hb smokey
12-22-2007, 10:29 AM
Well, after the shocking events of Prak admitting that he secretly loves FFVII and it's his favorite game, it's been determined that it is now time for me to dethrone him as THE FFVII basher here. I'm going to talk about a lot of different components within the game, and outside of the game. Such aspects as storyline, characters, battle system, etc.
First, let's talk about the most important aspect of an RPG: The storyline. I admit that the story was really hard for me to understand at first. Then again, I'm older now than I was when I first played it, so I am able to comprehend what really went on during the game. The more you think about it, the more you actually believe that the story is, in fact, not that good. It seems to me like a group of monkeys (or I guess Squaresoft) decided to sit down together at the drawing board and throw together a piss-poor, severely lacking, plot-hole ridden, story. Spend another couple months to iron out the flaws, and you would have had a game with a storyline that you could actually follow well.
One thing I hate about a game is when you are fed everything on a silver platter. Cue Final Fantasy VII. The game tells you everything you need to know, and by everything, I mean it force feeds you shit after shit after shit that makes no sense to the plot and has no effect on the plot. I want a game where I have to search every now and then for clues, items, anything, to advance the game to the next stage. I don't recall any instances where I had to do some serious searching, some serious backtracking, to glue together a plot line, or to just get further in the game. There is basically nothing you have to figure out on your own, which makes it a weak storyline. A good storyline makes you put some thought into what you are seeing unfold on the screen. It's just all right there, laid out for you crystal clear. Next please.
Basically, one of my major views on whether a story is excellent, great, good, poor, or terrible, is how interested you are in playing the game again, once you have beaten it already. The first time I played through FFVII, I openly admit I thought it was a better than average story, maybe even really good. But, once you beat the game, you are just left with that disgusting taste in your mouth. You sit there and think "That's it? That's the end of FFVII"? This caused me to change my view on the story, from good, to not very good at all. FFVII has terrible replay value, because the story can be followed by a little puppy, of all things.
Now let's take a look at the storyline a little closer:
__________________________________________________
Notice how there aren't any bumps or nicks in the line?
Every necessary event that is required for you to understand the plot is directly on the timeline. There are no twists and turns, no hills or holes, nothing. All you have to do is move Cloud around the places the game directs you to, and you will finish the game.
Need more proof that the storyline is linear? This is the exact format that the plot follows throughout the game:
Shinra is a bad company, so we need to stop them right now.
Done.
Mako is a good thing for the planet, so we shoud conserve it in anyway possible.
Done.
Sephiroth is the villian of the game. He killed Aeris, so we need to kill him.
Done.
These are the only aspects that you need to care about if you actually like the game. Even if you don't, I'd recommend not caring about it. Since there are no surprises in the plot, no big hidden secrets that will have a noticable effect, it just adds to the fact that the storyline in FFVII is really, really bad and there wasn't much time at all put into making it good. Nothing to figure out on your own, it's all force fed to you.
Does anyone realize that Final Fantasy VII is a noticable unfinished game? There are several different facts to back this up. Remember the guy in the pipe at the Slums? It's very possible that you could be talking with Zack, who you have no clue the importance of this character to the plot. The problem is that Square did absolutely nothing to let you figure out who this mysterious man is. They might claim that it's just a normal NPC, but for the possibility of it to be him in the first place serves no purpose in the game if you aren't going to give the customer some way to figure out his true identify. If they were indeed trying to say it is Zack, what a horrible way to give some players a small interest of it, and then just totally act like nothing happens during the rest of the game.
The guy who's living in it is a normal human who was
infected with Jenova cells, that's why he has a number 2 tattoo. After you have finished with dialouge in the Midgar Slums, you are told that an Elixer can be found in the pipe. But, when you go back there, you will not find an Elixer. Obviously, this is a mistake by Square, or quite possibly, an item they just took out of the game. But how could the item have gotten there in the first place? Again, the guy could be Zack who is sick with amnesia, among other illnesses. And he uses Elixers to heal himself. But who knows?
The Nibelheim clones. Every guy in a black cloak gave us some item after we talked to him, right? And all the clones had a number tattoed on their body somewhere, just like the man in the pipe. But, if that's the case, why wouldn't this man give you an item as well?
I'd recommend going here. It explains more facets of the game better than I can, because they have had more experience with certain aspects, like hacking FFVII.
Now let's move onto the death of Aeris, which is apparently one of the most shocking and memorable moments in gaming history. Correction: a guy with a long ass sword stabs her through the back and kills her, that's about it. People say it's the defining moment of the game, for what it does to impact the plot, and the rest of the action thereafter. Without it, most of the storyline wouldn't make sense at all, because a good chunk of what happens after her death is revolved around the party's resolve to not let her sacrifice be in vain. And someone please explain to me why so many people get riled up over this scene, why so many people cried to see her get killed? Don't forget that Aeris was supposed to die sooner or later, so I saw no reason to kill her off at that point. Maybe Square was going for the 'let's make her death look so admirable when in fact she was being a dumbass and not paying attetion to Cloud's expression as he watches Sephiroth swoop down for the kill.' Some boyfriend you are Cloud, to watch one of the woman you love get killed in front of your very eyes, and you just sit there with your spiky hair and gay ass outfit. Bravo. I am glad that she was killed at this point in the game however. Her relationship with Cloud could have escalated as the game went on, and when it comes time for her sacrifice to the world, there would be even more useless drama, even more 'tears' shed. Aeris, or Aerith, whatever, knew she had to surrender her life in order to summon Holy. Once you figure this out later in the game, you start to realize that her death by Sephiroth's hands (who knows why he had gloves on in one part of the scene, and they disappeared in another), is just so blown of out proportion it's quite laughable.
The Importance of Aeris' Death
When Aeris sacrificed herself, she didn't know if her companions would even make it out of the area alive. She knew that Sephiroth was powerful and was unquestionably going to be there to try and stop them all. So, her sacrifice didn't guarantee the party's safety at all. Yes, her death was important for the storyline, but she was going to die regardless of whether or not Sephiroth did her in first.
When Aeris died, the whole story was pretty much laid out, and the party knew of the exact dangers that lie ahead of them.
Cloud in the Lifestream
Can you say incredibly boring? I mean, this sequence of events did reveal some important facts about Cloud and other necessities, but did Square have to do it in this fashion? I don't see what the big deal about that was, anyway. I mean, Cloud was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not like he intentionally jumped into the Lifestream for no apparent reason or anything.
Still to this day, I see no importance in having that scene as part of the game. IMO, I thought it was just an excuse to get away from the mediocre, at best, storyline.
The Materia System
I absolutely hated the Materia System. Almost every materia you earn depletes your HP when you equip it, but it also grants you more abilities. So, it's a double-edged sword really. You may be able to defeat your enemies with more ease, but they can also do the same to you. That's pretty stupid if you ask me. Also, since the Materia depletes your HP and Strength, you have to waste even more slots to bring back up these two categories, with HP Plus, and Str. Plus.
I admit, that the Materia System was fresh and original. I will even go as far as to say it was interesting. But that's it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how to work the Materia. You just equip it to your weapon and/or armor, watch your HP and Str. deplete, and fight enough enemies until you learn the ability. That is all there is to it. Plus, when you have the "All" materia equipped with one like "Cure", you are only allowed to use it a specific number of times during battle? Come on.
You say the Materia System takes some thinking and thought? Pfft. The strategy guide describes to you all of the basic combinations that you will ever need, even though it's doesn't take a genius to figure out how to work it. It isn't complicated at all. You just put a Materia here and there, and you will come up with a combination that is good enough.
The Materia System is terrible. Some materia such as the KotR materia, reduces your maximum HP by 20%. So, you are capable of losing up to 2,000 of your Max HP, just by being able to cast a summon? That is pretty lame.
Also, the fact that you have to spend a lot of time in battles leveling up your Materia to a certain strongness is something that made the game very boring for me. I don't want to spend hours earning AP, just so that my Choco/Mog summon can gain another star, and be that much closer to giving birth to a new Choco/Mog.
The Advertising of FFVII
FFVII is by-far the most advertised game in history. On the television ads, you would see the FMV's from the game itself, because that was meant to be eye candy to consumers and customers alike. It seemed like I saw a commercial for this game everday, seven years ago.
Also, the strategy guide was released with the game. It was the first Final Fantasy game to do this, so that is another reason people loved this game immediately. Owners of local game shops everywhere were telling people to buy the strategy guide along with it, just to help with the publicity FFVII wanted to receive. With the stategy guide, gamers didn't even have to think about what to do next, or where to go. Everything was given to them on a silver platter, so to speak.
What Makes FFVII So Popular
FFVII is one of the most popular games ever, because it is so easy to learn and finish. If Square made the game more difficult, then there is no question that people would be less appealed to purchase it. I mean seriously, this is one of the easiest games I have ever played in my life, and I've been playing for well over 16 years now.
And there is something wrong when a game is this simple. Games are supposed to be fun and challenging. FFVII provided a tiny bit, or really none at all. Video games should be designed that you at least have to ponder the storyline every now and then.
I also admit that there are some things that you need to stray off-course to acquire. You would have never found out that information without straying off-course some. But still, doing this isn't required to finish the game. It wasn't mandatory to find out this information, or get Vincent's best weapon. This is all just side-quests, extra stuff that tries to add a little bit more fun to the game. It would be nice if there was something hard that was mandatory in the game.
The Strategy Guide
The strategy guide. Yes, like I said before, this was the first Final Fantasy game to come with a strategy guide. The book alone is a reason that led to the huge success of FFVII. Take away the strategy guide with the release of the game, and the game would be less popular today. I know that strategy guides are available for the previous Final Fantasy games, but they are really hard to find now. And, they were hard to find then, because I never saw one for FFIV or FFVI. I love the challenge of playing through a game without any help. But, obviously thousands of FFVII fans didn't see it my way.
The game is incredibly easy. It tells you straight out what is playing out, in accordance with where you need to head next. You don't have to do a little bit of hunting to find out what location you are supposed to be at. I didn't actually need to look at the strategy guide to finish the game, because the story is so linear, and it is darn near impossible to stray off-course. The only reason I look at strategy guides is for replay value. When I play games again for the second time, I will always check the book to acquire all the hidden items and what-not. But I have never played FFVII since I finished it the first time, because there is no replay value there whatsoever.
Knights Of The Round
All you FFVII fans rave about how awesome of a summon Knights of the Round is. But, you don't even need it to beat the game. I don't understand why it takes an incredible amount of time (Chocobo racing), to be able to get the materia to summom KOTR. This summon helps make the game popular, while the fact of the matter is, KOTR is irrelevant to finishing the game.
You may also say that it takes some time to earn a Gold Chocobo to fly to the cave for the KOTR summon, and that that provides a challenge. But there's no point to it. It takes way too long for you to do something as small as acquiring a useless summon.
It takes way too long to breed a Gold Chocobo. I mean seriously, the only reason you need the Gold Chocobo is to get the KOTR summon. Everything else you use the Chocobo for is pretty useless. And the really bad part, is that you don't even need to breed to get a Chocobo. Just defeat one of the Weapons, and you can acquire a Gold Chocobo. I think it's pretty stupid that they even put the breeding in the game. No use for it.
Manipulation
FFVII was a smash hit because the game manipulated it's fans with these "outstanding" graphics, the "awesomeness" of a silver-haired villian with a huge ass sword, and the marketing it received.
Play Final Fantasy 1-6 First
Another reason that FFVII is so popular, is the fact that most of the fans of the game never played Final Fantasy 1-6. Seriously, if they had, they wouldn't say that everything about the game is revolutionary. FFVI has a better storyline than FFVII, and also more personality in their characters. FFIV had the ongoing theme of the love triangle between Cecil, Kain, and Rosa.
What did FFVII have? A guy that tries to have sex with Cloud.
The Graphics
The graphics were some of the best anyone had ever seen when the game came out. Yes, it was nice to see this, but it subtracted from the storyline. I believe, basically, that the storylines of all the Final Fantasy games after VI have gone downhill. Square is putting more time and thought into graphical representation than storytelling, and that's a shame.
You really can't use the argument of FFVII's graphics being revolutionary either. Take FFVIII for example; FFVIII is far superior and the release dates are only a couple years apart. By reading this, you would have to say that FFVIII was revolutionary in graphics, not FFVII. Of course the graphics were better than those of the SNES. But, what do you expect from a more powerful system in the Playstation?
The Limit Break
Quite frankly, I thought it was retarded. You aren't allowed to physically attack anymore until you have used your Limit Break? That is so stupid. What happens if you are right before a big boss, and you earn your Limit Break. You don't want to use it on weak enemies, and you certainly don't want to spend more time earning the Limit Break again if you do decide to use it.
Shinra And The Turks
This is one thing I really hated about the game; the lack of Shinra and the Turks really being involved with the story more. I mean, Before Crisis is coming out now regarding the history of the Turks and such. But, I would have loved to see more about this in FFVII, not the prequel.
The Ending
I still, to this day, do not totally understand the ending. Probably because I see how it had nothing to do with the storyline. It just shows Red XIII overlooking a grassy Midgar? Wow, that's awesome!
No, there was nothing to the ending. You see Red XIII running with his kids or whoever the little ones are. And then, it shows a grassy Midgar. That's it! Usually when an ending is good, it has something to do with the storyline, or with what happened previously with the final boss. But this ending was crap. It didn't make any sense, there was no meaning behind it. And it didn't leave any imagination to me, because it had nothing to do with the game.
The Battle System
Another aspect I hated was that only three characters were in your party at a time. With FFIV, you could have all you need to win a battle; two attackers, one defender, one for healing and such, and one for summons. FFIV did marvelous with making your final party fit into a specific role. Rydia is the summoner, Rosa is the one that keeps the party alive, Kain is a deadly assassin, Edge strikes quickly and brutally, and Cecil is the perfect hero who both attacks his enemies and protects his friends. I didn't see this at all in FFVII.
Sephiroth
Greatest villian of all time?
No. Sephiroth is maybe a descent villian, but I don't consider him to be better than someone like Kefka, by a longshot.
I never found Sephiroth to be that evil, and certainly not sadistic. He had a reason to go crazy, because he was created. That's pretty much it. Look at Kefka. Now there is a sadistic and truly evil villian.
For instance, Sephiroth kills Aeris from behind, flys away when danger is near (Cloud), and always manipulates Cloud to do his dirty work. If you ask me, that sounds kind of cowardish.
Kefka wouldn't kill Aeris from behind. He would do it so that she could see him deliver the finishing blow. Then, knowing that her death is not good enough, he would stand over the body and laugh *grr*, and then slice her head off. And he wouldn't run away from the scene of the crime either.
Sephiroth is a boring and flat character. He never scared me with anything he did. His atmosphere never drove me to hate him, like villians are supposed to do. I don't see what is so special about Sephiroth? His Masamune?
If you think Sephiroth is the best Final Fantasy villian ever, you need to play, preferably, FFVI again. Sephiroth is really one-dimensional, in the sense that he basically had only one goal.
Also, he did some irrelevant actions during the game.
Why was he goofing and messing around at the Gold Saucer?
He did kill Aeris, but he was a coward when he did it.
Maybe the most important thing, is that he was basically sleeping throughout most of the game. Then, near the end, he wakes up, and grows a wing and halo?
Sephiroth is not that cool.
Rufus
I thought Rufus was pretty random. I mean, the point when you learn Sephiroth kills Rufus's father, and then the presidency is granted to Rufus, was pretty stupid. There was no meaning in it, and it basically didn't add anything to the story. Except to make you think Sephiroth is this out of control villain who can't be stopped.
Zack
And yes, I have heard the rumor of Zack being the man in the pipe. But, you meet him so early in the game, that you have no idea why he is there or what the tattoo is for. And, once you reach the point in the game where you learn about the men with numbers tattooed on their bodies, you don't remember about the man in the pipe at all. It's only when you replay the game after beating it that you realize it may be Zack in the pipe. I, for one, honestly do not believe Zack was killed when he got pegged with countless bullets. How he could have survived, I don't know that. The game would have been better if it dove more into him and his past, but it didn't.
Mini-Games
I found the Mini-Games to be entertaining, for about a minute. The Gold Saucer is so boring and useless to the story, that there is no reason to even visit again after you are required to. Helping a Moogle have sex with another Moogle has got to be the most bizarre mini-game to date. Arm Wresting, Basketball, Kick-Boxing? Yes, there are a variety of mini-games in FFVII, but there is no big reward for them. With Blitzball in FFX, you received a lot better rewards for winning matches and scoring goals.
Variety, I will give to you. It had sumo-wrestling, kick-boxing, basketball, motorcycycle riding, and several more that I don't feel like listing. But quality? That is where I draw the line at. Aren't mini-games supposed to give you at least a descent reward?
What do you get for getting a Moogle laid?
30 points.
Anything else you guys would like for me to explain?
First, let's talk about the most important aspect of an RPG: The storyline. I admit that the story was really hard for me to understand at first. Then again, I'm older now than I was when I first played it, so I am able to comprehend what really went on during the game. The more you think about it, the more you actually believe that the story is, in fact, not that good. It seems to me like a group of monkeys (or I guess Squaresoft) decided to sit down together at the drawing board and throw together a piss-poor, severely lacking, plot-hole ridden, story. Spend another couple months to iron out the flaws, and you would have had a game with a storyline that you could actually follow well.
One thing I hate about a game is when you are fed everything on a silver platter. Cue Final Fantasy VII. The game tells you everything you need to know, and by everything, I mean it force feeds you shit after shit after shit that makes no sense to the plot and has no effect on the plot. I want a game where I have to search every now and then for clues, items, anything, to advance the game to the next stage. I don't recall any instances where I had to do some serious searching, some serious backtracking, to glue together a plot line, or to just get further in the game. There is basically nothing you have to figure out on your own, which makes it a weak storyline. A good storyline makes you put some thought into what you are seeing unfold on the screen. It's just all right there, laid out for you crystal clear. Next please.
Basically, one of my major views on whether a story is excellent, great, good, poor, or terrible, is how interested you are in playing the game again, once you have beaten it already. The first time I played through FFVII, I openly admit I thought it was a better than average story, maybe even really good. But, once you beat the game, you are just left with that disgusting taste in your mouth. You sit there and think "That's it? That's the end of FFVII"? This caused me to change my view on the story, from good, to not very good at all. FFVII has terrible replay value, because the story can be followed by a little puppy, of all things.
Now let's take a look at the storyline a little closer:
__________________________________________________
Notice how there aren't any bumps or nicks in the line?
Every necessary event that is required for you to understand the plot is directly on the timeline. There are no twists and turns, no hills or holes, nothing. All you have to do is move Cloud around the places the game directs you to, and you will finish the game.
Need more proof that the storyline is linear? This is the exact format that the plot follows throughout the game:
Shinra is a bad company, so we need to stop them right now.
Done.
Mako is a good thing for the planet, so we shoud conserve it in anyway possible.
Done.
Sephiroth is the villian of the game. He killed Aeris, so we need to kill him.
Done.
These are the only aspects that you need to care about if you actually like the game. Even if you don't, I'd recommend not caring about it. Since there are no surprises in the plot, no big hidden secrets that will have a noticable effect, it just adds to the fact that the storyline in FFVII is really, really bad and there wasn't much time at all put into making it good. Nothing to figure out on your own, it's all force fed to you.
Does anyone realize that Final Fantasy VII is a noticable unfinished game? There are several different facts to back this up. Remember the guy in the pipe at the Slums? It's very possible that you could be talking with Zack, who you have no clue the importance of this character to the plot. The problem is that Square did absolutely nothing to let you figure out who this mysterious man is. They might claim that it's just a normal NPC, but for the possibility of it to be him in the first place serves no purpose in the game if you aren't going to give the customer some way to figure out his true identify. If they were indeed trying to say it is Zack, what a horrible way to give some players a small interest of it, and then just totally act like nothing happens during the rest of the game.
The guy who's living in it is a normal human who was
infected with Jenova cells, that's why he has a number 2 tattoo. After you have finished with dialouge in the Midgar Slums, you are told that an Elixer can be found in the pipe. But, when you go back there, you will not find an Elixer. Obviously, this is a mistake by Square, or quite possibly, an item they just took out of the game. But how could the item have gotten there in the first place? Again, the guy could be Zack who is sick with amnesia, among other illnesses. And he uses Elixers to heal himself. But who knows?
The Nibelheim clones. Every guy in a black cloak gave us some item after we talked to him, right? And all the clones had a number tattoed on their body somewhere, just like the man in the pipe. But, if that's the case, why wouldn't this man give you an item as well?
I'd recommend going here. It explains more facets of the game better than I can, because they have had more experience with certain aspects, like hacking FFVII.
Now let's move onto the death of Aeris, which is apparently one of the most shocking and memorable moments in gaming history. Correction: a guy with a long ass sword stabs her through the back and kills her, that's about it. People say it's the defining moment of the game, for what it does to impact the plot, and the rest of the action thereafter. Without it, most of the storyline wouldn't make sense at all, because a good chunk of what happens after her death is revolved around the party's resolve to not let her sacrifice be in vain. And someone please explain to me why so many people get riled up over this scene, why so many people cried to see her get killed? Don't forget that Aeris was supposed to die sooner or later, so I saw no reason to kill her off at that point. Maybe Square was going for the 'let's make her death look so admirable when in fact she was being a dumbass and not paying attetion to Cloud's expression as he watches Sephiroth swoop down for the kill.' Some boyfriend you are Cloud, to watch one of the woman you love get killed in front of your very eyes, and you just sit there with your spiky hair and gay ass outfit. Bravo. I am glad that she was killed at this point in the game however. Her relationship with Cloud could have escalated as the game went on, and when it comes time for her sacrifice to the world, there would be even more useless drama, even more 'tears' shed. Aeris, or Aerith, whatever, knew she had to surrender her life in order to summon Holy. Once you figure this out later in the game, you start to realize that her death by Sephiroth's hands (who knows why he had gloves on in one part of the scene, and they disappeared in another), is just so blown of out proportion it's quite laughable.
The Importance of Aeris' Death
When Aeris sacrificed herself, she didn't know if her companions would even make it out of the area alive. She knew that Sephiroth was powerful and was unquestionably going to be there to try and stop them all. So, her sacrifice didn't guarantee the party's safety at all. Yes, her death was important for the storyline, but she was going to die regardless of whether or not Sephiroth did her in first.
When Aeris died, the whole story was pretty much laid out, and the party knew of the exact dangers that lie ahead of them.
Cloud in the Lifestream
Can you say incredibly boring? I mean, this sequence of events did reveal some important facts about Cloud and other necessities, but did Square have to do it in this fashion? I don't see what the big deal about that was, anyway. I mean, Cloud was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not like he intentionally jumped into the Lifestream for no apparent reason or anything.
Still to this day, I see no importance in having that scene as part of the game. IMO, I thought it was just an excuse to get away from the mediocre, at best, storyline.
The Materia System
I absolutely hated the Materia System. Almost every materia you earn depletes your HP when you equip it, but it also grants you more abilities. So, it's a double-edged sword really. You may be able to defeat your enemies with more ease, but they can also do the same to you. That's pretty stupid if you ask me. Also, since the Materia depletes your HP and Strength, you have to waste even more slots to bring back up these two categories, with HP Plus, and Str. Plus.
I admit, that the Materia System was fresh and original. I will even go as far as to say it was interesting. But that's it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how to work the Materia. You just equip it to your weapon and/or armor, watch your HP and Str. deplete, and fight enough enemies until you learn the ability. That is all there is to it. Plus, when you have the "All" materia equipped with one like "Cure", you are only allowed to use it a specific number of times during battle? Come on.
You say the Materia System takes some thinking and thought? Pfft. The strategy guide describes to you all of the basic combinations that you will ever need, even though it's doesn't take a genius to figure out how to work it. It isn't complicated at all. You just put a Materia here and there, and you will come up with a combination that is good enough.
The Materia System is terrible. Some materia such as the KotR materia, reduces your maximum HP by 20%. So, you are capable of losing up to 2,000 of your Max HP, just by being able to cast a summon? That is pretty lame.
Also, the fact that you have to spend a lot of time in battles leveling up your Materia to a certain strongness is something that made the game very boring for me. I don't want to spend hours earning AP, just so that my Choco/Mog summon can gain another star, and be that much closer to giving birth to a new Choco/Mog.
The Advertising of FFVII
FFVII is by-far the most advertised game in history. On the television ads, you would see the FMV's from the game itself, because that was meant to be eye candy to consumers and customers alike. It seemed like I saw a commercial for this game everday, seven years ago.
Also, the strategy guide was released with the game. It was the first Final Fantasy game to do this, so that is another reason people loved this game immediately. Owners of local game shops everywhere were telling people to buy the strategy guide along with it, just to help with the publicity FFVII wanted to receive. With the stategy guide, gamers didn't even have to think about what to do next, or where to go. Everything was given to them on a silver platter, so to speak.
What Makes FFVII So Popular
FFVII is one of the most popular games ever, because it is so easy to learn and finish. If Square made the game more difficult, then there is no question that people would be less appealed to purchase it. I mean seriously, this is one of the easiest games I have ever played in my life, and I've been playing for well over 16 years now.
And there is something wrong when a game is this simple. Games are supposed to be fun and challenging. FFVII provided a tiny bit, or really none at all. Video games should be designed that you at least have to ponder the storyline every now and then.
I also admit that there are some things that you need to stray off-course to acquire. You would have never found out that information without straying off-course some. But still, doing this isn't required to finish the game. It wasn't mandatory to find out this information, or get Vincent's best weapon. This is all just side-quests, extra stuff that tries to add a little bit more fun to the game. It would be nice if there was something hard that was mandatory in the game.
The Strategy Guide
The strategy guide. Yes, like I said before, this was the first Final Fantasy game to come with a strategy guide. The book alone is a reason that led to the huge success of FFVII. Take away the strategy guide with the release of the game, and the game would be less popular today. I know that strategy guides are available for the previous Final Fantasy games, but they are really hard to find now. And, they were hard to find then, because I never saw one for FFIV or FFVI. I love the challenge of playing through a game without any help. But, obviously thousands of FFVII fans didn't see it my way.
The game is incredibly easy. It tells you straight out what is playing out, in accordance with where you need to head next. You don't have to do a little bit of hunting to find out what location you are supposed to be at. I didn't actually need to look at the strategy guide to finish the game, because the story is so linear, and it is darn near impossible to stray off-course. The only reason I look at strategy guides is for replay value. When I play games again for the second time, I will always check the book to acquire all the hidden items and what-not. But I have never played FFVII since I finished it the first time, because there is no replay value there whatsoever.
Knights Of The Round
All you FFVII fans rave about how awesome of a summon Knights of the Round is. But, you don't even need it to beat the game. I don't understand why it takes an incredible amount of time (Chocobo racing), to be able to get the materia to summom KOTR. This summon helps make the game popular, while the fact of the matter is, KOTR is irrelevant to finishing the game.
You may also say that it takes some time to earn a Gold Chocobo to fly to the cave for the KOTR summon, and that that provides a challenge. But there's no point to it. It takes way too long for you to do something as small as acquiring a useless summon.
It takes way too long to breed a Gold Chocobo. I mean seriously, the only reason you need the Gold Chocobo is to get the KOTR summon. Everything else you use the Chocobo for is pretty useless. And the really bad part, is that you don't even need to breed to get a Chocobo. Just defeat one of the Weapons, and you can acquire a Gold Chocobo. I think it's pretty stupid that they even put the breeding in the game. No use for it.
Manipulation
FFVII was a smash hit because the game manipulated it's fans with these "outstanding" graphics, the "awesomeness" of a silver-haired villian with a huge ass sword, and the marketing it received.
Play Final Fantasy 1-6 First
Another reason that FFVII is so popular, is the fact that most of the fans of the game never played Final Fantasy 1-6. Seriously, if they had, they wouldn't say that everything about the game is revolutionary. FFVI has a better storyline than FFVII, and also more personality in their characters. FFIV had the ongoing theme of the love triangle between Cecil, Kain, and Rosa.
What did FFVII have? A guy that tries to have sex with Cloud.
The Graphics
The graphics were some of the best anyone had ever seen when the game came out. Yes, it was nice to see this, but it subtracted from the storyline. I believe, basically, that the storylines of all the Final Fantasy games after VI have gone downhill. Square is putting more time and thought into graphical representation than storytelling, and that's a shame.
You really can't use the argument of FFVII's graphics being revolutionary either. Take FFVIII for example; FFVIII is far superior and the release dates are only a couple years apart. By reading this, you would have to say that FFVIII was revolutionary in graphics, not FFVII. Of course the graphics were better than those of the SNES. But, what do you expect from a more powerful system in the Playstation?
The Limit Break
Quite frankly, I thought it was retarded. You aren't allowed to physically attack anymore until you have used your Limit Break? That is so stupid. What happens if you are right before a big boss, and you earn your Limit Break. You don't want to use it on weak enemies, and you certainly don't want to spend more time earning the Limit Break again if you do decide to use it.
Shinra And The Turks
This is one thing I really hated about the game; the lack of Shinra and the Turks really being involved with the story more. I mean, Before Crisis is coming out now regarding the history of the Turks and such. But, I would have loved to see more about this in FFVII, not the prequel.
The Ending
I still, to this day, do not totally understand the ending. Probably because I see how it had nothing to do with the storyline. It just shows Red XIII overlooking a grassy Midgar? Wow, that's awesome!
No, there was nothing to the ending. You see Red XIII running with his kids or whoever the little ones are. And then, it shows a grassy Midgar. That's it! Usually when an ending is good, it has something to do with the storyline, or with what happened previously with the final boss. But this ending was crap. It didn't make any sense, there was no meaning behind it. And it didn't leave any imagination to me, because it had nothing to do with the game.
The Battle System
Another aspect I hated was that only three characters were in your party at a time. With FFIV, you could have all you need to win a battle; two attackers, one defender, one for healing and such, and one for summons. FFIV did marvelous with making your final party fit into a specific role. Rydia is the summoner, Rosa is the one that keeps the party alive, Kain is a deadly assassin, Edge strikes quickly and brutally, and Cecil is the perfect hero who both attacks his enemies and protects his friends. I didn't see this at all in FFVII.
Sephiroth
Greatest villian of all time?
No. Sephiroth is maybe a descent villian, but I don't consider him to be better than someone like Kefka, by a longshot.
I never found Sephiroth to be that evil, and certainly not sadistic. He had a reason to go crazy, because he was created. That's pretty much it. Look at Kefka. Now there is a sadistic and truly evil villian.
For instance, Sephiroth kills Aeris from behind, flys away when danger is near (Cloud), and always manipulates Cloud to do his dirty work. If you ask me, that sounds kind of cowardish.
Kefka wouldn't kill Aeris from behind. He would do it so that she could see him deliver the finishing blow. Then, knowing that her death is not good enough, he would stand over the body and laugh *grr*, and then slice her head off. And he wouldn't run away from the scene of the crime either.
Sephiroth is a boring and flat character. He never scared me with anything he did. His atmosphere never drove me to hate him, like villians are supposed to do. I don't see what is so special about Sephiroth? His Masamune?
If you think Sephiroth is the best Final Fantasy villian ever, you need to play, preferably, FFVI again. Sephiroth is really one-dimensional, in the sense that he basically had only one goal.
Also, he did some irrelevant actions during the game.
Why was he goofing and messing around at the Gold Saucer?
He did kill Aeris, but he was a coward when he did it.
Maybe the most important thing, is that he was basically sleeping throughout most of the game. Then, near the end, he wakes up, and grows a wing and halo?
Sephiroth is not that cool.
Rufus
I thought Rufus was pretty random. I mean, the point when you learn Sephiroth kills Rufus's father, and then the presidency is granted to Rufus, was pretty stupid. There was no meaning in it, and it basically didn't add anything to the story. Except to make you think Sephiroth is this out of control villain who can't be stopped.
Zack
And yes, I have heard the rumor of Zack being the man in the pipe. But, you meet him so early in the game, that you have no idea why he is there or what the tattoo is for. And, once you reach the point in the game where you learn about the men with numbers tattooed on their bodies, you don't remember about the man in the pipe at all. It's only when you replay the game after beating it that you realize it may be Zack in the pipe. I, for one, honestly do not believe Zack was killed when he got pegged with countless bullets. How he could have survived, I don't know that. The game would have been better if it dove more into him and his past, but it didn't.
Mini-Games
I found the Mini-Games to be entertaining, for about a minute. The Gold Saucer is so boring and useless to the story, that there is no reason to even visit again after you are required to. Helping a Moogle have sex with another Moogle has got to be the most bizarre mini-game to date. Arm Wresting, Basketball, Kick-Boxing? Yes, there are a variety of mini-games in FFVII, but there is no big reward for them. With Blitzball in FFX, you received a lot better rewards for winning matches and scoring goals.
Variety, I will give to you. It had sumo-wrestling, kick-boxing, basketball, motorcycycle riding, and several more that I don't feel like listing. But quality? That is where I draw the line at. Aren't mini-games supposed to give you at least a descent reward?
What do you get for getting a Moogle laid?
30 points.
Anything else you guys would like for me to explain?