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[Glassboy]

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.

That's awesome. My first experience with the game was with a friends copy of the game. He said I could borrow it, but it was his dad's game. I started playing it and was blown away. This was probably even a year after it came out. Most of my Playstation playing had been with Crash Bandicoot 2, so I didn't even know what to expect. I never had played anything like it and I remember putting some serious hours into it.
One time, actually several times, I remember playing sick so I could stay home from school and play the game all day. My mom would come downstairs and say, "Hey, I thought you were sick?" knowing damn well what was going on, but she would only smile and let me get back to grinding out money or experience.
Or another time when my dad took away the memory card, but didn't turn off the game or take it away. This happened when I explored the sunken plane for the first time at 2 AM when everyone in the house was asleep. I remember my heart beating so fast because if I died I would have lost hours of playtime. And every time I heard a noise upstairs I would quickly turn the tv off and hide in fear of getting caught.
Final Fantasy 7 has been my favorite game of all time since the first time I played it. If psone games were compatible with the Vita at launch, FF7 would be the first game that I would load up. I replay the game every couple years or so and enjoying it as much I as I did the first time.

p.s. My friend's dad never got the game back

 

[jaxword]

That scene on the airship was written by Masato Kato rather than the main writers of the game.

Exactly. This isn't silly fanfiction pairups, it's the ability to actually interpret writing rather than expecting bluntness.

I swear some people want it spelled out "HERE BE THE SEX".

 

[Valnen]

I think I'll temporarily switch my avatar in honor of this anniversary .

 

[Zoe]

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.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

 

[charlequin]

Sweet Jesus. Is there really a debate about that fade to black? Y'all must think Tidus and Yuna just kiss with their clothes on too, yow.

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.

The unhelpfully-named pSX is pretty much the main jam for PlayStation One emulation, IMO.

 

[Mac the KNife]

Happy anniversary to one of my all-time favs.

 

[jaxword]

Happy anniversary to one of my all-time favs.

Bugenhagen needs to be an unlockable character in the remake.

Ho ho ho.

 

[AdventureRacing]

Such a fantastic game. The music, story, characters, character designs and setting are all brilliant. I wish you could have spent a little bit more time in midgar but the game is still great.

One of my favourite games of all time.

 

[Lindsay]

In the spirit of FFVII love I'm trying ta make a list of all cameos the characters and whatnot have been in other games. Can anyone help fill in the blanks? I know Cloud & Sephiroth were in some Kingdom Hearts games but not to what extent. Prolly missing a buncha others to.


- Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie Kisaragi, Zack are all playable.

- Final Fantasy Tactics
Cloud can be recruited. Aeris makes a brief appearance to.

- Final Fantasy V
Loading screens with sprites based on Cloud and Sephiroth are occasionally used.

- Dissidia Final Fantasy
Cloud and Sephiroth are playable characters. Cait Sith is your "tutor" for the arcade mode.

- Dissidia Duodecim Prologus Final Fantasy
This paid demo nets you Aeris as an assist character in the full game.

- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Itadaki Street Special
Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Itadaki Street Portable
Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Yuffie, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Little Big Planet 2
Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent and Sephiroth costumes were made available as DLC.

- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Cloud and Sephiroth will be a playable characters while Safer-Sephiroth will be an enemy.

KH1: Cid, Aerith and Yuffie are part of the resistance against the bad guys (headed by Squall, amusingly). Cloud is a boss in Hercules' world, featuring a design that takes some cues from Vincent. Both him and Yuffie (in a duo with Squall) can also be fought in arena tournaments. Sephiroth appears as a special boss in the NA, EU and Final Mix versions of the game.

KH2: Cid, Aerith, Yuffie, Cloud and now Tifa. Those last three use the advent children designs while Aerith has the Crisis Core one. Sephiroth as a special boss in all versions. I think you can fight Cloud, Yuffie and maybe Tifa in the arena, not sure about all of them.

Birth by Sleep (prequel): a young Zack.

Xenogears

Tifa's on a poster in Xenogears.

I did do a search of the thread and didn't see it posted, so I'll re-post what I found in the Deus Ex: HR thread:

The first boss of Deus Ex: HR is a big dude, with a machine-gun hand, named Barrett. Who was it that published the game again? Oh yeah, Square-Enix.

 

[Screenboy]

Happy anniversary to one of my all-time favs.

WTF I thought he had no legs and floated! Mind Blown!

 

[Chev]

I know Cloud & Sephiroth were in some Kingdom Hearts games but not to what extent.

KH1: Cid, Aerith and Yuffie are part of the resistance against the bad guys (headed by Squall, amusingly). Cloud is a boss in Hercules' world, featuring a design that takes some cues from Vincent. Both him and Yuffie (in a duo with Squall) can also be fought in arena tournaments. Sephiroth appears as a special boss in the NA, EU and Final Mix versions of the game.

KH2: Cid, Aerith, Yuffie, Cloud and now Tifa. Those last three use the advent children designs while Aerith has the Crisis Core one. Sephiroth as a special boss in all versions. I think you can fight Cloud, Yuffie and maybe Tifa in the arena, not sure about all of them.

Birth by Sleep (prequel): a young Zack.

 

[Tim-E]

WTF I thought he had no legs and floated! Mind Blown!

I always pictured him as a person with a floating ball instead of legs.

 

[StarEye]

I always thought he looked a bit like Orco (I think that was the name of the little Vivi-like mage in He-Man).

 

[hertog]

Getting out of Midgard and smell the freedom. That was my first real big jRPG

This, I was shocked because I thought I almost finshed the game

 

[SOLDIER]

Exactly. This isn't silly fanfiction pairups, it's the ability to actually interpret writing rather than expecting bluntness.

I swear some people want it spelled out "HERE BE THE SEX".

Same people who insist that they're "just friends", even when they continue to add supplementary material in both novels and other games that state anything but.

Did you play Dissidia? Cloud would not

Spoiler

take on the final boss all by himself. A final boss who tells Sephiroth, Kefka, Golbez, and Garland COMBINED what to do

just for a friend.

Did Kato really write that scene? I had read reports one of the writers involved with Xenogears worked on Tifa's dialog when interacting with other people, since she was added in fairly late in development. Always wondered if that was true.

Originally Tifa was just going to be an NPC, not a party member.

In the spirit of FFVII love I'm trying ta make a list of all cameos the characters and whatnot have been in other games. Can anyone help fill in the blanks? I know Cloud & Sephiroth were in some Kingdom Hearts games but not to what extent. Prolly missing a buncha others to.


- Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
Cloud, Tifa, Sephiroth, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie Kisaragi, Zack are all playable.

- Final Fantasy Tactics
Cloud can be recruited. Aeris makes a brief appearance to.

- Final Fantasy V
Loading screens with sprites based on Cloud and Sephiroth are occasionally used.

- Dissidia Final Fantasy
Cloud and Sephiroth are playable characters. Cait Sith is your "tutor" for the arcade mode.

- Dissidia Duodecim Prologus Final Fantasy
This paid demo nets you Aeris as an assist character in the full game.

- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Itadaki Street Special
Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Itadaki Street Portable
Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Yuffie, and Sephiroth are playable characters.

- Little Big Planet 2
Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent and Sephiroth costumes were made available as DLC.

- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Cloud and Sephiroth will be a playable characters while Safer-Sephiroth will be an enemy.

Xenogears

 

[Ananaz]

Did Kato really write that scene? I had read reports one of the writers involved with Xenogears worked on Tifa's dialog when interacting with other people, since she was added in fairly late in development. Always wondered if that was true.

Yeah, he did. This is what Kato said about his part on FFVII in the interview posted on Yasunori Mitsuda's site:

FF7, the village where Cloud becomes a vegetable, when he falls into the lifestream, the episode of Cloud and Tifa on the dawn before the final battle, on all of those I wrote them to my own personal tastes... er... maybe I should learn to listen more to what other people tell me (laughs).

 

[Fuu]

It's the FF I remember more fondly together with 10+10-2. I like them a lot as games but 7 and 10 are also tied to a lot of memories from certain points of my life, and me and friends would keep talking about our experiences for a long time after we were done with the games. So yeah #nostalgiafuckyeah. Even excluding that, setting-wise FF7 is my favorite in the series.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Did Kato really write that scene? I had read reports one of the writers involved with Xenogears worked on Tifa's dialog when interacting with other people, since she was added in fairly late in development. Always wondered if that was true.

See Ananaz's post and also this :

http://thelifestream.net/final-fant...o-13-of-the-ffvii-10th-anniversary-ultimania/

 

[jaxword]

See Ananaz's post and also this :

http://thelifestream.net/final-fant...o-13-of-the-ffvii-10th-anniversary-ultimania/

- The line “Words aren’t the only way to talk someone how you feel,” right? That was quite a mature conversation for a FF game.

Even the creators identify that the maturity of the writing took a step higher.

This truly answers greyshark and anyone else's skepticism of what they were going for.

 

[SafeinSound]

I've joined in on the avatar changing, even though I'm pretty inept at it.

 

[mattp]

holy shit THANK YOU

even they get it.
dammit
realistic graphics and voiceovers ruined jrpgs for me

Nomura: Hmmm, I wonder? Nothing really hits me. Well, I guess that each character has their own individual episodes which are well told. You might say their personalities are too strong (laughs).

Nojima: Yeah, they were made nearly excessively individual. For example, once you’ve decided Aerith speaks like this, it starts to escalate in that direction. And like Cloud’s cool standing animation we mentioned before, all the staff in charge of the events took in anything that seemed interesting. Even Cloud’s “not interested” catch phrase comes up so much you start to think, you won’t normally say it that much (laughs).

Nojima: In that sense, their characters were definitely strong. In FFVIII onwards, the height of the characters increased, and we starting to be conscious of realism. And when that happens, there are times when you start comparing them to real life people. But with FFVII’s height, even in 3D, you still don’t really get that sense of reality. Maybe in that aspect they were like cartoon characters, which was a plus. I think, maybe they had a kind of easy to remember quality as symbols.

 

[djtiesto]

Came out the day before I started 11th grade... didn't want to do anything but come home and play the game, until I finally beat it. The hype I had for the game is intense, I don't think there was ever a game I wanted more than FF7, especially since 1996-1997 I spent playing through 5, and later 2 and 3 (entirely in Japanese) in preparation.

 

[Fuu]

I was listening to the OST right now, so many tracks get me a little emotional, sobs. Funny how the low quality original version of One Winged Angel threw me back to the first time I heard it, fighting the final boss wearing headphones and not expecting it to have vocals. When the chorus started after 1 minute in the track I almost shat myself back then, haha.

 

[Dunan]

12 is shit, people who liked 12 are apple hipsters of the FF fanbase.

FFXII is pure awesomeness and is the pinnacle of the franchise.

---
Posted from my iPod Shuffle

 

[Lindsay]

KH1: Cid, Aerith and Yuffie are part of the resistance against the bad guys (headed by Squall, amusingly). Cloud is a boss in Hercules' world, featuring a design that takes some cues from Vincent. Both him and Yuffie (in a duo with Squall) can also be fought in arena tournaments. Sephiroth appears as a special boss in the NA, EU and Final Mix versions of the game.

KH2: Cid, Aerith, Yuffie, Cloud and now Tifa. Those last three use the advent children designs while Aerith has the Crisis Core one. Sephiroth as a special boss in all versions. I think you can fight Cloud, Yuffie and maybe Tifa in the arena, not sure about all of them.

Birth by Sleep (prequel): a young Zack.

Thanks! I'm seeing a trend here of Barret getting like zero cameo-age which sucks cause he's so likeable! Pretty awesome how they threw Zack in a prequel.

Xenogears

Huh? Huh?! I played through Xenogears many times but remember no FFVII cameos at all! Who what where huh?!

 

[jaxword]

Thanks! I'm seeing a trend here of Barret getting like zero cameo-age which sucks cause he's so likeable! Pretty awesome how they threw Zack in a prequel.



Huh? Huh?! I played through Xenogears many times but remember no FFVII cameos at all! Who what where huh?!

Tifa's on a poster in Xenogears.

Far as I'm concerned, Barret gets a spiritual cameo in Parasite Eve.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Huh? Huh?! I played through Xenogears many times but remember no FFVII cameos at all! Who what where huh?!

 

[zlatko]

<3 this game to this day.

The thing that will always stick with me is just how amazing the music in this. Every piece fits everything perfectly, and creates second to none atmosphere.

The only FF to beat it in terms of soundtrack for me was FF11.

 

[Lindsay]

Tifa's on a poster in Xenogears.

Far as I'm concerned, Barret gets a spiritual cameo in Parasite Eve.

Whhhaaaaaaaat?! Darn random background pictures/posters! No wonder I missed it, I always miss small details!

 

[Toth]

Anyone know where one can find translation-related storyline changes in both 7 and 8? I am curious to hear more about 8, especially after hearing the comment how fluid the japanese version sounded.

 

[djtiesto]

Good lord, man, I'm starting to think you're trolling. FF7 is full of sex, there's a brothel, hookers, bestiality, panty jokes, boob jokes, homosexual bathing, and offcamera sex scenes.

"Thanks to Tifa, Cloud regains himself, and before the final battle with Sephiroth, without using words, he confirms with her that their feelings match."

What on earth do you think that means? He used sign language?

Where is the bestiality in FF7? Granted, it's been 15 years since I played it, but I'm sure I'd have remembered something quite like that

 

[Fuu]

Where is the bestiality in FF7? Granted, it's been 15 years since I played it, but I'm sure I'd have remembered something quite like that

Hojo tries to make Red XIII have sex with Aerith at the Shinra lab.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Thanks! I'm seeing a trend here of Barret getting like zero cameo-age which sucks cause he's so likeable! Pretty awesome how they threw Zack in a prequel.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34476379&postcount=9755

 

[SLV]

Hojo tries to make Red XIII have sex with Aerith at the Shinra lab.

Welp, damn i was innocent once, the only way i translated that in my mind was, that Nanaki has to eat Aeris, or something. For one species to survive as he put it ? Providing an even chance, as he said....
That has really stuck with me even on replays, and i am actually quite sure that bestiality is not even slightly intended there, Nanaki is starving," so that he survives he has to do it", therefore he has to eat Aeris, as the sick fuck that Hojo is would want it :/

 

[Psxphile]

Welp, damn i was innocent once, the only way i translated that in my mind was, that Nanaki has to eat Aeris, or something. For one species to survive as he put it ? Providing an even chance, as he said....
That has really stuck with me even on replays, and i am actually quite sure that bestiality is not even slightly intended there, Nanaki is starving," so that he survives he has to do it", therefore he has to eat Aeris, as the sick fuck that Hojo is would want it :/

No, it's definitely intended. Hojo was lamenting that it would take over a hundred years before his research on the last living Ancient could be completed, and he needed to create a specimen with a much longer lifespan. Hence, trying to breed Aerith with a creature like Red XIII who can live for hundreds of years.

This game, man. This game.

 

[Lindsay]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34476379&postcount=9755

I think that could qualify...

No, it's definitely intended. Hojo was lamenting that it would take over a hundred years before his research on the last living Ancient could be completed, and he needed to create a specimen with a much longer lifespan. Hence, trying to breed Aerith with a creature like Red XIII who can live for hundreds of years.

This game, man. This game.

Yup yup. A screen I posted over in the FF 25th Annivesary thread says it all as weird as it is x_x

 

[jaxword]

No, it's definitely intended. Hojo was lamenting that it would take over a hundred years before his research on the last living Ancient could be completed, and he needed to create a specimen with a much longer lifespan. Hence, trying to breed Aerith with a creature like Red XIII who can live for hundreds of years.

What I like about this is that no one realized the OTHER implication about this: Hojo himself also intended to live long enough to see his projects completed, which means he likely had already come up with forms of longevity/immortality for himself.

At this point he'd already somewhat succeeded with Vincent, so yeah...

As badly written as Dirge was, Hojo working out a form of Digital immortality completely fits the FF7 canon.

FF7 is so full of little details.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

FFVII is my favourite game of all time. I first played it for about 10 minutes at a friends house not knowing anything about FF and jRPGS. It must have made an impression on me and when I finally got my own playstation, my first two purchases were MGS and FFVII. Ah Memories.

Totally have to agree with the post about making a partial remake. There are so many moments in FFVII that wouldnt translate well in a modern HD game. If I was in charge I'd remake it like this...

-In-game character models redone, new animation added.
-Retain pre-rendered backdrops. If you cant get HD versions of the originals redo them but dont make any drastic changes to layout or design.
-No Voice Acting, this would take more from the game than it would give.
-Cinematics in the original are a little inconsistent, I'd probably redo them.
-Retain battle,materia and sidequests systems
-Perhaps flesh out some of the minor characters a little more
-They could maybe add a few more areas to explore in Midgar as well as we only really got to see 2 of the sections.

Basically Id want the game to look better but play the same. I'd prefer they didnt mess with the original too much. As good as Crisis Core is, it didnt feel like FFVII to me so I'd prefer a more direct remake.

 

[vagabondarts]

I will never forget going over FFVII strategy guides during class with my friends. The amazing thing about it was what it did for the RPG market and the Playstation in general.
Final Fantasy was the Call of Duty of that era for sure.

So many people bought and played it that wouldn't have tried RPG's before.

Unless a remake came out on PSP/VITA, 3DS, or another portable system I don't see how it would be affordable to produce either.

 

[cartman414]

Greatest RPG ever. The only thing that makes Square and Final Fantasy relevant in my eyes. I doubt we'll ever see them put out something as good.

FFV FFVI and Chrono Trigger knock the stuffing out of it. As do other RPGs.

 

[Kikujiro]

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

<cut>

Why are you saying he wins?
Someone who calls FFX music shit shouldn't even be taken seriously. And FFX is one of the most beloved in the series.

Joke asides, this is the typical "my FF is better than yours discussion". Everyone have a different idea about what FF is better, it's a discussion that comes up everytime (and should be relegated to the FF community thread). The fact is that there isn't a definitive answer.

The only thing we can definitely say is that FFVII is the most popular and important for many reasons.

 

[Rarutos]

I probably played through the whole game like, twice just to stop right before entering the final dungeon. Perhaps I should take it out again this year, start a new playthrough, and finally work on beating the game... It is the 15th anniversary (and the 25th of the whole series) after all!

 

[jaxword]

Would there be an interest in a thread devoted ENTIRELY to FF trivia and generally missed things? There's always a lot...

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Replaying FF VII makes me realize how much better is the writing compared to XIII, I mean there's still plenty of cliche and chess, but there's a few very interesting dialogues that even with the shoddy translation are far superior to newer FF games.

Also I love some of the themes, I mean, in the first 15 minutes you're a part of a terrorist group that kills hundreds of innocent people in a quest to save the world, but basically you're fullfilling the personal vendetta of a man with a machinegun in his hand.


That's awesome.

 

[Fuu]

Would there be an interest in a thread devoted ENTIRELY to FF trivia and generally missed things? There's always a lot...

I think it's a fun idea. Problem with these threads is that although the content is interesting they don't get bumped too much, but maybe focusing on a specific series like FF will raise interest.

 

[Dunan]

Anyone know where one can find translation-related storyline changes in both 7 and 8? I am curious to hear more about 8, especially after hearing the comment how fluid the japanese version sounded.

A few things I can remember off the top of my head: Edea's speech in Deilng City makes a lot more sense in the Japanese original; Squall's "whatever" should probably be "sorry" or even "..." at times; Squall's "then go talk to a wall" to Quistis when she tells him she just wants someone to listen to what she's saying and not respond would be better rendered with the longer "you might as well talk to a wall" or something similar.

There are a few more here and there, but if I start thinking about them, I'll get the urge to play this game again, and I don't have the time! ^^;

 

[Y2Kev]

Granted, I'm like 5 and notorious for skipping side content, but I never thought cloud screwed anyone in ff7. Where are you saying the sexxx happens? Certainly not in that last scene before northern crater?

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Granted, I'm like 5 and notorious for skipping side content, but I never thought cloud screwed anyone in ff7. Where are you saying the sexxx happens? Certainly not in that last scene before northern crater?

Yeah, he pounded her shit on the grassy knoll.

 

[Randomizer]

Granted, I'm like 5 and notorious for skipping side content, but I never thought cloud screwed anyone in ff7. Where are you saying the sexxx happens? Certainly not in that last scene before northern crater?

Yeah that's the scene, although there are two versions of events based on your affinity with Tifa so it is actually missable. In one it is heavily implied that they had sex and in the other they were just talking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afuKSfF1rHg&feature=related#t=01m45s

 

[Zoe]

A few things I can remember off the top of my head: Edea's speech in Deilng City makes a lot more sense in the Japanese original; Squall's "whatever" should probably be "sorry" or even "..." at times; Squall's "then go talk to a wall" to Quistis when she tells him she just wants someone to listen to what she's saying and not respond would be better rendered with the longer "you might as well talk to a wall" or something similar.

There are a few more here and there, but if I start thinking about them, I'll get the urge to play this game again, and I don't have the time! ^^;

Yeah, the "whatever" thing is pretty stupid. Sometimes his apologizing could be taken as sarcastic, but sometimes he's sincere. I don't have as much of a problem with the "wall" line though :lol

The dialogue when they're floating in space is also completely different.