Is the Steam version of FFVII a good port?

[CrystalShadow]

I don't know if it's technically a straight rip of the PSX Midis, but the soundtrack on the PC port is very different; it uses Midis and the instruments are all a bit fucked up.
compares some PSX and Midi versions. Compare the song that starts at 0:00, to the one at 1:13. The former is what you hear on a Playstation, the latter on the PC.

That being said, I've heard there's mods for all this (Last time I played FF7 it was on an emulator)

Well, they clearly aren't the same... But... Just to confuse matters a little, here's one of those PC Midi tracks played using a different synthesiser. I'm not particularly impressed with any examples I found of those 3 tracks, but it certainly sounds different.


With midi, even when using a decent synthesiser, some tracks come out sounding a lot better than others though... It just seems to be what happens.

 

[Agayek]

You need to uncheck the Keep Aspect Ratio checkbox in the settings if you want it to fill the screen.

But then you get stretching, and stretching is significantly worse than the bars.

 

[WeepingAngels]

You need to uncheck the Keep Aspect Ratio checkbox in the settings if you want it to fill the screen.

But then you get stretching, and stretching is significantly worse than the bars.

Agreed but it was made in 4:3, not 16:9. The PSN version is the same way, ports not remakes.

 

[Zeckt]

Wow, that MIDI music is terrible! how hard could it of been for them to do it themselves properly? lazy port.

 

[Quadocky]

Its a good port yes. Its a refangled port of the PC version with an updated translation and more graphic options (wide screen resolutions*, linear filtering on/off) *note, not actually wide screen

The music is handled properly by OGG files that can be replaced with a better alternate soundtrack like the Recorded version of the XG midi through the MU80 or the PSX soundtrack.

 

[mad825]

There are a bunch of mods on the internet to improve the grapics and the sound (replacing Midi). Go google around. They never had this for FFVIII

 

[The_Tron]

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

I completed it again a few days ago, and to me, FF7 still holds up as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) RPGs of all time. The OST is among the best in games, and I personally believe that the gameplay is very well balanced. There aren't any sections in the game which are downright unfair, and decent management of items etc really does matter.

The only two problems I have with FF7 are battles which spawn a group of six frogs (any FF7 player should know what I mean) and the fact that if you obtain the 'big guard' enemy skill, quite a few of the fights are trivialised. Aside from that, I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside. I put 35 hours into the campaign without any of the side quests, and it completely flew by.

 

[The_Tron]

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

I completed it again a few days ago, and to me, FF7 still holds up as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) RPGs of all time. The OST is among the best in games, and I personally believe that the gameplay is very well balanced. There aren't any sections in the game which are downright unfair, and decent management of items etc really does matter.

The only two problems I have with FF7 are battles which spawn a group of six frogs (any FF7 player should know what I mean) and the fact that if you obtain the 'big guard' enemy skill, quite a few of the fights are trivialised. Aside from that, I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside. I put 35 hours into the campaign without any of the side quests, and it completely flew by.

Well you're welcome to believe that, I just gotta ask some others that you've played. I mean If you've only ever played FF7 then I can see why you think it's the greatest right. Not that that's the case but that's the point I'm trying to make. Personally I think there's so many other ones out there that have no where near the fan base that are way more deserving of it than this overrated game. For example certain games in the Tales of series are way funner, and the persona series. Hell even FF6 doesn't get anywhere near as much love and it's a much better game all around but doesn't look as pretty. In my opinion, FF7 is not bad, but it's not great, it's simply an above average JRPG for the time.

 

[mad825]

I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside.

I find that hard to believe >.>

It's a Final fantasy game. They don't stray too much from the formula.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

There are a bunch of mods on the internet to improve the grapics and the sound (replacing Midi). Go google around. They never had this for FFVIII

Well, I was on the fence because of the mods, but if this is all of what they did, I'm definitely not getting it. replacing the overworld models with the battle models just doesn't work and make the animations look horrible and jarring; the slightly upgraded textures don't really work either, now everything looks dirty; and the font used (and the portraits) clash horribly with the rest of the game. Thanks for showing me this, though, now I don't have to get this overpriced port.

 

[mad825]

Well, I was on the fence because of the mods, but if this is all of what they did, I'm definitely not getting it. replacing the overworld models with the battle models just doesn't work and make the animations look horrible and jarring; the slightly upgraded textures don't really work either, now everything looks dirty; and the font used (and the portraits) clash horribly with the rest of the game. Thanks for showing me this, though, now I don't have to get this overpriced port.

As I said, there are a bunch of mods.

There's also a mod called Final Fantasy VII BOOTLEG which allows to upgrade certain textures/models or you could go digging around this forum [http://forums.qhimm.com/]

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

As I said, there are a bunch of mods.

There's also a mod called Final Fantasy VII BOOTLEG which allows to upgrade certain textures/models or you could go digging around this forum [http://forums.qhimm.com/]

I know, someone posted a link to it earlier, and that's the reason I was on the fence. But considering that video is the "Ultimate mod pack!!!1!1" I really don't see the point. It also reminded me that I don't like FFVII that much anyway.

 

[RelexCryo]

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

I completed it again a few days ago, and to me, FF7 still holds up as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) RPGs of all time. The OST is among the best in games, and I personally believe that the gameplay is very well balanced. There aren't any sections in the game which are downright unfair, and decent management of items etc really does matter.

The only two problems I have with FF7 are battles which spawn a group of six frogs (any FF7 player should know what I mean) and the fact that if you obtain the 'big guard' enemy skill, quite a few of the fights are trivialised. Aside from that, I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside. I put 35 hours into the campaign without any of the side quests, and it completely flew by.

Well you're welcome to believe that, I just gotta ask some others that you've played. I mean If you've only ever played FF7 then I can see why you think it's the greatest right. Not that that's the case but that's the point I'm trying to make. Personally I think there's so many other ones out there that have no where near the fan base that are way more deserving of it than this overrated game. For example certain games in the Tales of series are way funner, and the persona series. Hell even FF6 doesn't get anywhere near as much love and it's a much better game all around but doesn't look as pretty. In my opinion, FF7 is not bad, but it's not great, it's simply an above average JRPG for the time.

Wait, you think ff6 is good? The characters are flat, one dimensional archetypes. Terra for example is an emo, who only feels despair, angst and loneliness all the time, kefka is a generic designated villain with no motivation for blowing up the world, and the characters almost constantly rely on 4th wall breaking attempts at comedy, which undercuts the drama, as well as sequences which simply do not make sense. It is hard to truly sympathize with anyone's suffering when they point out how they are fictional and their suffering does not matter right before the tragedy occurs, or when any nonsensical sequence of events shatters suspension of disbelief.

In the ghost train sequence for example, the characters are trying to get off the train, then get in a boss fight where they are off the train, and then waste time during the bossfight running away from the train on the tracks, instead of running away from the tracks, then after defeating it climb back on the train, wait for it to get to an arbitrary point then get off, and then after that disgusting excuse for "comedy" we immediately cut to a "tragic" scene of Cyan's family, who do we do not care about because of the loss of suspension of disbelief.

The characters have little motivation, lack depth and complexity, immediately skip from 4th wall breaking comedy to tragedy, undercutting the tragedy because of the attention called to the fact that the characters are fictional. FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

By contrast, Cloud is not an emo, but someone who can be playful, encouraging, and friendly, in addition to feeling angst and despair. He is a complex person, rather than an archetype. Sephiroth had an actual motivation for blowing up the world, and because the sequence of events make sense in the context of the game without breaking the 4th wall, the comedy does not undercut the tragedy. FF7 actually has a good story.

 

[vasiD]

Wow, that MIDI music is terrible! how hard could it of been for them to do it themselves properly? lazy port.

Agreed, the fact that I had to personally find a way to fix it is irritating. Also its very picky with controllers, as in it wouldn't let me map the triggers of my DualShock3 when it emulated a 360 controller, and then wouldn't acknowledge it in game when I switched to another controller profile, I ended up having to key map the controller to make it feel right.

A very lazy port indeed. Though I will say The visuals are actually pretty impressive in how clean they are compared to even an emulated PSX version or the PSN version, and the new translation seems to make more sense (but they only really adjusted the totally gibberish lines, don't expect anything on the quality of Chrono Trigger's DS port retranslation), other than that this is one of those "Get it if you're going to mod it or it's on sale" sort of things.

Side note: with the right soft synth the MIDI can actually sound pretty damn good (not a ton of work to set it up either, but still not something that excuses them using MIDI).

FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

Wow... Do you play a lot of games? I can literally think of piles of games that are worse than Final Fantasy VI.

Now I love VII, partially due to nostalgia, but mostly due to how much I enjoy the plot. While it may have bits of JRPG/Anime silliness it's plot is actually filled with several moments of deep meaning and commentary on the human condition. That said I still think VI is a better game, and probably my favorite Final Fantasy.

And amusingly it's mostly for the exact same reasons I just gave for enjoying VII. In tone the two are very much the same, so for you to complain about VI having tragedy and comedy within a hair's distance of each other while ignoring that the same thing happens in VII is very strange. In fact, that's how I'd describe Final Fantasy: Over-the-top world-ending/empire-vs-oppressed-citizens drama with bits of goofy comedy interlaced to release tension.

I find this style enjoyable in both games, and I honestly feel it's the hallmark of the franchise that really characterizes it.

 

[The_Tron]

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

I completed it again a few days ago, and to me, FF7 still holds up as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) RPGs of all time. The OST is among the best in games, and I personally believe that the gameplay is very well balanced. There aren't any sections in the game which are downright unfair, and decent management of items etc really does matter.

The only two problems I have with FF7 are battles which spawn a group of six frogs (any FF7 player should know what I mean) and the fact that if you obtain the 'big guard' enemy skill, quite a few of the fights are trivialised. Aside from that, I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside. I put 35 hours into the campaign without any of the side quests, and it completely flew by.

Well you're welcome to believe that, I just gotta ask some others that you've played. I mean If you've only ever played FF7 then I can see why you think it's the greatest right. Not that that's the case but that's the point I'm trying to make. Personally I think there's so many other ones out there that have no where near the fan base that are way more deserving of it than this overrated game. For example certain games in the Tales of series are way funner, and the persona series. Hell even FF6 doesn't get anywhere near as much love and it's a much better game all around but doesn't look as pretty. In my opinion, FF7 is not bad, but it's not great, it's simply an above average JRPG for the time.

Wait, you think ff6 is good? The characters are flat, one dimensional archetypes. Terra for example is an emo, who only feels despair, angst and loneliness all the time, kefka is a generic designated villain with no motivation for blowing up the world, and the characters almost constantly rely on 4th wall breaking attempts at comedy, which undercuts the drama, as well as sequences which simply do not make sense. It is hard to truly sympathize with anyone's suffering when they point out how they are fictional and their suffering does not matter right before the tragedy occurs, or when any nonsensical sequence of events shatters suspension of disbelief.

In the ghost train sequence for example, the characters are trying to get off the train, then get in a boss fight where they are off the train, and then waste time during the bossfight running away from the train on the tracks, instead of running away from the tracks, then after defeating it climb back on the train, wait for it to get to an arbitrary point then get off, and then after that disgusting excuse for "comedy" we immediately cut to a "tragic" scene of Cyan's family, who do we do not care about because of the loss of suspension of disbelief.

The characters have little motivation, lack depth and complexity, immediately skip from 4th wall breaking comedy to tragedy, undercutting the tragedy because of the attention called to the fact that the characters are fictional. FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

By contrast, Cloud is not an emo, but someone who can be playful, encouraging, and friendly, in addition to feeling angst and despair. He is a complex person, rather than an archetype. Sephiroth had an actual motivation for blowing up the world, and because the sequence of events make sense in the context of the game without breaking the 4th wall, the comedy does not undercut the tragedy. FF7 actually has a good story.

Are you honestly going to go into a rant like that about the bad character archetypes in one FF and say how the bad character archetypes in another FF are good? Well you are beyond rational thinking if you believe either of those statements about Cloud or Sephiroth as both of them are just flat out lies.

 

[endtherapture]

Are you honestly going to go into a rant like that about the bad character archetypes in one FF and say how the bad character archetypes in another FF are good? Well you are beyond rational thinking if you believe either of those statements about Cloud or Sephiroth as both of them are just flat out lies.

I only really feel Cloud and Sephiroth were given character depth after Crisis Core was released (a great game, probably my favourite FF wise since it's so character driven).

 

[RelexCryo]

Wow, that MIDI music is terrible! how hard could it of been for them to do it themselves properly? lazy port.

Agreed, the fact that I had to personally find a way to fix it is irritating. Also its very picky with controllers, as in it wouldn't let me map the triggers of my DualShock3 when it emulated a 360 controller, and then wouldn't acknowledge it in game when I switched to another controller profile, I ended up having to key map the controller to make it feel right.

A very lazy port indeed. Though I will say The visuals are actually pretty impressive in how clean they are compared to even an emulated PSX version or the PSN version, and the new translation seems to make more sense (but they only really adjusted the totally gibberish lines, don't expect anything on the quality of Chrono Trigger's DS port retranslation), other than that this is one of those "Get it if you're going to mod it or it's on sale" sort of things.

Side note: with the right soft synth the MIDI can actually sound pretty damn good (not a ton of work to set it up either, but still not something that excuses them using MIDI).

FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

Wow... Do you play a lot of games? I can literally think of piles of games that are worse than Final Fantasy VI.

Now I love VII, partially due to nostalgia, but mostly due to how much I enjoy the plot. While it may have bits of JRPG/Anime silliness it's plot is actually filled with several moments of deep meaning and commentary on the human condition. That said I still think VI is a better game, and probably my favorite Final Fantasy.

And amusingly it's mostly for the exact same reasons I just gave for enjoying VII. In tone the two are very much the same, so for you to complain about VI having tragedy and comedy within a hair's distance of each other while ignoring that the same thing happens in VII is very strange. In fact, that's how I'd describe Final Fantasy: Over-the-top world-ending/empire-vs-oppressed-citizens drama with bits of goofy comedy interlaced to release tension.

I find this style enjoyable in both games, and I honestly feel it's the hallmark of the franchise that really characterizes it.

It is not about the fact that tragedy quickly follows comedy. It is about the nature of the comedy. The comedy in FF6 is about breaking the 4th wall. This breaks suspension of disbelief, which undercuts the tragedy. By contrast, the comedy in FF7 flows organically from the context of the setting. Here is an example:

In FF7, Cloud has to crossdress to enter Don Cornio's palace. The joke? Someone who doesn't want to crossdress winds up doing so. Lulz.

In FF6, our heroes want to get off a train, get in a boss fight where they are off the train, run away on the tracks instead of away from the tracks, beat the train, then climb back on it for no reason and wait for an arbitrary stopping point to get off. The joke? Our characters actions make no sense because they are fictional. Lulz.

The difference is that the latter breaks suspension of disbelief, while the former does not. The ability to stay immersed is what gives tragedy depth.

 

[RelexCryo]

\

I know I'm gonna catch a lot of flak when I say this. But the gameplay and story are extremely outdated. So much so that there's no way it will live up to anyone's expectations. Bought it on the PSN when it came out there and was shocked that it ever became a favorite among so many people to begin with. It just goes to show you how many graphics whores there are and because it was such a huge jump in graphics among FF games that it still stands out as "The greatest EVAR!!!" in their own minds.

Don't believe me, play it yourself and prepare for a huge disappointment.

I completed it again a few days ago, and to me, FF7 still holds up as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) RPGs of all time. The OST is among the best in games, and I personally believe that the gameplay is very well balanced. There aren't any sections in the game which are downright unfair, and decent management of items etc really does matter.

The only two problems I have with FF7 are battles which spawn a group of six frogs (any FF7 player should know what I mean) and the fact that if you obtain the 'big guard' enemy skill, quite a few of the fights are trivialised. Aside from that, I still find the game to be spectacular, nostalgia goggles aside. I put 35 hours into the campaign without any of the side quests, and it completely flew by.

Well you're welcome to believe that, I just gotta ask some others that you've played. I mean If you've only ever played FF7 then I can see why you think it's the greatest right. Not that that's the case but that's the point I'm trying to make. Personally I think there's so many other ones out there that have no where near the fan base that are way more deserving of it than this overrated game. For example certain games in the Tales of series are way funner, and the persona series. Hell even FF6 doesn't get anywhere near as much love and it's a much better game all around but doesn't look as pretty. In my opinion, FF7 is not bad, but it's not great, it's simply an above average JRPG for the time.

Wait, you think ff6 is good? The characters are flat, one dimensional archetypes. Terra for example is an emo, who only feels despair, angst and loneliness all the time, kefka is a generic designated villain with no motivation for blowing up the world, and the characters almost constantly rely on 4th wall breaking attempts at comedy, which undercuts the drama, as well as sequences which simply do not make sense. It is hard to truly sympathize with anyone's suffering when they point out how they are fictional and their suffering does not matter right before the tragedy occurs, or when any nonsensical sequence of events shatters suspension of disbelief.

In the ghost train sequence for example, the characters are trying to get off the train, then get in a boss fight where they are off the train, and then waste time during the bossfight running away from the train on the tracks, instead of running away from the tracks, then after defeating it climb back on the train, wait for it to get to an arbitrary point then get off, and then after that disgusting excuse for "comedy" we immediately cut to a "tragic" scene of Cyan's family, who do we do not care about because of the loss of suspension of disbelief.

The characters have little motivation, lack depth and complexity, immediately skip from 4th wall breaking comedy to tragedy, undercutting the tragedy because of the attention called to the fact that the characters are fictional. FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

By contrast, Cloud is not an emo, but someone who can be playful, encouraging, and friendly, in addition to feeling angst and despair. He is a complex person, rather than an archetype. Sephiroth had an actual motivation for blowing up the world, and because the sequence of events make sense in the context of the game without breaking the 4th wall, the comedy does not undercut the tragedy. FF7 actually has a good story.

Are you honestly going to go into a rant like that about the bad character archetypes in one FF and say how the bad character archetypes in another FF are good? Well you are beyond rational thinking if you believe either of those statements about Cloud or Sephiroth as both of them are just flat out lies.

Cloud gives words of encouragement, tells jokes, and acts playful. In a memory of Nibelheim, he made a joke about finding orthopedic underwear in Tifa's closet. In the tutorial, he offers words of encouragement to the NPC working towards limit break. These positive emotions are in addition to his angst, despair, and general negative emotions. He feels a complex series of emotions.

Terra, on the other hand, just seems to feel angst, despair, and loneliness all the time.

 

[RelexCryo]

Wait, you think ff6 is good? The characters are flat, one dimensional archetypes. Terra for example is an emo, who only feels despair, angst and loneliness all the time, kefka is a generic designated villain with no motivation for blowing up the world, and the characters almost constantly rely on 4th wall breaking attempts at comedy, which undercuts the drama, as well as sequences which simply do not make sense. It is hard to truly sympathize with anyone's suffering when they point out how they are fictional and their suffering does not matter right before the tragedy occurs, or when any nonsensical sequence of events shatters suspension of disbelief.

In the ghost train sequence for example, the characters are trying to get off the train, then get in a boss fight where they are off the train, and then waste time during the bossfight running away from the train on the tracks, instead of running away from the tracks, then after defeating it climb back on the train, wait for it to get to an arbitrary point then get off, and then after that disgusting excuse for "comedy" we immediately cut to a "tragic" scene of Cyan's family, who do we do not care about because of the loss of suspension of disbelief.

The characters have little motivation, lack depth and complexity, immediately skip from 4th wall breaking comedy to tragedy, undercutting the tragedy because of the attention called to the fact that the characters are fictional. FF6 is one of the most horrible games I have ever played.

By contrast, Cloud is not an emo, but someone who can be playful, encouraging, and friendly, in addition to feeling angst and despair. He is a complex person, rather than an archetype. Sephiroth had an actual motivation for blowing up the world, and because the sequence of events make sense in the context of the game without breaking the 4th wall, the comedy does not undercut the tragedy. FF7 actually has a good story.

The fanboyism is strong in this one.

I am not a fanboy. I own an xbox, but openly admit it has many, many flaws. I owned a PS3, but got rid of it. I like many game series, but will often focus more on their flaws than their strong points when discussing them. FF7 is one of the few things I will gush about, because it is actually good.