Poll: FF7 is so popular because it was a lot of people's first JRPG

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SovietSecrets

iDrink, iSmoke, iPill
Nov 16, 2008
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Nope, I played Chrono Trigger and Legend of the Mana before even touching FF 7. I just overally enjoyed FF 7 because it wasn't hard for me to get sucked into that world and enjoy progressing the story.
 

SendMeNoodz84

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Jun 11, 2009
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Douk said:
SendMeNoodz84 said:
Douk said:
SendMeNoodz84 said:
You're way too young to understand. We didn't have games like GTA IV or Mass Effect growing up, so games like FF7 were mind blowing.
Da hell? I'm not 12 years old. Don't go bringing that shit into this thread, I was there when the game was new.
According to your profile, you were about 7 when the game came out. How old are you implying you were when you started playing video games? Three?
Not everyone plays a game when it was new you know. Young kids play the game because its popular, and they grow up with it, continuing the force that pushed this game into cult following.
Exactly. Not everyone plays a game when it was brand new and exciting. This is why a lot of gamers today go back and don't get why everyone loves the game.
 

orangeapples

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Aug 1, 2009
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SNES Final Fantasy III (USA, I think it was VI in Japan).

I didn't really understand what was going on because I wasn't really paying attention, but this was my first.

I really should replay it.

I've finished: VII, X, X-2
I've played but never finished: I, III, IV, VIII
I never played: II, V, VI, IX, XII

I told myself I won't play XIII until I at least finish IV and VIII.
 

Deleted

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Jul 25, 2009
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SendMeNoodz84 said:
[Exactly. Not everyone plays a game when it was brand new and exciting. This is why a lot of gamers today go back and don't get why everyone loves the game.
Yeah but I mean 1 to 2 years old still in that time period is when a lot of people played FF7.
 

Bojinglez

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Feb 13, 2010
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I remember FF7 was one of my favorite RPGs. Then I played FF10 and I realized that 10 was better than 7 in every way possible (Except for the voice acting which was horrible, they shouldn't have even voiced the characters.).
 

BakaSmurf

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Dec 25, 2008
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My first JRPG was Pokemon Blue Version, it also happened to be my first good JRPG at the same time (Ah, Leo the Blastoise, how I miss you so!).

I still have yet to play FF7, actually. I was seriously considering downloading it to my PSP, but after seeing the size (and price tag) I said: "Fuck 'dat shit!" and just went back to my beloved FF6, and I regret nothing.
 

manaman

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Sep 2, 2007
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I found Final Fantasy 7 to be very enjoyable and I had the pleasure of playing 6 beforehand.

It was not by far the first JRPG I played and I still think the game was a good game.
 

BlindMessiah94

The 94th Blind Messiah
Nov 12, 2009
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Chrono Trigger has always remained my favourite JRPG because of it's story, characters, battle system, and replay value.

Final Fantasy VII is a close second to me. I think the story is very good, and although some of the characters a bit cliche, I thought they all had flaws to make them a bit more relatable.
The reason I loved FF7 so much though is none of those things and is honestly the Materia system. I wish more RPG's would utilize a system like that. I don't care if it would be obvious that people are ripping off FF7, the fact that ANY character in your party could be your healer, or elementalist, or what not, made the game that much more playable. I didn't feel like I had to play the whole game with the same three characters. Not to mention all the spells looked beautiful and the summons combined with awesome battle music made for some epic fights.
I would give FF7 another chance if I was you. Seeing as how you are a JRPG fan, I found that FF7 became more enjoyable for me the second time through.

Besides, it lives up to hype WAY more than FFX does. FF7 had a great story and gameplay with poor graphics. FFX had great graphics with a terrible story and average gameplay.
 

Kavonde

Usually Neutral Good
Feb 8, 2010
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Douk said:
So the question of the thread is, is there a classic game you played well after its time, and didn't see what all the hype was about. Things like old sonic, MGS, GTA, whatever. Also to test my theory answer the poll on whether or not FF7 was your first serious JRPG, if you don't want to answer honestly because you don't like generalizations don't bother voting.
Bioshock. Played it a few months after it came out, with everyone raving about how awesome it was, but...meh. It was fun, sure, and really pretty and everything, but...meh. The guns sucked, the plasmids were too damn cumbersome to use (reminded me of Morrowind/Oblivion's magic systems -- and speaking of rampantly popular games that I only kinda liked: Oblivion!), and the controls felt too sluggish. Admittedly, I never got to the Big Twist, which has now been so widely and horribly spoiled that any incentive I might've had to go back and replay the game long enough to reach it is shot.

As for the poll: Final Fantasy 6 was mine. Although I also got Secret of Mana around the same time, and I'm not totally sure which I played first, but FF6 is definitely the more JRPG-y of the two and has steadfastly remained my Favorite Game Ever.
 

funksobeefy

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Mar 21, 2009
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s69-5 said:
Anticitizen_Two said:
I'm surprised there's been so few JRPG hate posts in this thread. You'd think this close to Yahtzee it would be inevitable.
You just had to go and jinx it, didn't you!? (See below)
Sigh, I guess they'd show up eventually.
funksobeefy said:
no I don't think it was a good JRPG and I have never played a good JRPG.
note that I didnt say I hated them, I just have yet to play one that I actually liked. Of course I dont included pokemon in this. And also I am capable of forming an opinion without Yahtzee's help.
 

Veilside

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Feb 17, 2010
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I agree with your theory to a point. I think it's a mix of it being a lot of people's first JRPG and the huge jump from SNES to PS1 technology and capability.

My first RPG was Dragon Warrior(NES), my favorite FF is FF6(SNES), and my favorite JRPG of all time is and may possibily always be XENOGEARS(PS1)! DQ8(PS2) was awesome too.
 

Veylon

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Aug 15, 2008
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I agree with the theory. My favorite main Final Fantasy is 6, but for much the same reason; although I'd played Final Fantasy 1 and Dragon Warrior, but FF6 was the "big one" for me that really shaped my experience of the RPG genre. I still liked FF7, but I'd already had 6, so I was somewhat inoculated to it's effects.
 

kawaiiamethist

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Nov 21, 2009
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8 was my first, then 7. 10 was the first I beat. 10 is my favourite story and cast, but 12 is my favourite 'game'.
 

BattlePope

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Aug 2, 2008
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And that's the problem with your empirical analysis: Final Fantasy fans will tend to be of the age that they played 'Secret of Mana' and the first few 'Final Fantasy' games (i.e. 1-6). The seventh one wasn't that great, mainly due to some of the characters having a forced personalization. Another point to make would be that most of the people you were expecting this poll to work for wouldn't really be on the Escapist in the first place (at least for nothing other than to watch Yahtzee's reviews). An age poll would have worked out better first to ensure that you had the right demographic you wanted, because for the record, I'm 22 and that means I was about 5 when the Sega Genesis was finally made affordable for the parents who would use it as a digital babysitter at the time.

Although, one of my favorite passtimes is being objective and playing the Devil's Advocate in these scenarios, the driving point for most people to like it were: big swords, cg rendered graphics, Steampunk-esque designs, minigames, recurrent comic relief, and a plot that was somewhere between a rubik's cube and an onion, multilayered and requiring placing certain things/people in the right spot to advance the plot.

It is kind of like the same idea as any other RPG (MMORPG's aren't safe from this blanket statement either) since you start up in one area where everything is really weak compared to the next zone that you'll have to go to. Sure there weren't any quest windows or quest logs in FF7, but it still had the same sidequests and whatnot that would be called Daily Quests. Were there mounts? Yes you had to breed better ones in order to get anywhere worth your time until you upgraded to a flying battleship. Were there items that you had to farm? Not really, but you did have to farm money to afford better gear/spells, and you had to farm experience to be able to reliably travel to the next region. Were there epic bosses that were optional? Yes there were in the American version. Were there talents? No, but you had "Limit Breaks" which I'm sure you've heard of...

And for the record: some of the best JRPG's were the ones that weren't dark and brooding. Examples include, but aren't limited to: Earthbound/Mother and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

And to answer the question in regards to playing a game that didn't live up the hype/fandom's projected expectations: Yes, I played Halo and Halo 2 back to back with a friend of mine who was a rabid fan of it and felt like I just played Starship Troopers after it was given the Metroid Treatment with an instance of Ocarina of Time inspired Navi, and a liberal splash of the Half-Life zombies. Another game that was a let-down was our old friends Gears of War and his sickly cousin World of Warcraft. As for old school games: No I wasn't disappointed in any games that came out because they didn't live up to the hype.

And another fact to add in there: I don't play JRPG's anymore, either (except for maybe the occasional tactics game).
 

BattlePope

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Aug 2, 2008
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Yes I would agree with your opinion that Pokemon doesn't count just since it was more or less the adaptation of the TV show which was in essence an adaptation of a marketing strategy. Though the game gets props for having a mute lead character.
 

kazork

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Oct 16, 2007
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I am actually playing FF 7 for the first time at the moment and i must say it is a fun game but is is also very easy and (although i not finished yet) short. maybe that is something that helped in getting the game to the masses. I played al of the previous final fantasy games (except FF6 wich i really want to play but can't get my hands on a cartridge) and the were very fun but they also could be pretty hard.

So besides the FMV's and the first 3d FF game it was also very accesible and that would also have helped the hype.

(my first jrpg was secret of mana)