#11: Final Fantasy VII (1997)
When Final Fantasy VII reached the original PlayStation in 1997, many players suddenly understood that role-playing games could feel cinematic in a new way. Square’s massive adventure followed Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough, Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Sephiroth, and a world threatened by Shinra’s exploitation and something even darker. The pre-rendered backgrounds, full-motion video sequences, dramatic music by Nobuo Uematsu, and multi-disc scale made the game feel enormous. It also helped popularize Japanese RPGs with a wider Western audience.
