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 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]

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.