the hype is all about!