-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
LTTP: Final Fantasy 7
- Thread starter Heavy's Sandvich
- Start date
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
President Shinra has turned up
edit: technosoldier
edit: technosoldier
brianmcdoogle
Member
I just played it for the second time ever about two weeks ago. The game is real good, but it certainly has big problems.
First, the story is a mess. It starts out fine, but gets progressively worse as they add on stuff to make it more complex and "epic", and because the translation isn't great, it is hard to follow at times. The BIG SPOILERS
, and a lot of the side characters aren't fleshed out and feel interchangeable.
Then, there's the graphics, which I think hold up well (and I would say better than FFVIII). However, they're all over the place. Some stuff looks great, some of it is ugly. And, the cutscenes (which FFVIII exceed by a mile) are inconsistent. Why is Cloud "photorealistic" during a stupid motorcycle chase, but the emotional stuff with BIG SPOILERS
is the in-game model? The cutscenes would have been so much better if they ditched the photorealistic stuff and used the middle model that was nicer than the normal character, but not attempting the photorealistic one.
The music has some amazing tracks, particularly JENOVA and the airship song, but some stuff just sounds bad and gross; the honking of the midi stuff at times sounds so bad that it reminds me of the town with the purposefully bad music in Lunar: Silver Star Story.
The airship is dull and lifeless, especially compared to VI and X, and the materia system is straight up broken, but is at least fun to use and not the chore that is the draw system in VIII. And, the mini games are varied and spice things up (except for the strange tonal decision to have BIG SPOILERS
It's a very good game, but it's not the greatest ever, nor probably even the best FF or RPG ever.
For the OP and new beginners, leveling doesn't really become a problem until near the end, and the materia system is incredibly easy to use and exploit. A couple of bosses are puzzle-ish, but not many, and they don't usually require excessive grinding. And, when given the choice to choose options, be a nice guy or choose the sweeter option (like watch the stupid chocobo's dance). NPCs tell you what to do and where to go, but because the world is so huge, you might want a map since nothing gets labeled and you will need to do a lot of backtracking.
First, the story is a mess. It starts out fine, but gets progressively worse as they add on stuff to make it more complex and "epic", and because the translation isn't great, it is hard to follow at times. The BIG SPOILERS
Cloud/Zack/experiment stuff still seems like a mess. Sephiroth gets less interesting as the game goes on, Jenova feels wasted
Then, there's the graphics, which I think hold up well (and I would say better than FFVIII). However, they're all over the place. Some stuff looks great, some of it is ugly. And, the cutscenes (which FFVIII exceed by a mile) are inconsistent. Why is Cloud "photorealistic" during a stupid motorcycle chase, but the emotional stuff with BIG SPOILERS
Tifa and Cloud in the wheelchair
The music has some amazing tracks, particularly JENOVA and the airship song, but some stuff just sounds bad and gross; the honking of the midi stuff at times sounds so bad that it reminds me of the town with the purposefully bad music in Lunar: Silver Star Story.
The airship is dull and lifeless, especially compared to VI and X, and the materia system is straight up broken, but is at least fun to use and not the chore that is the draw system in VIII. And, the mini games are varied and spice things up (except for the strange tonal decision to have BIG SPOILERS
the snowboarding so soon after Aeris'... ).
It's a very good game, but it's not the greatest ever, nor probably even the best FF or RPG ever.
For the OP and new beginners, leveling doesn't really become a problem until near the end, and the materia system is incredibly easy to use and exploit. A couple of bosses are puzzle-ish, but not many, and they don't usually require excessive grinding. And, when given the choice to choose options, be a nice guy or choose the sweeter option (like watch the stupid chocobo's dance). NPCs tell you what to do and where to go, but because the world is so huge, you might want a map since nothing gets labeled and you will need to do a lot of backtracking.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Crashed into the Church.
Eric the Red
Member
These single line play-by-plays updates lol.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
The Turks turned up. Genc Osmanlar
MissDeviling
Member
Turks were like Team Rocket but better in every way.
Turks were the only good part of Advent Children.
Funny I currently playing it on my Vita. Never had the chance to breed a Gold Chocobo but just today I managed to get one (fuck you RNG I beat you) and now I have some of the strongest materia ingame (dat 3min. Knights of the Round sequence sogood.gif). Next step will be defeating the
one by one because that's where I failed in the past. But now my revenge is near. Game is really good even for today. So far already 40h playtime and no end in sight. This time I will probably even finish it. Sephiroth escaped his punishment way to long!
The reason why this game has such high praises from many old gamer is probably the amazing over-the-top summons and limitbreaks. I mean this was long before Dragonball and Naruto were a mainstream thing over here in Germany and in FF7 you could already blast half of the planet away with Behemoth Zero. It was and still is fucking awesome. Just to see some of these crazy stuff gives me good memories and a grin on my face. And yes the music is top notch too and I like the humor, the world and their characters. Every character in your party has a meaningful story. It's just a lovely game overall. Really Squaresofts masterpiece imho
Weapons
The reason why this game has such high praises from many old gamer is probably the amazing over-the-top summons and limitbreaks. I mean this was long before Dragonball and Naruto were a mainstream thing over here in Germany and in FF7 you could already blast half of the planet away with Behemoth Zero. It was and still is fucking awesome. Just to see some of these crazy stuff gives me good memories and a grin on my face. And yes the music is top notch too and I like the humor, the world and their characters. Every character in your party has a meaningful story. It's just a lovely game overall. Really Squaresofts masterpiece imho
I don't think it really matters. The story here was a big mess either way.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Calling it quits for tonight.
How did you like the theme that played during the Air Buster boss fight? First time I heard it I was in heaven.
xlordxerxes
Neo Member
Playing through this right now with a buddy. He's played it multiple times when he was a kid and I never had a psone when I was younger and am loving the story, music atmosphere, etc.
Eric the Red
Member
Responding to ending spoilers:
Completely disagree with your assertion here. There's a certain ambiguity intentionally built into much of it's narrative - the ending scene is a prime example of intentional ambiguity. That lent itself to a plethora of fan theories and discussion about various aspects of the plot for years. I think this is was good thing. This Jenova control theory you mention was a fun outlier to think about, but not the 99% that you assert that needed a book to clear up. The game eventually makes it pretty clear it's all about Sephiroth.
Hojo: I thought the clones would begin to gather at Midgar where
Jenova is stored. But my predictions were not entirely correct. Jenova itself
began to move away from the Shinra Building.
Hojo: But being a genius that I am, I soon figured it out. You see it
was all Sephiroth's doing. Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the
Lifestream; he wants to maniplate the Clones himself.
Further, the game actually has you defeat Jenova right before you fight Sephiroth making it even clearer that he was not an animated corpse or a mind controlled innocent. You even have a final confrontation with Sephiroth's spirit within the lifestream! No body to be manipulated there.
Hojo: I thought the clones would begin to gather at Midgar where
Jenova is stored. But my predictions were not entirely correct. Jenova itself
began to move away from the Shinra Building.
Hojo: But being a genius that I am, I soon figured it out. You see it
was all Sephiroth's doing. Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the
Lifestream; he wants to maniplate the Clones himself.
Further, the game actually has you defeat Jenova right before you fight Sephiroth making it even clearer that he was not an animated corpse or a mind controlled innocent. You even have a final confrontation with Sephiroth's spirit within the lifestream! No body to be manipulated there.
brianmcdoogle
Member
Yeah, that's how I understand it, and I never read fan theories or stuff to clarify it. I never got that
Jenovah controlled Sephiroth. It was always the other way around.
I think the confusion is that there is so much twisting and turning and piling up of things that can make it difficult to follow, and the translation does suck. At least the game makes 85%, and not the clustermess that is Final Fantasy VIII and its opaque info dumps and stupidity.
Junahu
Member
I always assumed that was
a symbolic battle in Cloud's mind, finally breaking free from the responsibility he feels for not stopping Sephiroth years ago. He already has his closure from defeating Safer Sephiroth, which is why the battle is an auto-win situation
As you say though, there's a lot of ambiguity regarding what happens and why.
Regarding Jenova and Sephiroth, I like to imagine that one is not wholly in control of the other, and that the relationship is more of a symbiosis. The Jenova cells in Sephiroth twist his mind, while Sephiroth controls the physical form of Jenova itself. Jenova doen't really need its body to successfully obliterate the world, since that desire is living on inside Sephiroth
Cornbread78
Member
Uggh, just waiting for my great remastered version to arrive on PS4 to play through this again...
GhostWriter24
Member
Best ever. I should play this again, huh?
For the 19th time.
Leithkorias
Member
I reached level 99 with all chars before the end of the first disc. I have a save directly before the
jenova
her
i wanted to simulate clouds fury after losing aeris
Never underestimate a ninth graders abundance of time.
30yearsofhurt
Member
Best place to grind is in that cave with the pipes that dragon mobs at the bottom. Near Nibelhelm I think.
Bronetta
Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Moon_frogger
Member
One thing I noticed in my last playthrough is how good the OST really is. Even more than the big memorable pieces, there are some great more subtle arrangements that absolutely knock it out the park. It's stunning.
"Cid's Theme" and "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII" are as good as it gets. FFVII is my favorite soundtrack from my favorite video game composer.
Cid's Theme gets me all emotional, it's just too perfect for his storyline. When I'm listening to it, I can imagine his subplot in my head as the music ebbs and flows, starts out like a Shinra Anthem and becomes increasingly triumphant as it goes on.
I think I actually like Cid's subplot better than the main plot. It's touching.
PhoncipleBone
Banned
I haven't played this all the way through since it first launched for PlayStation. I have been meaning to go back to it eventually. I have replayed FFIV and VI quite a few times since.
dreamlongdead
Member
I played it for the first time back in 2005, and I have done about 3 playthroughs total. I think I did get close to 100% on one of them, but I don't know for sure.
Definitely better than FF8 and FF9, but those games are still worth playing. I don't really have a desire to go back to any of the PS1 Final Fantasy games though.
Definitely better than FF8 and FF9, but those games are still worth playing. I don't really have a desire to go back to any of the PS1 Final Fantasy games though.
HalfwayOrb
Member
One of greatest games of all time. Enjoy!
If you haven't experienced FFIX, do so after you're done with FFVII. My GOAT. Yes it's better than FFVII.
If you haven't experienced FFIX, do so after you're done with FFVII. My GOAT. Yes it's better than FFVII.
FFIX was incredible the first time, but the molasses-slow battle system made replaying it tedious. I suppose I could just frameskip on an emulator, if I wanted to. The Trance mechanic should have just been a Limit Break, but that's a nitpick.
Moon_frogger
Member
Final fantasy ix is boring. The story is a nice romp through fan service land but the mechanics and battles....I can't even remember a single exciting thing about it. It's also painfully dated, in my opinion even more than the 2 prior games. I know, I know ffvii has lego hands and all but still....ffix chugs.
Scrooge McDuck
Member
Because it could be even better.
manzoman96
Member
One of my favorite games of all time, OP. It's part of the reason why I really got into games in the first place.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we all have
Hope you enjoy it as much as we all have
Most of the battles you can just hold X down until the victory fanfare. The game's challenge in combat comes from bosses and optional bosses.
Heavy's Sandvich
Member
Will try to play some more before I have to go to hospital.
Got up to the Turks and throwing barrels like I was Donkey Kong.
Got up to the Turks and throwing barrels like I was Donkey Kong.
openrob
Member
Ahh the slums, so good. Tbh the whole of Midgar is actually really good. you know where your supposed to be going the whole time and there is a lot going on. Like its just the right size for the beginning of the game.
Coming up to the only open space in the slums...And that is when the story really kicks up a gear.
Coming up to the only open space in the slums...And that is when the story really kicks up a gear.
Story and characters are incredibly bad/bland, the amount of content and sidequests is what makes it really good.
So not even close to being the best game in the world excluding nostalgia.
Even though it is only my second favorite FF (my favorite beeing XII) i play trough it regularly. At least once every two years or so. It's the mixture of a great game that aged pretty well and big nostalgia that makes this game so wonderful imo.
And the soundtrack man, the soundtrack. It is the best part of the game.
Opinions, how do they work?
And the soundtrack man, the soundtrack. It is the best part of the game.
Opinions, how do they work?
PelekotansDream
Banned
Great game, as others have mentioned, the translation has made following the story confusing but you get the general gist of it, now the Aerith or Aeris question is what really started debates on forums.
Also, Cid had like the most badass theme ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJzfOA9uV6E
Also, Cid had like the most badass theme ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJzfOA9uV6E
Triggerhappytel
Member
Dude, are you new to the Internet or something? Literally everything has haters. Everything.
OP - I would strongly recommend Alundra if you're looking for PS1 classics. And FFIX/VI should be your next priority if you want more games in the series.
alice_kiss_lara
Banned
this game is coming out on PS4
KojiKnight
Member
FF7 is incredibly easy... there is nothing you really need to do to prepare and suggestions on how to make the game easier are only going to turn the game into even more of a slog IMO.
Once you get to end game, just play Golden Saucer til you're bored of the game... the ending is poo and the final fight sequence is laughably bad.
The best fun to be had is chocobo breeding and racing.
Once you get to end game, just play Golden Saucer til you're bored of the game... the ending is poo and the final fight sequence is laughably bad.
The best fun to be had is chocobo breeding and racing.
Don't just disagree.
Do it like this guy. You gotta disagree and be extremely condescending about it. You gotta disagree and demonstrate no self-awareness. You gotta disagree without realizing your own favorites are subject to the exact same comments by others who don't share your take.
Do it like this guy. Do it the ironic way.
This guy.