I never liked Final Fantasy 7

[Redryhno]

In the same boat, though it didn't really make me feel much of anything, most of the plot twists and arcs I predicted when characters were introduced and it just was sorta a checklist of what was gonna happen for the most part(though I still apparently like the part everyone hates in the bike chase after the Shinra building thing for whatever reason). Also I'm apparently a heretic and need to be burned because I enjoyed FF8.

Overall, it's a decent game and quite nice for being the first game to hit that mark for whatever reason, but eh, it's got far too many problems, the least of which being how exploitable and boring the battle system(also seriously make a choice between real-time and turn based, the mix just does not work) is for me to say it's more than just being the first and not be the "Best" or even close to that.

At least for me, and I seriously think far too many people stick rose-tinted screwdrivers in their eyes before they replay it, not to mention the remake is yet again something that'll be praised back and forth because it's related to FF7 and as we all know, those two letters and numeral mixed together in any combination mean something will sell faster than ten buck heroine.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, one of the game's major themes is death. One major reason for this is that the mother of Hironobu Sagaguchi died during the production of the game. He wanted to explore the idea of loss. This is one reason for the death of Aerith in the game. So it may only be natural that the game depressed you.

Otherwise, that's your opinion. FFVII is one of my all time favorite games, if not my favorite. On the other hand, I don't care for Halo. I'm sure that might upset some people.

Anyway, as I said, I love FFVII. I literally play it just about once a year. The game has plenty of sobering moments, but also some great funny moments and even some epic moments, like the escape from Shinra Tower. The materia system is simple, but also deceptively deep. The battle system didn't really evolve the typical FF battle system much, but it did change how the fights looked and made them more dynamic is presentation, as the camera moved during the action.

My only real complaint is that none of the characters really feel all that different in battle. Might seem odd, but other RPGs I played made each character feel much more unique. And it's not just the materia system. In terms of stats, I never felt much difference between the characters. For example, unless you had Barret and Yuffie in your team, you wouldn't really see much difference in speed. And magic was almost defunct by the end of the game to boot.

So the game successfully accomplished what it was supposed to? Cool. If you don't like that type of setting...

Spoiler

Games and fiction in general don't have to make you feel happy. Sometimes, it aims for making you sad. Sometimes, it's for making you downright miserable. It's an emotional experience. Some people don't like horror movies because they don't like being scared.

There's a valid point here. I remember that when playing Heavenly Sword (a decent, but not great game) one particularly boss, Roach, actually made me lose. Not because he was tough or had a tricky component to him. But because I felt a bit heartbroken for him. As his father angrily yells at him and threatens to kill his monstrous pets, Roach looks up with a sad look on his face and says, "But they're my only friends." I felt so bad for him, that I couldn't really bring myself to harm him and I lost as I lost my resolve to crush this foe. I was happy that after beating him, Nariko, the heroine, didn't kill him.

Honestly, that's about the only reason that game is noteworthy to me at all. That and the actually really good acting, which is probably another reason I felt bad for the character.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Yeah. I bought it when it came out on platinum release because every man and his dog was saying it was the second coming. Really wasn't my thing, first game I ever consciously gave up on. Being about 19/20 when it came out and my major interests being sex, drugs and techno parties I was probably in the wrong demographic for it, I was more one of the Music, WipEout, Rage Racer, Tekken etc players. Not going to say it was bad for just not appealing to me in any way.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Only one scene in the game was any surprise at all

Really!? You were expecting the cross-dressing scene? The crazy brothel scene? Palmer being hit by a truck (somehow driving through Sid's garden, Barret in a friggin sailor outfit? Are you sure you are not clairvoyant?

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

Only one scene in the game was any surprise at all

Really!? You were expecting the cross-dressing scene? The crazy brothel scene? Palmer being hit by a truck (somehow driving through Sid's garden, Barret in a friggin sailor outfit? Are you sure you are not clairvoyant?

Silliness has basically been a series hallmark for most of its existence. If the main cast encounters a problem, they will, at least once per game, opt for a silly, stupid, and time-consuming plan instead of just doing the pragmatic thing. Cloud's cross-dressing is only one example of a trend that Final Fantasy is only just starting to get away from.

So while I didn't see any of that coming, none of it surprised me at all.

 

[Buffoon1980]

It's totally cool to dislike any FF game, or FF in general. It's not for everyone. Personally, I love FF more than any other game series. But that's my opinion. Why, oh why, do the people who argue on forums not understand what an opinion is?

 

[Silvanus]

I mean, if you have to play a bunch of other games and watch a movie in order to get all of the important details, there's a problem with the writing.

Ooh, I wouldn't say you do at all. The other games and film provide you with unnecessary peripheral story which detract if anything, and I'd say you're better off considering the game without them.

 

[Daniel Ferguson]

It's interesting how it does that, and still manages to impress so many people anyway.

My entrance to FF was with 8, which was much more uplifting (if you don't count the most prominent of fan theories as to the content of the end). Both games stuck with me, but 8 is my absolute favourite, 7 being my second. Escapism works, for me. But I respect dark stuff too.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Yeah, if the vibe doesn't sit with you that's fair enough. we're all wired to be drawn to certain things, some like it lous others soft etc. If the FF7 downtrodden vibe isn't your bag fair play.

I personally love it, because for me it provides a fertile ground for hope to spread, and I also just love how they nail it.

 

[Something Amyss]

Good. The game made you feel something. That in and of itself should be worthy of praise. In the aense that, it had an emotional connection with the player. Few games can achieve that.

By that logic, we should praise RTH: Retribution because it pissed so many people off.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Looks like I'm the one who's going to be "that guy."

Final Fantasy VII is (and always has been) poorly written. It has a spot in gaming history because it is a pioneer, not because it was particularly good. No game before it had attempted to tell a story on as grand a scale as FF VII, and that alone makes it worth remembering.

Honest question...why didn't games like Phantasy Star, or Ultima, or the OTHER Final Fantasy games, have that same impact? They all had epic stories, and PS AND Ultima had big character deaths...so what changed?

>.>

really? your gonna make it that easy....

one word

'Graphics'

FF7 was the best looking JRPG of it's time and is the ONLY reason the death of 'little miss plot device but other wise pretty useless' is remembered, let alone why anyone cared to begin with. FF7 isn't really any bigger then prior FF games ether, certainly not better written, it just did things graphically that the prior games couldn't.

I guarantee that if FF4 or FF6 have the same graphical level as FF7 when they came out people would be holding those up like they hold FF7 up.

That, and for many people it was 'their first JRPG', which carry's more weight then it should ...

As for the whole 'foreboding' thing the game had, meh, I've played more threatening games, before and since. Shadow Hearts 2 or SMT Nocturne/Lucifer's Call, or keeping to the PS 1, Parasite Eve, Legend of the Dragoon. Hell, Super Metriod did a better job of making you feel threatened and unsafe then FF7 did.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Good. The game made you feel something. That in and of itself should be worthy of praise. In the aense that, it had an emotional connection with the player. Few games can achieve that.

By that logic, we should praise RTH: Retribution because it pissed so many people off.

Okay i may have phrased that wrong. I meant that the game was trying to convey a certain atmosphere and emotion and it hit the mark. It's suppose to make you feel a little depressed with a heavy atmosphere. Mission accomplished

 

[ZeroFarks]

OP is suffering from a condition commonly known as "adulthood."

 

[Ima Lemming]

I didn't play Final Fantasy 7 until I was in college and though it was... alright, I guess. I at least had some fun with the actual game.

I could go on about what a mess the story was, but this essay nails it. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070703154154/http://www.fryingbear.com/articles/crapthology/FF7.htm]

But oh my god, does the fanbase make it hard for me to say anything positive about it. Whether they're lynching you for saying you prefer "Aeris" to "Aerith" because you think the latter sounds like the former with a lisp [footnote]I know her name comes from "Earth" run through the Japanese-O-Tron, I still think it's awkward. But I'm not demanding the world march in step with me. Call her what you want.[/footnote], or throwing a fit if Sephiroth isn't #1 on every Best Game Villains list even though he's a non-character who anyone should be able to beat on their first try, or calling the story "challenging" for being about playing god and toying with genetics[footnote]Which would mean half the movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 are, in fact, works of art.[/footnote], I've gotten way too many headaches from fans of this game. I still stand by my belief that since most of this game's biggest fans played the game when they were teenagers, any discussion of it mentally reverts them back to 13 years old.

 

[Fox12]

I didn't play Final Fantasy 7 until I was in college and though it was... alright, I guess. I at least had some fun with the actual game.

I could go on about what a mess the story was, but this essay nails it. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070703154154/http://www.fryingbear.com/articles/crapthology/FF7.htm]

But oh my god, does the fanbase make it hard for me to say anything positive about it. Whether they're lynching you for saying you prefer "Aeris" to "Aerith" because you think the latter sounds like the former with a lisp [footnote]I know her name comes from "Earth" run through the Japanese-O-Tron, I still think it's awkward. But I'm not demanding the world march in step with me. Call her what you want.[/footnote], or throwing a fit if Sephiroth isn't #1 on every Best Game Villains list even though he's a non-character who anyone should be able to beat on their first try, or calling the story "challenging" for being about playing god and toying with genetics[footnote]Which would mean half the movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 are, in fact, works of art.[/footnote], I've gotten way too many headaches from fans of this game. I still stand by my belief that since most of this game's biggest fans played the game when they were teenagers, any discussion of it mentally reverts them back to 13 years old.

I'm sorry, all that essay said was that FF7 prioritized story over gameplay, therefore the story is bollocks. Which is utter nonsense. The game isn't about shock value or plot twists, it's actually very carefully put together. Every plot twist is foreshadowed very early in the game, showing forethought on the part of the creators. The problem is that the game plays with the players sense of perception. Sometimes characters don't know the truth, so they tell you what they think happened. Sometimes characters outright lie to you, because that would help their plans. This is actually clever writing. I would also argue that the characters are incredibly well thought out and subtle.

I get the feeling that some people play it, get bored, and quit. Or, otherwise, they play it once, don't understand every detail, and never pick it up again. I think it's the same reason some people claim that Neon Genesis is poorly told. But, if you pay attention and replay it, you begin to realize that it actually fits together.

Look, FF7 is not perfect, especially mechanically. And, if you prioritize gameplay over a dramatic story, you'll probably hate it. But that doesn't make the story itself bad. I'm fine with some games prioritizing story over gameplay, so I thought it was a brilliant story. I think it's telling that the writer despised Sephiroths introduction in Nibelheim, whereas I thought it was arguably the greatest character introduction in gaming.

 

[FalloutJack]

OP is suffering from a condition commonly known as "adulthood."

OP suffers from having an opinion. Adults play games too. Don't cheapen this by making a dig at people over the age of 21.

 

[BrokenTinker]

Looks like I'm the one who's going to be "that guy."

Final Fantasy VII is (and always has been) poorly written. It has a spot in gaming history because it is a pioneer, not because it was particularly good. No game before it had attempted to tell a story on as grand a scale as FF VII, and that alone makes it worth remembering.

Honest question...why didn't games like Phantasy Star, or Ultima, or the OTHER Final Fantasy games, have that same impact? They all had epic stories, and PS AND Ultima had big character deaths...so what changed?

>.>

really? your gonna make it that easy....

one word

'Graphics'

FF7 was the best looking JRPG of it's time and is the ONLY reason the death of 'little miss plot device but other wise pretty useless' is remembered, let alone why anyone cared to begin with. FF7 isn't really any bigger then prior FF games ether, certainly not better written, it just did things graphically that the prior games couldn't.

I guarantee that if FF4 or FF6 have the same graphical level as FF7 when they came out people would be holding those up like they hold FF7 up.

That, and for many people it was 'their first JRPG', which carry's more weight then it should ...

As for the whole 'foreboding' thing the game had, meh, I've played more threatening games, before and since. Shadow Hearts 2 or SMT Nocturne/Lucifer's Call, or keeping to the PS 1, Parasite Eve, Legend of the Dragoon. Hell, Super Metriod did a better job of making you feel threatened and unsafe then FF7 did.

FFVI is still better than FFVII for me, even in its current state (ignore the mobile port, gdi). I'm okay with the game itself, I dislike the fandom surrounding it, because as you pointed out, it's their first JRPG (or hell, RPG in general). Celes (and extending to Rachel+Locke) was the predecessor to "that scene" in FFVII, yet "that scene" was referred to as the best thing since slice bread as if it's something ground breaking. And when you point it to them, it's finger in the ears lalala. Argh.

Space whale and fat chocobo always bring a smile to my face though :3