FFVII Crossover Wishlist?

[Cilia]

The low rank of eight doesn't surprise me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was a bad game, it wasn't. It's just, that there was a time when having the Final Fantasy title automatically raised expectations to the next tier compared to everything else. (except maybe Dragon Quest) And for me, eight was the first game in the series to fail to meet those raised expectations. Again, on it's own merits, it wasn't bad. Release that game with a different title and I would've called it great. But given the Final Fantasy title it didn't live up to what I thought I was buying. Nine, on the other hand, was excellent. The closest thing I had to a complaint with nine was the lame 'official strategy guide' which turned out to be a thirty dollar advertisement for Square's online guide. (Want to know more? Look it up on our site 'cause we're too lazy to tell you in the 'guide' you paid for!)

VIII's problems are myriad.

It came out on the heels of VII, which to this day is one of the most popular entries in the series. Expectations were unbelievably high.

Unfortunately, its themes and battle system were drastically different from its predecessor. Leveling up did nothing for your stats; instead you had to draw magic out of enemies and junction it to your stats to actually improve your combat efficiency. Leveling up did, however, increase the stats of enemies, as well as change their item drop and steal tables. Limit Breaks were present only as Desperation Attacks, limiting their tactical uses (well, unless you have Aura); getting new ones also requires a fair bit of know-how depending on who you're using (as opposed to just using them / killing enemies and using a manual for the final one). A fair amount of VIII's easily accessible combat augmentations are only available through Chocobo World, which runs on a Pocket Station... a Pokémon Pikachu-like peripheral that was never released outside of Japan. Weapons aren't bought and sold like normal, but upgraded at special shops with item drops from monsters. You only get a SeeD paycheck as opposed to earning money from battles (which makes logical sense, but gets vexing if you don't know how to raise that). Compounding it is that little to none of this is explained in-game, or otherwise not given the weight it needs.

The story, meanwhile, is centered around Squall and Rinoa's romance and Squall's abandonment issues. VII had more universal themes of self-acceptance and moving on after failure that resonate with a wider audience (and is part of why I find VII:R's ending so contentious... but I digress).

tl;dr: VIII had too much to live up to, an esoteric combat system, and a narrower audience compared to its predecessor.

My main complaints with IX are the inability to save Trance for when you really need it, the lack of leaked EXP leaving certain characters in the dust (Freya gets it worst, but Quina and Steiner also suffer for it), and the story focusing so heavily on Garnet and Vivi it becomes detrimental to the rest of the cast (Freya's character arc is completed early in Disc 2, Amarant's is pretty much self-contained in Ipsen's Castle, etc).

Still very good, both are, but the reasons they're not as popular as some other entries is pretty clear.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Something to also remember about FF7 is that Video games didn't really start becoming a mainstream thing until the days of PS1. There is a considerable amount of the franchise's fanbase that didn't know Final Fantasy even existed before 7 came out. As a result many also look back on that title with potent nostalgia goggles because it was their first RPG experience.

[MsQi]

Something to also remember about FF7 is that Video games didn't really start becoming a mainstream thing until the days of PS1.

How are you defining "mainstream"?

[Tracewood]

How are you defining "mainstream"?

At the risk of sounding old, videogames - like comic book (anything) were considered niche, for nerds, not profitable enough for the wider audience. They had a negative stigma attached to anyone even affiliated with them as just a hobby.

Playstation changed ALL of that, between the floundering drought that was the N64 game library/limited hardware/utter live betrayal at an electronic show and Sega's poor console support left a huge opportunity for Sony to capitalize on a wide and potentially neglected audience. They marketed to a wider audience, an older audience, and women (gaming was considered a boys only affair for a while). The Playstation did what Nintendon't (I know, I know): They made gaming cool, trendy even. Games had huge marketing push behind them and Final Fantasy 7 has a rather interesting history on why SquareSoft (before they became SquareENIX) became exclusive to Sony for two console generations. One can argue gaming didn't become more mainstream until the PS2, but PS1 jumpstarted the big budget AAA titles.

[Floortank]

Add the Battle Arena to Gold Saucer and call it good.

[MsQi]

At the risk of sounding old, videogames - like comic book (anything) were considered niche, for nerds, not profitable enough for the wider audience. They had a negative stigma attached to anyone even affiliated with them as just a hobby.

Playstation changed ALL of that, between the floundering drought that was the N64 game library/limited hardware/utter live betrayal at an electronic show and Sega's poor console support left a huge opportunity for Sony to capitalize on a wide and potentially neglected audience. They marketed to a wider audience, an older audience, and women (gaming was considered a boys only affair for a while). The Playstation did what Nintendon't (I know, I know): They made gaming cool, trendy even. Games had huge marketing push behind them and Final Fantasy 7 has a rather interesting history on why SquareSoft (before they became SquareENIX) became exclusive to Sony for two console generations. One can argue gaming didn't become more mainstream until the PS2, but PS1 jumpstarted the big budget AAA titles.

Maybe that's how Sony likes to tell it, but it was more gradual with a lot more players. Video games were hardly underground before that. I'm not saying the Playstation and FFVII weren't important, it's not some point where video games suddenly became mainstream. Atari was marketed as family entertainment and sold at Sears.