FFVII, We thank you for your true kick-in-the-ass game!
The North American, European, Australian and New Zealand localizations of the PlayStation version were published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the Windows version was published in North America and Europe by Eidos Interactive.
The world of Final Fantasy VII is economically, militarily, and politically dominated by a powerful conglomerate called Shin-Ra, which profits from the use of generators known as "mako reactors". These reactors siphon a green ethereal energy (called "Spirit Energy or "Mako Energy") out of the planet and convert it into a source of power.
It is revealed that the source of the Spirit Energy required to create Mako is the Lifestream, a flow of life energy within the Planet's mantle. All life energy originates from the Lifestream, and returns to it when an organism dies. Thus, the Lifestream is the sum—and source—of all the life that have ever and will ever walk upon the Planet. The process of extracting its energy literally drains the life of the planet in order to generate power, and will—over time—result in the Planet's decay.
Shin-Ra's executives are concerned with the expensive process of refining Spirit Energy into mako, and are fascinated with the idea of the legendary Promised Land, a place the company's president believes to be fertile with natural mako energy that flows to the surface of its own accord. According to legend, only a race called "the Ancients" (also known as "the Cetra") are able to find this land. However, the Cetra have been driven to extinction, with the exception of one: Aerith Gainsborough (also known as "Aeris Gainsborough" to some fans, due to her name being spelled "Aeris" in the non-japanese versions of the game).
The city of Midgar is a municipality created and operated by Shin-Ra. It is also the location of the Shin-Ra headquarters and serves as the home to their nemesis, a rebel resistance group of eco-terrorists called "AVALANCHE," who fear for the Planet's safety and desire to topple the Shin-Ra Company before irreversible harm can be rendered to the Planet. The game opens as AVALANCHE hires a mercenary named "Cloud Strife," who claims to be a former member of Shin-Ra's elite special forces unit, SOLDIER. He's been hired to aid in the destruction of the eight mako reactors situated along the perimeter of Midgar.
Cloud shows little interest in AVALANCHE's cause at first, as he is—by his own admission—interested in only the money he's been offered. Eventually, however, Cloud discovers the connection between Shin-Ra's ecologically destructive actions and a mysterious figure from his own past: a man named "Sephiroth," a legendary SOLDIER who destroyed Cloud's hometown. As Cloud is drawn deeper and deeper into the multi-faceted conflict among Shin-Ra, AVALANCHE, and Sephiroth, Cloud's own true identity and past come into question. Themes explored in the story include the concept of identity, the nature of life and the necessity of self-acceptance.