Earlier this week, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier was shut down. It left the last remaining players mourning the loss of their favorite battle royale, bemoaning the small but ecstatic community around it, and mourning the friendships formed in it.
The game was first announced at Tokyo Game Show 2021, and its unofficial Reddit is now filled with final posts, screenshots of characters, and thank you messages to the hundreds of fans who were there. We reached out to some of them to hear their stories and gain insight into how they survived the final day of Square Enix’s doomed battle royale game.
“I’ve always been a fan of Final Fantasy, including Final Fantasy VII, but I can’t quite explain why I’m attracted to this game,” wrote American anchor Richard, who was on the first soldier 11 The game was added when it launched on March 17, 2021. “I hadn’t played a battle royale game before this either. I couldn’t get any of my friends to play it because they immediately ignored it because it was so different from Final Fantasy. “
In retrospect, it was a tough sell for many. Not only is The First Soldier’s battle royale saturation steadily declining in the video game industry, but it’s nothing like what Final Fantasy fans are used to. You might even call it “cynical”. Even so, the game boasts four full seasons of content, which, combined with compelling gameplay and a cloak of FF7 aesthetic, is a cocktail some players can’t get enough of.
Some people prefer experiential play to others. For Edenia from Australia, this title is well worth the investment of time and money. “I really like the game so much that I’ve bought about $1000+ worth of cosmetics and credits. I’ve made a lot of friends and love being part of the community, from playing private matches to helping friends create stories about the game video. Awesome!
In its short life, there have been moments of glory in the community’s mind. Richard and I talked about a Bahamut event during Season 2, where the summons were supercharged and required multiple players to team up to take them down, all while typical battle royale shenanigans were happening all around them. This proved difficult to do naturally (due to noncooperation from those not interested in taking down Bahamut), so a group of dedicated players formed teams to take down bosses, securing kills for those who needed them.
Player Heidi Van Vuuren from Zimbabwe has been proposing to reinvent his characters as a memorial, and 18 people have accepted his proposal so far, hoping to permanently commemorate their role in “The First Soldier” Avatars in . Van Vuuren shared similar anecdotes, including taking down bosses like Bahumut and Cloud with the help of a dedicated team, riding around on chocobos in private matches, and reaching the top rank in team playlists. But for Van Vuuren, the highlight at the time was winning their favorite chocobo from the game’s limited-time Easter event. Starting this week, all of these events — and the rewards for participating in them — will be gone forever.
For a community like this, the news that First Soldier will shut down in October 2022 is devastating. In an official post written by the developer, the reason for its closure was short and surgical: “While we have made every effort to regularly update you with fresh and exciting content, we have not been able to deliver the experience we hoped for, and You all deserve it, and that’s why we’ve made the extremely difficult decision to end our service.”
“It’s a blind spot, for sure,” Richard said. “We just did a livestream a day or two ago talking about the upcoming anniversary. Just overwhelmed by the news [of the game’s closure] in the tweet. “A month after the game came out, I started streaming, so for about 10 months, I streamed every other day. Now it feels empty.”
After hearing the news, Edenia also felt a lack of motivation to keep playing. “I feel like all the time and investment I put into this game was wasted.” Looking back at the posts online, many people share this sentiment and have to choose between sticking with it until the end or jumping ship before it’s gone for good.
For those who made it to the end, they were able to experience one last day of fun and games before the curtains closed and the game unceremoniously kicked them out. Edenia recalls their final moments with The First Soldier: “On the last day, I took a lot of screenshots of my favorite cosmetics and documented myself fighting other players. It wasn’t about being the strongest in the game, It’s about having a blast. I play until I can’t log in.”
Richard streamed the game for as long as possible, talking to the community about the highlights of the game, while Heidi (who couldn’t spare much time due to work) also shared memories with friends online while he was “busy at work all day “God, very sad”.
Now, with the servers down, all their progress in The First Soldier is gone, and the community is forced to leave it behind. However, those who stay have an incentive to keep in touch — and move on to another game where they can keep the friendships they’ve made. “Most people want me to play Apex Mobile, but it’s not as fun as designing your own character in FF7:TFS,” says Edenia. “I’ve heard good things about Warzone Mobile, so it might be my next game, but of course I don’t think any battle royale game will top FF7:TFS because of its unique style of play.”
They continued: “At the moment we really don’t know what to do. FF7:TFS is what makes us a family, so I really hope I can find something like that that incorporates JRPG elements into a battle royale game. “
Heidi feels the same way, not sure if any game can grab him quite like The First Soldier. “I was waiting for Ever Crisis because a lot of my friends said they would play it, but I honestly don’t think any game has become as big a part of my life as this one. Considering I’ve never played it before Battle Royale, I was surprised when I fell in love with this game, so maybe one day it will happen again.”
The death of Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier is very similar to many other multiplayer games that have been brought back and washed away forever: it left a nomadic fanbase, unsure where to spend their time and money. Cheers to them and their journey to find their new gaming home.
