Am i still in time to play this ? No ? Fine ...
Jokes aside this is a really important title in gaming history , how could i play this at the 23rd year of my life ? Well i procrastinate a lot when it comes to old RPGs. I like them but they also need a fair amount of patience given the time they require , the constant random battles and overall slow speed of theese games. Final Fantasy VII surprised me because , even with the ass game design of that era , it still managed to surprise and angage. Wasn't expecting much but here i am !
The setting is BEAUTIFUL , lot more interesting than what modern Final Fantasy tried to do. It feels you're there to just see what the world has to offer. Midgar is such a brilliant idea with all the plates and the Slums quarters. Exploration in rewarded really well with objects that comes in hand in a lot of various situations. Dialogues are short but impactful for the most. Characters manage to be more likeable than other Flat or stereotyped characters that submerges you with walls of text. The game is filled with so many secret and it's all up to you on discover them. There is a lot of missable content in this game due to story progression and usually i despise this , but hey it wasn't that bad here.In a few words exploration is satisfyng , rewarding and talking to other characters isn't an hassle.
Writing also surprised me , it's one of theese stories that seems complex but are actualy simple on their roots , making good use of story telling and plot twists. I can't deny that not always you can get the game seriously since with all the mini poligonal models and the huge amount of goofy moments the game throws at you it's hard to imagine a dark moment when needed.
Also Square was really obsessed with mini games. , even useless ones. This is a plus since the game feels a lot varied and constantly stimulate the player with other activities other than battles AND ...
... speaking of battles the combat system is good. It tries to be a little dynamic and action oriented. Battles themselves aren't that complex but GOD if there is so much to explore. The materia system is a good way of fit each character into a role that you like. there are a lot of combinations to experiment and to test o enemies. It's that type of combat system that you can pass by simply mashing A and farming for the most , but that heavily rewards you if you explore it enough alongside enemy drops. The thing i like more in this game is that almost everything you find has a purpose. A lot of modern RPGs fail in this so badly (looking at you XV and XVI).
If there is a thing i don't like is how poorly the endgame content is treated. Ok the superbosses were really cool , but only 2 of them tests the limit of the game. Ruby weapon is a great example since it requires a good exploration of the entire game and combat system. I really like how you have to further explore the world in order to unlock the final Limits for each characters instead of grinding battles to death ... but after that ?
The endgame dungeon is where you'll spend most of the time grinding like an animal for maxing the party and ... it doesn't feel satisfyng at some point. I know it's a really old game that pushed the PS to the limit , but hey at least reduce the quantity of exp required for leveling both Materia and characters.
The soundtrack was another surprise for me. I never was a big fan of FF VII music , but hearing in game is a whole other story. Cosmo canyon and the main battle theme were the 2 i enjoyed the most.
Final Fantasy VII is strange to me. There are a lot of things i don't like when it comes to game design , but it's so much fun to explore and the game has depth , more than what you can imagine. Had a really good time despite the age. At least i do understand why this game is considered a masterpiece , and i can't deny that.
[ 8.4 / 10 ]
Jokes aside this is a really important title in gaming history , how could i play this at the 23rd year of my life ? Well i procrastinate a lot when it comes to old RPGs. I like them but they also need a fair amount of patience given the time they require , the constant random battles and overall slow speed of theese games. Final Fantasy VII surprised me because , even with the ass game design of that era , it still managed to surprise and angage. Wasn't expecting much but here i am !
The setting is BEAUTIFUL , lot more interesting than what modern Final Fantasy tried to do. It feels you're there to just see what the world has to offer. Midgar is such a brilliant idea with all the plates and the Slums quarters. Exploration in rewarded really well with objects that comes in hand in a lot of various situations. Dialogues are short but impactful for the most. Characters manage to be more likeable than other Flat or stereotyped characters that submerges you with walls of text. The game is filled with so many secret and it's all up to you on discover them. There is a lot of missable content in this game due to story progression and usually i despise this , but hey it wasn't that bad here.In a few words exploration is satisfyng , rewarding and talking to other characters isn't an hassle.
Writing also surprised me , it's one of theese stories that seems complex but are actualy simple on their roots , making good use of story telling and plot twists. I can't deny that not always you can get the game seriously since with all the mini poligonal models and the huge amount of goofy moments the game throws at you it's hard to imagine a dark moment when needed.
Also Square was really obsessed with mini games. , even useless ones. This is a plus since the game feels a lot varied and constantly stimulate the player with other activities other than battles AND ...
... speaking of battles the combat system is good. It tries to be a little dynamic and action oriented. Battles themselves aren't that complex but GOD if there is so much to explore. The materia system is a good way of fit each character into a role that you like. there are a lot of combinations to experiment and to test o enemies. It's that type of combat system that you can pass by simply mashing A and farming for the most , but that heavily rewards you if you explore it enough alongside enemy drops. The thing i like more in this game is that almost everything you find has a purpose. A lot of modern RPGs fail in this so badly (looking at you XV and XVI).
If there is a thing i don't like is how poorly the endgame content is treated. Ok the superbosses were really cool , but only 2 of them tests the limit of the game. Ruby weapon is a great example since it requires a good exploration of the entire game and combat system. I really like how you have to further explore the world in order to unlock the final Limits for each characters instead of grinding battles to death ... but after that ?
The endgame dungeon is where you'll spend most of the time grinding like an animal for maxing the party and ... it doesn't feel satisfyng at some point. I know it's a really old game that pushed the PS to the limit , but hey at least reduce the quantity of exp required for leveling both Materia and characters.
The soundtrack was another surprise for me. I never was a big fan of FF VII music , but hearing in game is a whole other story. Cosmo canyon and the main battle theme were the 2 i enjoyed the most.
Final Fantasy VII is strange to me. There are a lot of things i don't like when it comes to game design , but it's so much fun to explore and the game has depth , more than what you can imagine. Had a really good time despite the age. At least i do understand why this game is considered a masterpiece , and i can't deny that.
[ 8.4 / 10 ]