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Final Fantasy VII and its huge success and popularity

Fattony12000 said:


My Giant Bomb blog from nearly two years ago where I talk about this thing...Festive Final Fantasy VII
My YouTube playlist where I spend seven hours talking about Final Fantasy Seven and...Christmas

The trailer below is one of the best I have ever seen for anything. It's right up there with Kubrick's trailers for Dr. Strangelove and Eyes Wide Shut. No stupid voice over, displays a mix of cinematics and battle scenes that are actually edited properly. And that fucking music. God-fucking-damn that music.

Final Fantasy 7 Trailer Ps1 HQ*

It was the first Final Fantasy video game to be in 3D. That was a big deal.
It was the first Final Fantasy video game not to be released on a Nintendo platform. That was a big deal.
It was the first Final Fantasy video game that came out in the UK (as well as many other countries around the world). That's a decade of hearing about the series without being able to play it. That was a big deal.
It took the setting and atmosphere and tone of Final Fantasy in a radically different direction, one that was more appealing to/better marketed towards the growing mainstream audience in the West. That was a big deal.
It had a 100 million dollar marketing budget in the US. That was a big deal.
It was a damn fine video game. That was a big deal.

It was all these things, and more, that made it the best selling Final Fantasy video game of all time, to date. Still.

FFVII_Early_Battle_Concept.jpg


It took 14 years for Chrono Trigger to come out here.
It took 16 years for Final Fantasy I to come out here.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth. I received the Trailer on a demo disc that came with the Official Playstation Magazine back then. Hell, Internet was not a thing in 1997, many people forget about that. So no youtube, nothing, just complete blackout - except for this trailer.

And boy could I tell that this thing was going to be something special. I knew some things about rpgs from my genesis years, but was far from being called an expert.

Then IMAGINE, imagine for 1 second, going from a genesis rpg like shining force

shiningforcebattle2.jpg


to something like this

Ff7-junon.jpg


there are no ways to describe this. You had to be there and experience the magic first hand or you will probably never understand.

That is the reason why I believe Zelda OOT aged so much better. Its much easier for people to "get" what made the game great because many of its mechanisms stood the test of time while FF7s biggest achievement was the feeling it created back then and that cannot be transported into modern gaming society.
 
Rocky said:
I was there when it released the day before my 30th birthday. I think FFVII was overhyped then and it's still overhyped and overrated now. For me anyway, FF6 and Chrono Trigger were MUCH better and more memorable games.
Click to expand...

You sound almost as old as me, so I will just blame it on the Alzheimer's.
 
So many things fell into place back then. It really was the perfect storm for Squaresoft and Sony... but I think so much had to do with one man.

Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Sakaguchi really was a fantastic visionary- and he was able to hire & nurture wonderful talent (guys like Kitase, Ito, Nomura, Naora), as well as sustain long-lasting relationships with seriously creative treasures in the industry (Uematsu and Amano). He really kept the creative wheel turning at Square; not just with Final Fantasy, but with other projects internally as well. He was also a tremendously good 'face' man. He had a nice, open presence in interviews and was a very strong proponent of the game medium pushing further into the future.
He was very forward-thinking, actively pushing for the hiring of Yoshinori Kitase (who was a filmmaker & screenwriter at the time) back in 1990. This would have a massive impact on not only the FF series, but the direction the company would move in.

Sure, Sakaguchi got consumed with his own dream to make movies, but his ambition lead to Square believing in him enough to create an expensive CG development studio in Hawaii and be willing to do what was necessary to achieve a more bold vision for the series. This ultimately lead to the difficult decision of leaving the comforting relationship with Nintendo and buying into the vision of the upstart Sony PlayStation.


I remember that time. It must have been late winter/early spring 1996 when the news broke: Final Fantasy VII is being developed exclusively for the Sony PlayStation.
Only being part of a modest BB service (concentration on console RPGs) at the time, I still recall the shocked & angered reactions. On GAF scale, I have no doubt it would have made the FFXIII Multiplatform announcement look tame in comparison.

I wonder if a lot of people forget about how much of a significantly ballsy move that must have been for Squaresoft at the time; even with Sony dangling marketing/publishing money in front of them.
The Ultra/Nintendo 64 was getting a lot of hype pre-release and the PlayStation was still trying to carve out its own identity. SEGA wasn't exactly setting the world on fire with The Saturn, but it was still in the game. A lot of people were still wary that the PlayStation could compete in the same arena as SEGA and Nintendo. The last two 'new' consoles that released and tried to play ball with the big boys- Panasonic's 3D0 and Atari's Jaguar- failed miserably. The PlayStation had a good price point and good hardware, but could it do what the others couldn't: attain strong global 3rd party relations and pull in some legitimate exclusives beyond Namco games?
So here you have probably the second biggest JRPG brand (behind Dragon Quest) pledging its allegiance to new challenger Sony after having six successful entries on the Famicon and Super Famicon? "Is Squaresoft insane?" seemed to be the popular sentiment in the places on the web I visited.

It worked out... and it worked out perfectly.
On a personal note, the news that FFVII was going PS only sold me a PlayStation. I saved up starting the day after the announcement and ultimately got my system just in time for the playable demo to release. :p

It was a special time. For me, I don't think it will ever be replicated by another game release. Hell, it hasn't yet... and that was over 17 years ago.
 
Mihos said:
You sound almost as old as me, so I will just blame it on the Alzheimer's.
Click to expand...

Its not Alzheimers at all lol. Don't get me wrong, I liked the game. Its just not one of my favorite RPGs or even favorite games. And for me, the FF series hasn't been the same since that game. I really wish they'd go back to settings and stories like the pre PS Final Fantasies.
 
Rocky said:
Its not Alzheimers at all lol. Don't get me wrong, I liked the game. Its just not one of my favorite RPGs or even favorite games. And for me, the FF series hasn't been the same since that game. I really wish they'd go back to settings and stories like the pre PS Final Fantasies.
Click to expand...

Settings?
FF has always mixed traditional high-fantasy with technology. Sure, FF1-5 leaned more on traditional high fantasy, but they all had levels of high-tech mixed in. FF6 was steampunk and it's central theme dealt with genetic experimentation. As the series progressed in numbers, so did the tech... almost like a historical timeline... only to revert back (FFIX), build back up (FFX), and so on. Personally I think it keeps the series fresh.

As far as stories, they all maintain different degrees of "collective group that comes together to save the world". Some complain about the series for that, others like the familiarity and tradition.
Due to each main-numbered FF being it's own thing, I can totally understand how people can like one FF game and not the next. For example, I loved FFVIII, but realize many didn't. I wasn't a fan of FFIX, but I know it has its passionate supporters. I just simply don't understand the people that believe the FF series changed so significantly post-16bit era other than the natural progression of the tech/presentational boost of new console generations. FFIV and VI, just as two examples, were actually pretty damn cinematic considering the technology limitations.
 
They werent released in Europe!

Hurrah for Nintendo and Squaresoft, well done you muppets!

And the games had limited marketing in NA. While FF7 was treated as a huge game in both markets.
 
Into said:
They werent released in Europe!

Hurrah for Nintendo and Squaresoft, well done you muppets!

And the games had limited marketing in NA. While FF7 was treated as a huge game in both markets.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the FFIII commercial was really bad (stop-motion Mog auditioning monsters and zapping them), but I remember just being glad it had one. Of course, the only time I ever saw it was after 10pm on MTV.
 
Ganondorfo said:
Jrpgs wont be as popular anymore as FF7 was in its time and that's sad.
Click to expand...

Well, never say never, but yeah... I'd be surprised if any JRPG in the near future has the global impact that FFVII did. It really was a genre-defining phenomenon.


FFXV might have a chance... and you can bet your ass S-E desperately wants it to have that kind of impact.
JRPGs and their overall popularity have seemed to take a bit of a nosedive since the PS2-era, so the market might be ripe for a new one to come out and set the world on fire again.

I guess us fans of the genre can only hope that boom comes back around, right? :)
 
sponk said:
Quoted for truth. I received the Trailer on a demo disc that came with the Official Playstation Magazine back then. Hell, Internet was not a thing in 1997, many people forget about that.
Click to expand...

I wish that were really the case. If it was, then I wouldn't have had the whole game spoiled for me by assholes on the internet in 1997. Everybody on any gaming forum on 1997 likely had all of the big moments spoiled for them.
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Why did FFIV and FFVI, both also amazing games for their time, not reach the height of popularity that VII did?
Click to expand...

Many good answers in this thread, Final Fantasy VII also participated in the huge mass market expansion of video gaming lead by Sony in the PlayStation generation, which itself had several factors.

Here's one I didn't see mentioned, FFII and III (IV and VI) were carts that cost $70+ at retail, where FFVII, like all PlayStation games, was $50. A big "AAA" game, with state of the art cut scenes, so big it needed three discs. $50. Very attractive value for the market.
 
Sony marketing is the answer. Also it didnt hurt that the game had spectacular music and cutscenes.
 
FFVII was so hugely popular and successful simply because it was an awesome game.

Every magazine that reviewed it gave the game a percentage score in the high 90s. I didn't know what FF was or even what an RPG was but I knew FFVII was THAT game that everyone raved over, how it was widely regarded as one of the best if not the best game of all time. It was also widely regarded as having spectacular graphics, especially the summon sequences and the FMVs. When it was released in 1997 it was arguably the best looking game yet released.

I don't recall seeing any marketing for the game here in the UK, I bought the game to see what the all the fuss was about.
 
Shadow_FFVI said:
It's an amazing game with very impressive graphics for the time. I know I was blown away. Of course the marketing budget had a huge roll to play.

It also is my favorite game of all time, so I think the recognition is well deserved.
Click to expand...

your avatar am cry

If FFVIII wasn't saddled with the terrible Junction system this topic wouldn't exist. FFVII is a good game, but it's nowhere near the masterpiece people proclaim it to be.
 
Like Cerny said after FFVII every developer's dream was to make a FFVII.
There was nothing like that, the word of mouth went for years and years. It really was something special and I'm glad I was right there (13 years old), best gaming period of my life, going to school and talking with friends for hours about the secrets we discovered.
 
Since some people brought up the marketing and the hype. In 1997 there was no interent, there was no way to watch trailers. It was much harder to get truly hyped about a game beforehand, unless it was a sequel to a game you've already played and loved. In Europe, thanks to imports quit a few people knew about Final Fantasy and it was no secret that FFVI was considered one of the best SNES RPGs (if not the best next to Chrono Trigger), but Final Fantasy VII was the first to get an official release and translations. Suddenly you could buy a "Final Fantasy" game in your local store and it even came in your native language.

Still, most people didn't know what they were in for, but when they laid hands on it, THAT'S when the real hype started I feel. I myself didn't know much about FF at that time, but when I played it a friends house, I knew this was special and I really wanted to have it. Then my friends started to talk about it, then more and more people got it and so on.

This went on for years. Especially when the internet emerged FFVII topped almost every gamers TOP 10 game list of all time (for years and years).
 
Mlatador said:
In 1997 there was no interent, there was no way to watch trailers. It was much harder to get truly hyped about a game beforehand[/B], unless it was a sequel to a game you've already played and loved.
Click to expand...

Now I don't know about Europe... but I can guarantee you, as someone who was there, and in highschool in the US, the bolded is completely untrue. The internet was definitely around, it was just in that period just before the internet killed print, so we had a mixture of gaming magazine hype + internet chat room hype.

IGN was even around then (and they reviewed it) , I suppose this must have been not long after they merged or split from N64.com. But in any case, in the US at least, the hype was gargantuan long before the launch. Like others said, it was alot of peoples first RPG, and many couldn't tell you anything about the game other than they were buying it.

The demo was so well made too, it gave you the early Midgar areas with summons you wouldnt normally get access too until waaaaay later in the game
KuGsj.gif
KuGsj.gif
KuGsj.gif
so brilliant.
 
jholmes said:
There's no denying FFVII broke into a different sphere of consciousness than FFVI -- this accepted fact is the foundation of the thread -- but to deny FFVI had a role in its success is ridiculous. The press and the grassroots fans wouldn't have paid nearly the same attention to it and Sony would not have spent what it did on the game if it didn't have the confidence lent by FFVI. Hype simply was not manufactured in the industry that way at the time.

And I wasn't claiming FFVI was the only reason FFVII was successful, just that it was a major reason, and one that didn't involve marketing.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the FF franchise in general contributed to some of its success, but I'm not sure why you're trying to single out FFVI as a major reason. That's where you lose me. I'm really not going to consider a game that the majority of people who bought FFVII had never even heard of as a major reason for its success.
 
The other posters answered it better than I ever could, for me FFVII wasn't just a purchase it was a moment. From playing the demo nonstop to finally the getting the game, it was just as if the stars aligned in the gaming landscape and it delivered in spades. I didn't/don't care much for the earlier FFs outside of FFV but then Final Fantasy VII happened and just blew me away.
 
As said earlier, FF7 was the first FF game in Europe, which was a bit deal. It was also the first game I ever saw a TV commercial for, it certainly had more marketing compared to other games at the time.
 
Freddo said:
As said earlier, FF7 was the first FF game in Europe, which was a bit deal. It was also the first game I ever saw a TV commercial for, it certainly had more marketing compared to other games at the time.
Click to expand...

So wait, what did you guys have for the Super Nintendo?

In the US, the thing was a RPG machine.
 
Fattony12000 said:


My Giant Bomb blog from nearly two years ago where I talk about this thing...Festive Final Fantasy VII
My YouTube playlist where I spend seven hours talking about Final Fantasy Seven and...Christmas

The trailer below is one of the best I have ever seen for anything. It's right up there with Kubrick's trailers for Dr. Strangelove and Eyes Wide Shut. No stupid voice over, displays a mix of cinematics and battle scenes that are actually edited properly. And that fucking music. God-fucking-damn that music.

Final Fantasy 7 Trailer Ps1 HQ*

It was the first Final Fantasy video game to be in 3D. That was a big deal.
It was the first Final Fantasy video game not to be released on a Nintendo platform. That was a big deal.
It was the first Final Fantasy video game that came out in the UK (as well as many other countries around the world). That's a decade of hearing about the series without being able to play it. That was a big deal.
It took the setting and atmosphere and tone of Final Fantasy in a radically different direction, one that was more appealing to/better marketed towards the growing mainstream audience in the West. That was a big deal.
It had a 100 million dollar marketing budget in the US. That was a big deal.
It was a damn fine video game. That was a big deal.

It was all these things, and more, that made it the best selling Final Fantasy video game of all time, to date. Still.

FFVII_Early_Battle_Concept.jpg


It took 14 years for Chrono Trigger to come out here.
It took 16 years for Final Fantasy I to come out here.
Click to expand...

It was kind of a big deal. You oughtta write a TV spot with this transcript.
 
An amazing story that captured people's imaginations, that why a lot of people still consider it the best, I would also say so but I have still yet to play VI so I can't make that concrete. However, I enjoyed FF VII so much I still have my original copy.
 
The abundance of cool and interesting, yet utterly redundant stuff you could do and find. From the arcade machines in the Golden Saucer, breeding and racing chocobo's, to stupid quests about mithril, digging stuff up at excavation sites, and playing rts games to defend a town.

The game was so completely filled with new stuff to do throughout the adventure, and at the time for me that was utterly unique. That is story - where each character got some time in the sun, even secret characters if you found them - , core gameplay - great combat and materia system - and many other things ignored completely.

It was, and still to this day is, the most complete game I have ever played. We shall never see it's like again.
 
Brawly Likes to Brawl said:
I severely doubt JRPGs would even have of a fraction of its titles localized if it wasn't for the success of this game.

Its hatebase became worse than the fanbase over the years, imo.
Click to expand...

I don't think that was true, particularly because of how FF 2 and 3 and Chrono Trigger and Sectet of Mana sold well in the US, regardless of the 70 dollar price tag.
 
BibiMaghoo said:
The abundance of cool and interesting, yet utterly redundant stuff you could do and find. From the arcade machines in the Golden Saucer, breeding and racing chocobo's, to stupid quests about mithril, digging stuff up at excavation sites, and playing rts games to defend a town.

The game was so completely filled with new stuff to do throughout the adventure, and at the time for me that was utterly unique. That is story - where each character got some time in the sun, even secret characters if you found them - , core gameplay - great combat and materia system - and many other things ignored completely.

It was, and still to this day is, the most complete game I have ever played. We shall never see it's like again.
Click to expand...

Good post- & I think that abundance of content is the reason why a 'current gen remake' is very hard for people to envision as being realistic.
There's just so much there.
 
A great story with memorable cast of characters with background stories like no other even the focus of giving the villains a unique sense of personality to make them feels as much real as possible.

A masterpiece of world and settings that were captured perfectly by the art direction and atmosphere that still haven't been topped yet in any jrpg game and most games in general.

The battle system and the depth you can create by the materia system.

One of all time best OST that you can still whistle years after finishing the games ( it was unforgettable ).

The feels that you are truly in an adventure and journeying through the world.

The many many side and fun things to do in the game that gives a huge amount of time value.


All that and much more made FFVII the phenomenal that was ( and still is ) and helped it to be huge success and many's favorite game of all time.

I don't see any other jrpg that can pull the same epicness that FFVII did because it was a game in a life time.
 
DoktorEvil said:
I don't think that was true, particularly because of how FF 2 and 3 and Chrono Trigger and Sectet of Mana sold well in the US, regardless of the 70 dollar price tag.
Click to expand...

They sold relatively "well" in a small market. They sold only a fraction of FFVII.
Official numbers from S-E as of 2003:
http://www.jp.square-enix.com/ir/e/explanatory/download/0404-200402090000-01.pdf#page=27

As you can see FFVI shipped 840,000 copies outside of Japan, Chrono Trigger only 290,000 copies. Both of these includes the PSX re-releases. FF Anthology (which includes FFVI, sold at least 364,000 in the US alone), so the original FFVI US numbers should be way lower than 400,000.
 
Yeah, i remember all the hype. A friend bought the game not knowing what a Jrpg was about. He was like, what is this shit? Random turn based battles? Wtf?

He didn't like the game (nobody liked it actually cause we hated this style) but he suffered through it anyway, trying to convince himself that he likes it, because everyone else said so and because he spent money for it.
 
WonkersTHEWatilla said:
It was the FF that made the jump to 3D graphics.
Click to expand...

Too many people don't appreciate this.


FF7 for rpgs was what Mario64 was for platformers.

But it wasn't just that. It made a very good impression with one of best demos ever made and that demo wouldn't be possible without the low cost of distribution CDs enabled compared to cartridges.
The shareware scene was in full swing on PC but consoles just started to enter this type of distribution model with Playstation.

The marketing campaign it had was nothing compared to the word of mouth built up due to that demo.


Square Enix had already been making good games before FF7 but it was a product of technological convergences that catapulted it to greater heights than its predecessors. As for FF8 that game wasn't as good as FF7.
 
Marketing, great cutscene graphics, an emerging genre to the western audience, the shocking moment, the badass villain, the fact that it was a really damn good game.

But, I think the biggest reason was it had a huge marketing budget that showed off graphics that were incredible at the time. It captured the attention and imagination of the average consumer back then.
 
I remember standing in a long line just to pre-order the game and get a free t-shirt at toys-r-us. I still have the shirt but someone stole my game.
 
sponk said:
Then IMAGINE, imagine for 1 second, going from a genesis rpg like shining force

shiningforcebattle2.jpg


to something like this

Ff7-junon.jpg


there are no ways to describe this. You had to be there and experience the magic first hand or you will probably never understand.
Click to expand...

Where I personally part ways with you here is that Shining Force still looks good now -- good spritework holds up. Whereas FFVII looks kind of terrible today and frankly never looked that good to begin with IMHO. Even at the time I much preferred how FFIV and VI looked.

You're not wrong though -- the 3D-ness of FFVII was a huge reason for all the hype. The scale of an FF game seemed even more amazing when brought into a 3D world. Combine that major change with the huge number of people who bought the game based on this hype and thus had FFVII as their first JRPG, and you've got the recipe for the most legendary game in the series.
 
BomberMouse said:
Opinions, how to they work.

FF7 was a great game, a technical marvel, the perfect PR stunt and dagger on nintendo's wound. It was incredible cool for the time, hitting all the right trends for the target demo.

FF7 > FF6. 6 is not even that good of a game.
Click to expand...

People will probably want to burn you at the stake for saying that.

I honestly liked 6, id say 7>10>6>9>13>4>5>12 and then the rest for me.
 
Xenex said:
An amazing story that captured people's imaginations, that why a lot of people still consider it the best, I would also say so but I have still yet to play VI so I can't make that concrete. However, I enjoyed FF VII so much I still have my original copy.
Click to expand...

Have you played it lately? I played ffvii first time last year and the story barely makes any sense at all.
 
I remember when i was 10 and how i thought that the whole game was about destroying all the city reactors, and how you destroyed some in each CD, even my friend thought so... we thought all the game was about bashing reactors

Imagine our faces when we went outside of Midgar :)
 
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