Is Final Fantasy VII the Greatest Game of All Time?

Is Final Fantasy VII the Greatest Game of All Time?

This is a very tough question and one that is debated time and time again. As an avid Final Fantasy fan and collector, I decided to take a stab at this topic. With that being said, allow me to provide a background.

Final Fantasy VII is not my favorite game of the franchise. It is in fact Final Fantasy VIII. I was introduced to the RPG genre by Legend of Dragoon (my all-time favorite game to date). Soon after I stumbled upon Final Fantasy VIII. I had played the original Final Fantasy on the NES but was never much into the game and was skeptical about how fun FFVIII would be.

But it was amazing. The story brought me into the world and make me feel connected to the characters. The battle mechanics made for an interesting and engaging combat system. The open world exploration allowed for constant exploration and variation of experiences. The greatest mechanic that I found in the game was how the game handled the difficulty of your enemies.

As your character leveled up, the creatures and enemies in the game world got stronger as well. This meant that you could always continue moving forward without having to constantly run encounters to level your characters. The flip side to this was that if you came across an encounter that you could not defeat, you had to find another way to beat them. You needed to change up your equipped gear and magic to make your character’s stats better instead of run around and level them up. But to get back to the question at hand.

Many fan boys hold FFVII on a god like pedestal that they worship on Sunday nights. While I do agree with the fact that it was a revolutionary game, I cannot say that it is the greatest game of all time. It isn’t even the best game of the Final Fantasy series. However, it was a major stepping stone for the RPG genre.

One of the most creative things that it introduced to the genre was the CG-animated cut scenes (Buchana, 2009). This brought the game to an entirely new audience as it allowed the characters to appear more mature. Ryan Clements of IGN PlayStation Team has said that the game’s greatest success was“ the unbelievable atmosphere it created” (Buchana, 2009).

It is fair to say that FFVII set the bar for modern RPGs. But the answer to our question may never be found. The veteran’s that were first introduced to gaming with the original Final Fantasy understand and see the long road that the genre has taken. If Final Fantasy VII was the first RPG you ever owned, it sets the bar very high for your expectations. In the end, it is all about the individual’s perspective.

Thankfully, we will all have the chance to judge the game for ourselves. The remake of Final Fantasy VII has been confirmied at E3 2015. Developers have confimed that there will be some subtle differences from the original, much of the content will be the same. Check out the trailer below.

Bibliography

Buchana, L. (2009, March 3). Is Final Fantasy VII Overrated? Retrieved from IGN: http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/03/03/is-final-fantasy-vii-overrated?