Granger Games
Believe me...I am not oblivious to the potential success/failure of these devices. I just get frustrated towards to the general level of negativity on here. I summed my thoughts towards the success of Kinnect in an earlier post as follows:
"I believe there is still one fairly significant technical issue to overcome with kinnect - and that is that it does not recognise you when sitting down. One they definitely need to rectify!
As for preorders - i dont think this will accurately reflect the actual final demand for the Kinnect as if it is going to tap into the Wii casual market (although they do claim it is also for the "hardcore") much of this demand will come when people see friends, news coverage, shop promotions etc etc...if it does turn out to be truly revolutionary I am sure it may do ok....but I also think that motion control is not the be all future of gaming...
The Wii's success came in being the first to do the motion control well - but it also did it simply, and at an affordable price. Whereas in the past consoles like the Gamecube hurt due to their "kiddy toy" image, the Wii benefited instead.
A large portion of people who bought the Wii, only bought it for one game (ie Wii Sports) and if you look at the attachment rate of games on the Wii (esp 3rd party) you will see this is not a ravenous market.
How many of these "casual gamers" (who are unlikely to own a PS3 or a 360) are now going to fork out for a new more expensive console, as well as the motion control. And how many of the gamers who already do have these consoles are going to purchase the new motion controlling equipment - the majority of gamers I talk to with these consoles are not that interested....at least not yet.
Most predicted the Wii would fail, and were wrong, so writeoff Kinnect/Move at your risk, but I do believe these are coming to a different market, and a little too late, and are not as accessible. Obviously some killer mass market games etc could change this, but i dont believe a better more complex version of Wii Tennis (ie one that is much more accurate, but less forgiving and actually requires you to be good at tennis) is going to have the same successs."
The game known to many as “The One”. The game which countless fanboys would die for, whilst countless anti-fanboys would die trying to destroy. Today, faithful readers, we trek on a land remembered and cherished for thirteen years. The game which defined the RPG genre, if not the PS1 era. We shall poke the soft underbelly of Red XIII in order to see if Final Fantasy VII is truly the great game so many of us remember today.
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Developer: Square
Publisher: Sony
Released: September 3, 1997
When starting this game up for the first time, assuming you have bastardized the previous 13 years of your existence, there is the slightest feeling of a job well done. As if, upon pushing the New Game button, you have fulfilled the dying wish of your dad…or something.
Ok, let’s start over.
When starting this game up for the first time, Final Fantasy VII does a great job in making one not only interested in the immediate surroundings and the characters involved, but also in giving off a sense of familiarity. The presentation of this game, at both the time of release and now, still has that feeling of awe. Maybe it’s from hearing people boast about their triumphs in the game for thirteen years, or maybe it’s because you know that you are about to begin an epic adventure which will completely rock your world.
Whatever that feeling may be, upon starting this game up you are in for a treat. While graphics are definitely sub-par compared to today (And yes, I’m including the CGI cut scenes) I have trouble seeing any sufficient lack of gameplay, art direction, music, story, or things to do. Compared to some games, the dialogue IS lacking and the fighting MIGHT get a little repetitive. But frankly, those are the only two complaints anyone should have unless they are a graphics whore. Dialogue is occasionally a little too silly, or just plain awkward, giving off a feeling of pushed translations or the inability to efficiently portray character feelings through text.
If this game had voice acting, people would have probably hailed Final Fantasy X’s voice acting as the coming of Christ.
So these are the only problems that I found apparent during my play through. Let’s get on with the good stuff!
First of all, for those who will think I might be some sort of biased fanboy, fear not! This was my first time playing through Final Fantasy VII past Midgar. Also, this was the first Final Fantasy I have ever beaten. Yes, I know. I am amazing.
Final Fantasy VII is a fairly simple game that is able to trick you into thinking it’s pretty complex. While many people today complain about how the most recent Final Fantasy’s are too straight forward, especially with XIII’s fairly linear paths and leveling system, what most fail to realize is that VII is just as straight forward. The mission layout in VII is always set up to lead you to another city, town or dungeon. The writers of the game were able to disguise this linearity by giving the world map to the player. This world map is not useful at all until the weapons show up, or you receive a gold Chocobo. But surprisingly enough, those who complain that XIII is too linear are in love with the “open world” of VII.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love linear RPG’s and wish there were more of them. While open ended RPG’s are a great way to convey a character, setting, or story, linear ones are normally able to tell a better crafted, more thought out story usually involving better developed characters and setting. For example, when playing VII you are able to know, in depth, the histories of Cloud and your fellow teammates. In Oblivion, there is absolutely no back story to your character, and no real intent behind his actions. While VII can create more realistic dialogue between characters, Oblivion is stuck with one sided conversations. Make sense?
For those that bitch about how linear XIII is, go back and play VII and tell me you really had the opportunity to explore before you had a gold Chocobo.
Final Fantasy is able to do something many games are not able to do. It is that rare title which invokes anger, happiness, excitement, jealousy and puberty in the player. When people play this game, they are proud to say whether or not they beat Ruby, if they were able to get Omnislash in the Battle Arena, or if they even knew about the W-item trick. While Final Fantasy VII is definitely a linear game, it offers this rare feature which enables the player to make slightly game changing choices which others might not have done. Whether someone knows about the Knights of the Round summon, for instance, can completely change the outcome of a players game. In this sense the ability for minor items or skills, to completely change someones play through, is pretty impressive. While the story never changes no matter how many times you play it, and the characters always repeat the same lines, these little elements/materia/chocobos/limits, are able to arouse only the most sacred of body parts.
While we can all debate whether or not the story is all that good, whether the fighting is well thought out (which I know now it is after realizing all the combinations I can put my materia in), or if the main character is a bitch or not, what we can’t debate is that constant little pull that has left us wanting for 13 years. This little tug at your pant leg, which reminds you every time you turn on a console that Final Fantasy VII is still waiting to wet your whistle. This game, which offers no variation in gameplay or story, is still able to pull people in for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours just to get a Desert Rose which is not useful at all since you probably already have a Gold Chocobo at this point but you just wanted to tell your friends that you beat Ruby and became a man. Whether or not that was a run on sentence is not my problem, the problem lays in those anti-fanboys who are unable to grasp the simple, yet complex , idea of Final Fantasy VII. A game which not only offers a challenging, and engaging, play through, but a social status as well.
And for the record, I did beat Ruby and Emerald. I killed Sephiroth in basically two hits as well.
On to scoring…
For the lack of well written dialogue, mostly, throughout the game, there will be some points taken away. Although I mentioned how repetitive the fighting gets, I will refrain from retracting points for that since this is an RPG game and that’s basically how it goes.
Score: 93 out of 100
