Universal popularity really is impossible. However beloved and critically-acclaimed a game may be, there are always going to be downsides. Flaws. Snags. Issues. There are also going to be gamers who insist on fixating on these very problems. As Kanye West will probably tell you, given half a chance, the haters are everywhere.

However, there’s a difference between calling out a legitimate flaw and snarking on something popular for the sake of snarking on something popular. In its time, Final Fantasy VII has seen a whole lot of both.

For many fans, this was the game that introduced them to the Final Fantasy series, as well as to the JRPG genre as a whole. It holds a special place in their crusty old hearts as a result, but is the game beyond reproach? Oh, heck no.

Still, Final Fantasy VII is one of those games that many like to make a habit of replaying every year or so. We like to change up our approaches each time (you can make Cloud exclusively a Summoner or something, and it's ridiculous), go for different collectibles and subquests, that sort of thing.

It feels so fresh each time, because (like any good RPG) there’s a whole lot to discover in the game. Familiar areas like the Gold Saucer and Midgar (as well as hidden ones like the Ancient Forest and sunken Gelnika) hold secrets that casual players may have no idea about. Let’s dive into some of them and take a look at some of the treasures you might have missed.

The Ancient Forest

We’ll start with an area that’s quite easily visible on the world map (on the mountains just above Cosmo Canyon), but a pain to get to. There are two ways to get into the Ancient Forest. You can either ride a mountain chocobo straight up the cliff, or wait until you can battle Ultima Weapon, which is very late in the game (the beast explodes and destroys a section of the mountain on its defeat, allowing you to walk straight to the forest).

Once inside, you’ll find a small, curious area unlike any other in the game. It consists of a series of strange puzzles that see you collecting insects and frogs, depositing them into plants to create paths to progress. There’s some excellent loot in here, including a valuable Minerva Band, the ‘Typoon’ summon materia (a brilliant translation of Typhoon), the Slash-All materia and Cloud’s Apocalypse, one of only two weapons in the game with triple materia growth.

The Great Glacier

The Great Glacier is another area that you’ll visit over the course of the main story. It was also the one that (as a result of its super-unhelpful map) utterly confounded many of us as children. It was like trying to navigate with a paper map during a road trip, in the bad old days before sat navs and Google Maps.

Somewhere in this vast and confusing area is the Alexander Summon Materia, the only source of Holy magic damage available to the player in the whole game. To get it, you have to go on an awkward little sidequest involving touching the Hot Springs (near the Great Glacier exit) and then high-tailing it to the cave where the mysterious NPC sits huddled.

Here’s a handy-dandy video guide from YouTuber judgementTaG, if you want to know how to go about that.

The Shinra Building

Here's a location that players in the know will revisit later in the game. The Key To Sector 5 Key Item is available to excavate in Bone Village on disk two (a guard in Midgar hints that they lost it while on an archaeological tour), and allows you to enter familiar areas from the early stages of the game.

Did you examine that locker in the Shinra Building, only for Cloud to say that the party have no use for a megaphone and leave it where it was? That was Cait Sith’s ultimate weapon, HP Shout, and you can now pick it up. Tifa’s ultimate weapon is also in Wall Market now, in the item tent that shot at you much earlier. The more you know.

The Sunken Gelnika

If you’re one of those players who likes to skip through the dialogue and dodge all but the essential NPCs, you probably didn’t hear about the Gelnika. This Shinra plane was carrying all kinds of secret military tech, but was attacked by Weapon and sunk into the ocean.

First-time players probably wouldn’t know that you can actually go and find this plane (just hop into the submarine, submerge near Junon, and travel straight forward towards Costa del Sol) and take a look inside. It’s a small area, but there’s a lot of fantastic and unique loot in here. Cid’s strongest limit break, Highwind, is found in here, as is Yuffie’s ultimate weapon, the Hades materia, the Double Cut materia, and the sword Heaven’s Cloud.

The Sunken Gelnika (Continued)

So, there you go. The Sunken Gelnika is found quite easily, you can access it as soon as you acquire the submarine, and there are some fantastic items in here. It’s really a no-brainer to head on in there.

One warning, though. The enemies in here are very tough (as is the boss battle with the Turks that takes place in one of the hallways), so do not miss the chance to hit that save point. The odd, mutated enemies in here can inflict all manner of ghastly status effects on you (not to mention just huge damage in general), so an unprepared and under-leveled party is not going to have a good time.

Here’s a tip, though: You’ll want to use Yuffie in here. It’s no coincidence that this is where you find her ultimate weapon. It has the unique effect of dealing full damage when using Morph, and the enemies in here all morph into a particular source (Power Source, Luck Source and so forth).

Bone Village

Bone Village is another place that can be super-tough for first-time players to grasp. The whole digging for treasure thing is a neat concept, but it can be very hard to  figure out how to correctly place the diggers. How many of them and "where" is a real trial-and-error thing if you don't know how.

The trouble is, though, it’s mandatory. You’re not going anywhere without the Lunar Harp, friends, you really aren’t. There is one thing you can pick up in the forest just before the Ancient Forest itself, though. On the screen immediately after ing through Bone Village, take a walk around the trees and you’ll notice a small flash of red. This is the secret Summon Materia Kjata,  a huge bull-like summon that attacks with a combination of Ice, Fire and Lightning magic.

Round Island

Now, some of us just aren't fans of wordplay. We like people to say what they mean and mean what they say. If you're one of these people, you'll surely have a deep respect for whoever it was that named our next Final Fantasy VII location ‘Round Island.’

Appropriately enough, Round Island is… a small, round island. It doesn’t look like much at all, and you’d be forgiven for traveling straight on past it. That is, you would, if it wasn’t for that the fact that it’s completely invisible on the map and only accessible via a gold chocobo. Why all this secrecy? Because it’s the home of the most powerful summon in the game (by a darn long way, too).

Wutai Island (Materia Cave)

Speaking of secret Materia you can only access from chocobo breeding, there are various other Materia Caves in the game. Over on the Wutai continent (Wutai itself being a secret area we’re going to take a look at soon), there’s another one, and it’s home to a Command Materia that can be incredibly overpowered: Mime.

Simply put, Mime will repeat the last action the party performed. This won’t work with other characters’ Limit Breaks, of course, but the ability to instantly repeat something as devastating as Knight of The Round’s Ultimate End attack is frightening indeed. Accessing Wutai Island’s Materia Cave requires a green chocobo.

The Junon Cave

Many players don’t trouble to use Aerith in the party much, or learn all of her limit breaks. Nevertheless, there’s a fun little sidequest to earn the manual for her ultimate limit, Great Gospel, which you may have never tried.

The sidequest involves two secret areas. The first is a small cave in the north of the Junon Area. You’ll need the buggy to access it, and will find a sleeping man inside. He’ll give you the Mythril item if the total number of battles you’ve fought ends in two matching odd numbers or zeroes (100, 211, 333, or 655, for instance).

It’s very convoluted and obscure, but once you’ve got the Mythril, you can move on to the next entry in our rundown.

The Blacksmith’s Cabin

So, there you are with your spangly new Mythril. If you’re new to Final Fantasy VII, you’re probably wondering just what you’re supposed to do with this item.

If you’ve happened upon the blacksmith’s cabin between the Gold Saucer and Gongaga, you’re probably also wondering what that’s all about. It’s empty, right? The two mysteries are connected, though, and here’s how: if you go to the cabin after receiving the Tiny Bronco, the blacksmith will be home, and you can give him the Mythril. Do so, then open the small box in his cabin. Inside is the Great Gospel limit manual.

A pain to get, perhaps, but this is a fantastic ‘attack,’ restoring the HP and MP of the party to full and making them temporarily immune to damage.