Final Fantasy VII: The Game that Made Me a Gamer

Yahoo writes: As I was growing up in the 1990s, the presence of Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, and others was unavoidable. Whether it was because of my young age at the time or otherwise, these games were never more than small a part of my life; none of them turned me into what one would consider a "gamer." It wasn't until 7th grade that I would begin to classify myself as one. I had played the early Final Fantasy games in the early 90s, and having had enjoyed them to a certain degree, bought Final Fantasy VII on somewhat of a whim. While I hesitate to say many things truly changed the course of my life, this game actually did.

[Flewid638]

And then..........Square never made another good game.

[Ranma1]

FF10, the game that made me a gamer....and then Square Enix never made another great FF

[Flewid638]

Haha, I take that back. Kingdom Hearts II was awesome. But yeah, otherwise.....they never made any other good games.

[Afirmitive]

C'mon, you have to give square credit. Final Fantasy 8, 9 and 10 were pretty great games as well. And don't forget dragon quest 8. Yes square hasn't been great lately, but i believe FFVS13 and Kindom hearts dream drop distance will put square back on the map.

[Lucretia]

ummm even xiii-2 is a good game so im not sure what your talking about. Xenogears was awesome as was parasite eve, KH1, 2 and birth by sleep, Crisis core, were awesome aswell. You are odd if you never played these games

[Nerdmaster]

FFXIII-2 was good. But FFs were supposed to be great.

And I played each one of the games on your list (except for KH: Birth by Sleep) and I couldn't finish any of them, they were all boring. Well, Parasite Eve had a good plot that made me curious, but the battle system was bad.

Actually, your list just made me realize that apart from FFs, Square never was a great game developer, even though I used to say that I loved it. I'll have to meditate about it.

[Hicken]

Just Square games I've enjoyed since FFVII:

FF Tactics
SaGa Frontier
Xenosaga
Parasite Eve 1&2
Bushido Blade 1&2
Einhander
Brave Fencer Musashi
Ehergeiz
FF VIII
Legend of Mana
Front Mission 2&3
Vagrant Story
FF IX
The Bouncer
FF X
Kingdom Hearts
Unlimted SaGa
FF X-2

That's already plenty. Should I add the two dozen or so since the merger as well?

You CANNOT be a gamer and say something as thoroughly STUPID as "Square hasn't made a good game since FFVII." Even all the hate Square-Enix gets can't overshadow amazing games like Nier and The World Ends with You. You pretty much just come off as sounding like a fanboy to JUST that game.

[Lucretia]

Great list dude. though wondering. You didnt like Kingdomhearts 2, crisis core, KH: Birth by sleep?

[Eamon]

Twas my first jRPG.

[Jihaad_cpt]

popped RPG my cherry to this myself. *blushing face*

[oNIXo]

Preparing for massive dislikes.

FF VII sucked ass. There was very little character development. Cloud was the first Emo kid, ever. Sephiroth was a boring antagonist.

The worst part of the game was the fact that you could make every character do the exact same stuff as every other character. I liked having a "class" system. Deciding who you wanted in your party was more than "this guy looks cool." Before VII you had to decide what type of party you had based on the characters skillset.

FF VI was the best, but all the young guns never played it.

[Kos-Mos]

Yes Final Fantasy Vi is still the greatest game ever made with Chrono Trigger, but Final Fantasy VII still was a fantastic game. Writing that it sucked is not correct and you know it!

[Eamon]

While FF7 didn't have classes on the surface, certain traits did remain.

Cloud was warrior class.
Barret was gunner class.
Tifa was monk class.
Aerith was white mage class.
Red XIII was beast class.
Cait Sith was beastmaster class.
Cid was dragoon class.
Yuffie was ninja class.
Vincent is.. well I'm not sure lol

All of them could use Black and White magic as well as summons. But Barret and Vincent are the only ones who can use ranged attacks. Aerith's stats gave her an advantage in magic. Cid could use the Jump ability. Cloud, Tifa, Red and Cid had strong physical attack. Yuffie had the ability to throw weapons/items/etc

The materia system in FF7 allowed even more customization that past FF games. Before you could only have certain magic/skills per character but in FF everyone did.

And you couldn't be any further from the truth when you say FF7 had little character development. Each character had their own little segment of story focused on them. Cloud's personality and memories itself are a central focus of the story too. Also, he was never an "emo kid" until Advent Children and other spin-off where he appears in (Kingdom Hearts).

As for Sephiroth, well the nature of him being an antagonist is very different to explicit villains like Kefka or ExDeath etc. Sephiroth merged with Jenova to become a hybrid alien villain with a god-complex and wanted to use The Planet as a vessel to travel space lol. But to do that, he'd have to make a gigantic crack in The Planet (using Meteor) so the lifestream gathers at the crack to heal it. At this point in The Planet he would basically jump in and gain the energy of the lifestream to become a God.
And you rarely see Sephiroth throughout the game.

[pandaboy]

The game that almost made me cry at christmas when I was a kid because it was so bad. No joke.

[Flewid638]

I guess everyone on this thread is a fan of Super Androgynous Character Vol XXIV. Then...there is the rest of the gaming community.

T'was cool in the 90's. But alas...Square hasn't made any other good games.

I was REAAAAALLY amped for VS XIII for the simple fact that it won't be turn based. As well as the fact that there won't be any random stuffed animals popping out of people's pockets. Mature themes FTW.

Unfortunately, signs point to an ambiguous storyline that won't connect with anyone who doesn't otherwise snort Sweet & Low.

Oh Square...how you've lost your way.

[Vynzent]

Okay, other FF's are good too, but 13 and 13-2 can suck it, just saying.

Worst characters ever designed, fruity like Twilight.