I’ve gotten a couple of hours further into Final Fantasy VII, and I’m still having mixed reactions. I enjoy playing it, and it’s beginning to feel more like the Final Fantasy games I’m used to playing, but I can’t help notice a few niggling details. Whether these flaws are the result of poor game design, ambition, or simply due to hardware limitations in 1997 is difficult to determine without playing more of the game (which I certainly plan to do).
I’m willing to chalk up the problems I find most annoying to limitations of the original PlayStation hardware. The terrible polygonal graphics of the characters are in such stark contrast to the prerendered environments that it’s difficult to make out exactly what is happening on the screen. I find myself running into walls much more often than I’d like, although perhaps that’s due to the lack of analog control more so than poor visuals. I also find it difficult to empathize with any of the characters’ emotions because the cutesy polygonal characters are so nondescript.
The battle system of previous titles is what drew me to Final Fantasy. It allowed for difficult battles and strategy while letting you take time to decide your next move. The active battle system in Final Fantasy VII would work much better in a 2D environment. I’m often unable to select a mode of retaliation because an enemy’s attack has forced the camera to shift and hide the other combatants. I have to wait until the attack is finished before selecting my target. This wastes time, and gives the impression that enemies are able to attack more frequently than your party members.
Still, I’m having a lot of fun playing and I’m really enjoying the story. I’d appreciate it even more if I could play FFVII on my PSP with Remote Play. I have yet to find a game that works particularly well with that feature. Anyway, if anyone has an insights on FFVII, I’d appreciate hearing them. I’d be interested to know if the things I’ve complained about are common problems. Has anyone who’s played FFVII before gone back to it recently? This experience has given me the urge to try out Final Fantasy XII. I bought it a long time ago knowing that I probably wouldn’t get around to playing it. The special edition came with a History of Final Fantasy DVD that I really wanted.
What really bothers me about Final Fantasy VII’s combat — or more appropriately, its character development system — is that no one feels unique. And I don’t buy that Limit Breaks make them supremely unique, although their inclusion is indeed a nice touch. You can give anyone materia and they’ll be super strong. I liked the whole “My character has learned a spell, and it’s his to keep” idea, is what I’m trying to say I guess.
What Austin said is true: the character don’t feel very unique because you can slap some materia on anyone so they can do anything. I think that’s why I preferred FFIX’s system. I didn’t experience many of the graphical concerns you’re having, but that’s all down to the fact that I played it closer to launch (1998-99, around that time). I can definitely agree when you say it’s hard to empathise with the characters though. As you’ll soon find out with more play, the storyline is very complex and very involving. The fact that the characters are blocky and even un-human at times makes things difficult; that would be the greatest thing a potential PS3 remake could fix.
Hi Brian!!! It´s nice to see that you are updating your Fishypants site!!
I´m glad you are trying Final Fantasy VII before Crisis core. As for myself, I´m getting a PSP in no time for Crisis Core.
What can I tell you about Final Fantasy VII…… lets see….
I played it for the first time in 1998, one year after being released. I had just finished playing ChronnoTrigger and Secret of Mana in a borrowed SNES. Back then in 1997 and 1998 a lot of gamers including me where stuck with SNES and a wide variety of games, in my case I played almost all square RPG´S for the SNES, needless to say that my favorite one was Chrono-Trigger. Final Fantasy VII was the first Playstation 1 game that I saw and played. The first time I saw it at the local videogame shop, my jaw literally dropped and my mind was in “shock”….. It represented the complete transition between 2-D games and full 3D interactive environments with amazing rendered cutscenes that I had ever seen back then. That was THE GAME that a lot of SNES and Sega Genesis gamers were expecting.
I agree that the polygonal graphics could have been polished a little bit more.
For an avid (and back then vicious RPG player like me) games like me FFVII represented a gift from God…… I thought “WOW! I don’t think games would get any better than this…..How wrong I was……
FFVII was the perfect chance that gave gamers a glimpse of the PS1 capabilities!!! And got a whole bunch of gamers into the RPG genre.
Besides the graphics and the CG cutsecenes one of the most important aspects of the game were story and music.
The most important thing about a good RPG: THE STORY… FFVII blew my mind with the story and the deep love triangle between Cloud, Aeris and Tifa…..Sephiroth, Shinra…. Etc. That story was way ahead for it´s time (possibly until FFVIII and Xenogears showed up) I wont spoil it here…. But there was a great and sad moment in the game that truly made me cry….
Nobuo Uematsu showed us an outstanding score, deep and emotional that could rival any current next game….
I loved the limit break system and the materia customization available for your disposition with all characters…….
I felt nostalgic about it…and mostly because Crisis core coming up…. So I decided to replay it again, just for the sake of old times!!!!!!… and for the fun of breeding a gold chocobo all the way (I suggest you try all the Chocobos!!!)…. I´m planning on uploading a video to GS, about my experiences with FFVII.
Greetings from México.
N-REAL.
PD: Check your facebook profile.!