Why does everyone love FFVII?

[Cuniculus]

Ha. Just found this.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3504

There it is, in the semifinals. It isn't over yet, but considering they had almost any game you can imagine in this contest, it proves part of my point that it's usually near the top if not the top.

 

[Librarian Mike]

Final Fantasy 7 was my first of the series, and it was my first game after not playing for a few years, so it will always have a special place for me. Having said that, I think 6 was much more of a revolutionary game, as it set the standard for all subsequent games (specifically in terms of gameplay). I'm a fan of the series, although 12 pissed me off, but I really don't understand the whole "Remake FF7" movement that happens every 6 months.

 

[bjj hero]

Yeah, I got a much more negative response then I expected... though it still doesn't explain why it still wins almost every "best game ever" contest.

You must have been 10 when it was released. You missed the boat I guess. I was 17 and it felt massive. The graphics were 3d which wasnt done at the time. The musical score was just epic. There was tonnes to do outside of the main story such as snow board, arena fighting, over powered boss hunting, weapon fights were great, submarine combat etc. This was fairly new at that point to have so much out of story time.

The charecters could be easily customised with materia, you could spend ages breeding the good materia, there were a few charecters you got attatched too (I found Cloud a little too mental for my taste) and when they killed your healer it was devastating. I had a friend who spent months trying to get her back. Plus it had an "epic" feel, with a huge world for the time.

The future with magic and swords hadn't been done to death at that point. Most games were fantasy or sci fi at that point so it didnt feel over done. The limit breaks also felt like something new as well. Now everone has super moves. You'd be just itching for omni slash to power up. The summons also felt like they could raise cities.

I felt that phantasy star 4, shining force(I/II) and secret of mana were equally smashing. All in their own time. Unfortunately I missed chrono trigger.

Much of what FF VII does is pretty standard in jrpgs now, its old hat. If youre new to it it feels like most other rpgs, just with shitty graphics. It was a ahead of its time in 1997. You had to be there. I feel most of the hate comes from people who were the wrong age at the time.

I dont tend to play jrpgs now, I dont have the time to sink into them any more. It comes with growing up.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

To me Final Fantasy VIII will always be the best of the series... but I'm a hopeless romantic.
Final Fantasy VII - IX to me were the last of the good Final fantasy games because that was when they were last accessible to a large multitude of people. You didnt have to be a hardcore rpg player to get into Final Fantasy VII and play it through to completion, get caught up in the story, and see it through.

These days, I find RPG's, especially Final Fantasy ones, a bit too over the top and time demanding... not only are they massive time sinks, but the amount of management required in order to pull of their 'active combat' systems are unnecessarily tedious. Final Fantasy X was OK, but it felt like it required more effort to play and I didnt feel as much that I was playing a game as pressing buttons to continue the story. Final Fantasy XII just flat out bored and frustrated me because there were just too many damn things to manage with all the gambits and people running around using up my damn potions every time they got a scratch if i didnt specifically go in and tell them when and how to use them through a gambit. The weapon licenses just added to the tedium. Sometimes you just want to PLAY a game, but Final Fantasy XII felt like WORK, where you had to pour through manuals and get used to using it. It was about as fun as an excel spreadsheet.

Final Fantasy VII was far shallower than games by today's standards but it seems to me that Square Enix is making Final Fantasy games that are more concerned with cinematic badassery than with "FUN"... and thats a problem. When telling a story becomes more of a focus than the player actually ENJOYING the game, you've lost your way.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but it's even the simple things like being able to name my characters whatever the hell I want that I miss. Yes, I'm sure Bwanaperedontis is a bad ass name for a elf knight, but you know, I kinda like the name Charlie, and thats what I'd want to name him if given the choice. But since Final Fantasy seems hell bent on giving me choices I dont want while restricting me from making choices I do want, the series is slowly losing me.

Every few years I go back and play final fantasy VII and VIII to remind myself what it was like to have a Final Fantasy game I enjoy immensely.

 

[incognito_me]

Everyone loves FF7 because it was one of the first Final Fantasy titles to ever be widely available to everyone and their mom. It was also the first 3D FF game ever made. These things, coupled with an odd yet engaging sci-fi story, decent characters with some personality, and ofcourse Sephiroth make for a game everyone's going to love...despite how overrated it truly actually is.

 

[Zersy]

The same reason people love half life 2 or halo or any other game. Some just find it fun, some like the story ect. Simply nostalgia or just personal taste, hell I tend to see more haters than fans really.

I love it when a thread is answered within the first response