Final Fantasy VIII

Shinra supports this technology with Mako Energy, Shinra's patented source of power.

Unfortunately, Mako is the lifeblood of the living planet and by using it up Shinra is slowly upsetting the balance of nature.

In comes AVALANCHE, a rebel group of disenfranchised citizens who have taken it upon themselves to oppose Shinra's ambitions.

The main character is an ex-Shinra soldier named Cloud Strife, an angst-ridden fellow with a complex history that is explained as the game goes on.

Cloud joins up with AVALANCHE as a mercenary for hire, and together they take on Shinra's maniacal executives and their army of shock-troops, robots, and mutants.

However, after a while, it becomes apparent that there are other forces at work, and ultimately Cloud must not only fight against Shinra but also stop a powerful man from his past from destroying the world.

Like its predecessors, Final Fantasy VII is a role-playing game in Japanese style, featuring turn-based combat with a real-time (ATB, "active time battle") element against randomly appearing enemies.

Customization in the game revolves around a so-called "Materia" system.

Instead of magic spells, abilities, and bonus stats being saved to a single character, they are saved to Materia orbs, allowing the player to change a character's spells and abilities from the equipment menu at any time.

Materia orbs can be bought in stores or found during exploration.

The series' trademark summoned monsters are also contained within specific Materia.

Besides experience points, characters also receive ability points that gradually upgrade the abilities of the currently equipped Materia.

Each character also possesses a set of uni