Final Fantasy 7, Japan release date 1997 >low-quality midi music >no voice acting whatsoever, characters don't even grunt when taking damage >polygonal character models that are primitive and lacking in detail, even by the standards of the time >invisible random encounters >environments are static, pre-rendered 2d backgrunds >combat uses the same simplistic menu-based systems as previous games in the series
Grandia, Japan release date 1997 >a beautifully rich fully orchestral score >characters are voiced during combat and key story moments >detailed and expressive character sprites >enemies are visible during exploration >exploration takes place in sprawling 3D environments >combat too utilizes a 3d battlefield, with an innovative turn-based combat system that takes into account factors like distance, range and timing of your attacks
Isn't it weird how FF7 is regarded as revolutionizing RPGs, considering it lacked basic features like voice acting and 3D environments? In many ways, FF7 was just a continuation of the SNES FF's before it, playing exactly the same.
Why exactly was FF7 regarded as such a milestone for gaming?
I know FF7 wasn't the pinnacle of difficulty was Grandia 1 takes the cake of easiest RPG of all time. It's a shame too because Grandia had a foundation for a great turn based battle system that never got its potential until the third game.
>Why exactly was FF7 regarded as such a milestone for gaming? Because Final Fantasy as a franchise was stronger. But with that said Star Ocean/Tales series was the reason why Grandia had problem since those games were in direct competition with it.
Ethan Morgan
Because Grandia is fucking boring, that's why. While technically superior to FF7 in every way, FF7 still reigns supreme as it's the one with the interesting plot and set pieces. Grandia, while carrying a very pleasent art style, felt like I was running around giant Sonic Battle levels than exploring caves or dungeons or villages.
this is coming from someone who just tried playing grandia with no nostalgia whatsoever recently on my psp.
there's a lot to like about the game, but honestly it's slow moving and the story is kind of boring. the battle system, while kinda cool is too complex and slows the game down too much to be really engaging. compared to other rpgs, it doesn't keep you consistently engaged to motivate you to move forward.
but to be completely honest with you i never finished ff7 for the same reason. ff7 at least has more engaging battle mechanics, at least in my opinion.
also don't the rest of the grandia games basically just ignore everything that happened in the first game? like the sequels don't even take into account that particular adventure at all, do they? never played them but did some, but isn't Justin like never heard from again
Kayden Smith
>FF7 >interesting plot
In what way? Cloud's character for example is impossible to take seriously, because his entire personality revolves around a shitty M Night Shyamalan plot twist.
For starters, before the twist is revealed, Cloud doesn't show any indication he is suffering (aside from some vague hints that the story glosses over), so the end result is that he goes from being a taciturn hero who has internalized someone else's memories as his own without realizing it to...a taciturn hero who outwardly appears the same, but apparently has resolved all those deep-seated issues, no really, believe me.
Furthermore, what is even the point of the whole Nibelheim incident? Cloud goes from being a heroic person (which he clearly is, judging by the flashbacks where he rescues Tifa twice and defeats Sephiroth) who failed to qualify for the elite squad of the evil cyberpunk regime (i.e. not a group you'd want to join) to assuming the memories of...Zack, another heroic person who did qualify for the elite squad of the evil cyberpunk regime. As far as catalysts for mental breakdowns go, this comes across as very pedestrian in the grand scheme of things. It's like the writers wanted to have a plot twist and an identity crisis, but couldn't think of any compelling material for such a storyline.
Another big issue that FVII suffers from is the dialogue. Everyone in FVII communicates in very basic English sentences. Despite being a group of misfits, some of which aren't even human, all of the characters have very nondistinct and same-y styles of speech.Combined with the weird lack of voice acting, characters don't feel like particularly distinct individuals.
Grandia 1 was so easy that a mod had to increase enemy HP by 1500% in order to make the game challenging.
Cooper Reyes
>In many ways, FF7 was just a continuation of the SNES FF's before it, playing exactly the same. Because that's exactly what it was all along - Final Fantasy VII targeted the SNES in preproduction (even planning computer graphics ala Donkey Kong Country) before Nintendo and Square's relationship soured.
I like Grandia a lot, but FF7 is still a much better package deal.
Nice pasta, bro. Try again.
Ethan Myers
I remember having trouble beating a lot of bosses in Grandia as a kid... was I just retarded?
Christopher Edwards
>In many ways, FF7 was just a continuation of the SNES FF's before it Correct. That's what made it good. Grandia is also great for different reasons.
Benjamin Diaz
No, you were just too based to grind.
Ayden Mitchell
I was pretty retarded as a kid and still managed to squeeze through some RPGs. I played through about 60% of Super Mario RPG without equipping anything aside from Mario's first weapon. I thought FF4 was the hardest thing in existance because I didn't understand the concept of levels and equipment.
Cameron Martinez
I loved Grandia as a kid, but honestly coming back to it as an adult, it's just really dumb. Losing practically every character was a strange choice, especially when some of them have unique mechanics you only get to use for one dungeon. It also means none of the characters get developed except for Justin, Sue, and Feena. The Mullen and Leen subplot was also handled weirdly. They get no screentime, suddenly they're good guys, Leen sacrifices herself, and then comes back to life for no reason, ensuring I have no investment in their story at all. I love the atmosphere and the more linear focus of the adventure, but I don't know if anything else holds up.
William Ortiz
i played both, I liked Grandia more but it had much less content than FF7. it was shorter and had much less assets and environments overall.
Nicholas Barnes
>i played both, I liked Grandia more but it had much less content than FF7. it was shorter and had much less assets and environments overall. Wrong:
"I don't see what's so great about Hamlet. It's just one famous line after another."
Andrew Edwards
>Rebalancing hack No thanks, 99% of the time these things are made by people who strictly just wanna make it "harder" by pumping up numbers and making it whatever they think is "balanced" which means "I think it's more fun this way so this is balanced."
Isaac Ross
This is exactly why Mario Maker is such a piece of shit. Maybe 2% of all levels people make feel like actual Mario. The rest are all gimmicky bullshit and kaizo garbage.
Dominic Garcia
My first playthrough, I maxed out the game clock in FF7 at 99:59:59.
Noah James
Exactly this. I hate this obsession with making everything some kind of extremely hard challenge instead of making something that feels more true to the original game. There's nothing wrong with a challenge but no one truly ever gets the idea of "challenge" correct.
