Xenogears V FFVII

[raskerino]

In any event, to me, a story is everything

OK, for me (I favor FFVII in case anyone didn't read above posts) the storyline isn't everything it's the sum of what a game turns out to be. FFVII's storyline was very strong imo and it had strong characters to back it up, they were both characters I could like and connect too (all of them even Cait Sith fit the story and had interesting motives, except aeris who I dislike), and good characters make the story so, so much better imo. However what I liked by far the most about VII's storyline was something I didn't like near as much about xenogears. The timing of the story, when you learned what- how much you learned after beating jenova at the crater in early disk 2 and many other scenes that for me came at the perfect time. How the story developed so that you always knew enough to be satisfied, but there was also much more to know (a feel definitely not in xenogears for me). Also the feel of the game was somewhere I loved to be, and that wasn't only created by the storyline- the characters were very important for that, as was the timing of the story. Another part of the feel was the graphics (no I'm not a graphic whore) I like graphics based on how nicely they're done, not on how powerful the graphic engine they're using is. And I loves the backgrounds in FFVII, from the industrial midgar, to cosmo canyon, to wutai and the north crater. It was well done backgrounds that gave nicely different feels to th different places you were at. There are some side topics that come up between the characters (not that their weren't in xenogears, I'm saying why I love FFVII) for example an early, short talk between Cloud and Barret that made me think a bunch about how midgar worked that was about people living in the slums vs the plate. There were a few times like this where the game just brought up really interesting topics. And I care about the gameplay, I really enjoyed VII's gameplay. As I've said before I found the materia system amazing and I enjoy the FF type in battle fights. It all worked for me and it was truly a wonderful game. It's probably tied for my second favorite after FFVIII and tied with Shadow Hearts:Covenant.

^Above is just why I like FFVII.^

I think xenogears is a great game but the timing didn't work as well for me. And the feel wasn't as wonderful.

PS: And no I'm not a FF7 fanboy (not that anyone accused me of that, this is pre-emptive defense) I give reasons for why I love games.

PS2: And Behold the Void don't hate me and kill off my characters cause I disagree with you

[Lord Chainsaw]

I don't agree with the spoiler rule either. I think it's pretty ridiculous seeing as a gamer like me has so many games to play that I can't possibly get to them all within 3 years of them coming out.

I simply try to avoid spoilers instead of using the tags. Mind you it's pretty impossible to say what needs to be said without revealing something, I usually try to my hardest to get out what's in my mind without the annoying tags. It really isn't that difficult to do either, but I suppose the spoiler rule is meant to cater to the casual gamer who can either get through all the games they play in 3 years, or simply doesn't care too deeply about video game stories in the first place to warrant the trouble of highlighting a spoiler tag.

We're a dying breed, my brother.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I am trying to keep my spoilers down, but I may need to give something away, and I'm assuming everyone here has played both games, just by virtue of the fact that they're even IN this thread.

*ahem*

Basically, take what you described for FFVII, and change it to Xenogears. I have the same feeling towards Xenogears as you do towards FFVII. Frankly, I wasn't too impressed with FFVII. There were some aspects I really enjoyed (like the Cait Sith/Reeve thing), but for the most part it just wasn't that spectacular to me. I enjoyed it, but I never felt it worth playing again, nor did I feel any particular connection with it.

OOC:	And as far as killing your character, I won't do that. If he loses, it's simply because his build is defeated by the opponent's build, I don't care if someone disagrees with me

[Dreddz]

never felt it worth playing again,

Funny, seems like everyone can have a different opinion, I could play FFVII all day long and never get bored......

[CloudDragon]

Xenogears > FFVII

[Sephex]

Although I prefer FFVII, I do believe that Xenogears had a deeper plot. The only thing that I felt was wrong with the game is the rushed nature of the 2nd disc. Yeah, yeah, I know that it wasn't the developers fault--Squaresoft didn't give them enough time or whatever. However, I still didn't like how rushed it was.

It was like, "Okay...now Fei and company had to go fight some robot. THEN...they had to go fight a bigger robot!"

[Vyk]

I never could understand people's complaint on that part, but I guess that's because it's derived from a gameplay standpoint. (Note however for those that don't know, its not that the game play on that disc is bad or changed in anyway, it's just few and far between). My take on RPGs is that they are the real novels of the video game world. I'm all about plot and storyline. And though I shy away from choosing between FF7 and XenoG, I will express my perspective on this choice. The developers had a choice as Square crunched their time. The second disc was maybe halfway complete or something. They could have cut the plot a bit and made it more interactive, like the first half of the game. Or they could get their WHOLE story across, but not have the player as involved. They chose to tell their whole story. And for that I am grateful. We now know almost everything they wanted to tell us in that game. Yes there was a compromise, but one I'm willing to make, because for me, in the truest sense, it is all about the story. And we got that story.

I know a lot of dialogue in games can be tedious. I've heard lots of complaints about Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door to this tune. Way too much talking. But in XenoG the narrative and dialogue of the second disc was forgivable in that it was interesting and worth reading dialogue and narrative (to me anyway). Because I think it was a captivating and very interesting and deep and original (albiet confusing) storyline. Which I'll take over jumping around and fighting ANY day.

[Sephex]

It wasn't the constant dialouge that bothered me. Like I said, I felt the game was rushed during the second disc. In fact, I'm one of the people who was baffled when people compalined about too much dialouge in Paper Mario 2.

[Shelus Enzinual]

In terms of one of the most complete storylines in the world...from Square, I would have to say Xenogears

In terms of Graphics, I liked Final Fantasy VII. It's graphics were just a little beter.

With having plenty of villians, Xenogears takes the Gold on that one.

With the leveling up system, I perfer to level up in my free time with Final Fantasy VII.

Using items and weapons. I rate the two games equally.

In truth, I can't say why I like Xenogears better, but I do, and that is good enough for me.

[Vyk]

Hee, what an awesome first post. Need more newbies like you. You just fade into the EoFF crowd like I did. Welcome aboard, mate :D

[bipper]

They both took hold of my soul and wouldn't let go.

[DJZen]

You know, there ARE other games in the universe...

[nik0tine]

Xenogears is better than FF7, tenfold. I thought FF7 had better gameplay and graphics, and although gameplay and graphics (to an extent) are important, they take a back seat to things like storyline and character developement, and in those areas Xenogears has FF7 beat a hundred times over.

[Destai]

and although gameplay and graphics (to an extent) are important, they take a back seat to things like storyline and character developement,

Only in the most slective RPG's and not in general videogames. Thats probably why VII was so much more popular.

[edczxcvbnm]

Due to the length of Xenogears it has the replayability of building multiple Sears Towers. If you play as many games as I do it just takes too much time to do again. FFVII on the other hand only takes like 15 hours to beat again. Much more replayable.