Final Fantasy VII

[Lightning Flik 0]

We would have never got stuff like FF Tactics and Lunar: SSSC back then. That sucks.

Ahem, bullshit.

 

Firstly, FFT would've happened regardless, as Tactics Ogre was released and meet with pretty good success and since Square has been wanting to do FF12, FFT would've been done regardless. As FFT is the pilot of FF12 in a sense.

 

Lunar was released on the Sega system, so L:SSSC is actually a remake and thus shouldn't be a part of you trying to make a defense that we wouldn't ever have had it.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

VI, perhaps?

 

There's one of many reasons why those two are considered the best

 

IX has them too. Vivi plays nothing like Steiner. The only two that are similar (other than the Tantalus guys) are Eiko & Garnet, but even they have different summons than the other.

[Anya 0]

Ahem, bullshit.

 

Firstly, FFT would've happened regardless, as Tactics Ogre was released and meet with pretty good success and since Square has been wanting to do FF12, FFT would've been done regardless. As FFT is the pilot of FF12 in a sense.

 

Lunar was released on the Sega system, so L:SSSC is actually a remake and thus shouldn't be a part of you trying to make a defense that we wouldn't ever have had it.

Before FF VII Square didn't even release every regular numbered FF in America. FF IV and V were deemed too hard and complicated for the US but FFT would have been fine? I don't think Tactics Ogre was such a huge success to make that be the case. FFT had a fairly limited release in the US(until it went GH) and this was even after FF VII's huge success!

 

I know SSSC is a remake. I really doubt we'd have seen a remake of a Sega CD game on PSX like we did had it not been for the RPG genre's boom.

[AndrewTS 0]

Neither...

 

Truly overrated.

]

Good but not great. There's very little change in gameplay from FFVI, which WAS fantastic in it's time. Graphics don't mean as much to me as gameplay.

 

One less party member, all characters play virtually the same except for limit breaks, and I think it sparked these modern day talk-heavy syndrome we find in far too many games today, even action-based games.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

One less party member, all characters play virtually the same except for limit breaks, and I think it sparked these modern day talk-heavy syndrome we find in far too many games today, even action-based games.

 

Blame Metal Gear Solid for the action game talkfests.

 

The best thing about the Suikoden series is that you get six characters in your party. Makes the battles far more interesting.

[AndrewTS 0]

One less party member, all characters play virtually the same except for limit breaks, and I think it sparked these modern day talk-heavy syndrome we find in far too many games today, even action-based games.

 

Blame Metal Gear Solid for the action game talkfests.

 

The best thing about the Suikoden series is that you get six characters in your party. Makes the battles far more interesting.

I see FFVII as the first uber-heavy-cinematic next-gen game. However, you have your opinion on what started it, and I have mine.

 

Regardless, their success both encouraged the makers of that overpriced frisbee Xenosaga to make a shitty sci-fi movie within a shitty game.

[Anya 0]

Cinematic games are cool.

[chirs3 0]

I'm a little late coming into this, but...

 

Final Fantasy VII is worth it for $15. I don't consider it to be one of the greatest games of all time, one of the greatest RPG's of all time, or even one of the greatest Final Fantasy's of all time (all of those go to Final Fantasy VI), but it's a solid 8 out of 10 effort, and worth playing through at least once.

[AndrewTS 0]

Cinematic games are cool.

*Insert Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's trademark rebuttal here*

[Youth N Asia 0]

If you're not a graphics whore, pick up suikoden one and two.

 

Suikoden is probably as good as FF7.

 

And I'd say it looks a LOT better.

I agree with you...although #1 is very short, I killed it in 16 hours. And #2 is very expensive on Ebay now (although I have them both)

[Slayer 0]

Blame Metal Gear Solid for the action game talkfests. 

Dammit, he said it before I could

 

I would blame MGS far worse than FFVII for the "talk-o-rama" trend

[Damaramu 0]

Cinematic games are cool.

Some of them are.

But then some aren't. Some of us prefer to you know....actually play the games. We also prefer to be challenged when we play the games as opposed to sitting there and hitting x going "ok...i hit the boss....that's great....."*YAWN*

Which reminds me.....I have not played a truly hard RPG in like...forever. I can't think of the last time I actually played a hard one. I just blow through all of them like they are nothing. The longest thing is sitting through the damn cinemas. Which is really annoying when you have somewhere to be and you were just playing for a bit before you went and a long ass cinema comes on and you're late because you can't save.

Where was I?

Oh yeah....screw easy cinematic games.

Bring on the hard stuff!

[Slayer 0]

I agree with Dama about the severe drop in quality of console RPGs... that's one of the major reasons why I sold my PS2 several months ago in favor of PC gaming

 

It's all about NWN and KOTOR, baybee

[Anya 0]

KOTOR is really easy and cinematic. That's why I like it.

 

I named my KOTOR character "Yuna"!

[Narcoleptic Jumper 0]

Some of them are.

But then some aren't. Some of us prefer to you know....actually play the games. We also prefer to be challenged when we play the games as opposed to sitting there and hitting x going "ok...i hit the boss....that's great....."*YAWN*

Which reminds me.....I have not played a truly hard RPG in like...forever. I can't think of the last time I actually played a hard one. I just blow through all of them like they are nothing. The longest thing is sitting through the damn cinemas. Which is really annoying when you have somewhere to be and you were just playing for a bit before you went and a long ass cinema comes on and you're late because you can't save.

Where was I?

Oh yeah....screw easy cinematic games.

Bring on the hard stuff!

 

You should definitely play Vagrant Story.

 

And I always preferred FFVIII to VII.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Yeah, for $15, Final Fantasy VII is worth it.

 

I was dissapointed with the end of the game. I found the last battle really fucking easy (as in, no effort, I just won) and that was kind of a letdown.

 

Of course, I spent ten+ hours just levelling up so I could beat both Weapons, but whatever.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Meh.

 

Final Fantasy VII is the Episode 1 of the Final Fantasy series. The huge 3D production values and in-game cutscenes, courtesy of the new technology of the Playstation, are on the very forefront of the media deluge that surrounds FFVII. Gameplay is "dumbed-down" into its most simplistic components, with equipment meaning less and summoned spells, such as Bahamut and the infamous Knights of the Round, becoming a huge part of the game's "strategy." As a backhanded courtesy to its hardcore fanbase, the Weapons make their first appearance in North America to inspire players everywhere to take full advantage of the unbalanced combat system, just so that they can have bragging rights. And then the plotline...and then the plotline. The story in Final Fantasy VII may be the most convoluted plot that the series has to offer, barring your issues with Time Compression. You'll be so busy trying to figure out exactly who the hell Zack is and why the hell Cloud is spazzing out that you'll totally pass over the fact that the character development for everyone else is abysmal (which was probably Square's intent). The characters have never been more stereotypical and cookie-cutter. The dialogue has never been more boring, despite Square throwing in a good deal of profanity (just because they could). And the ending is one of the greatest botched climaxes in video game history, an "artistic statement" from Square that provoked heated arguments that still linger today.

 

As an introduction to the mainstream gaming populous, Final Fantasy VII worked because of the simplified gameplay and the (then) eye-popping visuals that played alongside it. In comparison to other RPGs of the time (Suikoden), however, it remains a lackluster product. Hell, it's probably not one of the top three entries in its own series.

 

In my opinion, Final Fantasy VII is overrated.

[Slayer 0]

I named my KOTOR character "Yuna"!

I find this very hard to believe

[Anya 0]

How is FF VII's gameplay "dumbed down" or "simplified"? Comboing Materia is deeper than Espers and FF I, II and IV are about as simple as a RPG can possibly be. V is like the only one that is all that hard or complicated.

[Damaramu 0]

How is FF VII's gameplay "dumbed down" or "simplified"? Comboing Materia is deeper than Espers and FF I, II and IV are about as simple as a RPG can possibly be. V is like the only one that is all that hard or complicated.

I can sleep and beat FFVII. So it's not that difficult.

[chaosrage 0]

How is FF VII's gameplay "dumbed down" or "simplified"? Comboing Materia is deeper than Espers and FF I, II and IV are about as simple as a RPG can possibly be. V is like the only one that is all that hard or complicated.

Because everybody can do the same attacks. There's no strategy involved at all. The characters are just a bunch of materia slots.

[Anya 0]

Yeah and FF I, II, III, V and VI is like that too. Except in VI they have abilities they can use at any time, unlike VII where they're limit breaks. So how does that make VII "dumbed down" when they're all empty slots in all the FF games except IV? FF IV is the only one that has set character classes and that is certainly not a deep game.

[chirs3 0]

Yeah and FF I, II, III, V and VI is like that too. Except in VI they have abilities they can use at any time, unlike VII where they're limit breaks. So how does that make VII "dumbed down" when they're all empty slots in all the FF games except IV? FF IV is the only one that has set character classes and that is certainly not a deep game.

IX has set character classes too.

 

And VI characters had limit breaks, outside of their individual abilities. Granted, they weren't very varied or anything, they were all just extra powerful attacks, but they did have them. Get a character down to really low HP and just do regular attacks, and there's a chance they'll limit break.

 

I remember Setzer's is "Red Card", where he throws not one set of cards, but three...

 

*ooh's and aah's*

 

[Anya 0]

Yeah, but IX was after VII so it's not like VII is a dumbed down IX.

 

I know of the limits in VI, but have like never seen one and I've beat it twice.

[chaosrage 0]

I'm not a big fan of VI's gameplay either, but at least Locke stealing, and Sabin's blitzs, and Cyan's swordtechs, and Strago's lore set them all apart from each other.

 

You had set classes for 9 and 10 too, and they still gave you some freedom with it. In 10, you could break out and change classes if you really wanted to, but that would take a lot of extra work.

[chirs3 0]

Yeah, but IX was after VII so it's not like VII is a dumbed down IX.

 

I know of the limits in VI, but have like never seen one and I've beat it twice.

Ah, ok. That'll learn me to make sense of the posts I read before responding to them.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I've only seen Locke's (several times) and I've beaten it several times. If HP gets low, the first thing I do is bring them up again, so I don't get to see two many limits. That and with many of the characters, like Sabin, I just use their special abilities.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

VI and VII are my two favorite Final Fantasies. VI because it just kicks all kinds of ass and has some of the best characters and VII because I loved the storyline (so sue me).

 

The first time I played VII through that storyline just gripped me and made me wanna see more...and yes I even liked the ending.

[Anya 0]

I'm not a big fan of VI's gameplay either, but at least Locke stealing, and Sabin's blitzs, and Cyan's swordtechs, and Strago's lore set them all apart from each other.

You can make VII like that too, it's just up to you who has the steal materia, who has enemy skill and who has slash-all or whatever.

 

I don't see how making everyone a blank slate and leaving it up to the player is "dumbed down". If anything isn't that deeper and more strategic?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The problem with FFVII's system isn't that the characters are customizable. As you said, it is the same way in most of the other FFs and in FFT as well. The difference, and it is key, is that in those other games you still build up a character. You can make Bartz a lancer and Reina a white mage, or vice versa, but it is still them that you are building up and your decisions are important.

 

In FFVII, you are building up materia, not characters. You can then swap the materia around to any character you want, and they will have the same abilities as the character you were using before. That is the problem. You lose the uniqueness of the characters, even if in other games it is you that determine how they are going to come out. The other big failure in this regard is FFVIII, which is the exact same way.