You guys know what the hardest part was? The final dungeon. When you don't grind, not all of your party members are properly leveled with decent skills. And while two parties were very well prepared, one (consisting of Celes, Relm, Setzer and Cyan) was incredibly squishy for some reason (I blame Setzer), and the game expects all of them to be good because each of them has to battle a member of the Warring Triad on their own.
Really, Kefka was a piece of cake in comparison. Not to mention I didn't battle the Ultima Buster because it just so happened that it was in the way of that one weak party
Kefka's Tower was such an mazing dungeon. Even the music was so fitting.... And... Wait a sec. How dare you putting Celes in a weak party!? May the Light of Judgement banish your savefile
FF games played so far: FFIV; FFVI; FFVII; FFX; FFX-2; FFXII; FFTA; FFXIII Trilogy
Currently playing: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PS3)
Favourite FF games: FFVI; FFXII
Last time I played, she was one of my best party members. But this time she got kinda neglected. I don;t even really know why, it just happened
Yeah I think I know the feeling. Sometimes it just happens that, after playing a certain game many times, I want to try playing it with different characters. And this is true especially for games like the old FFs, where you can recruit so many characters and then end up using only a few.
FF games played so far: FFIV; FFVI; FFVII; FFX; FFX-2; FFXII; FFTA; FFXIII Trilogy
Currently playing: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PS3)
Favourite FF games: FFVI; FFXII
Back to FFVII, I never realized you could go to the Train Graveyard early!
Got Aerith (yes, I named her Aerith, sue me) and am on my way to the Walmart. I mean, the Wall Market. This should be fun.
Welp, got all the way to the Shinra building. I was thinking of barging in for once, but it just feels so stupid. I just had to take the stairs again. What sane person would just charge in, guns blazing, when there's a clearly safer, less-disruptive option?
So far, I can say that FFVII has definitely one of the strongest beginnings in the series. Though linear and story-heavy, the Midgar section of the game is incredibly gripping and memorable. Considering how Midgar is what I mostly remember fondly when I think back on this game, I'm kind of worried this is as good as it gets.
But I guess this is as good a place as any to devote to talking about this stuff - but what was it really that made FFVII so successful? Just today I saw the extended version of the FFXV legacy videos, which are basically interviews with random fans about their experience with the series. It included actual game directors of other games, like Bioshock, and they were all talking about how revolutionary VII was when it comes to proving what games could be.
And fair enough, the game is very cinematic, and as I said, it grips you from the very beginning, but honestly, it kind of has everything people seem to hate about JRPGs now? And it wasn't really the first to do a lot of these things. VI started the whole "involved storytelling" business, the battles are pretty much identical to VI only even easier, and the story has a very solid start, but becomes what many people describe it, "convoluted anime nonsense". I mean, you start as a group of eco-terrorists against an evil corporation, oh but there's actually this evil hero dude who is even worse. Oh, and he thinks he's an alien baby and wants to... sail through space... by blasting the planet with a... meteor?
Don't get me wrong. I like the story of FFVII, I love the tone and the atmosphere, especially in Midgar, but these twists (that IMO kept things fresh and interesting, as you can't really say you expected what would happen by the end judging just by the Midgar section) and people's reaction to them doesn't really make sense. So FFVII gets a pass for being non-sensical on paper, but things like any Kingdom Hearts after I, Xenoblade, or any other modern JRPG get categorized as unplayable, overwrought nonsense?
I get why XIII got treated like this, since it really deserved it due to putting half of the relevant story in datalogs, but most of these criticisms nowadays seem to be based purely on prejudice, while Final Fantasy VII gets a pass because of all the nostalgia. And as much as I like FFVII, I think this is incredibly unfair.
Of course, there are many gamers out there who are JRPG fans and accept the genre for everything it stand for, but Final Fantasy VII isn't just accepted by JRPG fans, but by gamers as a whole, as an important piece of gaming history that revolutionized not only the genre, but the entire medium.
So I just wonder, do the people who loved FFVII back then and think JRPGs are trash nowadays actually remember the plot of FFVII? And I don't just mean the Midgar slum dystopia. I mean the planet-surfing, the Sephiroth clones, the cackling Shinra employees, the crossdressing, the remote-controlled cat-robot riding an overweight moogle-bot, the &@#% room, President Shinra acting out some weird fetish with his employees. All the times that require you to suspend your disbelief so hard your eyes roll so far back your skull that you can see your brain. Because those are all the things people hate about JRPGs today, and FFVII had them all.
I imagine that those people considered all the dumb and stupid tropes dumb and stupid at the time, but it was probably more endearing at the time due to the novel nature of it all. After all, FFVII was the first FF to hit the home consoles of many, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was their first JRPG too. So after trying out more JRPGs they found the dumb and stupid tropes becoming less endearing because, well, they were always dumb and stupid, and without the shine of something being new and unusual...
There are so many things to say about FFVII. For once, I've only played it recently (like, 2 years ago at most) and just before starting FFXIII, so the nostalgia factor didn't really matter in my case. I agree that the beginning is probably the best part of the story: from blowing up the first reactor to Cloud vs Rufus it was really compelling and interesting. The culmination for me was the Jenova escape, right after you saw "her" decapitated. And that music was horrorific af. After that it changes perspective as becomes clear that the real problem is Jenova.
Here I kindly disagree. To me the real main antagonist was Jenova, while Sephiroth was just a pawn. But the point is that even if the game shifts after the initial Midgar section the let's-save-the-planet theme still remains constant, even if it's done in a different way.I mean, you start as a group of eco-terrorists against an evil corporation, oh but there's actually this evil hero dude who is even worse. Oh, and he thinks he's an alien baby and wants to... sail through space... by blasting the planet with a... meteor?
FFVII storyline to me was overall very solid and enjoyable, despite the troupes it had. Although I really agree about prejudice today towards other JRPGs, it's really annoying how some people keep complaining about recent games while praising FFVII like it's the be all end all. This mentality is what makes people hating on certain games, while they are in fact pretty good.
Allow me to disagree again. I've recently finished FFXIII's main storyline (currently grinding in the Mah'Habara to complete the Crystarium) and I didn't find the datalogs to be that important. I mean, sure they help understanding a few things (mostly about the lore), but once you read those about who the Fal'Cie are and so on (and it takes literally two minutes), you should be ok.I get why XIII got treated like this, since it really deserved it due to putting half of the relevant story in datalogs, but most of these criticisms nowadays seem to be based purely on prejudice, while Final Fantasy VII gets a pass because of all the nostalgia. And as much as I like FFVII, I think this is incredibly unfair.
FF games played so far: FFIV; FFVI; FFVII; FFX; FFX-2; FFXII; FFTA; FFXIII Trilogy
Currently playing: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (PS3)
Favourite FF games: FFVI; FFXII
FFVII is pure nostalgia for me. You're probably right in that I let a lot of the issues with the story slide as it was one of my favourite gaming experiences of all time. I haven't played FFXIII so I can't comment on that. It'll be interesting to see how SE present the story in the remake considering everyone knows it so well.
Did you steal a Striking Staff from Eligor in the train graveyard for Aerith?
Nah. I didn't even know about that, and I'm not really trying to get everything this time. This is a pure marathon run, so I'm doing my best to get to the end ASAP.
And don't get me wrong - I'm not saying all those things are "issues". They are staples of the genre that fans such as myself have accepted and learned to love. It's just weird that people have this weird attitude to them now when they praised VII to high heaven for the same things, basically.
Just got out of Midgar. Gonna keep Red and Aerith in my party for now because they still haven't unlocked their second limit breaks. Also, Red's gonna be my Blue Mage, so Imma try to get some enemy skills on that materia now.
Awesome. Matra Magic from the Custom Sweepers outside Midgar is always a good one. You can also steal the Cannonball gun for Barret from them... if you can be arsed.
Then yey! It's the Kalm flashback! Everyone's favourite part!
I liked some of the wacky goofiness in FFVII tbh. I do have a limited tolerance for that sort of humour but FFVII nailed it pretty hard. So did other FFs of a similar era. When I think of later attempts at FF games to do it (CHOCO BOCO LINNNNNNNAAAAAAAA!) I cringe and I wonder if it works best with the more cartoonish style graphics and a lack of voice acting.
Good God, am I glad that I dropped the XIII trilogy when I did