I am playing FF7 for the first time

[Pink Gregory]

thanx, all the unit types was putting me off but I assume it's more straightforward than it appears

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I'm sure there's lots of strategies people use but I used to just put 20 defenders at the bottom then advance downwards attacking anything that came up lol. Never failed me. Anyway there's only one time that you have to do it, and that's on disc/part two. So basically if you can't be arsed it's not going to matter that much on a first playthrough

[Mister Six]

Fuck, I totally forgot about Fort Condor. I think I just did it once and sacked it off. Looking at this guide, it seems like the rewards are mostly shit except for the mission you actually have to do.

Also weirdly there are a bunch of battles that are inaccessible because they occur when the player characters are unable to return to Junon. I bet someone has figured out a way to noclip over there and try them though.

[Pink Gregory]

Yeah, wow...barely anything for doing that is there

[Pink Gregory]

Tried it out, beat a Wyvern that got to the reactor, couldn't return to the battlefield, returned to the world map, black screen.

Sooooo...

[Thursday]

I've never known anyone to play more than one or two games of Fort Condor. I did it once when it was introduced, and then again on Disc 2 when it's part of the story. It just wasn't much of an issue for 12/13 year old me. Assumed that was the universal experience with it.

[Pink Gregory]

Got whatever it is for Red XIII, I guess I'll keep doing it if I want Yuffie's Superball thing but I'm not especially interested in rinsing the game.

[Cerys]

I go back and replay this in various ways every few years.  I don't know if finally having the remake will change that, but somehow I doubt it.

[Mister Six]

Got whatever it is for Red XIII, I guess I'll keep doing it if I want Yuffie's Superball thing but I'm not especially interested in rinsing the game.

The superball is shit, don't bother. It has no materia slots and not particularly special stats. It's basically a joke weapon, like Cid's mop.

On the one hand, I sort of appreciate not feeling I've missed out on something important by not doing a tedious optional sidequest thing. On the other, it seems a bit rude to make the prizes so shit they're practically an insult. There's a bit like this in a DLC for Control, where you have to find 8 cat statues, some of which are hidden in truly obscure places or behind taxing tests, and the reward is a shitty cat ear headband that can only be work in one section of the game.

[Pink Gregory]

What I will say is that maybe this made such an impression on people because it scaled back a lot of the slower and overcomplicated FF plot stuff, but increasingly I realise that I like that stuff?

Just feeling perhaps a litle uninvolved compared to other FFs I've played.  The sheer pace of the thing makes up for it though.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I think I would echo what madhair said on the other page. It was the first RPG a lot of people played. Certainly for me it seemed impossibly epic in scope compared to whatever I'd been used to in the previous generation- most of the megadrive games I played to death as a kid were ones you could complete in like half an hour, you know?

[Urinal Cake]

What I will say is that maybe this made such an impression on people because it scaled back a lot of the slower and overcomplicated FF plot stuff, but increasingly I realise that I like that stuff?

Just feeling perhaps a litle uninvolved compared to other FFs I've played.  The sheer pace of the thing makes up for it though.

That the great irony of FFVII. FFVII was supposed to response to 'traditional' JRPGs (including the whole metacommentary about Cloud) but since it was the first JRPG for a lot of people it entrenched a lot of ideas.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

That the great irony of FFVII. FFVII was supposed to response to 'traditional' JRPGs (including the whole metacommentary about Cloud) but since it was the first JRPG for a lot of people it entrenched a lot of ideas.

Bit like how Neon Genesis Evangelion is arguably a meta commentary on Mecha animes but is also often the first one westerners see.

[Urinal Cake]

Bit like how Neon Genesis Evangelion is arguably a meta commentary on Mecha animes but is also often the first one westerners see.

Quite true, I think some people would've seen or been familiar with Gundam but popularly NGE is the one. It's hard to think of a popular JRPG in the PSX\N64\Genesis era before FFVII.

[Rodan]

What I will say is that maybe this made such an impression on people because it scaled back a lot of the slower and overcomplicated FF plot stuff, but increasingly I realise that I like that stuff?

Just feeling perhaps a litle uninvolved compared to other FFs I've played.  The sheer pace of the thing makes up for it though.

Probably mostly the graphics and music for most people, along with the world map. Hard to overstate how amazing this looked at the time, both the FMV and the pre-rendered backgrounds. The music was also instant classic stuff. I remember talking about favourite pieces and moments of music at the time and buzzing about it with mates and it's grown richer over the years.

I had no idea what was going on besides the major plot points, no frame of reference for RPG mores, but there are so many cool set pieces and locations to visit and some great dialogue and interactions. Stuff like Cosmo Canyon and Red's background and Bugenhagen's presentation on the life stream really struck me as so beautiful, I'd not seen anything like that before in a game.

I didn't properly understand about Zack or Cloud's story until years later but it didn't really matter. It swept me along and 25+ years on, my affection and appreciation are only stronger. Although it's clearly 'aged' in many ways, not only presentation, it's one of very few games which I go back to and love even more - although I've only played through two or three times since I first had it on the PlayStation.

In fact, I've got a day off, my wife is conked out, I'm going to fire it up again. Cheers!

[Pink Gregory]

This is the thing, the order I played FFs was 8 (first one, first JRPG), 6 (Playstation rerelease), 4&5 (FF Anthology on Playstation), 10, and now 7.

Any kind of release context is somewhat lost on me.

[Pink Gregory]

incidentally has anyone else had more crashes than you were expecting on the HD version?  Like it fails to transition out of an area or a battle and it freezes, only happened twice so far but it seems unusual.

I'm doing a lot of console pausing and resuming though.

[oggyraiding]

I had a crash last time I was playing it, entered a building in Wall Market just before the journey to Shinra HQ, screen went black but music was still playing. Couldn't open the menu. Had to quit the game and redo whatever I had done since my last save.

[Pink Gregory]

I had a crash last time I was playing it, entered a building in Wall Market just before the journey to Shinra HQ, screen went black but music was still playing. Couldn't open the menu. Had to quit the game and redo whatever I had done since my last save.

same bug but after leaving Fort Condor.  Had the same after a battle with the music still playing but it returned to the world and froze.  Good thing I still have FF saving instincts!

[Mister Six]

That the great irony of FFVII. FFVII was supposed to response to 'traditional' JRPGs (including the whole metacommentary about Cloud) but since it was the first JRPG for a lot of people it entrenched a lot of ideas.

Can you expand on that? Or point to a decent article about it? I had no idea.

I'm trying to think if it was the first RPG I played... I think perhaps other than action-RPGs like Landstalker on the Mega Drive, it might have been... I certainly hadn't seen a story of this scale in a video game before.

Re Zack and Cloud, I'm not sure I get it now! Although I should probably hold off discussing it while PG is still playing through the game.

[Urinal Cake]

Can you expand on that? Or point to a decent article about it? I had no idea.

I'm trying to think if it was the first RPG I played... I think perhaps other than action-RPGs like Landstalker on the Mega Drive, it might have been... I certainly hadn't seen a story of this scale in a video game before.

Re Zack and Cloud, I'm not sure I get it now! Although I should probably hold off discussing it while PG is still playing through the game.

Well in terms of gameplay since story etc has spoilers. You seem to want to a clean playthrough.

So classes were a huge thing in jrpgs. They dictated what magic and skills which each character had. But the materia system nullified that. Apart from Aeries although it is a bit more difficult you can make any character do anything. Instead of putting experience into your character you put it into the materia. The major difference between the characters is their limit breaks some of which are related to their class ie Cid being a dragoon.

[Mister Six]

Pink Gregory is the one who's playing it, @Urinal Cake - I played it when it came out in the UK. But yeah, probably don't spoiler it for now. Maybe when PG has finished?

[Urinal Cake]

Oh I got confused. I guess TV Tropes Cloud Strife in general

Spoiler alert

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/FinalFantasyVIIPlayableCharacters The loser is you specifically. Considering the average protagonist was always special but usually a boy in a small town (maybe with a mysterious past linking to how they're special) , some young guy working their up in the military or  some anti-hero thief

[close]

[Mister Six]

That TV Tropes entry is absolute gibberish. But thanks for trying anyway!

[Urinal Cake]

I began writing something and realised I should really look for a good article since it would take me forever.

I think parts of this are good though it is very long https://themsfightingwordsblog.com/2021/11/18/cloud-strife-is-the-greatest/ oh yeah spoilers

[Mister Six]

Woo, thanks @Urinal Cake!

[Rodan]

Enjoyed that, good read. Cheers.

[Pink Gregory]

Pretty sure I couldn't go very far but I think I did a tiny bit of sequence breaking my defeating the boss (Materia Keeper?) in Mt. Nibel before investigating the Nibelheim mansion for (presumably) Sephiroth related...something.  Quite surprised as FF is usually fairly rigid in that regard.

What also strikes me is how kind of far-out some of the enemy designs in this one are compared to other FFs.  Things like the metal egg with eyes that hatches into other eggs, the triceratops with tank treads, guy swinging on a pendulum, bit disappointed that the Midgar Zolom is just a big snake.

[Cerys]

I'm really looking forward to the zolom in the remake, I have to admit.

[Pink Gregory]

there's a real fascinating dolls-house quality to the pre-rendered backgrounds in this game that I'm only just starting to appreciate.  There's this playful surreality/unreality to FF7 that you just don't get from the rest of the series, and yet attention to detail.  Pretty much every house has a toilet.