shrugs for reasons pointed out before, i like them both equally, that means the same, with equality.
POI: Hades, you should be on the debate team. wonders why he stopped arguing and debating so much
Everyone’s got their favorite. Mine was 6, then 7, and then 8, which still remains number one, IMO. Unfortunately, I don’t have the unconditional love of the game to launch into a detailed argument of why I like it more…but I just do.
Bravo
I agree and I liked them both but i personally thought 8 was better.
personally, i like ff8 because the graphics were great, and i like FF7 because of the music and charcters. true, i don’t own those two, only x, but my oh-so-very-special best friend does, and i’ve played them. they are pretty cool, but (this have nothing to do with the topic), i think FFX kicks all the other one’s asses
So I’ve beaten the first disc by now, and my opinions are more defined. I think the worst part about 8 is the graphics. It’s heartbreaking to see the breathtaking prerendered backgrounds and then have you move around your blob of pixels. Even worse are the non-static objects you’re supposed to interact with, like the train in Timber station before you leave. The worst juxtoposition of beautiful background and horrendous sprites I’ve seen so far. Also, I’ve realized the pace of 7 overall is much faster than 8.
The battles at the standard speed are about equal speed but 8 includes much more detailed pre-attack stances, opening swish-your-sword-arounds, and lengthier magic sequences. Also if you plan to draw in battles you’re going to be around for a lot longer. The battle graphics the worse in the game. It seems like Square tried to do more than they could with the PSX hardware. Some of the battle backgrounds look like they were made in paint, especially compared to the 3D backgrounds in 7’s battles.
The music for me is a toss-up. As Hades noted The Landing theme is one of the series’s best even though it just fades into a stereotypical battle ambience. Also some of the other tracks are just as notable. FF7 also has some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard outside of Xenogears, especially the world map theme, which is mindblowing, and Cid’s theme.
The Junction system is able to hold a candle to the formidably awesome materia system and surpass it in its customizable advancement. learning GF abilities much much faster than new spells on your materia. the junction system also has far more intricacies than the materia system, which is often cut and dry. each GF almost brings with it its own rules and new paradigms.
i dont think its possible to make a game easier than FF7, and FF8 doesnt disprove my theory here. the only time i died on this past game of 7 was from forgetting to heal myself after stepping on a bunch of venus flytraps in the ancient forest and then getting killed by those leaf guys when all my dudes had 1 hp. FF8 isnt that much harder, but still not rediculously easy.
and finally the most important part of any RPG: the story. while some say that 7’s story is simplistic, i think the story doesnt get the credit it deserves. sure its cliched at times, but welcome to the world of RPGs. FF8 seems, perhaps due to the more realistic looking characters, like a more realistic and detailed world, while the world of 7 is filled with cities that seem like their own little magical worlds. each city in 7 seems like a perfect archetypal city from the collective rpg consciousness.
in FF7 i had to choose between which characters could fit in my party because so many of them i loved. in FF8 im struggling to find a character to fit in after Squall and Selphie. i wish there had been some more outright cool characters such as Vincent or Cid or Yuffie or Red XIII, even though i must admit Squall is much better as a protagonist than Cloud and Selphie a much better female romantic lead than the next member of Cloud’s love trapezoid (which may or may not contain Vincent and Ramza). the action of 8 is more character driven than 7’s where in that game i found myself continuing to see to what was going to crash into the planet next. a notable exception here is Sephiroth/Jenova as the antagonist throughout the story as opposed to Ultimeca showing up in maybe the 4th disk at her earliest and having a russian accent. its sort of sexy though. i think atleast.
i think part of FF8’s magic for me is that I have played through it only once to completion as opposed to my 20 or so times doing the same with 7. im not sure if 8 is going to be any worse after i explore and master every nook and crany as i have in its predecessor.
isnt Ultimecia mentioned in Disk 3 ?
ff8 was always hard for me to replay. I really have no problem untill i get Vincent… i mean, Irvine. After that i just seem to lose interest.
Umm… hate to break it to you, but Selphie is hardly a leading lady.
And I will allow that I enjoyed FF8 the first time through. Couldn’t bring myself to replay it even once, though. Bored the heck out of me once I knew what happened.
Yeah, if anyone if a leading lady in FF8, it ain’t Selphie :noway: , it’s Rinoa.
And BL is right Ultemcia is first mentioned and seen on Disc 3.
And personally I have always loved replaying FF8. It is, and always will be, one of my favourite Final Fantasy. :biggrin:
FF7, to me will always be better. I love FF8 but FF7 characters, the storyline, Characters and their battleing system(Materia) is better then FF8. FF8 had better graphics and the boss battle was funnier to play but not as normal boss battles like in FF7. The Magic in FF8 wasn’t useful at all the attacks were better. The only two magic spells I found useful was curaga and Aura. But I love both games but FF7 a little better. But my favorite FF would prolly be 9 I think…well 7 and 9 te same heh
I prefer FFVIII to FFVII. Again, I don’t think either was a “bad” game, I enjoyed playing both, but for me FFVIII was a bit better.
-The music. FFVII’s best track to me was the March, very catchy, and glad they brought it back in FF9, lol. FFVIII, however, had both Eyes on Me and the track that plays when Squall carries Rinoa across the FH Bridge to Esthar. It applies perfectly.
-Junction system. The solution to all the world’s problems ceased to be “fight random monster after random monster to get insanely high levels.” Spend a little time drawing magic and junctioning, and you’re set for a long time. The system was a lot more intuitive, more brains than brawn.
-Main character. Both were unique. Cloud was a “cool badass.” Squall was shy and introverted. Somehow I didn’t find Cloud very heroic, and I could identify much better with Squall.
Since I started visiting boards, I’ve come to like FF8 more, just because all the fanboy hype and praise of FF7 for being “cool” became unbelievably annoying. I play RPG’s for design, story, control/gameplay, characters, music, etc., not people looking “cool.” The fanboys have really turned me off.
Still, FF6 beats them all, but that is a story for another time 
I don’t understand why people thought the draw was such a setback. I thought it was brilliant because it was new. Honestly, how can people stand to play a series that has no system change from one game to the next?
It’s all about Junction. If you want your magic to be useful, junction Ultima/Meteor/Tornado/[insert powerful spell] to your magic instead of to your strength. Laugh at your Fire spell doing 4000 damage, even to tough bosses.
Having trouble with a Ruby Dragon? Junction Ultima to your Spirit stat, and laugh at his 135 damage Breath Attack.
Strength isn’t the only important stat, you know. Most people just favour it because it’s your basic attack that doesn’t consume any resources.
Just because something’s new doesn’t mean it’s good. If the old way worked and the new way doesn’t, the new way is not better.
Truth is that people tend to abuse the Draw system by drawing out hundreds of magic spells off of each enemy, then complaining that the game was too easy. Truthfully, if you just drew some magic from enemies and didn’t concentrate on getting absolutely everything and making yourself a powerhouse, you wouldn’t have wasted so much time and the game wouldn’t have been as boring.
You don’t honestly believe FF is about anything other than treasure hunting do you? Becoming a powerhouse with rare mythical items is what makes it fun. No one cares about saving the world or getting revenge for their girlfriend’s death. They just wanna possess every treasure in the game and laugh as they walk through meteor showers and kill gods with their huge sword.
THat’s not what I meant. There has to be room for at least some developement and change in the series.
Basically the way I see it is you make the difficulty level of FF8.
I always found the game fun when you played each character differently. Instead of switching out all the GF’s and Magic with each char you use, let each char have their own seperate magic table, only switching certain kew spells(like ultima, metor, demi), and emphasize on the special commands. Any moron can march into battle, and toss Doomtrain, Bahamut, and Eden with maxed out Boosts in the first round and win… but it takes a real player to claim victory when you cant summon, only 1 person can use magic, only one can use items, and aside from attacking, all you can do is Treatment, Recover, Darkside, and Defend… I always liked giving Zell Darkside, Defend, and Item. Darkside = punch them with all you got, defend = absorb negative chi… funny, huh ?
One thing I didn’t like about FF8 was how you depended too much on GFs. Without them your character was really weak (3000 hp at lvl 99) and without them they were just normal people.
My favorite is FF4 though.
They need a remake for PS2.
I find that the FF sereies does best with a job system(FF5, FFT) or no control the characters abilities(FF 4)
Depending on the GF’s was a big part tot he story, remember ?
How i draw, is i normally drew 100 of the “basic” spells. and whatever i drew after that, ya know, i kept
what bugged me most about FFVIII was how the monsters leveled up with you. VIII was my… let’s see… fourth FF, after VII, IX, and Tactics, and I was used to having to train in order to beat a hard boss. Then along came VIII. I was level 100 before I went to Galbadia Garden the first time! It was so easy to level up since like every three battles you gain a level and it never slows down. Then I’d go fight some boss and he’d be level 20 and I’d kick the CRAP out of him. The random battles were harder than the bosses, which is not right.
VII was my first FF, except for the very first one on my o-o-old NES, but I never really got into that one. I liked it a lot. I think the best part about it was… well, I dunno. I didn’t have anything to compare it to back then except for FF1, and that’s not really fair. Looking back I think the best part was the Materia. I liked it best out of all the FF ability systems.
Zidaiku, that is why constant leveling instant a good thing on FF8, like it is on some of the others. And it is only the early boss that have a max level. A lot of the later ones in the game, can go all the way up to level 100 as well. So they could give you a serious battle.
Eva you’re right, the draw system has been given a lot of crap. And it is understandable, if you spend hours drawing 100 of each spell from every monster, people will get bored really quick. They just don’t see the truth about Draw.