This is what it feels like...when nerd collide!!!

[Wolf Kanno]

So last night I met up with an old High School friend I hadn't seen in over a year/ We had a few drinks, talked about life and apparently he got back into gaming (he gave it up a few years ago for women) and due to him being the friend who got me into RPGs and FF in particular, we started talking FF games.

He wants to play XII but doesn't have a PS2 anymore but then he started talking about how good FFX was... This of course gets me to speak about my rather negative feelings about this game. What threw me off was him coming back at me passionately exclaiming, "You think FFX is worse than VII?!". VII is still his least favorite FF in the series and lo and behold our evening devolved into an amusing conversation about which is better FFVII or FFX? We both stuck to our guns and it was a fun chat.

So now I ask you, which do you EoFF think is better?

[Karellen]

VII didn't feel like a rail-RPG, so that I guess. FFX had a fairly well constructed plot but gameplay wise it's pretty much everything that is wrong with Japanese RPGs.

[Vermachtnis]

Probably VII. I liked the materia system more than the sphere grid. Also out of those two casts, Yuffie is my favorite.

[Saber]

Its like spin off war or something. I'd say 7 in a long shot cause 10 was very time consuming and to tight around the edges. Its like walking a road until you get to the end of the game... yea. 7 you atleast got freedom.

[PeneloRatsbane]

Yeah i agree. 10 just seemed to drag on and i really lost interest.

7 was just more fun and i cared about all the characters where as i only cared about a few in X.
Could never get my head round the sphere grid where as Materia was fun to collect and use

[Slothy]

I still think FFX had some of the better character development in the series, and I enjoyed the combat system a lot and the story was pretty good. My dad also got really hooked on watching me play it when I got it, so there are some fond memories there.

FFVII on the other hand had a story that suffered from a poor localization, characters with the development of a rock, and one of the worst battle systems since the NES. Oddly enough, despite acknowledging it's many faults I do still like FFVII. Possibly more than X, but I do believe X is the better game.

FFVII has the better soundtrack by a long shot though.

[Rantz]

Its like spin off war or something. I'd say 7 in a long shot cause 10 was very time consuming and to tight around the edges. Its like walking a road until you get to the end of the game... yea. 7 you atleast got freedom.

I agree with this. Although I really liked the combat system of FFX, overall it didn't catch my interest very much.

[Bolivar]

damn, 2 of my favorite RPGs, they're both real close, being Square's first attempt at a next-gen FF, somewhat similar stories, X definately being a direct successor to VII.

but I go with FFVII, off the strength of how "raw" it is compared to how polished and well-localized X is. Yeah, I said it. There's a certain aesthetic to that poorly-translated, ultra-japanese work which gives it that extra feeling, that "rawness". FFT has an even much worse localization, and that still ranks pretty high as one of my top RPGs of all time. Word.

[Roto13]

I didn't get that "Oh god, please be over now" feeling from X until I was doing sidequests to get weapons and stuff, right before attacking Sin so I basically could make it be over any time I felt like it. I got that feeling from VII about two or three hours after I left the city.

[Momiji]

X is by far and away superior to VII. The only things I really didn't like about X was the development of stats/abilities (I hated the sphere grid) and the voice acting. Other than that, X was an excellent game. And what's better yet, I didn't have to use Tidus the whole game, which was good, because I didn't like him. (Auron, Yuna, and Rikku ftw). However, I couldn't stand Cloud and I was stuck with him throughout the whole damn game. >_>

[Vivisteiner]

Both suck.





























Only kidding. I like both games, but FFX slightly more.

[demondude]

FFX was too linear during the plot.

[Roto13]

X was too linear, period. :P The world was almost a straight line. xP You could walk from one end to the other and basically hit almost every hot spot along the way.

[Momiji]

Both suck.





























Only kidding. I like both games, but FFX slightly more.


No, no, I liked where you were going.

Then again, I will say that in the Playstation generations of numbered Final Fantasies, X is the one I'd be most willing to play.

[scrumpleberry]

FFX was beautiful in about every way, but the characters (and costumes!) pissed me off to no end, and it was a very very straight line.

[Jessweeee♪]

FFX is my favorite in the series n.n

FFVII is up there...somewhere...but not number one. Definitely not higher than four.


I got if for my fourteenth birthday, and I remember the first time I put the disc in, I didn't like his voice either. I got over that by the time I made it to Besaid, and by the end of the game I loved it n.n

Of course, the line "What is it this time?!" at Mt. Gagazet always gets on my nerves, ALWAYS xD


The veryverylinearness of it all didn't bother me, and playing FFX-2 actually made me enjoy the game more :</>D!

[Wolf Kanno]

As my original post suggest, I prefer VII. Mostly cause I feel X is the worse in the FF series and to a certain degree, made unacceptable practices in JRPGs more common place cause hey, "Let's just follow FF's example". :p

Plot: While both games are not terribly original at least VII had a more interesting premise and world set up. X bored me, even with its intriguing "Spiral of Death" theme. I guess my problem is that VII felt like an FF spin on what was big in JRPGs and anime at the time(which is the reason why the plot didn't blow me away). FFX is just a collage of ideas from anime at the time without the FF spin. X's plot had been done before and generally better in most accounts.

Characters: X actually comes up the winner, I like Tidus and Auron; whereas in VII, I only like Cid. I generally find VII's cast boring, two dimensional, and overall bland. The whole party is pretty angsty and low key. I really felt nothing for this cast, I feel more attached to my FF1 (Hobo, Meow, Smurf, and Bob ;)) party than the cast of VII. Granted X's cast is basically a collection of cliches with only Tidus and Wakka being the well written ones. Course I hate Wakka cause I hate dealing with fundamentalist jackasses. I like Auron but he is a cliche, just one I happen to like. :D

Antagonist: VII, though I generally consider Sephiroth to be a mediocre villain, I do like Shin-Ra and the Turks. Even though Shin-Ra is portrayed like the cliche "Evil Empire" with empire replaced with corporation, it at least had a colorful cast of villainous personalities to go with it. I still consider them more evil and ruthless than Sephiroth and its sad when the main villain gets outshined by the supporting characters.

X has Seymour, who is basically the game's "chatty villain", he's more annoying than a real threat and the attempts at explaining his motive are so poor that it really doesn't justify his actions in my book. They might as well as said he was just crazy... oh wait. :eep: The Yevon faith is your atypical corrupt church and follows the JRPG rules to the letter. Basically nothing new here, and sadly outclassed by other earlier Square games like FFT and Xenogears. Hell even, BoFII did a better job.

Sin on the other hand is pretty cool but its hard for me to classify it as a villain or even an antagonist. Its basically presented as a force of nature and once again drawing on Japanese culture it bears a striking similarity to a Typhoon. So its hard to get angry at a force of nature. Yu-Yevon is basically a McGuffin to explain Sin and Jecht is pretty awesome, and basically the only other character I liked in X besides Tidus and Auron.

Gameplay: VII no contest, real customization, better difficulty, more imaginative spells and abilities. Its only drawbacks were it all goes to hell about halfway through the game. X starts off decent but once you get your party and discover combat is a game of memory (connect monster to character its weak to) not to mention 3/4 of the boss battles have cinematic options that cripple the bosses or unskippable in-game help guides to explain how to beat the bosses; and you have a recipe for making all combat in the game tedious and mostly irrelevant. The sphere grid is also just a interactive version of FFIV's system with your party going down a very linear skill tree until at the the end of the game when your party can easily beat the final boss, you get enough special sphere's to actually customize your party... That seems smart and innovative I guess... The only thing X did do somewhat well is the cool summoning system cause it finally made summoning more than just a glorified mage. Its a shame the Aeons are basically "I win" buttons. :mad:

Soundtrack and Graphics: Graphically, VII has not aged well, in fact its probably the fugliest game in the series by today's standards except in comparison to NES/Famicom FFs. Then again, X is also pretty fugly in comparison to XII and lets face it, every other SE game on the PS2. But ultimately, I don't care about graphics and I was not terribly impressed with either of them back in their respected days when they were both considered cutting edge. Graphics don't mean a whole lot to mean and though X is prettier, VII has held up better overall, which is sad when the game is 4 years older and on a technologically inferior system. :rolleyes2

Musically, VII also wins. X has a handful of very good and memorable soundtracks but the vast majority of it is bland and rather uninspiring. Its pretty obvious that Nobuo did the soundtrack half-hearted cause he had other things he wanted to do (like work on his band). VII, though terribly synthesized, just has a much more memorable soundtrack with a staggering amount of variety of musical genres at its disposal. VII has a soundtrack where you can instantly remember not only where you were when the track played but could even conjure up your feeling when you played it.

Conclusion: VII is better cause it at least has better gameplay and world design. X is basically labeled as WK's Guide to: What You Should Not Do in a JRPG. :p

[Exdeath]

FFX was too linear during the plot.

You don't know linearity until you've played Crisis Core. I haven't played X yet (it's on my list to do), but Crisis Core was basically "run here, kill monsters by mashing X, watch cutscene, get treasure, repeat". It wasn't too bad, but it was horribly linear.

[Wolf Kanno]

FFX was too linear during the plot.

You don't know linearity until you've played Crisis Core. I haven't played X yet (it's on my list to do), but Crisis Core was basically "run here, kill monsters by mashing X, watch cutscene, get treasure, repeat". It wasn't too bad, but it was horribly linear.
FFX is worse, at least CC gave you afield or a mine shaft with a few twists and turns. Most of the dungeon designs in FFX are a straight line. You also trip over cutscene. Believe me X makes CC look like an open-ended extravaganza...

[NeoTifa]

7 ftw. x sucked so bad. cant stand it sry. 7 held more in my mind. i couldnt connect with x

[demondude]

X was a brilliant game, but I really couldn't get into it on replays.
And the linearity was slightly annoying, because I enjoy just messing about, and wandering around doing sidequests sometimes.
FFXII was a good example of a game that strikes the balance right.

[Roto13]

X was a brilliant game, but I really couldn't get into it on replays.

It's the cutscenes. It's not particularly fun to have to stop every few minutes to progress the story you already know.

[Bolivar]

This went from a serious discussion comparing the two games to trendy-game-bashing by internet pseudo-critic nerds.

[Wolf Kanno]

This went from a serious discussion comparing the two games to trendy-game-bashing by internet pseudo-critic nerds.

I don't consider myself trendy, I disliked X to begin with, thank you very much :p

As for the CC/X comments if you have played both you know that CC at least creates the illusion of being somewhat open ended. X has the Calm Lands and an Indiana Jones map :cool: Beyond that, Spira is a rather claustrophobic world.

[Bolivar]

^ wasn't necessarily referring to yourself.

[Wolf Kanno]

^ wasn't necessarily referring to yourself.

My bad... :sweatdrop:

[Bolivar]

^ It is.

[Wolf Kanno]

:p

[Bolivar]

:cool:

[hhr1dluv]

X has the Calm Lands and an Indiana Jones map

Which place is the Indiana Jones map? :confused:

On topic, both games are my among my favorites in the series (from what I've played so far). X was the first FF I ever played, so it holds a very special place in my heart. I also found its story to be much more engaging than VII's, and has even stood up to replays...I still cry at the ending every time.

As for VII, I think it's much more fun to play, and I love that the gameplay is so diverse. You go from dressing up Cloud, to chocobo racing, to a strategy game, to dolphins, and OH IT'S SO MUCH FUN. lol

Anyway, FFX, FFVII and Kingdom Hearts are the only video game franchises that I fangirl, so I am very biased. In the end, I think I like X a bit better.

[Wolf Kanno]

X has the Calm Lands and an Indiana Jones map

Which place is the Indiana Jones map? :confused:



Basically when you get the airship. You get a map, you highlight where you want to go and that is it.