I call myself a gamer, well... because I game. But when I tell people I've never played a single Final Fantasy game they tend to discredit my self-imposed status.
Waitwaitwait, you were giving me flak for never playing through Ocarina of Time and you've never played through a single Final Fantasy game?
/smh
And to think I suffered through the Water Temple.
But seriously, FF was, at one time, a great series in its day. Now? Well, I hear the relaunch of FFXIV is shaping up to be a major improvement on the total disaster that was the original launch. And the FFXV trailer looked kinda cool. I guess.
I've also heard that FFVII is the best Final Fantasy game there was.
In terms of battle system? Yes. (Again, this is all my opinion.)
In terms of characters and story? Oh, goodness, no. FFVI easily had the best characters in the series (though I am among the few who found Zidan refreshing after the "life is pain, pouting in the back of mom's minivan" CloudSquall of VII and VIII) and the story was, well, very good by Final Fantasy standards. Let's face it; this isn't Shakespeare. But the Opera House scene still gives me chills.
In terms of music? Yeah, probably. The main theme and the airship theme (or rather, the orchestral arrangements of those tracks) are two of my favorite video game music tracks ever.
Worth it? Dunno, but talk about it.
Definitely not at $12.
Just like Ocarina of Time aged poorly (sorry, but the controls were rubbish by modern standards and early 3D graphics do NOT hold up well), FF7 is (IMO) really only worth a playthrough if it's for purposes of nostalgia or if you're just a hardcore video game historian. It is not worth suffering through random encounters to try to get a better idea why people go gaga over this game. If you must satisfy your curiosity, find a "Let's Play" video series on YouTube and fast forward through the battles.
While I don't mean to discredit FFVII, my experience has shown that there's often a strong connection between "FFVII is the best!" and nostalgia, with it often being the speaker's first real Final Fantasy experience. Similar situation for Ocarina of Time. Both are solid entries in their series, and both played important parts in the development of their series and (though the degree to which this is true is up for debate) gaming as a whole.
This is proof that Kendrik is nicer than I am.
Basically, if I want to estimate someone's age on the Internet, I ask them what their favorite Final Fantasy game was. If they say FFVII, they're probably between the ages of 25 and 30. If they say FFVI, they're probably over 30. Furthermore, like Kendrik said, if FFVII was their favorite, it was very likely also their first FF game.
And in all fairness, the game's graphics were amazing for their time. FFVII moved from the magical steampunk-ish setting of FFVI to a much more modern environment. Also remember that RPGs were pretty much a niche genre of games before FFVII. For better or worse, FFVII was the RPG that brought the genre into the mainstream in the US.
On a somewhat related note: I played through the first 15 minutes of FFX, decided I couldn't stand to play another RPG where I wanted to punch the main character in the face (especially after Zidane provided a much-needed reprieve following FFVII and FFVIII), so I just dropped it altogether. I've seen "the laughing scene" from FFX and it helped confirm I made the right choice. (I just can't stand bad voice acting. It makes me cringe.) But after reading Kendrik's and Gerbil's comments, I find myself wanting to find a plot summary and read through it.
That's not to say the plot in 6 is kiddy (attempted suicide anyone?) it's just not as explicit.
Attempted suicide. Coping with death, loss, and grief. Physical abuse of women (which, if memory serves, was edited out of the US version). FFVI was not a children's game. It's just that fewer people took notice of it because (1) FFVI wasn't really a mainstream game, (2) Squaresoft "cleaned up" FF games for US release, probably at Nintendo's urging, and (3) the graphics were nowhere near as realistic as modern games. If a female army general was smacked across the face and knocked to the floor in FFXIII, you'd probably hear your local congressperson trying to blame video games for domestic abuse.
Basically there are better Final Fantasy games than 7. 7 was more of a you had to be there at that time to really enjoy it. Early FMV, Early polygons and probably some Kids first foray into cussing and cyberpunk.
And crossdressing. Don't forget the crossdressing.
I hate to contradict Kendrik but, unless you really want to see how the series started, I would not play Final Fantasy 1 first if at all. It was not a bad Nes game for then but the others in the series are really vastly different. In 1 you create a generic character party in the later ones you have actual characterization and plotlines for your party members. You can still enjoy the later one's plotlines and characterization today with 1 it's going to feel very bare bones.
Yeeeah, I tried to play FF1 to satisfy my video game historian tendencies and I just couldn't keep with it. I mean, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy set the standards for year to follow, so respect where respect is due but oh MAN does FF1 feel generic in a modern context.
Reminisces: Thinking about it I prefer Chrono Trigger to FF so it's like Chrono Trigger > FF 6 > FF 4 .
+1
Then one has to work out Xenogear's convoluted plot on paper almost XD.
Japanese studio + preoccupation with German philosophers + controversial use of Christian symbols = Instant Genius In A Bag(TM).
Wait, were we talking about Neon Genesis Evangelion or Xenogears (or Xenosaga)?
The good news is that Xenoblade is
awesome and there's no mention of any German philosophers in sight in the first 10 hours of gameplay.
I was a big Squaresoft fan back in those days. When they hopped from Nintendo to Sony they were the sole reason I bought a PlayStation. So yeah I played most of the Squaresoft games made back then.
That's because Squaresoft games of the 16-bit era (and Chrono Trigger, which was a "dream team" collaboration between Squaresoft and Enix) were amazing for their time. Looking at FFVII on, it feels (IMO) like Square has been on the decline ever since.
EDIT: I was thinking of Threads of Fate not Musashi. Musashi is forgettable.
But Musashi is fun and light-hearted and, IIRC, not even an RPG!