Why love Final Fantasy VII?

[Marshall Banana]

Most of its graphics are cute, I think, but its translation is a bother.

[cloud21zidane16]

I love VII, it was my first Fanal Fantasy so it seems the best to me
Story, characters, battle system, sidequests, i could easily go on but these are some of the few things to love about the game.
You have to play it again

[Bolivar]

I think one of the main ways this game stands above other installments/rpgs is the battles. This game was ATB at its finest. In almost every other one, except for V, you sit around waiting for animations to end before inputting a command. In IX, it's not uncommon to wait a full minute before one of your actions goes through. In FFVII, you pick a command, your character executes it, battle goes on.

In addition to having the best flow of battle, the use of camera in them as well has yet to be seen again in the series. the following games (except for XI and XII of course) had mostly fixed cameras, the amount that the camera moves in battle in FFVII was amazing.

add in soundtrack, plot, characters, you have all the main aspects of RPGs done really well. Don't let the name get in the way of liking it.

[Mr Cactuar]

I love FFVII because the story and characters just really appeal to me. Add great gameplay, great music and playable graphics and you get, in my opinion, the = best game.

The thing alot of people forgot when they argue is that they're being incredibly biased when they say a game sucks. Especially when it comes to RPG's because you may or may not get attached to to story and characters. I did with FFVII, so I love it.

Play it again.

[Yar]

I love the whole "old-school" or "classic" argument that everyone loves using. Because Final Fantasy VII isn't 10-years old now or anything.

And despite popular belief, being a fan of the series before 1997 does not get you into any exclusive clubs or anything.

Who the hell are you? I didn't say I was "elite" or "better" than anyone else just because I started with older FF's. It just seems like some (as in, not all) players who started with VII have little to no appreciation for I-VI. They can't take the "archaic look and feel" or whatever excuse they have this week.

Okay, so I started the game again and I'm up to Junon Harbor. I have to say I am feeling better about this game than before. It's not my favorite, (which, I wasn't expecting to be instantly) but it doesn't feel like a chore this time through. I'm understanding more of the story this time through. (I didn't notice how atrocious the grammar was the first time through!)

[blackmage_nuke]

Most of its graphics are cute, I think, but its translation is a bother.

I think the mistranslations are cute

[ReloadPsi]

Most of its graphics are cute, I think, but its translation is a bother.

I think the mistranslations are cute

It's even cheesier in the German version. Rufus suddenly changes his name to "Rufhaus" for about half an hour then changes it back, Yoshiyuki is described as "Take this sword" in German, and Weapon starts off as Waffe (the German word for Weapon), then becomes Weapon once Tifa wakes up in Junon: guess it only took seven days to do all the paperwork.

And to think, the only oddness I expected was that enemies would turn green upon death instead of red in line with German censorship laws: This doesn't actually happen at all, but somehow convinced myself it would

[Jessweeee♪]

I liked it...didn't love it, but it was fun!

The materia system was kinda neat...I liked the story...nice characters...fun sidequests.


...of course some people hate the materia system, the story, the characters, and the sidequests for the same reasons that others like them. The game isn't good or bad, just depends on what you like.

[Christmas]

HONEYBEE INN.

[Seal Evil]

Most of people I know played FF7 when they were about 13 and they really like Cloud, which is why I believe this theory to be true. I, myself, played and beat FF7 five years ago when I was about ten. I never really liked Cloud and his character. In fact, the only thing I thought was pretty good was Sephiroth. So, maybe you don't like FF7 because of the age you were when you started to play it.

I dunno, really. Maybe??? I first played the game when I was 10 and I grew really attached to Cloud. I'm 20 now and my feelings haven't changed, lol. But maybe that's because I'm a girl.

Although I very much agree with Jess:

...of course some people hate the materia system, the story, the characters, and the sidequests for the same reasons that others like them. The game isn't good or bad, just depends on what you like.

[Bolivar]

Most of people I know played FF7 when they were about 13 and they really like Cloud, which is why I believe this theory to be true. I, myself, played and beat FF7 five years ago when I was about ten. I never really liked Cloud and his character. In fact, the only thing I thought was pretty good was Sephiroth. So, maybe you don't like FF7 because of the age you were when you started to play it.

I dunno, really. Maybe??? I first played the game when I was 10 and I grew really attached to Cloud. I'm 20 now and my feelings haven't changed, lol. But maybe that's because I'm a girl.

The theory fails to account for how the game received universal acclaim from gaming publications at the time. I'm not sure how many 13-year-old critics were writing at that time....

[Nifleheim7]

I used to think that i liked it so much because it was my first FF but it's not the main reason.
FFVII (for me) has a certain charm that it's quite hard to explain.I think it's the general atmosphere of the game (music,environments,characters) that i always loved.
I also liked it's humor and that it didn't take itself very seriously (unlike FFXII for example).

[auronlu]

It's never been my favorite game, partly because I'm an arthritic thinker who much prefers X's tactics-based and turn-based combat system to flail-and-smash, partly because I prefer fantasy and mythic to dark urban dystopia settings. But I can see why VII could grab some folks. The storyline has a lot of twists and turns, from the simple "eco-terrorists... but also a mercenary who's dubious" beginning, to the flower girl who gradually turns out to be an Ancient Race (always a popular theme) and, eventually...er, I don't know how far you got in the game, but she's a classic myth figure disguised as Eliza Doolittle... to all the machinations of Shinra, sometimes enemy, sometimes ally. The Turks are a fun set of honorable or thuggy adversaries to beat up on.

The party itself has a fairly good mix of goodie-goodies and cynics, noble and down-to-earth, comic relief and serious. If you like minigames (I don't), there's a varied and interesting selection of them. The male/female balance in the party is better than ususual, with Aeris representing the stereotypical magic-wielding healer who goes "tink" for 0 HP in physical combat, Yuffie the trickster, and Tifa the barmaid beating the stuffing out of people -- one is going to appeal to "virtual girlfriend" or self-insertion tastes for a lot of players. The guys are similarly spread across a spectrum, and even the most caricature-like, Barrett/Mr.T, turns out to have some interesting backstory. I think this Cid appeals to a lot of folks because it's so unusual (and was especially back then) to have a hero who's a swearing, chain-smoking JERK who's nasty to his girlfriend... sometimes he's a hero, sometimes he's a bastard who deserves a kick in the balls. A little more interesting than generic sword-wielding sidekick.

The world's vast, with a lot of different styles of civilizations and landscapes, something that I look for. The City of the Ancients especially stuck out in my mind as an original design... at least the houses... on the order with some of my favorite MYST/RIVEN worldbuilding. The vehicles and oversea trips come at good stages in the game... always moving you on just before you can get bored with an area (wait! can't I get back into Midgar?) and, later on, allowing you to visit more and more places.

There are some moments of high drama and visual impact; I can see why one scene with Sephiroth became iconic. On the other hand, there are moments of inspired lunacy... Cloud's quest to get into Don Corneo's mansion has some pretty danged funny moments. And there's some good interpersonal stuff between the characters. Finally, for the most part, all the strands of story weave back together better than in some games, IMO.

One minor detail of VII which I liked is that it did a good job exploiting the limited graphics capacity at its disposal to make stylized, entertaining, comic-like battle moves. For some reason Red XII's somersault flip amuses the heck out of me. The swooshes and flourishes of the other characters during combat are also satisfying. A minor but constant detail. My first gaming experiences were with Pong, Choplifter, Zork and Adventure -- and I started with D&D before 20-siders were invented -- so I can appreciate the older stuff when it does a good job of working with what's available.

It's a good, solid game. Personally my favorite was VIII for years, until X's epic/mythic world ate my brain, but I can see why VII has endured as a favorite for many.

Edit: Even if I have managed to consign Cait Sith to the same mental box of denial and non-consent that I have stowed Lulu's moogle dolls and Quina (*Hides from Quina fans*). Evidently "cute blobby thing" doesn't work for me the way it does for others.

[chionos]

Nobuo Uematsu

All the extra/hidden stuff, like many of the summon materias, the whole chocobo breeding and racing sidequest, the golden saucer, etc.

And did I mention the music? I've actually gotten quite bored with the story over the years, especially after all the irrelevent extra crap they've produced lately, but the story written into the music is still as fantastic as it was when the game first came out. I think if the idjuts at SE would remake the original game (as everyone wants, not all this superfluous crap) with updated graphics and a revamped translation, many more people would come to appreciate the game. I can understand why gamers who joined the FF community after FFVII would have trouble going back to FFVII after playing the newer games. The graphics (especially character models) are absolute crap, so much so that it's hard to find any enjoyment in it. The movies are still good though, I remember seeing the commercial trailer for the first time and flipping when I saw Leviathan in CG splendor. I think any FF fan should at least play through it once. Likely they'll find something to like in it by the end, and it's certainly worth experiencing once if for no other reason than to understand the roots of 3D FF. It's like a fun playable history lesson.

[Mr Cactuar]

Nobuo Uematsu

All the extra/hidden stuff, like many of the summon materias, the whole chocobo breeding and racing sidequest, the golden saucer, etc.

And did I mention the music? I've actually gotten quite bored with the story over the years, especially after all the irrelevent extra crap they've produced lately, but the story written into the music is still as fantastic as it was when the game first came out. I think if the idjuts at SE would remake the original game (as everyone wants, not all this superfluous crap) with updated graphics and a revamped translation, many more people would come to appreciate the game. I can understand why gamers who joined the FF community after FFVII would have trouble going back to FFVII after playing the newer games. The graphics (especially character models) are absolute crap, so much so that it's hard to find any enjoyment in it. The movies are still good though, I remember seeing the commercial trailer for the first time and flipping when I saw Leviathan in CG splendor. I think any FF fan should at least play through it once. Likely they'll find something to like in it by the end, and it's certainly worth experiencing once if for no other reason than to understand the roots of 3D FF. It's like a fun playable history lesson.

All those games and media are not just superfluous crap, they're building upon the story and universe. The only one that wasn't 'needed' per se is Dirge of Cerebus.