FFVII question!

[Elcura]

Most people who love it and worship is do so because it's probably the first FF game/RPG they've played. For me it was my first FF game, and I have lots of memories playing it and really loving it. For me though, that's the only reason why I don't put the game down so much. It's still a great game worth playing though.

After a while, sometimes people realize and discover things about said game that bring it down. I mean, 10 years ago your opinion on things was hugely different then it is now. Later on you can look back and see things more objectively.

I think FFIX was the best one of the PS1 era, even though I love FFVII as well.

[Exoduso]

FF8 was my first RPG/FF, and I don't worship it like they do FF7..

[Andarvi]

Most people who love it and worship is do so because it's probably the first FF game/RPG they've played. For me it was my first FF game, and I have lots of memories playing it and really loving it. For me though, that's the only reason why I don't put the game down so much. It's still a great game worth playing though.

After a while, sometimes people realize and discover things about said game that bring it down. I mean, 10 years ago your opinion on things was hugely different then it is now. Later on you can look back and see things more objectively.

I think FFIX was the best one of the PS1 era, even though I love FFVII as well.

Yeah thats exactly how it was for me. My first real rpg, i was in 6th grade, and the nostalgia is lovely. First time i beat it, it took one week, 10am to 6am, for 5 days roughly. It was 99 hours when I finished it. Sad, i know, but the memories...

[Guyverarmor]

I personally like all the FFs except 8 (just the play system I guess ) Chrono trigger was the fucking shit man. I'm playing It right now actually on SNES emu. All In all, VII was a good game. first console RPG I played and loved It. Im not a hardcore fanboy by anymeans for FFVII but Its good 8)

[Avé]

I just started playing the other FF's within the last year, and VII is a nice game and all, but it's not the best. The one thing I liked most about VII was the atmosphere of the whole Midgar section of the game. It built me up to expect the greatest game ever, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed once I left Midgar for the first time.

VIII is probably my favorite out of them all. It's one of the only games I've felt compelled enough to keep playing after I've beaten the final boss and go for 100% completion. The cutscenes and music were all very well done, it's just some parts of the story feel rushed and you feel unphased about what just happened. (PLOT TWIST... Me:"Oh... alright")

IX was enjoyable, just under VIII and just above VII. I liked the battle system with the weapons and AP thing, and Choco Hot and Cold was amazing. But it just felt like it was missing something.

It's an old game, don't let the graphics turn you off. You'll get used to it after awhile. Just go into the game expecting nothing, and you won't be disappointed. With all the love it and hate it attitude towards FF games around on the internet, all you can do is play all the games and make your own opinion.

[Eaglestrike]

I'll put a spoiler warning here so the OP knows not to read my whole post and I can use character names and such, lol.

I'd say the reason people dislike the FF7 fanboys is not because they disregard the FF's after it, but because they disregard the ones before it. I've played parts of some of the earlier ones, and beaten one of them (5 I believe? It was fairly predictable but fun) but 7 was my earliest and you don't get a really good feel about how good a game is unless you play it shortly after it has come out. So even if I go back and play 1-6 I'll most likely still feel 7 is better than them, because my memory of 7 is from when it was cutting edge.

I love FF7, I'll try not to sound too fanboyish, but I loved the world created by it. They have given enough information for theories on other aspects of the world and to finish the storyline, but they don't answer everything. They never explain the real truth behind the ancients and Jenova, for instance. I loved the Advent Children movie because it really just perpetuated that wonder about what they are. I don't even know if the developers know what the story is supposed to be, but it lets you make guesses as to what it is. Aeris has two appearances in the movie and at least one you cannot say it was merely Cloud's imagination. She's obviously capable of doing something while dead and in the lifestream, she cast cure on Cloud. While in FF7 she also did some stuff while dead (Marlene "felt her presence" and such) so it makes you wonder exactly what Aeris truly was. It's never answered, it leaves you guessing. And I think that's one big aspect of why a lot of people love it.

Also, the world seemed SO HUGE when you first played it, it gives off an epic feeling. The battle system is solid, materia was good in that you could have your broken-ness if you tried hard enough (Final Attack + Phoenix and other stuff) and the ability to be able to create more and more and more, albeit slowly without cheating. It had a good combination of that and a pretty good difficulty level. If you didn't level extensively before the end-boss, and keep your other teams leveled and geared well, you have a fair chance at losing. I'm pretty sure for me it took me a few tries to beat Sephiroth's 2nd version and I probably had an average crew at the time. And Ruby weapon was a bitch (Emerald was pretty easy though)

Long, epic feel + cutting edge graphics + good difficulty setting + good sidequests/extra games (Golden Saucer + bird breeding) + complex storyline adds up to an awesome game that people remember. For people now playing it, it's no longer cutting edge in graphics and the poor graphics actually hurt how people think of it, the sidequests/games probably aren't as great as other games that are out now, etc. and just taking away a couple of those things easily takes it off the pedestal people put it on. I'm pretty sure my social life in 7th grade was sacrificed for FF7, I got it back in 8th grade, but 7th grade it was lost, I spent so many hours in the game, I think 65 hours or so was my first completion.

[Stolin]

After your first hour playing it you will completely forget about the graphics. I went back and played through the PS FFT after years of collecting dust the other day and was completely immersed in the story & gameplay after just a short time. Some of the games squaresoft have made are timeless.

[Exoduso]

I just started playing FF8/9 again, I have absolutely no problem with graphics because of how awesome the stories are.

[Zanz L. Barre The 3rd]

7 was pretty good, and has a great storyline and magic/ability system. Materia system was my favorite FF engine kinda' deal. There are better stories than 7's though.

FF8 is still graphically bearable IMO, and I loved the story much more than 7's. The Junction system is confusing at first to be honest, but once you harness it, you'll learn to deal with it.

[Exoduso]

I actually really liked the way FF12 dealt with gears/weapons/abilities... from the PSX FFs, I liked FF9's system the best (ability-wise), and FF8's story was the best out of the 3 IMO.

[Medivac]

ff7 had everything you could want from an RPG. except great graphics(which were decent at the time). and for the people that dont want to get the game for the graphics, you will miss out on another great game in the FF series, Tactics

[Elcura]

ff7 had everything you could want from an RPG. except great graphics(which were decent at the time). and for the people that dont want to get the game for the graphics, you will miss out on another great game in the FF series, Tactics

The fuck are you talking about? For that time the graphics were fucking amazing. Sure the field characters lacked detail, but they made up for that with the FMVs, battle graphics, backgrounds and sheer scale of things.

The graphics were anything but "decent at the time".

[Kazen]

For it's time, wasnt the 3-d map pretty amazing as well?

[Mifaco]

At the time it was released, the graphics were quite beautiful.

BOWLING PIN ARMS LOL

[Rysa]

BOWLING PIN ARMS LOL

I always thought of them as Popeye arms :3. FFVII was a very good game, but I have always enjoyed the SNES FFs, and SNES RPGs in general, a lot more than VII.

[Epincus]

Haven't played the most recent ones (10/12) so consider that your disclaimer, I wrote off consoles shortly before PS2 release.

FF7 was good. Not the BEST game ever, but good nonetheless. A couple points:

-It has been mentioned several times in this thread already, but 10 years ago things were a lot different. I just pulled a Celeron 500MHz out of an old computer I replaced for a family member, and my response was something to the effect of "damn! What a piece of shit!" when it hasn't even been out as long as FFVII has been. It's that old, for that reason holding it to today's standards is......kinda a dumb idea. Now if they ever decide to remake it....I wouldn't buy it because I know the story already.

-It's lauded so heavily because for a lot of people, it was their first RPG. They weren't quite as mainstream in this hemisphere for awhile, a good bit of evidence of that is the fact that Dragon Quest after the 4th installment and 3 of the first five FF's weren't even ported over here originally. For that reason, being introduced to it attaches a bit of emotional stigma to your experience. I really like the original Dragon Quest (warrior), but anyone who plays it today would wonder why I'm playing some low-rent flash RPG game.

-Honestly, I believe the strongest part of the storyline was towards the start. They set a good pace defining things, the gameplay progressed relatively quickly, and I enjoyed the linear nature. I found things got a LOT weaker shortly after the flashback part. I felt even FF8 kept the pace going a bit better, despite the...exceptional number of "wtf" plot devices they threw in there for lack of a kitchen sink.

---

-A question to everyone else: Was the broody emo-looking villain/hero a standard by FF7's release? Or did sephy pave a bit of ground on that front? I forget the layout of things around that time. At the very least it wouldn't be tired if they were the first major release to try that angle, and I can't really remember any emo heroes before playstation-era FF. Personally, my favorite of the series is FF6.

[Charla]

It's kinda hard to make a character look emo with little sprites (big sprites like Odin Sphere are easier). They can do a pretty good job with just dialogue, but it's not quite the same. Therefore, 7 sort of started the emo character thing simply because it pretty much started the 3d thing. Also, silent protaganists were more common before that (old DWs, Crono Trigger, pretty much every MegaTen).

[Exoduso]

The only main character that wasn't emo since FF7 has been Zidane..

[Kaylia]

The only main character that wasn't emo since FF7 has been Zidane..

Every characters went "emo" at some point, including Zidane and Cloud, but I don't see any problem with that. >_> Since when is it bad to have a character that get depressed when shit happen to him?

[Kainsin]

My favorite FF's are still IV and IX because they have the "everyone has a certain job and they perform it well" system which is my favorite.

I don't like systems where all the characters can learn everything because it keeps them from being different in combat. VI was cool because each character had their own special ability, but for the rest most people just pick 3 characters and keep them in their party full time.

I'll be honest and say that I really didn't like VII compared to other FF games (it was still awesome compared to some other RPGs, though) until I saw FFVII:AC...for some reason after watching that I started remembering the game and liking it more. >.>

Just to add in my two cents for some other things: Kefka > Sephiroth and Chono Trigger/Chrono Cross storylines > FFXII's storyline.