//The Great Debate: FFVII vs FFVIII//

[Rinoa.Heartilly]

It seems to be the biggest epidemic in our school. People talk about Final Fantasy, and how great the series is, how the newly released FF game is like, and it always seems to come down to this conversation:

"But this game doesn't beat FFVII"

"FFVII was good but FFVIII was better."

"FFVII is definatly better the FFVIII"

So basically: Which Final Fantasy has the stronger pull on you? Final Fantasy VII or VIII? Compare the two, and explain both their aspects so this way it is interesting and unspammy.

Well I know I wont have a completely comparing arguament considering I have never finished VII, so I have not experienced the whole game yet.

But here goes...

I would vote VIII due to the graphics, also it is the FF that got me hooked,my first game I played and fell in love, the graphics were awesome, a whole new favce for FF series, great stroyline, loved the battle system, the characters were older, which more older players could really relate to. I played VII, not as good graphics, story line was good, didnt really like the battle system as well as VIII, a couple chartacters were a little eehhh... they were really close, it is a lil tricky to choose, but currently...FF VIII wins the bets for me. ALTHOUGH....... When the remake of FFVII comes out on PS3, well just have to see what happens, especially FFVI: Advent Children...cant wait!

Hope it was detailed enough, i am usually a lot more detailed than this.

[Hecate]

Do you know how many threads like this there have been??

*sigh*

I prefer 8 over 7 any day. 8 was the first one I owned and defeated. 7 I'm still working on and I keep loosing interest. To me, a good game can keep my interest going throughout the entire game. The beginning was interesting I guess but....not enough to keep me going. The graphix on 8 is also better and more life-like. Their bodies are more realistic than the toonish/anime-ish FF7 and flow MUCH smoother in FMV mode in 8 than 7...less blocky. Yes, 7 was the first to be animated before the Anthology came out but still....even the FMVs in anthology were better than FF7. I also don't like the world map on 7. Don't know why, just don't. Also the main female character of Aeris....COME ON....basic red-haired green-eyed innocent little princess deal, ya know? (I know she's not a princess but she gives the impression). Ya know? Also it's like....what time period did that happen in? It wasn't old-skool but it wasn't too futuristic either. FF8 was futuristic yet partly believable besides the fantasy part of it. I also like how you develop the characters better in 8 as well. The story line with the hidden plots about the past and everything....lots of detail you gotta pay attention to. I just love everything about FF8.....even how you can junction the GFs to anyone and they have their own abilities and everything.

I don't care anymore, this is a not a debate that will achieve any end or ultimate goal.
It is all a matter of opinion.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Tim Hunter

I don't care anymore, this is a not a debate that will achieve any end or ultimate goal.
It is all a matter of opinion.

Wow.... thank you for that wonderful insight.

Because, you know, the last time I checked the debate between two topics is usually only a matter of opinion.

In fact, everything is really only a matter of opinion or perspective. What one things is right another thigns is wrong, and vice versa.

The point is to say what you think, what you're opinion is.

And who effin cares if there's been a million of this thread? Do you know how many of every topic there's already been in the years this forum has existed? It's impossible to make up a topic someone else has'nt already done at any forum that's been around as long as if not longer than TFF.


Anyways, in my opinion, I'd have to go with VIII here.

VII has a LOT of great points. Characters, storyline, gameplay, suprises, and a good battle system.

But overall I found FFVIII to be more enjoyable. The thought of playing in a world a bit more like our own really hits home with me, and I prefer the battle system of VIII over VII's. The storyline is on par with VIIs and the characters are every bit as good as VIIs, with the exception of a few I'd say they're better than those in VII.

Zell is easily one of my favorite characters of all FFs, hands down, so that's a plus. Red XIII and Vincent, however, are also on my list of favorite characters.

It's a tough choice for me, but the main thing that swings me at VIII is the Junction and GF system. Most people hate it, but I think it gives a bit of a nice strategic bit to the game, and Diablos' no encounter ability is really nice.



So, in the end, Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite of the two, if not my favorite Final Fantasy, period. It's also the most underappreciated FF because it's so much unlike the rest. I guess people don't like doing something different with an RPG. *shrugg*

[Chez Daja]

Final Fantasy VII sucked because it was depressing as hell.
Final Fantasy VIII was good.
Therefore resulting in FF8 rocking more then FF7 - the depression provoker as I call it. XD. FF9 was still my favourite, but I've been re-playing FF8 lately and I realise how bored I become of it lately. I think its these boiling days of boredom finally setting in >.>;; ... anyway, I guess I'll finish FF8 when I'm bothered enough to actually switch on the freaking consule ^_^.
FF8 was better then FF7. Yep, I've already said that.
I liked FF8's battling and junction systems better, since I thought it was better then feeling like you just put one thing there and wait for it to do its work. It's all about manually setting everything up in ff8. That's a plus for me.
Plus prefer FF8 characters to ff7's. Squall can still kiss my ass though.

[El Wray]

Originally Posted by Tim Hunter

I don't care anymore, this is a not a debate that will achieve any end or ultimate goal.
It is all a matter of opinion.

Tim, please stay on topic in the future. And, off the record, dont pretend you are better than everyone. This whole forum is for FUN, not an ultimate goal.

Final Fantasy VII is classic, and VIII is just its successor. VIII is a great game, but ultimately, its overshadowed by the game before it. And with good reason. VII had more diverse characters, more worthwhile storyline elements, and Materia is 10x better than Junctioning.

[Cloud Strife X]

I'm gonna have to back FF7 here. It had by far the better story, a generally better set of characters (Vincent, Red XIII, Cid, and Barrett were all badasses, and nobody in FF8 really was), a better lead character (Squall seemed like a copy of Cloud - they're both mercenaries and they have the exact same attitude), and a way better ability system. While FF7's ability system isn't anywhere near as good as FF4's or 6's, it still pwned FF8 in that category. Materia was a way better idea than junctioning, and I liked how FF7 did the Limit Breaks better. So yeah, I think that FF7 is better.

[Akira]

Well im gonna have to back my fav. FF namely VII. Reason.

Well it was my second true RPG (first was Persona a very good and Japanese game) and it hooked me right away. The storyline was thoroughly developed and I infact believe that the sequel was in consideration all along because they knew they wouldnt be able to explain all the elements in one game ergo the upcoming FFVII games and movies.

Also I loved the battle system which gave so many possibilities to customize your characters and let you come up with the coolest combos (you just needed to think about it a bit and you could come up with very lethal or useful combos).

The characters are also one of the greatest aspects in my oppinion. In fact two of my absolute favorite FF characters were in it (Cid and Cloud of course). I also loved the developing relationships in this game and not only the main characters' but also side roel like the Turks and so forth.

The graphics were also not even that bad in my oppinion since they made it fun at times and didnt always make it overly serious (SPOILER: for instance when Cloud dresses as a girl). By the CG's were some of the best at the time.

FFVIII of course was also an ingenious game. I mean the environment was absolutely amazing and as someone already stated it seemed more like it could really be happening.

The characters were also perfectly chosen (Zell also one of my alltime favs. Hes a badass mother. Zell kicks everyones ass) although some were lacking a bit which I didnt seem to really feel in FFVII.

The battle system was also one of the true strong points since you could literally turn certain chracters into death factories and the limit system was the better than in any other FF since you were able to interact and depending on what you did affect the damage.

Graphics were beautiful in this game throughout the game and again added a sense of realism. Great CG's and great environments made this a definite positive aspect.

[Angel of Death]

I'm gonna do this point by point, just because I can.

Battle 1: Abilities/ character advancement

VII: Materia system. Materia ruled. It forced the player to really make decisions on how a certain character would go. Equip a lot of magic materia, and they become a great mage. Equip the double cut ability, and they attack awesomely. Or, you could really make a well balanced character, like yours truly always ended up with. Except Cloud. Damn awesome swords. It was also much harder to max out a character's stats, which made the game more challenging, yet not hard.

VIII: Junction system. My favorite system ever. The junction system allowed a character to serve one distinct purpose. It's much more focused than the materia system. There aren't many GREAT spells for junctioning, so you really need to focus on, at the most, two or three main stats, junctioning the best magic to them. Abuse the bonus abilities, or you won't be awesome at the game. As a plus, it only takes about 40 some hours to max out your stats with this method. Not shabby. i wasn't great on learning abilities from GF's, I thought it was kind of quick. Where you can learn an ability in a couple of battles, that's too quick for me. I want some challenge in my game.

Winner of battle 1

FFVIII: Junction system ruled in my humble opinion. But, materia was great too.

Battle 2: battle system/battle overall

VII: Awesome battle system. Characters take actions at a good pace. You're not a speed demon, yet you're not too slow to get annhilated in every battle. The limit breaks are a thing of beauty. It had a great balance of party supportive and damaging attacks. Limits come in good time as well. Once you're damaged enough, then you can unleash the hurt. .... or the cure... whatever you fancy.

VIII: Good battle system. Characters, however, can overpower enemies easily. Or vice-versa. Characters can become much too fast, and take enemies out that don't have a turn in. The limit break system makes every battle easy once you obtain some aura spells. Then the game is too easy.

Winner of Battle 2

FF VII: It flows much better methinks.


Battle 3: Story/characters/villains

VII: Cloud Strife was cool. A mercenary, he fought for anyone with money. A very cool persona. The only other character I really got into was Vincent. I love the dark past persona, it gives him such character. Sephiroth was a good villain. He didn't blow me away though. The story was kinda bland for my tastes. The revenge concept has been done over and over, in countless games and stories. I liked it, but it seemed too old. Plus, the Cloud-Sephiroth connection is bleh.

VIII: Squall is great. He's distant, and introverted. Squall doesn't want to save the world. Throughout the entire game, he doesn't want to save the world. He gets sucked into it. The love connection is better too. He doesn't really like Rinoa at first. She's only a client to him. Ultimecia was my favorite villain. I don't know why, she just tied everything together so well in the story.

Winner of battle 3

FFVIII: Favorite characters (Squall, Zell, and Selphie thank you very much), best villain, and I liked the story better.

Final fantasy VIII wins a close battle, 2 to 1.

Jesus, Do you know how many of these type of threads related to Final Fantasy I've seen?

Final Fantasy VII - has an awesome storyline with Sephiroth and the whole Cloud's Past and whatever. The materia junction system was useful and some of the materia you could get on that game was good like Mime and 2x Cut. The characters had brilliant storylines and parts within the game. The weapons (Emerald, Diamond, Ruby & Ultima) was a brilliant idea because this proved that you haven't done everything within the game like, you may have completed it but you can get your ass kicked Emerald or Ruby Weapon. The whole idea of having a Limit Break Level 4 was excellent because it can gives you somerhing to do. The music also for this game is excellent. This game maybe extremely overrated but it is a very good game.

Final Fantasy VIII - personally I think this game wasn't as good as Final Fantasy VII because the Junction System how certain magics increased/decreased certain stats and having to draw your magic from enemies and draw points in my eyes sort of complicated things. The card system was easy and fun. The ragnarok and going into space I think was one of the best parts of the game. There are things I haven't mentioned but I felt the ones I did needed to be mentioned.

On the whole, I think Final Fantasy VII is better than Final Fantasy VIII.
Even though, Final Fantasy VI is better than both of them. XD

[Killer Cloud255]

Final Fantasy VII is far better and i two will do this in stages
1 materia Vs junction
Materia was marvellous, once you had some kickass materia and enough slots you could be ultimate, things like KOTR, all the master materias and of course 2x hit made you unbeatable
junction wasn't very good because getting good magic was painfully difficult(curse you draw system) and even when you did they didn't always have the best effect.
Final Fantasy VII wins hands down
battle system
Final FAntasy VIIs battle was fluid with an ultimate limit brake system great extra things with the command materia (mime)
Final Fantasy VIII
i had problems with this, i hated that to get GFs you had to have draw and to get more abilitys you had to level up gfs and i may haved menchended that the drawing system sucked
Another victory to Final Fantasy VII
Storyline, a vital aspect to any RPG
VII was realsed at a prime moment when people were aware of enviromental issues but it was really good, i almost cryed when Aeries died for two resons one she like almost all characters was really enjoyable(espesially Cloud) and two i had just spent a month with her Cloud and Red VII trying to level them up. And sephiroth was easly the coolest final boss in history, albeit easy to beat but still cool.
Final Fantasy VIIIs characters were cold hard and emotionless for the exception of selphie... but maybe thats a bad thing? ulticeima=LLAAAAMMMEEE final boss and the story line had a few highlights including space but otherwise was like the final boss LLAAAMMMEEE.
Well in my opinion Final Fantasy VII is the greatest game ever and Final FAntasy VIII is good but not as good as VII
OUR WINNER IS FINAL FANTASY VII