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Final Fantasy VII defined RPG genre, says Molyneux

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Blablurn

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Speaking to VideoGamer.com earlier this week, Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux has revealed that he considers Square's Final Fantasy VII to be the game that defined the RPG genre.

"I always remember back to Final Fantasy VII, when I first played FFVII, that to me defined the genre," he said when talking about the PS3 and if it has had any defining titles. "Those were the 'oh my god' moments, I don't believe they exist. I haven't seen many of those on the PS3."

Before angry PS3 gamers send Mr Molyneux angry emails it's worth bearing in mind that, despite his company being owned by Microsoft, he owns all the major consoles.

"This is very much me as a gamer talking, not as an industry spokesman," he told us. "I've got a PS3, a Wii and a 360, I've got just about everything."

Look out for more from Peter Molyneux over the coming days.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/23-09-2008-9430.html
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This will not end well...

¨"I always remember back to Final Fantasy VII, when I first played FFVII, that to me defined the genre," he said when talking about the PS3 and if it has had any defining titles. "Those were the 'oh my god' moments, I don't believe they exist. I haven't seen many of those on the PS3."

Before angry PS3 gamers send Mr Molyneux angry emails it's worth bearing in mind that, despite his company being owned by Microsoft, he owns all the major consoles.
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Oh dear... It will certainly not
 
fanboi said:
This will not end well...



Oh dear... It will certainly not
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Doesn't change the fact that he said it. Yeeesh, off to a great start today GAF.

And FF7 did help the market for RPG's. I don't know where we would be today without that title.
 
Doc Evils said:
can't wait for the ff7 hate brigade to come in.
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Do you need to hate FF7 to find that it's a bit late to define a genre as RPG ?

I mean, it's probably the definition of the genre for many people who discovered RPGs with FF7, but when you look at RPG history, I'm not sure it's THE definition of RPG. One step, definitely (for example for cinematics).


Edit : absolutely no offence intended here... I find the question interesting actually. For many genres, there's a de-facto "canonical representant". As far as FF7 is a major game in RPG history, I'm just wondering if it's defining the genre. I would have quoted Dragon Quest, Ultima or something older, if I had to answer the questions. Many mechanics originated from there...
 
"Those were the 'oh my god' moments, I don't believe they exist. I haven't seen many of those on the PS3."
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Strange wording.

He doesn't believe it exist and yet he hasn't seen many. So he has seen a few?
 
Uh-oh...the PS3 fanboys are coming...

2hnt3wo.gif
 
Mr. Molyneux failed to comprehend how fashionable it is to dislike FFVII. May the grace of God shield him in these dark times ahead.
 
Well it did for most of the west to be fair.
 
When I read that sentence that he owns all the consoles it made me chuckle thinking of all the time's ppl trash stuff on GAF, get accused of being fanboy's and then say... but wait I own all three consoles!!!!!

Geez now we have to do pre-emptive damage control in interview/articles?
 
>_>

J-RPGs are only part of the whole RPG genre. FFVII made the RPG genre far more popular than it was, but it didn't defined anything really new to the genre.
 
LiquidMetal14 said:
Doesn't change the fact that he said it. Yeeesh, off to a great start today GAF.

And FF7 did help the market for RPG's. I don't know where we would be today without that title.
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Well... you know....
 
Koren said:
Do you need to hate FF7 to find that it's a bit late to define a genre as RPG ?

I mean, it's probably the definition of the genre for many people who discovered RPGs with FF7, but when you look at RPG history, I'm not sure it's THE definition of RPG. One step, definitely (for example for cinematics).
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What Molyneux is trying to say is that FFVII defined the modern definition of how RPGs are done. In that sense, he is irrefutably correct. (Granted, this has more to do with timing than any sort of concept only Square could achieve).
 
I'm not sure why those comments about FF7 warrant an expected onslaught of hate directed at Molyneux....?

Surely holding up a game and proclaiming it be a example of what a RPG based game should be is a good thing?
 
Honestly, I cannot help but agree with Molyneux(and this is the second time in the past week Molyneux has made this comment -- about PS3 not having this and that).

I was hoping for MGS4 to be the game that changed everything; the game that not only moved a genre forward but also gave me a unique, "I can't believe my eyes" experience. And personally, MGS4 did not deliver on those expectations. Kojima's selfish dependence on cutscenes was one of the main contributing factors to the game's not-as-good-as-I-was-hoping reception in my mind. All in all, I came out of the game with only one thing in mind: Metal Gear Solid 3 was better :D.

Here's to hoping LittleBigPlanet is the game I've been eagerly awaiting.
 
I really don't see why he's singling the PS3 out. What genre defining games does he find on the 360? Why hasn't he made any genre definers?
 
No matter if you hate the game, it had a great influence on the genre, period. It may look cliched to some today, but it started some cliches and trends itself like the extensive use of cinematics, bishonen villians with contrieved past, mentally unstable heroes, and most important, pal releases of JRPGs. Loved or hated, it was an RPG that was very imitated.
 
kevm3 said:
I really don't see why he's singling the PS3 out. What genre defining games does he find on the 360? Why hasn't he made any genre definers?
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I hate to start a heated debate but there has been quite a few genre definers on the 360. That isn't particularly hard to do seeing as it was the first console of the current generation, with all the advances in gaming that came along with the extra processing and graphical power. Use common sense man.
 
kevm3 said:
I really don't see why he's singling the PS3 out. What genre defining games does he find on the 360? Why hasn't he made any genre definers?
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At this point, it's pretty hard to ask for a "genre definer" game when everything is more or less done already. Only the Wii is exploring new coasts.

Until LBP comes, that's it.
 
Zedsdeadbaby said:
I hate to start a heated debate but there has been quite a few genre definers on the 360. That isn't particularly hard to do seeing as it was the first console of the current generation, with all the advances in gaming that came along with the extra processing and graphical power. Use common sense man.
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Why don't you name these genre definers instead of telling me to use common sense.
 
Zedsdeadbaby said:
I hate to start a heated debate but there has been quite a few genre definers on the 360. That isn't particularly hard to do seeing as it was the first console of the current generation, with all the advances in gaming that came along with the extra processing and graphical power. Use common sense man.
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:lol
 
Way to go all-out, Pete. Thumbs up.

I dunno why it's so "fashionable," as LaserBuddha put it, to hate FFVII. It's still one of my favorite games of all time, and I agree that it's one of those quintessential RPGs.
 
raziel said:
i haven't seen many of those on any console this gen.
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I'd attribute that to the fact hardware isn't really that limiting of a factor nowadays. 80% of the game design concepts most game designers are currently thinking about are absolutely possible with what we currently have.

Games can always look prettier, sound better, have better physics and better AI, but with the current horsepower out there today, not many developers are going to stop and say, "We need more power for our AI because this isn't enough."

Most of the hurdles with games today are manpower issues. Creativity issues. Not, "how hardcore can we optimize this because if we have more than 3 characters on screen the game shits the bed".

The reason FF7 was such an "OMG" moment was because everybody collectively said "Holy shit, I didn't know videogames could do THAT." Even if they were sold exclusively on FMV, it was "broadcast-quality" FMV (to quote the back of the box), which meant it wasn't grainy nasty like the Sega CD. It was, more or less, on par with VHS.

Nowadays, the only way you get people to say "I didn't know videogames could do that" is if you start attaching peripherals. Rock Band, Eyetoy, the Wii, etc.
 
Defined the genre for me as well. I'd never played a game like it, and it's still one of my favorite games of all time.

Zedsdeadbaby said:
I hate to start a heated debate but there has been quite a few genre definers on the 360. That isn't particularly hard to do seeing as it was the first console of the current generation, with all the advances in gaming that came along with the extra processing and graphical power. Use common sense man.
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Hmm, I'd say Gears is the only one that really stands out.

I think 'genre defining games' are a lot harder to come by now games are so huge, the genres are all set pretty strictly. On the horizon, maybe LBP will be something special, who knows.
 
kevm3 said:
Why don't you name these genre definers instead of telling me to use common sense.
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i'm afraid to ask but which genres has 360 redefined?
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I can tell from the early aggressiveness that I'm fighting a losing battle already, so I shan't bother. :lol Nice edit Raziel. Proving my point.
 
Speaking of the "Wow!" moments, he must not have played MGS4.

FF7 was awesome, but the real genre-definer for RPGs for me was Baldur's Gate 2. It gave me a taste of what rpgs SHOULD be, but won't ever be again because it takes too much work and competence.
 
To be honest, there's very few "oh my god" moments even in this generation in the same sense that FF7 provided them-- especially in RPGs. I think that's why the audience was receptive to FF7-- it was oh my god moment after oh my god moment even when they didn't make sense.

It kind of reminds me of like my political theory course from freshman year when the teacher insisted you don't have to like any one philosopher or theory but you better acknowledge its impact.
 
Zedsdeadbaby said:
I can tell from the early aggressiveness that I'm fighting a losing battle already, so I shan't bother. :lol Nice edit Raziel. Proving my point.
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i edited because the previous poster already asked my question. nice cop-out answer though.
 
Is it really so controversial for someone to say "when I think of rpg's I think of things like FF7?" Because that's more or less what he's saying.

I don't think so.
 
FFVII was really a eye opener for quite a few people. It was a high budget jRPG that came at the right time and was one of the first to be released worldwide. But "genre defining" game? really?

After playing a lot more RPGs, i disagree. It didn't bring anything really new to the genre, only a relatively unknown genre (in that time) to the mass market. That was it's victory, to bring the RPG genre to a lot more people.
 
Vorador said:
FFVII was really a eye opener for quite a few people. It was a high budget jRPG that came at the right time and was one of the first to be released worldwide. But "genre defining" game? really?

After playing a lot more RPGs, i disagree. It didn't bring anything really new to the genre, only a relatively unknown genre (in that time) to the mass market. That was it's victory, to bring the RPG genre to a lot more people.
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Bringing a genre to the mass market would define it pretty well, if you ask me. It did something pretty substantial that other games in the genre could not achieve.
 
Before angry PS3 gamers send Mr Molyneux angry emails it's worth bearing in mind that, despite his company being owned by Microsoft, he owns all the major consoles.
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Yeah, I heard many of his best friends are PS3s as well.
 
I don't see how any one could possibly be upset at that quote, regardless if you feel the same about FF7 as he does.

It'd be like being pissed that Cliffy B really loved Goldeneye.
 
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