The Failings of Final Fantasy VII

Fanboys (and girls), avert your gaze. I am about to do the unthinkable: criticize Final Fantasy VII. *gasp*

I know, I know. This could be a hard time for all of us but frankly, it needs to be done. Too long has the game been held up as the mark of gaming perfection when, let's be honest, it has it's flaws. I'm not saying it's a bad game, it just could have used a little more work in a couple areas. Well, just like ripping off a band-aid, it's better to do it quick and get it over with so lets jump right in.

1. The Sprites

Barret's super power: pronouncing symbols!

I've mentioned this before and people always respond the same way, the game was on the Playstation back in 1997, of course the graphics aren't as good as today. THIS IS NO EXCUSE! The game sprites don't look this way because of the graphical limitations of the Playstation. Look at the environments in the game, the pre-rendered cutscenes, hell, look at the in-battle characters. They look infinitely better than the chibi-designed sprites you see when exploring. Take a look at Final Fantasy Tactics or 8 to see what the Playstation was capable of. This was purely an artistic design and it failed, miserably. It can be hard to take the extremely dramatic story seriously when the characters don't have fingers, noses, mouths or anything else that makes them remotely human. 

2. The Battle Camera

Okay monster, let me turn to my left so you can hit my side.

The in-battle graphics looks pretty awesome, especially compared to older Final Fantasy titles. So what am I criticizing about this? It's not the graphics but the artistically shifting camera that I have a problem with. Not because it moves but because this can seriously impede functionality in battle. It doesn't happen all the time or even that commonly but more often than it should. What happens is that it positions itself so that two characters exist one directly in front of the other. This makes it entirely impossible to tell what character you're selecting. In one battle, I wasted three Phoenix Downs trying to revive my fallen comrade because I kept using them on the living teammate instead. The first thing is why the hell does the Phoenix Down not default to the fallen comrade but even without this, not knowing who you're targeting should NEVER BE AN ISSUE! Artistic camera angles are fun but they should never get in the way of basic gameplay.

3. Translation

Student... riiiiiiight..

The translation isn't as bad as Final Fantasy IV. In fact, it's not even that bad at all. It's more a localization issue than a translation issue. Whatever the case may be, the dialogue simply isn't as well structured as Final Fantasy VI was. People say very strange things frequently and sometimes reactions seem undeserved or exaggerated. It's hard to come up with a great example but everything just feels off, somehow. Characters just don't speak like normal people and it's noticeable. It makes it hard to care about the characters when it gives me dialogue choices that seem to invoke bizarre responses. When asked by Aeris if I like her, I can say "No, I don't." or "It's not that..." What does the second one even mean? Why would I say that in response to a yes or no question? It's not what? Yet, saying this makes Aeris happy somehow. Frankly, if I got that response from somebody I just confessed my affections for, I'd be pretty confused.

The conversation with Cait Sith in Golden Saucer after he betrays you is another one that's just beyond ridiculous. He throws the keystone to the baddies and then asks if you can just forget about it and let him come along. He makes an effort to convince you that he's not all bad by telling you that he's not all that bad. He then says his actions are all in the past and you should just let him come along. Cloud and Aeris have to think about this due to his betrayal about 30 seconds earlier... He then tells you there's no point in killing him because he's just a robot controlled by Shinra. If there was any question before, this is the moment when I would have taken the big sword and slashed this thing in two. Why would you continue to keep a spy around that's obviously working with Shinra? It makes NO SENSE!!! Sure, he says how he's got the kid hostage so they have to do what he says but he doesn't say this until about 2 minutes into the conversation. Why hesitate for that long??? I can only imagine that this is a translation issue or else it's some of the worst writing in the history of fiction.

4. Storyline Consistency

Throughout the storyline, twists and turns as well as character backstory tidbits pop up regularly but sometimes, I can't see how it all fits together. In the beginning, the game makes you think Midgar is the whole world, which is fine. The revelation that the rest of world exists is pretty cool, actually. But while we're in Midgar, we see flashbacks of Cloud talking with Tifa at a playground. Later, we find out Tifa and Cloud are from Nifelheim, on a whole different continent from Midgar. So, what was this flashback? When did these two kids cross the sea to vacation in the slums of Midgar? In fact, why did they go to Midgar at all? Many of the characters implied that they came to live in Midgar later in life. Who moves to a craphole intentionally? Barret took his friend's daughter, swearing to care for her and then takes her to the slums so he could become an environmental terrorist? Was this a sound parenting decision?

Vincent is another one that really bugs me. I know, there's more about Vincent later in this game as well as in Dirge of Cerberus but let's talk about the here and now. Vincent is chilling in some coffin where he can move things magically with his mind. He is obviously supposed to appear as a vampire when you first meet him. What's the point? Why have this obvious implication if it means nothing and has nothing to do with his character? Why does he move coffin lids with his mind and then never show this power again? Seems pretty useful if you can fling baddies around with your thoughts in battle. Also, his Limit Break has him transforming into a werewolf-esque character called the Galian Beast. Somehow, none of the other characters find this the least bit interesting. I've been playing with him for several hours and not once has it come up that this guy turns into a savage beast on a whim. Personally, I'd want to know what was up with this guy before falling asleep anywhere near him. At least the party is accepting, I suppose.

So is Final Fantasy VII all it's cracked up to be? Not really. The game's great, don't get me wrong. But the three character party, bad dialogue, ridiculous looking sprites and constant brooding are huge drawbacks on a game touted as the best game ever made. Frankly, halfway through the game and I have yet to see how this game is superior to VI in any way other than the environmental graphics and cutscenes.

Game on!