this game has fucking flawless pacing. you are constantly being whisked into interesting new events, places, scenarios with minigames breaking up the gameplay loop. nothing feels forced or boring, there isnt a drop of padding. it doesnt waste time making you dick around doing chores for le generic rpg village for the first 12 hours. from midgar to northern crater, the entire game is "the good part" of every other jrpg. the story itself is morally complex and mysterious right from the very beginning, and offers multiple huge payoffs and twists. every playable character, including the optional ones has a meaningful arc throughout the story, and youre rewarded with unique character dialogue depending on who you bring along throughout the game. all of 16 bit rpg tropes are turned on their head. the atmosphere is completely unique to this day and never lets up. its dark, brooding and mature and yet funny and goofy at the time. the music is some of best and most iconic vidya soundtrack ever made. the lego character models are obscenely outdated and yet still express tons of emotions through their animations.

I mean jesus fucking christ its just unreal how quality this is. comparable to mario 64 and OOT in the sense it was the first 3d game of its kind and somehow they fucking grand slam'd out the park first try, to the point where its still arguably the best game in its genre even to this day. the ONLY real flaw is that its too easy- and this is easily fixable with mods. once you do that its just insane how amazing this game STILL is.

ok

>>11841512 (OP)
Most overrated game ever.
>combat is completely braindead autopilot button mashing. Regular enemies are just absolutely braindead cannon fodder for grinding that pose zero risk whatsoever. Even bosses are a complete joke, and you will only ever fail to poorly telegraphed gotcha trollshit like the pyramid attack
>camera angles in combat are obnoxious and constantly obscure the fight
>targeting enemies and allies in fights is very finicky. Having to actually point at 3D models instead of just using the list of names is baffling.
>magic spells are very samey and don't really fill a niche or usecase, and have few meaningful tradeoffs
>no descriptions for any spells or items while in combat
>no symbols for status elements and no way to view them
>translation is extremely shoddy and amateurish, full of grammatical errors, spelling errors, nonsensical engrish
>dialogue boxes can appear all over the screen and lack proper formatting
>character names in dialogue are only shown in the first line of their dialogue
>when new, unnamed characters speak, no name is shown, and the dialogue box appears the same way as if the previous character is still speaking
>d-pad digital movement feels awful to navigate isometric maps; you will frequently bang into walls and go back the way you came on screen transition
>prerendered backgrounds are very unclear and unintuitive regarding what areas you can traverse and what you can interact with
>99% of the objects in the world can't be interacted with, while a few arbitrarily can and give zero indication of this
>excruciatingly slow-paced between the constant loading screens, slow movement, constant random encounters, and overly long animations

>be me, 6 year old in 97
>watch big bro play ff7
>play it myself too
>also play mario 64, OOT, kart 64, pokemon, MGS, resident evil, parasite eve, goldeneye, tomb raider, crash
>wow vidya games sure are cool
>little did I know this was the literal peak of the medium and everything would be downhill from here

the late 90s were truly a special time for gaming that will never be repeated. 97 and 98 in particular were just ludo.

You're basically right and I agree that FFVII has the best 'story campaign' of any JRPG, it easily bests most of the other 'classics' there and is considerably more consistent and high quality in most regards.

I don't really consider it the best in its genre outright though, there are a fair number of games that beat it on optional/end game content and freedom of choice even if their mainline experience is weaker. FFVII has a fairly decent selection of optional things, with the optional character quests for Yuffie/Vincent being some of the peaks of the game, but I definitely can't consider it the peak of the genre of the genre or even the Final Fantasy series.

>>11841512 (OP)
I hate this game. Proto Linkin Park aesthetics. Pre teen mush. Akira for kids garbagio.

>>11841521
>80% of complaints are about dialogue boxes, 2d movement and selecting units in a turn based rpg

itll get better ESL-kun

>>11841535
what do you put above it? not saying youre wrong or trying to flame here just curious.

>>11841540
>linkin park aesthetics

maybe if you just looked at the cover and never actually played a minute of the game itself. considering youre a "death metal" trip fag Im sure that was the case.

>>11841542
So combat, text, and exploration, aka 95% of the game

The people who don't like this game sure do like to talk about it a lot :)

>>11841546
Above it I would put:
FFX, for its post game, even though it's basically atrocious until you get to properly unlock the sphere grid+airship+optional summons.
Pokemon (R/G/B/Y/G/S or their remakes), which are amazing 'sandbox' games with deeper mechanics
Dragon Quest 8
FFVI's world of ruin (compared to VII's end game, though I consider its story very inferior)

If you count action RPGs than Dark Souls and possibly Kingdom Hearts

>Be me, 11 in military base in Deutschland pre 911.
>US mil kid, moved every 1-2 yrs to new people and places
>Almost 20 years later [wark?] and I still jump in my seat and scream at the screen to this fuckin game.
Yeah, it's a good military brat game. If it works it works. (read: "I just fuckin' like it").

>>11841571
>FFX post game
is there a way to actually get through without doing an insanely long grind for sphere levels and equipment? it always filters me at that point.
>DQ VIII
played this recently and it was truly a great game. some of the best dungeon/level design in general in a jrpg, and the best overworld ever (seriously why dont more games ape this style) but the story is so milquetoast and bland compared to FF7 I couldnt put it in the same category. havent played the postgame yet so Ill have to check that out.

>>11841572
>AI upscaling with non chibi field models

ISHYGDDT....

>>11841580
I make my own goddamned decisions.

I played it on launch and play it again every 3/4 years or so. have bought it at least twice on ps1 (was a shitter who didnt take care of discs), then on psp, ps3, switch and steam. every time I play it I get sucked into the world again, its never lost its magic. though these days I wouldnt play vanilla because new thread (1.5) is just superior in every way, highly reccomend for anyone looking to spice up a playthrough. it fixes all the balancing issues with 7 and gives you a fun expanded post game along with a bunch of QOL stuff and character builds.

>>11841579
>FFX
>get through without doing an insanely long grind for sphere levels and equipment?
The whole point for me was figuring stuff out yourself and just taking in the atmosphere while doing so, and discovering new layers of the game I didn't know existed as I did this.

>DQVIII
>some of the best shit
>but weak story
Yeah, this of how Dragon Quest is in general. Absolutely fantastic series in general if you're looking for a *game* where you can thoroughly explore shit and want this to be deeply rewarding on a level that you rarely get in JRPGs, but not a series you play for the plot/worldbuilding.

>>11841512 (OP)
One thing I thought was interesting was early on they were planning on naming the main female character Aerith, but it got changed to Aeris at the last minute. I wonder what changed their minds. I know it was Sony who did the translation, I wonder if there was arguing back and forth between them and Square on what the name should be, because I know Square prefers Aerith since Kingdom Hearts localization.

>>11841521
Spbp

>>11841779
Nothing was planned lol, the name is エアリス and there's no hard or fast rule about Japanese vowels when it comes to fictional names. If it was printed "Earisu" you would still argue "her name was originally Earisu" and continue to have flamewars about it.

this game has fucking flawless gameplay. you are constantly being whisked into interesting new boards, arcades, scenarios with minigames breaking up the gameplay loop. nothing feels forced or boring, there isnt a drop of padding. it doesnt waste time making you dick around playing a tutorial like you've never played pinball. from Last Stop Oblivion to The Netherworld, the entire game is "the good part" of every other pinball sim. the story itself is morally complex and mysterious right from the very beginning, and offers multiple huge payoffs and twists. every playable kiss member, including the optional ones has a meaningful arc throughout the story, and youre rewarded with unique character dialogue depending on who you bring along throughout the game. all of IRL pinball tropes are turned on their head. the atmosphere is completely unique to this day and never lets up. its dark, brooding and mature and yet funny and goofy at the time. the music is some of best and most iconic boomer soundtrack ever made. the blocky character models are obscenely outdated and yet still express tons of emotions through their animations.

I mean jesus fucking christ its just unreal how quality this is. comparable to metroid prime pinball and pokemon pinball in the sense it was the first licensed pinball game of its kind and somehow they fucking grand slam'd out the park first try, to the point where its still arguably the best game in its genre even to this day. the ONLY real flaw is that its too easy- and this is easily fixable with mods. once you do that its just insane how amazing this game STILL is.

>>11841512 (OP)
agree with everything and I wish a big budget RPG in the modern era would be as politically incorrect as FFVII

>>11841512 (OP)
best part of this game is when cloud gets ****ed by a pack of BLACK studs and then goes and gets his makeup done.

>>11841512 (OP)
JRPGs are the RDR2 of retro gaming.

>>11841850
please god just go back to /v/ or reddit.

Low standards thread

seething zoomer thread

>>11841583

Yep best J-RPG of all time

The closest to perfection

-great gameplay
-great story
-incredible pacing
-gorgeous art style
-great characters
-great optional content
-amazing soundtrack
-great dungeon

It just has everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY6AuPiD3P4

even the throwaway minor tracks like these were so damn good. Just got to the ranch on my recent playthrough and I cant get it out of my head

related note I checked out the demake version of the song and yeah.... its awful.

>>11841925
This has to be the ugliest thing

>>11841521
>Most overrated game ever.
Applies moreso to FF6

>>11841925
lmao

>>11841925
Chances are high that I beat this game before you were born; I can mod it all I fuckin' want.

>>11842202
doing this makes even less sense if you grew up playing the game. why would you ruin all the nostalgia of playing the game as it actually appeared to make it look like some third world mobile game. I mean you do you and all its not affecting me, but I get physical pain seeing anything but the original graphics, even the alleged "good" texture packs like ninostyle look like a disgrace.

>>11841512 (OP)
Kitase is a Tomino appreciator.

>>11841512 (OP)
I first played it in 2024

ATB and combat sucks, some nitpicks, but otherwise 10/10