Final Fantasy 7-- over-saturated? Over-rated? You decide.

[dreamcast4ever83]

I know what your already thinking.

Final fantasy the most beloved, amazing game in the world-- being insulted? The nerve! The audacity! Well, don't get your panties in a bunch just yet...

This is not meant to, or intended, to bash this gaming masterpiece in any way, shape, or form. But, on that same note I do have a few things to say.

When FF7 came out, when I was just 14, it was an amazing one-of-a-kind game, and still stands as being one of the top rpg's of all time... but it is by no means the "be all end all" of rpg gaming, that nearly everyone makes it out to be. Sorry if this upsets anyone, but its not... At least in my opinion.

The thing is when FF8 came out, there was a lot of snarky remarks regarding it being "too futuristic" and "too fluffy with romance..." but, that was and is an amazing, beautiful game, in every possible aspect, and not only worthy, but a great successor to 7 in every way. The story, how the characters intertwined, the visuals, the music, and damn-- those FMV sequences were breath-taking... At the time,was rated, 10/10.

But, despite all of this, it seems like fans of the series abandoned and disclaimed this game at every possible turn apparently they want them all to be the same old school SNES-castle-hopping-dungeon-crawler style ...Well that would just be boring, pointless, and repetitive. I feel that 8 was every bit as good as 7 and in my own personal opinion surpassed it in many way from the story to the cut-scenes. I was amazed and don't understand the world, and how alot of people don't see this.

What really chaps my ass is that 7 by itself was in fact, a great title, but they could not leave it alone... Since it was so popular they had to keep spitting out crap after crap of side games, pseudo sequels, movies, and then talk about how it needs to be remade?! Why? It was good just how it was, in its 32 bit glory... why the need to update a game that was alreay great? And if you really want a remake or update a game, Panzer Dragoon Saga is far more deserving (due to the fact it missed 90% of most audiences and the sorce code was lost...) and its imposible to port that game, due to complicated structure of the Saturn. Not to mention there's a rumored 5000 copies left in the world, and in total about 15,000-20,000 produced...?
While FF7 was a mass produced game, a still and working perfectly fine, existing in the millions or so. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is a more deserving remake, but apparently no one can leave well-enough alone.

Yet, there's more money to be made on FF7, I guess, cause people will just keep spitting there money at all the crap that comes there way if the name on it resembles FF7. I'm not even going to go into the Resident Evil crap with movies and games. If FF7 was left as a stand alone title I would be more content, but with the over saturation of media and giving in to the masses due to making money... it has left a bad taste in my month and I'm tired of it.

I know this is how the world of marketing works, but it does not mean gamers should have to fall for it... I do miss the simpler days or gaming, when SEGA was head-to-head with Nintendo, and every game didn't have to revolve around shooting, and mass-produced bullshit. Sorry for the length. Thanks for reading, love to hear opinions...

[BoneSnapDeez]

A great game, but my god is it over-rated.

It always perplexes me to see this game top so many "Top 10 RPG" type lists. I believe it was the first JRPG played by a lot of folks, so they now have nostalgic feelings tied to it. I played it years after Final Fantasy VI, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, etc and found it to be ugly and clunky compared to those 16 bit masterpieces.

Don't get me wrong, it's a solid game but FAR away from being the best game of all time. I'd say it's the third best PS1 RPG maybe the third best Final Fantasy game as well. There's been so many superior games released before and after FFVII that all the hype still surrounding it just seems foolish.

[Xeogred]

I don't want to dive into arguments myself, but Bone brings up an interesting point... I wonder how people who played JRPG's before it would rate it against those that started with it. I was playing Super Mario RPG, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, and Secret of Mana way before I touched FFVII (and I think I even got to Chrono Cross before it).

I have many mixed emotions and thoughts on the game itself. I wouldn't hesitate to say it might be like top 20 material for me. It's one of the easiest JRPG's out there, no doubt, and it gets super silly and convoluted, I still can't stand the part when Tifa is running around in Cloud's mind or whatever... Sephiroth is completely overated, but all in all it's still such a damn fun game to me. I love the world, that is one thing that sets itself apart from the rest, the whole vibe was great. The music is awesome, it's got that early PSX sound to it that's kind of SNES-like. And I just loved the Materia system, even if you could just completely break the game with it. Overall it's the one FF I've replayed the most next to FFVI.

But one thing I can't stress enough though, is that I "liked it when it was one game". I can't stand the franchise it's become. Vincent was already boring enough to me as is, so his spinoff just looked terrible. Advent Children is ... well, atrocious. That's what happens when you let a character designer direct a movie. And yeah, just everything that came out after FFVII itself, I have never had any interest in, no matter how much I liked the setting and whatnot. Square Enix still doesn't get it apparently, quantity does not automatically lead to quality. FFVII was completely fine by itself.

[GameMasterGuy]

FF7 is great, but 6 is better. It's amazing, but over-rated. Sure, it brought all sorts of things to the series, but at the same time it dropped a lot of the awesome. 5 and 6 were bad enough returning to 4 party members active at a time after 4's 5, but 7 dropped it to 3. It also dropped the humor of 5 instead of balancing it with a serious plot like in 6. The ATB gauge was kept at least...

[Xeogred]

I don't know, the convoluted plot is a bit humorous in itself.

[Opa Opa]

I don't know, the convoluted plot is a bit humorous in itself.

[Xeogred]

And that reminds me of the cussing... now THAT was pretty crazy back in its time, haha. There's so much it's insane.

[SirPsycho]

I was actually just discovering RPGs in general during the PS1 days. The first one I ever played was FF8 and holy crap is that game a complete mess. I went FF crazy during those days though and grabbed the first copy of FF7 I found, bought FF8 shortly after, bought FF9 day one.

Then I started experimenting with other RPGs like Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Mana, Chrono Cross through Blockbuster back when it was cool, and bought a few that I enjoyed, but even then I missed a lot from the PS1 era. You could say I wasn't a good RPG gamer until the PS2 hit its stride and I discovered Suikoden III and decided to give a lot of other RPG series a try.

I didn't play FF7 when it was brand new, so my nostalgia goggles aren't as strong as other's. I find it to be a good game that was overshadowed by the popularity it gained in the mass consciousness.

I have a long list of PS1 games that I find to be better and more coherent than FF7. The only one in the same series from that era is FF9, maybe a sign of bad things to come?

[BoringSupreez]

And that reminds me of the cussing... now THAT was pretty crazy back in its time, haha. There's so much it's insane.

Somehow they got away with saying "shit" several times, while holding the "Mild Language" rating from the ESRB. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory had the word only a handful of times (and nothing stronger than that), and got "Strong Language" instead.

But about whether it's over-rated or not? Yes, definitely. People hype it up like it's Chrono Trigger or something. It's just a good JRPG, nothing more. Looks really blocky and dated, and

Aeris's death

is so cliche and bland that it packs zero punch. Not to mention that I never especially really liked that character in the first place.

And yes, I spoilered out

Aeris's death

for all two of you that haven't heard about it. You're welcome.

[Flake]

Final Fantasy VII is good despite itself. It's a clumsy game. About the only thing that fires on all cylinders is the music.

Visually, you can tell they were learning as they went along - just compare the first CG with the last one.

What irked me the most was how the game was terrified to take any chances. Yeah, they killed Aeris but that was so strongly foreshadowed that it was pretty meaningless. Then they failed to make her death mean anything or to even deal with the fact that she was just a part of Cloud's quest to catch Sephiroth. One more part of Jenova's little game. (Go back and watch the conversation the two have when the meet in the park - note the white flash)

Also Cait Sith's death - that one actually meant something to me. I teared up just a little bit. The scene was sad, the music serene, and he happily went to his demise. He was just glad to be able to help...and then they replace him fifteen seconds later and its like he never died!

It's amazing Final Fantasy VII turned out as good as it did. Sheer luck.