Well maybe. Lunar is a great game, and also one of the best JRPGs. I was just making a comparison to what 3D JRPGs were like before FF7 came out.
What exactly is supposed to be so good about Final Fantasy VII?
- Thread starter Oxigen_Waste
- Start date
Well maybe. Lunar is a great game, and also one of the best JRPGs. I was just making a comparison to what 3D JRPGs were like before FF7 came out.
SolsticeZero
Banned
Those pre-rendered backgrounds were so glorious.
Dark Octave
Banned
I agree with you but I get this all the time. "Blade is a horrible movie!" but they loved it as a kid.
You grew up and became a movie critic? That's your problem. The movie is still fun to watch for the same reasons you loved it back then.
WrenchNinja
Member
I first played it in '09...when I was 20. I thought it held up alright, aside from the translation errors.
Spehornoob
Member
Final Fantasy VII is a fine game. It's better than most JRPGs out today, for sure.
Final Fantasy V is still the best in the series, though. Come at me.
Final Fantasy V is still the best in the series, though. Come at me.
It was for me, 7's materia system was kind of limiting so most of the optional bosses requires certain strategies to beat.
Deified Data
Banned
The nostalgia factor. As others have said, it was a lot of people's first RPG other than Pokemon, so it's very influential. I had a blast with it when I was a kid, but in retrospect it's one of my least favorite FFs now. Only VIII and XIII trump it in that regard.
And those in-game cutscenes when camera changes were simply mindblowing at that time.
FF8 war of gardens in game cutscene was highlight of PS1 era graphic.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
You were less discerning for shitty things back in the day
As a kid with a N64 growing up, I played a LOT of shit. Hell, I even got 2/3rds through Superman 64 before the rental period was up. I don't think I could put up with 2/3rds of the opening level nowadays
"Liar! You just need to accept the game I don't enjoy anymore is shit."
Beardz
Member
A little OT:
A friend of mine bought the japanese version, if I remember corretly, the game was launched several months earlier in Japan, anyway, my friend was obsessed with the game (He even bought Tobal just to play the demo over and over again)
He doesn't talk japanese, so he went to GameFaqs I think, and donwloaded pages and pages of the translation! So when he was playing, he always had this pile of paper with the guides, translation of the dialogues... that was crazy!
I remember him having a conversation with a nother friend, the talk was something like
-My chocobos eat this stuff
-Really? I feed my chocobos with this other stuff
I mean, they were talking like if the chocobos were real or something... really crazy stuff!
As for me, I always hated FF because of him, he invited me to his place to play videogames, but, instead of playing, most of the time I watched him play FFVII...
A friend of mine bought the japanese version, if I remember corretly, the game was launched several months earlier in Japan, anyway, my friend was obsessed with the game (He even bought Tobal just to play the demo over and over again)
He doesn't talk japanese, so he went to GameFaqs I think, and donwloaded pages and pages of the translation! So when he was playing, he always had this pile of paper with the guides, translation of the dialogues... that was crazy!
I remember him having a conversation with a nother friend, the talk was something like
-My chocobos eat this stuff
-Really? I feed my chocobos with this other stuff
I mean, they were talking like if the chocobos were real or something... really crazy stuff!
As for me, I always hated FF because of him, he invited me to his place to play videogames, but, instead of playing, most of the time I watched him play FFVII...
I still love the setting and pacing. Every locale is memorable, and your freedom of the world scales at the perfect pace to make your time in Gaia really feel like an adventure. The length of time before even showing the world map, and the length of time following that before you have to revisit a location, work well to make the world seem huge.
It's also really cool that pretty much every boss fight introduces something new or significant, instead of merely being a test of how well you've been levelling. Makes the bosses more more memorable too.
It's also really cool that pretty much every boss fight introduces something new or significant, instead of merely being a test of how well you've been levelling. Makes the bosses more more memorable too.
ii Stryker
Banned
Materia and Summons the story and betrayal the cyberpunk.
It was the ultimate final fantasy and the last good one they did as far as I'm concerned. All of the subsequent final fantasies are derivative by comparison
It was the ultimate final fantasy and the last good one they did as far as I'm concerned. All of the subsequent final fantasies are derivative by comparison
IMO this is the game most relevant quality.
Not really a good example, I think saying "Blade's CGI looks like crap now" would be more appropriate, since you need to keep in mind the time when the movie was made. FFVII has only aged bad because games continued to evolve.
Fake edit: Now that I think about it, Blade's CGI looked like crap even for it's time.
King of the Potato People
Member
Also FF VII is better than VI, VI suffers because almost every town has the same aesthetic design whereas in VII every town looks more different to each other. FF VII has a lot more variety, more sidequests and has more ambuguity in the story with the characters starting off as terrorists and the ending which leaves the fate of the world up to interpretation. FF VII is just a more interesting, varied game than VI despite the uglier 3D graphics and smaller world. Both are great games, VII is better though.
OK, I just beat the game for the first time in February and it was my first Final Fantasy. Besides Mario RPG games, it was my first JRPG. So my judgement is without many comparisons. I extremely enjoyed the game and it's made me want to play more classic RPGs. Things I liked.
- The whole beginning with Midgar felt like a game in itself. There was so much story, detail, music, etc..already in this amount of time that it felt like that was the game. Then, I was introduced to the overworld and things kept just getting better.
- Uematsu made a legendary soundtrack. There's reggae like music in the slums, the Native American sounding Cosmo Canyon, western themed Chocobo music, jazzy songs, straight up Classical music, etc... The whole time playing I was wrapped into the music and it reminded how well Ocarina of Time connected music with locations.
- Every character felt special and had their own backstories. I wanted to experiment with each one and felt a connection to them.
- The locations themselves were so varied from forests, beach resorts, floating theme park, slums, ranches, deserts, underwater areas, etc... Also, the overworld progressed slowly to where you had more freedom at every turn.
- Almost every single interior was delicately designed and felt connected with the outside world. This made the towns come alive even more.
- Tons of secrets and rewards exploring the nooks and crannies.
- Story was well awesome. Enough said
- I never felt like I was grinding through the story. I don't know too much about JRPGs, but the battle system was just perfect. I still enjoy Mario RPG style better because it's more interactive.
- I actually enjoyed the graphics because I appreciate gaming history. Also, it gave me a sense of being back in 1997 when I had a N64 instead of a PS1. It was like an alternate past for me in a way, and I could even feel nostalgia for a game I hadn't played back then. Through the graphics and music, I felt that same wonder again.
- The whole beginning with Midgar felt like a game in itself. There was so much story, detail, music, etc..already in this amount of time that it felt like that was the game. Then, I was introduced to the overworld and things kept just getting better.
- Uematsu made a legendary soundtrack. There's reggae like music in the slums, the Native American sounding Cosmo Canyon, western themed Chocobo music, jazzy songs, straight up Classical music, etc... The whole time playing I was wrapped into the music and it reminded how well Ocarina of Time connected music with locations.
- Every character felt special and had their own backstories. I wanted to experiment with each one and felt a connection to them.
- The locations themselves were so varied from forests, beach resorts, floating theme park, slums, ranches, deserts, underwater areas, etc... Also, the overworld progressed slowly to where you had more freedom at every turn.
- Almost every single interior was delicately designed and felt connected with the outside world. This made the towns come alive even more.
- Tons of secrets and rewards exploring the nooks and crannies.
- Story was well awesome. Enough said
- I never felt like I was grinding through the story. I don't know too much about JRPGs, but the battle system was just perfect. I still enjoy Mario RPG style better because it's more interactive.
- I actually enjoyed the graphics because I appreciate gaming history. Also, it gave me a sense of being back in 1997 when I had a N64 instead of a PS1. It was like an alternate past for me in a way, and I could even feel nostalgia for a game I hadn't played back then. Through the graphics and music, I felt that same wonder again.
In these threads, people always say that FFVII is held to such regard because it was the first time an entire generation of gamers were exposed to a jRPG, and they were easily impressed and baffled by its (at the time) fancy CGI and they couldn't tell what's good from what's shit.
Regardless of the validity of that claim, I'm curious about the other side of the spectrum: what about people who had already played FFI, IV, VI, (only FF games that had been released outside of Japan at that point) Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire?
I know that I hated VII because it was everything previous FF weren't. I found it plain, simplistic and annoying. I hated that I could only have 3 characters in my party, and that characters were all alike in battle except for Materia (there were no classes or special skills for the characters - the polar opposite of what FF had been to that point). I hated that equipment was basically gone, too. I liked finding boots and helmets and gauntlets and shields and comparing stats and what not. And it's not like I had some bias against it back in 1997. I bought a PS1 just for that game. It's like this game sort of resembled the Final Fantasy I'd grown up with, but it wasn't really what I wanted. It broke my heart.
But I'd like to hear other experiences. People who loved the SNES FFs but also liked FFVII, and why. I'm not talking about people who played VII and then went back and played the SNES FFs; I'm talking about people who had already cut their teeth on 16-bit jRPGs and then played VII.
Regardless of the validity of that claim, I'm curious about the other side of the spectrum: what about people who had already played FFI, IV, VI, (only FF games that had been released outside of Japan at that point) Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire?
I know that I hated VII because it was everything previous FF weren't. I found it plain, simplistic and annoying. I hated that I could only have 3 characters in my party, and that characters were all alike in battle except for Materia (there were no classes or special skills for the characters - the polar opposite of what FF had been to that point). I hated that equipment was basically gone, too. I liked finding boots and helmets and gauntlets and shields and comparing stats and what not. And it's not like I had some bias against it back in 1997. I bought a PS1 just for that game. It's like this game sort of resembled the Final Fantasy I'd grown up with, but it wasn't really what I wanted. It broke my heart.
But I'd like to hear other experiences. People who loved the SNES FFs but also liked FFVII, and why. I'm not talking about people who played VII and then went back and played the SNES FFs; I'm talking about people who had already cut their teeth on 16-bit jRPGs and then played VII.
Starsunder
Member
I think it's pretty unremarkable. It was OK at the time, but even then Sephiroth was a shitty villain and a definite downgrade from Kefka. The world, while having a few interesting places (notably Midgard and the Gold Saucer), was also rather mediocre. And the story was just as terrible then as it is now, although moreso now with all the bullshit legacy games/movie adding to it.
FF was done better before it and after it.
FF was done better before it and after it.
Like the hat?
Banned
It was really great in 1997, probably not as much now, but I haven't replayed it in years.
I really like the game's animations, simple as they are. The characters just do so much. The game starts with characters jumping off a train and kicking soldiers in the face. With all of the expensive mo-cap work these days, you rarely see characters doing much more than standing around all the time or posing threateningly during cut-scenes. Final Fantasy 7 didn't even need to load cut-scenes, characters just did cool stuff while the player could still control Cloud's movement.
Neff
Member
People love basically everything you just mentioned.
No, you didn't have to "be there" to get it, just like you didn't have to "be there" for Lord of the Rings to fall in love with it even if you read the book for the first time in 2013.
As long as you don't think IV is the best, that POS gets way too much recognition. :|
SolsticeZero
Banned
thisisneogaf.gif
JimboJones
Member
Ugh I hated friends that did that, one dude I used to know always played Driver when I went over to his house.
H_Prestige
Banned
If you didn't play it back then you wouldn't understand.
It's still the best FF game and the only one I could ever replay.
It's still the best FF game and the only one I could ever replay.
DecoyOctopus
Member
kunonabi
Member
ffvi bosses don't run out of magic then sit there and do nothing. all you had to do in ffvii was store a bunch of limit breaks and then unload them on the bosses. it worked on almost every encounter. i didn't even pick up knights of the round, stopped bothering with materia halfway through and still finished the game in under 20 hours on my first playtrough. ffvi can be pretty easy if you know how to take advantage of it(like most rpgs) but an initial playthrough is nowhere near the cakewalk that ffvii was.
Spehornoob
Member
I used to be a big fan of IV, and I still don't hate it, but the lack of party customization and big animu feel to the story (especially in remakes) has killed it a bit for me.
So say that. Say "my tastes have changed, I no longer like ___ and ___ anymore" and continue your critique from there. In that case, we have a basis for discussion where some sort of comparative analysis can begin. I mean, honestly, people could have disliked it back when it was new for the same reasons you actually dislike it now, and that has nothing to do with the amount of time passed. I really hope people can see the difference between the two. Saying "it hasn't aged well" is a lot like saying something is "overrated" -- what you're doing in these cases is evaluating feelings about the thing rather than the thing itself. Honestly, over time, your tastes change. What you like and dislike can change. Your general knowledge and experience also affects your perceptions. The thing you're talking about hasn't changed, though - not even a little. That's why I just think it's much more interesting to re-evaluate something rather than brushing it off as "not aging well" or something along those lines. Especially since in a lot of cases, people are easily able to revisit (or visit for the first time) older things and appreciate them like they were new, just as people have done with FF7, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star, etc.
There are parts that still looks great and the overall art design is some of the best in the series, but it's just so wildly inconsistent.
Errr, why did you play it to completion if you didn't like it? Didn't it click after 20 hours that you weren't having fun?
computers putin'
Member
No other game in the series has matched the setting, pacing, or atmosphere of FFVII for me. That feeling of walking out of Midgar and realizing "there's still more" will never be matched for me.
Chrono Trigger is hands down the best RPG on a home console, and to me it stands next to some of the greatest of all time.
did you play with your eyes closed? worst character models ever. it's ugly now, it was ugly then.
TheFLYINGManga_Ka
Member
The era it was released in. It stood out to me because we never seen anything like it before.
But certainly not the best JRPG during that time. Chrono Cross, FFIX, and Grandia are much better when looking back.
But certainly not the best JRPG during that time. Chrono Cross, FFIX, and Grandia are much better when looking back.
If you like historical classics you should hunt down a copy of Lunar: Silver Star Story. Personally, I'd get the PS1 version, but I'm sure some purists will say get the MegaCD version. It's 2D, but easily has some of the most memorable characters in any game. Period. If you like that then get Lunar: Eternal Blue which somehow manages to be just as good.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
At the time, the technology was very impressive. Sure, it doesn't hold up that well now, but it blew away the early PS1 competition (which was stuff like Wild Arms & Beyond the Beyond).
Besides that...
the music is really nice.
the first few hours (Midgar) are fun, unique, and well designed.
it has lots of memorable characters.
it has a couple of big plot twists later on.
pacing is pretty good (especially early on) with minimal grinding required for the core story path.
Overall, I think FF6 is the better game, but FF7 isn't as overhyped as some people think.
Besides that...
the music is really nice.
the first few hours (Midgar) are fun, unique, and well designed.
it has lots of memorable characters.
it has a couple of big plot twists later on.
pacing is pretty good (especially early on) with minimal grinding required for the core story path.
Overall, I think FF6 is the better game, but FF7 isn't as overhyped as some people think.
LSauchelli
Member
Honestly, I thought the game itself wasn't very 'pretty' even back in 1997 (not the CGI, the game itself). I would blame its popularity to marketing and the CGI.
You're talking about a time when Battle Arena Toshinden was considered amazing graphics.
fvng
Member
I remember those commercials only featured the CG sequences
battle arena toshinden had cooler models, admit it.
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