Hopes for Remake & Rebirth (story/content)

[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."

 

[Roundhouse]

Never played XV, so can't evaluate it really. All I can say is that the announcement trailer (with scenes of Noctis fighting in his mansion, sharing some sort of meal with an elder figure, etc) actually grabbed my interest. I hadn't been interested in the FF games since X, but that actually looked promising. I heard that most of the stuff in that trailer was actually cut or moved to a movie, though, and when I saw some of the new footage it didn't grab me as much, unfortunately. It still looks fun and all, though.

 

[Kain424]

XV is not bad. It's just about the most streamlined in the series since the original, which actually kind of works for it. Plus, I loved all the expanded media.

 

[LNK]

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 more I got involved with my union and politics, the more I liked 12. At first, I didn't really like the story

 

[LNK]

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."

I love 15! Even if they never did the side episodes, it was one of my favorite final fantasies

 

[LNK]

XV is not bad. It's just about the most streamlined in the series since the original, which actually kind of works for it. Plus, I loved all the expanded media.

Yeah, I can't wait to get the dawn of the future book in November. Hopefully they do a celebration box like the Japanese release

 

[jazzflower92]

You know the original game emphasized the mystery of Sephiroth's character, so there wasn't much focus on him pre-madness. I think it would be interesting if we had an NPC, diaries of Hojo, or a diary from Sephiroth's time as a kid to give us more insight into what he was like growing up. I also think it would be great to show more about his relationship with Gast.

 

[Clement Rage]

IX is my overall favourite, including the battle system, but I can't play it anymore because I know the script too well.

XIII has some of my favourite storytelling in the series.

Nothing wrong with XV particularly, I just felt like I was driving around the Southern US, not a fantasy world.

I don't think there's an outright bad game, though.

 

[Don Corneo's Dungeon]

This thread is massively turning into a "what's your favourite FF"