Currently, the Prelude theme is already a familiar piece of music for many players.
Because it's the signature music of Final Fantasy, just like the Chocobo theme, it has never been absent from the series.
Of course, the main reason is that this piece of music is truly captivating.
Professionals in the music industry have given high praise to this piece. There was even a special feature article discussing it in a professional music review magazine.
It's also because of this piece of music that professionals in the music industry realized that electronic games can also produce good music. Why wasn't this discovered in the past?
Then, for a period of time, there were more and more excavations of game music, and gradually, more and more game music was recognized by the social industry. Some of this music even became popular tunes, and GameStar Electronic Entertainment earned some extra money by licensing these music pieces for external use.
Accompanied by the Prelude theme, the game's visuals officially begin.
First of all, unlike all the games in the past, the starting screen this time is presented in full CG form.
And the CG visuals are simply stunning, almost comparable to the most advanced visual effects of today's movies.
Joshua's eyes gradually widen.
On the television screen, at first, there is a pitch-black scene, then faint stars gradually appear and begin to rotate with the camera, as if a person is constantly changing perspectives to observe the starry sky. The background music at this time is like the deep sky itself, giving a sense of grandeur.
But then, the starry sky fades away gradually, and a beautiful woman with red hair and wavy hair appears in the center of the screen.
She stares directly at the camera with clear eyes, as if she is looking at the players in front of the TV.
Joshua is immediately drawn to her beautiful face.
This character is created using full CG technology. Unlike real people, it lacks realism but retains its perfect beauty.
The background music also changes at this point, the melody gradually slows down but without losing its mystery.
Then the camera angle changes, the red-haired woman stands up from a crouching position, and then she slowly turns her head, seeming to be looking at something with a hint of doubt.
Then she turns her body around, and at this moment, Joshua also notices that the other hand of this woman is holding a basket, and her whole image now gives a feeling of a flower seller.
The flower seller starts to move, and the sound of her footsteps resonates clearly. The camera follows rapidly, the background music adds some new accompanying instruments, and the music gradually builds up from a low point, with the fast drum beats seeming to indicate something about to happen.
As the camera retreats, it seems like the flower seller is walking out of an alley, then stops in place. However, the camera doesn't stop but continues to pull back.
Joshua then notices that this seems to be a modern setting.
Right, he heard online that the latest Final Fantasy game uses a setting close to modernization, with some added elements of steampunk and magic.
It caused a bit of a stir at the time; some players were looking forward to it, while others found the modern setting boring.
He didn't have much feeling about it. He thought he could only know if the game was good after playing it.
But at this moment, he felt that even before discussing whether this game was good or not, just this full CG animation at the beginning was already sincere enough.
He had never seen such high-quality opening animation in any game before.
Even though he didn't understand the details of game production, just looking at such scenes, he felt that this thing must have cost a lot.
The camera continues to retreat, the drumbeats of the background music get faster and clearer.
Suddenly, the speed of the camera's retreat increases, passing through buildings full of modernity, and finally arrives above the city, presenting the entire cityscape in front of Joshua.
Then, the game's title and logo appear in a flash of light, resembling a falling meteorite.
The title is the English title of Final Fantasy 7.
The music reaches its climax at this point, becoming more lively and dynamic.
At this moment, Joshua's body seems to react slightly, with a faint sense of anticipation rising within him.
Is this... a circular city? There seem to be several steam-emitting furnaces around it, are they some kind of buildings resembling coal furnaces?
If Joshua had known more about Final Fantasy 7 beforehand, the official website has already introduced some settings related to Mako Reactors, Shinra Corporation, and so on, just to let players immerse themselves in the game in advance.
But precisely because Joshua knew nothing about this, his curiosity kept expanding.
What kind of city is this?
Why does it look like this?
It seems like a city that is at least eighty percent made of steel.
It has to be said that just the camera movements at the beginning are of movie-level quality. Anyone who sees it will be curious about this city.
And just as he became curious, there was a momentary scene of train wheels running on the screen, which lasted only about half a second, but it perfectly captured Joshua's attention again.
At the same time, the camera gradually pulls back again, but this time, it doesn't return to where the flower seller was, but moves forward to the side.
Several brief segments of a train on the move continue to appear, and the camera keeps zooming in until it finally comes above a train that is speeding along.
Joshua suddenly realizes that the several train scenes just now were all of this train.
At this point, the quality of the game's visuals starts to change, and the image quality drops by one notch.
Joshua also immediately feels a sense of loss; he hasn't seen enough of the high-quality CG animation just now.
But now, he can finally start controlling it with the controller.
On the gradually stabilizing train, a cute hedgehog-like character jumps off the train and lands on the ground.
Joshua notices that he is carrying a huge sword on his back, and that sword is the same large sword that was stuck in the ground in the game's starting screen.
This must be the main character.
Joshua thinks to himself at this moment.
Besides this yellow hedgehog-like character, several other characters quickly jump off the train. One of them looks burly, with one hand already modified into a machine gun. He looks at the hedgehog.
"Hey, hurry up."
The burly man waves his hand at the hedgehog, signaling him not to lag behind.
Joshua immediately pushes the left stick to keep up with the burly man's pace.
Thanks to playing two games before, he has gradually become familiar with the new controller operation mode of GS1. He also quite likes this new game logic, which feels comfortable to hold.