Final Fantasy VII Overrated

[nightrider]

OK so I guess I am going to take a lot of flack for this one, but personally I feel that FF7 is just plain overrated. This is all about my views, and my experiences with the game, and that's the reason I did not make it a poll, because like I said these are my personal feelings about the game. The other thing I want to get out of the way is that by no means do I think that it is a bad game. In fact I think it is a very good game, and have played it multiple times. However I don't feel that it is the be all end all that it is made out to be.
At the time I had played FF7 I had only played two other RPGs before it Super Mario RPG and FF6 (OK I will admit it I was a late RPG bloomer, but I have made up for it in the span of a few years). Anyway at the time I thought the graphics were very well done, and I loved the cutsecnes. If I had more time, and if I wasn't so lazy I could fully explain my some more of views of the game, but for now I will just go over a few major points.
The plot: This is one of the things that I felt hurt the game. Some people love it, but I guess it's just not my cup of tea. I also was not to hot on the setting, while on one hand I like how they had the semi-cyberpunk thing going on, I just don't think it fit the Final Fantasy image.
The characters: For me this makes or breaks an RPG. There was just something about Cloud and the rest of the cast that I could not cling onto. Now before I get the "hey Cloud was so cool and badass" There were no redeeming qualities for me. I guess I don't know how to put it all into words right now.
Like I said before I don't hate the game, and I do like it. It is just that there are things that I don't "get" as to why it has become the "the RPG to play." For me there are many other RPGs that would serve as a flagship game for RPGs like FF4, FF6, or Suikoden 2.
_________________
"The hood ornament on your car is for telling you where you're going. The rear-view-mirror is for showing you how good you look while you're getting there." David Lee Roth

[Benit149]

This is all I'm going to say for FF7: it revolutionized the quality of games and cinematics. It was the biggest jump from sprites to polygons in gaming history, and its plot was grand at the time. Now I look back at the storyline and don't find it to be feasible. I could bash or glorify FF7 to no end like many people do, but I don't like those kinds of discussions.

Still, it changed many things graphically. That's it.
_________________
"Luca Blight, patron saint of population decrease." -- Benit, MST149

Benit149: First Lady of Addervon, Princess of Slight Fever, defender of the Nameless.

[Vincent Chase]

Ooh, this is going to be quite the hot button topic. I can't wait to see until everyone gets at eachother's throats. Before posting this let me say that I do like Final Fantasy VII alot, but it's not the best game in the series, not even close.

I don't think it's so much the game that's overrated as alot of the things in the game are overrated. I mean, for the most part the characters are extremely solid, The Materia system is great, the music is very moving and the graphics and cinematics were, yeah, ahead of their time, at least until Final Fantasy VIII was released. However, there are a few things that every Final Fantasy VII fanboy on the internet will stake claim to as being the best in any game, or any RPG, and they're just not.

1. Sephiroth - Most of the fanboys who say things about Sephiroth, like he's "the Kewlest" and "Bes tviLlain evar!" don't even know the whole story about him, and really neither do it. What I do know, however, is that Sephiroth is dead. Cloud killed him in the Nibel Reactor in his flash back, and this also explains why his body is frozen in the North Cavern. You really fight Jenova throughout the game, not Sephiroth, or at least not until the very end, when you can't lose to him.

I really think people like him because he looks cool, and he does. The only villain that's come close in the looks department since are probably Luc and Ghaleon. However, that just doesn't work. Liking him because of how he looks only carries your argument so far; try liking someone in real life based on their looks and see what happens.

2. The Story - Just got way too damn confusing. It took about three playthroughs for me to get to my current level of understanding, and that's probably only about 60%. What's so great about a story that starts off relatively simply (AVALANCHE vs. Shinra) and then throws the kitchen sink at you near the end of the first disc (the Cetra, JENOVA, Mako Research, Hojo, Cloud's memory and ability to be manipulated, the Black Materia). It's too much to take in in one single playthrough, even if you do read any of the many theories available on the net.

But that's not to say that it doesn't do some story elements right: The game shouldn't have been as tragic as FFVI, but it was far more so because of the timing of events. There wasn't one pointless character (a feat that the series never did before and hasn't done since), All the revelations (no matter how far fetched alot of them were) happened at just the right time and the philosophical scope of the game ('What happens to my body when I die?') was deep and profound, and extremely well integrated into the whole Shinra-Mako thing.

3. Tifa - A good fighter, but too repressed. Go ahead and shoot your fanboy onslaught of 'Dude! look at the boobies!' at me, I'll be unfazed. Of course she's attractive, for a girl made of polygons, now if only her character was as well developed as her chest. She was flat (figuratively!) in her character, often saying what she felt was appropriate and not what was on her mind. Aeris wouldn't have stolen your man if you just told him how you felt in the beginning. Luckily for you she died and you were right there to take her place.

So in short, it's not the game that's bad, it's the game's fans. I have one such friend who will agree to all of the things I just disagreed to with absolute certainty, and it's sad. Of course alot of the people who swear by the game so much played it as their first RPG and the first impression is always the deepest, but there are alot of better RPGs out there, and they shouldn't blind themselves to them just because the villain doesn't look as cool as Sephiroth does.

[fuji]

dude! look at the boobies!

I think FF7 did a lot for the RPG genre, but in the end, I never really was a fan of it. I found the story somewhat awkward although the red herring it led you through for most of the game was well done. Aeries was a very cool character, had meaning and seemed well done, but then you meet Cait Sith.... and it's hard to take anything serious. I was however impressed (still am) with the visuals, the revolution (for better or worse) of mini games, the incredibly deep materia system and a grand world that was created.

What we all have to understand is that to many, FF7 was their first RPG. These people were so impressed with the game that they played more games of the genre.... They say you always remember the first time....

In the end though, FF7 did a lot of great things for RPG fans. Personally I think it was an okay game, good not great. In my opinion it is the recipient of a lot of unjustified hate though...

I do know one thing though, people have strong feelings about this game one way or another and this could become a very active topic :)
_________________
______ "We're still flying"

___ "That's not much"

"It's enough"

[Milan Fiori]

Cloud actually didn't kill Sephiroth in the Nebelheim Reactor. He fell off into the core which is directly connected to the Life Stream. his body floated in the Life Stream and made it's way to the wound of the planet. During that time he gained all the knowledge of the ancients. He found out that the planet moves all of it's energy when it's hurt so he devised the plan to hit it there meteor and become a god.


The Sephiroth that you saw throughout the game was not Sephiroth. It was those black robed clones. Sephiroth prejected his subconscious through the Jenova cell's to take over their bodies. Sephiroth never left the Northern Cavern.
_________________
Be awed by our prowess!

[Wataru]

FFVII will always have a special place in my heart. For nostalgia if for no other reason. The game came out my sophomore year of college and that is what the next two years of my (and my friends') college experience was spent on.

[Barbarossa Rugner]

My views on FF7 have always been positive. I thought it was a great rpg and the best one i played at the time. It had like three commercials promoting it so obviously it was one of the most well known videogames of it's time. I think a lot of non rpg gamers bought it enabling FF7 to gain infamous status. People that never played rpgs were suddenly FF7 groupies who considered it the greatest game ever which i think forced it to become overrated.

Personally though i enjoyed the entire game and it still remains one of my favorites. I can see where some would say it is overrated since i don't think it is even close to the greatest game ever made(as some would claim at the time) but it did revolutionize graphics with square's mini movies inside the games and kept me occupied for hours trying to acquire everything i could.

I thought the graphics were excellent considering when it was released and i enjoyed both the gameplay and music. I will let those of you who i know will be more passionate about this topic duke it out though.
_________________

The Rune on my Sword, the Dragon King Sword, is protected against any form of magic, Even the rune of the Gate - Barbarossa Rugner

[butters]

Mmm...Im all mixed up about FF7 I really thought the characters were lame i just couldnt pick out one i really liked....but i found gameplay fun like certain things you had to do (Dressing up as a girl, the gold saucer, pretending to be a shinra soldier) and well i played the game late so graphics didnt "WOW" me like people who played it when it first came out.

To me its a Decent enough game but other games like Chrono Trigger, FF6, Suikoden 2 blow it out of the water hands down (this is just my opinion)
_________________
So let's enjoy the day and let's hold onto it as long as we can. I know I will. - Eddie Guerrero

RIP Eddie 1967 - 2005

[apathy]

i too think ff7 was highly overrated. all it had going for it was the best graphics at the time. i personally don't care about graphics but concentrate more on gameplay and storyline. i felt no connection to the characters like i did in the other games in the series. i beat the game once and haven't touched it again. i usually play rpg's more than once so i can find new stuff, but i just can't get myself to play it again, and it's been about 6 years.

there were better rpg's released before and after ff7(1997) but didn't get as much respect because the graphics weren't as good. like breath of fire 3(1998), lunar: silver star story(1998), and even suikoden 1(1996). a lot of my friends didn't play suikoden until 3 was released because they didn't like the graphics on the first 2. it makes me believe that some gamers only play what is most aestheticly pleasing instead of the best games regardless of how they look.
_________________

[Tonberry]

FFVII is NOT the best game in the series, but it definatley not overrated. It was my first RPG and I played through it 12 times before I got my second RPG. It is an outstanding game with awesome graphics, excellent music, an awsome ability system, and characters that you can't help but love.

As for Sephiroth, he may be overrated (seeing as he gets 85% of the vote on online polls for being the best bad dude), but I think he is an excellent bad guy. I think Kefka was better, but Sephiroth takes a close second. Seriously, he is definatley bad, looks cool, and best of all, has a nice little story behind him.

As far as the story goes, it IS confusing, but is no more confusing than FFVIII and FFT (which was translated by monkeys).

The music was phenomenal. There are SO MANY good pieces of music in the game. One Winged Angel, Sending a Dream Into the Universe, Great Warrior, Jenova's Battle Theme, and even the music in The Temple of the Ancients was good. Nobou Uematsu really outdid himself this time.

The graphics were exceptional back in the day. Even now when I watch the 5 WEAPONS emerge from Northern Crater, I am stunned with how good it is. It may not be FFIX's Skirmish of the Silver Dragons, but it is pretty darn great. Even Aeris' death and when Could drops her into the lake were awesome graphically.

Materia. I could go on forever with materia. It is one of the best ability systems I have ever seen. There are endless possibilities with hw you can make different combinations and such. The weapons, armors, and accesories were good too.

The mini-games in FFVII were very good too. The snowboarding, chocobo breeding and racing, motrocycle game, the roller coaster, the submarine and battle arena were lots of fun. Even the simple games such as Mog House, basketball, the Rock, Paper, Scissors-style fighting, and the arm-wrestling had there funness (is that a word?) I have spent hours upon hours in Gold Saucer playing mini-games and am still finding myself spending time there.

Though there weren't that many side-quests, the ones that did exist provided decent or great rewards and a fair challenge. Chcobo breeding, collecting items for the Kalm Traveler, Beating the WEAPONS, collecting the best materia and equipment, and completing your enemy-skills materia took time and effort unlike some FF games where you spend a whoile bunch of time and get minimal rewards.

All in all, FFVII is a fantastic game and most people who don't like it just say they don't like it to argue or to get attention. You can't not like it if you like RPGs. It is true that there are better RPGs, but FFVII should be in every RPGer's top ten, if not top five, favorite games. I honestly like FFIX better, but FFVII is my second favorite.