My old idea was it was some sort of God with misplaced ideas, and the Crystal (it it’s destruction) acted as a gateway to a middle-ground between the real, FFIX world, and the Zero World where nothing could ever happened (the end of the universe maybe?). The whole Anger leads to hate leads to suffering yadayadayada now I’m gonna kill everything so no-one will suffer thing kinda gave me that impression. Necron wanted to end all human’s suffering and pain, only in a horrible way. But he still sucked. They should have just made a second form of Kuja and it would have worked just as well as if the big white guy had never been introduced. I also happen to think the FFIX scripters may have been reading too much Angel Sanctuary before they wrote IX’s plot. But it’s been a loooong time since I played FFIX, so take what I say here with a pinch of salt.
Anyone know anything about the book FF7 is supposed to be based on? Its supposedly called “The Mako Chronicles”, but i cant seem to find any information on it.
I’ve never heard of it. Seems kinda unlikely though. You’ve got no other information? 
FF7 is a an amazing RPG. It was my first Final Fantasy game, though I had been playing RPGs since Shining Force on Genesis(and still maintain that Genesis dominates SNES), and it opened me up to both the rest of FF and Squaresoft in general. I don’t even know why it’s so good. Probably because of the amazing characters and the places they go. I mentioned in a FFC thread that each city in FF7 feels like the ideal archetypal city. Maybe this and the world’s interaction with the characters which are pretty non-archetypal is what makes it so interesting. Also, it was the first 3D RPG and it pulled it off well, dragging us into worlds that previously we had to flesh out in our imaginations. The graphics, while not being too special technically, have a certain charm about them, and I think that kept me always trying to find the next city, and so on.
According to the credits the game is based on a story by Sakaguchi, the executive producer of FF7 and long-time Square bigwig.
I’ll comment on some of the other posts later.
with 7 and 6 i got to the final boss form, but never got around to beating it.
I must say though, that the sub characters were very good in 7. the turks are very Tarantino. What comes to my mind is the scene in the bar after Yuffie steals all your materia and the turks are on vacation there. Elane wants to take on cloud and co, while Reno just sits there and reminds her that there on vacation. However due to her gunhoness, Reno states the vacation is ruined, and even the drinks taste bad. They then all proceed to kill that Don guy.
Dunno why i thought this was cool, but it was to me.
And you know what, i think Yuffie is a pretty usefull character, she had some pretty sweet limit breaks.
I know he and I have had this argument a million times, but I have to completely disagree with SK on this one. I actually really enjoyed FFVII… after I finished the first 10 hours or so. I don’t like many of the characters (I like Barrett’s back story, but not his personality, I like Tifa’s character, but not her backstory, I liked Vincent all around, but I didn’t really find myself liking anyone else), and I thought the story was a bit cheap (the whole “your whole history is wrong, but not because of external influence, but rather because you convinced yourself so” thing), I didn’t like Sephiroth’s motivation at all, but gameplay wise, I enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy the first 10 hours, though. I got through it the first time merely because I was so excited to see a new Final Fantasy. Since then, I’ve only twice been able to fight my way through the beginning of the game. If your game is going to be that full of plot, let people fucking skip it. I’ve played it, I know your plot, I don’t like your plot. I want to skip your plot, but I can’t.
I’ve never heard of the game being based on anything. Last I heard it, like the others in the series, was an original creation (other than basic concepts that are taken from every neopunk scifi ever made) of Hironobu Sakaguchi.
As far as a “revival” subquest, that was just a rumor. It was never intended to be in the game. She died, get over it. She’ll still be dead tomorrow, and probably the day after that, too. She was intended to die originally, and nothing will change that. As for FFIV cheapening death, I’d agree as far as Cid, Yang, and the twins are concerned. However, I think by that point you deserve a little happy “they’re still alive” time, because you’ve lost EVERYONE at least once (except for stupid useless Edge, he’s the only one you never think is dead). That game is like a freaking emotion wringer. I always need some happy time by the end.
Funnily enough, I ordered FF7 again a couple of days ago because I’ve had a sudden urge to replay it.
I always read that Aeris wasn’t supposed to die and there were plans for her revival but that and other plans were trashed when things got too rushed
Not too much time to post, so I’ll quickly just put down what I found to be the most touching moment in the game.
On my second play-through of the game, when you’re going through the mountains heading to Barret’s home town (I think it is…the part with all the roller-coaster like traintracks). The BGM is “Holding my Thoughts in my Heart,” a soft remix of the grand overworld theme. Two parts in this stage stand out: first, when you check the birds nest and are given the option to steal what’s in the nest or not. The little looping video of the tiny birds was such a HUGE contrast from what you see in Midgar.
The second thing is to the me the simplest and most beautiful part in the game. At a certain point you have to hit a switch to lower a bridge to continue on. Cloud goes to do this, and Tifa and Aeris cheer him on from across the track. The moment was so innocent and the tone so positive that it was heartrending to see it knowing that Aeris would later die.
Some of the scenes were downright poetic, and many parts of the world felt so filled with depth, that to deny the immersion into the reality of FFVII. The world was amazing, and most of the characters were downright human feeling.
But I am stubborn and I will not abandone the argument against the lead three. Sephiroth is not cool. Perhaps, Sephiroth could have been the best villain ever, if his reasoning had been drawn a different direction. Leaving him as a more mysterious character, based on genetic research, and out to kill Shinra would have worked great. They could have figured in a more Mana Beast-ish last boss, and pulled it together that way, but I just was not feeling it when Sephiroth decided to crash a comet into the world. I suppose that I am not enough of a crazed lunatic, bent on gaining immortality through being crushed by a rock.
As for Cloud, I suppose the biggest problem I had with him was that he was such a confilicting combination of weakling who is being controlled by genetic engineering, and someone who is somehow the only one who can save the world. I have a hard time believing in this character.
And finally, I am disgusted by the character Aeris. She is just too perfect. Her only flaw is her willingness to be a martyr. I think that her character could have been a ten times more meaningful character if they had made it clear that she was fully aware of the true power of Holy, and was somehow conflicted about right and wrong on a greater level versus a more tangible level. Though I like the implications of her ending, I still wonder if they could have found some way to make her less of a slave to her own fate. As the plot came to a final close, I only saw two things that made Aeris anything more than just a cardboard cut-out lamb for the slaughter: Holy spell didn’t seem to save humans, and there is the implication that she became one with Mako when the cataclysm transpired.
In conclusion, the bad guy was a little lost in his goals, the heroine was plastic and fre-fab, and the hero was an unhealthy combination of insect-like and potent. Most everyone else rocked the Casbah, and the depth of the world was pretty damn spiffy, even if a lot of the towns outside midgar ended up feeling annoyingly limited in the actual movable area, while at the same time appearing to be full fledge towns.
Just a quick side note on the cheapening of death, who remembers the cost of a phoenix down in FF1? Compare that to the practice of having ko’d characters reset to 1hp after combat. The whole trend has shifted away from death of characters, even at the combat level. Aeris needed to die. She just needed to be more of a character before getting nixed.
Leaving him as a more mysterious character, based on genetic research, and out to kill Shinra would have worked great.
He WAS a mysterious character. His history was built upon as the game progresses. Even at the end of disc one you don’t know where the hell he is, what the reunion is and if he will suceed. And we don’t know why he had such a hold over Cloud.
Spoiler: Sephiroth decided to crash a comet into the world. I suppose that I am not enough of a crazed lunatic, bent on gaining immortality through being crushed by a rock
Why does everyone think his motives were inferior? It wasn’t just about summoning Meteor, it was about destroying the world, using the planets healing powers as his own and becoming a god. He wasn’t just hellbent on gaining immortality in any cliched way.
See I think Sephiroth is really misunderstood. In no way was he “lost” as you suggest. He draw his clones to him, all which Cloud met up with and tangled with. How could Sephiroth be lost when he stayed in one place the entire game? He called his clones back and used Cloud to get Meteor. In no way did Sephiroth go off on a tangent and stray.
I never seen anything from any reliable source claiming that a revival subquest was ever planned.
If anything, I keep hearing people say that that’d defeat the purpose of her risking her life in the first place, especially if she’s revived before the fruition of her actions (during the finale). The fact that Holy comes to (mostly) save you at the last second makes you feel like, even though you lost her, her sacrifice truly <I>meant something</I>. If she was alive again, and standing right there, it’d be more of a “huh. you did that. that’s pretty cool. it didn’t cost us anything at all. do it again.”
(sorry, I assume the whole death thing isn’t a spoiler anymore, but the ending may be.)
No one does, there weren’t any.
But you could buy LIFE or LIF2 by the end of the game, and there were always clinics. I don’t think they cost that much, but I never let a character die; I’d reset if someone died, cause that’d screw up my experience between characters.
Ditto. I always hated messing with exp. patterns.
And I’m kinda iffy about how FFIV handled “deaths”. I mean, most of them seemed KINDA plausible for how they survived them, but Cid’s really got to me. I mean, he FELL DOWN A FUCKING SEVERAL-HUNDRED-FOOT HOLE, WITH A BUNCH OF EXPLOSIVES TIED ONTO HIS BODY GOING OFF, and only about an hour later, you find him in thee dwarven castle, SLEEPING IT OFF. Can someone telkl me how the FUCK this is possible?
I’m sorry, I’m not a huge FFVII fan, however, I can honestly say that I remember all of the characters from FFVII much more vividly than any of the characters from either of the two games you mentioned.
While Cecil stands out as a wonderful Paladin in my mind… Cloud/Tifa/Berret/Vincent, I dont think I need to go into great depth, but part of FF7’s charm was the heavily memorable characters.
Then again, Maybe I like lots of character development, which is why I didnt like X, because the character’s (and thier voices, for the most part) annoyed the pizzle out of me.
It’s CID, what else needs to be said? He reminded me of a Dwarven GOD. I say hell yes to Cid, no one messes with the best mechanic in the WORLD!
Exactly.