(AfroGamers.com) Something that I really hate is when something is put on a pedestal for the wrong reasons. The initial impact of a game, how it made you feel at the time, or even what was going on in the world around that time are all things that could cloud your views of how good a game truly is. I think that Final Fantasy VII is the perfect example of a game that falls into this category. People confuse the impact that it had on JRPGs in the west with the actual quality of the game. Yes, it has its spot in history set in stone, but everything that is set in stone is not always the greatest.
It Isn’t Even a Top 5 Final Fantasy Game
This may come as a shock to you, but if you are a longtime fan of the series, sit back and think about all of the Final Fantasy games and have a heart to heart with yourself. There are AT LEAST five Final Fantasy games that are better than VII, and that is being nice and not counting a few that wouldn’t be fair to add in to the mix. I am not saying that FF VII is a bad game at all. I think that it was very good. I am just saying that there are many Final Fantasy games that are much better than it in more than one category.
Just sitting back and looking at the list of games, the ones that I would say are better than VII are mostly better than VII for some of the same reasons, which I will get to later because those reasons deserve their own spotlight.
In order to shed light on the Final Fantasy games that are better than VII, let me give you a list and tell you the reasons. From this, you can gather what my biggest issues with VII are. Final Fantasy V had a better story and overall better characters. Final Fantasy VI had a better story and better characters. Final Fantasy VIII had a better story and better characters. Final Fantasy IX, X, and XV all had a better story and better characters. I am going to try to help Final Fantasy VII out a bit by not including Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy Tactics.
The Entire Game Could Have Been One Disc
The copy of Final Fantasy VII that me and my brother had from back in the day was a second-hand copy. When we got it, there was a scratch on the outer edges of the first disc. Whenever we got to around the part where the first disc ended (Cosmo Canyon) it would freeze until we found a work around. This was very symbolic of something.
I have no idea what happened with the story after Midgard, but it went down the drain in my eyes. The most interesting thing about the story of the game had to do with this rebel group trying to take down the evil Shinra Corporation so that the people in the slums wouldn’t have to be victim to some of the crazy stuff that they were doing. If you took time to talk to the people, you would find that not all of the citizens had problems with Shinra and felt like they were doing some good. This is a very good and deep bit of storytelling from the game and I felt like this should have been the game as a whole. They could have fleshed it out more. Midgard was a huge place if you looked at the overhead view of it. Make some stories there.
When you get out of Midgard, the rest of the world just isn’t as interesting. The only good thing that I can say about leaving, is that it was more colorful. The Cosmo Canyon part was not very interesting. The part when you were in a wheelchair for a period was weird and uninteresting. The ending left a lot to be desired. These are only a few things that is a long list of issues with the story. It is true that every Final Fantasy even my favorite two (VIII and X) had issues with their stories but not to this extent. VIII got kind of weird towards the end and X’s ending was good but felt slightly rushed. At least both of those games were still interesting throughout their flaws.
Whack Characters
One of the worse things of trying to play through a JRPG and any game for that matter is the quality of the characters. I will say, VII has one of the strongest main characters of any Final Fantasy game hands down. Not only is he memorable, he is likable and iconic. With that being said, his supporting cast suck. Barret and Tifa are cool, but after Midgard, Barrett is kind of just there for comic relief. Aerith was a character that was wasted. Even though her part was great, I think that the game as a whole would’ve been better if she was still around
The other characters are busts for the most part. Red is decent but there is no way that I would play with him over Barret or Tifa. Yuffie is a miss. Even if she is useful, I wouldn’t play with her. Cait Sith…. Vincent is a cool character that is introduced so close to the end of the game that it makes him practically unplayable. Also, can we please normalize four player parties in JRPGs? That was painful back in the day.
With all of this being said, Final Fantasy VII is a very good game, it just isn’t as good a people give it credit for being. Although whenever there is a list for things like greatest JRPGs of all time, I think that I deserve to be there for what it did for the culture and for pushing gaming and JRPGs forward at that time but not for the game itself, which still leaves a bad taste in my mouth to this day.
Staff Writer; Tardell Swift
This brother is new to writing yet has many different interests such as gaming, hip hop, wrestling, and manga.
You can follow him on Twitter; PhirewoodGaming and keep up with his thoughts there as well.