Final Fantasy VII (PSN Store)

I have a PSone and Pc version of this game, and I cant see myself buying it a third time; sure the story, characters, music and gameplay is still great, but i cant go in this a third time.
Now, if they do release a reamke of FFVI for the DS or PSP...Im in like a tapeworm.

My boss just picked this up and has immediately (and rather wisely) decided it is better viewed on the PSP. His purchase was motivated by nostalgia, but it's certainly not too offensive to look at (as someone who never played it originally).

I once walked into a tree while playing "Metal slug anthology" on my psp...needles to say, Im going to keep my ass sat down or in bed when playing that upcoming remake of "Persona".

I'm glad I sold my original black label copy a year or two ago before talks of a remake/reissue started up. ...that's really all I have to add.

My biggest gaming regret is that I never beat this game. I'm getting this next week, so gonna make the 432nd attempt in my life to beat it.

Well, im pretty sure some dirty bastard will upload a savegame at gamefaqs this week with overleveled characters and all items/materia at the first savepoint...but Im guessing you'd rather never finish than cheat, right?

Weird game with a bizarre mish-mash of design, tone and quality. I remember giving my characters a bunch of fantastic names back in the day: Yuffie became Sushi-K, and therefore a highlight of my team.

Red XIII was just 13 . . . that super-intelligent warcat and his home in Cosmo Canyon are by far my best memories of that game. Cid and his rocket is also a good take on that character.

Now that I think about it, linking the materia to the weapons is probably what made the combat so addictive. Building a character with just a stupid number of command options was fun. 'Bat with a Nail' was my favorite weapon. And submarine combat! Holy shit, this game is weird.

I picked up the BluRay of Advent Children, and I've got a ten year old niece that thinks it's amazing. She asks questions about the "narrative" -and I tell her that there are things that happened in the game that the characters are acting on. She, of course, wanted to see the game - so I broke out the PS1 discs.

I remember some thread where people were lamenting the fact that, in the CG film, the Turks are depicted as dorks, when in the game - they were deadly assassins. I had to wonder if these kids remembered the game at all. Yes, the Turks are responsible for death...and they are also embarrasing dorks.

Spike - you're so right about the quirkiness of the game - I'd forgotten all about the the entire cross-dressing sequence, for example. Don CORNIO?? This game was written (or translated) by seven-year-olds...

There has been much talk of a PS3 upgrayedd of the game, and while playing it (I'm nine hours in) it occured to me just how insane/retarded most of this dialogue would sound coming out of actors.

Also - you guys - DON'T LEVEL UP LIKE CRAZY!! This is the one and only Final Fantasy game where the monsters level up with you. You're supposed to utilize crafty junctioning of materia to make your party strong - simply leveling up will make many of the foes unbeatable.

I speak from experience. Nothing quite like spending eighty-six hours on a game only to be told by a guy on the Square tip line (the first, last, and only time I've ever asked for game help on one of those things, back when the game first came out) that there was probably no way I could beat the game due to the impossible number of hit points my enemies had - and the absurd strength of their attacks.

Jason, are you saying that the monsters level up with you in the new version? Because on my trusty PS1 version, that never ever happened. I usually got out of Midgar with all but my final limit break and complete powerhouse characters. I never saw the "Game Over" screen once. Grinding works (or at least it used to) in FFVII.

Yeah, that's surprising. I always put goals on myself when leveling in games I've been through once before. I always like to have at least 1,000 hp by Materia Keeper before Cid's entry in the game. The attacks he does crush the characters who got three digit hp maxes.

VIII levels with you. VII is just like any old school JRPG.

I have resisted buying this because, back when this bitch first came out, I beat it. Twice. And bred golden chocobos. Twice. And had the timer stop at 99 hours, 99 minutes and 99 seconds. TWICE. And killed Ruby and Emerald Weapons. Twice. I don't need this sickness back in my life.

That's correct. I think FFVII had enemies that didn't level up with you. I remember on my 2nd playthough how I could take down the final Sephiroth with only a few hits. In fact, I destroyed everyone because I leveled up like a beast.

I felt like a King when I first beat those fuckers.

I'm such a pack rat, I just can't part with it (just like my DS copy of Star Wars Episode III for the DS).

I hope most people here are in agreement that the game is grossly overrated not just in the gaming world, but even in terms of the Final Fantasy Series.

If we're going to go down that road:

VI (III), IX, X, VII, IV (II)

I would like to go on record that Advent Children still serves as a better ending than the one built into the game, and that the Blu Ray is probably the most magnificent looking thing I've seen on an HD screen.

The order (I'd link to the Retrospective, but it's been lost to the Mists of the Revamp):

VI, IV, IX, X, I, XII, II, V, VII, III, VIII

VIII is a pile of melodramatic garbage, which even as a pile of garbage does not hold up in any regard to it's garbage standards. VIII and Spirits Within are the low-point of the series.

If you like exploring large environments, ferreting out items, and collecting summons, I can see why you'd like VIII over something like X. I'm with Spike on the VII hate, although I find all FF plots melodramatic and dumb.

Taking a side road here, thinking about all post-IX FF games: After dropping the world map in X, I've found an incrementally growing disinterest in subsequent sequels. XII had some really big maps, but there's something about jetting around a huge planet that added a lot for me.

The hate comes from a complete departure from the elements that made the game popular, by amping up the absolute worst part of VII (story) and an undesirable gameplay mechanic.

But it's tough to see that when you don't experience the evolution of the series first-hand. People who put VIII on top of their lists tend to have come into the series at VII.

I don't mean to shit on your early adolescent favorite, but it a shitty game. Even Square admitted it by rushing out IX, which was supposed to be FF Gaiden an adjunct "greatest hits" entry.

As for liking VIII and having no time for VI, it's like saying, "Octopussy is the shit, but that Goldfinger...borrrrrrring."

That was an interesting (and sometimes tedious) element of Lost Odyssey, which tried to connect Auto-Travel with overworld exploration.

I'd take Spike to task, but considering I'm also the planet's sole surviving Final Fantasy X-2 fan, I'm in no position to argue his reasoning.

For a fairly detailed explanation on why FFVIII is kinda shit, I guide thee here.

Yeah, Lost Odyssey is pretty much FF X-3. The overworld stuff is pretty limited, but it was obvious what they were trying to do. I did enjoy X, but I still missed the maps. Opening up the world map in a flying machine was such a big gee whiz thing for all previous FF games.

I think all the games have their merits. Except XI. What a money and time sink. I dread even thinking about the four months I spent playing that game.

My favorites would have to be V, VII, IX, and XII. Although I will admit VIII has a lot of strategy to it.

VI is the greatest game I've ever played. It's perfect IMO.

Tactics is right behind and then everything else changes on how I feel.

Oh Boy...time for me to jump in...here goes:
VI-VII-IX-FFTactics (PS1)-IV-XII-X-VIII-X2-V- and the NES ones. Never played FFXI.
Also count me in for the love for Advent Children if counting it as the real ending of the FFVII saga; sure its hokey and a bit wincing at times, but if you really want to show what BluRay is capable of, the Cloud vs Sephirot fight in AC is the obvious choice.
As for why VI is the top choice: I never owned a SNES, yet I rented one with that game from a local blockbuster for a month and played the hell out of it untill it was beaten and beaten again.
Oh, and Im still playing FFVII: Crisis Core, so I didnt put it on the list.

How could I forget FFTactics???
Probably because I never beat it.

Matt, MediumDave & David - maybe my brain's on wrong? I remember reading that the monsters in VIII are always some sort of mathematical average of your party. As I remember it, every time you level up in VII - the monsters rise above the levels you're at.

Granted - what I did when playing the game back in the day was more retarded than most people's gamplay. For me, FF has always been about design and story (sure, translations were always screwy, but the tales were neat), and so with VII, I did my usual RPG "level up like a fiend" trick and never bothered to learn anything about/obtain much materia. Aside from basic spells and some of the summons (no - I never reaised a single chocobo, as I'd heard that the experience was damaged in the wake of SCEA's refusal to sell the elaborate Memory Unit that would have allowed you to treat them like Tamagotchi (the unit, available in Japan, worked a lot like the Sega Dreamcast's VMU - screen and all).

So yeah - much of the subtleties of the game were lost on me my first time through. The second time through, I became an alchemist with materia and started breeding chocobos - and - much like Matt - I never saw the "game over" screen, either. The game rewards smart use of the battle mechanics. Maybe that's just what the tip line people told me in lieu of "Are you a fucking moron? Do you know how to play video games at all?" 'Cause who wants to lose their job for telling off an inept douche?

But VIII's creatures do level up? That's news to me, as I found the game really easy.

Though I must say, Spike - you're not alone. I like VIII, too - I think because it was an attempt at more realistically depicted characters, and there were some dramatic moments the read to me as a real attempt at cinematic storytelling.

And I like X-2.

I love a lot of VII. The enivornments are varied, great music, interesting set-pieces/mini-games, memorable characters, well structured battle systems & leveling up of skills. And for its time, the CGI was very impressive.

Ultimately I think the plot points around sephiroth and the clones ans exactly what is Jenova dampened the ending. Especially since the story of Zack and Cloud is hidden in a missable cutscene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__qhOTnFwUY) which I only saw many years later.

What drags me down the most with the PS1 titles is the loading times. I've been trying to get through IX for a while, but it's frustrating getting through the battles. Especially coming off FFIV for the DS, which is lightning fast.

Regarding the rest:

XII - Loved a lot of the game. The world is brilliantly realised. On the second play through, I even enjoyed the plot. I really wish they put more class restrictions on the characters.I understand a second release in Japan did this very thing. As it is, simply give every character 'cure' and plow through the game.

X - Started off not liking it, but it grew on me. The ending with Tidus was actually quite sad.

X.2 - I really loved the battle system with this. I could just run around all day changing clothers and finding interesting combinations. Despite this, many elements were a bit silly and annoying.

IX - As mentioned before, the slow and frequent battles frustrate. I have not finished this and plan to one day.

VIII - Coming off VII, I was ready to love this game. However I found the plot here really hard to enjoy (Seed, WTF?). I did finish it eventually, but I still remember it as a disappointment.

IV - Quite old school, but it's an enjoyable romp. I like the character development in the other games, and this game has virtually none (the DS version had some, but I think the original didn't). Plus it's fucking hard at times, which is a great challenge.

VI - was never released in Australia. I played some on an emulator, but did not finish it. I plan to pick up V and VI with the inevitable DS remakes.

So based on that:
VII, XII, X, IV, VI (cause I've barely played it), IX, X-2, VIII

The unbelievably boring battle system is what dragged down VIII for me. I quite enjoyed the story, music and general adventuring aspects of the game (plus that ridiculously addictive card game), but the way the battle mechanics demanded repeated use of the GFs with their long and unskippable movie sequences turned even the random encounters into epic slogs. The game only became tolerable for me when I was finally able to run it through an emulator with a fast-forward function.

Final Fantasy VII:

#6 on GameSpy's "25 Most Overrated Games of All Time."

Says it all, I think.

For me, the majority of FF VII fanbois I've encountered are like ultra-religious Joss Whedonites, loud people with zero taste who worship Sephiroth like Jesus and jerk it at the altar of the game. For these people, VII was the very first FF game they ever played, and it's all rose-tinted nostalgia, transforming into blind, rabid, One-True-Faith zealotry. The game's not without its charms, and I'm thinking about PSP-ing it, due to the supposedly-rewritten script, but I guess I'm saying it's still utter fail compared to the sheer glory that was FF VI.

If I had to rank my top half-dozen-or-so faves, it'd probably go: VI, XII, Tactics, X, IV, VIII, and the PS1 remake of FF I. I tried playing the ultra-slow NES version of that game on an emulator not long ago, and it was about as much fun as eating lunch in a bathtub filled with herpes-covered diarrhea.

The hell was I thinking back in 1990?

Hell with "1990" - you just used "utter fail" in a sentence. What were you thinking a couple hours ago?

Additionally - "FTW" means "Fuck The World".

You're right about VI, though. And I think XII was really fantastic, as well.

I've never seen Advent Children, but its whole aesthetic seemed engineered to appeal squarely to every Nightmare Before Christmas t-shirt wearing kid in Forbidden Planet/Waterstones.

Compare it to the sickeningly cutesy Crystal Chronicles anime they did, and this is a godsend.

I still enjoy that flick, warts and all. The Blu Ray being eyeball sex has a lot to do with that, though.

I still stand by this one (warts and all, as you said) simply because the moment Sephiroth makes his entrance, the whole film is, as you said, eyeball sex (gotta love the transformation sequence), flying characters and all.
Plus, Im amazed they just said "fuck you" to a billion fangirls and made Sephiroth look and sound creepy as hell.

Although, the one redeeming moment in the Crystal Chronicles video game was where you get ahold of the chalice, then deal out slo-mo death to all of your companions.


He was even creepier when voiced by Lance Bass.