I really love the variety in this game.

[Flying Arrow]

I've been playing my old FFVII discs on PS2 recently for nostalgia's sake and I was struck by how enjoyable the game still is. I went in dreading it, thinking I'd start finding flaws and hating my time playing. Not really, though. It's much simpler than games these days in that the player isn't spending a lot of time doing menial things or accomplishing very little. In fact, during a lot of the game, it's nearly impossible to spend too much time exploring one location unless you just like to look at the scenery (which is very nice). There's just enough to be interesting, and not too much to be time-consuming. Of course, there are still random battles and such, but what I really mean to say is that FFVII is a very economical game, particularly as one in a genre noted for its excess (although this seems to be a post-FFVII thing). The player never hangs out in one area for too long, and each new section provides a brand-new audio-visual experience (the art direction and music are gorgeous) and unique scenario or mini-game of sorts. Even the two-screen Train Graveyard keeps things interesting, both by adding some simple variety to the adventure and by re-emphasizing Midgar's slummy nature. Among the bigger ones, Shinra HQ, the Great Glacier, and Mts. Corel and Nibel are still some of my favourite areas from any game, both for their aesthetics and gameplay. Of course, not all this 'variety' is a home run. I'm really not looking forward to the motorcycle chase section or the snowboarding bit. Eh.

More positives, though: I never feel like the story is being stalled like I do at times playing through FFVIII or IX (good games in their own right, don't get me wrong), or feel like I've been spending too much time in a small number of large locations. The game-world just feels very big, probably because the player never gets over-exposed to any single area, or at least any particular background design. Midgar gets a lot of face time, but also has the virtue of being one of the most interesting locations in the whole series, and somehow maintains its intrigue even when the player has left it long behind. I'm always slightly surprised at how little time the team actually spends in Midgar. It seems so much bigger when I think back on it. It might have something to do with the fact that the technology and reactors seen constantly in the game world are like little bits of Midgar following the player around, or maybe it just has to do with the developers hitting an imaginative goldmine with the Midgar setting. Frankly, when I think FFVII, I think Midgar.

Although I've yet to complete the Shinra HQ section, I'm really looking forward to the adventure to come - if I remember correctly, the game doesn't really start re-visiting areas until well into the second disc. Again, from what I remember, VII keeps an excellent brisk pace throughout, introducing the player to colorful and unique new locations every 2-3 hours up until the Mideel/Big Materia section, which is when the game drops on the player one of the better plot twists I've seen in a game.

Anyway, these are all thoughts that result from too much thinking about video gaming, nostalgia, and way too much free time. That said, FFVII is still a blast, and I can see why in 1997 it was such a hit. It's definitely still my favourite game, even if mechanics-wise I don't think it's the best game. It's too bad the fanbase over-represented it as something no game could ever be and Square Enix went ahead and pandered the FFVII name into absolute oblivion. So it goes. Getting a PSP to play this game on my two-hour commutes to grad school is getting more and more tempting by the day.

[VeloZer0]

Get the PSP, you will be blown away by the visuals all over again.

It's much simpler than games these days in that the player isn't spending a lot of time doing menial things or accomplishing very little.

Honestly, most of the time when I pick up a RPG made nowadays after playing a little bit my first thought is "I should go look up how this game works in a guide". Stuff like item synthesis/customization/creation is such a terrible game mechanic IMO and all modern RPGs seem to utilize it to pad game length.

I went in dreading it, thinking I'd start finding flaws and hating my time playing.

Same Re-playing FF7 always make me fall in love all over again. Contrast FF9 which I haven't played in forever and am just replaying all I am doing is finding flaws. (I still love it, just not as much)

More positives, though: I never feel like the story is being stalled like I do at times playing through FFVIII or IX (good games in their own right, don't get me wrong), or feel like I've been spending too much time in a small number of large locations.

Thats funny, because just yesterday I was thinking about pacing problems in FF9 as I was playing though. A lot of times games leave me thinking "man, I just want to go out and kill stuff" or "I've been slogging through forever, when is something interesting going to happen". That never happened in FF7.

or maybe it just has to do with the developers hitting an imaginative goldmine with the Midgar setting. Frankly, when I think FFVII, I think Midgar.

I can't think of too many games, or even media in general that have such an iconic location in them.

It's too bad the fanbase over-represented it as something no game could ever be and Square Enix went ahead and pandered the FFVII name into absolute oblivion. So it goes.

A prime example of be careful what you wish for. FF7 Compilation is the reason I don't want HD remakes of any FF titles. (Especially SNES ones).

People always talk about FF7 being one of those titles which has aged poorly, but I find it to be the exact oposite. Quite frankly I find the story and world to be much more exciting than any game produced nowadays. Complicated enough to be engaging, but not overly cryptic and convoluted. The chibi sprites are showing their age a litte but the pre-renders still look fantastic. Playing FF7 again has just made my mind blow with the possibilities of how jaw dropping a modern title would be with HD pre-rendered backgrounds.

[Saber]

Its amazing that they went from 2bit to being able to do soooo many features. It seems like Square just jumped right in and knew exactly what they were doing with 3d. Last time I played (which was this week) I found that being able to do silly things is enjoyable. May it be to decide on little things like buying a flower, Flushing a toilet, buying stuff to make your character better, or making Cloud look like a better woman then Tifa or Aeris.

All the things that you can do in the game really woke up gamers around the world. I like how each place had a purpose. I agree with the OP about how Midgar stuck out until the end. After all that was the place Shinra was heavyest. You started out with no clue about the world and midgar seemed enough to explore. Then they throw you from town to town with amazing things like chocobo catching, fort condor battles, boat rides, gold saucer, seeing a rocket, wondering the world on tiny bronco, and bugy, and highwind... submarine.. Gold chocobos! Even small towns that had no purpose like Wutai had a story behind it.

[Flying Arrow]

A prime example of be careful what you wish for. FF7 Compilation is the reason I don't want HD remakes of any FF titles. (Especially SNES ones).

I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to an HD re-skinning of FFVII (or any of the SNES games) as long as it stays as a re-skinning like Super Turbo HD Remix. Hell, I'd probably even allow for some re-balancing and tweaking like in STHD (FF7 could use some balancing in certain areas), but nothing more.

Er... maybe a re-translation/localization by a competent speaker of the English language.

[MJN SEIFER]

I loved the varity, in FFVII - It was one of the many things that made this game so astounding in my opinion. I loved how every so often you'd play a "game within the game" - that was one of the few things missing from VIII...

[Bolivar]

Very well written, Flying Arrow, I feel the exact same way. Everytime I go back, I'm taken away by the music and the visuals (not necessarily graphics, just the colorfulness and design of the pre-rendered backgrounds). But more often than not, it's the combination of the two that really does it for me. Like when you go into the reactors, there's a lot of industrial and sci-fi sounds in the melody that just increases the experience 1,000%

Honestly, most of the time when I pick up a RPG made nowadays after playing a little bit my first thought is "I should go look up how this game works in a guide". Stuff like item synthesis/customization/creation is such a terrible game mechanic IMO and all modern RPGs seem to utilize it to pad game length.

THANK YOU. Man, that's one of the things I really can't stand in today's games.

I loved how every so often you'd play a "game within the game" - that was one of the few things missing from VIII...

It's one of the things missing from a lot of entries in the series, quite frankly. It probably makes me mad the most with FFXIII (NOT DONE NO SPOILERS!!!)

VII is such an amazing experience, played it this year again on the PSP and loved it, definitely looks much more appealing than it even does on a TV Screen (HD is the worst, ironically). I can go back, bypass the nostalgia, and just love it for the brilliance of the pacing, battle presentation, music, characters, quirky humor, and countless minigames.

[FFIX Choco Boy]

It probably makes me mad the most with FFXIII (NOT DONE NO SPOILERS!!!)

Don't get your hopes up about it, either. Unless you love the battle system, and watching (very) few cutscenes. That's the entire XIII minigame in a nutshell.

But back on topic, I love going back and playing VII again everytime I do it as well. Uematsu is amazing in this title, I love choco racing and catching, even breeding when I don't have to reset the game 300+ times. I love the Gold Saucer, especially battle arena and the sub battle. Things like W-whatever materia help to keep the game interesting mechanics-wise, as well as the materia system as a whole. The characters are every last one of them (excluding Aerith, but that goes without saying) amazing, and I think they all make the story. Not a single one could be taken out and it still feel right, not even Yuffie or Vincent. The limit break system was a real stroke of genius, and I loved how that was the only thing that truly made characters unique. I mean, I like characters not being all the same, and at the same time I don't particularly love the idea of each character being completely unique like in IX(Which I still love, and since it's 4 party members, this bit doesn't bother me). I also love the visuals, especially for when they were made. The spinoffs aren't bad imo either, they help strengthen the story and provide background into the most interesting of all the Final Fantasy universes. Overall, this is one of the games that I can play over and over, without a challenge of any kind, and still find interesting, fun, and even find something new about the game every time. Even though I have memorized almost every spoken character line, just like in X, but give me a break, I've played them both all the way through more times than I care to count!

[Wolf Kanno]

You know, despite my ranting and long... so terribly long arguments/debates with Bolivar and The Crystal on the topic of this game. I actually do like this game and I tend to adore the first disc very much and while I do have issues with the title, I still feel the setting, visual design and audio of the original game is quite exquisite.

I love the WWII steam-punk world design meets the Cyber Punk shenanigans of Midgard and I do feel several of the locations stand out for their marvelous ingenuity and fantastic imagination given form. It was also the game that took many of the budding elements of story interactivity of the 16-bit era and pushed it farther than before with the thanks of the technology given to the game. Even its comical corny elements like using the dolphins to reach Junon or its logical VI inspired gaffe of the snowboard help to break up the monotony of the game and make it less of the classic formula of talking to everyone til you talk to the right person (though there is still plenty of that). The Music accompanies the visuals perfectly and it has the last perfect soundtrack to the series, even though it sounds like a MIDI file sometimes the melodies and emotions are still easy to discern and quite difficult not to appreciate.

[Stecloud]

Some wonderful FFVII loving going on in this thread. I'm replaying it again at the moment, and can really identify with all that's being said. Everything was just so perfect with FFVII. Love it.

[Christmas]

I replayed it the last time and I solo the whole game with Cloud!! Until he got locked or lost his mind(Couldn't remember, after the events of the northern crater) up in that tropical asylum and I stopped playing cause I won't use anyone but Cloud!

[MJN SEIFER]

Some wonderful FFVII loving going on in this thread. I'm replaying it again at the moment, and can really identify with all that's being said. Everything was just so perfect with FFVII. Love it.

I agree - There's too much "FFVII is overated" stuff going on in this forum - mostly because new comers to the FF Series don't realize the impact it had, it wasn't that overated when you think about it...

[Rase]

mostly because new comers to the FF Series don't realize the impact it had, it wasn't that overated when you think about it...

I always got the feeling that it was from people who had played the older ones such as myself and found the reaction to the game to initially be overblown and just keep getting more so.

Anyway, I like the variety of the environments, and the size that Midgar felt to be. There was a decent amount of good music also. Huzzah.

[MJN SEIFER]

I always got the feeling that it was from people who had played the older ones such as myself and found the reaction to the game to initially be overblown and just keep getting more so. .

Hmmm... good point. To be honest it's probably both - I think the main reason is that VII (whether you like the game or not) offered so much at time of release it got people involved in the RPG scene, and caused more people to research the previous FF games.

I started with VII, even though I vaguely knew of the previous games from school (I didn't ever own a NES or a SNES, so I never played them, and got the PSX remakes - which thankfully aren't that different for IV, V, and VI). I genuinly think VII would still be my favorite even if I started from the very begininh - it just has a lot of the things I look for in a game.

[Jiro]

Er... maybe a re-translation/localization by a competent speaker of the English language.

I recently acquired the PC version and to see iconic lines such as "This guy are sick" "fixed" made me weep. Some of the majesty of the game comes from the mistranslations imo.

FFVII has aged well, I think. It still offers a lot of enjoyment, etc etc things already mentioned in this thread yeah.

[Flying Arrow]

^ Interesting take. Mistranslations generally just disgust me, charm or not. I've been playing the PSOne version and I'm struck by how bad some of the lines are. For the record, I grew up with the PC edition (I didn't get a PlayStation until VIII) so some of these mistranslations are frankly new to me.