Which game do you prefer, VII or VIII?

blahblahblah1

blahblahblah1

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Hey guys!

I am currently in the process of making an informative video about each game, as well as a separate video explaining what everyone's opinions of the two are! This is a conversation I have had with so many, and even today I am still unsure of why people like one or the other. I figured I would ask this awesome community of Final Fantasy lovers to express how they feel about either game, all while spreading the word about this awesome forum!

So, which do you prefer out of the two: Final Fantasy VII or VIII? Why?


With your permission, I would like to incorporate any responses into my video(if you would prefer I do not for privacy reasons, please state so and I will not). I am really looking forward to hearing from you guys! Thank you all so much for your help!
 
purely based on artistic value? 8. but mechanically 7 was a superior game. it just had so much more to offer
 
both games look pretty bad visually these days. I prefer FF8 vvisually, but FF7 was just far more engaging story and gameplay. FF8 had a more anime-oriented story.
 
I much prefer VIII, it's one of my favourite FF games overall. I think the story, the gameplay, pretty much everything was better than VII. I just enjoyed it far more and it has really good replay value.
 
I prefer VII over VIII.

My reason: With VII, I got a connection with most of the characters pretty quickly. The towns were something I really loved about this game, and bar it's story line, I loved the story's sides.

With Final Fantasy VIII, I felt it was dragged out too much, (I never have completed the full story yet, but I've seen it played towards the end) I had a hard time connecting with the characters and even though I love Zell, that was purely cause of the kickbox fighting style and looks: total reminder of a CloudxTifa spawn. I do want to give this game a fair go at some point, though, but VII will always be my favourite out of the two.
 
I don't mind if you include my response or name. ^_^

Anyway,

I choose VII; it had great character depth, development, great towns, amazing music, and an overall intriguing plotline. There wasn't just one main plot, it had many plots in it--Barret's story, Vincent's, Shinra's agenda, Aerith's heritage, Cloud's memories, the tragedy of the main hero losing his love interest. So you had all these stories keeping you interested until the very end, and what made it better was that each side-story added to the main plot. I don't see many games capable of that, not even today. The music was unbelievably fantastic, too. I'm not sure if it ever won any awards back then but it definitely should have. The entire style of the game (rock n roll meets classical) was insanely brilliant to go with, especially since VII seemed to be in this alternate reality that was stuck somewhere between modern day and pre-1960s (no space travel, etc), the music reflected the day and age that the character's were living in, while it was futuristic with computers and television and phones, it was oddly old-fashioned what with the fashion style, the lack of space travel, and the whole boom! of scientific discoveries just taking off--which is very much like the 1940s (which was the technological and scientific boom of our time). So I think nobuo uematsu did a really great job of mirroring the time-setting of the game into the music.

As stated above, VIII--while incredibly brilliant in story--gave this feeling that it was dragging on. I adore the game, but it's so long it's not only overwhelming but it's a little discouraging. You don't get that with VII. Despite VII being a pretty long game, it never felt like we waited too long to reach the conclusion.

I think both games provide great characters, but, for VII it seemed like each character existed on their own, as apposed to VIII where it felt like each character existed solely for Squall's storyline. And I very much enjoy stories where characters could have had an entire plot dedicated to them, and as VII has shown, the AVALANCHE gang definitely provided that (all the spinoffs are more than enough proof). I think if Square wanted to make spinoffs for VIII it would be much harder to do.

Both games have incredibly.... BAD graphics (not including CGI cutscenes), but at their time it was great. I think VII's graphics are better though and here's why; VIII tried to be realistic and VII didn't; and with 'realistic graphics' means a day where that 'realism' looks ridiculously bad. VIII tried to make their characters look somewhat real, while VII went with the timeless 'chibi' style. You might look back and see that it's not smooth, but in terms of which one has a style that is 'timeless', it's VII's. It's graphic style is much like the classic Zelda and Mario games, it might not look real, but it's simple and detailed enough that it is pleasing to the eye and will never have that embarrassing day where it looks so outdated and busy that you can't tell what you're looking at (which happens sometimes for VIII).

But, I guess I can't really finish this without including this; I enjoyed VII better because, while I love VIII's characters and relationship, I just felt stronger attachment to AVALANCHE. I'm obviously not a rebel organization or even a special bloodline or a person with a puzzling past, but I felt like I could relate to them. I guess it's because the way the characters were developed, but I always felt their emotions. When Barret thought he lost Marlene during the plate collapse, when Aerith tried to hide her cetra abilities because it was scary, when Cloud wanted to join SOLDIER to prove himself, when Vincent couldn't stop the woman he loved from doing something bad, learning about Yuffie regaining her village's respect, Cid's dream finally becoming real, Red's heritage living on, Sephiroth's desperation and longing for a sense of belonging, Cloud's pain from losing Aerith... it was all so powerful and so endearing. I had never experienced that before with a game, despite VIII being my first Final fantasy title. Something about the way the characters reacted and the way they were built... it just resonated with me.

Anyway, while both games are outstanding, VII > VIII, in my opinion.
 
I actually thought FFVII dragged more for me than FFVIII did, but I don't see that as a negative thing. I prefer storylines that drag, because if I'm really hooked, I never want the story to end. I really don't know which game I prefer more. I've always been torn between VII, VIII, and IX. Since VII is the very first Final Fantasy game I played, it does hold some sentimental value. Character-wise, the only characters in VIII that are memorable to me are Squall, Rinoa, Seifer, and Zell. In VII, pretty much all the characters, really, even the NPCs. That's kinda rare in a Final Fantasy game these days. I remember many NPCs in FFVII, their story and struggle.

So I'd say FFVII probably has a bit of edge than FFVIII for me. Don't have any complaints with FFVIII though - that's still one of my favorite games. Intro song is superb, which is a bonus!
 
I found the pacing and story of VIII to be really, really boring. As a result I enjoyed the gameplay, characters and narrative far less than I did with VII. So, obviously, I prefer VII.
 
Thank you guys so much! I won't be uploading this video for a few more weeks, so please keep the responses coming until then! I will let you all know when the video is complete so that you guys can see the result!
 
Overall, FFVII for me. I love the story, characters, battle system, enemies, and the music. Even some of the cut-scenes are epic for a game that came out in the mid-late 90's on the Playstation.

FFVIII is ok, but definitely far from my favorite. I think the only true thing I loved about FFVIII was the way it went about obtaining Guardian Forces in your party. I liked hunting them on side quests and battling them to prove your worth to them.
 
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