Final Fantasy VII 15th Anniversary, Thread of "It has been that long?"

[Yggdrasil]

"On January 31st 1997, the seventh (roman numeral) installment of the Final Fantasy series was released in Japan. This old PlayStation title remains one of the biggest video game obsessions of all time, as proven by the still active fanbase."

Source: The Lifestream.net

I am not the appropriate person to make a topic like this since I got into the series around FFX-2 came out by playing first in those days in my PSone FFIX. It wasn't just for curiosity after reading all the rage that FFVII caused in the Internet that I bother my mother to buy me the game. And oh boy, I really wasn't prepared for such a huge experience... I think that even by today standards FFVII is a pretty huge RPG with tons of secrets and little details to enjoy and discover.

That said, is personally not my favorite Final Fantasy but it is without a doubt one of the memorable in the series.

[Annubis]

Hating or loving it, FF7 raised the bar for the genre as a whole.

(who else now feels old?)

[Lazlowe1984]

Its overrated but I can see why people like it.Well no not really I didn't much care for it.

Happy anniversary in any case.

[Sise-Neg]

I do think that Final Fantasy VII is overhyped as far as RPGs as a whole are concerned, but I do think it is arguably one of the best, if not the best in the Final Fantasy series. It was my first RPG on the PSX and I would not have been introduced to some of my more favorite RPGs had it not been for FFVII. And it definitely was a fun play and had some great atmosphere. I sometimes just leave Cloud standing in the middle of the snow at Icicle Inn to hear the music and watch the light shining out the windows, or hang out in Wall Market to hear the awesome theme (gotta love that bass line!)

Congratulations on 15 years FFVII.

[Farron]

If there is one game I consider to be overhyped is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
In short I think FFVII put good characters, story, graphics, cinematic, emotions, all in one single package!

[Parn]

Pong is approaching a successful 40 years this June.  Congratulations, Pong!

[Klyde Chroma]

Its overrated but I can see why people like it.Well no not really I didn't much care for it.

Happy anniversary in any case.

I'm glad to see others share my sentiment.... although I did enjoy it.... I really felt it actually was a step down from 6 and the beginning of the de-evolution of the FF plots into the non-sensical madness we must suffer in the franchises most recent installments....

[Der Jermeister]

FF7 is a bit overhyped, but with good reason, although I think it's aged horribly, particularly with regards to the Lego-man character models.

[Dice]

I've been playing it again, I love it still.

I wouldn't mind at least an HD version or something if they don't want a full top-to-bottom 3D game.

[MeshGearFox]

I actually like FFVII. This is one of my dirty secrets.

However I wanna reinstall it on my PC and try some of the difficulty mods.

[AuraChannelerChris]

I never played it, but I've seen how bad you can get with bad grammar. This guy are sick, everyone.

[Darklight]

I bought it at a store in Amman Jordon, It was pirated and I was little shitty about that. Bought it again when I got home and it was Legit. This game got me to influence allot of friends to try JRPG's. Good times!

[Yggdrasil]

I've been wondering if any of you guys consider the Compilation of FFVII it's own thing or you actually see all that compilations of games, movies and what not part of the story of the original game.

Watched Advent Childrenm more than 3 times to understand it, and it wasn't until the "Complete" version that the movie started to make sense... still, I enjoy all the other FFVII stuff that SE has done but they been messing with the story so much that a lot fans don't even know what the story of the game is about at this point.

And after playing FFVII before watching AC I never saw the need for any type of sequel for FFVII since everything makes perfect sense and it ends fine. Then again, that happen with FFX too.

[Prime Mover]

Yawn. Pretty much everything important, except for the 3D was pioneered by FF6, which is a much more solid game IMO. FF7 was a step forward in graphics, and a step back in plot and characters.

[Dincrest]

We can rant till we're purple in the face about how, say, Panzer Dragoon Saga was the more innovative watershed title in terms of gameplay, worldbuilding, storytelling, visual design, music, etc. but Final Fantasy VII did open the floodgates for more prolific console JRPG releases outside of Japan (remember how much we complained about all the good 16-bit titles staying in Japan?)  I think a lot of people dislike FF7 because it let "mainstream kiddies" into the formerly elite/exclusive RPG club.  Heck, it was watching a friend play FF7 that made me want to play "interactive anime" and since I only had a Genesis at the time, I cut my teeth on Phantasy Star.  

In much the same way, a lot of people can rant all they want about how Nirvana is a worse band than Mudhoney, but Nirvana ended up the vanguard who heralded a drastic change in mainstream musical movements.  I would agree that Mudhoney is a better band than Nirvana, but Nirvana did turn me onto that stripped-down, raw music and from there I delved deeper.   

So happy anniversary FF7.  Love you or hate you, you've earned your place in the annals of gaming history.  After all, the RPG market pre-FF7 is quite drastically different from the RPG market post-FF7, so it does mark eras, ya know?