VII blew me away in such a way that it's my standard on judging awe-factor in games. For instance, the Shadow of the Colossus game world was beautifully rendered and thematically relevant to the plot, but it wasn't no landscape-shot-as-the-team-decides-to-leave-Midgar-for-the-first-time or climbing-Mt.-Corel-during-sunset-amongst-the-industry-wreckage-to-the-tune-of-the-game's-main-theme.