.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1100&h=618&dpr=1.5)
When it comes to role-playing games, in-game locations can become one of the most memorable features of the title. For Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7, the city of Midgar can be considered quite popular, especially since players spend a lot of time adventuring around this specific city. Recently, photos of a factory in Japan’s Gunma prefecture have been shared online, as it reminds fans of the Final Fantasy 7 city, especially when the factory is lit up during nighttime.There are many interesting places to see and visit during the course of the Final Fantasy 7 storyline. Fans can likely share their favorite spots depending on the scenes or areas that struck them the most while playing the game. This can be Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart’s small hometown of Nibelheim, the exciting casino and amusement park Gold Saucer, or even optional areas like Gongaga and Wutai. However, many fans will likely think of Midgar when Final Fantasy 7 is mentioned, given the area is heavily bannered in both gaming and marketing materials.On social media, a Twitter user with the handle aitaikimochi shared that a factory in Japan is being talked about online because of its resemblance to Final Fantasy 7’s Midgar. The Twitter user posted links to a recent Japanese report where the report’s writer shared the location of the factory, which can be found in Japan’s Gunma prefecture within Annaka City. According to Google Translate, the report’s writer is Keiichiro Kutsuki and the editorial piece they wrote talked about the “Midgar of Gunma,” which is formally called the Toho Zinc Annaka Smelter and Refinery.
Though the factory does not seem to look like Midgar much during the day, the view changes once nighttime hits the city. The combination of buildings, metal pipes, and scaffolding will likely remind the community of arguably the most iconic location in Final Fantasy 7. On aitaikimochi’s Twitter thread, fans made jokes about the location as they referred to the in-game Shinra Corporation’s practice of harvesting Mako energy from the planet. Others simply agreed that the factory looks very cool and realistic in their eyes.
Now that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is out, fans can actually have a more high-definition look of the different places they will visit in the game. This is likely not the last time that the community will find real-life locations similar to those in-game. It would be very interesting to see other areas around the world that remind fans of their favorite places in Final Fantasy 7.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.