Yeah, it'll probably win the GameFAQs poll...

[AndrewTS 0]

Fine, there's also more to VII than smashing attack, like everything outside of the battle system. Or are we ignoring that aspect of the game?

 

The battles are the only part of the game where you can actually, you know, die. The battles are SUPPOSED TO BE the challenging part, because outside of those you're invulnerable. La la la la--walk around the CG-rendered background, there's a chest, oh, a potion--I'll put those with the 98 others I haven't used since the first hour of game play--la la la la--it looks like I can go there--okay, split second to load the next background....la la la la....WARP EFFECT! RANDOM BATTLE!! JOOOOOOY!!!

 

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!! I got 578 experience points, 1000 gold, and a Hi-Potion. Man, this gameplay rocks!

 

The rest you can just putz around forever with. It isn't just FFVII, but a lot of turn-based RPGs. However, a good bit of turn-based RPGs actually have a bit of challenge to break up the monotony.

 

Also, I already mentioned that shit you mentioned, so I don't get your point.

 

There's far more actual skill involved in Mario "jumping on shit" in the first world than the entirety of FFVII, aside from the Weapons (at least one of which requires hours of time-wasting to get an item to beat).

 

Plus the battles themselves are mindless 95% of the time. The only really tough ones are the optional ones.

 

You're saying TETRIS isn't repetetive? You're delusional. Especially in comparison to FFVII, no way the gameplay in VII is more repetetive than Tetris.

 

HAHAHA!! I said "In Tetris, you actually have to think when you rotate and drop blocks." How did you get "Tetric isn't repetetive (sic)" out of that? Puzzle games are, by definition, repetitive, but they require actual skill all of the time. You have to carefully think about the placeement of each block, as opposed to FFVII, where once every 5 hours you might be required to think.

[Anya 0]

None of the weapons require an item that takes hours to get.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Ugh, that was awful. With very few exceptions, 411 "columnists" are some of the worst writers I've had the misfortune of reading.

 

Some of the points are decent, despite the asinine presentation. It does have a story that, after you start getting to all the big revelations, kinda falls apart. If I played it now I probably wouldn't like it as much, but hey, I was 14 in 1997. After adoring Chrono Trigger and FF6, this was huge and, ultimately, the reason I bought a Playstation. FF7 was really the Playstation's huge coming out party and one of the first games that was really an event. Thousands of pre-orders, free t-shirts (still use my old beat-up one as something to sleep in) and a general sense of immensity. I still think that the Midgar portion of the game is pretty much superb, as in that chunk we get an atmosphere totally different from previous Final Fantasy games and definitely the densest section of character in the game. Then the whole world opens up, and I remember actually being astonished that there was so much more to the game than Midgar, which I thought was huge.

 

It falls off once you keep going, as the storyline gets all jumbled and sort of crawls to the final exposition. But I have fond memories of it, even if the characters were essentially the same in battle, and even if the no-mouth people with chunky hands were terrifyingly odd. It's a sentimental favorite for sure.

[chirs3 0]

One point I've got to agree with in 411's review was one of them said "If it's the greatest RPG of all time, why is it the one I want to replay the least?"

 

I enjoyed it the first time - I didn't think it was OMGTEHBESTEVR, but I liked it - but I have never been able to bring myself to play through it again. I'll start a new game, and by the fifth or sixth hour I just don't care anymore. Every other FF I've played, I've played many many times, but the replay value for 7 is a big fat 0.

 

For me, anyway.

[AndrewTS 0]

"Ugh, that was awful. With very few exceptions, 411 'columnists' are some of the worst writers I've had the misfortune of reading."

 

That's bullshit, especially when you've got magazines like Game Informer and Gamepro out on the market. The only decent print mags these days are GMR and the unfortunately-limited-in-scope Tips and Tricks.

 

411 is one of the only ones that cut the crap and give you the straight truth most of the time. They're the toughest ones on games--all of them. Most magazines praise the big money-making companies, the popular titles, and throw out 9's like they're candy. They tend to go against the grain, although they're often more abrasive than they need to be. If you've got a problem with that, stick with your candy-coated puppet magazines that call Xenosaga an "epic adventure not to be missed," and says 2D games in this day and age belong exclusively on handhelds.

 

If you were expecting this to be a fair and balanced review, you're an idiot.

 

"None of the weapons require an item that takes hours to get."

 

None of them require Knights of the Round?

[Guest Coffey]

What about the Paladin Shield in Final Fantasy III? That took quite a long time to get. You had to get the Cursed Shield, and then uncurse it, which was a helluva lot of battles.

 

It was worth it though. It made it so that you could select the Ragnarok sword instead of materia. Then you can trade the Ragnarok Sword for the Illumina at the Coliseum and get the two best items in the game.

 

Ilumina & Paladin Shield equipped on the same character was crazy. Of course, all you had to do was get that one stat to like 255 and you could NEVER get hit. I think it was MagBl? I remember there were two different stats, but one of them didn't do anything and the other counter for both. It was a bug/error that wasn't fixed before release.

[Anya 0]

None of them require Knights of the Round?

Yeah, KOTR is not needed for any optional boss. Don't know where you got that from.

[AndrewTS 0]

"What about the Paladin Shield in Final Fantasy III? That took quite a long time to get. You had to get the Cursed Shield, and then uncurse it, which was a helluva lot of battles."

 

*scratches head* What about it? I don't know what point you're trying to make.

 

Of course, the shield is even better equipped with the Paladin Ring...

[Guest Coffey]

I didn't have a point really. People talking about items that took a long time to get made me think of that.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

If you were expecting this to be a fair and balanced review, you're an idiot.

Man, chill. Remember when I said this?

 

Some of the points are decent, despite the asinine presentation.

I'm talking about writing, not the opinions posited. Very few people at 411 can string coherent, decently spelled sentences together, and most of what the regular writers generate is masturbatory, exclamation-point laden crap. I'm not compelled to read something written at an 8th-grade level. I don't read print video game magazines either, so I don't know why you launched that surly, fiery rant.

 

Some of the points the author makes about FF7 are perfectly salient. He just needs an editor or a remedial writing class to help touch up the majority of his piece.

[The Ill One 0]

Very few people at 411 can string coherent, decently spelled sentences together, and most of what the regular writers generate is masturbatory, exclamation-point laden crap. I'm not compelled to read something written at an 8th-grade level.

 

 

In defense of my age group (well a bit younger), most 8th graders can put together a more well written piece. (Then again you'd be amazed at the stupidity of my fellow 9th grade peers- the concept they're there, their, to, two, too just isn't present. But teenagers are meant to be dumb, like me). Yeah I've read some and, well, 411 "columnists" aren't the greatest.

[Guest TonyJaymzV1]

eh, i havent been able to get into an rpg(with Breath of Fire 3 being the lone exception) since The SNES Era.

 

Earthbound, Secret of Evermore, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger

 

 

THOSE are RPGs

 

Xenogears, Xenosaga, FF789101112 whatever..they all suck compared to the SNES era.

 

just saying

[chaosrage 0]

eh, i havent been able to get into an rpg(with Breath of Fire 3 being the lone exception) since The SNES Era.

 

Earthbound, Secret of Evermore, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger

 

 

THOSE are RPGs

 

I hope you meant Secret of Mana.

[Guest TonyJaymzV1]

no, actually i didn't. I love secret of mana and sceret of evermore. I don't know...maybe nostalgia is making me like it better, but i really got into the game and loved it.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

If Square hadn't made the negatives of 7, someone else would. Like it or not, those almost crippling aspects of Final Fantasy that plays to the dumbed-down crowd are making sales, and it's not impossible that some other developer would have clinched that set instead.

 

I think 8 did far much worse damage to gaming as a whole, becuase it introduced the concept of the hype of the game completely eclipsing the game itself. Jesus hell, FF8 launched on the same day as the Sega Dreamcast platform, and guess which had more hype?

 

I never finished Xenosaga, but I actually would have prefered if it had simply been a movie with no game whatsoever. I'm not feelin' it with the battle engine, but the amount of work put into the cinematics impresses me so much that I could just sit and watch that stuff without the game itself.

[Anya 0]

FF VIII is better than the Dreamcast.

[AndrewTS 0]

Anyanka is clearly a parody of the typical idiot Square fanboys/girls.

[Guest Askewniverse]

FF VIII is better than the Dreamcast.

You've got to be kidding me. There are a lot of DC games that I would put ahead of FF VIII.

[Anya 0]

Well that's you. There's none I'd put ahead of FF VIII.

[AndrewTS 0]

Well that's you. There's none I'd put ahead of FF VIII.

Yeah, but no one here puts much stock in your opinions, so .

 

Also, the DC actually sold very well, but Sega had a poor ad campaign going on and couldn't quite capitalize on it to suck in others besides the faithful.

 

It's really sad developers dropped the DC like a hot potato. I don't understand why the PS2 was so clamored for when it was released, since the launch line up was, frankly, really really lousy. Good titles on the PS2 early on were almost non-existent. Plus, there's some speculation that the DC is actually more powerful than the PS2 in a lot of ways. Compare some of the first-gen DC titles to the first-gen PS2 titles. Now, imagine what could likely be done on the DC right now.

 

They both suffer from jaggies, but it's pretty well known the Cube and X-Box are far more powerful than either.

 

Note that Anyanka's perspective is somewhat skewed because most of the titles she was interested in, the fighters, were mostly ported or sequeled to the PS2.

 

I never finished Xenosaga, but I actually would have prefered if it had simply been a movie with no game whatsoever. I'm not feelin' it with the battle engine, but the amount of work put into the cinematics impresses me so much that I could just sit and watch that stuff without the game itself.

 

Knowing how much I dislike cinemas in my game, I think my hatred for that particular title is quite clear. However, I agree with the basic premise--if you're going to do that many cinemas, DON'T BOTHER WITH THE GAME!! JUST DO THAT!!

 

In fact, Advent Children is almost an admirable decision by Square, since they's dropping the pretense and going ahead with what they've really wanted to do ever since prepping FF:TSW.

 

Xenogears, Xenosaga, FF789101112 whatever..they all suck compared to the SNES era.

 

That's a bit close-minded. However, I believe given the advances of technology, the old games were far better than what we're seeing today. Granted, I loathe the Xenos. I also feel that the recent FFs have been in a real rut gameplay-wise, although I can't comment on the MMORPG one since I don't care for that genre, period.

 

Also, while it is more of a strat title, stay the hell away from FF Tactics Advance. Wow, the gameplay is inferior and slower than the PS1 title that preceeded it, AND the story is a pandering, insulting load of crap with characters that you want to stab in the face? OMG GBA GOTY!!

 

Basically, turn-based RPGs with overly-simplistic gameplay and the pace of a 3-legged box turtle can lick me. I've moved on. I expect it from the Square-heads who don't know any better, but the gaming press seem to still be hung up on it. I think either they're stupid or well-bribed.

 

However, there have been some good RPGs as of late that break that monotonous FF mold. Kingdom Hearts, Dark Cloud 2, and the promising Tales of Symphonia are all more up my alley, for instance.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I don't understand why the PS2 was so clamored for when it was released, since the launch line up was, frankly, really really lousy.

It's PlayStation and all your favorite PlayStation games! But more! And you can expect souped-up rehashes of all your PlayStation favorites!

 

Isn't that just better than God? WORSHIP TODAY!

 

Knowing how much I dislike cinemas in my game, I think my hatred for that particular title is quite clear.  However, I agree with the basic premise--if you're going to do that many cinemas, DON'T BOTHER WITH THE GAME!!  JUST DO THAT!!

 

I was part of a team that made some of the earliest whacks at 3D engine-based cinemas. Using scripts, tools, and other stuff to make "movies" out of Quake, which is generally know for shooting people and skulking down hallways, not making movies. Sure, the films sucked, but it was incredibly early so a camera user showing a bunch of guys networked to a server and typing their lines into the chat line above the screen was pretty unique then.

 

So basically, I have huge respect for the amount of work in Xenosaga's in-game cinemas, but I kind of wish there wasn't a half-assed game attatched to them.

[Anya 0]

Yeah, but no one here puts much stock in your opinions

 

 

Your loss.

 

 

 

PS2 launched with TTT, which is one of the best fighting games ever made. So it wasn't too bad.

 

 

But PS2 originally sold because of what would come out eventually, like MGS or FF X. "souped-up rehashes of all your PlayStation favorites" is indeed a good reason to be excited about PS2.

[dubq 0]

FF8 was a boring piece of shit.

[Renegade 0]

So was FF7

[dubq 0]

So was FF7

Never played it.

[Renegade 0]

You have my envy.

[Highland 0]

The opening cinema for FF8 is awesome, but it's a pity the rest of the game isn't near as good.

[Jer 0]

I never could understand the problems people had with PS2's launch lineup. TTT was better than the entire Dreamcast launch library. TTT is a vastly better game than SC. And besides SC, what did the Dreamcast have that was so spectacular? PS2 also launched with SSX, which was a pretty solid game itself. DC's other hyped game was Sonic Adventure, which was just terrible.

 

I didn't like FF8 and was kind of annoyed that it got so much hype (more that it dwarfed Suikoden 2 than that it dwarfed DC), but DC is really overrated, and I'm not sure why it gets so much love.

[AndrewTS 0]

So PS2 had, like, one really good game at launch (unless Klonoa 2 was a launch title)? So that should be enough to buy the system?

 

And besides SC, what did the Dreamcast have that was so spectacular?

 

Do we include games later ported to the PS2?

 

Anyway, I'll humor you and list titles that weren't available for the PS2 and were pretty damn good (some were on other systems, but not PS2).

 

Mars Matrix

Virtual On: OT (yeah, the sequel was on PS2, but Marz was the drizlits).

Seaman

King of Fighters: Dream Match 99

Bangai-O

Powerstone 1 and 2

Jet Grind Radio

Ikaruga

Skies of Arcadia

Smash Pack Vol. 1

Vampire Chronicles

Street Fighter Alpha 3, which was better than the PS1 version...if you care

Fire Pro Wrestling D (dunno if the PS2 got one...)

Tech Romancer

Sword of the Beserk

House of the Dead 2

Typing of the Dead

Giant Gram

Cannon Spike

Seaman

Samba de Amigo

 

Oh, and the Quake III, Unreal Tourney for DC, and DoA2 (if you care for that one) supposedly both ran far better than the PS2 versions.

 

MvC on DC might as well be an exclusive--not that you should care about it.

 

However, there's also a ton of great DC games, mostly fighters, that were later ported to the PS2 (including SF3: Third Strike). Conservatively, maybe 30 or so. There are also titles that I think are good but kind of iffy, so I left those off the list.

[Renegade 0]

Cannon Spike, House of the dead 2 and sword of the berserk are medicore at best. Also the sega smash pack is horrid, screwed sound and slowdown on a 128bit system? I'll stick to emulation. And with exception of the gba version the DC version of Alpha 3 is supposed to be the weakest port. The PSX had much more accurate VC activation.

 

Anyway my list of games worth owning for the DC

 

Crazy taxi 2

Soul calibur

Ikaruga

Bangai-O

Daytona

Sonic adventure 2

Shenmue 1 and 2

Ferrari F355 Challenge

Jet Set Radio

Power Stone 1 and 2

Samba de Amigo

Project Justice

Ecco the Dolphin

Resident Evil Code: Veronica

Space Channel 5

Get Bass

Fire ProWrestling D

Virtua Tennis 2

The capcom fighters like MvC2, CvS2 (still the most accurate ports around) and 3rd strike

Almost all of the SNK releases as there was no other way to play them unless you emulated them or owned an actual neogeo.