Why is Final Fantasy VII considered to be so great? (spoilers)

[Greywolf]

Some would even consider it the best game of all time? Personally I never played the game when it came out so I don't have the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia that others may have for the game but even so when I compare it to other games that came out at the time I really don't see what made this game so special?

Now I get it, even when going back to older games that you may have been fond of in the past sometimes your tastes and standards change and games you once loved you question why you ever liked it in the first place, but even so there are still some games that do stand the test of time and even those who did not play them at the time can still see why a game might have such a following, Chrono Trigger for example while it has aged you can still see why it is such a fan favourite years later, but with Final Fantasy 7 I just don't see it?

Trying to playthrough final fantasy 7 all these years later I really do not see what made this game so special? The writing is kind of lame, the graphics are ugly and the gameplay is monotonous and boring, I know people point to that Aerith dying scene as an emotional moment in gaming but I really don't see how anyone could really form any sort of attachment to the character considering the blandness of the character.


Not trying to be an edgy contrarian here I am genuinely curious, for those who rank this among their favourite games or rank it as one of the best games of it's era what exactly is so special about this game?

[bunies]

Mako Kilo původně napsal:

Greywolf původně napsal:

If I wanted attention I would go to a more populated forum for a more recent game, I am genuinely curious as to why people think FF7 is so great, if you are one of those people who thinks that the game is great then by all means please share with us what you think makes it so great?

I wrote that a thousand times before and wont repeat myself for everyone. You compare the graphics of a 25 years old game with a recent one. There is nothing else to say.

to be fair the first ff game i played was 8 compared to it in graphics and most gameplay spects 7 is massively inferior, i mean holly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crap is it insanely hard to figure who you are targeting, like why the ♥♥♥♥ would you ever have the camera at an angle where it lines up all the charcters so you cant figure out who you are targeting,

the characters for the most part i do find far more likeable in 7 howver but that is probably more on 8 being fairly bland, yuffie, vincent, cid, tiffa, 13, and cait sith are some amazingly fun and intersting characters

[Pure Mind Games]

bunies původně napsal:

to be fair the first ff game i played was 8 compared to it in graphics and most gameplay spects 7 is massively inferior, i mean holly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crap is it insanely hard to figure who you are targeting, like why the ♥♥♥♥ would you ever have the camera at an angle where it lines up all the charcters so you cant figure out who you are targeting,

Some camera angles are a complete pain pressing [SELECT] is a good way to solve it(don't know the keyboard key off hand as I tend to use a controller).

[TGKilla]

Yes, while the graphics are heavily dated compared to many games today, I would argue the graphics in its original state is what makes this game so awesome. You also have to consider things such as, the characters/story line, character art/music, side-quests/mini games (Chocobo Races, Biker game, Snowboard game), and the Equipment/Materia and Limit breaks battle functions. The level of creativity for this game was leaps ahead from where RPGs were prior to FF7.

Honestly, you just need to play the game to truly understand what makes this game so great, even compared to games today. Kids these days are just spoiled with such crisp graphics that they can't appreciate what truly makes a game awesome.

[NBOX21]

TGKilla původně napsal:

Honestly, you just need to play the game to truly understand what makes this game so great, even compared to games today. Kids these days are just spoiled with such crisp graphics that they can't appreciate what truly makes a game awesome.

True. Good graphics can only go so far to making a truly great game that will stand the test of time and continue to be appreciated years down the line. That's why I'd gladly take a game with fun gameplay that's more memorable even if it has "bad graphics" over a game with the prettiest graphics in the world but the experience is bland and forgettable as it can get.

It's a big reason as to why many indie games are so popular nowadays.

[IntrepidH]

For me, imagine your life up to that point was marked by side scrollers like super mario and sega genesis titles (which also looked great for its time)

Then the PS1 comes out, your dad gets it and 9 year old you are blown away by the graphics on this thing, then wait! what it has a great story too? even the opening cinematic of FF7 had a great "wow" moment for the time where the cinematic seamlessly tied into actual gameplay which gave it a great start for such limited tech. (I think Oddworld was one of the few other launch titles that realized they could do this with their "new" tech.

The divergent story telling via Aeris/Tifa/Barret was pretty unprecedented at the time as well, I dont think it would be until Knight of the Old Republic came out that a great RPG story really made me remember the names of characters years later.

Add a great original setting with central figureheads on the horizon (like Midguard's center point surrounded by the Mako reactors) meant that while you were traversing the world, there was always a looming sense that you were an ant working against figurative mountains for an antagonist (See for example Half Like 2s Citadel always in the horizon of most of its levels)

it did a lot right with what little the game had and really captured and kept your attention, of course now I don't expect it to impress someone if you weren't a 90's child that had those initial "Wow" moments from games like this and Resident Evil (unprecedented blood in their case) there isn't a real reason why blind playthough would have even the slightest impact on someone who has played this years after the fact after playing so many other games.

as for the visuals there are some impressive mods out there, but Idk what other games FF7 could be compared against for graphics at the time as the PS1 games that were fully 3d usually looked,,,,,,rough

[Jubejubes]

Here are some games that got released 1996-1997


GoldenEye
Super Mario 64
Darkstalkers 3
Tomb Raider
Gran Turismo
Star Fox 64
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo
Star Wars Dark Forces 2
Fallout
Carmageddon
MDK
Curse of Monkey Island
Diddy Kong Racing
Crash Bandicoot 2
Oddworld Abe's Oddysey
King of Fighters 97 (Conclusion to Orochi Saga)
Pokemon Red/Blue/Green
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier
Tomb Raider 2
Castlevania SotN

All of these are worthwhile titles playing today and great games.

O..Final Fantasy 7 came out. So none of the games above apparently existed.

In other words, it's typical hype culture nonsense.

Final fantasy 7 is not better than any of the games listed above and in some regards fails to even compete with them (it's not better than diablo or Fallout, and diablo was also released on PS1 with co-op and extra content)

So, why was it so popular?

Because at the time everyone owned Nintendo, which up until FF7 came out, had exclusive rights to Final Fantasy. That's probably got a lot to do with it tbh.

[drunken.dx]

1001GamesLiveTTV původně napsal:

and diablo was also released on PS1 with co-op and extra content)

If you claim Diablo on PSX had extra content you apparently did not play PC version...

Since PSX version of Diablo had couple sidequests while PC had tons.

I played PSX version first and was quite pissed when I got PC version and discovered just HOW MUCH was cut from PSX version.

[Heru]

The real reason ff7 is so beloved is its perfect timing to be the first jrpg for so many people, as well as the fmv's being used to advertise a much better-looking game than it actually was. Your opinion on the graphics and music is very valid, but also doesn't change the validity of people's opinions of the game in the past.

The reason FF7 is my favorite game is that I spent countless hours playing through it as a kid on my ps1. So, purely nostalgia. As for why everyone loves it (except my friends) is probably the same.

[Xengre]

1001GamesLiveTTV původně napsal:

Here are some games that got released 1996-1997


GoldenEye
Super Mario 64
Darkstalkers 3
Tomb Raider
Gran Turismo
Star Fox 64
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo
Star Wars Dark Forces 2
Fallout
Carmageddon
MDK
Curse of Monkey Island
Diddy Kong Racing
Crash Bandicoot 2
Oddworld Abe's Oddysey
King of Fighters 97 (Conclusion to Orochi Saga)
Pokemon Red/Blue/Green
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier
Tomb Raider 2
Castlevania SotN

All of these are worthwhile titles playing today and great games.

O..Final Fantasy 7 came out. So none of the games above apparently existed.

In other words, it's typical hype culture nonsense.

Final fantasy 7 is not better than any of the games listed above and in some regards fails to even compete with them (it's not better than diablo or Fallout, and diablo was also released on PS1 with co-op and extra content)

So, why was it so popular?

Because at the time everyone owned Nintendo, which up until FF7 came out, had exclusive rights to Final Fantasy. That's probably got a lot to do with it tbh.

This isn't right. Sure, FF7 became reknowned on the Playstation but you're a bit confused.

Those games were great, certainly, but first FF7 isn't necessarily claimed to be the "best game ever" but is merely mentioned as one of the best JRPG, a specific genre. In addition, it should be pointed out that while many of those games are great they all have sold less than the FF7, often significantly less, and they are either niche or not "among best of their respective genre" for the most part. Gran Turismo is probably the only real exception on that list among its genre. The other major exception, period, would be Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow which dwarfed even FF7's success and nearly every other game ever for pretty much two dominant decades.

FF7 was strong all around for the most part, had some memorable moments such as Aerith's death (not a first ever, but one of the most famously handled with everything else), world class music (even to this very day), amazing industry leading visuals (at its time), strong quality and content all around be it story, characters (Aerith and one of most well known villains ever, Sephiroth, etc.), gameplay, length, etc. It was just an all around strong package that almost any JRPG fan would greatly appreciate bar tastes.

[NBOX21]

1001GamesLiveTTV původně napsal:

Here are some games that got released 1996-1997


GoldenEye
Super Mario 64
Darkstalkers 3
Tomb Raider
Gran Turismo
Star Fox 64
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo
Star Wars Dark Forces 2
Fallout
Carmageddon
MDK
Curse of Monkey Island
Diddy Kong Racing
Crash Bandicoot 2
Oddworld Abe's Oddysey
King of Fighters 97 (Conclusion to Orochi Saga)
Pokemon Red/Blue/Green
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier
Tomb Raider 2
Castlevania SotN

All of these are worthwhile titles playing today and great games.

O..Final Fantasy 7 came out. So none of the games above apparently existed.

In other words, it's typical hype culture nonsense.

Final fantasy 7 is not better than any of the games listed above and in some regards fails to even compete with them (it's not better than diablo or Fallout, and diablo was also released on PS1 with co-op and extra content)

That's not exactly a good argument to make here, though. Out of all the games you've listed, barely any of them are RPGs like Final Fantasy 7 is so they're designed with different audiences in mind due to not being in the same genre.

And even then, this game is still far better than Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow which are also RPGs, but are games that actually aged really badly and is not that good to play anymore especially after Gold and Silver came out that made Red and Blue obsolete.

Which is why I don't think comparing this game to Super Mario 64 is fair as the two play nothing alike. Same goes for Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo and Crash Bandicoot.

So, why was it so popular?

Because at the time everyone owned Nintendo, which up until FF7 came out, had exclusive rights to Final Fantasy. That's probably got a lot to do with it tbh.

Well, there's a lot more reasons than that, but just to name a few:

It got a lot of marketing at the time, via commercials, gaming magazines, etc. so a lot more people were able to know about the existence of these games compared to most other games around that time that barely got any coverage in any way.

FMVs were a big selling point for CD based games, and Final Fantasy 7 wanted to take full advantage of this at the time to deliver some stunning cutscenes that could not possibly be rendered in the game's engine. This goes for many PS1 games around this time, not just Final Fantasy.

This was also the first Final Fantasy game to ever get released in the PAL region seeing as none of the games before then ever got released in Europe or Australia, so even if we owned Nintendo platforms around that time, it didn't matter; we couldn't buy them as they never released here, and those systems were region locked too. We had to wait until the PS1 ports of 4, 5 and 6 which came out after the PS2 released.

As a side note - yes, we did get Mystic Quest Legend released here, but I'm not counting that because 1) it's not really a Final Fantasy game, and 2) the PAL version doesn't even have Final Fantasy in the title.

[drunken.dx]

NBOX21 původně napsal:

It's a big reason as to why many indie games are so popular nowadays.

Agreed.
Number of indie developers are ready to experiment and include "non meta" mechanics in their games (for lack of better term), while most big shots in industry are afraid to try something new and just make games with proven and popular mechanics in them.

[Dslim]

Most people who thought it was great were born in the 80's, like myself.

[adam]

Jesus, y'all wrote a book here.

Chocobo Farm son. I don't even like Cloud's punk ass. I'm all about catching, rasing, and racing chocos. If they made a game just about the birds it'd be my favorite FF.

[adam]

1001GamesLiveTTV původně napsal:

Here are some games that got released 1996-1997


GoldenEye
Super Mario 64
Darkstalkers 3
Tomb Raider
Gran Turismo
Star Fox 64
Dungeon Keeper
Diablo
Star Wars Dark Forces 2
Fallout
Carmageddon
MDK
Curse of Monkey Island
Diddy Kong Racing
Crash Bandicoot 2
Oddworld Abe's Oddysey
King of Fighters 97 (Conclusion to Orochi Saga)
Pokemon Red/Blue/Green
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier
Tomb Raider 2
Castlevania SotN

All of these are worthwhile titles playing today and great games.

O..Final Fantasy 7 came out. So none of the games above apparently existed.

In other words, it's typical hype culture nonsense.

Final fantasy 7 is not better than any of the games listed above and in some regards fails to even compete with them (it's not better than diablo or Fallout, and diablo was also released on PS1 with co-op and extra content)

So, why was it so popular?

Because at the time everyone owned Nintendo, which up until FF7 came out, had exclusive rights to Final Fantasy. That's probably got a lot to do with it tbh.

um, half that list is absolute garbage. Dark Forces? Give yer tits a rub, that game is horrible