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

[pepharytheworm]

I would like to see a discussion someday on final fantasy vii in which the phrase "overrated" is never uttered

Never going to happen, unless people start to dislike the series as a whole. But I am sure you can read articles that were released during the time of its release that don't have any mention of it being overrated yet.

[mobiusclimber]

I thought VIII had a better battle system than VII.

In what way? I think 7 has a lot more strategy, at least as far as setting up materia is concerned; whereas in 8 I never used magic since I had to have a full amount junctioned to my stats at all times. Most magic was fairly weak anyway and getting more (replenishing MP in any other RPG) was a long, tedious process, so I just didn't use magic unless I absolutely had to. I also stockpiled and actually used items in this game (as opposed to just keeping them in other RPGs), but I can't say that was really an improvement, especially since the overpowered attacks could be triggered by using a certain item. I totally abused that, btw. Most battles were cakewalks anyway.

[dunpeal2064]

VIII's battle system: walk around at low heath and 1-shot everything.

Its one thing when a game is breakable, but you really have to work at it. This game just hands everything to you, and almost everyone is breakable with very little work.

Quistis gets an instant kill limit break almost immediately, and can use it at will with low health. Zell can do a nice 40 hit combo right out the gate.

VII did not have the best combat system, but it is definitely better than VIIIs imo.

[sabrage]

To be fair, I played them a good 5+ years ago, and I never beat either. Neither one seems particular worthy or capable of holding my attention these days.

[mobiusclimber]

I was really curious tho, not just saying it to be a dick. I'd kinda like to hear people tell me what they liked about 8, even tho my reaction to it is so strongly negative. I have to remind myself that part of why I don't like it is b/c by the time the asinine things that happen in the game were actually explained, I was sick to death of the asinine things in the game, so I didn't even catch on to what was going on.

The whole bit where Elone can enter people's dreams and this is why you keep blacking out and playing the game as your dad. Yeah, went right past me.

So it might be that I was dense or playing the game wrong. Someone else told me that the game is a lot more fun if you don't play it like you have OCD and just kinda run through it ignoring most of the more tedious aspects.

[MrPopo]

My first play through of VIII I did as a solo Squall run, simply because the game is that breakable. It was far too easy to be a low level character with insane stats battling low level monsters with terrible stats, so being at low health didn't mean anything. I think only FFII is more breakable, and that's because you could turn yourself into an unhittable god before you get Minwu if you wanted.

As for VIII's story... holy shit did they drop the ball there. Hey guys! Turns out we were all at the same orphanage, except you all forgot because you use GFs and I didn't forget but I didn't say anything!

[Xeogred]

It's okay Popo, we can write down our memories in diaries.

[disorderlyvision]

I can say that I thought the graphics were pretty good with some really cool summon animation. I liked a couple of the characters (even tho they mostly got short shrift as the game went on and chose to focus on Squall, Rinoa and Edea). It's just that pretty much everything else in the game is awful.

The overworld is barren. The cities are tiny and don't really feature much of anything with very little to interact with. Squall is not an interesting or engaging character and having to spend the entire game playing as him was more than annoying. He is a useless twat who deserves a good ass-kicking, over and over, always. The plot was nonsensical, the Big Bad's motives were ridiculous and unclear, the love story was contrived, plot points were downright stupid and insulting. So fuckin EVERYONE has amnesia?! Take the most cliche RPG plot point you can think of and then give it to every single character? REALLY? And they don't even realize that they have amnesia. Ok forehead, meet desk. Plot points popped up and then disappeared with no connection to the rest of the story. In fact, the whole thing felt as tho it was being written as the game was being made. That couldn't have possibly been how it was actually made, but it sure as hell felt like it. What was the point of the sword fight in the beginning of the game? What was the point of the OWLS (or whatever they were called) and the fake president on the train? How did you survive an icicle to the chest? What is going on and why??? Add to all this the worst level up/armor/money/spell system ever created for a game and you have an awful awful experience. That some people derived pleasure from this unholy abomination truly boggles my mind. THEY WERE DRIFTING THROUGH SPACE WHEN THEY JUST HAPPENED TO CRASH INTO A SPACE SHIP! Fuck this game.

Oh, I see but all the other stories where barely teenagers and a small handful of their friends run around randomly fighting weird creatures, who for some odd reason have pockets full of money and items they drop when killed, then fight bigger monsters (bosses), half of which have nothing to do with the plot, until they finally fight the ultimate baddy who was plotting the world's demise and save the entire universe from ruin, make perfect sense? Pretty much all rpg's have absurd stories with questionable plot twists. And, similar to religion, they all require you to suspend logic and reason.

[disorderlyvision]

My first play through of VIII I did as a solo Squall run, simply because the game is that breakable.

VIII's battle system: walk around at low heath and 1-shot everything.

Its one thing when a game is breakable, but you really have to work at it. This game just hands everything to you, and almost everyone is breakable with very little work.

Or... you could not play it like that. Do you play other games on easy mode and then complain about them being too easy? That's basically what you are saying here.

[Ack]

Hmm...the religion remark was unnecessary and in poor taste.

Anyway, I look at FFVIII as an experiment in gameplay. Love it or hate it, you have to give Square credit for trying something new in a genre they were widely seen as dominating in the US. Square tried lots of experimentation during the PS1 days, and in many ways FFVIII is a hallmark of said experiments. Yes, the plot has some issues, but it does also have memorable moments and likeable characters. Sure, the level system is bizarre, but it does remove the necessity of grinding, a major complaint by many rpg enthusiasts. And sure, the combat system is odd, but then we clamor about how dull it is to just hit "Fight" over and over again. If nothing else, it is interesting, and it was a change from previous titles. It dropped the materia system, which I had disliked, and made the Limit Break system much easier to understand anduse, as opposed to both FFVI and FFVII.