The game that killed Squaresoft.
By Rich Stanton
This is a retrospective in the truest sense. I've switched on Final Fantasy 7 since its re-release on PSN a few years ago, but never played past the opening section of Midgar - an opening that, at the time of first playing, I thought was the game itself. The PS3 doesn't take PS1 memory cards, of course, so I can't resurrect my Avalanche crew, every single one at max level, while the treasured materia and weapon collection remains out of reach - nevermind my thoroughbred chocobos. Some games you can only play once.
Over time this gives distance to how you think about it. Final Fantasy 7 has never been loved for the right reasons; conversations focus overwhelmingly on a single moment that in its grand scheme felt largely irrelevant. I'm referring, of course, to the death of Aeris, the sweet flower girl who joins your party in the game's early portion and then, at the end of the first of three discs, is killed by arch-baddy Sephiroth.
With all the PlayStation games that are now coming to PC, is it time for Sony to release a dedicated PC launcher?
Unless they are trying to kill their recently created PC business, I would advise against opening a dedicated PC store. It's an extremely hard endeavor, and people, in general, are very comfortable with Steam. Even Epic, with their billions of dollars invested, is still struggling to find a foothold, and they have Fortnite.
Can tell who ever put this together is not all that clued up on pc gaming.
It's just a known fact. The PC gaming community prefer Steam and Steam alone. They don't like different launchers. I personally don't mind them. But majority just stick with steam. Hence why EA and Ubisoft went back to on releasing on steam and why Microsoft release games on steam as people hated buying from the windows store.
The only other launchers that I imagine are doing ok is GOG due to being drm free and epic games due to the free games every week. Sony shouldn't release any sort of pc launcher n
This is just another ridiculous double standard article.
It's like how Microsoft can spend 20 years of making nothing but gaas and live service style games to sell microtransactions, dlc and subscriptions and get praise for doing it, but if Sony wants to make a single game like that every website under the sun is writing articles saying how Sony is anti-consumer or whatever.
"Driver was a technical achievement for PS1, a pioneer in cinematic gaming, and an often brutal challenge - TechStomper asks if its brand of 70s car chase antics still holds up."
Sadly youd be hard pressed to find any driving game with better physics these days. But the draw distance really kills it for me
Gran Turismo for PlayStation launched a sub-genre and revolutionised console racing - TechStomper asks is it still worth playing in 2024.
I'm not big into sim racing, but I got sucked into the hype for this one from magazines back then. I just played arcade mode and that was enough for me to feel like I got my money's worth.
Yeah, it's definitely worth playing today. GT 2 has a few interesting fan made graphical mods when played on an emulator as well.
Cars back then had much more personality then those we see today. Modern cars all about the led lights and the tablet size screens and they all seem alike, back then they could be simpler in design but had tons more personality.
That Corvette Stingray to this day is one of the most ferocious whips ever driven. Overpowered against other cars yes. But to drive it and be that close to losing control, but being in command around those curves, just can't be duplicated.
HiFi mode is also something I miss. There should be a mode in today's GT where it's Mano o Mano and the detail and resolution jump full throttle. In today's games, Max Ray Tracing and lighting and textures to make it look even more real..
Not according to Former Playstation president Jim Ryan for he told Time that he doesn't see why anyone would play old games given the advancements in fidelity achieved today.
https://time.com/4804768/pl...
Worst FF in the series
I think its time for Square Enix to make a remake for the PlayStation 4
Drivel. Don't waste your time.
fact is that...it remains the best ff to date.
I don't understand how Final Fantasy VII killed Squaresoft. It's an all-time classic JRPG. Squaresoft made Final Fantasy VIII, IX and X - all of which I think are great (with 8 maybe just good).
If you want to say the merger with Enix killed Square, then from a logical standpoint I understand. But even then, while we haven't seen a great run of Final Fantasy games we did get FFXII, Kingdom Hearts games, The World Ends With You and some good published games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman: Absolution and the new Tomb Raider.
Square Enix has been making a lot more bad decisions than good the past several years, but how on Earth can we attribute this to a fantastic RPG from 1997.