25 essential video games every gamer should know

8. Final Fantasy VII

Released on the original PlayStation back in 1997, Final Fantasy VII is considered one of the most fan-loved of the series, spawning several spin-offs, including a feature-length 3D animated movie. SquareEnix has announced they’re working on rebooting the series with modern graphics, though not much news has been released regarding the project other than it will likely span a series of games. The story and characters have become iconic and have had several cameos in other games such as Kingdom Hearts and Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The game is a typical turn-based JRPG though characters have an additional gauge that fills up during battle that once full, lets characters perform a special attack called a limit break. In addition to normal attacks, there’s, of course, magic abilities and special summons that unleash powerful onslaughts.

Like any Final Fantasy, the plot revolves around saving the world, this time from a massive meteor and a power-hungry corporation that cares little about environmental impact. In an effort to protect the planet, Cloud joins with an eco-terrorist group called Avalanche who work on fighting ShinRa and keeping them from tapping into and draining the lifestream, the source of the planet’s energy.