Number 34: Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft 1997
Intro:
The floaty midi intro covers a brushed steel background with opening credits. The menu screen at first is just Cloud's sword surrounded by black with the New Game and Continue options. The intro movie is pre-rendered, and establishes the location and scale of the city, as well as the darkly grand mood.
Getting Going:
At first, abilities like Materia are turned off, so players don't mess around with things and get confused too quickly. Battle and motion aren't explained, but the game gives players places to learn the game (such as the Beginner's House) if they choose to. The action of the game starts right out of the movie, where the player thrown into a tense though easy mission. Deeper knowledge of the Final Fantasy series rewards players in the beginning, since much of the game is the same as FF6.
Fun:
The great story, wonderful cinematics, and tight soundtrack make this game a lot of fun. The story is complex enough that it urges players to push further, while people experienced with RPGs like this will have to balance the sometimes tedious leveling with the rewarding exploration of the world and the story. The Materia system allows players to experiment with combinations and develop the materia as an added bonus for spending time leveling up characters.
Visuals:
Prerendered backgrounds look pretty good, though they don't jive so well with the blocky post-sprite characters. While they may not be the most consistent, players quickly forget the deficit and reality is suspended. I'd say they made a very good choice to combine prerendered backgrounds, since live backgrounds wouldn't have the detail or character with the limited power of the PS1.
Intelligence:
Intelligence is not a matter here. Difficult enemies are given powerful abilities or tricky patterns, not creative strategies. That's the player's job.
Immersion:
This RPG is good at rewarding players for experimentation and micromanaging the characters via equipment and Materia, making trips to the menu screens no impedement to the experience. The story and cinematics are gripping and cosmic, so players aren't distracted by inconsistencies in the quality. The music is great, but the immersion can be harmed by players who are hungry for every little thing the game has to offer, since there are lots of side-quests and special weapons to find. Getting too far ahead in the story can make the game very difficult, and catching up to the expected level can involve hours of frustrating and repetitive leveling up.
Cameras:
The fight camera is pretty good, and the world map camera is never obstructed. The camera, besides, just tracks the character through prerendered maps that have little possible obstruction and the player never gets caught wondering where they are.
Controls:
The controls are mostly to navigate through menus. Moving is a little awkward, since pressing Up will move the character is slightly different directions in each room, depending on how it's laid out. Selecting enemies is similarly difficult, since the controls remain the same even when the camera moves.
Ideas:
The Materia system is interesting, allowing players to develop their magic on their own and combine support Materia in creative ways with ability Materia with varying impact on the stats of each character. Developing the characters gives the player deeper ownership of what is happening, and tons of collectable weapons, materia, abilities, and summons gives the game a lot of longevity and plenty for the compulsive player to hunt for.
Memory:
The powerful, cosmic story and dramatic movies based on tight art design and a winning combat system. It's already argued to be the best game ever, or at least the best RPG ever. The initial premise is very simple, while the whole of the story is more twisted than Twizlers at a knot convention.
The floaty midi intro covers a brushed steel background with opening credits. The menu screen at first is just Cloud's sword surrounded by black with the New Game and Continue options. The intro movie is pre-rendered, and establishes the location and scale of the city, as well as the darkly grand mood.
Getting Going:
At first, abilities like Materia are turned off, so players don't mess around with things and get confused too quickly. Battle and motion aren't explained, but the game gives players places to learn the game (such as the Beginner's House) if they choose to. The action of the game starts right out of the movie, where the player thrown into a tense though easy mission. Deeper knowledge of the Final Fantasy series rewards players in the beginning, since much of the game is the same as FF6.
Fun:
The great story, wonderful cinematics, and tight soundtrack make this game a lot of fun. The story is complex enough that it urges players to push further, while people experienced with RPGs like this will have to balance the sometimes tedious leveling with the rewarding exploration of the world and the story. The Materia system allows players to experiment with combinations and develop the materia as an added bonus for spending time leveling up characters.
Visuals:
Prerendered backgrounds look pretty good, though they don't jive so well with the blocky post-sprite characters. While they may not be the most consistent, players quickly forget the deficit and reality is suspended. I'd say they made a very good choice to combine prerendered backgrounds, since live backgrounds wouldn't have the detail or character with the limited power of the PS1.
Intelligence:
Intelligence is not a matter here. Difficult enemies are given powerful abilities or tricky patterns, not creative strategies. That's the player's job.
Immersion:
This RPG is good at rewarding players for experimentation and micromanaging the characters via equipment and Materia, making trips to the menu screens no impedement to the experience. The story and cinematics are gripping and cosmic, so players aren't distracted by inconsistencies in the quality. The music is great, but the immersion can be harmed by players who are hungry for every little thing the game has to offer, since there are lots of side-quests and special weapons to find. Getting too far ahead in the story can make the game very difficult, and catching up to the expected level can involve hours of frustrating and repetitive leveling up.
Cameras:
The fight camera is pretty good, and the world map camera is never obstructed. The camera, besides, just tracks the character through prerendered maps that have little possible obstruction and the player never gets caught wondering where they are.
Controls:
The controls are mostly to navigate through menus. Moving is a little awkward, since pressing Up will move the character is slightly different directions in each room, depending on how it's laid out. Selecting enemies is similarly difficult, since the controls remain the same even when the camera moves.
Ideas:
The Materia system is interesting, allowing players to develop their magic on their own and combine support Materia in creative ways with ability Materia with varying impact on the stats of each character. Developing the characters gives the player deeper ownership of what is happening, and tons of collectable weapons, materia, abilities, and summons gives the game a lot of longevity and plenty for the compulsive player to hunt for.
Memory:
The powerful, cosmic story and dramatic movies based on tight art design and a winning combat system. It's already argued to be the best game ever, or at least the best RPG ever. The initial premise is very simple, while the whole of the story is more twisted than Twizlers at a knot convention.