Final Fantasy VII is overrated...

[Sun_Quan]

This is true Stampede, not to mention correct. "Best Bracket" **laughs** funny stuff, I hope that Gamefaqs never does a contest like that again, that was very stupid in my books. But ah well, you're right in that there are many over-rated games out there, just that in my books Chrono Trigger isn't really one of them solely because that game did live up to it's hype, and contained surprise after surprise, after surprise, all building up to one huge-assed shocker! And that wasn't tne end of it either. There was more to come after finding out what you found out.

To me, that isn't a game that's over-rated in my books, if a game doesn't live up to it's hype or is over-hyped then that's when it's over-rated. Even though some of the over-hyped games turned out to be fantastic in the end. Like Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2 for instance, great games, especially Dark Cloud 2. But while the first game was rediculously over-hyped and apparently didn't live up to expectations, I was able to enjoy that game for what it was. I might get that game back so I can go through the Demon Shaft. But anyway, I can enjoy an over-hyped game for what it is for the most part, but when a character like Sephiroth beats one of my favorite game characters (Mario, come on, Mario is the man who saved the gaming industry), that's when I start saying "N-O".
_________________
"Brother...father....for the glory of our family..." - Sun Quan

[KoRnholio]

I don't like to label games as 'the best ever', but Final Fantasy VII was one of my favorite games, and probably one of the three games in existence that I've spent an inordinate amount of time playing. The other two being Final Fantasy Tactics, and Suikoden 2. And maybe add Baldur's Gate for the PC to that list too. It says something for a game that long to spur me to replay it probably 10 times. Everything is addicting. The story, gameplay, and music all just suck you in.

I just wish they hadn't attempted to assign a title to the best game ever. If they wanted to do that to a game based on how many people liked it, why not just use the sales figures?

[Deleted User 1]

it is not

[Flame Champion Viktor]

Final fantasy VII is indeed overrated big time,Suikoden2 is tons better than FFVII because Suikoden has alot of better characters and the story is cooler plus Luca Blight is cooler than Seprioth.
_________________
I have no soul... I am heartless

[Edge Riou]

I don't know about that Luca cooler than sephiroth thing. I think they are equally matched in my opinion for one reason olone: Sephiroth uses a weapon with the name Masamune, which happens to be my favorite sword name of all time. If Luca used a Masamune sword he would be way ahead.

As for Chrono Trigger: In my favorite game ever because of the great storyline, gameplay, character design, and replay value. See, with games I do not care about graphics. All a good game needs is a a good storyline and gameplay. What good is a game with great graphics, but no storyline and terrible gameplay.

The suikoden series is my second favorite series or individual games period. I liked Suikoden 2 then 1 then 3 in that order. The history behind Suikoden also makes it great.
_________________

[Icebergin]

[Gaius Abruscato]

I Liked FF7. I thought the plot was really neat. The characters were generally pretty good too, but I still like the characters of Gensui2 more. Probably mostly because there were so many. I like characters. That's what makes me 'bond' with a game or a story most. If I want the characters to make it through, and I want to see them all happy at the end, then I'll want to make it to the end of the game, you know? The story of Gensui2 also swept me off my feet, as did the music, the world setting, the glitches and mini-games, and did I mention I loved the characters?

...with FF7, the reason I probably couldn't 'bond' with the characters was because 1: I'd had much of the game spoiled by the time I got around to playing it, and 2: I planned to (and did) cosplay as Yuffie at a convention. As such, I had to keep her in my party to get a better idea of her character, and boy did I not like her at all. It's hard to get to like the other characters if you never get to use them.
So I really didn't enjoy the game as much as I should have. That skewed my perspective a bit. I still liked the game, and that alone speaks pretty highly of FF7!

[Lilly Pendragon]

what about FF8. that was better than FF7. They had the cool card game, the GFs, the characters (dell) but S2 is better than both of them.

[TheStrategist]

Now that Final Fantasy has been labeled 'best.game.ever' at gamefaqs, it's pretty obvious who's going to win the character contest - i'm almost postive the battle is going to come down to cloud and sephiroth unless they intentionally put them early in the bracket...I voted to have Yuber in the contest, because i think he is a realible candidate to take the throne as the character champion. Plus i think it would be extremely interesting to see a character contest between nothing but suikoden characters, avoiding the popularity contests with other rpg characters..

[Gwendal]

There was a Suikoden 3 character contest on the GameFAQs S3 board a while ago, but it was closed because of all the arguing that broke out in the thread. You could always make a Suikoden character contest in the community forum...I`d be kind of pointless, though. You might as well make a simple poll: "Who do you like better? Viktor or Flik?". :roll:
_________________

[Tonberry]

FFVII was definately a great game and I do not think it is overrated. I think people want to say it is overrated because they feel other games are better and resent the fact that so many people love the game. It is my second favorite game ever. It has great qualities and great replay value. I don't like how so many people don't like it just to go against the grain. It has earned the respect it has gained and should definately be in any RPGer's top 20 favorites even if there are games they like better. You have to be trying to not like it in order to dislike it.

[Ashley Riot]

Overrated? Absolutely. But I don't like that word. Seems to me that when someone uses the word "overrated" these days, it's given an extremely elitist tone, and I don't like elitism. I mean no offense to anyone in the thread, of course. Just saying that I'll take my sandwich and Diet Coke over caviar and Cavignon any day of the week.

That said, I do think Final Fantasy VII gets treated as the patron saint of all game-dom, and often undeservedly so, in more ways than one. For one thing, it's quite obvious that it is not the greatest game ever made. Not only is that an extremely hyperbolic statement, but it fails to take into account opinion and era- Final Fantasy VII is graphically inferior to its successors in many ways. Is it weaker plot-wise, gameplay-wise? That's all a matter of taste, and taste you don't account for by saying it is the undisputed greatest of all time. It's also unfair to say that because that places a huge amount of pressure on the game itself; I've seen people write that this is "the Hamlet of video games." That's way unfair. Not only are the two incomparable when it boils down to it (one is a video game and the other is a play, and I would argue the two are both art, but in extremely different mediums), but what does that tell a guy who's about to play the game for the first time? "Wow, this is going to blow my mind!" And then, in this age of expert voice acting, real-time battle systems, and stellar graphics, they get Final Fantasy 7's typos, ATB fights, random encounters, and blocky sprites. Hype is an ancient art and one that consistently destroys many old games for many new players.

So where do you draw the line, and it is a thin one, between praise and hype? Well, you could always take the more casual route and just say "I really liked it, you ought to give it a try" over "this game is enlightenment- buy it and thank me later." Personally, I try to keep my hopes in a neutral zone no matter what game I buy. Very few games actually raise my hopes and then deliver on them (Tales of Symphonia and Vagrant Story being the two noteables), no matter who's talking to me, so I find it better to go in ready to swing either way. Yes, say that aloud and it's funny, ha ha ha.

Enough rambling. Final Fantasy VII stands beside Final Fantasy Tactics as my favorite of the series. I enjoyed the color and the breadth of the world and story, the iconic force of the cast and the technique and challenge in the gameplay. Sidequests weren't quite as fun as they've been in other games, but still satisfying to complete (who didn't pump their fists in the air after defeating Ultima, Ruby, and Emerald WEAPON?). If there was a single flaw in the game I had to name, it wouldn't be in the story- it's that perfectionists were just royally screwed for time. Leveling characters is enough of a chore, but leveling materia quickly towards the end of the game requires you to use a party you may not be familiar with or even like.

Not that the story wasn't flawed in some ways, either. The script is refreshingly colloquial, but marred by a terrible localization (a wound that FFTactics bleeds from as well). "This guy are sick"? "Off course"? Ugh. No wonder that rumor about a remake keeps going around. Then again, I would actually support a remake that just mended the translation and touched up the script. My reasoning? Sephiroth.

Do any of you realize how close Sephiroth is to being a contender for the series' most tragic villain, if not for a brainless, mediocre slip-up during his "revelation" at the Temple of the Ancients? He was a hair away from being a man taking revenge for a race that he wasn't even a part of, a race his mother helped destroy. Instead, thanks to what he said there, we don't even know anything about his motives anymore. We have a character who is completely inconsistent- with himself. Still breaks my heart to see that, even to this day. Then, of course, you have the requisite cartoonishness of some of the Shinra executives- I really have a hard time taking them seriously when they have clowns like Heidegger, Palmer, and Scarlett running the show. Fortunately, there's Rufus, Reeve, and the Turks to balance it out, and present Shinra as a worthy threat.

But, despite these scars the game still sports...I still like it, and I love playing it. These days I don't get to very often, and I think I play it once a year on average in the last five, but it's still a fantastic, fun romp for me. In particular, I haven't seen such personal venom between the hero and the villain as Cloud and Sephiroth brought to the table, enforced by the fact that they are not related to each other. No Darth Sephiroths, no Cloud Skywalkers. Cloud has his hero betray him, not his father. That makes it all the more enjoyable to see them get personal, and something I applaud the game for to this very day. Even some of my other favorites could not do this.

And damn, but it is still fun to play, too. That game features music that still sticks in my head and battles that stay there as well- the simplest materia combinations could take you such a long way, and they were loads of fun to toy with. I remember Lightning-Elemental was a constant favorite of mine, on weaponry or armor. The battles with Rufus, the Turks, the WEAPONs, Hojo, Sephiroth himself- all so memorable to me, strengthened by Nobuo Uematsu's score which is still a favorite, and the drastic but refreshing change in graphics when you were actually out fighting on the field. There's still a lot I can enjoy in just playing the game. I'm not a Gold Chocobo man and I think Knights of the Round takes the fun out of the game, but nabbing all the materia is such an interesting waste of time!

So...hyped? Oh, yeah. For every casual FF7 gamer you'll find two more who have devoted hours to analyzing a part of Tifa Lockheart's polygonal anatomy. But, while it ruins the game for many, it hasn't for me. It's still fun- the most important thing for any game- but it still takes itself seriously enough for me to think of it as art. I'm just as pleased with the game today as I was when it came out. Just not as obsessive.
_________________

"I've been shown a lifetime of oddities in a day." -- Ashley Riot

[Kit-Kit]

I think FF7 RULEZ oneoneone!!!!11111 omg. Sefiroth r suu cool
_________________
Someone please AIM RP with me :(?

[Kit-Kit]

rofl, sorry. I just had to be the person in the thread who says .." HEY ITS NOT OVERRATED"
_________________
Someone please AIM RP with me :(?

[Tonberry]

I don't think it's overrated. :x

Hey, the majority of true FFVII fans are not like that. Frankly, I'm insulted.