Books like FF VII

[jc1138]

I've been looking around for this but can't find topics on the subject. Does anyone know any books that are like Final Fantasy VII, particularly in setting? It's an unusual creation in that it mashes-up parts of numerous genres:

-Heroes and villians who wield giant swords, spears, and staves despite guns being prevalent

-Genetically altered humans and animals

-A cyberpunk-influenced world spanning mega-corporation

-An ancient, near extinct magic-wielding race

-Eco-terrorism

-Modern and near-future technology (machine gun-grafted arms, super trains, space travel)

-Magic-infused stones

-Strong theme of technology vs the natural world

-Narrative twists and turns

-Double-crosses

-Explores the unreliability of memory, identity

I'm sure no book would include all points above, but I would love to get recommendations that would include more than just one or two of the above. For example, in Dune characters use knives in one-to-one combat because personal shields protect them from projectiles. However, despite this Dune and FF VII feel very unlike. One almost would have had to have played the game to know what I mean.

[Sci-2]

First books that come to mind are Erickson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. Only thing I think is missing are the guns [and maybe future tech and other future/modern stuff].

I've not read the Seven Princes, but IIRC the reviews I read made me think it might fit what you want.

Both series should have samples on Amazon. I linked to the Seven Princes.

[Larry of the Lawn]

The Dark Tower has a lot of that, minus the swords. Especially the unreliability of memory and questioning of identity.

[jc1138]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I've read both The Dark Tower and Seven Princes. TDT certainly mixes genres, it sort of sets the bar. There's nothing tech/sci-fi about Seven Princes, which is straight forward fantasy, but it has some hugely overblown magic battles which sort of remind me of FF7 now that I think of it. The sf elements are a component of what gives FF7 a unique flavor.

As to Erikson, I read the first 150 pages of Gardens of the Moon before giving up, but have been tempted to give it another go based on the lauds it's been given. What turned me off was the shifting POV's and not getting any investment in any of the characters or story by that 150 pg point.

Has anyone read Out of the Black by Lee Doty? This sort of fits the bill...

[PetrusOctavianus]

Malazan.

[red snow]

This might be the best reason for trying the malazan books yet.

For some reason when I was reading retrbution falls, if I wasn't thinking "Firefly" there were moments of FF VII. Maybe it's the airships and order of knights with shotguns. The possessed deepsea diving suit probably contributed to this feeling too.

Mark Charan Newton's books gave a little bit of an FF vibe to me to but only the cty aspects of the game. His books have cities with several races in them - one is monkey like and reminded me of the character from FFIX and again there are augmented soldiers and technomagic.

Neither are Final Fantasy clones but they did evoke memories of the game for me.

[Werthead]

China Mieville. Mieville's tone is certainly weirder and there's a lot more races and so on, but there are more than a few similarities between New Crobuzon (and also the world in Railsea) and Midgar. The ambiguous technological level is one of them.

Oddly, Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay books came to mind as well, mainly for the magic/technology stuff, though otherwise they're pretty different.

[red snow]

Luke Scull's new book "the grim company" sort of has materia in it and there augmented soldiers with magically enhanced weapons. The guy is a computer games designer/writer so he probably has played the game at some point. I'm only a third of the way through the book though and I'm not getting a FF vibe really, It does have the aforementioned elements.

good reads has a thread on the same subject. I can't vouch for any of the suggestions though and be warned Tairy gets mentioned. The thread does raise a valid point about star wars in terms of relying on swords when they have guns etc. Maybe some of the more star wars fiction savvy board members could reccomend a tie-in novel that is focused on a city/planet. there must be at least one!

[emberling]

You might look at Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff - I thought it was one of the better books to come out last year that I read. It's a very grimy steampunk crypto-Japanese setting that I suspect drew some direct inspiration from FF VI, plus a strong theme of technology vs. the natural world. Which is not quite the same as being like FF VII, but it's closer than a lot of things mentioned here.

Of course, being like FF VI is better than being like FF VII anyway, because it is a far superior title. It is known.

[red snow]

I think most of the final fantasy games have the same mixture of tech, magic and races tbh. I missed out on VI because it wasn't released in the UK but I've played VII - XII and think VII had the best stories maybe because it was the first exposure for me but I really liked the characters and that shocking death, IX was the most charming in terms of "fantasy" for me.

Are there any FF tie in novels? There was an anime of VII I think and there must be a manga, surely. Otherwise square/enix have missed a trick.

[SkynJay]

I actually own the FFVII movie, though I forgot I did untill you mentioned it. I even tried to replay the game when the movie came out, but the save points and inability to skip the summoning video's killed that thought pretty quickly, 16 year old me had a whole lot more time on his hands.

Perdido Street Station wasn';t a bad suggestion actually, it even has cactus men!

[red snow]

I actually own the FFVII movie, though I forgot I did untill you mentioned it. I even tried to replay the game when the movie came out, but the save points and inability to skip the summoning video's killed that thought pretty quickly, 16 year old me had a whole lot more time on his hands.

Perdido Street Station wasn';t a bad suggestion actually, it even has cactus men!

Didn't the movie have absolutely nothing to do with he game though? Wait a second that was "spirits within". There was a more recent one that was based on the game now I think about it called advent children.

[Werthead]

Didn't the movie have absolutely nothing to do with he game though? Wait a second that was "spirits within". There was a more recent one that was based on the game now I think about it called advent children.

Yeah, Advent Children is a semi-sequel to FF7 (as in it's a sequel, but not directly connected to the FF7 story, which was rounded off by the game).

[SkynJay]

Major thread jack, but damn now I wish someone would remake FF7, if only to add save anywhere and skip repetitive sequences. Can we get a kickstarter going for this noble goal?

[red snow]

Major thread jack, but damn now I wish someone would remake FF7, if only to add save anywhere and skip repetitive sequences. Can we get a kickstarter going for this noble goal?

It gets rumoured with every new PS launch. It seems like it would be easy money but maybe they are waiting for the 20th anniversary or something? The final Fantasy franchise needs a kick up the ass starter as they are falling way behind amercian rpgs of late. The problem is that they'd probably want to tinker with the game mechanics of FF7 if they were to update the graphics etc. I might not mind so much if they kept the story intact and let you skip those long in fight cut scenes. I can remember the Sephiroth one taking about 5 minutes as a comet did a tour of the solar system before hitting you.

[emberling]

You've been able to save anywhere and fast-forward through boring scenes in FF7 for over a decade. Not that a remake wouldn't be glorious and probably better than whatever they're working on instead.

[Papirolle]

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It's probably as close as you are gonna get to that list. Very good book as well. Funny and exciting with lots of crazy!

[SkynJay]

You've been able to save anywhere and fast-forward through boring scenes in FF7 for over a decade. Not that a remake wouldn't be glorious and probably better than whatever they're working on instead.

Check it out when I get home. Thanks!

[Zach H]

Moorcock's Hawkmoon series fits relatively well, although the tech and city stuff is dying earth rather than cyberpunk. Bit of a chocobo thing going with Hawkmoon when he rides a giant flamingo, though.