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Is FF7 Overrated?

Posted: 2003-10-24 03:03am
by Butterbean569
I don't know if some of you guys have read "Gamespy's most overrated games", but they list FF7 as one of them. Now, they acknowledge that it is a great game...but they think that because of the fact that it was pushed so hard (advertisements and the like), and it was many people's first FF, people give it a bit too much credit. Something like "the first time is always the most memorable, and the most overrated".

So...is FF7 overrated? I'll give my answer later 2morrow when I have time

Posted: 2003-10-24 03:47am
by Utsanomiko
It was a good game and I really liked it. I'll admit there's not a whole lot to the game that makes it undeniably great, and it probably depends overall on how it hits you and how tolerant you are of repetitive and simplistic gameplay.

That being said, there are still a lot of rabid people out there who treat everything about the game as unassailable perfection, as if no other RPG ever came out before it and nobody but Square can set the bar. I'd say there's enough of them to at least mention that FF7 had alot of hype, so I guess that qualifies as an over-rated game.

I still think Materia is one of the more enjoyable and intuitive magic systems around for games. :)

Re: Is FF7 Overrated?

Posted: 2003-10-24 05:07am
by The Kernel
Overrated? Well it did have a considerable amount of hype at the time but it was also the first at so many things. It showed that you could have an ambitious, epic movie-like game without resorting to cheezy live-action cutscenes like the PC "multimedia revolution" had done. It single-handedly showed the world what CD consoles let you do the Carts couldn't and it was one of the contributing factors to the Playstation's success.

All these things add up to an increadibly innovative title for its day. It doesn't stand the test of time as well as some and it didn't shatter any gameplay conventions, but it certainly wowed the world when it came out. I still remember when I played that first mission (destroying the Mako plant) I couldn't stop saying OMFG.

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:11am
by Ghost Rider
Use the search function and you'll find out you are more then a couple months late

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=30552

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:14am
by Grand Admiral Ancaris
Yes, I'd say it's probably the single most overrated RPG I've ever come across.

I hear about people constantly going "It's the greatest RPG ever!" and Sephiroth's fangirls and fanboys going on about how he is the best villian of all time and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah[/u. The list just goes on and on.

When playing the game itself though, even when it first came out, it was just a "meh" game. It had it's cool points, yeah, but nothing that lived upto the hype. And Sephiroth (and his mother obsession) has got to be one of the most boring, disappointing villians in history. The Materia system was also just so-so. I didn't like it how just about any and all special abilities could be assigned to anyone. I more prefer along the lines of FF6 where each person has a unique gift that is theirs alone. It DID have it's cool elements - the Bahamut Summons were great and the Hades summon has got to be one of the coolest summons ever.

So yes, FF7, while having a few good elements, is FAR overrated. If some one is going to play it they should not be expecting a amazing storyline or characters with amazing personalities or anything else to be impressive.

Posted: 2003-10-24 05:03pm
by RedImperator
I found it hopelessly repetitive and boring, actually. I never finished it.

Posted: 2003-10-24 05:32pm
by Uraniun235
Yeah, I think it's overrated, after having watched friends play it.

But then, I'm not a fan of console/computer RPGs, so my opinion is probably slightly less than worthless. :P

Posted: 2003-10-24 06:14pm
by Hamel
Bad stuff:

The music more or less sucked. FF8 and onward had acceptable MIDI; this was garbage and sounded like something out of a prototype SNES.

Knights of the Round and Omnislash made every other attack worthless in comparison. They killed everything in one usage except Emerald and Ruby Weapon, and those battles depended on sheer luck. At least in FF6 you could make your character overpowered in varied ways. Economizer, genji glove, snow muffler, etc.

Battles ran at 15 fps with gouraud shading. None of the characters were fully textured.

Tifa and Cait's retarded limit breaks.

Good stuff:

Materia system.
CGed backgrounds were awesome at the time.
Challenge factor when not using the overpowered limits and materia.
Tifa <3

I liked FF6 better

Re: Is FF7 Overrated?

Posted: 2003-10-24 07:23pm
by Durandal
Butterbean569 wrote:So...is FF7 overrated? I'll give my answer later 2morrow when I have time
Would it have been so difficult to type "to" instead of "2"?

Anyway, I liked Final Fantasy 7, but not as much as 6. I also happen to think that 8 is a very underrated RPG, so that should show you what kind of minority status I hold.

Posted: 2003-10-24 07:33pm
by Darth Fanboy
I share Durandal's opinion, except I put 6 and seven on par with Each other only because 6 ws too short. 7 also had the RUby and Emerald Weapons, which are the most entertaining boss fights in any RPG except for Ozma in ff9.

Posted: 2003-10-24 07:46pm
by The Yosemite Bear
Bah!, I remeber Doungeon Crawls before there were graphics.

or sound.

and I can still have FUN with them!!!

I mean look at Rogue, or Bard's tale?

or Might and Magic 1

those were cames you couldn't pay your average FF junkie to play.

They are still a shitload of fun in terms of content, problem solving, and just making overpowered characters (Especially after you find one or two places that enhance your base stats by +1 every time you visit them, and continue to revisit them until you beat up everything, and still the final battles require you to do that to survive.

Posted: 2003-10-24 07:49pm
by Keevan_Colton
I did enjoy Final Fantay 7, but in general it was much overrated. I greatly prefer the likes of Fallout or the Baldur's Gate series in terms of computer RPG's (and also, of course, the ever addictive NetHack :) )

Posted: 2003-10-24 08:04pm
by The Yosemite Bear
Moria and Mordor are cool nethack rips too.

Posted: 2003-10-24 08:06pm
by Keevan_Colton
And there's always the wonderful front end for it, Falcon's Eye

Posted: 2003-10-24 08:24pm
by Dark Hellion
Personally, I enjoyed FF7 more than any other game I have played except FFT. I have played that game beginning to end almost 5 times, putting about 900 hours on it. I don't know why, but I like it too damn much. I have played through FF6 about 2.5 (200 hours mayhaps) and just could not get into it as much. I have only put about 300 hours on FFT, but I have played that game 50 hours straight, so definately its my favorite. Simply put, I do not think you can overrate FF7, something about it can be so addictive that it is hard not to love it. While the graphics and some fights were subpar, the scale and granduer of the game always made up for it.

Posted: 2003-10-24 09:02pm
by RogueIce
Hamel wrote:The music more or less sucked. FF8 and onward had acceptable MIDI; this was garbage and sounded like something out of a prototype SNES.
Eh? I thought the music, on a whole, was pretty damned good. Hell, I even saved certain parts of the game, just so I could listen to the music! Now I have the OST, and I don't regret it at all.
Hamel wrote:Tifa <3
Explain that, please, and how it's a good thing.

Not a percursor to an attack, I just simply have no idea what you're talking about. :)

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:06pm
by Cyborg Stan
Hamel wrote:Knights of the Round and Omnislash made every other attack worthless in comparison. They killed everything in one usage except Emerald and Ruby Weapon, and those battles depended on sheer luck.
Not if you have the Mime materia, and prerably the W-Summon and the Drain-MP Materia as well.

Then again, there's few fights as non-epic as seeing the entire Knights of the Round sequence twice per turn, ten times in a row.

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:45pm
by Hamel
RogueIce wrote:
Hamel wrote:The music more or less sucked. FF8 and onward had acceptable MIDI; this was garbage and sounded like something out of a prototype SNES.
Eh? I thought the music, on a whole, was pretty damned good. Hell, I even saved certain parts of the game, just so I could listen to the music! Now I have the OST, and I don't regret it at all.
The quality of the instruments ruined it. I found it difficult to take One Winged Angel seriously; blaring shitty trumpety noises and weak drums coupled with a voice track. Aeris's theme wasn't as bad, but still had blaring trumpets that didn't belong in a game for a 32 bit system. Mind you, at the time I got a kick out of the entire thing, but looking back on it brings different opinions.

And I know that Uematsu could have done better, because he did precisely that in FF8 and 9.
Hamel wrote:Tifa <3
Explain that, please, and how it's a good thing.

Not a percursor to an attack, I just simply have no idea what you're talking about. :)
Maybe it's because she's extremely hot?
Cyborg Stan wrote:
Hamel wrote:Knights of the Round and Omnislash made every other attack worthless in comparison. They killed everything in one usage except Emerald and Ruby Weapon, and those battles depended on sheer luck.
Not if you have the Mime materia, and prerably the W-Summon and the Drain-MP Materia as well.

Then again, there's few fights as non-epic as seeing the entire Knights of the Round sequence twice per turn, ten times in a row.
Both battles depend on how lucky you are, because both weapons can wipe you out in either one or two attacks. Ruby will, 90% of the time, use whirlsand and take out one of your party members. If it's someone holding the materia you need, you are fucked.

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:51pm
by Ghost Rider
Hamel wrote:
Both battles depend on how lucky you are, because both weapons can wipe you out in either one or two attacks. Ruby will, 90% of the time, use whirlsand and take out one of your party members. If it's someone holding the materia you need, you are fucked.
Actually with Emerald all you needed was the Underwater Materia(gets rid of 20 minute limit) and if you really want to screw it over very little Materia since Aire Tam Storm relies on how much materia you had equipped.

For Ruby...even easier...kill two people before combat...and it doesn't do the sand attack. Then use Drain MP to prevent it ever from using Ultima any time...then mime-KoTR(W-Summoned)

Both are just slight applications of power and aren't really that bad...just high HP.

Posted: 2003-10-24 10:53pm
by Durandal
Hamel wrote:The quality of the instruments ruined it. I found it difficult to take One Winged Angel seriously; blaring shitty trumpety noises and weak drums coupled with a voice track. Aeris's theme wasn't as bad, but still had blaring trumpets that didn't belong in a game for a 32 bit system. Mind you, at the time I got a kick out of the entire thing, but looking back on it brings different opinions.
I'd recommend taking a look at the orchestral versions of the main theme, "One-Winged Angel" and Aeris' theme. Those are all beautifully-done orchestral pieces, which is how those pieces were meant to be done. The MIDI versions sound like ass.
And I know that Uematsu could have done better, because he did precisely that in FF8 and 9.
To be fair, he probably refined his instrument software in the years between 7 and 9, or even 8 for that matter. 8's soundtrack, even in the original MIDI, sounds good.

Posted: 2003-10-24 11:57pm
by Hamel
Ghost Rider wrote:
Hamel wrote:
Both battles depend on how lucky you are, because both weapons can wipe you out in either one or two attacks. Ruby will, 90% of the time, use whirlsand and take out one of your party members. If it's someone holding the materia you need, you are fucked.
Actually with Emerald all you needed was the Underwater Materia(gets rid of 20 minute limit) and if you really want to screw it over very little Materia since Aire Tam Storm relies on how much materia you had equipped.

For Ruby...even easier...kill two people before combat...and it doesn't do the sand attack. Then use Drain MP to prevent it ever from using Ultima any time...then mime-KoTR(W-Summoned)

Both are just slight applications of power and aren't really that bad...just high HP.
Fuck >.<

I totally forgot about that
Durandal wrote:I'd recommend taking a look at the orchestral versions of the main theme, "One-Winged Angel" and Aeris' theme. Those are all beautifully-done orchestral pieces, which is how those pieces were meant to be done. The MIDI versions sound like ass.
Definately. If you want to hear Jenova the way it was meant to be, check out the Jenova track from the Black Mages album.

Posted: 2003-10-25 12:07am
by Solid Snake
...I'm sorry, but I do think FFVII is one of the greatest games ever made. My friends and I even have a small cult following of Sephiroth. I also hate how people dont play FFVII, or any RPG for that matter, because it's "boring and repetative" yet they think something like Super Mario Bros. is fantastic. Shooters get incredibly boring for me, racing games even moreso, sports games make me cry on how much they suck. So, I guess it's only a matter of opinion...which must be the same as mine, or you will die.

Posted: 2003-10-25 12:41am
by RedImperator
It's hardly like I don't like console RPGs. I could hook up the SNES and play FF6 straight through right now, if I felt like it. FFIV is probably my most favorite video game of all time, pisspoor translation and all. I just thought VII sucked.

Posted: 2003-10-25 03:41pm
by Durandal
Hamel wrote:Definately. If you want to hear Jenova the way it was meant to be, check out the Jenova track from the Black Mages album.
"Black Mages" album? Could you elaborate please?

Posted: 2003-10-25 04:02pm
by phongn
There's an orchastral FF soundtrack called "The Black Mages."