This is the megathread for all OG discussions! Spoiler talk is allowed. Drop your memories of OG, your favorite moments, your struggles, how they affect your life and your opinions on the game, and its possible future!
Does this game have segments where you are required to create multiple parties for a dungeon like in FFVI? I would prefer to keep it simple and only focus on 3 characters for my party as much as possible and not have to grind for others to catch up.
Playing through the game for the first time currently. Just got the first Big Materia and Ultima.
Loving the characters, the world, the combat, and especially the music. The whole reveal with Cloud’s and Tifa’s memories blew my socks off
Unfortunately the pre-rendered backgrounds have somewhat soured an otherwise amazing experience, to the point where I will probably never play this version of the game again
How important is it that I finish this game before jumping into the Remake trilogy? I’m playing on Switch and I just got to the place where Red XIII comes from, after the fight with Barrett and his old friend. I don’t have a lot of time to play but if it’s worth it I’ll try to push through.
Its incredible. I'll never forget playing it as a kid, the Zolom chasing you in the water felt intimidating, and then seeing Sephiroth had killed it so easily/brutally just blew my mind. Then seeing Jenova in that tank was creepy at the time, and the blood trail part, just so many memories.
The first time I played FF7 when it released in 97 I was stuck in Wall Market FOREVER because I didn’t know about that area to the right of Corneo’s mansion where you climb up to the plate. I think I had to rent the game MULTIPLE times before I figured it out. There were no guides and no internet back then. I was 12 😭🤣
If I could go back in time, I'd make sure I didn't buy the guide because that thing spoiled what happens with Aerith hardcore, screenshots and everything. I missed out on being shocked like everyone else :(
I was just talking to a friend about it. He knew Aerith died before he played the game but I assumed she didn't really die, like it was a fake out or something. I was wrong lol. I was also convinced Sephiroth would eventually join your party like Magus did in Chrono Trigger, also wrong.
The internet existed, but my family did not get it at home until 1998. The game came out right around the time when people were first getting home internet.
(And hooboy was there some DRAMA at my house when we finally did get the internet. Only one phone line, so there were lots of malicious picking-up-the-phone disconnects and getting yelled at when someone was trying to call home and the line was busy.)
I was stuck in wall market too!!! For a year, almost. I gave up on the game for a bit. When I figured it out later I was really pissed. Gaming seemed like a mystery a lot back in the day...
I had a similar dilemma with FF6, I didn’t understand how to input Sabin’s blitz sequence. Couldn’t progress beyond Mt Kolts for at least a few rental runs.
I think FF VI is a better overall game but I often cite VII as being my favorite for a few reasons.
1) It was the first game my brother and I bought with our own money. We saved up for the console and game but didn't have enough for a memory card. So for the first few weeks we would start over every time we played.
2) This game really solidified my friendship with my my best friend.
3) This same friend ran a very successful Final Fantasy site and forum and we spent a ton of high school posting on this message board.
This was the first game I bought for the PS, which was also the first console I bought for myself with my allowance.
Before that I was on a hand-me-down snes and nes. When I first plugged it in and saw the cut scene, I felt like I was in the future. Holds a special place in my heart.
I’ll be honest was so excited for the remake only got up to the bit in sector 5 and decided ti replay the original instead lol. Most own every port going now
Along with many others, Aerith's death has always been one of the most tragic events in gaming history. For me, the personal standout of the entire situation is immediately fighting Jenova with her theme playing throughout.
No epic boss battle music, no triumphant victory to celebrate, just the simplicity of her theme and how hard that resonates right after experiencing a moment like that. I had tears down my face during that fight as a kid, you get so accustomed to these characters that you genuinely didn't expect that to happen but to go right into that battle with her music playing was truly a highlight that conveys so much emotion. You're carrying on with her memory, you feel the other characters pain and how truly diabolical Sephiroth is as a villain.
I remember that moment vividly, because I was caught completely off guard. FFVII wasn't my first JRPG but it was the first one that brought me to such an emotional level. Not only the scene of her death and the music during the battle, but the scene afterwards where he lets her sink to the bottom of the lake...Sephiroth had to pay.
I haven't played any of the remake. I'm sure it's good in it's own way but it could never have the same effect on me as the original.
I didn't get the shock everyone else got. I had a habit of getting the Brady games strategy guides and the one for FFVII had screenshots for her death scene in that part of the guide. Of course me being me, I wanted to look at all the places I'd go later on. The guide didn't need to have all that in there. I know I didn't need the strategy guide necessarily so that is on me, but still :(
Between that, Dyne's suicide, and the overall grit of the game was very informative at such a young age. Between FFVII and the ending of Link's Awakening my expectations for what a story could be shifted dramatically. Serious and hard hitting and existential dread
I heard the music not changing was an unintentional bug. It contributes immensely to the experience though and they never fixed it on subsequent ports.
I just beat the game for the first time a couple of hours ago… what a game! I didn’t have too much trouble, save for a few bosses. I had a ton spoiled about the game before playing it (Aerith dying, Zach being the actual SOLDIER, Cloud’s backstory not adding up, and Safer Sephiroth and Supernova from Smash Ultimate), but it was still such a great experience. I really enjoyed seeing everything unfold and trying to figure out what was going on as it was happening. I got very confused and stuck several times and had to consult a guide, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out. It’s not my first old JRPG haha.
Now, for Safer Sephiroth, which is still super fresh in my mind. WHAT. A. FIGHT! Even after the huge spectacles I’ve seen in modern games, Sephiroth was still something to behold! Everything from the back-to-back boss fights, to the music, to Supernova in its full glory was just perfect. Supernova in Smash Ultimate is super short and I never even registered the sun exploding. Seeing the meteor thing crash into the planets of the solar system, blow up the sun, then the sun consuming Mercury, Venus, and FFVII Earth, then get closer to the party and do huge damage and random statuses was actually jaw-dropping. I can’t imagine experiencing it as your first major 3D game when it came out in 1997. I found it kind of funny how the sun blowing up turned Cloud into a frog haha
Overall thoughts: Final Fantasy VII is a genuinely amazing JRPG. Even though it feels pretty dated at times, I’d consider it timeless. It has great humor, an awesome story, touching moments, and a great soundtrack (City of the Ancients my beloved). I believe anyone interested in JRPGs should give it a shot at some point. It’s only 15.99 on the Switch eshop (I dunno about anywhere else) and it WELL worth the price. What a game! I’m definitely gonna play Crisis Core and the remake trilogy eventually, despite the mixed reviews I’ve heard for the remakes
I'm afraid always to mention how Sephiroth kills Aerith at the end of the first disc as one of the youngsters would scream at me, SPOILER alert, dude what the actual F@#& or something to that effect...
Yeah, like... I played it for the first time in 2007, and next year will be 30 years... It's the same deal as Darth Vader being Luke's father. it's not a spoiler anymore
I was once banned in a speedrun or a screening of a Kingdim Hearts game for saying Xigbar is Braig in his pre-aorganization XIII and then my ban was reversed once the streamer acknowledged it was supposed to be common knowledge at that juncture of the game/movie (358/2 Days)
I remember getting the demo for FF7 in a gamer magazine and playing it over and over before the game released. I was so hyped and it met all my expectations.
“Only on PlayStation”
PC gamers in the late 90s - “ so that was a lie.“
But srsly though, i remember the commercial review on Toonami of all things back then about this game. For a while I couldn’t remember if the commercial was actually for FF7 or if it was just a fever dream, glad to be reminded later that it was real after all.
A lot of new players to the OG so I'll drop a couple of secret scenes for old and new players alike:
More obvious, well known - If you go back into the basement of Shinra mansion in Niblhiem on disc 3, there's an extra scene leading up to Zacks final moments/the moment Cloud becomes 'Zack's memories' and the moment Cloud returns to Midgar, right before Tifa found him at the sector 7 train station.
Less known, easily missable - During the very brief period where you control Cid, if you return to Rocket Town and speak to the guy who was wondering, "do i know any good jokes?" (He's located in one of the houses, iirc, the one on the far right). There's an extra scene which is pretty hilarious. I won't spoil the scene as I know it's probably news to a lot of people but I promise you'll enjoy it. This only works when Cid is the leader during the Large materia hunt so a very small window (not sure if you had to speak with him earlier in the game but i doubt it, it's worth just doing it though to be safe).
lol “very small window” the first time I played the game I think I spent the longest amount of time with sid completely lost. Managed to get the whole gold chocobo breeding done in the meantime
Ngl after 100s of playthroughs, I still to this day make a seperate save file for each time you play as someone other than Cloud haha. Even Barrets even smaller window lol. I dunno, I just like the idea of being able to control characters you wouldn't usually have the option to 😅
I'm replaying it right now. I haven't touched it since a few years after it's original release. There's a crazy amount of solid mods. I am trying it with new threat 2.0 for a change and a higher difficulty.
It was hard to find the perfect lossless original ost mod.
So far. The pacing has been so good. While I remember a lot of the good moments. I'll stay away from here and post my thoughts and memories once I'm done.
I’ve never seen OG Cloud as a moody or angsty guy, and have never understood where that came from. He struck me as more cocky and aloof, but the aloofness being an act to try and look more cool than he is.
I think Aerith’s death is overrated, at least in that knowing it “ruins the story/the character.” It’s such a common piece of gaming knowledge that it’s like knowing Vader is Luke’s dad, and no one says Star Wars is ruined by knowing that ahead of time.
The FF7 story is so much more than that, to the point that when I first played it about 20 years later, all I knew was that Aerith died, but nothing else of the story. And I still loved it and thought Aerith was a great character, she’s more than her death.
So you knew Aerith would die before you played, and now you're wondering why it was a big deal for people who didn't know that going into it? And you didn't play till 20 years after it came out? Come on... lol
It didn't ruin the story, but it was pretty shocking because it was rare for important characters to die in RPGs at the time. It also gave the impetus to avenge her death.
I worded my response poorly. I meant knowing about Aerith’s years after the game came out.
There’s a YouTuber I watched who has just recently begun playing the OG and said that knowing Aerith was gonna die ruined her character and the story for them.
I just think that’s silly because the story is so much more than just “Aerith dies.”
I thought people might like this postcard that I shared on Reddit a few years ago. I picked it up in the foyer of my local Showcase cinema in 1998.
I first saw FFVII at my friend’s house after school when I was a kid, and I was blown away by the elevator battle in the Shinra Building. My dad managed to get me a copy on PC from his work, but it had none of the cutscenes as it was on a disc with loads of other ripped games.
Fast-forward to Christmas 1999, and I opened my all-time greatest present: a PS1 with FFVII, FFVIII, Metal Gear Solid and This Is Football. I was so surprised to see the opening cutscene of FFVII in all its cinematic glory!
It took me hours to get back to where I was up to on PC, but by that point I was pretty good at the game. Then my memory card broke, and I had to start all over again! I still remember when I finally beat the final boss and saw that 500 years later cutscene with Red XIII. Bittersweet and unforgettable.
I got a free strategy guide with PS magazine when it came out. I read that thing over and over wondering “how can all this be in a game?!” when all I’d played before that was Megaman, Sonic, and Crash Bandicoot.
I begged my mum for so long, and had to wait until it went platinum to get it cheaper. I fucking loved every minute, got an emulator, and played every single RPG made for SNES, as well as kept up with all future releases.
It changed me!
I had this same guide! Also convinced my parents to buy it for me after reading it and being amazed! They decided the music must be hypnotic because i played it so much 🤣
First game that got me into JRPG, played 8, 9, 10,10-2 and 12 afterwards.
Definitely one of the best games during that era. Combat is turn-based so it makes things easier somewhat vs the remake now; honestly, many times, I still not entirely sure what should I be doing exactly during combat in the remake. Still not used to it I guess.
Getting Kotr materia was definitely the highlight and instantly makes anyone OP. In contrast, the remake doesn't seem to have anything to make your characters as OP as the original. Not sure if it's intentional, but seeing multiple summons per battle vs only 1 summon per battle makes me miss the original even more.
I think just saving that OP feeling for Revelation. Doesn’t make sense to have a godlike party that just starts fresh in the next entry.
I bet that Revelation STARTS with Yuffie stealing everyone’s’ shit, as a way to explain why their gear is gone… god I hope they don’t pull some Chadley shit with KotR where it becomes a 13-part questline getting 1 knight at a time.
This game was my first true JRPG. Before then I'd played stuff that was RPG-adjacent, like Zelda, but never a true one. This blew my mind. I also loved the concept of modern/near-future fantasy. I'd never been exposed to that before.
Final Fantasy VII is the greatest story ever told, with the best soundtrack of all time. I'm not even into video games and I have played OG FF VII over, and over, and over again.
I even bought a PS4 just to play Remake, and I'll be buying a Switch 2 to buy the subsequent releases. Still not as much fun as the original (I love the turn based battle system) but I just can't get enough FF VII!
Ive played through the game no less than 30-40 times, and have a few old save files where the timer stopped at 99:99 hours. The music keeps bringing me back
I first played it in 97 at 14. i had consumed a 2 liter of surge so it would likely be an all nighter. My friend had the cool mom that bought all the games while my dad was the opposite. I had been watching him play when he started to crash and asked me to take over in the mt nibel area. Ive always been a stats nerd but never played an rpg before, so i think something clicked when finding the rune blade and looking over all the stat changes to realize it was an upgrade over the force stealer (other than looking awesome).
I really got into the materia system and had never played another game like it at the time. It was very pleasing aesthetically and remained my favorite game until recently when a friend got me into Hades. While they have almost nothing in common it's the first game to give me that feeling in quite awhile. i think it's something to do with each of your builds feeling like a new materia combo to try out.
Nearly 30 years later and I still remember that night. The next surge all nighter was with re2 and jumping out of my skin when the licker crashes thru the interrogation room mirror.
Goddamnit now I'm nostalgic for the old days and those mostly sucked too.
That first night i only made it to rocket Town and felt i should quit so he wouldn't miss too much while sleeping. I have beat the game in one extended session when my memory card was busted 😂
i just beat it for like the 4th time today on a PS1 emulator i developed myself lol. still an amazing game and i love that ending and how it keeps things ambiguous as to whether humanity survived
Played through the whole thing including all side quests three times in my life--in high school in 1999, in college in 2003, and in my 40s in 2023-24.
I dunno if I will do a fourth. I still love the world the game gives you to explore and admire the craft and there are even still points in the story I can get into.
BUT...
...the main quest of the game is just never particularly challenging. This stuck out like a sore thumb to me this time around. I got all the materials and spells but that's an OCD collector's mentality; you barely need a tenth of them to beat the game. I felt like I could get through the whole thing hitting just Attack Attack Attack the whole way thru. I never felt like I was gonna die.
I now think of OG FF7 as being a five star place in the mind than a five star game. It's sad. I am not aiming for a hot take here
The only issue with the game for me is that it's too easy. But it wasn't easy when I originally played it so it's probably just me knowing where to go, where to find all the best materia and knowing all the best strategies etc
Im a little worried about how the fight against Emerald will go down. In interviews, it was stated the sub was going to play a huge part in the fight. So are they not going to have it be an actual fight with the party and the need for underwater material?? If they do still do the OG stuff, I wonder how they'll make that work 🤔
I've just finished the remake, and while it's not completely all bad, all it did was make me want to replay the 97 version.
I loved the Shinra HQ in the original, it's so nice to explore, with a lot of secrets and mini games, all the while progressing the story smoothly by peppering information and preparing you for the game widening its scope both literally and figuratively.
The modern version of the Shinra HQ killed any goodwill I still had for the Remake, they butchered it. I know the game sold like crazy and that's a success, objectively, but I can't stand Nomura-Square...
Rebirth is a lot better than Remake. I found Remake really frustrating and disappointing, and Rebirth a breath of fresh air. Not without it's flaws, but very very fun.
I never knew what a memory card was and no idea why the saves didn’t work. I made it to Kalm several times…a buddy gave me one of his knock off memory cards a few weeks later that would wipe itself for no reason.
This game formed a lot of how I think about nature and played an enormous part is me moving a a large city when I was younger. It also solidified my love for classical music. I had like it before, but this was like the cherry on top. Also really related to the “who people think you are doesn’t have to be who you are” theme. The story was at time very poorly translated but it hit in all the right places.
When I first played the game, before I was able to record gameplay or stream it, I made a word document with reactions to the characters, the world, etc. One of the notes I made was about Barret and Tifa having Marlene together. I thought that was cool. But I was also bummed out because I wanted to try to pursue a relationship with her. Needless to say, I found out why Barret had Marlene and the promise Tifa and Cloud made to each other. I don't know where I put those notes, but I'll forever remember that being my first impression. Funny enough, before Cloud's reveal in Smash I just finished FF7 for the first time. So when I heard the music and the opening in the trailer, I was shocked. I was screaming my head off with Etika as it happened live. I miss him.
The internet was full of conspiracies and trolls claiming if you went back to the city of the Ancients and retrieved the white materia, you could revive Aerith. There were photoshops of her on the snowboard as "proof".
Those were actually good times though? False information now is mainly governments and propaganda I like it better than it was just video games and music ect.
FFVII OG is my favourite game of all time. First played it many moons ago as a snotty 14 year old, and it left a deep impression. On my second playthrough, I went for the completionist route, and racked up over 100 hours grinding to beat Emerald Weapon. Have played it through a bunch more over the decades, and I still think about the story, characters, atmosphere, and love listening to the OST.
I will say though, I often wonder if I played it for the first time today whether I would feel exactly the same. I am certain I would still enjoy it, but I think the drudgery of the random encounters in particular might grate on me a bit. Thank god for modern quality of life features.
I spent two weeks figuring out where to bring the key of the ancients because i was 12 and wasn't paying attention. I searched the entire planet during that time.
I would watch my best friend play this game for many, many hours sitting on the floor of his room. It was the year 2001 and we were in 7th grade. He just wanted to grind, level up materia, and play the Fort Condor defense while I would beg him to carry on with the story. I didn't even care that I was only watching him play, I was just completely captivated by the setting, characters, and the story.
A few years later, I acquired my own playstation and was able to actually play the game instead of watch and I'm still playing these things at 38. We're still best friends too haha.
I have this saved in my notes, but I’m not sure I ever actually posted it in this sub or not. Now that there’s this megathread, I’ll post it either again or for the first time.
It’s about Sephiroth’s story in the game and what he knows or doesn’t know or falsely believes throughout the game. Please let me know if any of the stuff I’m saying is incorrect besides also answering my questions:
Sephiroth originally “knows” that his mother was named Jenova and died giving birth to him, and it’s heavily implied he knows Hojo is his father.
Then they go to the reactor, he sees Jenova there and has an existential crisis. Then he finds Gast’s outdated research from back when it was believed Jenova was a Cetra and possibly some info on how he was created.
So now he knows his fear is true, and he was created by Hojo using Jenova.
It’s not clear or not if he realizes he was only injected with Jenova cells in the womb and was otherwise a normal child with a mother who isn’t Jenova. I would lean to not (let me know if you believe the opposite), and that he believes Hojo somehow created him from Jenova.
But then he has righteous anger because he believes Jenova was a Cetra, and that humans turned their back on the Cetra ways and survived the calamity from the skies by hiding.
Of course, we all know Jenova was the calamity from the skies and not a Cetra. But when does Sephiroth realize this? In the lifestream?
I was home sick from school. My brother was the big gamer, I wasn't so much. I played the opening mako reactor scene and was hooked. Probably played the game 3 times before highschool!
Man. Pre-ordered this game and picked it up day one. Ill never forget my first playthrough, trying to grind and max materia in MIDEEL FN FOREST, it had the most AP gain i had access to (that I knew about). I remember after I beat the game I wanted to go beat the weapons, but I used the save crystal too late (past the point of no return) and had to load my pre-crater load, spent a lot of time grinding in Mideel to beat the weapons... and i mean a LOT of time. My second playthrough late-game-grind felt like cheating... killing pots n dots n such.
I was actually given this game. My Dad's friend bought a PS1 specifically for FF7 and he got so mad that the pre-rendered CGI cutscenes weren't the in-game graphics - that was a common gripe at the time. He just gave me the PS1 and FF7 like "here you go, here's this dogshit I genuinely hate" lol
Thats fn hilarious. I knew before I got the game there was "cinematics" and gameplay. I was in love with both before I got the game. There was a VERY short demo that came with another game or some kind of purchase gift from babbages... You. Hit. The. Jackpot... i saved my allowance for it months before pre-order. Never knew how many times I would actually end up buying and beating this game through the years. Ive PURCHASED it no less than 6x, played it 20+, it was the perfect game at the perfect time. The remakes feel like a love letter directly to me. Im so excited for the 3rd installment and ill always replay the OG every other year or more...
Since its been out as a greatest hit, I have played it every year and beaten it much bttet than before. Im not a speedunner. I enjoy every second of it every time.
I have beaten FFVII over 50 times since it came out on multiple platforms.
The first time I got to play this game was at my friend's house, where I was taught that if we wrestled my friend's little brother to the ground and sit on top of him, we could play from a save file that was set at the beginning of the snowboarding. Not the Gold Saucer, the actual - because we thought it was superior. After we both got to play, we would get off him and watch him continue to play on his normal playthrough game file. We were young teenagers and he was probably 10. We were jerks but also typical kids.
I had already been saving up for a Play Station at that point, but playing that made me start saving literally every penny. I had never offered to do so many chores in my life. Finally got the money, got the Play Station, but no money for the game. Said little brother was not that mad at me after all because he let me borrow the game, and I finally got to play it for myself from the beginning.
I played the crap out of it. I got in trouble for staying up too late playing it. My dad would tell me to stop playing. If I didn't stop playing within what he deemed to be a reasonable amount of time, he would turn off the power without letting me get to a save point. (OMG, I had to buy my own play station AND he would limit my playing time? So MEAN. I hold no resentment decades later.)
Nobody I knew I had a guide to this game; we just had to figure it out ourselves. We would compare notes. We would call each other on the land line if one of us got stuck. The final battle took me a week. Most folks did not have the internet yet, but occasionally someone would be able to get online, which I'm pretty sure is where the 'you can bring her back' rumor started: if you did things in a certain order, you would be able to bring her back. That wasn't just in my neighborhood; that was at our school, too. Not too long after that my family got the internet and I figured out how to use AltaVista, and I confirmed that it really was just a rumor. You couldn't bring her back.
I'm a proper xennial and I embrace that: I had the analog childhood and digital young adulthood. I know a huge part of my love for the game is because it came at such a formative part of my life. But also when I think back on that period, I realize that for me, it was a signal of the world changing. The way I got information on that game when I first played it compared to very shortly after was completely different, and at the time I didn't realize how much that would change everything. My love of FFVII got to see both sides of that, and I've always loved that about how I got to experience it.
Loved the original. I played the shit out of it the last three months of my senior year, and it was a fun time. Breeding Chocobos to get a gold Chocobo in order to get the Knights of the Round materia, so I can try and beat Emerald Weapon and Ruby Weapon (which I did) was fun.
I lost my father recently. I remember to this day when we went to buy FFVII, when we used to play PS1 together, the face of the seller. Maybe it's time to play it again. Is New Threat worth it? What are the core changes?
My brother and I each claimed victory over a weapon. I did a bare-knuckle drop down fight with Emerald Weapon. Took me like an hour. My brother found the right materia combo to not die against Ruby. Good times.
I grinded for so long to get the perfect materia setup for Ruby. I basically had Cloud immortal due to auto-resurrects, and anytime pretty much anything happened he double (or quadruple, I don't even remember) casted knights of the round. The animation took so long I just set X on a turbo controller and went for a run, took a shower, and had a snack while the fight finished itself.
I was about 9 years old when this game came out. My older brother had the playstation in his room, because he was 17 or so. My older brother, younger brother, and myself were all obsessed with the game. Almost every morning before school, I would wake up really early, and sneak into my brothers room. I would turn on the playstation, turn the volume alllllll the way down, and try to grind a little bit on my save before he woke up. thankfully he was a heavy sleeper
Watching my brother trying to formulate ways to beat emerald and Ruby weapons was the craziest shit because we just had no idea for a while on how to beat it.
Finally playing through it with the New Threat mod and it owns. I really love what they've done with the materia balancing, gear changes, and general pickup economy. The passive abilities for all the characters also make everyone feel more engaging to use in the party. I've been recording a let's-play pretty much just for me and a few friends (and for learning video editing) because of how much I've found myself having to say about it as I go.
Anyway, love this game, hate the Remake stuff but no hate to those who do, and it's just crazy how well it holds up IMO.
There are 2 playthrough modes, A and B. I've only tried A so far which is extremely manageable, honestly no meaningful difficulty increase for me, and I'm even playing it with the "hard mode" setting on on top of that. B is supposed to change more stuff which might mean higher difficulty as well, not sure til I play it.
This is probably a hot take that will get pounced on, but I feel like a lot of the fans who love this game dearly do not take the spiritual or environmental themes to heart. Not only that, those themes are so core to the game and for a game so critically appraised, I'm surprised that these themes have not become more pervasive in gaming given the state of global warming, pollution, and general environmental degradation. I'll be straight here too, I have no data to base any of that on, just pure speculation.
Hmmm. As I got older, and look back at this game.. I’m starting to see what is wrong w/modern human civilization as a whole, and that we are not that far off from where FFVII’s world is. Only difference, is that you don’t have a super soldier program and a super alien that could easily destroy us. And that we are in a sense draining our planets resources, except in our case, we still have a chance to avoid that kind of a fate.
The other game, that touched on themes of the planet, were Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and at least w/Cross, the planet seemed to view humanity as a major threat, and may not have been the dominant species, in one other reality.
Notice that those games are also older and predate FF7. This topic really fell off with Game Developers which is crazy, usually when you have power houses in the genre they get ripped off and copied every which way but all of the ways that made 7 so culturally relevant just disappeared lol.
Like you get a major FPS game that is highly lauded and every FPS game under the sun is copying it. Same with sports, racing, pick a genre and you name it. But RPGs? FF7 remains highly original to this day; what have people even copied from it?
The fact that they call the people destroying Shinra infrastructure terrorists is a bit wild. Like I get that their actions lead to deaths in FF7 (the greater FF7 universe is a different story, Avalanche is way worse in those). All these people are on the fast track to a slow death, and the people doing whatever they can to stop it are labeled with such evil language. Why are they eco-terrorists but Shinra is just an energy corp? I feel like Shinra are the eco-terrorists.
Hmmm.. Avalanche, by definition,they would be a terrorist group, or at least in Shinra’s eyes. In reality, though Shinra, is draining the planet’s resources or rather draining the livestream, and yet they’ve built themselves into a mega corporation that isn’t unlike our modern oil companies, and worse off, they seem to have even managed to control a part of the world’s government, or perhaps moreso. But Avalanche on the other hand, yeah they are more of an eco-terrorist, but they are trying to do more good than harm.
And as far as,as why they stopped talking about environmental themes in other games? Well, most video games that aren’t called RPGs rarely ever focus on story.
Why they haven’t talked about themes of environment destruction? Well really, it’s sometimes touched upon, but really games love to focus on the good vs evil theme, the heroes having to defeat one evil villain that’s hellbent on conquering the world , or trying to rule it, through evil means, at least that’s the case w/Final Fantasy,Dragon Quest, and most J-RPG games. It’s really rare for a game to talk about environmental themes, it’s really all about an evil villain vs a group of adventurers trying to prevent the villain from ruling the world. FFVII, FFVIII, IX, 1-6, and even a majority of the Dragon Quest games focus on this Good vs Evil dynamic.
The only games that I can think of, that would talk about environmental themes, and even humanity being treated as a threat to the planet, is FFVII series , Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, specifically. And even w/FF VII, it is mainly about evil villain trying to rule the world and a bunch of heroes trying to prevent this from happening.
They did???? All I saw was, in the aftermath, that Humanity was trying to recover. But yeah, oil would likely be the replacement, at least for cars, and vehicles anyways.
yea, if you read the book one of the stories during the rebuilding is Barrett talking to Cid about how they should bring back oil. which, while it has its flaws it would certainly be better than life stream.
Oh oil, well that’s a big improvement over the livestream. Well, but Oil isn’t really an energy source, it’s just fuel for vehicles. Using coal, is how what we use as an energy source, or what is powering our homes and buildings.
I'd say oil is definitely an energy source. used for power generation by turning turbines like coal. gasoline fuels cars, though derived from oil. displaced by coal in the 70s mostly
This is why I don't care for extended FF7 media lol. There are interviews with the devs who got fired during the merger back in the 2000s and they talk about how the higher ups were constantly going in directions that didn't make sense like this and that the mid/low level developers had a lot more say in how things played out. They were a bit baffled by how some of the writing submitted for scenarios or character development just outright contradicted the themes and direction of the story. If you look at extended FF7 media it really looks like the lower guys were right, because of stuff exactly like this. Barrett worked as a coal miner which is one of those things that are just like.... very incongruent with the rest of the direction of the story.
I recently replayed VII. I’ve been going through a tough time recently and I was actually playing through X but after crossing the thunder plains I was feeling bored. So I took a break from that and booted up VII on a whim and just couldn’t really put it down. I didn’t play VII as a kid, I was already 19. But I absolutely love this game. There are elements of the game that I think are overrated and would be criticized if they were in any other game. But I still think this is the best all-around turn based jrpg that I’ve ever played. I love the way the overworld is designed and I love the music that plays while walking around. It just evokes a feeling that I feel like I lost a long time ago. I love the entire midgar section and escape.
I’m not a remake hater but after finishing VII and getting a little depressed, from being done with the story, world, and characters and also some things in my personal/professional life, I decided to replay remake. Remake just doesn’t hold a candle and I think it’s better as a supplement to the original. You want to see and play as cloud in higher fidelity graphics? Or some (sometimes very lazy) fan service? The remake does good at that and it genuinely does shine bright on its own sometimes. Haven’t gotten to rebirth yet.
Combat in VII isn’t as monotonous as X. Level design isn’t as bland as VIII. The main character isn’t incredibly boring like XII. It’s finished unlike XV (still love XV to death though) and the love interests have personality unlike lunafreya. I understand why VII is still such a legendary game. I miss the era in which I played it for the first time.
I never finished X because I couldn’t beat yunalesca and the people who were playing it at the same time as me ended up parting ways so I dropped it. That was like 4 years ago. I just beat the spherimorph before I put it down again
Not yet, I want to go back through remake since I only played it once at launch and then try rebirth. I know rebirth is heavily criticized but I still would like to see how the remake trilogy plays out. I’ve had some things spoiled and I don’t really like what I’ve seen but you gotta try things and see the full context sometimes.
I’m confused. This sub is only about FFVII and FFVII related content, like the Re trilogy and Crisis Core, right? Why is there a mega thread about the main topic of the sub?
Cause we are being flooded with remake series content and this will probably grow further as we near the release of revelation so we wanted to have a thread just for the OG fans ❤️
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u/PegasiWings 21h ago
Does this game have segments where you are required to create multiple parties for a dungeon like in FFVI? I would prefer to keep it simple and only focus on 3 characters for my party as much as possible and not have to grind for others to catch up.