FF7 - over-rated or under-rated?

[HighwindPilot]

Well the reason why I believe that 8 couldn't do it, was because that FF 8 was too much like FF 7. They had the "soldier" type badguys, and then the "Sephiroth" type badguy. It's the only one in a while that didn't really change their story. Plus, I didn't enjoy the battle system. I'm the type of guy that likes to lvl my people up high and then own everybody, in FF8, I was forced to lvl up my guys, and keep fighting at the same difficulty lvl. I was over lvl 20 before I even fought the mechanical spider on the bridge in the begenning and even those guys became a challenge. I'm sorry man, It was a great game, but I just don't enjoy that type of system.

Wait wait, I realize I may have quoted too much. I wasn't asking how 8 couldn't outdo it. I was asking in what way or how the rest have. My focus was on the line, "But I still think each one ahead of hit except 8 was able to out do it."

I ask this, because the idea that VII falls below to its successors as a whole sounds very far-fetched to me. And the very statement sounds like a generalization that each new installment automatically equates to improvement, when the only natural progression from game to game would be graphics.

In any case, there's no reason to apologize. It's all just opinion. But I fail to see how each game to follow VII surpasses it, and you didn't provide any reasoning behind the statement for me to even possibly recognize why you'd say that.

----

And as Rinoa below me pointed out, VII is nothing like VIII. Both are often grouped together as being the first and primary "futuristic" FFs of the series, but VII was vastly different than VIII.

VII's SOLDIER and VIII's SeeD are both militant, yes, but both fulfilled different purposes, and were implemented differently in their respective games. In no way are they similar apart from their "roots" as a military to a government in either game. And in that case, what makes them so different from the soldiers in IX?

And the only thing similar about the villains in the game was that

Spoiler

Jenova and Edea were ultimately used as puppets by a greater threat

. However, even that was done differently.

Spoiler

In VII, there was a great confusion done to the party regarding who it was they were following; they believed it was Sephiroth. And Jenova's morphing abilities, combined with Sephiroth's will being caried out, caused us to feel Sephiroth's presence throughout the entire game - even when it turned out that he was actually dorment during the time. Whereas in VIII, you don't even know of an Ultimecia until after things are sorted out with Edea.

Not to mention everything from their motives to their histories were entirely different.

Both were their own games.

 

[Serah]

Well the reason why I believe that 8 couldn't do it, was because that FF 8 was too much like FF 7. They had the "soldier" type badguys, and then the "Sephiroth" type badguy. It's the only one in a while that didn't really change their story. Plus, I didn't enjoy the battle system. I'm the type of guy that likes to lvl my people up high and then own everybody, in FF8, I was forced to lvl up my guys, and keep fighting at the same difficulty lvl. I was over lvl 20 before I even fought the mechanical spider on the bridge in the begenning and even those guys became a challenge. I'm sorry man, It was a great game, but I just don't enjoy that type of system.

Wait what? "Soldier" type bad guys and a "Sephiroth" type bad guy? Where do you get that? They had the Galbadian Army being controlled by a Sorceress after them, but the main villain was Ultimecia and she's NOTHING like Sephiroth. I can't see how you get that it was too much like FFVII. The Seeds were nothing like Soldier, the Galbadian Army was nothing like Soldier either. I'm currently replaying FFVIII and I'm sorry but I fail to see those similarities. FFVIII also is A LOT more futuristic than FFVII.

 

[SupraDoom]

Best game of all time.

 

[Bambi]

Best game of all time.

Care to elaborate please? The question is whether you think the game is over/under rated. Not if you think it is the best game of all time

 

[Equ1ox]

Honestly, I think its the greatest game ever made. I love it to death. But, I think its over-rated. There are plenty of other games out there to try. Plus on top of that, most fanboys/fangirls, that have played the game, and claim it as their favorite game, talk as if its some kind of prodigy or something of the gods. I mean, like I said before, its a great game, my all time favorite. Just give the other games a chance. That way, next time I ask an FF fan what game he or she is playing, I don't get an answer like, "Final Fantasy 7, only game I'll ever play and only game I ever have played in my life time. Everything else is garbage."

 

[Glass2099]

Well, overall, FF7 is over rated because of all the extra stuff that was created like AC, DoC, BC, and CC. I mean how far can you expand on the same old plotline.

HOWEVER, ratings say nothing about the game itself. Ive taken a thorough look at all the posts on this thread and Ive come across several common topics. Starting shallow, the graphics and sound being impressive for the time.... maybe to players who had nothing to compare it to, but to the people (like that earlier poster with the 2 youtube links) who did come across games of that time which were better in those areas and the game development community as a whole, maybe not so much.

As far as the story being confusing, yeah I can see what you mean. Anyway, hear is my understanding of things just from the game in a timeline fashion. The Cetra are the sentient inhabitants of the planet when Jenova crashes, creating the Northern Cave. J spreads her cells to the Cetra, turning them into monsters. The Cetra still on the Northern Continent manage to seal Jenova away, but survivors who fled south become distant from the planet, now known as humans. Shinra Electric Power Company rediscovers the life force of the planet to use as energy and rewards people for their subservience with the marketing of powerful materia, manufactured stones containing memories of natural phenomena like fire, lightning, ice, comets and energy in general (ultima), special skills and talents (throw, steal), additional power, and powerful creatures. Shinra scientist Dr. Ghast discovers Jenova believing her to be a cetra as she appears to be a humanoid form and is ordered to begin work on making humans with the Cetra's mistaken power over the planet to find the promised land. Several failures are created, but Sephiroth is born from an injection of J cells into Lucretia Crescents'........ awww, too long and really not that hard to understand if you pay attention and don't take every reaction the characters have to situations with grain of salt.

Sephiroth is not a momma's boy. Upon finding out his supposed birth mother is a "Cetra" he believes himself to be a monster, seeing that she is surrounded by all those failed human to monster experiments. After reading about the J project for a while he becomes used to the idea of being a Cetra, but is now truly alone from all other people. Solution: Claim your race's superiority over all others and that he and right now the only person he cares about should have everything..... his psyche is breaking after all. After traveling the life stream, he finds that his genetics are not even of this world so he must be superior still, but now J is seen more as a tool for his plan to acquire all the spirit energy on the planet rather than a true birth mother. He uses the term God but it is obvious with the whole everything will become a part of me he is not looking for worship.

As far as boners for Cloud and Sephy.... no not going that far. All I can say is Square had good contrasting concepts for them like younger generation versus old, Kool spiky hair vs cold straight and steely lifeless, cloud carries with him heart represented in his sentimentality for the Buster Sword while Sephs masamune errs on the side of detachment (he basically throws it away at several points in the game) and function for the achievement of an ambition. Other characters certainly have some interesting background stories but theyre not a requirement for the full game experience and you have to dig a little deeper and catch the small things they say.

And the final point I dare to make or muddle is that yeah a lot of people do like the game and don't care what anyone else thinks, but there are still many who like it because others like it. But thats ok because the game draws us closer because we can all show a different interesting perspective on FF7. And that is what makes FF7 overrated because we have all chosen to give it this elevated place in gaming whether we like it or not we care enough about it as a pop culture subject to comment on all the time. So Square may be winning on the moola but we the player still have much to discuss as well.

Please no Flaming

 

[Guernsey]

That actually makes since although I amy not put this game on pedestal, it is a good game in its own right even with al the spinoffs.

 

[Yuffie122994]

hmmmmmmm its a good game and i love it, but imo its over rated. i always dislike it when people only know final fantasy 7, kinda annoying.

 

[Arisu-Usagi]

Okay --

In my honest opinion, I think the game is neither over-rated or under-rated. It is extremely popular, Square's bestselling game, the only other Final Fantasy game (besides X-2) that has prequels and sequels, a CG movie, an anime movie, so many fan-bases -- the game rightfully has the fans it deserves.

Sure, since FF7 is my favorite game, I might get irritated when other people bash it, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. ^^

 

[Caryslan]

Okay --

In my honest opinion, I think the game is neither over-rated or under-rated. It is extremely popular, Square's bestselling game, the only other Final Fantasy game (besides X-2) that has prequels and sequels, a CG movie, an anime movie, so many fan-bases -- the game rightfully has the fans it deserves.

Sure, since FF7 is my favorite game, I might get irritated when other people bash it, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. ^^

Quick note, FF IV and FF XII both got either sequels or spinoffs based on their games, FF V got an anime series that too place centuries after the events of the game, FF II and III got novelizations that were written by the story line writer of both games(which are considered canon to the events of II and III), and III also got an official manga based on the game as well.

So, VII and X are not the only games to get additional media or games based on their respective games.

Although, VII does have more media based around it than any other game.

 

[Takaiki]

Okay --

In my honest opinion, I think the game is neither over-rated or under-rated. It is extremely popular, Square's bestselling game, the only other Final Fantasy game (besides X-2) that has prequels and sequels, a CG movie, an anime movie, so many fan-bases -- the game rightfully has the fans it deserves.

Sure, since FF7 is my favorite game, I might get irritated when other people bash it, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. ^^

Have you ever wondered why? the answer is simple you have so many people hyping over a good game that it irritates the people who played the entire series and furthermore it also wasn't the best of the final fantasy games, for general rating that was 5.
Let me break it down.
Hype 10000% normal
quality 79%
story 99%
gameplay 65%
total score 35% due to over hype.
Guess what there is only one game, other then 7, that does that and that is Halo the crappy FPS.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I find 7 to be extremely overrated. Although it did have a good story, and it may have been the first time it appeared in a video game, it's hardly a brand new idea. The major problem I had with it was it's sometime's crappy translation and the awful graphics. I would'be been happy if they had stuck with something closer to 6 and before if 3d wasn't going to be breathtakingly different.

I always love the way people insult FF8 for it's "crappy" plot turn, when 7 had an even crappier one. Let's kill off the nice innocent girl to help save the planet. Like that hasn't been done a thousand times before.

Final verdict, overated yes, absolutely awful not quite. It is an important game to the series and it do somethings right. Is it the greatest game ever? No, I don't really think that any FF game is the greatest ever. Is the the most groundbreaking? No, not reallly, yet again that would belong to another non FF game. Was it fun? Yeah, a bit.

 

[Guernsey]

After hearing so much about this game, I thought it would be something special or something amazing but what I got was something that could have been expanded or could have been better.

 

[The Witch]

I say a mix of both. People who haven't played the game think it's overrated. And people that have played it like to think that the game is under-rated some time.

People forget what a great game the original was. And I'm not talking about AC, DoC, CC, BC, or any of the novellas. The game itself was and still is awesome if you have enough will power to forget about all the crappy new installments.

I was fine with AC, but when I saw all these newer games, I knew the game would start to get a tad over-rated... and it did- in some aspects.

I wish they would just leave the game alone. There's a reason it's one of the greatest games of all time. They should be happy with what they got and leave it alone.

Until then, people will continue to have their opinion blocked by all of the newer stuff and think the game's over-rated.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

Until then, people will continue to have their opinion blocked by all of the newer stuff and think the game's over-rated.

My opinion was based on the orginal game actually. I prefer some of the newer ones over it to be honest. The story of the orginal is so convulted and hard to understand that it gives me a headache. The newer ones are slightly messed up by the old one, IMO. They would be great stand alone.

 

[Caryslan]

Like I've said before, I think Final Fantasy VII is overrated when the hardcore fans of that game treat it like its the god of RPGs and nothing in the series or even the genre can come close to it. The worst fans of FF VII are the ones that openly mock FF I-VI and FF VIII-XII without even touching those games. They insult the games for their graphics, their storylines, or other aspects that in their mind can't approach the tier that they have put FF VII on.

Final Fantasy VII on its own is not an overrated game. Its legacy in the series is deserved, and it did add many things to the table. The hatred is mainly from hardcore fans of the game who insult or mock every other game in the series and act like FF VII is the untouchable god of RPG games.

 

[Bullzeye]

I don't think it is underrated, but it is definitely not overrated. How can a game with such an epic storyline be underrated. I still recomment this game to anyone I talk to who hasn't played it yet.

 

[Stoic Hero]

Final Fantasy VII is so good that people intentionally leave it off top 10 lists because no other game can seem to top it on the charts. Same thing happens with Ocarina of Time, both of those games are extraordinary. The facts speak for themselves.

It is definitely not underrated, but I think it takes too much heat from haters because they think their favorite Final Fantasy should be on top. It gets the respect it deserves, so stop hatin' people.

 

[StarGirl87]

The only way I'd consider it being underrated would be by the people who don't even give it a chance because of the graphics. I don't know how many times I've heard people go on about how ridiculous the graphics are and then not bother to play the game.

However the majority of gamers love FF7 and so many people refer to it, it is widely known as one of the best games ever made and is hugely popular. So really it's got the recognition it deserves!

I definitely don't think it's overrated though. I think the people who say that are just peeved off with the amount of attention FF7 has received. Either because their favourite game isn't as popular or they're sick of hearing about it.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

I say a mix of both. People who haven't played the game think it's overrated. And people that have played it like to think that the game is under-rated some time.

Hate to be a backseat driver here, but that's a load of crap. I've played the game, and I like it. However, I know that the game is overrated.

People forget what a great game the original was. And I'm not talking about AC, DoC, CC, BC, or any of the novellas. The game itself was and still is awesome if you have enough will power to forget about all the crappy new installments.

Even without the new installments and the extra FFVII fail that SquareEnix has churned out over the years, FFVII was still overrated.

I was fine with AC, but when I saw all these newer games, I knew the game would start to get a tad over-rated... and it did- in some aspects.

So, having a bunch of fans swearing fealty to a game and treating it like the greatest thing since sliced bread isn't enough of a factor to make a game completely overrated? Not being able to have a discussion about Final Fantasy in general without some taint-nugget bringing up how awesome FFVII and Cloud is isn't enough of a factor to say a game is overrated? No, apparently when any game gets enough spinoffs, that's when a game is finally overrated? I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one.

I wish they would just leave the game alone. There's a reason it's one of the greatest games of all time. They should be happy with what they got and leave it alone.

It's never going to stop. Not as long as you have retarded fans that still ****ride and worship the game like they do. The game is good, sure, but good enough to take home and sleep and bathe with? Hell no.

Until then, people will continue to have their opinion blocked by all of the newer stuff and think the game's over-rated.

Most people that think the game is overrated thought the game was overrated when it came out. Back before the sequals. The new FFVII games just confirm it.

I don't think it is underrated, but it is definitely not overrated. How can a game with such an epic storyline be underrated.

That line, that stubborn, arrogant, piece of crap line is what makes most people think that the game is overrated.

Final Fantasy VII is so good that people intentionally leave it off top 10 lists because no other game can seem to top it on the charts.

Are you kidding me? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The games are still on the lists, I see them all the time. Check Gamefaqs every year when they have the Character Battle voting spree. Guess what game is always up there because stupid fans can't stop ****riding it? You're quote inspires me to say many atrocities to your name, but I'm in somewhat of a good mood.

It gets the respect it deserves, so stop hatin' people.

I don't hate the game, sure I may not think it's the greatest thing since air, but I like it. It's the fanbase I hate. Like you.

Either because their favourite game isn't as popular or they're sick of hearing about it.

More of the truth right here. I'm sick of hearing about it. It's like a good friend telling you that the pizza at this place is the greatest pizza is the best. You have some, and state that the pizza is pretty awesome, but you've had better, and your friend continues to rant and rave about his damned pizza.

Bottom line here, I like FFVII, I believe it's overrated because of it's (mostly idiotic) fanbase. The spinoffs and fan service of the game just confirms it.

(Sorry about the multi colored post, I'm not quite sure what happened. However, I'm color blind so I can hardly tell. So ha.)