Why is FFVI better then FFVII??!?!

[King Fenii]

I've been looking around here, and I've seen a lot of people favour FFVI. Which means they like it better than FFVII. I don't quite get that, I recently cleared FFVI on the PSX and fell asleep 4 times, and cleared FFI on the PSX and once the GBA version. Meaning I found the game boring now and then. I was then finally done with my 'quest' to clear all the numeral Final Fantasies and wondered why I found FFVII the best. I turned on the game, and instantly I fell in love with it again.

But this isn't the important part. My question is: Why is Final Fantasy VI a better game then Final Fantasy VII? Is it because of the Playstation version that I found it so boring? Or was it the ability system I wasn't quite feeling? Or was it something else???

TELL ME!!!!
I WANNA KNOW!!!
WHY IS IT BETTER!!!

.......even though it's still your opinion

[Dawezy]

Hell, you tell me.

I was raised on Final Fantasy VII as it was a marvel in itself, I never even knew that Final Fantasy VI existed before/after I played VII. But when I eventually found out and went back into the void and played VI.. I was quite surprised as to how many little tidbits were crammed into that RPG. All the different elements, the Esper/AP System, an absolutely huge cast of characters, Mode 7 (considering it was on a 16-bit console, thats impressive, lol), insane sound/music along with an in depth storyline.. made me thirst for more old school Final Fantasy titles. So go figure.

I can sway to one side of the arguement, to a degree. For its time it had some EXCELLENT impliments which would swoon any gamer.. but.. it gets kind-of thrown into the waste when compared to some of the visuals offered in VII (which moved away from the sprite scene, and went the way of the polygon!).

Kinda.. hard, to stand on either side of the fence here. ><

On a personal level though, I'm more fond of FFVII, since it broke my FF Virginity and I am quite adept at playing it. ^^ FFVI, whilst clearly a marvelous game was never firmly planted into my fanbase files.

[Psiko]

I've been a Final Fantasy gamer since the age of five when I began with the NES Final Fantasy. I fell in love with all three Final Fantasy games that made it overseas before Square moved to Sony and left Nintendo behind. Out of those games, FFI still holds my heart, and there are only three games that top out over Final Fantasy IV and VI. Dragon Warrior IV barely beats VI for my #2 favorite game spot, and Goldeneye and Chrono Trigger sit in front of IV. The Old Skool RPGs will always, in my opinion, be superior to the New Skool RPGs. And yes, FFVII is New Skool in my books.

While I will not deny that FFVII is a good game, I cannot ever think of it as a great game. The Materia system, in my opinion, is rather bleh. Its storyline is mediocre, at best. The ending is, without question, the WORST ending of any game. That was the final "turn off" with the game, and just made the whole journey to complete the game seem like a waste of my time. From start to finish the entire game was one disappointment after another, given its enormous fanbase and all the hype it recieves. And for the record, Sephiroth really isn't all that bad-ass, either.

But with this thread being in Narshe, I had better get to explaining what it is about FFVI that I love rather than bash the favorite game of many members here. To start with, I am yet to find a more appealing soundtrack for any game, and as Cesar can vouch for, I listen to a LOT of video game music. The Relic system is a nice feature, allowing you to "beef up" your character a bit, whether you hand them a Genji Glove/Offering combo for impressive physical damage or something simple like a pair of Running Shoes to give them a permanent Haste effect. For me, at least, the Espers were never really used as an abusive form of damage in battles. The PSX-generation relies far too much on Summons to get them through the game, with the most abusive award going to FFVIII (Thanks to the Boost function). That makes you rely more on how strong your characters are and what they are capable of doing in battle, instead of just summoning Bahamut every battle to lay the beat-down.

Before the Battle Arena was even concieved, there was the Colliseum. Kefka is, and always will be, a much better villian than Sephiroth. Did Sephy change the entire world? He tried, but he failed. Kefka didn't fail. He is so ruthless he offed his Emperor and the greatest General without breaking a sweat. He could command Espers, creatures of PURE MAGICAL ENERGY! Talk about one tough villian, no? His lair is far more challenging, and a lot cooler, than where you go to beat FFVII.

And finally the cast of FFVI's characters is what truly makes this game stand a cut above the rest. No other Final Fantasy has that many characters. No other Final Fantasy has points in the game when you divide into two or three different groups that have to work together, along separate paths, in order to complete a dungeon. Instead of simply power-leveling just four characters, you really need to level 12 of them in order to have a full, rounded, dominant force to invade Kefka's Tower. How many other games in the series have a Moogle, a Yeti AND a Mime as playable characters? How many have a roguish gambler who happens to possess the world's ONLY airship? How many games have Bum Rush? =P

Just as there is no one thing that makes FFVII inferior, there is also no one thing that makes FFVI superior. The whole of FFVI makes it such a great game. I recommend you take your time and progress through FFVI once more, and marvel in its brilliance. You might still love FFVII afterwards, and you might still think FFVI is not as good, and you are entitled to that opinon just as much as I am entitled to mine.

I challenge you to try and beat FFVII without using a Summon. Or without using a Limit Break. I doubt anyone has ever tried. I've beaten FFVI without using any Summons, and the Limit Breaks in FFVI are quite rare. Omnislash only wishes it were as great as the Genji Glove/Offering combo.

[King Fenii]

Psiko, I kinda admire whatcha telling me. BUT! I am specialised in FFVII. I never used a summon until now, except Phoenix. And I use Limit Breaks because they're cool . I'm on Disc 2 now...again, and clearing some side-quests again. I'm still amazed by the brilliance of the game.

Also, you MIGHT be right about the Omnislash not cutting the 8-hit combo, but remember there is still the 4x-cut Materia. I actually used the 8-hit combo in FFVI. And one more thing, Kefka, the final form, didn't get a single turn, when I was facing him. In my group I had Terra, Cyan, Relm and Edgar. My BEST character was Terra at Lv. 48......you make your own conclusions. Personally I thought it was easy. Just using Quick, Ultima and Osmose saved your ass.

Ok, for it's time, it was good.....But I was like 7 years old when FFIII-US was released. So my first encounter with FF was indeed FFVII. It came to my attention, that alot of things in FFVII were the same as in FFVI, so my theory is that Square made everything better in FFVII that were kinda weak in FFVI. Thus making FFVII better without a doubt. I WILL clear FFVI again, but now I'll clear the version Cain Highwind made, you know the patch version. (maybe I won't fall asleep this time then) But tell me, how many things are the same if you compare FFVI and VII? There are alot of elements returning in FFVII that you saw in FFVI, only better!

Shall I continue nagging or have I made my point?

[Faustus]

FFVI was just an allaround better game than FFVII. I mean how can you possibly top FFVI, there are only 3 or 4 games that I like better than FFVI. And then there is the console issue, I don't care how much crap I get for this statement: THE SNES WAS WAAAY BETER THAN THE PLAYSTAIONS(dodges incoming tomatos). FFVI had better character than FFVII(Cloud Strife was cool but he's still not better than Locke).Kefka was the perfect villian(a dude wirh a creepy laugh and dresses like a gay stalker what more could you ask for?).The Esper System was the best magic system of any FF game. FFVII was a great game but FFVI blew it out of the water.

because it just is. i'm not that old but i still grew up on old ff. too many people these days are babied w/ good graphics and lots of fmv's and final fantasy isn't exciting for them w/o it. not that the new games aren't good too.(ff9 esp.) you have to learn to appreciate how well thought out ffVI is. great game and the best story!

[Climhazzard]

The first FF I owned was VII. Beat it. Loved it. But VI is a better all around game. Better story. Better characters. Better magic system. I mean everyone could have all the spells...not just the spells that were equiped. Sephiroth tried to destroy the world. Kefka did it once and was about to do it again. Hands down VI over VII any day of the week.

[ZRO]

Originally Posted by Inferno Mage

And one more thing, Kefka, the final form, didn't get a single turn, when I was facing him. In my group I had Terra, Cyan, Relm and Edgar. My BEST character was Terra at Lv. 48......you make your own conclusions. Personally I thought it was easy. Just using Quick, Ultima and Osmose saved your ass.

But tell me, how many things are the same if you compare FFVI and VII? There are alot of elements returning in FFVII that you saw in FFVI, only better!

Shall I continue nagging or have I made my point?

Keep nagging, you've yet to prove the point to me at least.

FFVII? Good game, yeah. Good graphic, for it's time. A little blocky for my tastes, but at the time, it was 'OMG, Polygons!!! That's so damn wicked awesome!!" And I'll admit, at the time, yeah, it was wicked. Storyline though? Ehh, sorry, gotta go with FFVI on this one. Ya know why? Because I've gone through VI at least six times. And enjoyed it every time. I lost my playstation in the middle VII, picked it back up later, and haven't made it back off the first disc yet. You know why? Because the first part in Midgar, is driving me up the damned wall. I haven't gotten any further in it mostly because I don't feel like going through that crap again. That's the honest truth.

Improved everything in VII? Such as what? No one really had any unique skills like they did in VI. Sure, they all had their limit breaks, but let's face it, that was a set of specialized attacks that you could only use when you were allowed to use it. In VI, you could use the specials abilities any time you needed to (minus the Danger Moves, which I've only seen one of ). The Esper system worked significantly better than the Materia system. You keep the magic you learn, so all those hours put into working a character's magic up is actually worth it. They keep that work, instead of losing it the moment you move that materia to another character. Bleh. The storyline was nowhere near as good from what I remember and have read of it. A few memorable characters, but several that I actively disliked (Cait Sith anyone?). I can't say that about FFVI, I actually like all the characters, though I had my favorites, I had yet to find one that I actually disliked. So ehh...yeah, FFVI. ^^

The first disc of FFVII I've always found tedious, especially Midgar. It just takes too long for me to get interested in it. On top of that, it's too dark and gritty for my taste. It's OK, though. I just like the older FFs better.

FFVI is my third favorite old school RPG (FFIV and Chrono Trigger being top two). The story's solid, the villain, Kefka, actually achieves his goal, as opposed to other villains who aspire but can't seem to cut it (darn those good guys!) and the character roster is varied.

The Absolute sheer number of characters, I loved all of them! I also liked the music and the customisation of the menu screen.

[Atma-Noah]

Well to put it simply.....FFVII was the beginning of those stupid loner main characters! Like really come on. I hated that! (Of course I'm not a very big fan of the newer FFs anyways.)

FFVI though. Had Edgar and Setzer (there were others but not as cool). Edgar was the ladies man and a king! (way better then Cloud and his big sword!) Setzer was a gambler and a pirate. He tried to steal the opera singer only to be fooled into stealing Celes.

So yeah FFVI had better characters. It had better music too. So I think FFVI hands down beats the crap out of FFVII.

[Cloud Strife X]

To me, FF6 is by far the better game in every category (except graphics, of course). It was my first FF, and to this day, still my favorite. Let's see...

The Characters - The characters in FF6 were far more interesting. The game went into (most of) their backstories in great detail, and you actually felt for the characters and the problems they had to overcome, something that didn't happen to me quite as much with FF7.

The Story - Both games are actually quite strong in this respect, but FF6 barely beats FF7 here. What else can I say? I truly enjoyed the story of FF6.

The Humor - Sure, FF7 had its moments (mostly with Cid), but FF6 had much more humor in the characters, from Locke freaking out over being called a thief ("IT'S TREASURE HUNTER!") to Cyan's dislike of technology to Edgar's constantly being rejected by chicks... the list goes on and on. Sure, FF6 can be extremely dark when it needs to be, but it also has a lighter side, which is something that I appreciate.

The Bad Guy - Sephiroth is a wussy compared to Kefka. 'Nuff said. But i'll explain anyway. See, Kefka, to me, is the ultimate bad guy in any game. He's evil, he's insane, he has an awesome evil laugh, and he dressed like some weird clown to boot. Sephiroth has no cool evil laugh and is dressed in the standard black trenchcoat thing (ooooh! fear him!). When your main selling point is a longer-than-normal katana, you know you're in trouble.

The Ability System - Espers pwn Materia, hands down. I'll admit that FF7's Limit Breaks are pretty cool, but beyond that, there isn't much going for it. I liked FF6's system of each character having their own, always-useable skill (Celes had Morph, Sabin had Blitz, etc.) to go along with the Magic ability.

The Music - Once again, FF6 pwns FF7 in this respect. During the time when I was first playing through FF6, I would find myself humming the soundtrack to myself in school without even knowing it. That never happened with FF7. Besides, Cyan's theme is one of my favorite musical compositions, ever.

The Replayability - I have played through FF6 almost thirty times over the last six years. I have beat FF7 once, and never bothered to play through it the whole way again. Oh, I made an effort, sure, but by the time I reached the second disc, I was too bored to continue. You see what i'm getting at here?

So yeah, I prefer FF6. To sum it all up...

Originally Posted by HatredIncarnate

FFVII was a great game but FFVI blew it out of the water.

My thoughts exactly.

[Leviathan]

what the hell is wrong with you people. FFVII is by far the greater game.

FFVI is friggin good, but not a patch on FFVII, why do you think they are remaking FFVII and not FFVI, because the story is better and everyone loves it.


not to create a massive argument or anything, but just take solice in the fact that they are both better than every other RPG ever!