Do you think this game has aged badly?

[DMKA]

I started a new game the other day...for the first time in a good three or four years, and...man, I don't remember it looking this bad, nor to I remember the dialog being this cheesy. I'm still having a blast replaying it so far, but it definitely doesn't have that same effect it used to have on me. Well, I am still in Midgar, so not so far anyway. :p

Do you think this game has aged worse than the other FFs, or do you think it's still stands strong against later titles?

[Jiro]

I'm playing the PC version so the graphics are pretty crispy. Even if they're blocky, it's nice. The backgrounds are still pretty damn decent. I think it aged better than VIII, at least.

[Hollycat]

It has aged much better than 8, and I would say around the same as 9. VII is just one of those games that never gets old.

[VeloZer0]

The PC version with the higher resolution looks much much better. Though the actual character models are the same the reduction in pixelation makes them look much, much better. They still look dated, but they don't look nearly as bad.

The pre-renders look quite simply amazing still. Every time I play a PSX FF I can't help but think that that backgrounds are so much more prominent than in newer titles. I think this might also have something to do with the fact that there is no need for a minimap or hud of any type though.

[DMKA]

Yeah, you guys are right about the backgrounds, they still look fantastic.

[Sephex]

Technically, some aspects sure have suffered. Everything else is fine, though, some elements are required to look at through nostalgia goggles. And there is nothing wrong with that. My most recently playthrough was last year, and I had almost as much fun as I did back when the game was released.

[black orb]

>>> Only the graphics, everything else is great fun..:luca:

[Jessweeee♪]

I find that I can ignore a lot of cheesyness if I didn't find it so cheesy the first time I played it. I have a hard time going back to games before FFVII because I didn't play them as a kid. It's like trying to get someone to enjoy an episode Seinfeld with you when they've never seen the show before. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny)

[edczxcvbnm]

I think the game as aged just fine. I think it depends on what you are looking for in a game though. This game doesn't take itself too seriously and that helps with the fun. The style of the game has never been duplicated so it looks fine and quite honestly a more realistic look would make some weird stuff really fucked up. Who wants to see a realistic cloud in drag putting the moves on the Don? This is the sort of stuff that works on in an old school game where graphics wouldn't ruin this insanity. It is all in the imagination =D

[Bolivar]

It depends on how you play it. If you're playing it on PS3 or on an HDTV it could be pretty terrible. But if you play the PC version or on PSP, it looks even better than it did when the console original launched. I think the battle fluidity, music, pacing, and presentation still outclasses most games today by a far margin.

I do agree the script has started to show its age. It's right in between the old and the new as far as production values go, and sometimes the characters do sound like characters stuck inside of a video game instead of characters in a story. But the story itself was so original for its time, it's easy to look past that for me. I had just as much of a blast playing it on my PSP two years ago as I did when it came out.

[Hollycat]

I personaly didn't play it when it came out, nor even hear about it until a few years ago. I first played it about two years ago, and it has become one of my favorites. No matter what you say it is fun to play, and makes a great psp game.

[Shiny]

To a degree, yes. I played it for the first time on PS2 back in 2002 and compared it to both PS1 and PS2 games, and thought it held well. Now that PS3 is out hell yes it's outdated. Not just the weird polygon graphics, but as some of have mentioned, some the dialogue is just like what. Gotta love the constant grammatical and spelling errors. But I'd be damned if still weren't funny as hell. Characters like Mukki, Cid, and Crossdressing Cloud never get old imo.

[black orb]

Who wants to see a realistic cloud in drag putting the moves on the Don?
>>> I would totally buy a remake just to see that scene..:luca:

[Kenshin IV]

No, it has not. Visually you can make the argument that it has, I guess, but graphics are probably the least important feature of any game. Besides, if you look past the blocky polygons, you'll notice a tremendous art direction for that game.

As for the dialogue, ALL Final Fantasy games have terrible dialogue. Yes, the early games -- including Seven -- suffered from poor translation, but even despite that Square has always been terrible at writing dialogue (just look at Final Fantasy XIII, which is not poorly translated). Square's speciality is in writing narrative and character (or, at least, it was at one point).

[Bolivar]

FFXII had awesome dialogue, though.

[Flying Arrow]

FFXII had awesome dialogue, though.

Yes. If memory serves, IX's line-to-line dialogue was really well done too, which is probably part of the reason it's such a fan favourite. IX and XII are probably the high points of FF dialogue (as far as English language goes).

As for VII being aged, I think Jesswee's link pretty much covers it. 15 years later in gaming and the newness of VII is gone. The hype now is so monstrous that to play it for the first time you can't go in expecting to be blown away by whatever it is that modern games blow people away with. Just play it because it's a well-paced, atmospheric RPG with a great world and enjoyable battle mechanics. That's all one can ever reasonably expect anyway.

[Bubba]

The video game industry has probably developed more than any other in the last 15 or 20 years. Any game can look dated when you consider the growth of home consoles in that time.

Lets compare it to the film industry. 1993 saw the release of 'Jurassic Park' which was a massive achievement in special effects. Although there have been more impressive films since then (Avatar etc...) from that time I kind of felt there was nothing the film industry couldn't do visually. In 1993, the main two consoles were the SNES and the Mega Drive. When you compare the specs of an XBox or a PS3... it's like comparing Avatar to say Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation from the early 1960's.

Like many I think the nostalgia of playing this at a young age still makes this game magical to play even now. The FMV and the pre-rendered backgrounds still look amazing and I don't really mind the super-deformed characters and the overworld map. I suppose some people who came to this game later would probably have more reason to criticise.

I agree with edczxcvbnm, the style of FFVII, VIII and IX really suited the Final Fantasy universe. There are a lot more things left to the imagination. Every FF has been criticised in some way but from FFX onwards, the level of criticism seems to have increased. This is because a fully 3D universe pretty much leaves nothing to the imagination. I can imagine nothing worse than the current (already too camp) version of Cloud in drag... it would come across horribly. I can see why Square Enix are so reluctant to re-make this game.

So after a long-winded answer I would say no, it hasn't aged badly. But I think it rests on what kind of impact it had on you when you first played the game.

[Mirage]

The gameplay is still good, and that's what I care the most about.

[Hollycat]

The video game industry has probably developed more than any other in the last 15 or 20 years. Any game can look dated when you consider the growth of home consoles in that time.

Lets compare it to the film industry. 1993 saw the release of 'Jurassic Park' which was a massive achievement in special effects. Although there have been more impressive films since then (Avatar etc...) from that time I kind of felt there was nothing the film industry couldn't do visually. In 1993, the main two consoles were the SNES and the Mega Drive. When you compare the specs of an XBox or a PS3... it's like comparing Avatar to say Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation from the early 1960's.

Like many I think the nostalgia of playing this at a young age still makes this game magical to play even now. The FMV and the pre-rendered backgrounds still look amazing and I don't really mind the super-deformed characters and the overworld map. I suppose some people who came to this game later would probably have more reason to criticise.

I agree with edczxcvbnm, the style of FFVII, VIII and IX really suited the Final Fantasy universe. There are a lot more things left to the imagination. Every FF has been criticised in some way but from FFX onwards, the level of criticism seems to have increased. This is because a fully 3D universe pretty much leaves nothing to the imagination. I can imagine nothing worse than the current (already too camp) version of Cloud in drag... it would come across horribly. I can see why Square Enix are so reluctant to re-make this game.

So after a long-winded answer I would say no, it hasn't aged badly. But I think it rests on what kind of impact it had on you when you first played the game.

At my engineering college a few weeks ago we worked out that if cars had advanced at the same rate as the video game industry over the last 30 years, we would be able to buy a regular car for around $5 now.

[Mercen-X]

I want my $5 car! Damn! That's almost the price for a Hot Wheels car... I think the 3-4-in-one packs are that much.


I find that I can ignore a lot of cheesyness if I didn't find it so cheesy the first time I played it. I have a hard time going back to games before FFVII because I didn't play them as a kid. It's like trying to get someone to enjoy an episode Seinfeld with you when they've never seen the show before. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny)

Excellent point. Though, I personally abstain from Seinfeld altogether in recent years.

[Kenshin IV]

FFXII had awesome dialogue, though.

I was hoping no one would call me out on that, as I did not feel like adding a whole separate "but" for the one Final Fantasy game with well-written dialogue. I wouldn't say it's the greatest dialogue ever, but they did do a very good job on it -- far better than any other in the series -- and I think part of that is the excellent translation. By far the best translation in the series.

And, for no real reason, a great example of both excellent dialogue and excellent translation in a JPRG are Persona 3 and Persona 4. Possibly the best in any JRPG I've played (though I haven't exactly sat here and contemplated that).

[ReloadPsi]

Yes, I do think this game has aged badly, but I'm quite thankful for it as I'm not a big fan of fancy graphics in game and have been way put off them since I completed Donkey Kong Country for the first time.

You see, the gay bath house scene just gets funnier and funnier as the gap between this game's graphics and modern graphical standards widens. I know I say this all the time, but if this game got remade, you'd see that scene in Advent Children graphics instead, and somehow I don't think it would be nearly as entertaining.

[Sephex]

Yes, I do think this game has aged badly, but I'm quite thankful for it as I'm not a big fan of fancy graphics in game and have been way put off them since I completed Donkey Kong Country for the first time.

You see, the gay bath house scene just gets funnier and funnier as the gap between this game's graphics and modern graphical standards widens. I know I say this all the time, but if this game got remade, you'd see that scene in Advent Children graphics instead, and somehow I don't think it would be nearly as entertaining.

It would only be entertaining because if they left that in there, watching people react to it in a disturbing manner would be funny.

[VeloZer0]

I don't typically watch a lot of other people playing single player games. ;)

[darkmagus206]

I finished FFVII a week ago for the first time and I thought that, aside from the character models, the game has aged well. The music is still great, the environments look good, the story is amazing, the characters are likable and the gameplay is still addicting, so IMO it has aged well.

And I thought FFIX had some great dialogue.