I just beat FFVII! Here is my review.

[Scarlet]

There were a few threads that were made recently beating a Final Fantasy game. I've created a thread where you can post about your review on the game.

If you have beaten Final Fantasy VII for the first time...Please post your Final Fantasy I reviews here.

If you beat Final Fantasy VII already and still want to write a review, then go ahead.

 

[Scrutator]

I'm in a very reveiwy mood today

I had the benefit of playing FFVII 7 years or so after it's release and as such not blinded by the apparent godliness that the fanboys cry out it is. It was an important game in how it changed the West's opinions of the JRPG genre but it's not a 10/10 game imo.

Overall it's an enjoyable game although it has to be said that it's been beaten in key areas by games before and after it's release in Japan.

Graphically it's aged as you'd expect but it doesn't put me off, the backgrounds are still nice to look at and the simple 3D models still have this certain charm that not many old games have and the SFX aren't too bad either.

The soundtrack is nothing spectacular although it probably has my fave battle music in the entire series in it and that counts for something.

The battle system is in many ways the main thing for me if the story/characters are poor, Grandia II for example I'd never would have completed if the battle system wasn't the greatest one ever created. In FFVII it's fine but nothing particularly special, most battles are your usual fare and is never really challenging even with the bosses. The music does help for me personally but compared to other Square efforts like Chrono Trigger (best JRPG Sqaure ever made) it's above average.

Now while the story and characters will never be as high a quality as some of my favourite books it's still a good story for the time, the main thing that is remembered is of course Aeris' death (I refuse to use the proper name) which I knew of beforehand and so didn't really hit me that hard and even if I didn't know about it I wouldn't have cared anyway since I never used her. Tifa FTW.

Also Red XIII, Cid, Yuffie, Cait Sith and Barret kicked ass. Vincent and Cloud were kinda crap because they either didn't have enough in the story to make them interesting (Vincent) or were just wasn't very good to begin with Cloud).

In the end I found FFVII an enjoyable experience and did complete it several times before selling it and never regretted it since.

7/10

 

[reddas]

Man, I love writing reviews
FinalFantasy VII is, and probably always will be, my favourite RPG and perhaps favourite game. One of the main reasons for this is probably the epic storyline. I first played the game at the young age of 8 so I found it a little hard to understand at first! The characters of this game are really easy to warm too, as they all have depth and an actual reason for being in the game. The graphics were awesome for it's time and, unlike other PS1 games, I can still enjoy the graphics today. The game play was a joy to play: equiping and leveling up materia, the active time battle(which is nothing new but still great), the limit breaks and just the overall exploration of the game was amazing.
Anyone who hasn't played this, try and get your hands on it! From the streets of midgar to the Northern Cave, this is a game you'll never forget.

 

[DR.PORN]

The Storyline was great, especially when the weapons appeared. The characters and their development was good though it could have been a bit better. And the gameplay was spectacular except for one thing : armor did not raise spirit. You may have noticed that some enemies, no matter what kind of armor you had on, some of their attacks did exactly the same damage as they did to you when you had weaker equipment. This is because armor only raised defense and not spirit. Although bit flawed, I would still give it a 9.8. I don't give it a 10 because sometimes I began to question the motives of some of the characters traveling along with Cloud on this death mission to save the world. For example, Yuffie first came along with Cloud to steal his materia and later decided to go with him with intentions to help him. But think about it, she is a 14 year old girl. Would a 14 year old girl really risk her life for the sake of the world? Especially against the legendary Sephiroth. But what really bothered me the most was when Sephiroth was thrown to the bottom of the mako reactor because he supposed held on SO TIGHTLY to his sword that Cloud was able to swing the masamune with Sephiroth clinging onto it -.-. And its not just a fast swinging of the sword either. Cloud literally lifts the sword with Sephiroth still CLINGING to it for a good 2 seconds in the AIR and finally throws him down the mako reactor. But I guess I can't blame Square for that cheesy scene considering the graphics at the time, but it still bothers me -.-. Thankfully they properly portrayed that scene in Final Fantasy The Last Order. But overall it is a great game.

 

[Braathan]

Epic, mindblowing, pioneering.

Now it's not easy to sum up a game of this quality in a few short paragraphs, but im gonna give it a try. I haven't recently completed this game, the last time i played a completed it was several months ago, but still every detail of this mesmerising game is still clear to me. Recently i've had to endure much criticism of this game from Zelda noobs, who clame, after playing the first 5 minutes, that this is simply a play-along movie. Sure, there may be aspects of the film genre involved, as there are in all rpgs, but the only reason for this continual taunt is due to the fact that the charaters and storyline of this game create an atmosphere that even 30 year old guys dream of becoming involved in. Who of us who have played this game can honestly say that they have never had the desire to be Cloud, with a hugely "subtle", big-breasted Tifa on one arm and a kind sensitive Aeris on the other, battling it out to rid the world of your former hero. And it's this compelling nature of this game that makes it an all-time classic before we even begin to include the other aspects.
Take the battle system for example, simple and effective, like all RPGs of course, it has its simple turn-based battle style, but with the inclusion of equipping materia, you become fascinated with creating the perfect combination of final attack, knights of the round, ultima and lets not forget, Choco/Mog.
The additional side quests increase the quality further with the battle arean at the golden saucer and the chocobo racing. The addtional bosses such as Emerald and Ruby weapon create an added incentive to continue playing the game at its highest level.
As for the music, i will never tire of hearing one winged angel, the jenova theme, or the shinra theme, classics all of them, making up for the unfortunate fact that every character must read the text boxes, because i never hear them speak (i really shouldn't have to say this, but that is obviously i joke).
This game deserved all the acclaim it receives, of course as a final fantasy whore i'm gonna give it 10/10, as long as they dont tinker with the storyline, the remake will be 18/10. It upsets me when i see continual attempts by Square-Enix to drag this game out, but as we must see it, then i look forward to a remake. Improving the slight drawbacks to what is an epic game will only make me smile that once more as i cut Sephiroth to shreds with another omnislash, then another and another.........

 

[Rockman X]

Well aside from Scrutator's review, everything in here reeks of fanboy bias so I'll post a more intelligent review. First, I will be pretending like the compilation never happened, it ruined VII. Secondly, there will be spoilers in this review, because it's hard to give a detailed one without them. So here goes.

World/Atmosphere

VII has a very distinct atmosphere to it. The first part of the game takes place in Midgar, which has "cyberpunk" written all over it. The city is technologically advanced, but aside from a small portion of it, it's in decay. There are areas all around that help give you an idea what Midgar is like. A small, abandoned playground not only gives the feeling of loneliness, but also hints that it's simply not safe enough for children to play outside anymore. Aeris's mother's garden is a small patch of color and tranquility among broken down houses. Wall Market is essentially the red light district of Midgar, where people can liven up amidst debauchery.

Outside Midgar, an entire world opens up in front of you, however it's in stark contrast to Midgar. Most of the world is nowhere near being as advanced, with Juno, the Gold Saucer and Costa del Sol being the only other modern locations. Other places range from nearing close to a modern age (Nibelheim), to being largely untouched by modernization (Wutai). Other locations hark from the past and just beg to be explored (Temple of the Ancients, City of the Ancients). The world map will often actively draw you into the game, simply with running around. Shortly after your trek out of Midgar, you have to cross a swamp, and soon realize that the shadow of the Midgar Zolom is pursuing you. While it's a simple, 2D shadow, it helps make you feel like you are actively participating even when not in battle.

Music

I have to mention this next because it lends so much to the atmosphere. Midgar is full of more industrial and desolate tracks, scenes involving Sephiroth or other dangers are accompanied with unnerving tracks, and there are plenty of other peaceful or fun tracks thrown in the mix. However, many songs on this OST are complete crap. After hearing the chocobo race songs at the gold saucer for about the hundredth time trying to train your chocobos, you'll probably end up putting your TV on mute. Overall though, it's a good OST that lends itself well to the game.

Gameplay

VII is a standard RPG with an ATB system. It's easy to get the hang of and fast paced. The game does away with learning spells and instead uses materia. Materia lets you perform all sorts of things, from magic to summons to enemy skills (by far the most useful and powerful skills in the game). It also can enhance your HP, MP, let you counterattack enemies, and even slash your enemy up to 4 times in one turn with your sword. The more you use materia, the faster it "grows" and unlocks more powerful skills.

However, the drawback to this system is that it takes away the class system and makes the game entirely too easy. There's no need to strategize about which party member has what type of skills and who to protect while frantically trying to beat the enemy. Instead, everyone is practically a clone from each other, aside from things like Limit Breaks (which will charge when you're damaged enough, can be saved for a later battle if need be, and leveled up). Plus, the skills you learn are ridiculously overpowered. Once you obtain the Big Guard and White Wind enemy skills, you'll practically be invincible and will rarely even need to use your white magic. Still though, the game is incredibly fun to play, an easy difficulty level only makes it go by too quickly.

Storyline/Characters

Ah, VII's story and characters, the most over-hyped elements in the game. You play Cloud, an ex-SOLDIER who now just hires himself out. As the game starts, he's been hired by the terrorist group AVALANCHE, who are trying to take down the electric corporation ShinRa by blowing reactors in sections of Midgar with innocent people. Events lead to him meeting and helping out Aeris, a flower girl with a hugely important past. As it turns out, she's the descendant of a powerful race known as the Ancients, and she's key to saving the world. Saving it from what, you ask? Well, there's this First Class SOLDIER named Sephiroth who's gone renegade and unleashed an alien being called Jenova (who wiped out nearly all the Ancients long ago) that he thinks is his mommy and hopes to take control of the planet with her. He's really quite a good example of the Oedipal complex. The story is fraught with mystery, suspense, scientific and spiritual mumbo jumbo, and can get convoluted at some points.

Various others help Cloud and Aeris on their journey to save the planet: Barret your stereotypical angry nigra; Tifa the melon-chested boxer who's always looking out for Cloud; Red XII, a talking dog and the most intelligent member of your entire party; Yuffie, a kunoichi trying to drive ShinRa out of her town and restore its honor; Cait Sith the horrendously annoying cat riding a stuffed moogle; Vincet, an emo ex-Turk who was experimented on and now feels that he can only atone by living his life in a coffin; and Cid, a redneck obsessed with flying who treats his assistant like crap and cusses more than Barret.


​

Other Stuff

The gameplay may be easy, and the game is only 3 discs long, but it's easy to keep the experience going because VII has a TON of sidequests. Yuffie and Vincent are hidden characters you can recruit; there are mini-games to be played in the Gold Saucer and prizes to be won (including Cloud's strongest Limit Break); you can track down and kill two WEAPONS; there's an abandoned sub at the bottom of the ocean filled with dangerous monsters and great materia/weapons; you can breed and train chocobos in hopes to get a gold chocobo so you can obtain the strongest summon in the game; and there was something else I was going to say but it slipped my mind. The point is that VII is full of things to keep you occupied and you can easily hit 70 hours on it.


​

Summary

VII's greatest aspects are the atmosphere and helping you get a sense of the state of peril the world is in. The OST is hit and miss, but hits alot more often. The storyline is actually pretty decent when not corrupted by the Compilation and fanboys reading too much into things. The characters are pretty lacking, but within the realm of the game they're acceptable. Gameplay is fun, and there's plenty of things to do to extend your play time. All in all, it's a good game. It's definitely not the best in the series, and it's pretty much the Halo of RPGs as far as being overrated goes, but they could have done alot worse with it.

My rating: 7/10
​

 

[Scarlet]

Megalo - Please put more effort into your posts, and if you choose not to I will delete your post.

This thread is for FFVII reviews, not what you think about FFVII fans.

 

[Megalo]

I did not post that to make fun of fans, i was just referring to the fact that FFVII was a little overrated, in terms of story.

Rarely have i seen that this game get's a real honest opinion, because most just blindly fall for the hype and only lists it's good points.

 

[Scarlet]

I did not post that to make fun of fans, i was just referring to the fact that FFVII was a little overrated, in terms of story.

Rarely have i seen that this game get's a real honest opinion, because most just blindly fall for the hype and only lists it's good points.

I don't really mind if you make fun of FFVII fans unless someone actually gets offended... My point is this thread is for a REVIEW of the game. Your review on the battle system, plot, characters etc. It doesn't matter if you think the game is overrated or not then write a review on it. This is what the thread is about.

 

[Kitab]

I was eleven years late playing this game, but now that I have just finished it, I see no harm in writing a review. Oh, it's a bit long, I know, but there's a summary at the end. There aren't really any spoilers here.

The game begins with a short FMV which smoothly, and quite cleverly, transitions to the game proper. When it does, you are straight into the action, since the first battle comes quickly. The action doesn't stop until you have destroyed a reactor, fought a boss and leapt onto a moving train. Only now do we start to get some more information about where we are (the city of Midgar) and who the characters are. I think this is a good structure: the action sucks you in, teaches you the game-play elements, and afterwards you get some respite to learn about the game world.

The player character, Cloud, comes across as a very uncaring person at this stage of the game. I didn't really like him. He was clearly only in it for the money. I also found myself disliking the city of Midgar. We only visit its slums and power stations, which are dark, messy and destitute.

Now, since I wasn't familiar with RPGs when I started this game, I didn't realise just how long it would be. The sequence in Midgar was very long, and so after a while I started believing that the whole game would take place there. But the story takes a sudden lurch. The main antagonist changes, the goals of the characters change, and we leave Midgar. And then suddenly you have the whole world to explore.

So the first section of the game is very linear. And even when you get to the world map, you can only go on foot, and the destinations you visit are in a definitive order. Each of these new places are either just villages to rest in, or settings for moving the plot forward or having flash-backs; they felt to me like 'episodes' of the story. As such, this part of the game isn't so focused and intense as the Midgar section. But then the game becomes decidedly more non-linear, since you get a vehicle that can take you almost anywhere.

Personally I prefer intense, linear plots, as we had in Midgar, because you are more involved with the story. As soon as we left Midgar, I found myself forgetting parts of the plot, which is a bad idea considering how complicated the plot eventually becomes. This was a clear negative: sometimes I actually had to stop and think and try to understand what on earth had just been revealed to me.

There are plot twists and character development, and as such, I found Cloud became a little more likeable as a person as the game went on. He definitely changed. Many more characters join the party, and all of them had interesting backgrounds.

The game is huge. After it becomes non-linear, the possibilities with side-quests and mini-games become huge too. I think I spent about 65 hours on the game in total, but it could easily have been more. I'll probably go back to it in future and do some more of the optional things.

Having said that, I actually found the final bosses strangely easy. I think Cloud was at level 63, Tifa at 59 and Cid at 58. Those were the three in my party for the final three bosses. And by simply casting Regen and Big Guard, and just steadily pummelling the bosses, it was pretty straightforward. It was a little disappointing, in a way. It was also disappointing that there was no conversation at the end of the game. The antagonist says nothing when you approach him, which was very surprising.

The ability system is based on Materia - condensed bits of the planet's magic which you can equip in various combinations on your weapon and armour. I think that's a good system, and I really enjoyed using it at the beginning of the game. But you can only have three characters in battle at a time, so when you get the full complement of nine playable characters, you have to choose which ones are in your party, and sometimes you are forced to change your selection or choose from a limited selection when the story demands it. And that means you have to swap around the Materia and re-equip everyone. And when you end up with an enormous number of Materia, all doing different and exciting things, it becomes a real challenge to work out which ones you really want. But therein lies the strategy, I suppose. In many cases, when I knew what I was up against, it was fun to choose the best combinations.

Since this was my first Final Fantasy, I had to learn all the ropes from scratch. In the main, I think I succeeded. But I don't really think the game was very good at explaining some of its more esoteric aspects. There are still some status effects whose effects and cures I don't really know. And nowhere did I find an explanation of the characters' stats. Some of them are self-explanatory, of course, but I don't know the difference between "Attack" and "Attack %", for example. And weapon choices often come down to weighing up these stats.

One final complaint is the saving situation at the end of the game. You can only save once in the North Crater section - the very last stage of the game - but worse, you have to choose where you put the save point yourself. But how am I supposed to know the best place to put it? The next boss could easily be just around the corner, or it could be ages away. Thankfully I only needed one attempt to defeat all the bosses at the end, but I shudder to think of someone at much lower levels, having to repeat a long stretch just to get to the bosses again.

One thing I really, really liked, which many people have perhaps overlooked, was the use of the game-play mechanics as a means for characterisation. There are two specific instances of this that I'm thinking of. Once, during a flash-back, you fight alongside the game's chief antagonist (Sephiroth). The battle system is the same as it is in the usual game, but Sephiroth is with you. And when he attacks an enemy, the damage - going by the number you see when you attack - is gargantuan in comparison to the damage Cloud does. In fact, Cloud is basically useless in these battles. In other words, the battle system is used here as a way of conveying character information, instead of saying essentially "Sephiroth is really really strong". There is another instance of this feature, right at the end of the game.

In summary (as well as some points not mentioned above):
Pros
* Excellent story, characterisation and game-play. But most people knew that already.
* An enormous fantasy world to explore.
* Game-play progression to suit all tastes: linear sections, non-linear sections, side-quests and mini-games.
* "Game-play mechanics exploited for character exposition."
* Some beautiful music, some quirky music, some catchy music...

Cons
* ...some annoying music.
* Materia switching sometimes becomes a chore.
* There is absolutely no in-game explanation as to the existence of Summons, or at least I didn't spot one. Other Final Fantasies have made Summons integral to the plot. They're pretty fantastical occurrences, so I would have expected some sort of introduction to what they are and how they work.
* Only one save point in the last section of the game could easily be a problem.
* Some of the more advanced aspects of game-play are poorly explained. ("Equips the Morph command" is not a helpful explanation of what the Morph materia does.)
* The story is so complicated that it becomes difficult to understand it in places, and the game is so long, and the story elements so spaced out with other game-play elements, that it's easy to forget some of the things that happened.

 

[Hidden Love]

i felt that the ending was some what lacking in greatness. the plot was... complicated... i mean come on "hi im cloud im an ex-soldier... no wait im not... im a failed clone boo-hoo... no wait i need to take responsibility..." please! i dont get it... why couldnt zack just live instead of cloud. he was so much better! anyway the game... first hour i was like "well this is interesting" second hour i was like" omg aeris nooooo!" third hour i was like "this is getting boring now let me kill sephiroth NOW!" the last hour i was like "wtf crap sort of ending is this???" it made no sense. the best part of the game was yuffie... worst part aeris death... funniest summon is FAT CHOCOBO... and the greatest emotional part was vincents story. you know what i think??? the game could use more yuffie and less emo-cloud

 

[ahsie]

My First FF Review

I have reviewed some games before, but it'll be my first FF review.

Introduction: Final Fantasy 7 is the first Final Fantasy I've played and from what I heard as a general gamer, it's supposed to be the best (but apparently hardcores think differently). Anyhow, let's get to the meat of this review.

Gameplay: Typical of RPG in that period. Command, Items, Magic, Attack. Supports. Groups. Basically, it has all the elements of RPG and I can't say it's anything too innovative because I believe all this already existed before. I mean sure, there might be some minor innovations, but there isn't anything too significant other than maybe Limit Breaks, which I believe started on FF7. Overall, the gameplay is really enjoyable, but it does get repititive. I mean, you just select the commands and go. There isn't any "variation" and unfortunetly, this is something to deduct on and is something that has to be improved in the RPG genre itself for that time period (which it did in some RPG games like Mass Effect or SW KOTOR). In the end, it's good, but not great. I honestly can't see anything above an 8. One other minor note is bugs and glitches. Those are sometimes annoying. Therefore, 8/10.

Story: By logic, story is either the most important or second most important element since story is the basis of carrying foward a RPG game. Fortunetly, the story for Final Fantasy carries through. While I wouldn't call it a mind-blowing story, but I would say even for this day that it's one of the deepest stories I've ever seen in the video game realm. For example, you'll recall a significant event only to find there are at least 3 different variations or other factors that will make that recall more important and different. While character development isn't deep deep, but it's more than solid for a good score. You'll explore and know everyone's background by the end of the story and that's an nice addition to help a RPG game. As for plot, it's good in that it's grand and big. Normally, that's good because it makes the player feel more important, but if there is one weakness in the story, it's the WOW-factor. Sure, there is one moment that blew half of the player's mind away, but honestly, it isn't big enough and I personally believe people overrate that moment. I've seen bigger twists in other RPGs (Jade Empire and KOTOR just to name 2). As such, the story barely lacks the perfect 10.
Therefore, 9.5/10

Music/Graphics: I know the game looks like pretty horrible since we're in the PS3 age, but for that time period, it's amazing. The FMV is even more amazing and I believe it's considered by some to be revolutionary. Music is decent, but nothing to be jumping about.
9.5/10

Replayability: Story as a whole is linear and unfortunetly, there isn't too much replayability. There is some replayability in that you can train different Materias and try out the sidequests, but even then, it's nothing too special. Whether or not you'll replay will most likely depend on whether you are hardcore or not because if you're not one, you'll most likely feel that the time could be spent on another game.
7/10

Who I reccomend it?
Certainly. The characters are deep. The story is deep. The gameplay might get a bit repititive, but it's still fun (as long as bugs don't get in the way). And though it's a bit late to say this, the graphics are revolutionary... for the gamers of the last decade.
Overall: 8.725/10

For those wondering, the overall score is based on the math. I accredited 35% of the score to gameplay, 40% to story, 15% to music/graphics, and 10% to replayability.

 

[GalaxyFlare]

ERE I DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER....SO I WILL JUST WRITE ABOUT HOW COOL OF AN EXPERINCE IT WAS TO PLAY AND HOW FUN IT IS TO PLAY EVEN NOW SO MANY YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH FANBOY/GIRLS U IGNORANT FOOL WHO EVER U ARE.....IN CONCLUSION FF7 WAS EPIC AND IF U HAVE ANY THIONG BAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS GAME U WILL DIE IN BURNING HELLFIRE... I ALSO LIKE MACCAS COOKIES

 

[ahsie]

ERE I DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER....SO I WILL JUST WRITE ABOUT HOW COOL OF AN EXPERINCE IT WAS TO PLAY AND HOW FUN IT IS TO PLAY EVEN NOW SO MANY YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH FANBOY/GIRLS U IGNORANT FOOL WHO EVER U ARE.....IN CONCLUSION FF7 WAS EPIC AND IF U HAVE ANY THIONG BAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS GAME U WILL DIE IN BURNING HELLFIRE... I ALSO LIKE MACCAS COOKIES

dude, I agree it's enjoyable, but I won't go as far as saying it's one of the best ever. This is my view from a general gamer's view. If you honestly don't feel the RPG gets a bit repetitive, then you must be really hardcore.

I don't care about fanboys/girls. There is nothing wrong with them, but even as a fan (as I am of FF7), one should still keep an objective mind when evaluating a game. The truth is that the game can't get a perfect score based on its replay value and gameplay. And if anything, the glitches might really annoy some people. Some people have endless heart attacks from the parts where everything stops (but music continues) and you have to switch discs to get past it (but then screw up the FMV the rest of the way) or a famous one is the waterfall scene where everything turns PURE BLACK. There is a way to get past it, but it's annoying and doesn't help.

And dude, how are some people ignorant when they're just stating facts? To say that this game is perfect with no flaws is ignorant. In matter of fact, I believe Game(something) placed this as one of the 25 most overrated games and personally, I can see why. Great game, but defitnitely not one of those once in every 5 years grand masterpeices.

And dude, it's not nice to say that someone will die burning in hell...

 

[Serah]

ERE I DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER....SO I WILL JUST WRITE ABOUT HOW COOL OF AN EXPERINCE IT WAS TO PLAY AND HOW FUN IT IS TO PLAY EVEN NOW SO MANY YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH FANBOY/GIRLS U IGNORANT FOOL WHO EVER U ARE.....IN CONCLUSION FF7 WAS EPIC AND IF U HAVE ANY THIONG BAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS GAME U WILL DIE IN BURNING HELLFIRE... I ALSO LIKE MACCAS COOKIES

galaxyflair, please calm down. There truly is no need to get yourself so worked up over a game. Everybody has their opinions and if they don't like it, they don't. If they don't think it's the best, you can't force them to think it's the best. It's based on their opinion alone. No need to tell people they're going to die in a burning hellfire.

ashie, very good review! Thank you for posting it. It's nice to see a level-headed FFVII fan post a good review instead of going all fangirl/fanboy over it. Not that I have a problem with fangirls or fanboys. It's just the excessive freaking out over how amazing VII is gets a little old sometimes. Anyway, carry on!

 

[chelvin]

I loved this game, though the first time I done it without finding Yuffie or Vincent, but I hated the last two Sephiroth bosses, they kept killing me, But then again I never really changed my party and Cloud was way overpowered

 

[achillesqwert]

hmm, well, to those of u who think that it was overrated, like the storyline, i say shush lmao, the storyline was one of the best ive ever played, the way it twisted and turned then escalated from just being in a small rebel group blowing u a few reactors to taking down a huge company and eventually saving the world. there were a few shocks like aeris' death (btw, why do some people say aeris, and others say aerith? on the versions ive played its always been aeris :S lol ) which noone expected, myself i wasnt really bothered cus i didnt like her much :/ lol. also, another great contribution to the story, i think, was clouds past and how he took zacks memories and experiences and made them his own. that came as a big shock too lol. furthermore i like the way you could do little sidequests like when yuffie stole all ur materia, i thought it was quite funny the cheeky minx lol. when it comes to the characters i thought most of um were great, except aeris and cait sith ( theres always a pontless character, cait sith, in the ff games like quina from ff9, and i hate them all lol). the materia system was genius in my opinion, the way you had to level em all up to get um better, and when you had done tha you was rewarded master materia which was pretty cool. however, i really didnt like the fact that you had to trade all ur matered materia in for them lol. also i loved the way you could pair up materia, that was a briliant idea. downfalls.... i agree with a few of you when you say the music was annoying, lol, real bad stuff. the gold saucer was great. sik of battling and battling to lvl up? go chillax in teh gold saucer n play some games. loved it

in conclusion, id say that this is one of the best games ive ever played. sure there are a few flaws in it ( music... >.<) but the gamesplay, storyline, characters and their backrounds, the materia system, mini games and side-quests all make up for them and ff7 gets a well deserved 10/10

 

[xZack Fairx]

I thought FFVII was a great game. But what it lacked in was a challenging final boss. Sephiroth was terrible and really disappointed me in that aspect of being challenging and being the final boss of the game. Had he actually been a challenge and made me want to scream and yell after getting game overs, I'd say this is an excellent game. But it hasnt reached the "excellent" stage for me, its a damn good game dont get me wrong. But come on, the ONLY cool things about Sephiroth are OWA and Super Nova in the final boss fight.......

 

[Shu]

Well it's been a loooooong time since I even laid my hands on this game along with beating it. I bought it 2 months after it's official release in the states, but as for reviews I'll make it short.

I'm not a fan boy, but I have played every FF except for II and IV - WHEN THEY WERE RELEASED! so in my opinion I have a bit more lee-way in saying that this game was the Revolutionary Game of the Century for all RPGS to live up to. If you are biased to say you think it's overated, that's only because you have either A) Grew up after X came out B) You have played next generation RPGS on the newer system. It's call desythetisation. Also it doesn't help that they created 2 billion spinoffs of the game and raped everything about what was originally good about the game, along with the fan boys and fan girls going nuts for every single bits and piece of it. Screw disney, that's all I gotta say, SE should never have agreed to do KH.

So here's the review:

When this game was released we were used to the normal 2D turn based RPGS where people would take turns using "Attack/Magic/Defend/Item" but the stories were still the bomb. It was more like reading a book prior to FFVII, but what was best about FFVII it was the first adult theme RPG that cussed it's brains out. (Baret saying shit bitch .. and whatever else), you had the first woman with actual "booobies" (ms. Tifa Lockheart) who most teenagers pined for. Then of course you had the coveted FMVs. Yes, these were the first of many games to come out with FMVs, but they were superior for their time.

Gameplay and Combat System -

Normal Turn based system but with some added goodies. Summons? Who didn't love doing a W-Summon with Knights of the Round or Bahamut Zero. Also Limit Breaks.. Can we say bad ass? With Tifa's Cid's and Cloud's limit break, nothing had a chance of crawling out except for the Weapons "ruby and emerald."

The materia system was brilliant of course, because it made you utilize every spell possible in order (except for maybe convert). It made you think of how to use a Melee "tanking" character (a meat shield) as opposed as a ranged damage dealer (Vincent and Barret). Also as far as healing went Aerith was the queen of course, but to my knowledge there were some characters better with magic than others. For instance RedXIII, great magic damage dealer. This was the first RPG I actually had to apply wit to before beating half the bosses in the game. All I know is I haven't played a harder FF since this one as far as combat went.

Story Line -

Well to that point I had never seen a good character die in a game. It also surprised me it was the Shy Sweetheart Aerith. I sensed that Sephiroth had lost it, but he was unpredictable at the time too. This made for a very good evil character. An evil character who was a 1st class soldier at one time for Shinra, who's sword was longer than my... err it was just a long sword. He had the music that backed him, and he displayed little to no love for anything but power within himself.

As far as the side characters, I believe at the time they were lacking a bit but they were meant to be support characters. So I will have to admit, I didn't exactly care what happened to Yuffee or Cait Sith, they were both equally annoying at the time to me. The main characters were reinforced by the support characters, and you could use them equally as good as any other (except for limit breaks of course, and cait sith sucking).

This game was soooo huge in the aspect of exploration. There was endless things you could do past Disc 3 when you finally get the Airship. True there were some cheezy parts with dating and stuff, but you grow attached to Cloud and Tifa and Aerith throughout the game. You learn a little about Zack, and that Cloud takes on his story. You then learn about mako enfused Soldiers.

Also the aspect that each character had their own weapon type along with limit breaker was a very nice touch. I believe that's what really screwed over FFXII, was because it was trying to be like tactics where every person can be whatever they choosed to. I liked the set paths and the fact that you had to do a certain amount of things in order to get a gold chocobo. This was Classic RPG merged with the first New Aged Rpg... they took elements of both and combined them and wrapped them into a very futuristic story line.

Do I have to say the music for the time was probably the most emotional stuff I had heard? I mean it was brilliant in the fact that with each new battle sequence, with each new Cutscene, with each new boss fight, with certain settings... I could really feel exactly what the developer wanted us to feel.

It honestly made me want to live in Midgar and/or the slums and be a member of AVALANCHE. Of course all the fan girls wanted a Cloud of their own, and every Fan boy either wanted an Aerith of Tifa of their own.

The rating for this game is no less than a 10/10, for making RPGs what they are today. Thank you Square for making such a brilliant game.

 

[A20]

The Official FFVII Review

I'm breaking it down into several different sub-categories and rating each one on a 1-10 system. The average will be the overall score.

Story - 10
A completely original an unforgettable story created by Tetsuya Nomura and Hironobu Sakaguichi. From the very beginning 'till the very end, it keeps you entranced in the wonderful world that is Final Fantasy VII. Character creation and development was brilliant as well. Each character had their own back-story and interesting persona. It had great connectivity, and also showed in great detail why everyone had their purpose in the plot. There was one main point of concern throughout most of the game, and just an all together great meaning behind it. Perfect, 10 out of 10.

Gameplay - 9.5
Gameplay was great! It was fun, involving, interesting, somewhat different concept, and a brilliant one at that. The different weapons and brand new materia system allowed for hundreds of different options and combinations that gave the player the power to choose how they wanted to build their character. The Limit Breaks were exceptional as well. The different levels of Limit forced the player to keep training until they unlocked the final Limit, which also involved side-quests, which I'll go into later. Navigating the world, where in previous games it would get boring and tedious, FFVII made it funner and easier by adding chocobos and vehicles so trekking across the over-world seemed more like an adventure then just "something you had to do." The only slight critique I have is the simplicity of it. It seemed quite easy throughout, as long as you kept your party members well equipped and materialized, and it wasn't very interactive as far as the player is concerned aside from a very few Limits (i.e. Tifa), it was classic RPG battle. Afar from the simplicity, it was fantastic, and great for first timers to the series!

Side-Quests - 10
This Final Fantasy went overboard on Side-Quest and mini-game options. There is so much to see, hear and do outside of the main plot. Chocobo breeding and racing was a brand new concept that went very well. Many different summons had to be acquired out of the storyline. The Gold Saucer (Casino) area had some fun things to do as well, arcade games and a Battle Royal of sorts, where you could win prizes. Also during the story, there were quite a bit of options you could choose from that would somewhat alter story and dialog dependent on actions and how involved you get with the mini-games.

Graphics & Sound - 9.5
As far as graphics go for that period in time they were great! Cut-scenes were amazing! It was the first new generation RPG of the time with 3D graphics. The music and sound was epic, anything else would be an understatement. Some of the greatest music Nobuo Uematsu has ever created honestly. It meshed with the game perfectly, wasn't too over the top and on the other hand, it didn't go unnoticed either, just the way it should be.

Overall - 9.75
When it all comes together, the end result in an unforgettable masterpiece!
Definitely one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Replay value is good, you will not get everything the first time through, you'll want to play it years from now too, it never loses its luster. Squaresoft obviously knew what they were doing when they made this one. If you haven't played it get yourself a damn copy (somehow) and do so! If you don't you'll be missing something truly amazing, especially for it's time, and probably for a long time to come.

9.75

Average is the sum of all scores [39] divided by the amount of categories [4]

Completely original review by: A20​