View Full Version : Has this game aged well?
Wolf Kanno
04-06-2014, 07:28 PM
What it says on the tin, do you feel VII has largely aged well like a fine wine, or do you feel some parts have done a better job than others?
Shorty
04-06-2014, 07:58 PM
I wouldn't say it has aged like wine. It is still considered one of the greatest RPGs, but as the standards for gaming raise, I'm not so sure about how this one ages.
I'll be able to answer this better after my next playthrough, but the last time I played this was a couple of years back and it seemed to have aged just fine to me considering how long ago it came out. It was never that hard for me to go back to.
Forsaken Lover
04-06-2014, 08:07 PM
I replayed something like 60% of it a year or so ago and found it held up well enough. Sure some of the regular models look dumb but then so do the old NES/SNES sprites. In-game graphics are still cool to look at. Plus, most importantly, it's fun to play and the music is still awesome as ever.
Yeah, the graphics tend to look a bit cheesey and lacking these days. But I adore the lego blocky people and pre-rendered backgrounds. I'll always have a soft spot for pre-rendered backgrounds, and they had a lot of heart and atmosphere in here. And like I said about the graphics, they seem charming more than dated to me. To me they hold up in the same manner that sprite art holds up. They're just a little doofier looking than sprites. I would have enjoyed seeing them take this style and run with it and turn it into more of an artform much like sprites have become. But unfortunately they kinda cringed away and wanted to go more realistic. Which didn't turn out bad. But would have been amused to see where it could have gone. Stylized low res polygon art. Or whatever
MJN SEIFER
04-07-2014, 03:08 PM
For the most part yes. When I was playing it while writing my walkthrough I felt every bit as enthralled as I did when I was younger. The music, the storyline, the gameplay, the atmosphere, and the graphics (for the most part) still hold up even with their flaws in mind. It is still a game that should be acknowledged, and hopefully always will be.
The only time I admit that the graphics are "bad" (or more so, "below par") are the character models in the normal game field. The body of the character is okay, especially concerning what they had at the time - it's just below the style FFIX used, and FFVIII beats both of them. The worst offender is how the hands were designed - I still remember when my dad was watching me play when Rude pointed upwards (in the Shinra elevator), and my dad had to ask me what he was doing, as he thought he was holding something.
The main graphics (i.e. the backgrounds) are still stunning even though they have been bettered by other games. If they had FFIX character graphics and FFVII background graphics it would have mixed perfectly.
Bolivar
04-07-2014, 07:52 PM
^ it was a pretty innovative technique at the time but I wouldn't be surprised if the use of pre rendered backgrounds also helped the game age better than it otherwise would have.
From my personal replays, it looks and plays great on PSP and likely Vita but I expect it probably hasn't aged as well on the big screen due to how bad older PlayStation games look on HDTVs.
I think a few of the synths sound a tad dated now though.
Moogle Chrome
04-07-2014, 09:54 PM
Yep
CimminyCricket
04-08-2014, 03:48 AM
When I went through and played it back in 2012, I was incredibly addicted. I really liked the gameplay, the story was alright, but I did enjoy playing it.
It has done surprisingly well. The backgrounds are still pretty great. The character models are bleh but they're minimalist enough to not be a huge drawback.
NeoCracker
04-08-2014, 11:20 PM
It's aged fairly poorly in some regards, mostly the character models and to some extend the spottiness of the script.
However teh backrounds still look fine, controls still handle well, so really on a whole it's aged okay.
Some things have certainly aged better, such as Chrono Trigger, but not everything can be Chrono Trigger, now can it? :p
Psychotic
04-09-2014, 07:12 AM
The character models aren't great but they're a lot more animated than you get in modern games, which I really like. Some of the writing/translation in places is poor and more noticeable now, but overall I think it's not aged too badly.
Rostum
04-10-2014, 02:40 AM
I think at first it's a bit jarring, but you definitely get used to it pretty fast.
maybee
04-10-2014, 10:05 AM
It's aged fairly poorly in some regards, mostly the character models and to some extend the spottiness of the script.
Some things have certainly aged better, such as Chrono Trigger, but not everything can be Chrono Trigger, now can it? :p
Yeah was thinking the same, and the bad spelling and grammar doesn't help the scripts case better either.
Chrono Trigger is going to be like good wine imo. It's old, but it's still fantastic.
One could say, that it gets better
with time :jess:
The worst offender is how the hands were designed - I still remember when my dad was watching me play when Rude pointed upwards (in the Shinra elevator), and my dad had to ask me what he was doing, as he thought he was holding something.
Yeah, those were pretty bad. I remember Barrett gunarm looking no different from his regular arm so whenever he was using it to shoot at people it looked like he was literally shooting them with his hand. Add onto the fact you wouldn't be able to see actual bullets and replace the audio with fake bullet noises and you'd be set with a whole comedy sketch.
Loony BoB
04-11-2014, 01:45 PM
I felt it looked pretty awful when I put it on a 32" screen, but on my PSP it's great.
NeoCracker
04-11-2014, 05:07 PM
It's aged fairly poorly in some regards, mostly the character models and to some extend the spottiness of the script.
Some things have certainly aged better, such as Chrono Trigger, but not everything can be Chrono Trigger, now can it? :p
Yeah was thinking the same, and the bad spelling and grammar doesn't help the scripts case better either.
Chrono Trigger is going to be like good wine imo. It's old, but it's still fantastic.
One could say, that it gets better
with time :jess:
...XD
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.