A Tattoo of One

Right now I am, for the first time ever, playing Final Fantasy VII. Actually, I had played it before, once at Seth's house and once again when I bought a shitty PC port of the game. I have no idea how I avoided playing this for so long but here I am and god damn, it's fun.

I've put in around 23 hours or so, some of that will be times that I've stepped away or managing materia and such. So far I can see real link between my Final Fantasy VI and VII. As most people know I have been a huge fan of VI for years, proudly claiming it as my favorite. I was a doubter for sure about VII. I didn't think that the game could actually live up to it's hype. It's one game though that no one should miss out on.

While check online to see other opinions I stumbled upon a lot of others claiming that the game is overhyped and read their list of complaints.

"Too old!"

"Worst graphics ever!"

"Just another stereotypical story of a lone hero..."

While I haven't even come close to beating the game, I can clearly see the influence it has on modern games. This game cast a shadow that other games have tried to break out from. To me, that seems like a great thing! It means that developers worked that much harder to make games that truly shine. Before I get off on a tangent though, I would like to clarify something.

To all of the loose argument against this game I just need to ask, does anyone remember when this game was made? Okay, the graphics are nothing like Final Fantasy VIII but consider that this game was in production at the very early days of 64-bit graphics. In fact, I think this game looks great. The summons are fantastic as well as the backgrounds. And as for claims that the game is outdated and stereotypical I am confused. Isn't there a first for everything? Even if the story has common elements as other games, so what? That's true with any medium. Dragon Ball is based of the Monkey King, Street Fighter and King of Fighters are based on martial arts, and Clueless is just a Jane Austen story! Everything in this world is built off of something else and this is even more true in games. I think that this game deserves all of the praise it's been given of the years.

Off to figure out the mystery of the Cetra...

Posted by Bryant Jackson at 4:26 PM 2 comments    

The Only Fantasy Here is Value

After a discussion of SNES vs. PS1 RPGs last night with Bryant I mentioned that I was going to check out some ebay auction for PS1 games.

The system bore many games, one could say too many when you check the use of its bullshit meter. While plenty of mediocre and below games slithered their way into plenty of disc trays, there was also plenty of good stuff.

So I set out to quell my curiosity and possibly lighten my wallet when I discover the terrible judgment on pricing. Most lots contained bland games and were anywhere from $10 to $20 for 10 to 30 games. Fine. Anything with Final Fantasy in the name was anywhere from $60 to $80, pushing up to $200. I own most of these, yes, would I ever try to unload them onto a collector for that much. Fuck No.

Yes, Final Fantasy seems to be the top RPG series in the U.S. Yes, the games are fun and hold up with time. But they were made in such abundance. Copies of Final Fantasy VII are like stars in the sky. Bundling Final Fantasy VIII, seen as one of the weaker ones by fans (Sorry Myles), doesn't warrant the price to be that of a new-gen console.

I won't even get into how these lots still hold their price when the description informs you that you'll only get disc 2 and 3 of a 4 disc set. Or mention that the "Original RARE" Metal Gear Solid which is missing the first disc is still obviously a great buy for $20.

All I'll say is Fucking Idiots.

Posted by Seth Moore at 3:48 PM 2 comments