Final Fantasy VII - 20 Years On!

AntoLeary

It's hard to believe. Has any game surpassed it?

YouSavedMyLife

AntoLeary wrote: »

It's hard to believe. Has any game surpassed it?

No

Don't believe what Retrogamer says when he gets here

Retr0gamer

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

No

Don't believe what Retrogamer says when he gets here

SeantheMan

AntoLeary wrote: »

It's hard to believe. Has any game surpassed it?

:P :P :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkTb9GP9lVI

riffmongous

What a game, so many unforgettable moments

K.O.Kiki

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Also

Sephiroth_dude

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Ahhh jaysus here we go again













:pac:

SeantheMan

I love FF7 , and it's one of my favourite games....especially from my childhood.

But there have been many games...better games since. I can look at it objectively and say there have been better games since.
As above, FF9 is probably a better 'game'. FF7 was just the one that introduced so many of us to the series and was groundbreaking at the time...so we have rose tinted glasses about it.
I'll be first in line to buy FF7 Remake too.

Metal Gear 1 is better anyways

Sephiroth_dude

FF7 was the first rpg I ever played so it will always have a special ln my heart.

Cina

It's amazing, but VI is better and arguably the best JRPG (if not game) ever made.

gimli2112

All the times I've played this game and I only beat or bothered with the Ruby Weapon once. Turned into an hour long (possibly longer) battle between Tifa and the monster. Trying to hit all the reels in her special.
Dolphin flip ftw.

riffmongous

gimli2112 wrote: »

All the times I've played this game and I only beat or bothered with the Ruby Weapon once. Turned into an hour long (possibly longer) battle between Tifa and the monster. Trying to hit all the reels in her special.
Dolphin flip ftw.

Same here, that was one battle I never wanted to bother with a second time.

I really liked all the conversation options you had, it really helped creating the illusion of an open world, even if they only made a very small difference on certain occasions

Shiminay

Worst game I have ever played in my life. Also the most over rated game on the planet.

J Mysterio

Shiminay wrote: »

Worst game I have ever played in my life. Also the most over rated game on the planet.

lol

YouSavedMyLife

Shiminay wrote: »

Worst game I have ever played in my life. Also the most over rated game on the planet.

No

Shiminay

Yes, fanbois tend to be terrified by contrary opinion.

nix

Shiminay wrote: »

Yes, fanbois tend to be terrified by contrary opinion.

10 million copies sold on the PSX back in the day, surely they're all wrong and you're right :rolleyes:

Shiminay

It's not about right or wrong, it's personal opinion. I'm not blind to facts, I'm just saying I think it's the worst game I've ever played and I cannot understand what anyone sees in it.

But again, fanbois are always terrified by contrary opinion.

nix

Shiminay wrote: »

It's not about right or wrong, it's personal opinion. I'm not blind to facts, I'm just saying I think it's the worst game I've ever played and I cannot understand what anyone sees in it.

But again, fanbois are always terrified by contrary opinion.

No problem with you not liking it, couldn't give a hoot, but you're claiming its the most over rated game on the planet, which is just silly as it ticks all the boxes of what makes a game great.

Also you're being quite contradictory by belittling people that have praise for a game by labeling them a fanboy, yet you're opinion is grand because its negative :rolleyes:

Thee most over rated game on the planet?! C'mon! you live in a world with halo and minecraft :pac:

Shiminay

Yes, but I enjoyed Halo (for a limited value of enjoyed - I enjoyed the multiplayer with my friends) and Minecraft and despised every second of FF7. I'm not stating my opinion is fact, it's my opinion. Look at the first responses; monosyllabic and equally dismissive. People still vote for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, it is my opinion that they shouldn't be allowed to breath, never mind breed, but my opinion isn't going to change anything.

Angron

I played FF7 a couple of years ago for the first time. Maybe it was being told for so many years how great it was by friends, but when I played it I just thought it was just not that good. Perhaps if I'd played it at time of release I would have had a higher opinion of it, but it felt really disinteresting. None of the characters were likeable, and it just felt like it was dragging on. I think that second point is an issue I have with most JRPGs though, I find their grind tedious and just not for me.

nix

hah i had no idea you played those games, i just mentioned them as they're big names that millions like, but i dont :pac:

I've no problem with your opinion, i respect it. JRPG's aint for everybody, Its just the use of the word "fanboi's" is all

Angron wrote: »

I played FF7 a couple of years ago for the first time. Maybe it was being told for so many years how great it was by friends, but when I played it I just thought it was just not that good. Perhaps if I'd played it at time of release I would have had a higher opinion of it, but it felt really disinteresting. None of the characters were likeable, and it just felt like it was dragging on. I think that second point is an issue I have with most JRPGs though, I find their grind tedious and just not for me.

Yeah I'd imagine it would have lost alot of its magic a few years on, I have had the same problem trying to get into some big name games years after release. I actually didnt like FF7 at all when i first started playing it, it just eventually hooked me in on the story and then i began to appreciate and like the combat.

Sonics2k

Shiminay wrote: »

Worst game I have ever played in my life. Also the most over rated game on the planet.

Zero-Cool

Anyone else make a balls of their leaving cert because of this game?

Retr0gamer

Angron wrote: »

I think that second point is an issue I have with most JRPGs though, I find their grind tedious and just not for me.

If you are grinding in a JRPG you are playing them wrong. Especially FF7 which is a total cakewalk.

ancapailldorcha

Shiminay wrote: »

It's not about right or wrong, it's personal opinion. I'm not blind to facts, I'm just saying I think it's the worst game I've ever played and I cannot understand what anyone sees in it.

But again, fanbois are always terrified by contrary opinion.

It's decent but people talk about the story as if it's some sort of insightful examination of the human condition instead of the Nomura moping guff that it is.

Xenji

It was certainly a milestone when it came out and had a big influence on the genre going forward, but I have got more enjoyment from other JRPG's made before and after 7, actually it is probably not in my top 5 in the series as a whole.

J Mysterio

Grandia was pretty good back in the day.

What was the biggest JRPG before this?

Xenji

Deleted User wrote: »

What was the biggest JRPG before this?

I reckon it would be Dragon Quest VI if you are going by sales.

AustinLostin

FF7 was an excellent product of its time. The story was really good, and it had so many memorable characters (the party characters, the Turks, Hojo, scarlett & Heidegger, Sephiroth obviously, I could go on). For me it set a benchmark for storytelling which has been rarely surpassed since....I mean comparing the messy, almost worthless storyline of FFXV, its amazing how the series has progressed and regressed in different ways. I would guess for modern game development it must be exponentially more labour intensive to try to build a world of the same calibre of FF7.

It holds a special place for me - hugely in part that it came around when I just got my first gaming system, I picked it up second hand in GAME for €8, and it blow my young mind as to what a game could be.

Retr0gamer

Deleted User wrote: »

What was the biggest JRPG before this?

JRPG sales were very low in the west and very few got released before FF7. FF7 made them massive mainstream releases during the PS1/PS2 era.

As said Dragon Quest 6 was probably the biggest before it, Dragon Quest is basically the Call of Duty of Japan and is far more popular than FF (and dare I say a better in some cases).

Before that in the west the biggest were probably FF6, Chrono Trigger and FF6, all of which never made it to Europe. Secret of Mana might have sold more considering it also got a European release.

super_furry

Still a great game to my mind and second only to FF IX in the series - although I haven't played FF XV yet.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

JRPG sales were very low in the west and very few got released before FF7. FF7 made them massive mainstream releases during the PS1/PS2 era.

As said Dragon Quest 6 was probably the biggest before it, Dragon Quest is basically the Call of Duty of Japan and is far more popular than FF (and dare I say a better in some cases).

Before that in the west the biggest were probably FF6, Chrono Trigger and FF6, all of which never made it to Europe. Secret of Mana might have sold more considering it also got a European release.

Bonkers to think FF6 and Chrono Trigger didn't come to Europe. The two best RPG's from that era imo.

Retr0gamer

Well Nintendo thought Europeans didn't like RPGs so never bothered to release any.

We did get a few though. Mostly action RPGs like secret of mana and terrangina which was Europe exclusive in English for some bizarre reason.

We did get some turn based stuff, France got the sailor moon RPG and Lufia 2 was released across Europe. Not too shabby. I consider Lufia 2 one of the greatest RPGs of all time, up there with Dragon Quest 5, earthbound and chrono trigger on the SNES. Also it's a narrative masterpiece, it's got a strangely well handled and realistic depiction of a relationship. Usually in videogames it's the hero gets the girl, Lufia 2 has something far more complex and realistic. It's bizarre to have in a 16 but RPG considering no other game comes close to matching it.

Sega were a lot better and brought the entire Shining series and Phantasy Star series to the west before they became assholes after the Dreamcast collapsed.

johnny_ultimate

It's been the guts of a decade since I've played it. I'm sure if I went back now I'd be less forgiving of the narrative clichés, the tonal bipolarity, the limited combat system, the misjudged asides, the less-than-exemplary mini-games etc... In some senses, I'm pretty reluctant to go back for those reasons.

Yet if I think back to games from my childhood, few if any resonate quite so strongly today. It was as far as I recall my first RPG of any sort, so some allowances should be made for that. But even then playing a game of such scope and vastness was a very special experience.

It does one thing I don't think any Final Fantasy after has managed (even though - and I haven't played it since basically release - FFIX is almost certainly the superior game) - or, for that matter, many games at all. It really nails the moments. The way the (superb) art design and (even better) music come together with everything else to create really iconic sequences and events. I mean - jumping off the train as 'bombing mission' plays in what was - for the time, I cannot stress enough - 'seamless'; encountering Aeries for the first time; leaving Midgar; the Cosmo Canyon observatory; the date(s) in the Gold Saucer; the whole Vincent sequence; taking to the skies in the Highwind for the first time; FINALLY getting that damn Gold chocobo; descending into the crater to fight Sephiroth. There's many more than those as well. Few games are as purely iconic.

Again, it's been so long that I'd struggle to really say anything about how they fit into a whole, and even in my less critical early days some bits were a pain in the arse (copying the marches springs to mind, and the early chocobo races before you effectively become godobo and barely have to press a button). In my memory anyway they all coalesce into something that I recall as perhaps more epic than they really were. But perhaps that's not fair - as flawed as the game surely was (and is more so now, given its existence in a medium that ages rather viciously) it was a genuine landmark at the time, and one thing that's near impossible to deny is that it was instrumental in paving the way for the many amazing things that came afterwards. Only the rare few can earn such praise.

Retr0gamer

It holds up alright, I played it again not too long ago with the fan translation and despite all the criticism you can level at the game it's still a lot of fun to play. It's well paced without any dull moments, except those accursed minigames which are all frankly utter ****e.

riffmongous

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It holds up alright, I played it again not too long ago with the fan translation and despite all the criticism you can level at the game it's still a lot of fun to play. It's well paced without any dull moments, except those accursed minigames which are all frankly utter ****e.

Motorcycle section at least had a cool song, I hated the submarine bit

YouSavedMyLife

riffmongous wrote: »

Motorcycle section at least had a cool song, I hated the submarine bit

Everything about the game was amazing

Retr0gamer

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

Everything about the game was amazing

J Mysterio

This thread has inspired me to play this again. This was such an incredible game. A watershed moment in gaming.

YouSavedMyLife

J Mysterio wrote: »

This thread has inspired me to play this again. This was such an incredible game. A watershed moment in gaming.

You must be a fanboi

Taylor365

Best game of all time when you played it between the age of 7-14.

Probably wouldn't have such a big impact on a more mature taste.

Also, most people only had it because it was bundled with the Playstation!

Liam McPoyle

Currently playing it for the first time and enjoying it well enough.

It is of course very limited given its age but its a good story with some good characters. As a nostalgia trip its cool.

Retr0gamer

Taylor365 wrote: »

Also, most people only had it because it was bundled with the Playstation!

It never was?

RobbingBandit

First video game soundtrack I ever bought, spent months finding all the materia, great character development throughout the game, took ages to beat the ruby and emerald weapons, the gold saucer was a place of infinite horror upgrading the limit breaks took forever. Favorite game followed by Ocarina and Persona 4 golden.

Pac1Man

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Anyone else make a balls of their leaving cert because of this game?

That's a great thread idea!

Fekin Pro Evo 6 local multiplayer.

Sonics2k

Final Fantasy VII was my first true love of gaming. I'd been playing video games since the 80's and had a fair few favourites like Warcraft and Mario/Sonic etc.

FF7 was the first game I fell in love with. Honestly, it was the moment I first left Midgar was the blow away moment for me. The story was pretty involving, and whilst it did go bat**** crazy in the middle, I loved the twists involving Sephiroth and Clouds past.

Was it the greatest game ever made? No.
Was it the best JRPG or even Final Fantasy game? No.

But FF7 is a fantastic game, deeply set into a great world and great challenges outside the main game too.
I still have my original copy, as well as purchases on Steam and PSN.

Up until the release of the Witcher 3 it held my personal title of Best Game Ever.

Retr0gamer

RobbingBandit wrote: »

First video game soundtrack I ever bought, spent months finding all the materia, great character development throughout the game, took ages to beat the ruby and emerald weapons, the gold saucer was a place of infinite horror upgrading the limit breaks took forever. Favorite game followed by Ocarina and Persona 4 golden.

While I believe the compositions are exceptional for the most part (there's a few stinkers in there) the instrumentation used is god awful. As a result the soundtrack is actually a massive step backwards from Uematsu's compositions on the SNES as the instruments sound lower quality than even the SNES's compressed sound samples.

I always believed this was a sound engineer issue due to people not being experienced with the PS1 hardware but the recent article by Polygon revealed it was Uematsu's call and was there to keep load times down. Apparently he was pretty envious when he heard the Suikoden soundtrack and compared it to his FF7 work. Thankfully all subsequent PS1 square games said to hell with load times and were much higher quality in terms of samples used. FFVIII is a massive leap over FFVII and even Parasite Eve which arrived shortly after FF7.

Sephiroth_dude

RopeDrink wrote: »

Musically, brilliant - and to think it was all MIDI back then.
.

Nobuo's best work imo.

RedXIV

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It never was?

It was commonly sold with the playstation if you bought from Argos The bundle we got from xmas had Crash Bandicoot 2, Porsche Challenge, Cool Boarders 2 and ......Final Fantasy VII


I'm mature enough to acknowledge that Final Fantasy VII isn't the best game in the world, and that I've thoroughly enjoyed other games. But the age I was when I got the game, combined with the love I never knew I had for JRPGs has left me with fantastic, nostalgic love for the game. I play the game maybe once a year, I still own the game on any platform you can get it on and I'm one of the few I'd say who watched FFVII:AC more than once

Took me nearly 6 months to get past the shinra building because I was too young to understand how the materia system worked and the elevator boss killed me every time