Final Fantasy VII is considered by many to be a classic. But why? Well, we're here to tell you. Check out more animation by LaughterCraft: / laughtercraft (Animated by Mike McPhee) ★Subscribe for more: / gameranxtv
for me personally, ffvii was the first rpg i played. it doesnt really look all that great now, but at the time the world felt huge (especially after you got past midgar) and the story sucked me in. but what i loved the most was the music. now, i still love listening to the soundtrack.
I loved it too, but i'd played a lot of the previous ones as well, regardless this one ranks way up there, unpopular as it may be though i think i liked final fantasy tactics more, the story was more enveloping to me.
+Kenneth Knowles Everything about FFT was great. FFTA (Both 1 and 2) were a disgrace to the franchise though. I wish they stuck to the original Ivalice lore and made games exploring the era before or after Ramza...
Maybe its an unpopular opinion, but I think FF7 looks fine even today. I consider the look of it just a type of style, not a technical limitation for the time. I've never looked at it and thought "Wow, this aged poorly" because I considered it to be that game's personal style
Cole Hundley I'm replaying the game for my third time, finding things I've never found, maxing out my levels, materia, and finding every secret and by far this is the most enjoyable run I've had. I agree, the game looks fine and the music injects so much nostalgia in me it makes me remember things when I was 5 that I had forgotten. that's a good game if you ask me.
also replaying it atm and I keep shouting at my boyfriend. " Just look at this it still looks amazing, look at this look at that how can somebody complain about these grafics look at that background!"
I totally agree. It's chibi cartoonish style, it's puzzle like RPG and utterly astonishing world building leaves this game on the mantel like the og mario or street fighter 2. I don't see the game being improved by graphic updates. It's flawless for what it is.
Final Fantasy VII blew my mind. It's hard to believe it came out in 1997. I got it with Madden 97 for Christmas I remember playing it and being like, "what's a memory card?" I would play till you fought the Turks on top of the plate and Reno would cast that stupid triangle, I died... then I got a memory card and saved the planet!
I know this comment is like 8 months old when I made this reply but I couldn't help but laugh out loud because the exact same thing happened to me. Safe to say, I got a memory card the very next day.
To anyone who says this game is only great because of nostalgia: joke's on you. I'm 16 and I'm playing it for the first time right now and it's one of the best games ever made!
I dont care if it will be episodic or not, if it will be done good. ONLY? Take any game now on PC most of them are relesed "episodic" it is just called DLC, yeah I dont see any problem here.
This made me almost tearful. Now, I just hope that they HUGELY EXPAND Gold Saucer in the FF7 Remake, I want it 10-20x bigger! More games! More diversity! More prizes! More fun! I want to get lost in that place and think "The planet can wait. I have arcades and high scores I gotta beat!"
I liked FF7 for a bunch of these reasons; but also because Cloud was flawed, and weak. He was a mentally weak character. And Because of the events that took place before the start of FF7, he had misplaced confidence, which ultimately led to his downfall later on. His recovery was due to his team mates (or one, depending on how you look at it.) I get all gushy about the power of friendship is magic shit, so it really spoke to me that this guy found the basement of rock bottom, and crawled into it, and then was pulled out by those he fought with.
FF7 helped shape my young life. I remember being 14 and crying when Aeris died. Gamefan's review still holds true: "Quite possibly the greatest game ever made."
Back in 2008 i was 6 years old and i am from a country that doesn't speak english, my uncle gave me most of his ps1 collection (crash, spyro, mgs, ff7, etc) and ff7 got me motivated to learn english so i could understand what is being said through out the game, and few years later i managed to beat it and my opinion of the game was i loved it so much and thought it was ahead of it's time. Played 6 & 8 & 9 and didn't gave me the same impression, the only game i could compare it with 7 was 10 and those 2 are still my favourites to this day.
Worawat Srisawasdi yeah I know, but I’m pretty sure mfm M was talking about the gameplay and story of it. If we are talking about the impact if the game then yes 9 doesn’t even hold a candle to 7 without a doubt.
Here we are; the game is now some two decades old, and still one of the all time favorites of millions. I bought an original Playstation when it first came out. What prompted me to buy it was this game my neighbor played incessantly. FF7 was the first game I bought for the Playstation. I played it on the PS1 until I bought my first PS2 (pre-ordered, then stood in line to get it on first day of US release). To my delight, it played FF7 just fine; and looked better than it did on the PS1. Fast forward to the PS3: same scenario: pre-ordered, stood in line, got it home and to my delight again; it played on the PS3 without a hitch; and it wasn't even the compatible version. I also have the PC version... not that I'm an FF7 fanatic, or anything... I still play it. The ability to wander freely and explore, the endless materia combos, and all around gameplay, make this an enduring artifact that still entertains; and, for me, never gets old.
Thank you for making this. My favorite Final Fantasy has always been Final Fantasy 6. It's my favorite RPG of all time and the one that truly made me take notice not only of the series but of the genre. I've always found Final Fantasy 7 to be a decent game but never fully understood the passion that so many seem to have for the game, so it's good to hear a true fan explain from his perspective what makes Final Fantasy 7 so great. Whatever our game of choice, it's always great when we find one that resonates with us and makes us look at things in a way we hadn't before.
I have told people that train station guy was one of my favorite characters before. I still find him to a great example of why games as a medium of storytelling is so unique. Because you don’t need to talk to train-station guy. You don’t even really know him, outside of a few text boxes about his job. You don’t know his name. You’ll never know his fate because he isn’t important enough to establish. But the fact he was recommended so many times shows you how even strangers in videogames makes an impact. That a face in the crowd has a story, even told in barely a paragraph, can make Midgar and the people around it fully realized is something only video games can do, and this guy proves it. And like, when I was younger I kept wondering, did he make it out alive? If he did, did he ever find happiness? And I think it’s great that we never get an answer, because that’s what happens in real life too.”
Takanashi my thoughts exactly, they created a world that you felt connected too. and looking back now, it really makes me think about other ppl I walk past and meet. I can't wait to play this game again. I just have to find my ps1 memory card lol.
people who are saying ff7 is only viewed as good because of nostalgia, do you know what nostalgia means? Remembering something foundly. that means it had to be good in the first place, otherwise you wouldnt remember it that way.
it doesn't mean the thing was great, plenty of things are seen through nostalgia stained eyes that in the end are really poo, i love ff7 and have went back to it a few times and enjoyed myself, it isn't JUST nostalgia that makes this game great, it's the fact that it was new, what it presented was never done before and hasn't been done again, i was young when i played this game, and i had to deal with losing money gambling, losing a char i had invested a ton of time in lvling (well since they were an op healer i assume a lot of people did), and felt the first emotional tug on my person from a video game, ff7 had literally everything you could want... it cant and shouldn't be simple marked as nostalgia
Nostalgia is used as an argument here but it means nothing. Game must give fun to someone to born nostalgia, it may happen even if game is bad, but if the same 'nostalgia' share milions of people all ower the world there is no room for mistake. This game is considered by milions as their favorite game of all. This game has status of 'best game ever' for more people then any other game there is. So any 'nostalgia' argument is just invalid. Anyone who tie to use it just make fun of himself. Deal with it.
This was actually a really good video. I enjoyed seeing the nostalgia as it went by on the screen and hearing a voice say what was in my head was great. Thanks gameranx.
It's perfect to me, this game in is so much ways talks about our reality to me. How we're killing this living planet by a select few who have all the power, we're forced to live this way unless we fight back. That's the tip of the iceberg why this game is fantastic imo, the way it opened so many doors of ideas and possibilities.
That would be a good one. I personally would like a remake of Xenogears over FF7 myself, FF7 didn't get shoved out the door with the last disk getting summarized...damn that still pisses me off!
The battle system, the story and characters, the huge twists, the fact that Midgar seemed enormous then you set foot out in the full world and realize how much bigger everything actually is. The music and darkness has a lot of nostalgia everyone can relate to and Tifa's boobs.
this is hands dpwn one of my favorite youtube videos ever. the aristic rework of the game itself really captures how a gamer sees a game he played in the past, with a combination of imagination and nostalgia that takes what we actually experienced in a physical stand point and then shows how we experienced it.
My perfect RPG, that I can imagine as "being on the horizon" and within reach, within my life-time, would be a middle ground between the JRPG style of FF7 and Western RPGs like Fallout and Elder Scrolls. What I mean is this: You know how, in FF7, you'd arrive at a hotel, and then all your characters would spread out and then you'd talk to them and stuff would happen... And that first night staying in a new place was like an event. It was part of the story. Compare that with arriving at a hotel first time in Fallout or Elder Scrolls. You walk in. You click a guy. You click sleep. You click on the bed and that's it. There's no event. The first stay is pretty much no different from the thousandth stay. I'm also not a fan of the game-like style of character interaction. You click on a companion and go through some chat options. Then they eventually say some shit like "Ask me later".. Then you level up some more and can talk to them some more and get more information. It just feels too gamey. Western RPGs rely too much on imagination, and the mechanics behind the game are too obvious to me (but maybe this is just a result of being older). The quest hub/quest npc shit of Western RPGs annoys me too. Like seriously... Do you remember picking up a quest in FF7, going to do the quest and then returning to "hand in" and get your reward? No, you don't. FF7 just all felt like this on-going adventure. I want my side-quests to feel part of the main-story. I don't want to even be aware they are side-quests. I want to feel like I'm playing through 50 hours of Main Story. And no... Just having your side-quests access the same lore as the main-quest draws from.. Isn't enough to properly integrate your side-quests (as most modern western RPGs think).
I get it though. Modern Western RPGs are trying to be less linear, and sadly, with current technology, being less linear also makes the game slightly more shallow. There's usually lots and lots of breadth in modern western RPGs, but there's little depth.
I agree with almost everything you said except for this little line, "Western RPGs rely too much on imagination". Very much strongly disagree with that. The way I see it, Western RPGs actually lack imagination and wish they can be imaginative as Japanese RPGs..
@@jonn_mace_80_95_ I think he meant they rely in imagination from the players to make it a fulfilling experience. Hence why western RPGs tend to focus on exploration and open worlds with little to no linearity. They give you freedom of choice and direction. But the main issue is that there isn't much depth beyond the surface. In a Bethesda game for example, I could choose to go to the other end of the map and join faction x, but in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't do fuck all. Hence why the game requires the players' imagination of how cool it all is to make it work, enabling them the power to make decisions that affect the NPCs, and sort of finding value of it from there. But again, I personally feel it's empty. And samey. I've tried time and time again, but can't bring myself to boost my imagination on a game whose main story does little to make me want to be there. That is also the reason I hate sidequests, which western RPGs can't get enough of. Side quests are predictable, formulaic and basically fillers to compensate for the typically shite and short main plot. More 'content' is then added to the experience when you get told you had to travel half way across the map to progress the story, which you ardously travel away to a location that's already highlighted on your map like a sat nav destination. Then you get there and there will be a massive arrow floating over the next soulless NPC's head, if the suspense wasn't already taken away. But that's what FF games didn't do. Instead, they harnessed the right balance of pacing, linearity and exploration. Like solving pieces of a puzzle, you went from one town to the next through genuine interest of the plot, and each town not only had its own struggle, but was part of the main struggle. And when you needed to go somewhere or find someone, there was none of this bullshit hand holding "he's over here, just use your sat nav" bollocks. You didn't know how you were going to progress or what the next step was, which is WHY you wanted to enter that town you saw in the horizon. And because those little towns were scattered unrealistically across an entire globe, you got to see a world's worth of diversity, which made you much more curious and interested in the game's lore. To me that is far more interesting that going to towns that are all clones of themselves.
This video was beautiful. I am trying to hold back the tears, and there are too many reasons as to why my eyes are watering to begin with. Spot on, gameranx. Spot on.
Anyone know what the piano music starting at 3:17 and near the end (5:18) of the video is called? Very nostalgic and beautiful. Would love to discover the music in its entirety.
I think this game opened my eyes to what games could be even though I found it more than 10 years after its release. Not many games nowadays have the same depth to them.
This is my most favorite video game of all time! It wasn't perfect, it didn't look the best, it was in every sense a perfect game to me. It reminds me of life, also not perfect or the best looking. It has character and soul. To me, it's about the struggle, the determination even against impossible odds. You can win. This is my opinion about the whole game. Shinra represents a corrupt government, Sephiroth represents the worlds problems, Cloud and company represents us. Despite everyone's differences, views and stances on life. You band together against a common enemy and save the world!
I was 2 years old when ff7 released. I kept hearing it’s the best ff7 game ever. I was just said it was one of those over praised games. I’m 23 and playing it for myself for the first time and I have to say that all those people were right... this game IS THE BEST ff game ever made. Man I was missing out....
for me ff7 had a lot to say about the planet we live on. the decisions made by corrupt/powerful people, and how they effect the powerless, and the planet(a living being). I love turnbased combat, and im really sad about squares decision to remake it as a mix of 12 13 and 15:(, as if changing dialog and character personality wasnt bad enough...
I replay this game every summer. It is one if the best games ever. Beautiful story and world and OST. This game made me a gamer. It gives me such a nostalgic feeling. This video describes exactly what this game means to me.
before ff7, I played elders scrolls arena, daggerfall and diablo 1 on my pc. Magazines like gamepro and egm praised the game so highly so i purchased a psone and ff7 then started playing it. I goofed around that the presentation was so imbalanced blocky character models accompanied by great cgi cutscenes. However, the more I played the game, the characters and story struck me. Also, this was the first time I could see very cool looking summons. The limit breaks the materia system, chocobo breeding, complex story (life stream, end of the world, love triangle, loss, revenge, saving the planet, and the very reason to finish the game to kill sephiroth). I could go on and on of how I was blown away by ff7. This game deserves a remake with ff15 graphics level. Now adays, there is Horizon Zero Dawn which I played first before the witcher 3 GOTY on my PS4. after playing these games, I still wanted FF7 remake.
FF7 is unique & different from all other FF series because it has both the brains & the heart/emotions. what i mean by 'the brains' is the smart, deep, & complex story. no other FF series could even come close to this masterpiece.
George Johnston ff6 is so ordinary jrpg, i played ff3-ffxv. For me there still no game story can reach level of ff7 and ff10. Those both games are perfection. I still dont think ff13 and ff15 are final fantasy tho.
X is just unreal, when tidus finds out he aint real and has to lie its just fucking devastating and finding out auron was also a farplane spirit only there cos of a promise, he went all that time thinking he was pulled to another world and at one point the future then finding out his dad wasn't dead but sin and he was also a memory that shit was insane and just a constant sad mindfuck
Ff9 and ff10 have the same emotions and ff10 more then ff7. But ff7 is awesome in 1997 there was no game that was so good like ff7 and yea zelda was nothing to ff7
Hana Lalala and what is with ff9 ? I played ff7 when it was released when i was a little child but ff9 was better in my mind and ff10 was awesome ff7/9/10 are the best funal fantasy games final fantasy 15 was a joke i did platin in like 3 - 4 days 😑 and i was not watching a guide how to get it so there was no content and i feel like i have to use the car when i has to travel between anything but a friend told me there was any patches that changed alot in the game i test it anyday
I hadn't played Final Fantasy before I decided to pick up the original games on my old consoles. Wow, I was really missing out. Does anyone recommend one in particular for me to pick next and/or ones to avoid? I believe VII is the best in the series?
I can remember having to leave my PlayStation on 24/7 while playing this cuz I didn't have a save card. Mmm, nostalgia. I hope they don't fuck up the reboot.
Satanas Luciferi I don’t think so, I mean some people are upset it’s only a part of the story (just the Midgard storyline) but I still got around 25-30 hours playtime out of it and am excited for what’s next. The graphics are amazing the characters are as lovable as before... all around id give it an 8/10 honestly. My only gripe is the little random battles got kinda annoying when you’re running around the map looking for a quest item, having to fight the same little enemies every five minutes but I still stand by my score even with that ✌️
I loved all the animation for this. It brought back some memories. The snap shots you reminisce about and make you wonder if you should pick the game back up again.
Isaias well, in my case i have played this game since the 90's so aint no spoilers for me XD im a single god damn wonderful chocobo away from having my Golden FINALLY like 6 mil-Gil in greens later lol
I wanted to know when disc 1 ended so I googled it. And from that point on I learned to just play the fucking game and never google anything story related ever again.
Let me say this first that I played Final Fantasy 7 first and I absolutely love it to death and 6 I don't entirely understand because everything is just all over the place to me but that's not to say I don't get it. 6 was the first Final Fantasy game to come out to the states and back then just like in the playstation 1 era when FF7 came out, there wasn't a lot of games out there that involved story and the concept of a game where the world was ending, the feeling of oppression, the feeling of loss and finding new people to come together with their own reasons joining you without ever even knowing you and end up close friends at the end of the game even more so after saving the world from a maniacal douchebag...all that wasn't really found in other games, it's something only Square has ever brought to the table. So in my opinion I agree, they should do one with FF6 too. Hell i'd love to have a remake with FF6 (if only because then they'd have more room in their storage to actually explain things better but that's just my opposing FF7 pseudo fanboyism chatting >.
Great Video Buddy! First game I fell in love with, wasn't even mines. I'd watch my friend play it for days and days, jealously of course but purely awestruck at the whole thing. Game played with your emotion muscles...
FF7 was a game that promised little, but delivered immeasurable rewards. From Bolt 1 and a few potions to Knights Of The Round, Qudra-Magic & Omnislash. From climbing out of the slums trying to defeat President Shinra to escaping Midgar, being launched on to the world map & embarking on an epic quest to kill Sephiroth and save the planet. From catching a Chocobo so you could run across a swamp to breeding a Golden Chocobo that could scale mountains and cross oceans. This game took your expectations and blew them out of the water over and over again.
I can deff say I liked video games ALOT before this game. But THIS GAME is wat made me a TRUE HARDCORE GAMER FOR LIFE!!! And will forever be thankful to this game n its makers. BUT the person I will thank the MOST is my best friend who showed me this game JohnBoy. Dude ur like a brother to me and always will be you showed me for real the love I had for video games and we been thru hell n back in life wit ea other. And Ill always be thankful to u for that and for being in my life and being the best friend anyone could ever have. Love u bro u will always be family no matter what happen JohnBoy
I think because Final Fantasy VII is not a very serious game. Very funny things happen and has many mini games , my favourite is when Cloud has to wear women clothes. The story was very good and the artwork of the game is very amazing. The best thing was the music... Whenever I listen to it, it's like I go back in time and remembers everything. FF7 is not just a game it is a master piece... that's why I love ff7 so much than anyother game.
I haven't really been gaming all that much, despite getting a new case, and a 1070. I guess I just needed a break from it. However I play this on my 6p. No matter how much I get bored of games. I always come back to this one at some point regardless of how much I've played it. This game touches you in ways that no other ever could. I can quite honestly say that I don't think I will ever play a game as well thought out and designed as this one. Until the remake comes out. *KNOCKS ON WOOD!* Wonderful video.
I don't believe it is overrated. that last sentence in this video "it opened my eyes to what games could be" that's exactly what FF 7 did. it's one of the best selling and most beloved games ever made. its rated that because it was so well made and put together. and this is coming from someone who never got to play it but I do understand why it is there at the top and I can't wait for the PS4 remake
The remake is changing enough that it's not gonna be the same game. As Falcon mentions, the gameplay itself is part of the experience, and there's gonna be tweaks to the story in the remake. My suggestion is to play it. Just get the HD mods if the look is too bad for you. It's on PSN.
Wow. Amazing take on FF7. Love the way you explored the parallels in the subtext and how it related to real world values. This will always be one of my fave video games and this video defined it so very well. Fantastic job ;D
What made Final Fantasy VII great? You had to be there. It was lightning captured in a bottle. If you came to it after the fact, your experience of it is inescapably diluted by the internet being as ubiquitous as it now is; and it's arguably not the same gaming experience as we had back in the '90s. If you'd played any other notable rpgs (Final Fantasy or otherwise) before it, your experience of VII is likely clouded by the shadow it casts over your preferred game/s, and you'll therefore likely be dismissive of it, out of loyalty to what you like. Personally, after a strong start, VI bored the arse off me. VIII had comparatively little replay value. IX started strong and had a compelling world but petered out. X is your most accessible entry into FF if the age of earlier titles bothers you. Balthier's design aside, XII is generic and bland as fuck for a FF. XIII... well, good luck with that shit-show.
So true. Back then I never beat the Ruby or Emerald weapon. I just recently picked up the game again on ps4 and there are soo many youtubes vids that show you how to beat them, and how you can easily make broken materia combos to beat them without having to do anything. However, back then the internet was not as big and finding information about games on it was rather hard, and I only had to rely on word of mouth from my other friends who could never beat them either.
Those who call it boring, just don't like rpgs or are simply spoiled by better graphics and just cannot give it a chance (a minimum 40 hr game, easily 100+) and those who say it's "only" nostalgia that generates the hype are so far from making a point or argument it makes me cringe (what do you think created that nostalgia, oh mighty RU-vid critic?). It is massively difficult to to appreciate this game without somehow buying in to and experiencing it on its own terms through and through. You cannot play it on a recommendation, or based on the hype, or for the "gameplay" or because you "heard the story was amazing." You just have to take it at face value and let yourself be surprised. Just like any other game or entertainment for that matter. This just happens to have one of the greatest payouts, for its time, of all but the greatest art. This game is the only reason i even still seek out RPGs and really try to find something on its scale or close to having its impact. To this day, I have only found like 3. In order, shadow hearts 2, ffx, shadow hearts 1. I've tried every other final fantasy and countless jrpgs. But none have tied together all the elements of storytelling and gameplay as these three, imho. Ff6 is awesome, but stories about kings in any way, and very simple magic backstories, irk me, and I'm also a sucker for a main protagonist whose emotions drive the plot. I'm still in awe of how many publications and fans try to put ff6 above the rest, esp ff7, which improves the rpg elements in every way and tells a much more complex story and has much greater diversity from every angle a game could offer. Btw, I'm currently giving chrono trigger it's due chance but have much more to go. It very well may get on my mt Rushmore of rpgs. Jrpgs mostly. Because a lot of other stuff could fall into the category if you aren't careful, including experiences like gta, etc
michael scoggins i love turnbased rpgs, chrono trigger is my #1 of all time, 2 is secret of mana which is an arpg, 3rd is ff7. i prefer older rpgs because square only cares about the modern crowd. for me action rpgs just arent my favorite. doesnt help that im visually impaired. only one i can recall that i love and didnt get stuck on was dragons dogma, but i love dragons. ff6 is far more emotional than 7 but i love grinding ap in 7, and the whole experience (not counting the sephiroth boss fight which was annoying.) chrono trigger had som very emotional moments too. graphics are nice, and i wanted a modernized version with nice graohics, voice acting, but the same exact game. i hope you enjoyed chrono trigger. the music is wonderful, but hiroki kokuta (secret of mana composer) is a legend imho, the music was truely magical which ive never heard better rpg music.:)
