Not sure if this has come up before, but I thought it might be a good discussion. I have read a few threads about why it's a good game or it isn't a good game so I figured we could disect it and see what could be better.

Here's mine:

1. Materia
- Slash all should have been earlier in the game.
- Shield should have been the final ability of Barrier Materia instead of a seperate one (WHich was useless by the time you get it)
- Mega All. Was there really a need for this? Especially considering that you get it near the end of the game.
- Add more support materia (Guard Plus, Power Plus...)
- Add break limits (Damage limit, HP limit, MP limit...)


2. Enemies
- All of the Boss fights should have been a lot harder (Especially the end)
- Give enemies some of the same materia as you have. (Imagine the difference in the last battle if Sephiroth had Knights of the Round)

3. Story
- Better translation from Japanese to English
- More background on all of the characters (What was the point of Cait Sith? Really...)

4. Gameplay
- Definately fix the w-item bug. Sure it was useful having 99 megalixers all the time, but it would have been more rewarding to beat the game without this...

That's all I can think of right now...

Just all the confussions in the storyline.

- Give enemies some of the same materia as you have. (Imagine the difference in the last battle if Sephiroth had Knights of the Round)



yea, your characters have a max of 9999 hp, and knights of the round does 80 thousand wroth of damage on a shitty turn. i could really the see the point of that

Tifa Rinoa, if you put the story of FFVII together, there are no confusions, but you are right - it's really confusing if you have just started playing the game or haven't been able to see some of the the secret scenes in the game.
I know it's really hard to put the story together, but what can you do. That's why I love FFVII, it gave me a challenge. ^_^

I agree with Xaos, the translations were really bad, you're right. As for the other changes, they're quite good, to. But if Sephiroth had KotR, it would be impossible to beat him unless you had Final attack+Phoenix. But most average players don't get Final Attack, so they wouldn't be able to defeat Sephiroth. Doing this would make the game to hard for such players. Guard plus, Power plus and other are also a good idea. The W-item bug bugs me to, but I never used this to duplicate items, NEVER. I always played fair, without any codes or anything, because there is no thrill if you cheat. As for the characters, well, maybe you're right about Caith Sith, but other characters have been "brought to life" really good. As for Mega-all, this materia is an independent materia, you just have to equip it and it will allow you to use any materia on all enemies(or allies), you don't have to link this materia to any other, just put it in any materia slot you wish. But getting this in the end kinda sucks, as you said.

Why should overpowered materia be available early in the game? To make it even more easy?

And about break damage/hp limits. You don't need them do you? Obviously this comes from FFX and ther eyou will highly enjoy it trying to beat the Dark Aeons or the various Arena bosses. However it would be complete nonsense to put this into FFVIII because there is absolutly no need for it, no single monster could kill you in one turn except for Emerald Weapon with his Aire Tam move. And break damage limit? Seph has 114.00 in Bizarro form and 106.000 without optional boss battles like those from the Arena in FFX, why on earth would you like to win in 2 turns?

Also on a side note, you don't -have- to exploit the W-Item bug. It's completely up to YOU to use it or not.

To be honest most of your changes are utterly stupid and useless if you ask me.

oi have never played this but i have heard a lot. the story line was screwed up. FFX is wayy better. but im pissed, i just saw a commercial and itsaid best rpg game since final fantasy. it was a lord of the rings game. PFFFFFFFT

Why should overpowered materia be available early in the game? To make it even more easy?


What powerful materia did I suggest having early in the game? Just Slash-All. That is the overpowerd materia you were talking about? I admit that flash should not exist, but I believe that the ability to target all enemies with a less powerful attack should be available a lot earlier in the game.


And about break damage/hp limits. You don't need them do you? Obviously this comes from FFX...

If you read my whole post than you would have noticed that I suggested making the bosses HARDER. and also giving the enemies some of the SAME MATERIA that the characters get. How would this make the game easier?

I think the damage limit of 9999 is retarded. So that once you can do 9999 damage with something, you will never be able to do anything more powerful.

So, If the boss fights were a lot harder, then it would be beneficial for characters to get break limits. It could even be a function of HP plus and MP plus (a level 4 ability) and add a materia for damage plus (That gives the 4th level break damage limit)


Also on a side note, you don't -have- to exploit the W-Item bug. It's completely up to YOU to use it or not.

Granted, but I have often found that if it's there, people will use it.


To be honest most of your changes are utterly stupid and useless if you ask me.

So that means you like the game exactly the way it is? Then why are you in a "What would you change" Thread?

Am I not free to give my oppinion on things?

Edit: I'd like you to respect my point of view, which is: No single game is perfect and I'd like to enjoy the game as it is. Because like you I could thing of alot of stuff that I'd like to add or leave out of games. But that's not going to happen that disicion is not ours to make (unless, for the smart asses out that, you're part of a devoloping team). No one could possibly make a game that's perfect in everyone's eyes. That's why I like to make a more realisitic approach on the game. The combination of harder monsters + damage and hp breaks is something that distinguishes FFX. Would it not be boring if all games would start becomming more and more the same? I'd like to think good games are unique in their own way, and therefor should remain unchanged.

Am I not free to give my oppinion on things?


I apologize to you if you think I was trying to prevent you from having an opinion. You stated your first post as a challenge that my idea was "Useless" and I was only trying to answer your charges.

This post is all about fantasy. I know that the game will never be changed to accomodate our ideas, but we can discuss these ideas can't we? This is just a 'what if' type of post. There were a great many things I liked about ff7 but also many that dissappointed me, so I thought we could discuss what changes could have been made.

By all means feel free to dissagree with me, but when you say things like my ideas are 'useless' then I tend to get kind of defensive.

It's not in particular your ideas, if anyone else would have posted your ideas about the changes I'd say the same thing. ;-)

But by all means feel free to share your view. :-)

Also kinda curions what you thought of my oppinion on it, since I feel like we could turn this into a nice debate.

ok...In response to:


The combination of harder monsters + damage and hp breaks is something that distinguishes FFX. Would it not be boring if all games would start becomming more and more the same?

I have to dissagree there.

I didn't particularly like FFX because I felt that they sacrificed gameplay for better graphics. I don't feel that the break limit systems from that game 'distinguished' it.

That being said, I presented the idea of break limits as a way of adding more strategy to the game. If, for example, Sephiroth had KOTR, then it would take something like a break limit ability just to survive it. Final attack only went so far IMO.

Also if 2 games have one shared system, that doesn't make them clones. If you take the best systems from several different games and put them into one game, then I feel that you would have the best game, not the most boring as you seem to imply.

I have to agree with Xaos. The break limit systems didn't really make FFX that special in my opinion. But this is my opinion about this, so don't flame me for it.

And Xaos' idea about Sephiroth having KotR now seems a good one - we all know that Sephiroth is really easy to beat if you're good, and if you're on a high level and have good materia and so on. He would be a lot harder to beat if he had KotR, so only really good players would be able to beat him. But as I said in my previos post, the game was made to be a challenge to average players. As for Xaos' changes, they are pretty good. As he said, it's all about adding more strategy to the game and I think this is OK.

I disagree on sacrificing gameplay for graphics. FFX is the best FF together with FFVI in the series. But that's my oppinion.

True that only the Final Attack materia + Phoenix combination expands beyond what you sugested. But that's pretty much the same thing as auto life in FFX. That again is only one ability. I agree however that you don't need it to complete the game. But it's also good that you don't need it because you can easily miss it during your play.

As for the limit system compare; I liked FFX's alot and you could set it up in alot of several ways. It makes leveling quite easy and gives you more of an edge in the optional boss battles (trust me you'll need them), on the otherhand I didn't really liked VVI's limit system (yes we now come to the part I'd like have something changed about the game, but I still stick with my former point of view). The limits build up too slow and has to be set up in advance, where as in FFVIII or FFX you can choose what move you'd like to perform the second the limit becomes available. More over, FFVIII and FFX also allowed you to still perform normal attacks, where in FFVII you could not. You'd either have to go in defense mode, use a magic attack, or healing spell on yourself (party) or a summon.

What I mean with that two games start to like to eachother, is something I feel you interpreted wrongly. Sure the stories, charactes and worlds will be completely different. But the gameplay would be indentical, the same magic systems, limit systems and summon systems. I absolutely loved FFX's because you could alter their stats and teach them spells and what not. I really liked FFVII's aswell because you could link summon materia with several effects, giving you a wide range of possibilties, to use to fit your needs.

The fact that the boss battle is easy~medium is something most FF's would be guilty off. FFX's and FFX-2's were very easy. And I must agree there. Then it would ineed have been nice to have more optional bossbattles besides the weapons and make sure you'd need final attack materia + phoenix.

But still I'd like a more realistic aproach on it and enjoy the game it is. There will always be small thoughts in the back of my head including small changes I'd put here and there. But we all do. All in all the games are great on their own the way they are.

I have to agree with you, Neo Xhan, most FFs are pretty easy, but that's ok, I guess. And like you said, everyone would like to change a few things, but it's best to leave the game untouched and play it as it is. After all, the makers of any game know what they're doing (well, most of the time).

I'd add a few more sidequests, one that allows you to bring back Aeris if you wish.

Cloud 9 gave me this idea by his weapon morphing thread. If you take the time to morph the weapons, I think you should get something cool, like a master materia or something, in reward. Maybe, since 3 of the weapons are optional, you could get a command, summon, and magic master materia. That'd be awesome. ;)

I'd add a few more sidequests, one that allows you to bring back Aeris if you wish.

Cloud 9 gave me this idea by his weapon morphing thread. If you take the time to morph the weapons, I think you should get something cool, like a master materia or something, in reward. Maybe, since 3 of the weapons are optional, you could get a command, summon, and magic master materia. That'd be awesome. ;)

how about alternate items to bring to the Kalm Traveler. Like something that would give you the legendary 'Underwater Chocobo' That was planned for the game but never actually put in. Or maybe some more triple-ap weapons for the other party members.

Thanks LunaticHigh :)

Xaos, when I get rich and don't have to work anymore, lets remake FFVII and implement all kinds of new things.

I definitely like the idea of enemies using the same materia. Especially humans like the Turks and members of SOLDIER.

Things I'd change:

Make magic stronger/more dynamic and useful so it isn't possible to go through the game just using cure and attacking normally.
No cap (or a much higher cap) on damage, HP, MP, or stats.
More independent materia.
No Knights of Round, steal as well, pre-emptive, or throw materia.
I don't even like summon materia actually, no summons.
More unique/powerful magic spells.

Things I'd change only because I've done everything:

Harder enemies and bosses, especially Sephiroth.
More optional weapon-like bosses.
A location with random battles with Weapon-like enemies.
Battles less based on how strong you are and more on skill and strategy.

Reviving Aeris as a sidequest could be cool.

I especially like Cloud 9s ideas. Sephiroth should be stronger, and the location with weapon-like enemies would kick ass. That way, I could gather a lot of AP ^_^.

What do you think about a quest in outer space. Just imagine - the Shinra start investing money again in the space program and then you can fight in
outer space. I don't know exactly how this could be done, but it would certainly be cool.

I would make the Limits of the characters a lot stronger. For example Cloud's Omnislash could be doing 30 hits instead of 20, but the monsters, especially bosses would be harder and would have a lot of HP. One thing that could be interesting is to make leveling up harder, or that you can level up only when you defeat a boss (like in Chrono Cross) and then you gain a few stat improvements when you battle normal enemies after the boss fight. This is why I like Chrono Cross. It can be a challenge no matter how good you are.

I havent played FFX yet (*cringe*) but to FF7 i would probably make the following changes

1. Mosters level up (like in FF8)
2. Possibly a blinding spell
3. Update the Graphics
4. More side quests
5. breraking the 9999 barrier and L99 maxing ( that always got on my nerves)
6. more availabilty for the sources (you know Guard source, power source etc)
7. kill off un-necessary characters ( like cait sith - after the destruction of the temple, he should have remained dead
8. make the final Sephiroth Battles a lot harder and include Hero Drinks (like in FF8)
9. have character abilities (like FF9)

I guess someone will disagree with something ive said but i feel if effectively added it could improve the game by a point