Talk me into sticking with FF VII

[Xeogred]

Yeah I like Squall more than Cloud. Cloud is pretty awful, but he's no Shinji ...

[dunpeal2064]

Quina is awesome!

I love that they took the Blue Mage, who is always trying to learn everything, and made her a glutton! Hilarious

I thought Squall was a fuckin pussy. Rinoa had more balls than him.

Cloud had Aeries wrapped around his finger, she dies, and he jumps to his backup woman with no remorse.

All joking aside, cloud was left fairly blank. He almost reminds me of Link, in that most of his character comes from what you think he'd say or feel.

Squall only looks good because he is with one of the worst casts in a FF I can think of.

[AppleQueso]

I for one like to believe the Jenova > Sephiroth theory. It's her/it controlling him the entire time after he was infected or whatever. So he's just a lifeless tool. I don't care for him much, but looking at it this way makes me like him more than not. It is... the J-Virus! lol

That's sorta how I always saw it. Only reason you see Sephiroth at the end with the omnislash and stuff has to do with Cloud's own personal stuff or something.

I haven't really replayed 7 in a long, long time. I wish I could elaborate more.

7 wasn't my first RPG, but I did play 6 right afterward, and loved it just as much.

[marurun]

I have to agree with the OP about FFVII. I tried to play it several times and failed to really get into it. All the minigames are annoying, because they're not especially fun or well-thought and many of them are required. I also got frustrated at the disparity between the incredible seriousness and depressing atmosphere and all the silliness. I made it just past the Gold Saucer (I think it was called) and gave up because it was just too much.

One of the things that bothered me a lot about VII (and some about 3/6) is that many of the enemies seem to have no place in the environment and don't even seem threatening. Why am I fighting a giant wheel thing on the plains, and why are there so many of them? How are some of these enemies even a threat to myself or the world at large? What the hell is a GreaseMonk(ey) doing in the savanna and why is it a hunchback and why is it throwing a wrench at me (FF3)?

The In FF VI and VII the forces of evil are all retarded. Grim, depressing, and oddly retarded.

Give me Grandia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, or even FF1 over those two titles any day. And I'll spare everyone my rant over FFVIII. A friend who loves VII tried VIII and just couldn't hack it.

[o.pwuaioc]

Final Fantasy titles always had some odd enemies, although I never really thought that FFIV's enemies were out of place. I do think so about FFIX. Some of the designs border on just goofy.

[Yancakes]

Yeah I like Squall more than Cloud. Cloud is pretty awful, but he's no Shinji ...

I always HATE Squall, but that's OK. I always thought that Squall was the worst fucking lead character of any video game until I realized one thing: he's a teenager. He's the most accurately portrayed teenager from any game I've ever played. He's whiny, he's emotionally irrational, he is a detestable wanker and he was even ahead of the curve with his ridiculous emo hair. Taking in to account that all of the characters in that game were freaking teenagers, they all become way, way more realistic.

Whereas in FF7, the characters are adults. There's no bloody reason for them to act and talk the way they do. They could have had the same goals and opinions but those goals and opinions could have been portrayed in a much more mature manner. FF7 is at the top of the list of games that, as far as I'm concerned, would be turned into a legitimately good game with a re-write.

Cait Sith was annoying, the bonus characters in Yuffie and Vincent were useless (plot-wise) and really shouldn't have been in the game at all. Cid was an irrational dick, Barrett was ONLY there to be a character foil for Cloud, and really just about every single character was blank. I think kids like the cast because they're so blank when you take anything more than a second glance at them that children playing the game just projected on the characters what they wanted them to be. They give you just a little bit, I hesitate to call them one dimensional characters because most of them didn't have ANY dimension, and let you imagine the rest.

So perhaps the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as you guys, the reason the game didn't make me feel any emotions (except when I was walking to Barret's hometown, and when Cid lost his chance at fulfilling his dream to save that girl), was cause the biggest plot twist was spoiled to me a long time ago.

Also think how interesting a villain Sephiroth would have been if you were playing the game for the first time. You don't know what he looks like and you just follow the trail of bodies he leaves behind. But I already knew so much about him from all the videos/wallpapers/everything that you see posted online.

This. Absolutely this. Aeris' little shishkebab impression choked me up when I played it the first time (admittedly, I was 12 at the time, but whatever), I cried, I was emotionally invested with all of the characters, and every big reveal in the game was a real "wooaaahhhhhhh" moment.

Replaying it now, the plot is absolutely laughable.

Also not a big fan of the materia system, but also not an enemy. It was just a bit basic imo.

It's unfortunate because the materia system gets really interested way, way late in the game when you start being able to push materia combos that do crazy shit. It gets pretty complicated and has a lot of room for creativity, my personal favourite early game combo is cover=counter- when an ally is attacked, a character with this equipped will cover them, take the damage, and then counter. It's ludicrously useful.

FF8 took materia way, way farther than that and was much more complicated. Some would argue that it took it too far, they might be right, but it's my favourite part of the game so I don't particularly care.

[Xeogred]

Interesting theory on the FFVII characters. I can definitely see what you mean and maybe had similar thoughts myself about it once.

Heh, funny note on Squall there. I thought he was so badass the first time I played the game back in... jr. high, go figure.

I thought the Aeris thing was hilarious myself first time I played it. I honestly can't remember if that was spoiled for me or not, I want to say no... I just saw that scene and was like "Sweet more room for Tifa!", which wasn't delivered at all. lol. Looking back on it. Aeris probably had way more character in her short little run than Tifa did in the entire thing.

[marurun]

Tifa's role in FFVII can be summed up in one word: boobs.

[Xeogred]

Seems like a good time for this...

[AppleQueso]

Whereas in FF7, the characters are adults. There's no bloody reason for them to act and talk the way they do. They could have had the same goals and opinions but those goals and opinions could have been portrayed in a much more mature manner. FF7 is at the top of the list of games that, as far as I'm concerned, would be turned into a legitimately good game with a re-write.

...so how much of that do you think could be chalked up to the poor translation then?