Hopes for Remake & Rebirth (story/content)

[Roundhouse]

Yep, FFVII to me is all about the emotion. I find it interesting how many gaming communities these days like to call the game 'overrated', mainly because I can't really understand that perspective. I've been playing games for a while -- not as long as some, but basically since the PSX days -- and FFVII may not have aged well in regard to the character models, but the actual emotional experience is something that I would rank up there with the best that the medium has to offer, even now. There are moments of clever writing and direction that could teach modern games a lot.

The remake has a lot to live up to, and a lot of challenges, especially now that it has to deal with voice acting and HD visuals. I predicted that it would be doomed, to be honest, but so far I'm actually quite surprised and interested with what we've been shown. It's exciting to see fleshed out conversations and events, along with new takes on old scenes. I'm not sold on the voice acting yet, but aside from that it has been a pleasant surprise.

 

[LNK]

Yep, FFVII to me is all about the emotion. I find it interesting how many gaming communities these days like to call the game 'overrated', mainly because I can't really understand that perspective. I've been playing games for a while -- not as long as some, but basically since the PSX days -- and FFVII may not have aged well in regard to the character models, but the actual emotional experience is something that I would rank up there with the best that the medium has to offer, even now. There are moments of clever writing and direction that could teach modern games a lot.

The remake has a lot to live up to, and a lot of challenges, especially now that it has to deal with voice acting and HD visuals. I predicted that it would be doomed, to be honest, but so far I'm actually quite surprised and interested with what we've been shown. It's exciting to see fleshed out conversations and events, along with new takes on old scenes. I'm not sold on the voice acting yet, but aside from that it has been a pleasant surprise.

I prefer 9 over 7, so I can see why people would say 7 is overrated

 

[Ite]

9 is flawless, it’s just not fair to compare it to the others. I’ve played through 7, 8, and 9 with multiple people, and 9 is the only one that never makes me embarrassed.

 

[LNK]

9 is flawless, it’s just not fair to compare it to the others. I’ve played through 7, 8, and 9 with multiple people, and 9 is the only one that never makes me embarrassed.

I agree about 9. I might be biased since that was the first one I ever played though. I loved the soundtrack, especially disc 4.

 

[Roundhouse]

9 is a good game. But I'm not sure that preferring 9 automatically makes 7 'overrated'. I feel like the people calling it overrated are a bit behind the times, in a way -- they may not have realised that 7 isn't even the most popular FF within the series, at least, not in regard to the West. That would be FF6, which is often cited as one of the best role-playing games ever. Chrono Trigger is also often cited as being better than FF7.

It's actually interesting when you look at modern lists where people try to rank RPGs. I know, I know, these lists are subjective and so on, but they also offer the perspectives of gamers and gaming media.

IGN, for example, has a list of top 100 RPGs. Guess where they rank FF7? They have it at number 52 on the list, behind FF9, FFXII, FFIV, FFTactics and FFVI. (They rank FFVI at number 2 on their list.)

USGamer made a list of the top 25 RPGs, all time. FFV and FFVI are on the list. FFVII is not actually included.

Polygon made a list that just ranked FF games only....even on that list, they ranked VII in the 8th position.

If you look at other lists around, you'll most likely see a similar pattern. You'll also get the same sort of thing if you read discussions on gaming communities, where the most popular FF games tend to be VI and IX...so the 'overrated' label really does puzzle me.

 

[Ite]

Agreed. I'm playing through VII right now with a friend. He played through it back in '98 and insisted for 20 years that it was overrated, I guess compared to his love of VI. But upon getting his PS Classic he wanted to give it another shot -- he changed his position within a few hours of booting up a new game.

"Overrated" is an inherently reactionary label, it means "I don't like that thing as much as other people seem to." And it's a totally valid opinion to have, if you truly didn't like something and aren't just being contrary. I can understand it can be frustrating when a title you prefer doesn't get as much love as a title you do, but most folks use "overrated" in regards to VII in order to point to their preferred FF instead, which is just, like, why? Can't they both be great? Great pizza is better than good pizza but that doesn't mean good pizza is bad.

A few translation issues notwithstanding, the original script of FFVII is up there with my favorite written works. It makes me sad that they're changing it so much in the remake. But I'm coming from a theatre background (You wouldn't change a Shakespeare script just to "make it fresh," dangit!) so I admit my bias.

 

[LNK]

9 is a good game. But I'm not sure that preferring 9 automatically makes 7 'overrated'. I feel like the people calling it overrated are a bit behind the times, in a way -- they may not have realised that 7 isn't even the most popular FF within the series, at least, not in regard to the West. That would be FF6, which is often cited as one of the best role-playing games ever. Chrono Trigger is also often cited as being better than FF7.

It's actually interesting when you look at modern lists where people try to rank RPGs. I know, I know, these lists are subjective and so on, but they also offer the perspectives of gamers and gaming media.

IGN, for example, has a list of top 100 RPGs. Guess where they rank FF7? They have it at number 52 on the list, behind FF9, FFXII, FFIV, FFTactics and FFVI. (They rank FFVI at number 2 on their list.)

USGamer made a list of the top 25 RPGs, all time. FFV and FFVI are on the list. FFVII is not actually included.

Polygon made a list that just ranked FF games only....even on that list, they ranked VII in the 8th position.

If you look at other lists around, you'll most likely see a similar pattern. You'll also get the same sort of thing if you read discussions on gaming communities, where the most popular FF games tend to be VI and IX...so the 'overrated' label really does puzzle me.

I'm surprised ff7 is that high. While I do like 9 and 6 better than 7, 52 seems high. I'm not a huge gamer though. So, what do I really know lol. The majority of games I own are Final Fantasy games.

 

[Theozilla]

IIRC the late 2000s/early 2010s was around when “backlash”/“FFVII is overrated” hate was at its peak (at least in the English speaking fandom). It’s evened out again by now.
Currently (based on my impressions of the English speaking fandom, both old timers and relatively newer fans) the top favorite (non-MMO) Final Fantasys generally seem to be a top 5 of FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, FFX, and then a wild card fifth spot usually being Tactics (or FFVIII, FFIV, FFXII, FFXV, Crisis Core depending on the hype/buzz of the month and/or sub-community one is in) in various orders.

 

[cold_spirit]

In all my years of reading internet comments I have never seen someone stubbornly white-knight Final Fantasy VII as “the greatest game of all time.” I HAVE seen people claim FF7 is overrated with arguments ranging from one sentence to multiple paragraphs. Being considered overrated is a huge stigma following the game. Fans know it’s not perfect and each have a list of improvements they’d make. However, whether it’s the music or characters, FF7 enjoys the level of popularity it has because it speaks to people’s souls.

 

[Arianna]

FF7 enjoys the level of popularity it has because it speaks to people’s souls.

Absolutely.

 

[LNK]

IIRC the late 2000s/early 2010s was around when “backlash”/“FFVII is overrated” hate was at its peak (at least in the English speaking fandom). It’s evened out again by now.
Currently (based on my impressions of the English speaking fandom, both old timers and relatively newer fans) the top favorite (non-MMO) Final Fantasys generally seem to be a top 5 of FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, FFX, and then a wild card fifth spot usually being Tactics (or FFVIII, FFIV, FFXII, FFXV, Crisis Core depending on the hype/buzz of the month and/or sub-community one is in) in various orders.

My top 5 would be 9, 6, 7, 15, and 8 or 12

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

9 is flawless, it’s just not fair to compare it to the others.

I’ve played through 7, 8, and 9 with multiple people, and 9 is the only one that never makes me embarrassed.

Like, not even the battle system? 'Cause that makes me embarrassed to play the game even in isolation.

 

[Kain424]

Yeah, VII is just on it's own level to me. And I admit that it's weird, because when I first played that demo I absolutely HATED it. But when I actually played the game groper, and by the time I was leaving Midgar, I was absolutely in love. So I suppose I'd rate 'em VII, VI, IX, IV, VIII.

 

[Ite]

Like, not even the battle system? 'Cause that makes me embarrassed to play the game even in isolation.

I meant more story/presentation. VII's battle system is my personal favorite, and it's true, IX's battles take forever to get going (something the ports haven't fixed, inexplicably) but battles and character progression aren't the main dealbreakers for me.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'm going to sound like that really annoying person, or maybe your mom, but I love them all equally (except for the ones I haven't played and FFX, which I just did not like). Sometimes I'm in the mood for sky pirate hijinks and sometimes I'm in the mood for a renegade actor with a monkey tail on the run with a princess who wants more out of life. And sometimes I just feel like killing things.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I'm going to sound like that really annoying person, or maybe your mom, but I love them all equally ...

My mom never said this.

There were eight of us.

 

[LNK]

I'm going to sound like that really annoying person, or maybe your mom, but I love them all equally (except for the ones I haven't played and FFX, which I just did not like). Sometimes I'm in the mood for sky pirate hijinks and sometimes I'm in the mood for a renegade actor with a monkey tail on the run with a princess who wants more out of life. And sometimes I just feel like killing things.

I meant more story/presentation. VII's battle system is my personal favorite, and it's true, IX's battles take forever to get going (something the ports haven't fixed, inexplicably) but battles and character progression aren't the main dealbreakers for me.

I like 7s battle system the best as well.

 

[Ite]

I like my eldest nephew's story/presentation, but in terms of combat, my youngest nephew is my jam.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Eight? Your mother has my respect.

 

[Saven]

IIRC the late 2000s/early 2010s was around when “backlash”/“FFVII is overrated” hate was at its peak (at least in the English speaking fandom). It’s evened out again by now.
Currently (based on my impressions of the English speaking fandom, both old timers and relatively newer fans) the top favorite (non-MMO) Final Fantasys generally seem to be a top 5 of FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, FFX, and then a wild card fifth spot usually being Tactics (or FFVIII, FFIV, FFXII, FFXV, Crisis Core depending on the hype/buzz of the month and/or sub-community one is in) in various orders.

Yeah it definitely started after AC came out. Shame, because FFVI was used as a prop to combat FFVII's status as the most popular entry in the series and now that game's reputation got hurt after people got sick of others heralding it in every FF topic even if FFVI had nothing to do with the topic at hand.

 

[ForceStealer]

Yep, as I've said, IX is the new VI. Which is to say the game people pretend is a dark horse choice even though everyone actually already likes it. I'm curious what it will go to when people realize IX is mainstream. XII is my bet.

 

[Theozilla]

Yep, as I've said, IX is the new VI. Which is to say the game people pretend is a dark horse choice even though everyone actually already likes it. I'm curious what it will go to when people realize IX is mainstream. XII is my bet.

FFIX at least had some standing for it’s “dark horse” status IIRC, didn’t it have some initial blow-back/revulsion to its character design art-style/aesthetic, similar to TLOZ The Wind Waker’s first impressions? Of course now nearly everyone loves both game’s aesthetic, but there was some adjustment period, right?

As for the new “dark horse” choice, I think FFVIII is getting a bit of it now. At the very least the hatedom the Internet reviewer The Spoony One created for it has died off now.

 

[ForceStealer]

There was some, I think. But I feel like VIII had the harder backlash. I feel like IX more got overlooked for coming out so late in PS1's life cycle and X was not far behind on the flashy new console.

(It was my second mainline title after VII though, so what I know )

 

[Kain424]

I can get behind some love for XII. A real oddball choice, I think, would be people stepping up for II or maybe XIII. Though I understand there is some love for XIII's sequels.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I long for the day my beloved XV is discussed in threads like this with such comments ascribed to it as "It was ahead of its time, really" and "It's an underappreciated masterpiece."