Is Final Fantasy VII The Most Overrated Game Ever?
Written: Mar 28 '00 (Updated Sep 27 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great graphics, great marketing, materia system, minigames
Cons: Linear storyline, uninspiring characters and gameplay, just boring!
The Bottom Line: Great graphics, but that's it. Tired story and plot, shallow one-dimensional characters, sleep-inducing battles, and more plague this game.
Yes, the above is right, I found Final Fantasy 7, one of the most highly accoladed games of all time, below average. Oh sure, it has great graphics and amazing cut scenes, but the game itself is tedious and uninspiring.
The gameplay is extremely typical RPG fare, with the wonderful but underdeveloped materia system being the only redeemable game mechanic. The plot is frankly boring, starting with a battle of "the little guys" against "the big bad corporation" and progressing with lots of ludicrous twists and holes and bland attempts at characterization. The battles end up being nothing more than repeatedly pressing one button, not to mention the fact that all the hit point and magic point numbers were unnecessarily increased by a factor of 10 (what was that all about? To make us think we were more powerful?). The game was strictly railroaded from the start, at a time when a more branching RPG experience was expected. It was so bad in that aspect, in fact, that I felt more like I was watching a movie than playing a game, and there's a reason movies aren't 40 hours long.
The materia system, mentioned above, is about the only thing I liked about the gameplay. It was an interesting, though unnecessary way to spice up the ordinary RPG magic system. Every weapon and piece of armor has a certain number of slots for materia, which look like small colorful spheres. The way in which materia is combined has much to do with its effects, giving the system a bit of depth. In addition, some weapons or armor, while statistically superior to others, may have fewer materia slots making the decision of what equipment to use a tradeoff.
The battles, the heart of any RPG, are active turned-based fights, meaning that each character and enemy has to wait their turn, but other characters or enemies may be acting in the meantime. It's a little more exciting than the standard, purely turn-based battle, and as mentioned earlier devolves into simple button-mashing with little of the careful planning that typically marks RPG's. The battles are also random, and in many places quite frequent, so every few steps on the overworld you'll have to wait for the battle screen to load.
The cut-scene graphics were mind-blowing when it was released, setting such an entirely new standard for gaming graphics that games were being compared to it for years after and few were suceeding. The overworld graphics, with deformed, blocky, polygonal characters are a bit rough but bearable, and the rest of the graphics, especially for some of the more powerful spells, make up for it. However, graphics do not a game make.
There's really nothing original about Final Fantasy VII, and in fact many RPG's on the previous Genesis and SNES platforms had better stories and gameplay. It's slightly interesting that you're thrown into the middle of the main character's life (as a sidenote, the best entertainment I got from this game was the dialogue resulting from renaming Cloud, the main character, to 'Moron'), but the minutes-long flashbacks and resulting lack of understanding quite what the goal is get tedious and downright annoying. Basically, other than the graphics, this is an underdeveloped version of a typical role-playing game. Really, Square should have spent more than 2% of their obviously large budget on something other than graphics.
The minigames are a rare high point. After a few hours in, you'll come to a casino-like area where you can play some minigames such as chocobo racing (chocobos are kind of like big chickens that people ride around on., and I've heard they taste like chicken too). However, there's little the way of rewards other than a few special items, so eventually you must move on through the boring plot.
Many people state that the emotional ties that develop between the player and the characters are a large part of the enjoyment of the game. I suppose that would be a valid point if the characters or story were interesting or believable. All of the characters are one-dimensional and wooden, and the story plods on and on, only being tolerated because you're forced to watch it in order to continue playing. The game would probably be more enjoyable if it were just about stats, materia, and chocobo racing, with the painfully boring story removed.
For all the reasons stated above, there is little reason to replay this game. Throughout most of the game there are several characters to choose from, so theoretically one could enjoy replay the game with a different party. And, theoretically, we can earn money at Epinions but I think we all know how that goes. There are 'best' characters to use in all situations, but I'm not sure what kind of masochist would want to replay this boring game and make it more challenging the second time through. The game is also so linear that there's no difference in the course of events on a replay, and there's no reason anyone should have to live through those cut scenes again. Using the movie analogy again, who would see a 40 hour movie -- twice?
Okay, so I've said my peice. I hated it. In fact, it's hard for me to hate anything as much as I hate FF7. I'm sure part of that is the fact that it was blown totally out of proportion by hordes of 13 year olds who ate, slept, and drank FF7 for months, and the fact that if it weren't marketed so aggressively and didn't have the words 'Final Fantasy' in the title, it would have barely made a cent, and, that it directly influenced years of insufferably boring RPG's, and well, you get the picture. In my book, this game isn't 'Final Fantasy VII', it's 'Overrated Game That Sucked MMMLXVIII'.
An epic adventure across 3 cd-roms. What begins as a rebelion against an evil corporation becomes much more. And what erupts goes beyond imagination. ...More at eBay
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