>>712780612
>or fighting the kaiju with gigantic energy cannons that are fired with a long and complicated process with dozens of people in front of control consoles barking out orders and confirming them.

That sequence (like many) was taken directly from Evangelion. Akira and especially Blade Runner were also inspirations for the city design of Midgar. As far as I can tell the biggest influences on FF7 were:

>The Girl who Lept Through Time (1983)
>Akira
>Blade Runner
>Neon Genesis Evangelion