If you fell in love with Final Fantasy VII, like I did, and are so hungry for more that you are considering this game, I beg of you, don't do it. It is nothing like the aforementioned masterpiece. The story was slow to get going, which I was sympathetic to, since it was like that in FF VII too, but after hours it was still lame. For one thing, you have a "military ranking", and it goes down when you explore the towns! I mean come on, the whole point of an RPG is exploring! But that is not the worst part. The magic system has been redone, and it's HORRIBLE. Instead of the product-of-genius Materia system in FF VII, they have the "draw system". You have to collect magic spells, and use them, like petty items! This is, by far, the worst idea ever.