I have chosen to analyze the Square Enix Title Final Fantasy because it is a perfect use of the hardware in its time.

Genre

Final Fantasy VII is a single player Role Playing Game (RPG) which tells us the game does not have a multiplayer feature and that the player will control the actions of a character inside a well-defined world full of complex mechanics and character development.

Technical Codes

The way the player interacts with the game is by using an arrow to select equipment and actions specific to the chosen character. In this game, equipment plays a crucial part as the majority of the time the player cannot progress further unless they have received certain equipable items. The main objective is to get protagonist Cloud Strife to stop antagonist Sephiroth from destroying the planet whilst using the characters discovered along the way to support Cloud.

Symbolic Codes

To begin with, the player follows the protagonist as he joins an eco-terrorist group and fights against the megacorporation Shinra. Throughout the protagonist’s journey, he meets more and more characters which as the game progresses go through their own development investing the player further into the universe and making the immersion that much stronger. Throughout this journey, the Eco-Terrorist group are portrayed as the “Good Guys” while a corporation that provides energy to power the everyday lives of the citizens of Midgar are the Villians.

Conventions

Most of the time spent by the player will be EXP Farming, which is when the player chooses to stay in their current location and level up before progressing. The Save Locations in this game really force the player to plan their actions ahead of time otherwise they may not make it to a save point before being killed by a surprising boss attack and losing all their most recent progress.

Narrative

The narrative plot inside Final Fantasy 7 is incredibly iconic because it tackled many real-life issues throughout the game as well as keeping the fantasy aspect. By the this the creators made an incredible plot that has been marked down in video game history.

Representation

Final Fantasy 7 uses the characters and events in the story to represent real issues in the world. For example, there is one scene where the protagonist Cloud Strife is required to dress up as a female and fool a dictator so that he can progress. This represents issues such as transgender people in the modern society.