Why is FINAL FANTASY VII overrated?

[Mr Walrusman]

What exactly is it about FINAL FANTASY VII that makes it overrated? I always hear alot of people talk about how overrated it is, but I usually don't find out why. So far, I've heard that the cast of characters aren't that great, and the story is confusing, but that's about it. Can someone tell me any other reasons? I've never played it, so I couldn't give you my opinion; I was just wondering.

[Dodie16]

To be honest, I think it has to do with the fanbase it created. Those FF VII fans can be some weird-ass people (lol). Also, FF VII is arguably one of the more popular entries in the franchise. For some reason, there's always a backlash when something becomes too popular.

I love this game. It isn't perfect by any means, mind you. There are glitches and translation errors almost everywhere you look, but its still overall a good game. It just has the misfortune of being the FF that changed FF games.

[Mistress Sheena]

When something is overrated, say.. FF7, 8, 9, Naruto, Bleach, etc...

It's basically something average or mediocre, or just plain "good" becomes more popular than it should be. Usually young or teenage girls/boys are the main causes of something becoming overrated because "zomg seph is badass/hawt shiz"

"Tifa iz so hawt"

...So on, and so forth.

[KeybladerXIII]

Because of it's huge sucess, Square decided to continue the series with other games and a movie. People consider this "milking the franchise dry." The haters, for lack of a better word, probably liked the game at first, but didn't see it as groundbreaking or popular as IV or VI. People got mad at the extra treatment VII got, which they think wasn't deserved. Another reason is that people consider Sephiroth as a rip-off of Kefka,the antagonist of VI, who they think is infinently more superior as a main antagonist (I don't think so, though).

Oh yes, and the rabid fanbase. VII is one of my favorite FFs, but I'm not insane about it.

[Rocky]

I wouldn't say that FF7 is overrated by any means. FF7 is a solid all-around great game, and believe it or not I'm not even an Cloud/Sephy fanboy, so you can take it for what it's worth. On the other hand, Final Fantasy 7 is by no means underrated either. A lot of people live and die by this game, and because of it's enormous Twilight-ish following, there has been plenty of spinoffs and tidbits thrown in various games from the FF7 game.

I think a big thing that bothers me with this game most of all is just how it seems to be half-ass at times. Like starting up the game, I'm just like "aw yeah hot flower girl oh shi- focus on the mission gotta blow this shizzle up ok right in the action." It had a good pace. Some terrorists are trying to make the world go green, so they hire some BA with a huge sword (thats you) to help blow shit up. It's all fine and dandy, you do a couple missions, then you get seperated, left for dead, etc. You get saved by some lady, reunite with your team, infiltrate the biggest corporation in the world, and so on. I'd say that most of the first disc is pretty good. After you realize your true goal, you set out to find and stop this madman that wants to destroy the world. Sure, you get a few fruity characters like Red XIII and Cait Sith, but hey what game doesn't have those people? (Take Peco from BoF3 or Chu-Chu from Xenogears for example).

Anywho, once the game gets to the second disk, FF7 has been having me go "lolwut?" on several different occasions. A lot of plot twists happen and things get really complicated, and don't make sense a lot of the time even after the game is finished. I had to replay the game at least twice just to figure most of the plot out. So yeah, that's probably why people say the story is very confusing.

Anyways, the game does a lot of things right, like having good pace, a sweet materia system, fun minigames, and all kinds of other hidden things. I encourage you to play it. Once again though, I don't believe it's overrated or underrated by any means. It does a lot of things right and has a large fanbase because of it.

[Gilgamesh2000]

Originally Posted by Rocky

...Anyways, the game does a lot of things right, like having good pace, a sweet materia system, fun minigames, and all kinds of other hidden things. I encourage you to play it. Once again though, I don't believe it's overrated or underrated by any means. It does a lot of things right and has a large fanbase because of it.

You are right it does have its fine points and everything, but I feel that FF VII is overrated due to how far the story goes. For example, FF Crisis Core tells before the game while FF: AC tells what happens after the main game. Not to mention that Sephiroth has appeared on countless occasions but don't get me wrong he is an excellent character, but they shed to much of a focus on him.

[Xanatos]

I've played FF VII not too long ago and to be honest I don't see what's all the fuss about, I don't say that the game is bad just the contrary it's good but nothing more and nothing less. The game is overrated only because there are too many obsessed fans that worship this game more than anything in their life and exactly because of them SquareSoft saw it's big chance to make some serious cash by milking this franchise for such long time.

[Meier Link]

Honestly I am one of the people who think that FFVII is overrated by other gamers, don't get me wrong I do not think this game is a bad game. For what it's worth I thought it was beyond a good game, lets just say a great game and leave it at that for now.

I have seen members come and go from this forum and have friends that VII is and will always be the greatest game Square made. I can see why they think it. It has revolutionary graphics(for its time), a more then mediocre plot, an awesome sound track, the materia system was nice, and it had some bad ass moments when I almost thought Cloud wasn't Emo and that Sephy wasn't a momma's boy.

I understand why SE has "milked the utter dry" on VII and honestly I don't think it is completely out of milk yet. FFVII is a profitable corner of the gaming / RPG market, why would SE as a buisness not take advantage of their biggest cash cow? In all honesty that is all SE really intends to do on the buisniss side of things.

What makes FFVII overated is the FANBOYS/GIRLS, seriously they have made this game out to be 100% more then what it is intended to be. I don't know how many times I have heard FFVII is better then any other FF. I am not sure how many more times I can hear one rant at how Sephy owns every other villian out there. How with out FFVII the RPG market would be nothing and the world would end.

I hate how most of the FFVII fanboys down on the older titles of the series and many other RPGs before it's time because "the graphics aren't as good", sometimes when I ask they haven't ever played the older titles.

If you look at this forum alone, go to the members list and see exactly how many people have a variation of the name(s) "Cloud" "Vincent" or "Sephiroth", it is rediculous. Then they come here and try to act like their prespective username instead of just being their selves.

The funny thing is I was beating this title before some of the newer fan boys where even out of diapers.

So back to the game: do I think the game is bad, no. Not at all. I still to this day enjoy the hell out of it. I still laugh every time I see Cloud in drag, tear up at the events that happen at the end of Disc 1, and scream and curse everytime I have to do that stupid Junon parade. It is a great game.

On a closing note of this rant I must add. This game over shadows alot of games that IMO are better. For instance Xenogears (not Xenosaga) was released the same year. Due to the fact that VII was a FF and the fact that it was released before Gears.

I swear if 1/2 the VII fanboys and girls wouldd drop their almighty guard on VII and give gears a full play through by the end they would be asking "Whos Cloud" "Fei FTW!" and "Id would own Sephy"

[Sasquatch]

Mainly because of its fan[boy]base. All too many little children started out with FFVII as their first Final Fantasy, not realizing that they had great (better) games long before Sony Playstation came out.

This is in comparison to other FFs, mind you:

Music? Meh. Not as good as other Final Fantasy games or games of its time.

Characters? Crappy. Very little development or background. The two big American Final Fantasy games before this (IV and VI) had more characters with more development. Hell, FFVI had fourteen characters, and most of them had bigger backstories than most FFVII characters

Battle? Not bad. Not much different than FFVI, other than the three characters instead of four, and the addition of Limit Breaks. The long-ass Summon cutscenes did get annoying though.

Graphics? Yay, it's 3D. Yay, they got to 32-bit graphics. They still sucked. Because of Squaresoft's rush, the graphics weren't nearly as refined as other games that were released at about the same time.

Character Development? Crappy. I mean c'mon, the only things separating one character from another were what weapon they used and the Limit Breaks. Other than that, one character was a carbon-copy of all the rest. You could take all the Materia off of one character and put it on another, and there wouldn't be much difference. The characters barely advanced -- it was the Materia that gained new abilities. This is in direct contrast to every prior Final Fantasy game, in which the character him/herself gained abilities.

Weapons? Oh look, a gigantic sword, so big and unwieldy that nobody could ever realistically use it. Oh look, the bad guy has one, too. Oh look, there are guns -- and apparently, being shot with a machine gun doesn't do any more damaged than being punched or hit with a staff. Wait, what?

Sidequests? Apart from having completely friggin' useless bosses, mediocre, irrelevant minigames (and an entire city devoted to them), and a Chocobo breeding system that doesn't show its value unless you know from an outside source how to use it ... well, apart from all that, it didn't have much for sidequests.

Antagonist? Crappy. No, he wasn't a rip-off of Kefka, not at all. Kefka was a madman who actually controlled the world for a year before your party managed to get it back. Sephiroth is just a momma's-boy who bitches and whines about his dead mommy being used for something he disagrees with, then uses her to do the same thing he disagreed with her being used for, only for him to absorb the power instead of somebody else. But ooooh, he's got a big sword and long hair and a trenchcoat, whoa is he badass.

Protagonist? Crappy. The "who am I, waaaaaaaaah" crap got old quick.

Plot? Abysmal. Not only was it confusing, it was full of holes -- hell, they had to make movies and games staged before and after FFVII just to give backstory on FFVII's plot and characters.

And worst of all, of course, is the fanbase. The typical FFVII fanboy started playing Final Fantasy games when his mommy and daddy bought him a Playstation while he was in middle school and he saw some of Squaresoft's marketing of FFVII, something that they hadn't really done before. It was a new game on a new system, and as such got a lot more attention than others of its type. Final Fantasy X is the same way -- even here on the forums, you can see that there are a lot more people interested in FFVII and FFX than any other.

All in all, it's a good game. But when it's compared to other Final Fantasy games, it's barely in the top half.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

All in all, it's a good game. But when it's compared to other Final Fantasy games, it's barely in the top half.

Just curious, which Final Fantasy games would you put infront of FFVII, and why?

[Loaf]

Games I would put in front of VII? VI, IV, Tactics, I and VIII....and just because I like it better then VII, IX.

I remember when I first beat this game, it became my favorite over IX and IX was my favorite. I then continued to beat FFVII up to 10 more times within that same year I first beat it. Then the game started getting more popular and to the point where everyone was a fan and all they would say is. CLOUD IS TEH BEST AND SEPHIROTH IS THE GREATEST VILLIAN! EVER! People i know who only played VII and no other title were saying that. Then I started playing IX again and fell in love with it all over again. Just as Link said, I rarely ever see someone on any forum, video game or just a name, with the name Zidane, or Locke, Cecil...everyone just wants to be Cloud or Sephiroth. Hell, in World of Warcraft a long time ago, there were about 5 variations of Sephiroth. Sepphiroth, Sephirothh, Seferoth, Sefiroth! It gets so annoying that people practically worship Cloud and Sephiroth. I mean the game is great, but it is very overrated.

[LocoColt04]

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

Mainly because of its fan[boy]base. All too many little children started out with FFVII as their first Final Fantasy, not realizing that they had great (better) games long before Sony Playstation came out.

...

All in all, it's a good game. But when it's compared to other Final Fantasy games, it's barely in the top half.

This statement right here.

What makes the game so insanely popular is simply that this is the title that made RPGs popular Stateside. If you ask a large sample of Japanese gamers, they don't give nearly two shits what we do about FFVII. It is popular over there, yes, but not like it is over here. I really think Square-Enix keeps pumping out the extra content to appease the NA/EU crowds more than anything else.

The game is not bad. It has its flaws, but is overall a good game.

But did you ever notice how most of the FFVII superfans are between the ages of 15-20? Yep, must've been their first RPG.

That's not to assume that all fanboygirls are 15-20, or that all fanboygirls started with FFVII as their first RPG, but it is the majority of the cases...

[Telegraph]

I hate to play devil's advocate a little bit, but...

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

Character Development? Crappy. I mean c'mon, the only things separating one character from another were what weapon they used and the Limit Breaks. Other than that, one character was a carbon-copy of all the rest. You could take all the Materia off of one character and put it on another, and there wouldn't be much difference. The characters barely advanced -- it was the Materia that gained new abilities. This is in direct contrast to every prior Final Fantasy game, in which the character him/herself gained abilities.

Replace the word "Materia" with "Magicite," and you could say the same about the characters in FF6. And in several cases, the characters in FF6 used the exact same weapons as other characters; the ones that used swords, the ones that used pikes, etc. Sure, you couldn't replicate a magicite, but you could pass it around between the characters, and if a character held the magicite for a certain amount of time, it would have a lasting beneficial effect on that character's stats/that character would learn its spells. I hate to say this about 6, because it's my favorite, but it's true.

I agree that a lot of these people probably like 7 the best because it was huge for the US's RPG market, although I'm pretty sure it was huge in Japan, too. Remember that poll a few years back that I think Cain posted a link to? The thread is so old that I can't find it anymore (maybe it was deleted?) but FF7 was #2 behind FF10 for Japan's top 100 games ever. (I remember that not one Mario game even made the list, either.) It's been a few years now, so a top 100 list might be different now, but... just sayin'.

Personally, I think FF7 is overrated because a lot of people like it the best, and I don't. A lot of people think that Sephiroth is one of the greatest villains ever, and Cloud is one of the best heroes ever... and I don't (in fact, I'm pretty much flat out tired of Sephiroth by now.) Eh *Shrug* Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Telegraph

Replace the word "Materia" with "Magicite," and you could say the same about the characters in FF6. And in several cases, the characters in FF6 used the exact same weapons as other characters; the ones that used swords, the ones that used pikes, etc. Sure, you couldn't replicate a magicite, but you could pass it around between the characters, and if a character held the magicite for a certain amount of time, it would have a lasting beneficial effect on that character's stats/that character would learn its spells. I hate to say this about 6, because it's my favorite, but it's true.

There's still a big difference. Magicite was used do develop CHARACTERS -- the character itself advanced. Not the magicite. So, for one thing, every character was different in the sense that it took more than trading equipment to make one character into another. Sure, eventually they could learn the same spells, but the characters would have to learn them -- Edgar and Sabin were two different characters, and making them trade equipment kept them the same characters they were.

For another, each character had their own unique ability that distinguished them from the others. The only unique abilities FFVII had were Limit Breaks. The way I played (at least), limit breaks didn't matter much, as they were "bonuses", not set abilities -- this is in direct contrast to FFVI, where parties were established based on what abilities complimented each other. (For example, you wouldn't want to put Relm with Gau or Umaro, as their attacks might screw up her Control.)

As far as their weapons go ... Realistically, different characters are going to be able to use some of the same weapons. Each and every character (save Umaro, of course) could use multiple types of weapon -- staves, spears, swords, daggers, etc. It wouldn't make sense for any character to be able to use one type of weapon and only one type of weapon. That'd be like saying I drive a light pickup truck, so that means I wouldn't be able to drive a larger pickup truck, an SUV, a sports car, a sedan, a station wagon, a golf cart, a semi truck, a farm tractor, etc. etc.

(Of course you have characters with special traits, like Sabin, that can use specific types and none others, but this by no means spreads to the entire cast.)

[Kisuke]

FF VII is my favorite of the FF series but I do agree that it is overrated, I have heard countless people say it is the greatest FF ever but yet they have not played any of the other FF games, I mean I have played just about every FF there is therefore I can say it is my favorite without being biased...

Originally Posted by Meier Link

This game over shadows alot of games that IMO are better.
"

I agree that it did over shadow a lot of games that came out that year, in case anyone forgot FF Tactics came out the same year so did the first of the Oddworld series, and even the first Fallout which kicked ass by the way...But despite all of this it is still my favorite simply because of the story and how all the characters are entertwined somehow...

[nutjob4444]

Why is it?

[WilsonDean1990]

Personally FFVII is one of the best games i own, and i have a fair few of PS3 and XBOX360 games. Plus it was the first game i played on PS1 i'm not going to force my views on people and say its amazing and anyone who hasn't played it is a douche. However, if someone bad mouths FFVII without playing it then it becomes personal. I think dirge of Cerberus was a bit too far but advent children and crisis core really linked key moments and future events for me

[nix]

FFVII did extremely well because its a fine fun game with a compelling story, and what you yanks seems to forget that not many people had a choice of dabbling into FF prior to VII as im pretty sure it was the first FF released global, i never seen a FF game on my shores prior to that and im playing computer games as long as i can remember (over 20 years).


So yeah, FFVII put the final fantasy series on a bigger map, because it was marketed and released in every country. I even remember the TV adds for FFVII, i remember being so excited getting it from all the hype my friends gave it, then when i played the first mission i was pissed off as i thought it was crap, but then it just got better and better.

And the reason it gets alot of praise to date is simply due to the fact that the other FF's released after it were no where close as good a story as FFVII offered, i understand some will disagree, we have our own preferences. But the majority will say its the best, because its the best they've played.

If FFV and the other supposed greats were released over here, I'm sure my opinion might be different, but it wasn't so i never played them

Heck i still have alot of NTSC rpg's i still need to play, but have no desire to now as they are dated.

If only

[Mistress Sheena]

Actually FF1 was the first to come to our shores. FF4 became 2 on the SNES, FF6 became 3 on the SNES, and then we get FF7 which is actually FF7 on the PS1.

For some reason, we didn't get the actual FF2, 3, 4, 5, 6 until certain PS1 compilations came out. Namely Anthologies with 5 and 6, and Chronicles with 4 and Chrono Trigger.

And then Origins with 1 and 2. Then FF3 on the DS finally.

So yeah... people our age have had plenty of chances to play FF2-3/4-6.

[kevin1gamer]

Because Square (now Square Enix) went so far as to make a movie about it?