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Final Fantasy VII 15th Anniversary

And Tifa lovers are sad, lonely nerds with waiffu pillows. What of it? 8)

/me hugs FF12 Judge figurine.

nanananananana, I can't hear you when stuffing my head in the upcoming Cloud pillow

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Super CastleVania IV
Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country 2
Final Fantasy VII


All belong to the same realm of greatness.
 
That is pretty mature turn for a game that did not venture anywhere close to that type of subject in the rest of the game. And if it truly did happen, why has it not been mentioned at all in any of the FF7 compilation titles? You'd think with a moment that big they'd at least say a couple words about it.

That scene on the airship was written by Masato Kato rather than the main writers of the game.
 
I loved FFXII all the way up until it just....stopped. I thought there was at least another third of a game left. Shit pissed me off, I wanted to see the country to the west across the desert, and then when we finally get a sequel, what do we get? LOL ISLAND IN THE CLOUDS
 
This is too biased. FF 8 9 X aren't bad. FF12's battle system is great (tho with shattered storyline).
You're not very good at reading graphs, are you?

Also 12 had a horrible battle system because it was ridiculously limited and busted until 40+ hours in. I mean, yeah it's great once you can actually use it, but they don't let you for most of the game. It's like the flipside of how FF8 let's you exploit the shit out of the system right out of the gates.
 
You're not very good at reading graphs, are you?

Also 12 had a horrible battle system because it was ridiculously limited and busted until 40+ hours in. I mean, yeah it's great once you can actually use it, but they don't let you for most of the game. It's like the flipside of how FF8 let's you exploit the shit out of the system right out of the gates.

As a Chinese, I'm good at reading graphs as well as other math-related stuff. It's my limited writing skill that gave you the impression that I failed to read the graph.

FF 8 9 should be on the same level of 7, and X is not going to be worse than those. 12 is definitely going downhill and 13 is totally crap.

But all this doesn't affect my love to FF7. It's always the best.

Edit:
And I understand why you think 8 is not that good - because Square totally crewed up the English translation on that game. I tried to play the PC version in English back in 2000, only ended up confused as hell. Then last year I played the Japanese version, and everything finally made sense to me. The story was actually deeper than other FF games. Very good writing but poor translation.
 
And I understand why you think 8 is not that good - because Square totally crewed up the English translation on that game. I tried to play the PC version in English back in 2000, only ended up confused as hell. Then last year I played the Japanese version, and everything finally made sense to me. The story was actually deeper than other FF games. Very good writing but poor translation.
No, I really liked the story. The reason it wasn't as good as VII is because the battle system was too exploitable. You could do waaaay too much far too early and too easily, and once you put in a little bit of development, you could completely rearrange all the powers and functions of your team in a couple minutes. It made everything feel cheap and characters utterly interchangeable. Also, it's charm (parts aside from the main story) felt contrived and the music and world weren't as good.

FFIX had amazing art and music and a great battle system, but the progression balance was dead at the top end. You didn't need to go above 70 for the hardest secret boss in the game, and even just to get to 70 you had to fight soooo many great dragons because there weren't any other decent monsters for higher levels. You had to fight them until they were super easy to beat, and even after that point they were still your only option. Because of that and how trances worked, all the stuff in the magic system from 50-99 were either worthless or not even unlocked. The plot also sucked, and the characters were 1-dimensional on purpose. So even though it was quite charming, that's another step down from FFVIII in terms of depth.

FFX took things into the next gen, and I liked the battle system, but everything else wasn't so good. The story completely blew in absolutely every aspect. Lulu was the only all-round good character (one of the best in any FF, actually), the music was shit, the progression system was shit, a lot of side things felt like chores rather than fun, there was a lot of blank space to run through for no reason, many dungeons were boring, and with the ability to break limit caps on stats, magic (which already sucked, especially summons) is made nearly worthless because it takes way more time in the queue. The art, overall, was lame and felt like an MMORPG. By far the most overrated FF game.

So you take a look at that graph, 8 on level with 6? 9 on level with 5? 10 on level with 4? Yeah, sounds about right to me. It's not right to say the graph is calling them bad, but there is definitely a steady rise in quality to 7 then a steady decline afterward.
 
That chart is accurate in that VII is the highest point in the series. VIII is shit, IX is ok, X is shit, XII is great but it didn't have the same impact as VII. We don't need to speak about XIII.
 
Of the ones I've played, XII is the best game in the series. VI is the 2nd best. Then maybe IX, or VII. VIII is the worst. XIII is XIII. It is what it is.
 
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It's today! For Japan at least. Hard to believe it's been 15 years since this game came out.

What are your favorite memories of it? For me personally, climbing the Shinra building and then escaping from Midgar only to find this whole other world to explore... it's still amazing to this day.

Fleeing Midgar was disappointing, the idea of playing a fully futuristic RPG made me moist.

Favourite memories:
  • The slum markets and train cemetry of Midgar
  • Discovering Jenova in the tank at the laboratory
  • Following the creepy bloody trail to President Shinra's office
  • Boss battle with Rufus
  • Boss Battle(s) with the Turks
  • The Junon march
  • Costa Del Sol
  • Golden Saucer
  • Desert city & Dyne
  • Getting to the haunted, abandoned Shinra Mansion & meeting Vincent
  • Nibelheim flashback of Jenova taking over Sephiroth's mind
  • Fighting along Sephiroth and his monster, upgraded materia arsenal
  • Cosmo Canyon
  • Wutai
  • Exploring the crashed cargo plane underwater
  • Getting all of Aeris' limit breaks
  • Ice cave
  • The promised land
  • Equipping the entire team with fully upgraded 8x-hit materia
  • Fighting the Weapons
  • Materia upgrading
 
Quite honestly, I never understand why so many people liked Tifa so much... aside from her features... (obviously) I mean, I was often more annoyed with her being so clingy.

"Cloud! Oh Cloud!"
Me: "Shut up! Leave me alone goddamnit!"

But that being said, I didn't dislike her... no, that would be reserved for Yuffie and Cait Sith.

(Doing the Wukai subplot)
*going to save Yuffie*
Me: I couldn't save Aerith but I HAVE to save this bitch?

Don Corneo: So you want the girl back.
Me: No, I just want my materia. Just let me take that back and you can keep her! Honest!

Oh man....

Anyway, yeah I notice how most people's favorite memories come from the first disc. (IIRC that is)
 
Tifa was quite noble. Aerith was nice when you found out her integral role and what she was dealing with, but before she died, I didn't find anything special about her. She seemed like kind of an airhead, generally annoying and out of touch with reality, having the maturity of a child, and functionally a wuss. They built her into something great post-mortem, and the way the characters all talk makes it feel like there was way more history between them as friends than what was depicted in the events of the game. I can buy that there was more time and travel between the events and how the characters were attached, but I never understood how any players became so attached to her based on what the game gave you before she died.
 
The whole sequence was too suspenseful for me at the time, I was scared, and the BGM is amazingly haunting.

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Also this, I was legitimately shocked at the brutality on that juncture of my youth.

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Still scares me.

& still my favorite game of all time :)

FF7 is still one of those games that pulled off a very accomplished disturbing atmosphere.

I remember being very creeped out by the bloody trail. Its perhaps the only JRPG that really used the horror element well.

Sephiroth meeting Jenova was unpleasent.

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I really like the combo of brutality, creepiness mixed in with the cute appearence of the characters and locations.

So many games have shyed away from that now...
 
This is one of the most intelligent and well-written articles I have read on Final Fantasy VII. Give it a read!

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff07

I love that article.

Last year, Paste Magazine ran a series of email exchanges between two writers: one who'd played FF7 several times (Leigh Alexander) and one who was playing through for the first time (Kirk Hamilton). I thought it was great. Since I can never play the game again for the first time, it was fun to have that experience vicariously.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/tag/ffvii_letters
 
This thread makes we really regret selling my PSP. I guess I could try to run my discs on ePSXe but that thing seems to be a piece of crap compared to PCSX2.
 
Tifa was quite noble. Aerith was nice when you found out her integral role and what she was dealing with, but before she died, I didn't find anything special about her. She seemed like kind of an airhead, generally annoying and out of touch with reality, having the maturity of a child, and functionally a wuss. They built her into something great post-mortem, and the way the characters all talk makes it feel like there was way more history between them as friends than what was depicted in the events of the game. I can buy that there was more time and travel between the events and how the characters were attached, but I never understood how any players became so attached to her based on what the game gave you before she died.

Well, I wasn't really talking about Aerith but okay...

Anyway, honestly I dislike character death used in the way that Aerith's death was for. Shock value although this did have an impact on the characters I suppose. Why should your fans/players be emotionally attached to a character if they die unexpectedly. ...but that's not what this topic is for discussing so I won't go any further with that.
 
Well, I wasn't really talking about Aerith but okay...

Anyway, honestly I dislike character death used in the way that Aerith's death was for. Shock value although this did have an impact on the characters I suppose. Why should your fans/players be emotionally attached to a character if they die unexpectedly. ...but that's not what this topic is for discussing so I won't go any further with that.

why why.... i was 10 at the time i think, and i bawled my eyes out, that is why ;_; , i had such a strong emotional link to that game, and still do to this day, i am replaying it every year in the summer. It is basically the game that "teached" me English, and probably that game that got me so into gaming in the first place. Will always have a really special place in my heart for FF VII together with Jedi Knight Jedi Outcast. It was also the pinnacle in the series for me, none of the other FF came close, especially the materia system, hated the stuff in FF VIII - FF X, meh.
 
I never got why people were touched by Aeris' death. It was more anti-climatic to me if anything.

The only moment I recall feeling sad is when the original Cait Sith sacrificed his life to obtain the black materia.
 
If anything I feel that when a character dies, it should be noble, they sacrifice themselves for a greater good. (Now I know Nomura said they wanted to AVOID this when doing Aerith's death but that doesn't change my opinion any) Shock death is sadly becoming more cliche than heroic sacrifices these days.
 
I never got why people were touched by Aeris' death. It was more anti-climatic to me if anything.


To me it came outta no where, and the music was so perfectly timed with the death scene it made it emotional. I don't think the scene would of even had half the impact on me without that music.
 
You used quality in caps. That can mean only 1 thing. You're trolling FFVII an no one caught onto it until now >.<!



Thats one of the few songs in the game I don't care for but that was pretty weird and neat anyhow!
I wanted to do Bohemian Rhapsody, but I decided to use the prelude because the extended scale that Uematsu used for the song was perfect for testing the response of the buzzer for high and low pitch notes.

In the end I run out of time and decided to complete the song. I don't regret anything.

By the way, the project scored a 10 out of 10 in the subject it was made for.
 
^- That's a fan mod.
 
I think what really sets FF7 apart from a lot of other JRPG's is that it was littered with moment to moment memorable events/scenarios/situations. It can be argued that other FF's did a better job in the totality of the plot/story/characters, but really - FF7 has the best pacing and transitions from these memorable moments. The bike chase scene to get out of Midgar, than a nice story segment at a town called "Kalm" for all intents and purposes. (as one example of many)

Like, basically - if there was any Final Fantasy that should have had a 'chapter select' mode after completion - FF7 would be one of the few. Choose to replay Midgar, or the Kalm segment, or Gold Saucer, or the Shinra Tower, Wutai etc. etc.

Fucking childhood man....come back to me.
 
No, I really liked the story. The reason it wasn't as good as VII is because the battle system was too exploitable. You could do waaaay too much far too early and too easily, and once you put in a little bit of development, you could completely rearrange all the powers and functions of your team in a couple minutes. It made everything feel cheap and characters utterly interchangeable. Also, it's charm (parts aside from the main story) felt contrived and the music and world weren't as good.

FFIX had amazing art and music and a great battle system, but the progression balance was dead at the top end. You didn't need to go above 70 for the hardest secret boss in the game, and even just to get to 70 you had to fight soooo many great dragons because there weren't any other decent monsters for higher levels. You had to fight them until they were super easy to beat, and even after that point they were still your only option. Because of that and how trances worked, all the stuff in the magic system from 50-99 were either worthless or not even unlocked. The plot also sucked, and the characters were 1-dimensional on purpose. So even though it was quite charming, that's another step down from FFVIII in terms of depth.

FFX took things into the next gen, and I liked the battle system, but everything else wasn't so good. The story completely blew in absolutely every aspect. Lulu was the only all-round good character (one of the best in any FF, actually), the music was shit, the progression system was shit, a lot of side things felt like chores rather than fun, there was a lot of blank space to run through for no reason, many dungeons were boring, and with the ability to break limit caps on stats, magic (which already sucked, especially summons) is made nearly worthless because it takes way more time in the queue. The art, overall, was lame and felt like an MMORPG. By far the most overrated FF game.

So you take a look at that graph, 8 on level with 6? 9 on level with 5? 10 on level with 4? Yeah, sounds about right to me. It's not right to say the graph is calling them bad, but there is definitely a steady rise in quality to 7 then a steady decline afterward.

Thanks for bringing up so much details on these titles. I guess I just overlooked all the flaws in them. You win.

For me RPGs are always about the story they tell. I don't hate FF8 for its battle system, as it gives me the freedom to explore the world without the fear to get killed by random encounters easily. FF9's story was not that good, and the part where Zidane imploded was really messed up IMO. FFX started a very very bad trend by removing the world map, not the metion that the battle system was very obsolete. However the story it told was still good.

Did I mention that I'm a music whore? FF7 has the most outstanding BGM in the series IMO. It feels that Nobuo Uematsu put everything he'd got into this one. FF8 follows, and FF9 was fine. FFX started to drift away. And we all heard the outcome when he quits - FF12's music always gives me headaches, FF13 is totally a joke except for the two vocals.
 
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What are your favorite memories of it? For me personally, climbing the Shinra building and then escaping from Midgar only to find this whole other world to explore... it's still amazing to this day.


I was 17 when the game came out. I remember looking at the previews in GAMEFAN and just drooling over the colorful images. I didn't have a job at the time, but I got one that November. My first check was like a measly $55 and all of that went toward Final Fantasy VII.
 
Oh, Chrono Trigger fans... not that it isn't good, but... I will never understand the insanely high praise given to it. It's... you know... kinda simplistic.
 
Does anyone else always use KICKIN' RAD background colors on the menus? I swear I have spent an hour making the colors as cool as possible.

oh yes, I change any time there is/was a major event in the game or went to a completely new are. (Costa del Sol/Corel/Gongaga/Cosmo Canyon get warm colors, Icicle town north Crater Cool colors)
 
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