With the release of Final Fantasy XV a few weeks back (I just finished it a few days ago), I've been thinking about finishing up my little series here.
Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy I played. I actually have a pretty great story about the first time I played this game. I typed it out one time on reddit; I'll just quote it here:
Quote:
I didn't have a PSX or FFVII myself, but my friend did and somehow I convinced him to let me borrow both for just a weekend. I have no idea why he agreed to it; he was only up to the battle with Dyne. Anyway, I only had the game for three days, so I had to really speed through it if I had any hopes of beating the thing. I made all kinds of poor decisions in the interest of expediency. I sold materia that didn't have any immediate use for equipment. I spammed my summons (but only the ones you naturally gain through the story; I didn't explore enough to get any of the hidden ones) to get through battles.; I wasted all of my elixirs and megaelixirs. I don't even know how I got to the end, really. There were a few battles where I'm pretty sure I just lucked out. Hojo comes to mind.
I was only in my low 30s when I got to Safer Sephiroth. I got through Jenova and Bizzaro Sephiroth easily enough, but Safer Sephiroth always just demolished me. Again and again I worked through the first two battles to just get creamed by the third battle. I had no idea if I was even getting close to beating him.
I looked up strategies online, but they always seemed to rely on me having Omnislash, or KOTR, or at least some fairly basic skills and items that I sold long ago. I couldn't go and get KOTR since I had sold my chocobo materia. I think I made an attempt on Omnislash, but it was going way too slow for the time I had left. I returned the game and system without having beaten it.
A few years later I got a PS2 for Christmas. I was actually more excited to get to play some of the PSX games I had missed than any PS2 games, but the top of my list was buying and finally beating FFVII. I left nothing to chance. As soon as I could I began racing and breeding my way to a Gold Chocobo in order to get KOTR. Sephiroth didn't have a chance.
I finally returned to the battle that had defeated me so along ago. I selected KOTR confident that I had just won in one swift stroke. Before it got cast, though, Sephiroth tossed up that stupid barrier that I hadn't planned for. KOTR did only half damage which didn't kill him. I fought hard, but my strategy had depended entirely on not having to actually fight and I lost. Again.
Then I fought him again and made sure to dispel the barrier before I cast KOTR and I won. Finally. Years later.
As an epilogue to this story, I remember playing Kingdom Hearts and finding the ??????? section in the Hercules world. I selected it, curious what it was. One Winged Angel began to play. "No," said, beginning to shake. "It can't be." Sephiroth appeared. "No, please," I begged the game. He absolutely demolished me. "Noooooooooooo!"
I still haven't beat him in that.
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As an aside, I have since beat him using Omnislash and also without either KOTR or Omnislash. Still haven't beat him in Kingdom Hearts, though.
One thing about FFVII is that when I really think about the game, I often think it is slightly overhyped. The graphics have not aged well at all. The story is hampered by a sub-par translation. The gameplay isn't really that big of a leap over FFVI; just a little flashier. I think some of the things FFVII is known for was actually done first (but not necessarily better) by FFVI; mainly thinking about adding more technology to the series and even some of the cinematic quality the series has since become known for.
Still, there is something about FFVII that draws me to it again and again. I don't know if its just nostalgia from the days when I could literally play a video game without stopping over a weekend or what, but I am never not enjoying myself with this game. I've actually played it through again since my marathon this thread was originally about; this isn't true about almost all of the other games in the series. If I try to rank the series, I almost always include VI, IX, and X above VII for various reasons, but those games just don't pull me in like this one does. Its odd.
As an aside, I am very hesitant towards the impending remake. While I was definitely hoping for one at some point, I was really just hoping for a graphical upgrade. I don't even really want it to be up to today's standard, or even the standards of 2004 or 2005 or whenever it was the rumor train started rolling for a remake. I would be just fine if the game looked as good FFIX. For me, the issue with the original FFVII (that would be fixed with a remake) are about the consistency of the graphics and the translation. Its very jarring to go from the polygonal mini figures of the overworld to the much more detailed battles figure, back to the mini figs, and then to an FMV. The translation just needs to be done over and with a more professional touch. I worry the remake is overdoing it. C'est la vie.