I totally agree, it's a shame that one needs to suffer through the game play to be able to enjoy the story line and music :P . Just kidding, it's not THAT bad. :)

Well, ok, I'll give you that Halo's pretty overhyped too. But FF7 has brought about more of a cultural impact, what with the whole opening of the Japanese market it seems...

Regardless, it's an epic game of course, but I mean indeed the minigames surrounding it that are awful, the controls are clunky and slow and the animations show their age and low production values. Most of all I find it so appalling that everyone gets so soaked about

Spoiler:

Aeris' death,

as if it were the most beautiful and important thing ever. Whereas when I played the game I thought it had little emotional impact (maybe also because I was rooting for Tifa?), and all the game newbies who entered the world of gaming obviously didn't know that there had been lots of meaningful deaths in games way before FF7. Deaths that did a lot better job of tearing me up because the story wasn't told in a rather disjointed, piecemeal way.

Spoiler:

Take for instance Westwood's Blade Runner. When Clovis dies at the end in a sickly bed reciting poetry, THEN I had to sniffle a bit. Not at some audio-less video where low-poly Sephiroth cleaves low-poly Aeris in slowmotion with a big samurai sword.

Halo, God of War, Half Life.. :P

Well,

Spoiler:

Aeris' death

was something kinda new for many players cause the only Final Fantasy game that a main character died never came out of Japan until few years ago. Not everyone gets soaked (like me) it was just an unexpected twist\moment (I too was rooting for Tifa :D ).
I played many RPG's, and imo FF VII (controls) are the same as any other RPG from PSX era or even Super NES.

And if I remember well, the only main character that died in a RPG before VII was

Spoiler:

In Chrono Trigger (Super NES) when Chrono was killed by.. i think his name was Lavus :crazy: idk .. (he was resurrected or something like that lated on anyway :P )

I thought one of the FF retrospectives specifically mentioned one of the main characters dying, even noting it as a FF death that came before VII. I don't remember which one it was, maybe IV?

Anyways, FFVII was one of the first games I played that left a big impact. I tend to think a little less of Japanese RPGs (never liked random encounters, especially), but FFVII will always have a place in my gamer heart.

And I didn't really care about

Spoiler:

Aeris's death,

either. I always liked Tifa more.

Its was V and it was only released outside Japan as Final Fantasy Anthropology in 1999.. VII was released in 1997. :)

Whatever. As a side note, as a result of these videos I've started Metroid Zero Mission and am surprisingly into it. My first Metroid game.

ok, why is Dale Baldwin putting her death with a spoiler tag?
Final Fantasy VII Retro video talks about it ...

You're assuming people reading this thread have watched that video. It is a spoiler, and should be tagged as such (given I'm playing FFVII on and off at the moment, I was unaware of that particular spoiler until today).

But this thread is about the videos ..

oh well, it wont happen again :)

The retrospectives at GameTrailers are awesome. If you haven't watched the Zelda retrospective, I highly recommend it. When I watched it, I'd never played a Zelda game since the first NES one, and afterwards I ended up buying Twilight Princess for the Wii and loving it.

Metroid Retro

Part III - DS and Wii - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23700.html

Finished up Metroid Zero Mission and have started Hunters. Loved Zero Mission.

I want to get a Wii so bad.

Zero Mission is great! Don't know about Hunter though. I think it's a pretty different game.

Yea it's alright, but definitely more shooter than anything else. I've started Fusion and am definitely more enthralled with that game. I mean wow, it's definitely the most atmospheric side-scroller I've ever played. Love the music.

Final Fantasy Retro:

Part VI - VIII & IX - http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23726.html

Never played VIII cause i dont like love stories..
IX sucked big time imo, the only god thing about it was the awesome card game. :P

Seriously? I thought 9 was the most charming and charmingly designed of all Final Fantasy games. Graphicwise the most appealing in any case. Far preferable to the more modern realistic style of 10-12.

I liked both, actually. Granted I only played them when they first came out back when I was rather small. But the love story in VIII captured me as did the charm of IX. Plus I really liked both female protagonists (personality-wise). I always remember the stories more than the game play with these games.

Come on! IX looks like it was made for kids.
And the story was nowhere near VI, VII or X..

And Psychonauts is obviously a kid game too? And Happy Tree Friends, ooh the colourful design, it must be a kid series?

Sarcasm aside, I like the style and I resent your narrow view that it must be for children just because it's cute and charming. Just go play Gears of War already and rub shoulders with sweaty bulky He-men ;)

IX is probably my favorite yet after playing FFVII-FFX-2. I believe it's the game that have the most developed main characters, the best music, and some of the best minigames (although I completely skipped the cardgame in IX, the one in VIII was so much more fun and rewarding to play). The game mechanics are also the best except for XII. I do not see at all why you would have to be a kid to enjoy it. Im 30 and FFIX made me both laugh and cry all the time.

So far I believe VIII have the most rewarding story, it's only weakness is the draw/junction system. While it was great for it's time, the only advantage VII have over the rest of the series for me is the large character gallery and how well it managed to expand the story for most of them including the villians. It is a great game, but the rest of the series have qualities that do pass part VII. X & X-2 are excellent FF games, just not as great as the rest.