I'll of course always be here to disagree with you but it's far more entertaining this way don't you agree?Originally Posted by Bolivar
As for my never ending war against all things Kitase, Nojima, and Nomura. It's true, I do feel these three are slowly killing off a good franchise. Oddly enough I feel VII is the best game this team has done and I wish they would do more like it. I thought X would be that type of game but I was horribly mistaken. XIII is looking the same but I've been burned too many times to be cautiously optimistic. I choose to be skeptical cause at least then I won't be disappointed.I wish Nomura would stick to his more anime inspired designs, I don't really hate Kitase except for his overuse of action and some of his more dramatic scenes come off cheesy but that happens even to the best. Nojima is the M. Night Shyamalan of video game writing. His plots start off interesting but his incessant use of quirky (and sometimes predictable) plot twists in a sad attempt to make his games appear deeper than they really are make it difficult for me to like his games he writes for. VII is the deepest game he has worked on but VII had three other writers working on it and judging by the others he worked on, I can see the more profound parts of VII were not his ideas.
I appreciate the teams efforts to try and reinvent the genre and to redefine what fantasy is but for me they still have failed to live up to this lofty expectation. VII has come the closest for me.
But you mistake my feelings for VII as blind jealousy. VI is written as my favorite on my profile cause it will always be my favorite from a nostalgic sentimentality. That hardly means I feel VI is perfect or the quintessential FF game in the series. To be honest, if we are talking about which FF is perfect in all aspects of graphics, gameplay, storytelling and world design; my vote would actually go to FF Tactics. It's still deeper and more well thought out than any game in the main series IMHO.
Now you mistake my sentiments about FFVII as blind fanboy jealousy but it can equally be argued that your thoughts about the other games in the series in comparison to your beloved VII is the same thing. You just can't let any other game be better than it or be told that it did it first. So your point is moot. I don't hate VII, is it overrated? hell yes but I would even throw in my beloved VI as overrated. I can see that VI isn't perfect can you for VII?
Now if I had not been a die hard anime fan, or been well acquainted with Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger. I can see where VII's plot and characters could have been mind blowing to you. Regretfully I was well versed in all these and so VII offered nothing new in terms of story or depth. Granted had I been well versed in these things before playing VI I would be saying the same thing about it from a literary standpoint. My anger in the series goes solely to X but that's cause the game bored me to tears and offered nothing I can see to be meaningful. I actually liked VII and I like VIII as well.
Hopefully this has all been insightful for you.
Now, now, you are seriously downplaying the Saturn and what it offered. I'll admit that the 3D games for this system left something to be desired but many were actually good. I'll admit that it was purely Square that made VII wonderful through the power of the Playstaion but as Goldenboko has pointed out you treat it as though Square has never done this before. FFIII practically looks like an SNES game at times and the sprite details in VI and CT are still barely rivaled today in standards. Square has always pushed the technological boundaries of the systems they work for. Only Square and Kojima's team in Konami can truly make a system stand up and do tricks. The technology allowed them to make it 3D finally. Technically VI (in a very roundabout way) was first to be turned to 3D.And this is my main point - it changed how games were made. All 3 of you talk about how the graphics, sound, gameplay are revolutionary for the system, not the game, and I COMPLETELY AGREE.
This is my thesis - it is how Square took these elements and used them that allowed Final Fantasy VII to change games. So far, with the CD revolution in games there were two extremes, stereotypical of two prominent systems in their history - The SegaCD (not saturn, sega's first, and possibly the first popular, attempt at a CD console) had games that were basically movies - you make a minor selection, and then a scene plays out. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Understand that I mean this in the most literal sense, this is not like all of your criticisms of the newer final fantasies, these were REALLY interactive movies. At the other end you had the playstation, which for the most part took gameplay elements that were already in existence and were able to make really large, or really long video games.
This is why I believe VII is revolutionary - it was able to transcend both extremes masterfully and create the foundation for the modern console game. It was able to take very in-depth gameplay, the best looking movie sequences of its time, and combine them at just the right ratio in order to provide one of the best gaming experiences of all time. It was the middle ground, not to say other games didn't dance around it, but FFVII was what nailed the bull's eye, and basically gave the blueprint for how games were to be made, especially on the Sony Playstation. If you didn't have your badass cut scenes, your game was boring. If you didn't have the good gameplay, you just didn't have the game. VII created this market.
I'll agree that VII set a standard for RPGs but I feel you fail to see that FFII and FFIV did it as well. The FF series as a whole has always been a trendsetter regardless whether polpular opinion felt so. I don't feel that VII has set a standard that hasn't been surpassed to this day. Just about every FF after the game set the bar for RPGs. The only things I can see VII truly revolutionizing was the introduction of cutscenes (which did become standard after it was realeased) and that due to its amazing visuals and wonderful gameplay, opened up the RPG genre to a wider audiance.
You fail to remember that Nintendo was the only comapny resistant to moving onto CD format. The transition was inevitable, and most of the industry saw it. That was why the 64 did poorly. They lost all their 3rd party support because as we all know Nintendo makes
VERY well said. Might I also add that we're talking about the game, Final Fantasy VII. Not the Sony Playstation. I dont give aif it was made for atari. THE GAME WAS A FIRST ON MANY LEVELS. Squaresoft decided to ditch Nintendo, and take a gamble with Sony. No, game companies didnt think they were gunna go to CD, Nintendo never wanted to abandone cartridges. Squaresoft took a gamble with Sony, and won, massivley.
Your game doesnt continue to sell 10 years later because it sucks.
But Bolivar hit the nail on the head. You guys are pissed because VII gets more recognition and attention then your SNES games.
You act like VII was the first CD based 3D game. Wild ARMS was the first to use 3D sprites and their were quite a few CD based RPGs on the Saturn. Bolivar makes a better point in saying that VII was the first to do it well.
