People don’t often associate the term “masterpiece” with a game. When the term comes up we think Mozart, Picasso, Hemingway. Singular artists who worked alone within their craft on a particular piece of work.

A game, when done right can be a masterpiece in its own right. Video games have the ability to allow visual artists, artists of the written word, and musical artists to bring all of those crafts in unison making up a platform that comprised of all of the classical art forms in one piece. Final Fantasy VII is a masterpiece in this exact way.

Its extensive musical scores brilliantly emphasizes its characters’ emotions, and transfers them to the player. Some of us still get chills when listening to “Aeries theme." The ornate detail of the countless scenes that designers crafted immersed the players into a living, breathing painting. The storyline and character development had us griped with a variety of feelings throughout the many awe-inspiring scenarios that the game had to offer.

All of these art forms perfectly combine into the single entity, Final Fantasy VII. Needless to say, the experience many gamers wanting more even after maxing out the clock on multiple save files at 99 hours of gameplay. So much to the point that many of us tested the limits of the game by researching tidbits on what happened behind the scenes during development or spent countless hours trying to bug the game out. 

Today, that’s what we are going to focus on. Nearly 20 years after its release, many fans are still curious about the game’s secrets and mysteries. Let’s explore the nooks and crannies of Final Fantasy VII together.

29 The Well In Corel Prison Holds Many Mysteries

It’s never fun getting locked up in prison, even in a game. It actually happens twice in Final Fantasy VII. The second time takes place in an open concept prison, or “Corel Prison” where players are thrown into a shabby town and instead of bars are surrounded by the expansive desert around the Gold Saucer.

Players will notice a well in this area which can be descended into by climbing down the ladder. At the base of the well, players will often experience a slight disappointment, as the chest located in this area has already been pillaged and is completely empty. How sad.

Now for the interesting stuff. There are two things actually. In any version of the game, this area actually contains a mysterious polygonal red doll. But wait, where is it? You can’t see it? Nope. Because you weren’t meant to. It’s hidden beneath the layers.

There’s also rare fight in this area in the Japanese version of the game. Normally, there are no enemies in this area, however, in the Japanese version, it was possible to fight an enemy named “Test-0.” Stat wise, the enemies resemble the strange triangular anomalies which the player can fight in the debug room. The fight itself is very glitchy and half the enemies in this battle are invisible. One of the unofficial strategy guides released in 1998 actually referred to this battle although it was never present in the western version.

28 Unclimable Vine Leads To An Accessible Area

In Corel Valley, the area just before that all-important cutscene with Aeries, the player will notice a walkway which leads to a vine which leads to the mouth of a cave. However, upon approaching the vine and rigorously attempting to climb it, players will soon be left with the realization that the vine will not respond to their heedless desire to climb it, leaving them perplexed in a state of wonder as to what the heck is up in that cave?!

The short —but sad— answer to this mystery is that there is nothing programmed inside of the cave and the character cannot actually enter it. However, the world of Final Fantasy VII takes place on pre-rendered 2D backgrounds and the character sprites navigate these backgrounds in a 3D way, meaning that there is depth to the 2D image you walk on, it’s invisible but can be seen while using the right tools.

These tools have been used and in doing so people have spotted that at the top of the vine, before the cave there lays an area programmed in 3 dimensions made for the Cloud to walk on. This strongly alludes to the potential that originally that cave was meant to contain something, however, whatever the original idea behind it was, was scraped yet still left in the game and blocked off to disturb players.

27 First Developed For The SNES

Can you imagine how different life would be today if Final Fantasy VII had been published on the Super Nintendo instead of the PlayStation 1? It was originally set to be released for the SNES and prototypes do exist for it on that platform. However, due to the pending deadline coming up for Chrono Trigger development on Final Fantasy VII was paused. Once Chrono Trigger was completed the team resumed discussions on the continuation of Final Fantasy VII in 1995.

At this point in time, next-generation consoles were being released and the team decided to publish Final Fantasy VII on the PS1. This made Final Fantasy VII the very first 3D rendered game in the series. Initially, the team had debated using 3D background with 2D sprites, but ultimately decided on using fully 3D polygonal sprites.

26 The Case Has A Typo

No masterpiece is complete without its charming mistakes. Final Fantasy VII is chalked full of them, even on the case! And of all the words that are misprinted “masterpiece” is the one with the type. 

This typo only occurred on the initial release, which was huge, so it’s not super rare to find one. It was only after the game went to “greatest hits” that the error was fixed. There are quite a few posts online of people thinking their copy of the game was special in hopes of selling it for a pretty penny, however, the debate was quickly squashed in most cases informing the original poster that what they had found, although interesting, was quite common.

This typo is interesting alone just due to the fact that such a seemingly obvious error went by undetected by many who owned a physical copy of the game.

25 Final Fantasy VII Could Have Been Xenogears

Another classic epic tale developed by Square, which deserves a dedicated article of its own was Xenogears. Tetsuya Takahashi and his wife Kaori Tanaka worked at Square and moonlighted together on a script which they wished to publish through the company. Although Xenogears was ultimately deemed as “too dark and complicated” to be released under the Final Fantasy franchise it was captivating enough to not be ignored. It was first considered for release as a sequel to Chrono Trigger, but later given its own title. What we know today as Xenogears.

If you play Xenogears in its entirety you’ll understand Squares reasoning to not release it under a mainstream franchise. The plot incorporates themes of Jungian psychology, Freudian thinking, and heavy religious symbolism. Still, Takahashi was given a chance and proved himself quite capable of directing a wonderful game. However, in 1999 after realizing the companies focus was to continue the Final Fantasy series and not prioritize Takahashi’s Xenogears project he decided to leave and start his own company to continue producing spiritual successors to his original masterpiece under “MonolithSoft.”

24 Your Face When Racing Chocobos

Remember the Chocobo races? Who didn’t love catching, raising and breeding Chocobos so that they could then compete in the races at the Gold Saucer with the hopes and dreams of finally defeating the black Chocobo racer “TEO.” That guy was totally cheating.

The races were fun, you could win cool items, level up your Chocobo, and ultimately gain the satisfaction of mastering yet another one of the many mini-games Final Fantasy has to offer.

However, unbeknownst to most fans, there’s a hidden curiosity that takes place during the Chocobo races. Have you ever wondered what your characters face looks like while riding a Chocobo? You might have, because the camera doesn’t allow you to rotate enough to see the front of your character. However, with modern technology people have been able to break through the limitations that the camera set upon us and catch a glimpse at what your character, whether it be Tifa, Cloud or Cid actually looks like during these races and it’s disturbing.

The image above is a depiction of what your characters really look like while racing Chocobos. You can’t un-know this fact now.

23 It Was Going To Be A Detective Game

Hironobu Sakaguchi was in charge of writing the initial plot and setting for Final Fantasy VII, which was originally going to take place in New York City in the year 1999. The main character, instead of our beloved Cloud Strife was going to be a “hot-blooded detected” named “Joe”.

The plot still would have revolved around players needing to blow up Mako reactors, but would eventually end up blowing up the entire city! At this stage of development, the concept of the Lifestream was still in the mix but wasn’t as developed as we know it to be now. Square did end up using the “future” new york detective style concept, but it was applied to what we know today as “Parasite Eve.” If Final Fantasy VII would have gone this route it was have been a drastic change in the series direction, going from medieval fantasy to a real-life setting which actually exists.

22 The Secret Behind Clouds Massive Buster Sword

In 1997 when Final Fantasy VII was released, Cloud Strife, his spiky blonde hair, and oversized buster sword were seen everywhere. These exaggerated features are what initially lured newcomers into the already long-running Final Fantasy series. With this look, Cloud became the poster child for Fantasy games in general. We were all like moths to a flame upon first witnessing this previously unseen style.

Now, video games and cartoons generally don’t have to follow the same laws of logic and physics that reality obeys, this is what makes them fun! However, people still question things that don’t quite make enough sense and there have been a lot of questions surrounding how Clouds massive sword stays in place on his back. At the end of battle, he does his little victory sword spin and thereafter promptly attaches the giant piece of metal to his back, with seemingly nothing on his back to hold the sword in place. It just kind of sits there, magically.

So let’s cut to the chase, it’s magnets! Cloud wears suspenders, on the back of the suspenders as you can see in the image above, is a small circular mechanism which in fact is the magnet that his buster sword attaches to. So, now you know!

21 Cloud Is In Every Scene And This Helps Speedrunners

Cloud is the main character, meaning, he’s super important. Not only to the story but apparently to the game functioning as a whole. It is unknown exactly why this is the case, but, the developers needed Cloud to be in literally every single scene in the game. You know, all of those lovely back and forth conversations separate from the active party to show the player what’s going on in the overall story? Cloud is always present, however, invisible and immovable.

That alone is a pretty fun fact, but it gets funner. During the raid on Midgar portion of the game near the end, when everyone jumps off the highwind to infiltrate Midgar, the developers forgot to freeze Cloud, meaning he is controllable during the scene where the Shinra executives are chatting about what to do about the terrorist group Avalanche. If the player is to hold down + right + X during this scene, in any version of the game it will trigger the battle with Hojo and afterwards “teleport” the player to the sister ray cannon firing cut scene, enabling players to skip the entire raid on Midgar chapter. This has been an invaluable tactic for speed runners to use to shave off a good portion of their time

20 The 3D Battler Game Is Impossible, Literally

Yay! You made it to the Gold Saucer. After a long journey of ups and downs it’s time to re-calibrate and lose yourself in the multitude of mini games available for your leisure.

Oh what’s this? 3D battler, this seems fun. You’ll soon recognize that this game works just like rock, paper, scissors. Triangle beats X, Square beats Triangle and X beats Square. If you do the same move the AI does then they cancel out and it’s on to the next move.

The 3D battler contains a total of 4 official enemies, and one mysteriously impossible enemy. The game becomes increasingly harder as you defeat each foe as the PS1 is capable of reading your inputs and based upon it assigning a percentage chance to your opponent on whether you will strike him or he will strike you. It’s kinda cheap!

Here are the percentage chances of beating each opponent:

First: 50% win - 25% loss - 25% tie

Second: 33.3% win - 33.3% loss - 33.3% tie

Third: 25% win - 50% loss - 25% tie

Fourth 25% win -75% loss - 0% tie

If you’re able to make it all the way to the fourth opponent then congratulations, you’ve beaten the odds. However, the odds are mad at you for beating them and now it’s time for their revenge. It seems as though the developers didn’t program an opponent after the fourth, either out of laziness, forgetfulness or maybe they did it on purpose but either way the fith opponent doesn’t exist, it is invisible so Cloud stand there fighting nothing with a 0% chance of landing any hits until he inevitably falls to his knees and earns his well deserved 300GP.

19 Hidden Door Opening Model In Corel Prison

There are a few mysteries located within the Corel prison and this one is one that has recently been discovered as of 2017. Had you ever noticed the double metal door located behind bars in the prison? Well it’s there, seemingly only to stress the ambiance of inescapability because it’s impossible to move past the metal bars and interact with the door.

However, if you’re so inclined to break the game and use softward to look at how the scene was peiced together, you’ll see that the metal bars are actually on a seperate layer than the door, and the door itself has its own layer which if removed reveals the design for what the door would look like if it were to be opened. It’s possible that the design team and event coordinators were not communicating properly and the door was thought to be usable at some point in time, which later was deemed as “no” so they covered everything with layers. Interesting sutff!

18 Hironobu Sakaguchi In Rocket Town

Hironobu Sakaguchi was the main driving forces behind Final Fantasy VII and is again known as the creator of the Final Fantasy series. If you want to thank someone for the endless hours of excellent fantasy, thank Mr. Sakaguchi.

Not only do fans recognize his greatness, but so to does his designers. If you look close, and i mean REALLY close, you can find an homage to Mr. Sakaguchi located on a wall inside one of the houses in rocket town. The seemingly uninteresting painting hanging on the wall depicting a seemingly uninteresting man is indeed confirmed to be the portrait of Hirinobu Sakaguchi.

So be sure to stop by and say hello to Mr. Sakaguchi next time you find yourself in Rocket Town, i’m sure that he will appreciate the visit!

17 The Locked Chest Originally Had A Purpose

There’s a treasure chest inside of one of the residences in Kalm, a very frustrating treasure chest. In fact, the most frustrating treasure chest in the game because it can’t be opened, yet it sits there prominently begging players to interact with it!

However, that doesnt mean it never had never been intended to be opened. In fact it was planned to contain the summon materia, Titan. However, for whatever reason, the developers decided to change the location of this powerful earth summon to the decimated Corel reactor.

Why this decision was made will likely be a mystery forever, but at least we know what its purpose is now rather than incessantly wondering why an un-openable chest exists in the game and what the story behind it really is.

16 Kefka Lives In Final Fantasy VII

Kefka, the main villain from Final Fantasy VI returns in Final Fantasy VII to speak, or rather laugh, his final farewell to the series. Did you catch it your first, second or third time around through the series? If not, don’t feel bad because a lot of people didn’t. This little Kefka homage takes place inside the Monster hotel at the Gold Saucer.

There’s a super creepy shop inside this hotel, filled with all kinds of ghastly oddities and trinkets around the room. A propped up mummy, some floating eyeballs in a treasure chest, a giant metallic gremlin looking face with red eyes and a floating green pumpkin in a cage.

If the character interacts with that pumpkin, it will respond, with a strange but familiar audio clip. It’s a skewed version of Kefkas laugh and for a moment does the job of breaking players away into nostalgia for the previous title in the series.

15 There’s A Readable Screen Error In-game

Adamantaimai is a turtle like enemy with large tusks protruding from its skull for extra scariness. He’s encountered on the beaches of Wutai as well as the second round at the Battle Square mini game inside the Gold Saucer.

What makes Adamantaimai weird other than his difficult to pronounce name? Well, if the character casts Barrier and MBarrier on the creature before its first turn it will prompt him to attempt to use the cure spell, which he doesn’t actually have. Attempting to use a spell which he does not possess will cause the Adamantaimai to glitch the game and in the original PS1 version, the battle text will show an error code not meant for players to see. The error code is “Scene:179/ Code:32”

14 Clouds Hair Was Supposed To Be Black And Combed To The Side

Clouds spiky blonde hair became a trademark, not only to Final Fantasy VII, or the Final Fantasy series but RPGs from the PS1 era in general. The lead character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, was in charge of creating the prominent and memorable character designs we all grew to love inside Final Fantasy VII and originally his design for Clouds hair was meant to contrast Sephiroths long Silver hair with slicked back black hair, and zero spikes.

The decision was also meant to use less polygons on Clouds character model however after thinking about it Nomura ultimately decided on the familiar hairstyle we see on Cloud to increase his prominence as the lead character.

Unfortunately there is no concept art available to display this design idea, we can, however, get an idea by looking at Zack. Needless to say, Cloud is psychologically modeled himself after throughout the game’s story. Maybe given their close relation in the game Tetsuya decided to pass on some of the original design ideas to Zack given that he’s not a lead in the game.

13 Cobalt XIV And Indigo XV Were Originally Supposed To Accompany Red XIII

Red XIII, had a wonderful subplot which lead us to many heartwarming and curious scenarios throughout the game. His development as a character was powerful, particularly as the hatred that he felt for his coward of a father transformed into admiration upon the realization that indeed his father was a hero who only disappeared in order to sacrifice himself for the good of his people, and son.

As a part of Red XII’s journey to finding himself and heritage, he found himself locked up as one of Hojos blasphemous experiments. Originally a sub-plot existed that would have had Hojo produce clones of Red XIII. The clones were supposed to have blue and purple fur and would have been named Cobalt XIV and Indigo XV. Little is known about this scraped project however upon defeating Red XIII’s clones the party would have been thrown into a battle with both the clones and the original Red XIII. The idea was for the player to figure out who the real Red XIII was and only destroy his evil, cloned counterparts in battle without destroying him.

12 Magic Defense Armor Doesn’t Work

You read the title correctly, yes, none of the magic defense armor in Final Fantasy VII actually increases your magic defense stat. Can this seriously be true? Yes, for some reason there’s a glitch in the game that all magic defense stats attributed to a piece of character armor does not actually increase your magic defense, making countless pieces of armor utterly useless.

How does something like this happen? Well, Final Fantasy VII is inarguably a large game, and because of this there are many working parts, many teams and people, programs and code strung together to create a final product. The scale of this is massive and it’s oddly understandable that simple functionalities just slipped through the cracks in the end. The game is actually littered with these yet still remains a masterpiece and all little erros like this are generally viewed as charming.

11 There IS Uncredited Voice Acting In It

We played through a text book of adventure upon completion of Final Fantasy VII, a glorious textbook (if only school was this fun) but did you know that originally when it was decided that the game was going to be released on modern consoles that consideration to hire voice actors was a thing?

It was, but ultimately due to disc space limitations the endeavor became un-feasible unless if they expected to expand the physical copy from 3 discs to 10. Audio takes up a lot of space. However, the creators did test the waters with voice acting and implemented a single sequence into the FMV which the sister ray cannon from Junon is riling up to fire at Diamond weapon.

View the clip below the hear the only voice acting incorporated into Final Fantasy VII

10 Aeries Ghost Affects Dialogue

Aeries death was a sad one, a super sad one that sent shock waves throughout the gaming community at the time. The score “Aeries Theme” still send chills throughout the spines of many gamers from that era.

Upon her death and after the following grief, players were left wondering if she would come back. After All, it’s a fantasy game with Phoenix Downs in it, there must be a way! Although people have found ways to glitch the game and skip her death scene, leaving her as a usable party member, it’s not the same as she’s not supposed to be there.

Now, if you play the game normally, without glitching anything (hold on to what I’ll now refer to Zombie Aeries), there are still a few opportunities to legitimately see her again, thus confirming she does indeed still exist in one form or another.

The end cut scene shows her hand reaching out to Cloud, but we’re not going to focus on that. We’re going to focus on the moment when the party returns to a disheveled Midgar, to the church where Cloud and Aeries had originally met.

The first time entering this church after Aeries death will spawn a ghost of her, showing her doing what the flower girl loved best in life, messing around with flowers in the flower bed.

Now, what’s more interesting, if the player doesn’t succumb to the initial awe of seeing Aeries again and he or she quickly runs past the spawn point in the doorway over to Aeries, she won’t disappear like she’s supposed to.

What’s even more interesting is that if the player does this successfully the dialogue of the two kids in the church will change depending on whether Aeries in in the room or not.