Agree completely, FF6 is the real jewel of the series and the culmination of the classic FFs, before beggining the “Square Enix Theater Presents” series of FFs, maybe the real conclusion chapter was actually FF6, but thinking about it, it is best that they kept it as a hidden jewel, which makes it more valuable over time, than the cash cow that FF7 really is.
I wouldn’t be very welcoming if a lot of spin offs and remakes were produced around FF6, it is perfect just as it is for the teenager version of me.
Since the editor failed to put her fandom aside as she said she would, lets answer the real question for her instead. Why FF VII doesn’t matter? FF VII was what we know as at the right time and at the right place. FF VII came at a time when FMV and full 3D environments had not been fully utilized in an RPG or in a game. It was also at a time when people were moving away from the 2D games into the 3D as it was state of the art and something new and progressive. It was also at a time when games were being put on CD as opposed to cartridge which could reach a much larger audience as it was much cheaper to both mass produce and ship CD’s. But like all things, time tells everything, and FF VII did not age well, nor did it leave the measure of success and legacy that it was suppose to for the JRPG genre. As we all know, FF VII moved the JRPG genre out of obscurity and into the spotlight for about 5 years or so and was considered great, new, and innovative, but again that would be short lived as companies would replicate the FF VII model into their RPG games also known as FF VII “clones”. These clones would lead to many mediocre and monotonous titles which would spiral the JRPG genre back into the abyss of obscurity from where it came. And here we are in 2015, 18 years in the future to be exact, and the JRPG genre is obscure, mediocre, and fading extremely fast. Time has reared its ugly head and has shown that the measure of success that FF VII left is a complete and utter failure as mentioned in the above. JRPG’s have been put to the waste side by better and bigger RPG’s made by companies in the US and most notably in Europe. Other genres like shooting and fighting have also heavily contributed to the demise of the JRPG genre as they have taken the younger gaming generation with them. Innovative games like Xenoblade have helped keep the JRPG genre on life support but that is all it is, life support. It is truly sad for me personally as I played and loved FF VI, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Soul Blader, and Zelda A Link to the past, yet these games which are truly from the “Golden Age” of gaming, seem to get shoved to the waste side when talking to people about RPG’s since for most of the current gaming generation, FF VII was the first they ever played. These forgotten games mentioned in the above, left a measure of success and left an incredible legacy, and had it not been for these titles, FF VII would have never existed… So in essence, this is why FF VII doesn’t matter. And for all those “fan boys/fan girls” including the editor who believe that anyone who doesn’t think FF VII is a good/great game is either a hater or was not there at the time (something typical of the FF VII fan base), I have some bad news for you. I for one, was there. I was 17 at the time, and not only was I able to play/beat FF VII in Japanese before it appeared in the states or Europe, I was able to play/beat it in English as well. I remember after beating it the first time, I was extremely disappointed as I expected it to be to the likes of FF VI and Chrono Trigger, and that is where I made my crucial mistake with this game. I grew up in the Golden age of gaming with great titles like the ones listed above as well as many others like Super Metroid, Super Castlevania IV, Contra III Alien Wars, and Act Raiser. I am not a hater nor do I think FF VII was a bad game. It was a decent game, it lived its moment of the high life, but it just wasn’t what I expected nor remembered it to be. So to the editor, am I just a simple hater as you like to say people like me are? Was I not there when it came out or did I not truly play this game as you mentioned? Could it be that I’m just a simple realist and who like many others, sees through the “fandom” that you and many others of this title display? I think you “The Editor” of this article can only answer that for yourself…
And I for one completely agree with you. In fact, after all these years, i still remember most of the events from FF VI and Chrono Trigger but could not even tell you the events from FF VII other than the “infamous” death scene, and to be honest, I don’t even remember how that death scene even came about, but who cares. FF VII was about mass appeal not about being good or even being the best. It was simply a cash cow for Square. FF VI and Chrono Trigger were about being the best and were a combination of all that was before them and they did it flawlessly. That is why to this day, both those games are still recognized by most critics as the best that the JRPG genre had/has to offer…
I think I was in the “too old” category when FF7 came along, it never did it for me. The pacing was just way too slow and I didn’t like the rough edges (bad translation, pre rendered backdrops with low polygon figures dropped in front). I wish I could see it with Leigh’s eyes. Random encounters in JRPGs, yuck.
Then again, I can appreciate the Star Wars prequels. So I definitely understand the fannish nostalgia bias that clouds crap and makes you like stuff that isn’t very good.
All those people saying the FFVI was better, did they know that Europe didn’t see it released there until 2002, a good five years after FFVII? Chrono Trigger was released here 11 years after FFVII.
Yes, there was emulation, but without FFVII I wouldn’t have known to care about the earlier games. If it was really as bad as some of you are saying then why would I have cared enough to look? If you were saying that it was overrated then I might understand, but overrated ≠ bad in this case.
My own thoughts about FFVII are that it helped keep me alive, at two different times when I needed a lot of distraction to not think about suicide. Too many games didn’t distract me enough, FFVII did, and it did it again when I replayed it seven years later.
Look at it from a different perspective: all great movies* get a remake, 20 or 30 years later. The remakes usually suck, but they generate enough press that someone will go and discover the original.
* except Citizen Kane, I guess.
EDIT: re-reading the whole thread, most posts come out as classic indie butthurt: “Hey, I liked FF better when they weren’t famous. Their best game is, by pure coincidence, the one right before they achieved mainstream success.” Sure, dude, sure.
FFVII was what stopped me from ever buying a console. I played it as a teenager, during a summer holiday while my parents were away, on a PSX borrowed from a friend. It basically took over my life, to the point where I “woke up” 4 days later, and realised I had done nothing in 4 days except playing FFVII and occasionally eating or sleeping. I returned the PSX and vowed to stay away from game consoles ever since.
there’s actually a point here. FFVI was different from FFIV, which was itself very different from FFI, but they were evolutions of the basic format. FFVI (or Chronotrigger, whatever) turned out to be the acme of the tile-based pixel-arty JRPG, with character development and a sort of decent apocalyptic plot with a few optional sidequests that were plot-relevant and not just a way to get a powerful item.
FFVII changed the style and feel completely and, since that was the defining characteristic of the otherwise-unconnected “sequels”, it may as well have been a totally different game. it wasn’t just the most popular one, it went full-tilt “make a movie/game hybrid” (not a bad idea, really, and one of the few studios to actually pull it off) and defined their strategy for the next few decades.
Not so. I have never played any of the Final Fantasy games, yet this article still gets you right in the feels. I probably won’t play them now even if I did game, because the actual thing would only be a disappointment. But I am glad it was good for all of you. Got to go now, I seem to have something in my eye…
All of my yes. FFVII is one of the games that made me. I have countless runs, and it occupies a huge part of my heart. I also broke down during the reveal, it was so embarassing!
What a game. I loved that it wasn’t medieval fantasy. I loved the eco-whatever plot. I loved the sense of place that midgar had. The mako cannon! Mount phoenix! I have a super engrained special memory of every location in that game.
(also, there’s a way to date yuffie on that gold saucer part. Only got it once!)
It’s almost like the point of the article was that it came at a meaningful point in the editor’s life and that’s a lot of what makes games and other experiences stick in your memories? Your ratio of ‘words typed’ to ‘points missed’ is truly a critical hit.
I kind of liked the fact that FFVII involved a number of cutscenes and was more cinematic than some of the other games I’d played. I loved the story even with its plot holes, so I was fine with the fact that it pushed you in certain directions on some occasions.
Maybe it’s simply a matter of what comes out in our tenderest age has the most effect, but I’m with the ones who remember the SNES-era FFIV (“2”) and FFVI (“3”) as the most engaging and unforgettable of the series in every meaningful way (raw gameplay, plot, those cute sprites, the music!). Chrono Trigger as well.
While FFVII’s setting was pretty enjoyable and that awesome Carmina Burana-ish Sephiroth choir will be remembered always, I’m not really sure the game itself did much for me. It remains the last of the series I’ve played (you might call it final, heh), and I’m not really sure to this day I’m really missing out on the newer ones or if I’d care even less.
I wonder how much of this comes down to the age you were when you played the original. I’ve certainly learned that many of my favorite games were the ones I played when I was 13-18 and also a few around 22-25. For me, those ages coincided with the heydays of Square (FF6, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger) and then Sega’s big resurgence (Jet Set Radio/Future, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi).
Considering these are games players could easily spend dozens to hundreds of hours playing, with rules that you learn and incorporate, I wonder how much they influenced my development at those ages. I’m sure they had some influence, and I suspect that’s why they’ll always be dear to me. Some part of me wonders how much of the love for FF7 is just that same effect but for a bigger audience that happened to be at a more receptive age. I played it when I was 20 and ultimately came away unmoved, but maybe if I had been a couple years younger, my feelings may be different.
People who love FF7: would you mind saying what age you were when you first played it?
