Video Game Discussion Thread

[Zergplex]

I'll preface this with I love all the core Final Fantasy series, yes that includes FFVIII. Overall though FFVIII is my least favorite of them. I never really connected with most of the characters (besides Selphie being a cutie and Irvine being a badass cowboy) emotionally other then Laguna. The junction system seemed to be hit or miss with a lot of people, it was a miss for me but I can understand why other people enjoyed it. And finally the story didn't really draw me in and make me want to find out what happens. At times it just seems to putter along.

These are all just personal preferences and objectively I can see why many people link it to their favorite Final Fantasy. I certainly enjoyed the game and unlike some people do believe it was worthy of the Final Fantasy name, but it ranks low compared to the others for me.

[KebreI]

for many people FF VII was their first RPG ever and so it has that "nostalgia factor" associated with it.

I remember mine well, I jumped right in to shark infested waters. Planescape: Torment was my first RPG. With Phantasy Star 4 being my first JRPG.

[Zergplex]

for many people FF VII was their first RPG ever and so it has that "nostalgia factor" associated with it.

I remember mine well, I jumped right in to shark infested waters. Planescape: Torment was my first RPG. With Phantasy Star 4 being my first JRPG.

Phantasy Star 4? Good man, I personally love that game. The Phantasy Star game series doesn't get enough credit compared to some of the bigger names.

[BROJ]

for many people FF VII was their first RPG ever and so it has that "nostalgia factor" associated with it.

I remember mine well, I jumped right in to shark infested waters. Planescape: Torment was my first RPG. With Phantasy Star 4 being my first JRPG.

SoM was my first Action-RPG, then came Chrono Trigger as my first RPG. SO:TSS, FFT and PS:T were the three games that I attribute to my addiction to RPGs.

[chrono eric]

I heard FFVIII Sucks.

It doesn't suck. In fact, it's a really, really good RPG. The futuristic setting is unique compared to most RPG's, the character development for most main characters is lacking, but the story really revolves around Squall and Rinoa actually and it's rather touching.

What I did say sucked was the battle system. It's horrid. It basically revolves around you drawing magic spells from enemies and "Draw" points as the primary means with which to increase your stats. And you can't buy weapons in shops but instead create them Star Ocean style, which would have been awesome except that Star Ocean did it about a million times better.

EDIT: And in the spirit of things, my first RPG was Crystalis on the NES, then the first Final Fantasy. I have no idea how young I was back then when I played it. I was born in 1985 so probably around 6 ish I'm guessing. I sucked horribly at both but I still play Crystalis and I still think it's an awesome game.

- Check that, I guess technically my first RPG was this horrible game on the Atari that involved you going around and finding keys to fight dragons or something. I remember it had only two colors per level - the color the level was made out of and the character, and then the floor of each level was a different color. Damn that game sucked. I wish I could remember what it was called.

[BROJ]

- Check that, I guess technically my first RPG was this horrible game on the Atari that involved you going around and finding keys to fight dragons or something. I remember it had only two colors per level - the color the level was made out of and the character, and then the floor of each level was a different color. Damn that game sucked. I wish I could remember what it was called.

Wasn't it called 'Adventure'; I remember playing it once.

[chrono eric]

Haha that's right! How could I forget such an easy to remember name? Perhaps it's because the game sucked so bad.

Nowadays a 4 yr old could design a better video game than "Adventure".

[Zergplex]

It was called adventure, I own it but got it years after the fact (around '91 I got given a bunch of old atari stuff). I never did beat that damned game... then again I barely could figure out what I was doing with no instruction booklet.

[x_XTacTX_x]

PROTIP:

Enjoy FFVII for the game it was, don't hate it because of fans.

[chrono eric]

No one was bashing FF VII really and I don't recall anyone saying they hated it (although I admit I'm too lazy to check), we were just being fair to it. The general consensus is that it is an awesome game, but an over-rated one for the reasons stated above. I added my view that it is still hyped up to this day because for many people it was their first RPG and so it has that "nostalgia factor" associated with it.

Unless by your definition hating involves anything short of saying "FFVII is the greatest game ever made so everyone else STFU"?

[x_XTacTX_x]

Not at all. FFVII was by no means, "The Best Game Ever" but saying that it being overrated is a flaw in the game makes absolutely no sense. It'd be a flaw in the fanbase.

[HyperNerd]

Oh God No. I was making the point that the fact that Fanboys won't listen to reason pisses me off, and makes me resent the game. I said the game is Flipping awesome, but the point V made is one of the truest I've heard in a while. It really is a recycled FFVI, but that isn't bad. I loved the whole Midgar thing, ecspecially when they climb the Wire, and when they go up the stairs at the Shinra Building. I also love the fact it's so long. If I love anything, it's a staggeringly huge RPG.

[chrono eric]

The Midgar part of the game was so awesome, it's probably my favorite intro sequence of events in any RPG now that I think about it. And then leaving Midgar you get the feeling of the true massiveness of the 3D overworld, which was really unprecedented for its' time.

If I have one major gripe about FF VII it is the ending. It felt incredibly half-assed to me, and I was like "What I played the game for innumerable hours on end for this?"

On a side note, it would be truly awesome if FFXIII has an overworld and lets you fly around in an airship like traditional final fantasies, but then when you land and venture out on foot it is a massively connected expanse like in FF X and XII - ie: A more immersive world. No world map unless you are in an airship, and really even on foot you just see that the world map from the sky is just an expanse of one 3D area after another. Think FF XII but instead of having a static point and click map for airship travel you actually get to fly around.

That would probably be too hard to pull off though.

[Acacia Sgt]

If I have one major gripe about FF VII it is the ending. It felt incredibly half-assed to me, and I was like "What I played the game for innumerable hours on end for this?"

The ending I think was fine. Except it made me think that it made the event at the end of disk 1 pointless.

[HyperNerd]

The Spoiler aspect really doesn't matter. I knew that before I knew who Cloud was, just from Mass Hysteria. The "Most Surprising" Scene in Video Game History is now one of the most well known, and unsurprising. I have to admit, I thought it was later in the game though...