Final Fantasy 7 is one of the more successful titles in the Final Fantasy series. The game is from the perspective of Cloud, a mercenary who has a troubling past. The story unfolds after an initial raid on a Mako reactor.

The player is able to control a team of characters in a variety of environments, including battle, the world map, and inside towns or buildings.

This title uses magic from special items called "Materia," which can give the character certain abilities, spells, attribute boosts, or add-ons to other spells or abilities. Materia can be levelled to "Master" by using AP for experience. After Materia is at Master, it cannot level any longer and produces another of the same kind at level 1.

Characters have set physical and mental strength at each level they gain. A character can level to 99 using XP, gained from defeating enemies in battle. AP and XP can both be gained in fights.