Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring

Ehrgeiz is a 3-D fighter released as an arcade game in 1998 and later for the Playstation in 1999. It was developed by Seiichi Ishii for Dream Factory and published by Squaresoft.

The Name
For the Playstation it was subtitled “God Bless the Ring.” The word ehrgeiz means ambition in German. Ehrgeiz also happens to be Zell Dinch’s most powerful weapon in Final Fantasy VIII.

Gameplay
Ehrgeiz differs from the traditional 3-D because it allows the players to roam freely in the battle arenas. This means that characters do not always have to be facing each other during a match. Ehrgeiz featured areas with platforms to jump on and backgrounds to interact with. The Playstation version features some mini games based on track and field events and one based on the board game Othello. It also features a quest mode in which the player fights through dungeons finding items such as armor, weapons, and spells. Ehrgeiz met with mixed reviews in the United States and was never released as a Greatest Hits game, thus defining it as a rarity to some.

Final Fantasy
Ehrgeiz’s main Final Fantasy tie in is the ability to play as a number of characters from Final Fantasy VII. These characters are Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Sephiroth, Yuffie Kisaragi, Vincent Valentine, and Zack. Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth are playable immediately while it is necessary to unlock the rest by beating the game with various characters. Ehrgeiz also features music arranged by Nobuo Uematsu.