With excitement still riding high around last year's Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the rest of the project still to come, many fans are going back to experience the original classic. There are a lot of major differences between the remake and the original Final Fantasy 7, but one thing has stayed very consistent. Both versions of the game feature some very heavy themes that are intercut with less serious moments that help to break the tension. A great example of this is a fun moment in the original FF7 that breaks the fourth wall in order to explain some of the game mechanics and quality of life additions from the previous Final Fantasy games.
As fans go back to experience the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy 7, either as a nostalgia trip or a first-time experience, the age of some of the games is evident. FF7 was originally released more than a decade and a half ago after all. As many games needed to do back then, many of the game's newer features (at the time) needed to be explained. It can often be difficult to outline the mechanics that exist only in video games. FF7 decided to embrace the strangeness of that experience and break the fourth wall in a bizarre moment that helped to set the comedic tone present throughout Final Fantasy 7.
Breaking the 4th Wall in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Especially at the time of the original game's release, RPGs in general heavily featured many mechanics that are now often handled in the background like saving. And in the burgeoning era of 3D gaming, some little changes were made from older games to help keep players oriented in new worlds. FF7 mixed both its very 90s style of comedy and a new mechanic that addressed just this. Early on in the game, Cloud is free to explore Sector 7 for the first time, and the small location is brimming with items for players to uncover or purchase, NPCs to meet, and a fun encounter with a "Coach" who explains some of the new mechanics directly to Cloud.
Three-dimensional graphics were largely still in their infancy when FF7 was released and at the time using static backgrounds was common. This approach would overlay the player-controlled pixel sprites over a background that couldn't be reoriented. This meant that background art could be much higher fidelity than it would be otherwise, but could often become confusing for players to navigate. Resident Evil was a prime example of this approach, but FF7 used a simple fix to help players explore. Pressing Select on the PS1 controller (or the Options button when playing FF7 via Xbox Game Pass) would cause a cartoony finger to appear over the main character's head.
FF7 embraced the absurdity of this moment well. Cloud reacts directly to seeing the finger appear above his head, breaking the fourth wall. In this same scene, a bouncing save point appears in the room and actually speaks to Cloud directly. NPCs in the area react to both incidents as well, comically addressing the object and the absurdity of the moment. Final Fantasy 7 is a game rich with lore, but part of what made the game so successful was a willingness to poke fun at itself and the gaming medium in general. This moment doesn't appear in FF7 Remake given its new nature as a fully realized 3D world, but it's a fun little relic of gaming-gone-by that still can earn a few laughs today.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 is in development.