Final Fantasy 7....by a non gamer

Retr0gamer

I knew what I had to do, it was just a total pain to do it. At least you got your first summon there even if it was a throwaway comedy one

ghostchant

Freezing bosses with it was pretty handy though! The monster in the safe in the mansion was susceptible to it if I remember correctly.

keane2097

this thread so far.

icarus86

Great thread, its bringing up some class memories of my time playing it all those years ago...ah nostalgia!

blackwave

this making me all nostalgic and making me want to play it again. Once I finish college in May, I think I will try do something I have been meaning to do for years and finish every FF from 1-13 (except XI and X-2) in order. Be a long haul but would be a good bit of fun

Andy!!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

She should be fine with FFVII. There's so little depth to the game really that it's a good place to start. Also now that she has beaten the first boss she's pretty much finished the hardest part of the game other than the final boss.

PffffffHAHAHA oh Retr0... your posts sure do make me laugh. Trollin' all the way!

Retr0gamer

Andy!! wrote: »

PffffffHAHAHA oh Retr0... your posts sure do make me laugh. Trollin' all the way!

It's the truth though. Other than getting thrown by the awful translation on the first boss I absolutely breezed through the game, the only other RPG I had played was Shining Force 2 before it. It's not challenging at all, but then most FF games are a breeze as well unless you go for the optional bosses

weemcd

RedXIV wrote: »

The most interesting part though so far is her opinions on the love story that has started.

When did you tell her you love her, and how did she react?

Andy!!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's the truth though. Other than getting thrown by the awful translation on the first boss I absolutely breezed through the game, the only other RPG I had played was Shining Force 2 before it. It's not challenging at all, but then most FF games are a breeze as well unless you go for the optional bosses

It is categorically untrue, as are most of the things you have said in this thread. FFVII has plenty of depth. And anything chocobo related in FFVII is probably the best and most rewarding mini-game experience I've had in gaming. Catching, breeding, racing, the first time you get a gold chocobo... really special. Then you can go anywhere in the world map and get that rare materia to give the weapons a good kicking! No depth, me arse!

Retr0gamer

Catching your first chocobo is a pain in the arse. By the time you are doing the end game breeding you are used to it but just wait and see how RedXIV's missus gets in with it. I know who will be right.

As for the lack of depth, I'm talking about the materia system. It's just very basic compared to other FF systems. Look at what came directly before FFVII, FFVI which had the magicite system. It might have been simple as well but each character at least had a job ability and the magicite offered much great character customisation. I preferred it to the blank slate approach of FFVII. Also FFV had the glorious job system. FFVII was a step back in complexity. Anyway what complexity that was afforded by the materia system was kind of negated by the ease of the game and how materia set ups really weren't important.

It's a bit of a double edged sword, it's great for beginners since there's no really difficulty spikes at all other than if you ran away from too many battles. However going back to it the battle system is lacking although the easiness does help speed up the battles, especially in a PS1 RPG and keeps the pace relatively high.

Lahinchians

RedXIV wrote: »

So we've closed off yesterday with trying to get toward Tifa before hitting Sector 6 Wall Market. That little construction site maze has left her stumped after about 20 mins trying to navigate it. So she ran back and saved her game there. I always found the maze quite easy but another friend of mine said he had trouble with it too so I guess its reasonable for her to have trouble with it.

First time I played FFVII, i think i was stuck there fighting the angry houses for around 2-3 hours before i figured how to get through.

nostalgia thread this is!!

ghostchant

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's the truth though. Other than getting thrown by the awful translation on the first boss I absolutely breezed through the game, the only other RPG I had played was Shining Force 2 before it. It's not challenging at all, but then most FF games are a breeze as well unless you go for the optional bosses

I'm inclined to agree with you, as much as I love FF7 I can recognise its faults. Not sure its relative ease is a fault though, in my opinion Chrino Trigger is every bit as easy, as is Persona 3, and I love them every bit as much. Playing through Devil Survivor at the moment and find it ridiculously difficult in comparison to any of those...also amazing though!

Subscribing to this thread btw, great idea.

_AVALANCHE_

RedXIV wrote: »

So we've closed off yesterday with trying to get toward Tifa before hitting Sector 6 Wall Market. That little construction site maze has left her stumped after about 20 mins trying to navigate it. So she ran back and saved her game there. I always found the maze quite easy but another friend of mine said he had trouble with it too so I guess its reasonable for her to have trouble with it.

Ohh tell her how to get by that maze, I died their twice, twice, must have fought the house....100 times, both times before he finally killed me. Stumbled up the ramp by accident then, jaysus the relief.:D

RedXIV wrote: »

She also missed the beginners hall which would have explained loads to her which is unfortunate but I'm hardly going to tell her how to complete the game.

The first cure materia is in there aswell, isin't it?

ancapailldorcha

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

The first cure materia is in there aswell, isin't it?

It's behind the first boss. Cloud explains how to use it in 7th Heaven.

Retr0gamer

ghostchant wrote: »

I'm inclined to agree with you, as much as I love FF7 I can recognise its faults. Not sure its relative ease is a fault though, in my opinion Chrino Trigger is every bit as easy, as is Persona 3, and I love them every bit as much. Playing through Devil Survivor at the moment and find it ridiculously difficult in comparison to any of those...also amazing though!

I found Persona 3 very difficult! You sure you weren't playing on easy?

Also the ease of the game isn't a problem as you say, it really helps keep the pace of the game flowing but my problem was you were never really forced to experiment with strategies like other games like Grandia or Chrono Trigger would force you to do while still being easy. That's the lack of depth I'm on about and it's what holds it back from being better than many other RPGs, the two mentioned included. It's just nitpicking though but people still jump down my throat when I'm pointing out small flaws of what I still think is a great game.

ghostchant

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I found Persona 3 very difficult! You sure you weren't playing on easy?

Was definitely playing on normal, but I should've clarified: I played Persona 3 Portable. Being able to directly control your teammates makes things easier I'd imagine at least when it comes to exploiting enemy weaknesses, which as you know is what you have to do to stand any chance on the upper levels. A 4-element Lilim destroys most things in the first half of the game and fusing a 4-dyne Loki does the same thing to most of the second half.

Andy!!

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Catching your first chocobo is a pain in the arse. By the time you are doing the end game breeding you are used to it but just wait and see how RedXIV's missus gets in with it. I know who will be right.

I never had any trouble, maybe it was just you. As for you last comment, stow the ego, you sound like a child.

Mindkiller

All that stuff about the guard scorpion being the hardest part of FFVII is a load of ****e. That's like saying that the turtle boss in FFVI is the hardest part because you're still just learning the game mechanics. That blue bastard in the caves and the wall thing in the Ancient temple were far harder.

noodler

Who is the Blue Bastard?

I agree with Retro on the Persona difficulty. I never quite finished 3 but got far enough Tartarus to know but sometimes there were crazy difficulty spikes. However, experimentation was key and the boss fights could be epic.

However, the rest of the game pales in comparison to FF7 for me! (not to mention I already have a soft spot for FF7's simple battle system!)

Mindkiller

Materia Keeper. Unless you're extremely familiar with the game and know where to get good enemy skills and level up, I can't see how anyone would find him easier than the scorpion guy at the start.

Persona games are such a dull grind. Lucifer's Call is so much better

ghostchant

I found Materia Keeper about the same as Lost Number in the safe; presuming you fought him you've just gotten Odin who is extremely likely to freeze him. Choco/mog and cross slash are likely to also. He shouldn't spend a lot of time moving in that fight.

I found persona 1 to be a dull grind at times (the last dungeon) but never felt that way during persona 3

Mindkiller

But I'm sure you'll agree that Materia Keeper and Lost Number pose a far greater challenge than the Scorpion, where all you have to do is attack and limit break (and sometimes use a potion).

Eathrin

During my first playthrough I think I died at the materia keeper part(either by him or those bástard dragons). Was never the same the 2nd time when you were far more prepared.:(

ghostchant

Mindkiller wrote: »

But I'm sure you'll agree that Materia Keeper and Lost Number pose a far greater challenge than the Scorpion, where all you have to do is attack and limit break (and sometimes use a potion).

If you knew what to do, sure. But I never died fighting the Materia Keeper, I died plenty against the scorpion boss. Probably due to me being clueless though. That stupid robot that can grab your characters in the submarine dock on the 2nd disc was the biggest pain in the ass in the game for me.

EDIT: forgot about the twin-headed dragon thing in the ice cliffs. That drove me crazy.

RedXIV

ghostchant wrote: »

If you knew what to do, sure. But I never died fighting the Materia Keeper, I died plenty against the scorpion boss. Probably due to me being clueless though. That stupid robot that can grab your characters in the submarine dock on the 2nd disc was the biggest pain in the ass in the game for me.

EDIT: forgot about the twin-headed dragon thing in the ice cliffs. That drove me crazy.

Carry Armour, He was the only boss that drove me to the point of having to leave the game for a week

_AVALANCHE_

RedXIV wrote: »

point of having to leave the game for a week

Only things that pushed me that far was the building site and Underwater Weapon.

Anyone remember the first time you sailed into him? "Tum d dum....huh..what's this yoke? oh shit!":D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2r5-9hLELA

Retr0gamer

Didn't have any trouble with materia keeper at all. Did have a bit of trouble with the twin headed dragon but all you had to do was stow the summons and use normal magic. Crazy Armour was a pain alright. I didn't die in FFVII though at all after the first boss and that was due to the terrible translation. The exceptions were running into the midgar snake thing and the weapons by accident. Final boss gave me a lot of trouble as well until I did the post game content, so yeah really didn't have much trouble at all.

I think the pagoda boss will be a pain for a lot of players, the three headed one. For me I'd seen the same boss already in FFIV since I had started that while playing FFVII but for people new to the series it's quite obtuse how to beat it.

TBH since FFVI to FFIX the series really hasn't been much of a challenge especially if you've experience with other RPGs bar the odd difficulty spike. I think FFIX is even easier again so don't think it's a bad point.

As for people that think FFVII is better than Persona 3... well I can't agree at all, I'll leave it at that.

Mindkiller

What about that guy in the Red XIII cave? I know you can just finish him off with a cheap phoenix down, but that guy wrecked my head for ages. It's not like FFVII was my first time playing FF either, it just wasn't immediately obvious that he'd be susceptible to healing magic. And there were no savepoints either

On your other point about challenge, both FFXII and even FFXIII offered a hell of a challenge when they wanted to. High end marks and yiazmat are a billion times harder than anything I've faced in other FFs. The story bosses in XIII were notable for actually being a challenge, rather than some perfunctory fight you just go through to get to the next story part. XIII still sucked overall, mind.

Retr0gamer

Whatever about XIII's flaws, I think it had the best battle system since FFV in the series.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Whatever about XIII's flaws, I think it had the best battle system since FFV in the series.

X's was the best battle system of any FF for me.

Quite easily too.