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

[Valkyrie-Favor]

I played it for the first time 2 years ago so it's not some nostalgia thing for me. I think it's a good JRPG, better than most, and worth the time. Cool world and awesome music. Best JRPG ever? Definitely not. It's remembered well and it's popular, and that's cool. It's also a great introduction to the genre. It was my first straight JRPG, although I had experience with Crisis Core, Mega Man Battle Network and Mario and Luigi games before that.

[TrevorF]

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.

I couldn't have put it better myself...Although I did play Final Fantasy VII before Chrono Cross

[TrevorF]

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

+1 I couldn't believe it at the time. It was pretty awesome!

[darthmunky]

I never got into any of the non 2D FF games...

[mobiusclimber]

FFVII was hardly the first RPG I ever played (originally got into console gaming b/c I was heavy into AD&D and stuff like Final Fantasy I, Crystalis, Zelda, Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star II appealed to my love of AD&D) but I did play it around the time it was released and I loved the game. I had played FFVI first and thought it was amazing. I don't think there was a single moment in FFVII that was as heart-rending as when Celes stands on that point overlooking the ocean and... well, let's say I had caught slow-moving fish and leave it at that. But certain things in FFVII I felt were done just as well. I actually loved Cait Sith's death scene and didn't mind that he was replaced immediately afterwards (considering Cait Sith is just an animatronic doll, and that the thing that really got me was him saying words to the effect that a new one was going to come but to remember HIM).

I think some of the problems with the game, especially if you're playing it now, is that the in-game graphics (as opposed to the FMVs) are blocky and fairly ugly, and that the story doesn't totally make sense unless you go out of your way to find a lot of hidden sequences (like Vincent/Lucretia storyline) and really you have to play the game a second time to piece it all together. I also think if you're looking for a game to spell everything out for you, this isn't the right game for you. At the same time, they took this ambiguity and ran it into the ground with FFVIII (a game I seriously hated and still dislike to this day).

The thing I like the most about it is that it takes an aspect from a few other RPGs that I didn't see happen enough back then: blending in other game styles as mini-games. You had the motorcycle race, the snowboarding, riding/racing/breeding chocobos, etc etc. This really helped to keep the game from feeling monotonous. There was also a great deal of humor, that I think a lot of people forget (maybe intentionally blocking it out so I have two words for you: Don Corneo).

I feel like this topic has two issues: one is whether FF7 is overrated, and the other is how awesome FF8 really is. I think I've gone tl;dr here on FF7 so I'm going to leave the issue of FF8 alone for now. But there are very good reasons FF8 is as hated as it is amongst fans. I would say that the setting is the least of the problems.

[dreamcast4ever83]

Panzer saga and ff8 for me are the best most amazing rpg I have ever played there were blood and tears that went into those and the blocky graphics are the best ever and I think there both beautiful and heart felt and no modern system can replicte that for me

[Lorfarius]

I played this to death on the PS1, I rented it one weekend after borrowing a friends console. He was trying to convince me to pick one up but I was too much of a Saturn nut at the time. I played the game for 3 hours straight, made it to the world map then was straight down the store shortly after buying a console. I'd never seen anything like it before, truly was my first RPG and I became addicted to it!

I spent 6 months maxing out every single character, defeating all the Ultimate weapons as well (not sure if they were all in the US version as I'm in UK). I eventually burned out on the game until a year or so later when the PC version came out, with the thought of those improved graphics I was all over it!

I've no idea why I loved it so much. I replayed the whole thing again on my PSP last year and had to stop myself from devoting too much time to it once more. Epic game all round.

[jalvarez82]

I tried FFVII long after all the hype and praise for it (around 2004, I believe). I heard many people calling it the greatest RPG ever. Some even claimed it was the greatest game ever created. So I gave it a go. It was good, but nothing amazing. Actually, I wasn't even interested enough to get that far into the game. So...yeah. lol

[CaptainHarlock]

I thought it was decent. It was a PS1 seller for me. :p I do think that some people tend to put it up on a pedestal though. Not sure why that is. Maybe it was a lot of people's first RPG, so they're a little more predisposed to think highly of it? I have no idea. For me it's one of the better installments, but I like 6 and 9 much more looking back at the series.

[BananaXX]

FF7 is my favorite traditional FF (Tactics still my favorite FF). I used to watch my brother play it all the time when I was smaller so I guess a certain nostalgia factor comes into play, though I have played the game myself and loved it. I've also played FF6 and don't understand it when people said FF6 has a better story. Eh, to each his own.