Do you think this game has aged badly?

[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.

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.