Talk me into sticking with FF VII

[ZeroAX]

I just really didn't get along well with every character being able to cast almost every spell. You never needed a dedicated healer except for boss battles. EVERYONE could cure status effects. It was just irritating. By the very end of the game there were so few differences between the characters when it came to spellcasting. Sure, this one could heal a few more points of damage per spell, and this one has a slightly more damaging Ultima, but who cares? I kinda didn't. Grandia did this MUCH better. Sure, anyone can equip the earth element and start learning spells from it, but everyone learns a different selection of spells.

I like customization to a point, but RPGs that let you customize a character too much usually end up with too little distinction between characters in battle.

I guess that's a matter of personal taste, but I loved that game for giving me that option. My favorite character was Locke, so the esper system allowed me to make him a useful character. In VII for example I couldn't use my favorite characters cause of the too big important Limit Breaks had on the game

[Xeogred]

I don't see it as a complaint at all for me, but yeah I was wanting to run through the game sometime and forcibly limit myself with magic, so it'd play more like FFIV. Like only teach Terra white magic, maybe Celes black magic, and some other characters nothing. Might make the game a more fun challenge.

[MrPopo]

I think that's a very valid complaint, but definitely a matter of taste. Yes, when you get down to it the only thing that differentiates well-built characters in VI is their special skill, but then again the same is the case in VII and VIII (their limits being the differentiator). I think the difference is that without severe grinding (it's much easier to teach all the good magic in VI) you can't have an army of clones in VII and in VIII the specific GF commands are unique, and while you can change them up at will outside of battle you still have to have three effectively unique characters.

[ZeroAX]

I think that's a very valid complaint, but definitely a matter of taste. Yes, when you get down to it the only thing that differentiates well-built characters in VI is their special skill, but then again the same is the case in VII and VIII (their limits being the differentiator). I think the difference is that without severe grinding (it's much easier to teach all the good magic in VI) you can't have an army of clones in VII and in VIII the specific GF commands are unique, and while you can change them up at will outside of battle you still have to have three effectively unique characters.

But I prefer that. Since JRPGs are much more character focused than Western ones I don't need specific skill sets to make a character feel unique to me. On the other hand I really disliked having to use a character I didn't like in my parties in FF13 (that bitch Hope) because it would take waaay too much grinding to get Shaz to take his place.

[marurun]

Unfortunately, that JRPG character focus doesn't aways result in better, or even good, characters. There are a lot of JRPGs which have stock characters, confusing plots, and because the focus is on the characters and story and not the strategy and combat, they can be a bit dull, especially considering you spend most of your time in a JRPG wandering around getting into battles.

When JRPGs are done well they can be quite a trip, but when they aren't done well... Let's just say that the western RPG focus on combat means that it is, at least in some ways, harder to just get a giant mess of suck.