Is ff7 steampunk/dieselpunk?

[Hollycat]

Definitely dieselpunk with Mako as the "diesel" fuel.

So.... makopunk.

[Jiro]

I think the better question would be - Why does it matter?

Because all FF fans need to know. It helps categorise it for emulation purposes (from a writing standpoint not a playing standpoint).

[black orb]

>>> FF7 is Cyberpunk..
Dieselpunk is "Art-Deco", it has nothing to do with FF7..

[Mercen-X]

You have glandular dysplasia.

[Clo]

You have glandular dysplasia.

So, yeah?

[Old Manus]

You're all wrong. FF7 is pop-punk. It's Green Day.

[Wolf Kanno]

I thought the correct term was cyberpunk?

Definitely not. Cyberpunk usually refers to a setting which has a cyber world, a world that exists inside computers. Tron, Mega Man Battle Network, System Shock, the Matrix, those are examples of cyberpunk.

Not true, Blade Runner is cyber punk and doesn't involve world's existing in computers, neither Tron nor Mega Man Battle Network are true cyberpunk. Instead cyberpunks usually involve stories about high and low societies dealing with how technology affects society and social change. Hacking and computers are used a lot in the medium but so are A.I. and robots, the main idea is a technology that radically changes society. The key word here being "punk" as in the cultural/musical underground movement which focuses on themes of anarchy, social upheaval, and other radical social political issues.

VII's world is a classic example of cyberpunk because we're dealing with a major social change brought on by the advent of Mako technology. Like Blade Runner, VII's central city is divided into two sections with the top of Midgard being a fairly advanced and upper class society whereas beneath the city is the lower class which tends to be an urbanization of different cultures, though Asian is pretty damn popular. Vii's world continues this theme showing a world that has embraced Mako technology but doesn't quite know how to handle the changes brought on by it and its mega corporation Shin-Ra.

Another point of difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is the tone used to define the technology. Steampunk is generally optimistic about the technology that emerges, there is always a sense that the technology can work with humanity, at its bleakest, steampunk would suggest that perhaps mankind is not quite yet ready for it yet, but the main point is that people view the technology as something positive. In cyberpunk its usually the opposite, the technology is here and has been embraced and now humanity has to adapt to it cause the genie is out of the bottle so to speak, but the technology is causing more problems than helping and its seen as a social trade off much like post-Industrialization thinking, yet there is this weariness that something has been completely lost and perhaps mankind has marked the beginning of the end for our culture as we know it now, this largely stemming from a lot of the cynicism of the splitting of the atom, combined with elements of the Cold War.

[Skyblade]

You are quite correct, Wolf, and I find myself wondering from where I drew my delineation. I wonder if there is a more specified term for what I was thinking of.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm sure we have a term for it, we categorize everything these days. Maybe Cyber-Fi?

[Aulayna]

I'm sure we could just call it Final Fantasy VII

[Wolf Kanno]

I was actually thinking about the classification of Tron and Mega Man Battle Network, VII is pretty much cyberpunk.

[Mercen-X]

Tron and Tron Legacy are considered cyberpunk. One that surprises me is Lawnmower Man and its sequel, also Hackers. Then there's Code Lyoko...