When does the 'Greatest Game of All Time' kick in?

I downloaded Final Fantasy VII from PSN a while ago. After years of hearing, "Best game ever made" and "100% PERFECT", I was pretty excited. I got to about 30 hours, and nothing. Nothing really amazing about the game. When does the amazing story and 'perfectness' kick in?

It seems you ended up with wildly unrealistic expectations for the game.xaos

i never expected it to be as great as many say, but it's definetly not as good as a lot of people say. But it's simply not that amazing. I'd give it about an 8.2

It isn't so much that the game is so perfect as much as it is what was done when it was done. It is like Elvis, he didn't do anything nobody had done before, yet he is the "King" of Rock. Personally you won't think it is the greatest because you aren't looking at it from outside the box of today. You are comparing it to newer games and that is ruining it. That is why I say old things get worse with time. :/

It isn't so much that the game is so perfect as much as it is what was done when it was done. It is like Elvis, he didn't do anything nobody had done before, yet he is the "King" of Rock. Personally you won't think it is the greatest because you aren't looking at it from outside the box of today. You are comparing it to newer games and that is ruining it. That is why I say old things get worse with time. :/

xXDante666Xx

I'm not comparing it to games of today. Games of today are lower quality than most from the 90s.

Dude, Final Fantasy VII is the favorite game of a lot of RPG fans like me, maybe there are better games from other genres but this is my favorite game. My score: 9.5 :D ^_^. But its really up to you if you like it or not ;).

the character development only really kicks in about midway through disc 2

I've never bought in to the hype of this game. I've tried to push through it several time, only to be bored to tears. I understand it was groundbreaking in it's time, but so many years later, it doesn't hold up as well as FF8 and FF9 do, at least for me.

Basing your expectations off another persons hype is a no no, which you can attest for. Readjust your thinking and maybe you'll see something you missed the first time.jjtiebuckle

For the last time, I'm not basing my expectations off of hupe. I was basing it off of how much I loved the Dragon Quest and Star Ocean series(enix games I might point out). But, for a game that is considered so great, it seems really shallow. I'll play it, because I like the gameplay, but i am dissapointed. I guess I should have considered this in the first place. I was never really that intersted in anything Squaresoft made.

the character development only really kicks in about midway through disc 2

teldath

Oh. Ok. Then I guess I'm even more P.O.'d that my data got screwed up and I'm back at the Sector 5 Reactor(last save I had backed-up on Media GO!. Will probably start over)

I downloaded Final Fantasy VII from PSN a while ago. After years of hearing, "Best game ever made" and "100% PERFECT", I was pretty excited. I got to about 30 hours, and nothing. Nothing really amazing about the game. When does the amazing story and 'perfectness' kick in?

Phoenix534

i feel the same way i played every ff game to date and ff7, ff1 and 12 are my least favorite ff games. now ff10 is the best one so far, hopefully ff14 is good i may give ff13 a try but i'm for sure going to get into ff14 when its released i just love mmo's.

It was one of the best games ever made... back in 1997. Unfortunately, it hasn't aged well and it's past its prime.Vinolence

Oh well. I can still enjoy it. Just not as much as I am Star Ocean 1

Large part of the impact is lost now due to time.

When the game first came out, seeing the game go from CG to gameplay, to different type of gameplay (such as bike riding) was jaw dropping awesome.

Now, it's meh.

Story is great, but unfortunately the story presentation is mostly text based, which takes away a lot compared to many recent games. Not only that, it was one of the first games to have rough language, which seems nothing special now. Also story isn't very simple. You need to study it a bit to really appreciate it. Try to capture the philosophy behind it and the metaphors.

Most of all, story lost much of the impact since the secret has been out (especially considering TC has Zack icons). Basically the story has been spoiled for most people during past 12 years.

At least materia system lasted well throughout the years. It is still the best system I've seen in FF games, other than job system.

You would expect from someone that has "Zack Fair" as his avatar and signature, that he would've played

FFVII centuries ago :?.

Finish the game first, then come talking. If you like it...good for you.

if you don't like it...too bad.

You would expect from someone that has "Zack Fair" as his avatar and signature, that he would've played

FFVII centuries ago :?.

Finish the game first, then come talking. If you like it...good for you.

if you don't like it...too bad.

Scarfather

I use Zack because of how much I loved Crisis Core.

[QUOTE="Scarfather"]

You would expect from someone that has "Zack Fair" as his avatar and signature, that he would've played

FFVII centuries ago :?.

Finish the game first, then come talking. If you like it...good for you.

if you don't like it...too bad.

Phoenix534

I use Zack because of how much I loved Crisis Core.

Although I haven't played FFVII, I really don't have much expectations for it either. Whenever large groups of people come around giving what they believe to be a great game something like a 9.5, I really put that into consideration when deciding whether or not to buy it. But lately, I've found that what most people want and like differ so much from what I want in rpgs (I found that out after playing Crisis Core)

So in my book, FFVI probably comes the closest to my 'perfect' game. I think gameinformer did an article on this and took many aspects of multiple rpgs and placed them together to create what they believed to be a perfect game. If I'm correct, nothing was mentioned of FFVII in the article...but that's just what I remember.

Although I haven't played FFVII, I really don't have much expectations for it either. Whenever large groups of people come around giving what they believe to be a great game something like a 9.5, I really put that into consideration when deciding whether or not to buy it. But lately, I've found that what most people want and like differ so much from what I want in rpgs (I found that out after playing Crisis Core)

So in my book, FFVI probably comes the closest to my 'perfect' game. I think gameinformer did an article on this and took many aspects of multiple rpgs and placed them together to create what they believed to be a perfect game. If I'm correct, nothing was mentioned of FFVII in the article...but that's just what I remember.

magitekk

They mentioned FFVI and X, not VII. FFVI was for Final Boss and X was for story. Although they did show Cloud's torso in the picture.

[QUOTE="magitekk"]

Although I haven't played FFVII, I really don't have much expectations for it either. Whenever large groups of people come around giving what they believe to be a great game something like a 9.5, I really put that into consideration when deciding whether or not to buy it. But lately, I've found that what most people want and like differ so much from what I want in rpgs (I found that out after playing Crisis Core)

So in my book, FFVI probably comes the closest to my 'perfect' game. I think gameinformer did an article on this and took many aspects of multiple rpgs and placed them together to create what they believed to be a perfect game. If I'm correct, nothing was mentioned of FFVII in the article...but that's just what I remember.

Phoenix534

They mentioned FFVI and X, not VII. FFVI was for Final Boss and X was for story. Although they did show Cloud's torso in the picture.

Upon seeing that in the article, I thought they would include something from FFVII in it, but strangely, they didn't.

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

[QUOTE="magitekk"]

Although I haven't played FFVII, I really don't have much expectations for it either. Whenever large groups of people come around giving what they believe to be a great game something like a 9.5, I really put that into consideration when deciding whether or not to buy it. But lately, I've found that what most people want and like differ so much from what I want in rpgs (I found that out after playing Crisis Core)

So in my book, FFVI probably comes the closest to my 'perfect' game. I think gameinformer did an article on this and took many aspects of multiple rpgs and placed them together to create what they believed to be a perfect game. If I'm correct, nothing was mentioned of FFVII in the article...but that's just what I remember.

magitekk

They mentioned FFVI and X, not VII. FFVI was for Final Boss and X was for story. Although they did show Cloud's torso in the picture.

Upon seeing that in the article, I thought they would include something from FFVII in it, but strangely, they didn't.

Yeah, I was expecting them to have it in there somewhere. But, alas, nothing. Oh well. At least they included Kaim from Lost Odyssey in there for Hero:D

I downloaded Final Fantasy VII from PSN a while ago. After years of hearing, "Best game ever made" and "100% PERFECT", I was pretty excited. I got to about 30 hours, and nothing. Nothing really amazing about the game. When does the amazing story and 'perfectness' kick in?

Phoenix534

it was for the time it came out made it perfect....just like for how when GTA4 came out everyone was riding that and now everyones like it sucked...its not that the game is any worse just everyone has played better made games now and its not getting the respect it deserves

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

I downloaded Final Fantasy VII from PSN a while ago. After years of hearing, "Best game ever made" and "100% PERFECT", I was pretty excited. I got to about 30 hours, and nothing. Nothing really amazing about the game. When does the amazing story and 'perfectness' kick in?

Eazy1891

it was for the time it came out made it perfect....just like for how when GTA4 came out everyone was riding that and now everyones like it sucked...its not that the game is any worse just everyone has played better made games now and its not getting the respect it deserves

I guess that's true.

I think the quality of RPG's nowadays (in terms of graphics, details, unique battle systems) have dilluted the greatness of FFVII. I still think it's the best RPG I've ever played, but I first experienced it when it was just released.
If you're just trying it out for the first time now, you'll see a dated battle system, pretty ugly looking sprites, no HD visuals, and lower quality sound. (no voices, unremarkable SFX, and great music created with old technology)

At any rate, I would have thought you would enjoy FFVII more than Crisis Core at least.

I think the quality of RPG's nowadays (in terms of graphics, details, unique battle systems) have dilluted the greatness of FFVII. I still think it's the best RPG I've ever played, but I first experienced it when it was just released.
If you're just trying it out for the first time now, you'll see a dated battle system, pretty ugly looking sprites, no HD visuals, and lower quality sound. (no voices, unremarkable SFX, and great music created with old technology)

At any rate, I would have thought you would enjoy FFVII more than Crisis Core at least.

SillySkeleton

I actually don't mind bad graphics, and the battle system, while dated, is still one of the best in the genre. My main gripe is the story, which I guess I haven't gotten far enough in to find it.

I think the quality of RPG's nowadays (in terms of graphics, details, unique battle systems) have dilluted the greatness of FFVII. I still think it's the best RPG I've ever played, but I first experienced it when it was just released.
If you're just trying it out for the first time now, you'll see a dated battle system, pretty ugly looking sprites, no HD visuals, and lower quality sound. (no voices, unremarkable SFX, and great music created with old technology)

At any rate, I would have thought you would enjoy FFVII more than Crisis Core at least.

SillySkeleton

Which reminds me...I wonder if FFVII would have the fame that it does today if it wasn't made in 3D. Frankly, I would've preferred 2D sprites for how bad the 3D graphics were for the game.

[QUOTE="SillySkeleton"]

I think the quality of RPG's nowadays (in terms of graphics, details, unique battle systems) have dilluted the greatness of FFVII. I still think it's the best RPG I've ever played, but I first experienced it when it was just released.
If you're just trying it out for the first time now, you'll see a dated battle system, pretty ugly looking sprites, no HD visuals, and lower quality sound. (no voices, unremarkable SFX, and great music created with old technology)

At any rate, I would have thought you would enjoy FFVII more than Crisis Core at least.

Phoenix534

I actually don't mind bad graphics, and the battle system, while dated, is still one of the best in the genre. My main gripe is the story, which I guess I haven't gotten far enough in to find it.

Well you already played Crisis Core.

If that's stuck on your head, then already the story is ruined. Large part of the first few hours for FFVII was more about learning about the world and learning about characters, and start building up a lot of mysteries which is effectively ruined by crisis core.

Not to mention CC did great job bastardizing FFVII. The way Sephiroth gets butchered in that game was just sickening. Since your eyes and mind is already tainted by CC, you cannot see FFVII story the way it was supposed to be told.

Don't bother playing FFVII. Playing Crisis Core first and then trying to play FFVII is just not going to work.

[QUOTE="SillySkeleton"]

I think the quality of RPG's nowadays (in terms of graphics, details, unique battle systems) have dilluted the greatness of FFVII. I still think it's the best RPG I've ever played, but I first experienced it when it was just released.
If you're just trying it out for the first time now, you'll see a dated battle system, pretty ugly looking sprites, no HD visuals, and lower quality sound. (no voices, unremarkable SFX, and great music created with old technology)

At any rate, I would have thought you would enjoy FFVII more than Crisis Core at least.

magitekk

Which reminds me...I wonder if FFVII would have the fame that it does today if it wasn't made in 3D. Frankly, I would've preferred 2D sprites for how bad the 3D graphics were for the game.

Oh get over yourself.

FFVII looked great at the time and 3D model did great job capturing expressions.

Also before FFVII, FF series had exactly 1 game that looked decent, which was FFVI. All the other ones looked like piece of ****.

Graphics and presentation alone didn't sell FFVII. Resident Evil came out year earlier than FFVII and it had better graphics. But FFVII still managed to sell great numbers reaching almost 10 mil. You don't get that kind of success without being a great game (A success no other FF game managed to match). To say it sold because of the 3D graphic is idiotic. Granted FFVII did get some benefit from eye popping presentation and Sony's huge budget advertisement, but overall the game was smashing success thanks to it's overall quality.

And it's not difficult to see how people enjoyed FFVII. Just look at FFVIII sales which sold around 8.5 mil. Before FFVII, there was no FF fans. FF had sold at most about 3.8 mil or something, with most of the sales coming from Japan. To most people, FFVII ended up being their first FF, but fans came back for more with FFVIII (after FFVIII, fans left, which is no surprise since FFVIII was the worst FF ever made) If people didn't love FFVII, would they have tried coming back for more? I don't think so.

Nice avatar and sig..

Oh get over yourself.

FFVII looked great at the time and 3D model did great job capturing expressions.

Also before FFVII, FF series had exactly 1 game that looked decent, which was FFVI. All the other ones looked like piece of ****.

Graphics and presentation alone didn't sell FFVII. Resident Evil came out year earlier than FFVII and it had better graphics. But FFVII still managed to sell great numbers reaching almost 10 mil. You don't get that kind of success without being a great game (A success no other FF game managed to match). To say it sold because of the 3D graphic is idiotic. Granted FFVII did get some benefit from eye popping presentation and Sony's huge budget advertisement, but overall the game was smashing success thanks to it's overall quality.

And it's not difficult to see how people enjoyed FFVII. Just look at FFVIII sales which sold around 8.5 mil. Before FFVII, there was no FF fans. FF had sold at most about 3.8 mil or something, with most of the sales coming from Japan. To most people, FFVII ended up being their first FF, but fans came back for more with FFVIII (after FFVIII, fans left, which is no surprise since FFVIII was the worst FF ever made) If people didn't love FFVII, would they have tried coming back for more? I don't think so.

TriangleHard

I guess we didn't play the same game. I thought Final Fantasy VIII was better than VII. To each their own I suppose.

Like another person said, topic creator, The game just won't have that same kick like it did for others because you pretty much know half of the twists in the story thanks to Crisis Core taking away that, "What?!" factor. I really do think if you played FFVII first and then Crisis Core you would probably enjoy it more.