Final Fantasy VII: Overrated?

[Egami]

VII wasn't the first game in 3D though.

Of course, 3d Monster Maze released in 1981 was probably it. And Ultima Underworld released in 1992 was perhaps the first 3D game for the modern PC.

If you're going to say that every game that was first in its genre to use 3D graphics "revolutionized" the genre, you might want to look deeper as to what it take to truly "revolutionize" a genre.

I did not say that but I will say this much about 3D graphics: a jump from 2D graphics with sprites to a full 3D world with models is a radical change in the graphical presentation of a game and a radical change by definition is all that is needed to revolutionize something.

Such a change affects every single aspect of a game. Something as simple as the camera changing angles during a battle makes for a whole new experience quite different from the static view of previous games. The motion of the characters is also improved, allowing a wider range of expressions and emotions to be conveyed. Now models are not limited to four or five static poses in order to give different reactions, which are the same for every character but are given a nearly unlimited freedom of movement allowing for a greater distinction between the characters. This of course can enhance considerably the storytelling of a game. Things like monsters become much more interesting to fight, making battles more enjoyable overall, as they move and attack and have all sort of motion, unlike how it was previously that the monster was simply a static picture that blinked when it attacked.

I could go on but I think that a change from 2D to 3D, done well, such as FF VII did, is a radical change in the visual language of a game (the FF series in this case) and a radical change is a revolution.