I recently joined this forum and introduced myself in my OP in the new Bodhum forum where I explained how I got into the FF series. I also mentioned FFVII was my fave out of those I'd played but I'd also incredibly gone about fourteen years without playing an FF game and fifteen years since I'd last played FFVII and that it was hearing news of the remake that re-awaked my interest in the game and the franchise as a whole.
Anyway, as a result I decided to play the original for the first time in fifteen years and it honestly felt I'd never stopped playing it. It was a great feeling. So having recently completed it again for the first time in all those years here's my review:
For me it's just simply still the best and most influential game I've ever played. I'd never played a game remotely like it before. Sure, it's not perfect and the graphics have dated but there's still so much that's good about it.
Right from the beginning the game grabs you with the sight of a mysterious woman holding a basket of flowers followed by a zoom out for a view of one of the most unique looking fictional cities I've ever seen to this day. Then the game begins as it drops you into the middle of a bombing mission. I'm hooked already!I
There's no one reason why this game means so much to me. It's the story which was compelling and had genuinely brilliant twists and turns. It's the unique band of characters who band together for different reasons to take on Shinra and Sephiroth. It's the compelling villains: The Shinra Corporation , The Turks and of course Sephiroth. I loved how for a while he was just a mysterious figure who we didn't know for sure whether he was a good guy or a bad guy or even what he looked like until that flashback when we get to Kalm.
Getting back for a moment to the playable characters. If you actually see an image of all nine playable characters I think that goes some way to explaining why it's so many people's fave FF. Like I said earlier they really are a unique bunch of characters. You have three of them in their early twenties: a blonde spikey haired guy with a ridiculously big sword, a girl who's a kick-ass martial artist and a girl who's a graceful magic specialist, sometimes a damsel in distress but can also take care of herself.
You then have an angry big black guy in his thirties with a gun for an arm and swears a lot, and an angry white guy in his thirties who smokes and swears a lot.
There's a teenage ninja girl who's a thief and gets travel sick.
A guy in his late twenties who would've been in his fifties if he hadn't been put into a cryogenic sleep in a coffin in a mansion basement by a mad scientist.
Finally a couple of characters who aren't even human: a red furred, four legged beast who can talk and a fortune telling robot cat who rides a big stuffed moogle.........and can talk.
I mean seriously, what sort of mind came up with a crew like that who the world depends on to save them from oblivion?! Absolute genius and I love it!
Obviously the gameplay is another huge reason we all love it too. The battle system, the materia system, the side quests, the set-pieces like the motorbike chase, the mini games. There's so much depth to the gameplay it's incredible.
Finally the music. Not every tune in the game is that memorable and the battle theme really grates after a while but those that are........ OH MY how memorable they are! Tifa's theme, Aeris/Aerith's theme, the FF7 theme itself but there were many others.
That pretty much sums up my feelings on the game. I'll make other comments on the game on other people's threads soon. Sure, there are areas in the game I would've changed but to sum up it's still an amazing game fully deserving of a remake.
Anyway, as a result I decided to play the original for the first time in fifteen years and it honestly felt I'd never stopped playing it. It was a great feeling. So having recently completed it again for the first time in all those years here's my review:
For me it's just simply still the best and most influential game I've ever played. I'd never played a game remotely like it before. Sure, it's not perfect and the graphics have dated but there's still so much that's good about it.
Right from the beginning the game grabs you with the sight of a mysterious woman holding a basket of flowers followed by a zoom out for a view of one of the most unique looking fictional cities I've ever seen to this day. Then the game begins as it drops you into the middle of a bombing mission. I'm hooked already!I
There's no one reason why this game means so much to me. It's the story which was compelling and had genuinely brilliant twists and turns. It's the unique band of characters who band together for different reasons to take on Shinra and Sephiroth. It's the compelling villains: The Shinra Corporation , The Turks and of course Sephiroth. I loved how for a while he was just a mysterious figure who we didn't know for sure whether he was a good guy or a bad guy or even what he looked like until that flashback when we get to Kalm.
Getting back for a moment to the playable characters. If you actually see an image of all nine playable characters I think that goes some way to explaining why it's so many people's fave FF. Like I said earlier they really are a unique bunch of characters. You have three of them in their early twenties: a blonde spikey haired guy with a ridiculously big sword, a girl who's a kick-ass martial artist and a girl who's a graceful magic specialist, sometimes a damsel in distress but can also take care of herself.
You then have an angry big black guy in his thirties with a gun for an arm and swears a lot, and an angry white guy in his thirties who smokes and swears a lot.
There's a teenage ninja girl who's a thief and gets travel sick.
A guy in his late twenties who would've been in his fifties if he hadn't been put into a cryogenic sleep in a coffin in a mansion basement by a mad scientist.
Finally a couple of characters who aren't even human: a red furred, four legged beast who can talk and a fortune telling robot cat who rides a big stuffed moogle.........and can talk.
I mean seriously, what sort of mind came up with a crew like that who the world depends on to save them from oblivion?! Absolute genius and I love it!
Obviously the gameplay is another huge reason we all love it too. The battle system, the materia system, the side quests, the set-pieces like the motorbike chase, the mini games. There's so much depth to the gameplay it's incredible.
Finally the music. Not every tune in the game is that memorable and the battle theme really grates after a while but those that are........ OH MY how memorable they are! Tifa's theme, Aeris/Aerith's theme, the FF7 theme itself but there were many others.
That pretty much sums up my feelings on the game. I'll make other comments on the game on other people's threads soon. Sure, there are areas in the game I would've changed but to sum up it's still an amazing game fully deserving of a remake.