Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile Paperback – October 30, 2018

love it

Excellent book, perfect condition

This is a fun read if you are a Final Fantasy fan wanting to get some more story from the VII world. It helps to have at least placed the original game so you understand a lot of the context, otherwise you could get lost.

I remember reading this in 2021 while on campus on discord with a friend. Maybe I have nostalgia goggles but I reread this book recently and I still love it

Came in perfect condition. Nice to get a brand-new book. As for the book itself, well, you can't go wrong if you have any interest in more FF7/Advent Children lore. Get it! Adds so much depth to everything.

Really cool set of short stories set between the events of Final Fantasy 7 and Advent Children. Does a great job bridging the gap between the game and the movie. Mostly for hardcore fans of the series.

Final Fantasy VII On the Way to a Smile is a supplementary novella made up of six interconnected episodes and six short interludes following members of the original FF7 game. In a pleasant prose that takes us quickly through roughly two years of time from the various character perspectives, the short works create a clear picture of a world that has suffered a catastrophe and are now threatened by its aftermath in the form of a growing pandemic and the threatening return of a dangerous adversary. A few new characters add depth to this world allowing the reader to imagine it largely without input from the game which is beneficial for anyone seeking a quick and interesting read. It ends having covered its own story well enough to set up the characters for their appearance in the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. There are several very nice still shots of the character renders for that film included at the beginning of the text.Kazushige Nojima has written much of FF VII and its related material, and I have searched for other books he may have written purely because of what I have read here and in the FF VII Remake tie-in book Traces of Two Pasts. This text and the film that follows it are attached to the original game, serving less as an epilogue and more as a well crafted bridge.Four out of five stars, and very much recommended.

It's wonderful that Western fans finally have the novel that connects the original FFVII game with the Advent Children (Complete) film! It might've been a long time coming, but I'm happy to own a copy of this instead of relying on (the wonderfully done) fan translations. This translation felt completely natural (similar to the recent English Ultimania Vol 2, which I also reviewed), but unlike that Ultimania, I happily didn't notice any translation errors in this.I'm an old-school FFVII fan (from '97-98) so I'm only familiar with the western-released Compilation titles, but this novel does a great job of tying in what challenges the cast face before the madness in Advent Children begins. Since this book's a part of the Compilation project, her name's rendered as "Aerith" rather than "Aeris" (I'm honestly fine with either, since that was a translation error back in the day.)I especially loved the banter between Barret and Cid! And Tifa's feelings (as well as her relationship with Cloud) was incredibly touching to read. You get an honest sense of just how close their family grew before Geostigma seriously affected Denzel and Cloud.