I hate how gamers don't mention or appreciate Final Fantasy 8 for what it was. I wish it has the cult following like Final Fantasy 7 and 9 do. All 3 were fantastic.
People act too cool for FF7 these days, but when you play it as an adult, years and years after all the hype, you really see how special it is and why it made such a huge impact. Sure, it's dated in some parts, but it really had the perfect receipt to explode the way it did. Beyond excited for the remake
I have no nostalgia whatsoever for the game and only played it quite recently, but it was amazing. Sure, it has those blocky graphics and hard-to-see level layouts, but it has an amazing plot. I am truly excited for the remake because they can finally perfect the game.
the first part of the first disc is ridiculously good, gotta admit. The second part of the game is not as memorable / immersive as you're just chasing sephiroth around. But man, that introduction to midgar is a masterclass in immersive gaming
As an RPG fan growing up in the 90s I can back up what Johnny and Rob said in this video. RPGs were underground titles in Australia and some only got the bare amount of press: Magazine reviews and maybe a tv spot on "the Zone". Most of them however you found out about their existence when you saw them on the video/game store shelf. Final Fantasy VII was a different story , it was advertised everywhere. In fact it was the first ever RPG to get an ad on Australian TV , I was blown away. When the game come out my family only hired it out once then bought it straight afterwards. We all played it inside and out for the remainder of 1997 and well into 1998. What really shocked me though was that at school the same douchebag kids who gave me crap for loving RPGs (and most Japanese video games in general) loved FFVII , it was a phenomenon.
For everyone hating on ff7, it might not be the most amazing game for mechanics, graphics, story,etc, but it basically like he said rocked the gaming world. It might not have the same effect today but you can still feel it when you pick it up today. I love this game so much
The only thing that comes close on my mind would be Breath of the Wild. But even then, ff7 was on another level of hype considering it was many people's first forray into 3d gaming as a whole. The only other games comparable would be Mario 64 or LoZ: Ocarina of Time
I bought the game when it was released but I don't think I pre-ordered it. I know Dave did because I remember him wearing that damn shirt. He wore it proudly in public. Not sure if he'd do that these days. But anyway I got it and I enjoyed it up until the point where I had Cloud running around dressed up as a girl for some reason. I remember thinking "When am I going to get to the damn overworld? Does this game even have one? This game is sure long-winded. Where is the pacing?" Yes, I had an editor's mentality even back then. I got bored and started playing other games most likely but I remember not having enough interest in the game to keep playing. I eventually traded it in or sold it probably for some other game that bored me like Burning Rangers (a game where I've never even been able to make it past level 1 due to the awful controls and ambiguous goals). Anyway I own the game again, black label version and maybe I'll try it again someday. I recently played through the opening and I died on the first boss so that wasn't encouraging. Dave found the game sealed (black label version) in a thrift store for a few bucks once and sold it on eBay for like 3 million dollars or something.
Man, I love you guys. Is it bad I read this post in Joe's voice be default, not knowing he was writing it? Sorry Dave. Gotta be a Sega fanboy thing. ;)
You guys praise RPG's - JRPG's to no end, yet Joe dies to the first boss in FF7. Classic. It's like admitting to dying on the first goomba in Mario. In all honesty once the world map hits shortly into the first disk the game really takes off. I was so engrosed by the game as a kid that my parents dropped something silly (120-150 bucks?) for the game and strategy guide. Mind you I was 8 years old at the time and had only played FF2 (4) prior to it. Great game, great memories. I even made a life long best friend from that game.
I bought my first playstation system because of the commercial for Final Fantasy 7. I went out bought the system a memory card an extra controller and another game, (so my brothers could play the system too) then I got so involved in Final Fantasy 7 that I was getting tired of my brothers bugging me when they could play the game, so I went out the next weekend and bought another system another memory card and another controller so they could leave me alone so I could play Final Fantasy 7 without being bothered.
I was 15, with an N64. I was supposed to go with my school drama class that evening to see a play in London. When Mum got me to school, I'd missed the bus to the theatre, so we went to our family friends' house instead. This old friend of mine always got everything first & he was playing FF7. I watched him. That was it! I HAD TO HAVE a Playstation with FF7 for Xmas. "You CHOSE the N64! No!!" my Mum would always say but I begged her constantly. She finally gave in. But Sony were doing limited stocks on PS1s that year (getting trickles in on random deliveries: 1st come 1st served). I was frantically calling round all the shops. On Xmas Eve, a shop a few towns away finally told me they were expecting a delivery. Mum went in with my Nan, telling me beforehand, "Whatever happens, you have to be grateful for what you get for Xmas". She came home later. "Sorry Ryan". I was sad but at least I had time to get used to it. I opened a couple of James Bond videos, which I started watching & tried to forget FF7. "I AM grateful for what I got" I told myself. Mum sent me up for a bath before Xmas dinner. As I was drying… "Ryan! There's a present you haven't opened yet!!" I came down & even wrapped up I knew what it was. I nearly cried to see a PS1 and FF7: She'd hidden them in the dishwasher the day before! The other Bond video was put on hold & I was locked in my room, never to be seen by my family until the Xmas holidays finished.
SLAY3R Thanks man. Yeah, it was a time where we weren’t FLOODED with choice and no real internet (so no digital versions). So we’d rinse games one at a time. It was great!
*A note to all the people who read through the comments... Pay no attention to the people who try and tell the rest of us what is over or under rated, what is good or bad, what is the best or not... these people have no idea what the word "opinion" means and think they can shove their "opinions" down everyone elses throat. Bottom line is that each individual person has their own thoughts and feelings about the game and there's not a single person in or out of existence who's personal opinions should affect any one elses. Haters, say what you want, but your opinions are yours and yours alone. FF7
What a lot of people, now don't understand is that when this game came out- there was not anything like it. As they said you start with a cinematic that goes right into gameplay so smoothly like that? That wasn't done at all back then. Many people, like myself came off of the previous generation of consoles, Genesis/Megadrive and SNES to this game that uses polygons and full motion video. Hell, even on the competition console the 64 this kind of thing wasn't happening- yes they had 3D but not the same video capabilities then. It went across 3 discs, how many games on a console did that? Yes PC had many floppy disks or CDs but console? Hell no. Yes, today there's a lot like it which for those going back now and playing it makes it less special but for those of us who played it then were wowed and we understand why it's impressive still. That's what many don't get when going into this, or the Half Life series, at that time this stuff was unique and amazing. If you can't set yourself in that mindset, it likely won't wow you. Which is fine but- this is that great answer to all those who say "I don't get why people like this game so much" ^ the above is why.
Wenceslao Futanaki while technically speaking PS1 had the distorted texture issue, to me it looked better 9/10 times because of more texture variety and less blurry textures in the first place. I disagree entirely, I grew up with both and FFVII to me was a far superior game mainly because it communicated emotion and it's story better than FFVI. Cyan loses his family and his anger is expressed by his sprite bouncing off other sprites to show combat and rage vs Cloud raising his sword to a friend struggling against an unseen force and backs off, only for him to watch the friend get struck down, the antagonist smirking right at him, he holds the character as she passes and she's buried there. Far more better emotion communicated and a better told story because of it. 6 entirely lost what it was trying to tell, you got to watch Terra struggle to find out who or what she is, find out her crazy past only to...drop her as the main focus for a thief & paladin to take the spot light and they wrap up her story quickly. Feel free to disagree but owning both, growing up with both I never enjoyed FFVI as much as VII. Limitations even taken into account there's an RPG on the Genesis that I feel told it's story & showed loss even better than VI.
Afriend ofyours For anyone who can see past the graphics they'll see it's the emotional involvement you get with the story that still makes it a great game.
+Wenceslao Futanaki Your preaching to the choir my friend. I drunk the cool aid on FF7 until the first disc ended. Disc 2 and 3 kinda lulled in the momentum. 6 was by for the best of the series. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy 7 but had no urge to replay it when it was done. Also so why I am not to hyped about the remake of 7. it might look better but I am not really compelled to revisit the story.
That sounds like an amazing experience the two of you had. . . I'm trying to think if I ever had a build up like that before, and for me, I think it was the vanilla release of WoW. WarCraft was the very 1st RTS I played and the series instantly became my favorite, along with StarCraft, Diablo, and eventually WoW! Those 1st few months in WoW were the first months ever in an MMORPG for me and it absolutely blew my mind!
Side note. . . If you do play computer games and you're into RTS or Turn Based Strat, I would HIGHLY recommend "Age of Wonders III", it is by far the BEST Strat game I have played in a looooong while. 2 Thumbs Up, 5 Stars, and the WHOLE NINE, I can't recommend it enough! Let's just say that I spent 10+ hours and 109 turns just on the very 1st Introduction Level, doing every possible thing I could.
Oh how I miss the days of Playstation Underground, all those demos and videos making me excited for new games, good times. I recall playing the FF7 demo on a Square demo disc that also had a Bushido Blade demo on it.
I first played FF VII when I was 15 years old, in 2006.My friend landed me the game and I could not believe that an almost 10 years old game was that great. Totally changed my perspective of gaming. I was so into the game that I did everything, I was playing 6+ hours a day. I beat all the Weapons!!!! So good so see such excitement in other people too.
I remember the hype for this was off the wall. And I had dabbled in it several times over the years, but I didn't actually get around to playing and completing it until about a year or 2 ago. Dear god! I wish I had done that sooner. That game is phenomenal!!!
I had been playing it off/on for about ten years, and would always get to the crater and not really know what to do with myself, and out of stubbornness, refused to grind. Started that game when I was fourteen. Didn't beat it till I was twenty-five.
Guys! Thanks for reminding me that I used to own that shirt...and the fact that I actually stole that cannon ad off of a subway...AND then, while in my friend's car, we were mistaken for armed drug dealers and were pulled over by the cops...LOTS of them. I had the cannon ad on me and they pressed hard on where I got it from. I didn't cave...said I bought it from a video store..."Hey Copper, you ain't goin' take my sweet FFVII subway ad away from me, you fuck!"
Final Fantasy VII hype was a crazy thing. The way I remember it, the very first thing I ever saw was a one page preview in an old EGM or GamePro magazine, I can't remember which. It was just a simple preview saying the game was in development and it had maybe one or two tiny screenshots. That was when I first learned about the internet. We didn't have it yet, but my friend did. I remember going over to his house and trying to find every single bit of FFVII information and artwork we could. I had pages of information from an old website printed out and stored in a folder that I looked through constantly. And the day the game came out, I remember it being a friday for some reason, I had to wait for after school AND after the Friday night high school football game to get over with because I was in the marching band that played at halftime. I wore that shirt constantly too.
This video brought back so many memories. The release of this game was amazing. First was seeing the screenshots in the magazines over and over. Then I was going to my local store every day the week they told me was going to be released. And when I started playing the game was an experience like none other at the time.
i love that you guys shared your thoughts because i wasn't old enough to be there around that time but i still remember my story on how i got to finally play final fantasy 7.
I agree with Rob that the pre-internet days of gaming hype were just fantasy-enducing. You had to imagine what everything was going to be like because there were barely any videos that portrayed games. Except for video game tv commercials, which came on like once a day, only on specific channels. I think the internet hype for video games is exciting as well. I remember when Resistance3 was announced, I was so eager for it, watching every video, looking at every screenshot, and read every article I could find about it. Not to mention the Super Smash Dojo for when Brawl was coming out. Every gamer was on that
I was still fairly young at the time (11) but I will never forget begging my parents to go to a Target, of all places, because they constantly ran the TV spot ad in their electronic section. I agree that the internet has destroyed most of that feeling. I do remember the last two games i felt it for were Oblivion and Skyrim. Great video guys! Brought back some great memories.
While I was around back when VII first came out, I generally didn't get consoles until they were a few years old (hell, I still don't). I didn't even know the Playstation was a thing until like '97, when a friend and I were talking about the SNES, and he started talking about this new machine he had that could play 3D games. So I didn't play VII until around 1999, with IX being the first game in the series that I got at release (and the first game that I actually had interest in before it came out). But even in '99, the hype for VII was enormous. Even two years later, people were STILL talking about the game all the damn time. I first saw the game when I went over to a friend's house. He was going through the Kalm flashback at the time, and was at the point where Sephiroth slashes Tifa. Cloud runs into the back, and the cutscene started where Sephiroth tears the Jenova facade out of the way so that he can get a look at his 'mother'. That was probably the first pre-rendered cutscene I'd ever watched, and I was hooked immediately. That friend was nice enough to bring the game over to my house the next day, and let me start a file. He brought it over every day for like a month or two and let me play, before finally I did enough chores that I had the money to buy my own copy. That was by far the most exciting purchase I've ever had, when I got out of school and my mom was waiting in the car with the game. I've had like three copies since then, with many poor choices in friends leading to broken or stolen games. I spent so much time playing my first file on that game. The clock topped out at 99 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds LONG before I did everything. I spent like a month trying to beat Gi Nattak in Cosmo Canyon, and at least two months trying to defeat the Materia Keeper on Mt. Nibel (VII was the first turn-based J-RPG I'd played). I spent almost a year trying to defeat Emerald Weapon, playing the game every day after school. When I wasn't playing it, I was acting out the imaginary sequel using Legos or out in the yard with my friends. When I was in school I was constantly drawing things related to the game, and even made my own Pokemon-esque trading card game based on it. When I finally did find access to the internet, I printed out pages and pages of guides and secrets. I tried every imaginable method for reviving Aeris, and raced my gold Chocobo 999 times in a row in order to breed him with another gold Chocobo in order to get the brown 'flying' chocobo that didn't exist. I spent like ten hours straight in the tunnels after jumping off of the subway train (on the way to blow up the second reactor), fighting the Shinra soldiers down there, having been told that eventually Zack would show up and join the party. I combed every damned screen for hours and hours, looking for the Enemy-All Materia that was shown in the booklet. The booklet translation seemed to claim that said Materia would do whatever command it was paired with, as well as attack the enemy at the same time. I didn't find out until later that it was just an early name for the regular All Materia. I rammed files into the ground using Gameshark codes, so that I could use (and control) Sephiroth, gain Aeris after the first disc, have my limit bars automatically fill up, etc. I even memorized the Debug Mode. I went through that game probably a dozen times just in the first two years of owning it, and yet I still didn't understand it until I was in high school. One of the best parts (due to the terrible translation combine with the inner workings of my tween mind) was speculating and forming plots in my head based on what few things I did understand in the game. The combat is totally unbalanced nowadays, the translation is crap, and it's not exactly the best looking game by today's standards. But damn if it isn't amazing regardless. I still play it all the time, and probably have over 5000 hours and 30 playthroughs in it. I go through VII, VIII, and IX at least once a year. Final Fantasy VII is a large part of who I am today, and I love it for all of its beauty and its flaws.
Man, I wish I was born back then! This video was awesome! I actually tweeted both of you. I met you yesterday. (I was the one with the BMO hat.) It was awesome!!!!
I LOVE your entusiasm! When I first played FFVII it was already around 10 years old so it's really interesting to hear you guys gush about it from your perspective.
I've got a semi-interesting story, not about myself, I was 3 when FFVII came out, it's about one of my former co-workers. I was talking to him about video-games and how I see them as an artform and that games are possibly the most important medium to this day, and he starts talking about how the only game he's ever really played was Final Fantasy VII, and how he told his friend that he'd just try it and suddenly 3 hours had gone by. I thought it was interesting because he's not the type you'd think would get into a JRPG.
I remember hearing about a game that was 3 disc long. And I was curious, so I asked for FF7 for my 12th birthday. Blew me away. FF use to have this magical feeling when you played them. Last time I felt that was with FFX, haven't felt it since.
I remember my dad got it for me on my 13th birthday and had no clue what it was, when I got to leaving Midgar I was amazed the game carried on, I was so used to short games this was a pleasent surprise for me
This game came 100% out of left field for me (and by left field, I mean my best friend from down the street) I was 10 years old (2002) I had never heard of Final Fantasy, I had a playstation for 1 game (croc, and the legend of the gabo's) and then I went to my friends house for the first time, and he turned on his TV, saying i had to see this game. It was the 2nd stage of the final fight with Seph. I can not tell you how blown my mind was. This game made me love turn based combat, story, character growth, drama, and leveling stats to this day. I have never beaten disk 1, and yet this is how much this game affected my life. I wish I had been old enough to see those trailers, and have the hype, and see those ads. But little 5 year old me didn't know anything more than sonic 3, and Spiderman (the good one) on the Genisis. I thank my friend for giving me the love for this game, and the whole of RPG's. It has lead me to LoZ, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, Rouge Galaxy, and SO much more. Thank you guys for doing this video, and reminding me of how much I love this game.
When my Older brother came home with this game, he bought me Sonic and Knuckles so he could play FF7 in peace (I loved to talk to watch and talk to him while he played games). Pretty awesome big brother.
I was 15 (i think) when i saw a ff7 review on tv. I thought to myself, man i wish i could play that. 2 years later i get a job, first paycheck i buy a playstation and ff7. Best game of all time imo :)
I think the reason Final Fantasy 7 was so big was b/c it was the first really accessible rpg that many people played. Most people had no experience with RPG's before FF7
I bought FFVII and the strategy guide as a birthday present for me when the game came out and my brother and I were just amazed with how amazing this was. I still have it in my collection (sans strategy guide) and it's still awesome to play to this day. The experiences you guys have shared are quite similar to the ones I have from back in the day and I still get chills when I start up the game and watch the opening cinematic. In my opinion, this game should be in every gamer's library. Great vid, Johnny and Rob!
i was there when this game came out! I love it so much! to this day its my fav final fantasy! I geeked out so hard playing the remake! I love watching this video, you guys make me feel the hype again
Final Fantasy VI brought me more into JRPG games. When this game came out I was expecting it to be big but I did not expect the hype to be so big that it brought more gamers into JRPGs. Not to mention PS1 was still relatively new and I was thinking as well how could Final Fantasy leave Nintendo. At the time I did not have a PS1 so I was waiting for this game to be on PC. Eventually it did and I played this game on a slow computer 200 MHz with may be 16 mb ram. It took me over 160 hours to beat the game. Usually took me 40 minutes to summon Knights of the Round from end to finish. I remember fighting the Emerald weapon took me almost 4 hours. In a sense when I finally got to play this game on a PS1 I was blown away with how fast it really was supposed to play as. Thanks for sharing your story I really enjoyed it.
Sadly I couldnt experience the hype since I celebrated my 2nd birthday when that game came out lol. But i can imagine the hype. Your stories are so amazing and the way you tell them always get me sucked in. Keep it up :D
FF7 along with a few other games like Megal Gear Solid were games that really sold PlayStations. That was really a fun time in gaming! You had seemingly loyal 3rd party developers leaving Nintendo and they created these amazing games that we now consider some of the best of all time.....imagine if SquareSoft decided that they didn't want to leave the safety of Nintendo's nest and decided not to make FF7 or worse, trim the game down and cram it onto a cartridge...Blah.
I'll never forget buying Final Fantasy vii for the first time. My older brother and I went to Target one day, looking for games, and my brother said something like "you would probably like Final Fantasy," so I bought it. Up until that point, I had never even played an RPG before. I thought it was amazing back then, and I still think it's amazing today. Final Fantasy VII changed my life forever.
Amazing views Rob and Johnny. I remember playing this tons at my friend, Gareths, house. I never owned my copy until later. The series seems to have gone off on a tangent now. After FFX I lost some drive for the series.
Listening to you guys talking about this game and the good old days made me so happy. I miss those days! I love FFVII, it was my first FF and I played every FF released since then.
You had the younger years I wish I had. I had a couple friends that got me into Final Fantasy (7 was my introduction) but only had one other instance of hanging out with friends and playing FF. That was when 13 came out, but you guys had it in the heydey.
I have to tell you that I am so glad you guys are from my era!!! The smell, feel and taste of games back then was something NOBODY ever again will EVER experience...when the PS1 first came out I was sure it was alien technology, maybe because of the pot we were smoking back then but the magic of this machine fit in with the magic of that time of my life and this game is better than ANYTHING released in the last 10 years! Still love your show......all the best from Australia......I was born in March 1977 and we would have been GREAT friends if not for geography, PEACE
I agree/ Pre-Internet era in gaming was great. Especially for RPG's at the time. The internet is like a double edge sword. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.
While I was never around for the hype of VII, there is one game I can share the enthusiasm on: Kingdom Hearts II. Didn't use the internet, only saw ads for it. And for my birthday, I got two issues of EGM. I should explain that there was 4 different covers of the same issue, I remember getting the Halloween Town version and another version that I can't quite remember off the top of my head. I used to flip through the pages, read every single piece of tidbit of info about it, look at every screenshot. Just dreaming about what it would be like. Another great episode Johnny and Rob!
Loved the video guys. Was great to hear how you came about getting this classic title. For me the hype and playing the game was amazing too. However, I find that it has gone the other way these days with this game. People hype it more now than back in the day. And going back and playing it now I find the game has aged pretty bad. I prefer the memories to playing it again these days. Amazing game and still one of my all time top 10's games for sure ;)
THIS is the definition of passion in gaming!!! I used to go watch my friend play this all the time...have me goosebumps! The crazy thing is that i didn't even know what final fantasy was!
I've always come to expect some really awesome stories from you guys. Unfortunately, there really was no hype for me leading into final fantasy VII because I didn't play it until 3 years after its release. I feel pretty grateful, that nothing was ever spoiled to me since I went three years without playing the game. It was a wonderful gaming experience, and its the first playstation title I ever owned and thankfully that game is completed to 100%. I have vivid memories of being blown away by the television commercials but it was very painful to know at that time that I wouldn't be able to play it anytime soon. I wonder what were your impressions about a certain death in the game, and I would love to see a part 2 of this video of what things in your game blew your mind the most with regards to summons, story elements, fmv's and things along those lines.
slept over for the weekend at my friend Logan's house, we had the game and strategy guide and plenty of junk food. no gaming experience compares to us wortking through that game, we beat it by the end of the weekend somehow. then it was time for my solo playthru, got my own copy and mastered the fuck out of it, grades suffered in highschool from it and i wouldn't change a thing :D absolute all time favorite game, just masterful. i doubt any game promotion/release will ever capture the magic this had, just pouring over tidbits of info in magazines was absolutely epic
Watched this while eating some late-night Jack-in-the-Box. What a treat! I was a 7th grader in 1997 and somehow managed to be the first person to rent FF7 from our local video place (it was called Videotron--ah, memories!). The fact that it was on 3 discs just completely blew my adolescent mind, and the cinematics mesmerized me for days. I didn't even get through the first disc that weekend because I spent so much time replaying parts just to experience them again! It wasn't until that Christmas that I got my very own copy, and my best friend and I had countless sleep-overs playing through the game and talking about the story. Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane. Now to listen to some Cosmo Canyon music...
I love watching your show! Watching your show brings back nostalgia of the guys I hung around at high school, and their passion for video games was like mine. I subscribed! :)
Being from the UK this was my first experience with the Final Fantasy series, sure i could have imported and bought an adapter etc for the SNES games but money and just the the mass knowledge of the series wasn't readily accessible at the time. I just knew it was from the same people that gave us Secret of Mana, it was on the console i was saving for and it had some of the best cinematics i'd seen in any game...which is saying a lot given how much i was into PC gaming at the time. The gaming magazine i bought at the time had a VHS packaged with it just to show off the damn game! I bought my playstation, without a bloody memory card i might add, rented FF7 from the local video store and spent the weekend playing FF7. My PS1 was so damn hot by the end of it i was sure it was going to break! You guys are so right about the pre-internet days though, it really gave the games a mystique that we will never see again. It really built up the hype and made you want the game even more. Great vid though guys, it really brought back a few memories i had kind of forgotten about.
I remember those commercials back in 97, I didn't know what Final Fantasy was but the game looked epic ...I was in college and people who were playing it would be on campus taking about their gameplay experience, they'd be geeking out, figured I got to try this out!
I hope in a few decades, I'll look back and talk about Final Fantasy XV like you are with Final Fantasy VII. I was too young to appreciate Final Fantasy VII.
I definitely remember the hype being incredible. I remember the commercials which, in the States anyway, played during a few NFL games. That struck me as unusual and made the game seem monumental, especially considering it was a JRPG. When it was released, I recall its popularity spreading out over a so many different groups of kids in school. The hard core got it first and could not stop talking about it. My group of friends, mostly fighting and sports game players at the time, didn't get it initially, but picked it up after a few months, and then we could not stop talking about it and retelling our in game experiences from the previous evening. I introduced it to a friend who avoided games, but once we popped it into his sister's Playstation, he got addicted and played it non-stop through the summer of 98. Playing FF VII was so magical. It might be my favorite gaming memory.
The game came out when I was four years old. I remember seeing it in a video rental store and I used to rent it all the time. Probably the biggest game of my childhood second to Pokemon Yellow. I'll probably go back through the game once I am finished with FFX HD. You guys should do a FFX video if you haven't already as well. Also.. really missing Johnny on the AGG podcast! Hope to see you there again soon man.
Great video Rob and Johnny, its great to hear all of your stories :). I look at the past to all the releases for a new FF game, like 7, 8, 9 and 10, and I remember thinking the same thing for every one of those games "Wow, a new FF game, this is going to be amazing, the story, the characters, the music, the world, everything, I cant wait to play this game and immerse my self in it, the journey its going to be awesome" Let me tell you something, that thought, that feeling is now gone, I havent feel the same for any of the new so called Final Fantasy games, and that really saddens me, because I know that regardless of what will happen in the future, I will never get that feeling again for a FF game, not even for FFXV (aka Versus).
Haha that was Alpha Omega Sin that did the "Shit or Get Off the Pot" video. Great shit! This game means sooo much to me its unreal, the only other games that reach its greatness are Castlevania - Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy III (US). Great vid guys!
FFVII is for me on of the biggest reasons I'm eternally glad I went M/Drive, SNES, PS1 ... I still consider my self a SEGA fanboy .. But the PS1 Blew my mind. " Segata Sanshiro " ????
My friends and I were all pretty much PC gamers by this time...But we were still very much excited for this and swept into the hype. Thankfully the PC port was right around the corner.
Gamefan definitely sold me on FFVII, some of the later layouts by Takuhi and Nick Rox were just... ART! First RPG I got on launch day. Took it home and immediately my Playstation started stuttering during cutscenes and freezing during gameplay (I had one of the first Playstation models, you know, the ones that work better upside down after some use, but I didn't know that at the time). Eventually I just ended up getting a new system to play the game with.
Hey Johnny, great work, man. Love the show. You should start making videos dedicated to those shelves in the back. I'm trying to read your SNES titles, but can't identify them. You should start making one episode per shelf going over what games you already have.
Omg I love your stories. :) you guys remind me of my cousin who was so in deep with FF7 - FF8. This game came out around the time when I was just a 10 year old kid who was completely blowb away by the Playstation.
Solid 14 minute video. I had to wait until January 1998 to play this game. My mom was in the US and I was in the Philippines at the time. A lot of the things said in this video I totally get it.
This game review brings some serious memories. Me and my brother paid $30 for the demo disk to FF7 when it was released with Tobal no.1 from the local game store. I was the first to beat FF7 over him and he was the hardcore Final Fantasy gamer haha. I actually beat Sephiroth by luck. I forgot to debarrier Septhiroth at the begining of the fight which would have beat him within seconds being I had all my materia's maxed out at like disk 2 I think it was lol. Anyways I had Knights Of The Round and all the others goodies but I was taking Sephiroth head on during that battle and changed Vincent into the beast and man sure enough did I luck out Vincent landed a final blow to Sephiroth at the end before dieing. My brother was like holy shit you beat him man haha. Good good memories (Btw great work and videos guys. Thanks for sharing this! I feel ya on the hype it was!)
I have a terrible confession. I have only played about 15 minutes of Final Fantasy VII. My Mom's boyfriend (who I played Playstation with, I had an N64) and I went and rented it and another game. After needed a change of pace from the other game I put in FF7 and loaded his save file before I started a game, just to get a little peek. I thought it was cool, but got sidetracked by whatever and never got to play it again. In case you haven't picked up on it, I can't even remember the name of the other game that I played over FF7... I can't picture it... Can't tell you if it was an adventure, fighting, fps, etc... I just know that it was the game I played instead of FF7. I went ahead and beat the first one about a year ago and I decided that its finally time for me to go back and address this problem.
My first game from the Final Fantasy series was X and that game to this day remains my favorite. I've played through 7, 12, 14, 13 and all its sequels and i'm working on 6 and 4 right now. 7 didn't really do it for me, it was a good game for sure and I love a lot of the characters, but 10 was just incredible to me. 14 has really grown on me too, I'm amazed by how addictive it is. My subscription ran out and i'm having withdrawal symptoms haha. All of these final fantasy games are great though, each has their own bit of nostalgia to it, there are memories that we build together through these games and you guys are showing that beautifully. yeah, you guys look nerdy, but you know what? we're all nerds and i'm damn proud of it.
LOL, I'm replaying this game before I saw this! I love the atmosphere this FF has. With a subwoofer this time around, I got so creeped out during the lead-up to Sephiroth's change at Shinra mansion. Back in the day I'd stare at the CGs with each person's respective background. So much character in those even if I can't see faces. Those are still some of my favorite FF CGs.
I was 14 or 15yo I think, and 3 of my closest friends also had the Playstation, all waiting Christmas to get our new games, but one of them got FFVII just when it was released here in Europe, in November... well, my friend was obviously playing the hell of that game, and only lent it us when he reached the 2nd CD, but then we had to share the game, giving it to another friend after 2 or 3 days. I still remember that month before Christmas, it was like we were sharing the same story, playing almost at the same time... that's the kind of things that makes you love games.
Amazing episode, You guys really took me back to 1997 for 14 min through the nostalgic story telling. Also thanks for taking the time to talk/take pics at the Van retro gaming expo yesterday, Definitely my highlight moment from the event. - Antonio
Man, I remember the shock of hearing for the first time that Final Fantasy was not going to be on the next Nintendo console. 4:17 The nostalgia chills seeing that PS Underground demo disc. I need to see if I can find mind. That is awesome to have. 9:50 I used to wear my FF7 shirt all the time. I don't still have mine. :( Funny thing, before I got FF7, I didn't have many games for the PS1. So I didn't have a memory card... FF7 was the reason I got my first memory card. :P Another little story about the game, I remember playing a demo in the store. And before I knew it, I had about 10 kids huddled up watching me play the game. It was pretty cool. ;) Great stories, guys! Great memories! :)
I wad in 8th grade , i remember watching the commercials thinking it was the most amazing thing ever. I bought it with my money and a memory card , I got home and put it in. Now mind you I thought the game would be like all the cut scenes ... So at first I had never played any rpg especially turned based ... After just couple of hours in I was hooked like crack ... Still my favorite game to this day I love it !!!
4:44 is the screenshot I saw of the Mako Reactor in the buildup to FF7's launch. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, or at least one of the most beautiful, and I was awestruck that a video game could produce an image like that. I loved FF7's art design, coloring, lighting, atmosphere, and mood even before I ever played it. I too saw a Midgar foldout map and was just dumbstruck at its creativity.
This was at a time where I rather spent my money on weed and chased girls instead of gaming. But I had the PS1 with no games (only a demo cd) for half a year or such and I saw it on TV, so I went and bought it. Afterwards, I never went party on the weekends again. I just sat at home and played this game. Every saturday evening tons of people came over and played with me. And of course smoked too much weed. It was the point where I went back to being a full-fledged gamer. And that time where Aeris died was the most traumatic moment of my teens. I still have my PS1 CDs, but rebought it on Steam aaaand on the PSN Store for the Vita. Have to play now. Still love it to this day.
God.. when it came out in Belgium, i was lining up in the store called "FNAC" in Brussels and i didn't go to school that day!! (and seems a lot didn't go neither :D)
This was my first Final Fantasy game. Never heard of them before, but was hyped by the magazines talking about it. I had just bought a PS1 as I began to realise that SEGA were failing in Europe with the Saturn. I had a similar experience when I preordered the game. Got a call to say it was in and drove to the store to buy it. Went home and was blown away. This was by far away the best RPG I had played up to this point. The rest is history
I bought this game just a week after it launched. I played the demo first that was included with Tobal no.1 and so I was really looking forward to the whole thing. I also recieved a VHS tape in the mail with those interviews. Guess I was on the mailing list, gratefully! Anyway, I traded a few of my old games to get credit because I didn't have a lot of money at the time. I got from EB Games at the time(be fore Gamestop raped and killed it!) and got them game and went home, I was happy. It was a good experience! But yeah, the hype was ridiculous! I don't remember FFIII/VI getting this much hype in the US at the time! This is what helped made jrpg's more popular outside Japan, IMO. Good video, guys!
you guys are the fucking reason I love youtube... you are utterly incredible... I did the same to the ff8 demo as u did johnny to this demo... love ur channel, love this vid... rock the hell on - much gamer love from Toronto!
This video truly made my day, or night considering it's 4 in the morning. xD I remember I got this legendary game for Christmas in 1997. I was 10 years old. It was definitely the most memorable Christmas of my life. This was my first official RPG and never again have I played a more epic RPG. Well, Final Fantasy VIII was just as epic to me, but VII is where it all began. Never again will there be a greater time for video games in my opinion.
The first video game commercial I ever saw on tv was for this game. So the hype was real here in Finland too. The ad was made to look like a movie trailer and between awesome cinematics the text went something like "They said this movie couldn't be done... It would be impossible... That's because.. IT IS. Final Fantasy VII"
I hate how gamers don't mention or appreciate Final Fantasy 8 for what it was. I wish it has the cult following like Final Fantasy 7 and 9 do. All 3 were fantastic.
I agree! Final fanatasy was really good!. I think people disliked it becuz of the draw system but its not to bad! Enjoyed the game very much!!!
I agree with you that 8 was great but I do think the general public consider it the weakest of the 3 by a significant margin
8 never had the cultural relevance or machine behind it..7 was so massive, 8 never had a chance to live up to it
1(nes), 4,6,8(ps1)the best.
Every human being deserves the amazing friendship you and rob have!
People act too cool for FF7 these days, but when you play it as an adult, years and years after all the hype, you really see how special it is and why it made such a huge impact. Sure, it's dated in some parts, but it really had the perfect receipt to explode the way it did. Beyond excited for the remake
Well said, I'm 39 and replaying this game on PS4 as I write this message lol. One of the best games of my lifetime!!!
Impending Doom Currently playing it for the 5th time.
I have no nostalgia whatsoever for the game and only played it quite recently, but it was amazing. Sure, it has those blocky graphics and hard-to-see level layouts, but it has an amazing plot. I am truly excited for the remake because they can finally perfect the game.
I started with FF X on the Vita, and even though I pretty much love almost all Final Fantasy games, id still say that FFVII is up there with the best.
the first part of the first disc is ridiculously good, gotta admit.
The second part of the game is not as memorable / immersive as you're just chasing sephiroth around.
But man, that introduction to midgar is a masterclass in immersive gaming
I remember when this launched, such a golden age in gaming :)
MauriXio EX75 aka MoChi Except music for some people. Honestly 50's>60's>80's>70's>anything after.
Nah man 1770's is where its at. Beethoven is my jam mate
As an RPG fan growing up in the 90s I can back up what Johnny and Rob said in this video. RPGs were underground titles in Australia and some only got the bare amount of press: Magazine reviews and maybe a tv spot on "the Zone". Most of them however you found out about their existence when you saw them on the video/game store shelf.
Final Fantasy VII was a different story , it was advertised everywhere. In fact it was the first ever RPG to get an ad on Australian TV , I was blown away.
When the game come out my family only hired it out once then bought it straight afterwards. We all played it inside and out for the remainder of 1997 and well into 1998.
What really shocked me though was that at school the same douchebag kids who gave me crap for loving RPGs (and most Japanese video games in general) loved FFVII , it was a phenomenon.
I think it's underrated. I believe FF7 should be taught in school.
FF7 may be many things but one thing it's not is underrated. It's rating is STRATOSPHERIC with almost all gamers who were around when it launched.
@H MAN Underrated comment lol
I and forty others get the humor.
I really loved this video. This game was so amazing and hearing ur thoughts made me smile and want to play this game again
For everyone hating on ff7, it might not be the most amazing game for mechanics, graphics, story,etc, but it basically like he said rocked the gaming world. It might not have the same effect today but you can still feel it when you pick it up today. I love this game so much
The only thing that comes close on my mind would be Breath of the Wild. But even then, ff7 was on another level of hype considering it was many people's first forray into 3d gaming as a whole. The only other games comparable would be Mario 64 or LoZ: Ocarina of Time
I bought the game when it was released but I don't think I pre-ordered it. I know Dave did because I remember him wearing that damn shirt. He wore it proudly in public. Not sure if he'd do that these days. But anyway I got it and I enjoyed it up until the point where I had Cloud running around dressed up as a girl for some reason. I remember thinking "When am I going to get to the damn overworld? Does this game even have one? This game is sure long-winded. Where is the pacing?" Yes, I had an editor's mentality even back then. I got bored and started playing other games most likely but I remember not having enough interest in the game to keep playing. I eventually traded it in or sold it probably for some other game that bored me like Burning Rangers (a game where I've never even been able to make it past level 1 due to the awful controls and ambiguous goals).
Anyway I own the game again, black label version and maybe I'll try it again someday. I recently played through the opening and I died on the first boss so that wasn't encouraging. Dave found the game sealed (black label version) in a thrift store for a few bucks once and sold it on eBay for like 3 million dollars or something.
you died on the first boss...?
HOW DO YOU EVEN?? =D
that just made my day. thanks Joe.
>Dying on the first boss
Yikes
Man, I love you guys. Is it bad I read this post in Joe's voice be default, not knowing he was writing it? Sorry Dave. Gotta be a Sega fanboy thing. ;)
You guys praise RPG's - JRPG's to no end, yet Joe dies to the first boss in FF7. Classic. It's like admitting to dying on the first goomba in Mario.
In all honesty once the world map hits shortly into the first disk the game really takes off. I was so engrosed by the game as a kid that my parents dropped something silly (120-150 bucks?) for the game and strategy guide. Mind you I was 8 years old at the time and had only played FF2 (4) prior to it. Great game, great memories. I even made a life long best friend from that game.
Game Sack did some fanboys put a hit on you after that comment?
I bought my first playstation system because of the commercial for Final Fantasy 7. I went out bought the system a memory card an extra controller and another game, (so my brothers could play the system too) then I got so involved in Final Fantasy 7 that I was getting tired of my brothers bugging me when they could play the game, so I went out the next weekend and bought another system another memory card and another controller so they could leave me alone so I could play Final Fantasy 7 without being bothered.
LostDingo1 haha nice!
The atmosphere in the game you can't get any where. Very well introducing the game kind of making revisiting the game.
I was 15, with an N64. I was supposed to go with my school drama class that evening to see a play in London. When Mum got me to school, I'd missed the bus to the theatre, so we went to our family friends' house instead. This old friend of mine always got everything first & he was playing FF7. I watched him. That was it! I HAD TO HAVE a Playstation with FF7 for Xmas. "You CHOSE the N64! No!!" my Mum would always say but I begged her constantly. She finally gave in. But Sony were doing limited stocks on PS1s that year (getting trickles in on random deliveries: 1st come 1st served). I was frantically calling round all the shops. On Xmas Eve, a shop a few towns away finally told me they were expecting a delivery. Mum went in with my Nan, telling me beforehand, "Whatever happens, you have to be grateful for what you get for Xmas". She came home later. "Sorry Ryan". I was sad but at least I had time to get used to it. I opened a couple of James Bond videos, which I started watching & tried to forget FF7. "I AM grateful for what I got" I told myself. Mum sent me up for a bath before Xmas dinner. As I was drying… "Ryan! There's a present you haven't opened yet!!" I came down & even wrapped up I knew what it was. I nearly cried to see a PS1 and FF7: She'd hidden them in the dishwasher the day before! The other Bond video was put on hold & I was locked in my room, never to be seen by my family until the Xmas holidays finished.
SLAY3R Thanks man. Yeah, it was a time where we weren’t FLOODED with choice and no real internet (so no digital versions). So we’d rinse games one at a time. It was great!
*A note to all the people who read through the comments... Pay no attention to the people who try and tell the rest of us what is over or under rated, what is good or bad, what is the best or not... these people have no idea what the word "opinion" means and think they can shove their "opinions" down everyone elses throat. Bottom line is that each individual person has their own thoughts and feelings about the game and there's not a single person in or out of existence who's personal opinions should affect any one elses. Haters, say what you want, but your opinions are yours and yours alone. FF7
What a lot of people, now don't understand is that when this game came out- there was not anything like it. As they said you start with a cinematic that goes right into gameplay so smoothly like that? That wasn't done at all back then.
Many people, like myself came off of the previous generation of consoles, Genesis/Megadrive and SNES to this game that uses polygons and full motion video. Hell, even on the competition console the 64 this kind of thing wasn't happening- yes they had 3D but not the same video capabilities then.
It went across 3 discs, how many games on a console did that? Yes PC had many floppy disks or CDs but console? Hell no.
Yes, today there's a lot like it which for those going back now and playing it makes it less special but for those of us who played it then were wowed and we understand why it's impressive still.
That's what many don't get when going into this, or the Half Life series, at that time this stuff was unique and amazing. If you can't set yourself in that mindset, it likely won't wow you. Which is fine but- this is that great answer to all those who say "I don't get why people like this game so much" ^ the above is why.
Wenceslao Futanaki while technically speaking PS1 had the distorted texture issue, to me it looked better 9/10 times because of more texture variety and less blurry textures in the first place.
I disagree entirely, I grew up with both and FFVII to me was a far superior game mainly because it communicated emotion and it's story better than FFVI. Cyan loses his family and his anger is expressed by his sprite bouncing off other sprites to show combat and rage vs Cloud raising his sword to a friend struggling against an unseen force and backs off, only for him to watch the friend get struck down, the antagonist smirking right at him, he holds the character as she passes and she's buried there.
Far more better emotion communicated and a better told story because of it. 6 entirely lost what it was trying to tell, you got to watch Terra struggle to find out who or what she is, find out her crazy past only to...drop her as the main focus for a thief & paladin to take the spot light and they wrap up her story quickly.
Feel free to disagree but owning both, growing up with both I never enjoyed FFVI as much as VII. Limitations even taken into account there's an RPG on the Genesis that I feel told it's story & showed loss even better than VI.
We get that it was a unique experience, we just don't think it has aged well. As opposed to other game of the time.
Afriend ofyours For anyone who can see past the graphics they'll see it's the emotional involvement you get with the story that still makes it a great game.
I still think it's a good game. It has emotions and whatnot. It's just that the combat hasn't aged well, and everyone looks like popeye.
+Wenceslao Futanaki Your preaching to the choir my friend. I drunk the cool aid on FF7 until the first disc ended. Disc 2 and 3 kinda lulled in the momentum. 6 was by for the best of the series. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy 7 but had no urge to replay it when it was done. Also so why I am not to hyped about the remake of 7. it might look better but I am not really compelled to revisit the story.
That sounds like an amazing experience the two of you had. . . I'm trying to think if I ever had a build up like that before, and for me, I think it was the vanilla release of WoW. WarCraft was the very 1st RTS I played and the series instantly became my favorite, along with StarCraft, Diablo, and eventually WoW! Those 1st few months in WoW were the first months ever in an MMORPG for me and it absolutely blew my mind!
Side note. . . If you do play computer games and you're into RTS or Turn Based Strat, I would HIGHLY recommend "Age of Wonders III", it is by far the BEST Strat game I have played in a looooong while. 2 Thumbs Up, 5 Stars, and the WHOLE NINE, I can't recommend it enough! Let's just say that I spent 10+ hours and 109 turns just on the very 1st Introduction Level, doing every possible thing I could.
Oh how I miss the days of Playstation Underground, all those demos and videos making me excited for new games, good times. I recall playing the FF7 demo on a Square demo disc that also had a Bushido Blade demo on it.
I remember the Bushido Blade, Brave Fencer Musashi and Xenogears demos packaged with FF8.
I had a subscription to PSM back in the PS1 days that magazine was unbelievably good.
I still kept all my demo discs to this day.
Dude, give the PS4 and its games a chance.
You not going to regret it, there are few amazing games there.
I first played FF VII when I was 15 years old, in 2006.My friend landed me the game and I could not believe that an almost 10 years old game was that great. Totally changed my perspective of gaming. I was so into the game that I did everything, I was playing 6+ hours a day. I beat all the Weapons!!!! So good so see such excitement in other people too.
I remember the hype for this was off the wall. And I had dabbled in it several times over the years, but I didn't actually get around to playing and completing it until about a year or 2 ago. Dear god! I wish I had done that sooner. That game is phenomenal!!!
I had been playing it off/on for about ten years, and would always get to the crater and not really know what to do with myself, and out of stubbornness, refused to grind. Started that game when I was fourteen. Didn't beat it till I was twenty-five.
Guys! Thanks for reminding me that I used to own that shirt...and the fact that I actually stole that cannon ad off of a subway...AND then, while in my friend's car, we were mistaken for armed drug dealers and were pulled over by the cops...LOTS of them. I had the cannon ad on me and they pressed hard on where I got it from. I didn't cave...said I bought it from a video store..."Hey Copper, you ain't goin' take my sweet FFVII subway ad away from me, you fuck!"
Final Fantasy VII hype was a crazy thing. The way I remember it, the very first thing I ever saw was a one page preview in an old EGM or GamePro magazine, I can't remember which. It was just a simple preview saying the game was in development and it had maybe one or two tiny screenshots. That was when I first learned about the internet. We didn't have it yet, but my friend did. I remember going over to his house and trying to find every single bit of FFVII information and artwork we could. I had pages of information from an old website printed out and stored in a folder that I looked through constantly. And the day the game came out, I remember it being a friday for some reason, I had to wait for after school AND after the Friday night high school football game to get over with because I was in the marching band that played at halftime. I wore that shirt constantly too.
I remember my friend borrowing the phone at a local game store to call me and ask if I wanted FF7 for my 12th birthday.....I said fo shizzle.
Over 2 years later and this is still one of my favourite videos! Keep up the great work 😊
Love this game!
This video brought back so many memories. The release of this game was amazing. First was seeing the screenshots in the magazines over and over. Then I was going to my local store every day the week they told me was going to be released. And when I started playing the game was an experience like none other at the time.
i love that you guys shared your thoughts because i wasn't old enough to be there around that time but i still remember my story on how i got to finally play final fantasy 7.
Look forward to seeing your videos every week! Awesome work and always appreciated :)
I agree with Rob that the pre-internet days of gaming hype were just fantasy-enducing. You had to imagine what everything was going to be like because there were barely any videos that portrayed games. Except for video game tv commercials, which came on like once a day, only on specific channels.
I think the internet hype for video games is exciting as well. I remember when Resistance3 was announced, I was so eager for it, watching every video, looking at every screenshot, and read every article I could find about it.
Not to mention the Super Smash Dojo for when Brawl was coming out. Every gamer was on that
>Super Smash Dojo<
YES
I was still fairly young at the time (11) but I will never forget begging my parents to go to a Target, of all places, because they constantly ran the TV spot ad in their electronic section. I agree that the internet has destroyed most of that feeling. I do remember the last two games i felt it for were Oblivion and Skyrim. Great video guys! Brought back some great memories.
While I was around back when VII first came out, I generally didn't get consoles until they were a few years old (hell, I still don't). I didn't even know the Playstation was a thing until like '97, when a friend and I were talking about the SNES, and he started talking about this new machine he had that could play 3D games. So I didn't play VII until around 1999, with IX being the first game in the series that I got at release (and the first game that I actually had interest in before it came out). But even in '99, the hype for VII was enormous. Even two years later, people were STILL talking about the game all the damn time.
I first saw the game when I went over to a friend's house. He was going through the Kalm flashback at the time, and was at the point where Sephiroth slashes Tifa. Cloud runs into the back, and the cutscene started where Sephiroth tears the Jenova facade out of the way so that he can get a look at his 'mother'. That was probably the first pre-rendered cutscene I'd ever watched, and I was hooked immediately. That friend was nice enough to bring the game over to my house the next day, and let me start a file. He brought it over every day for like a month or two and let me play, before finally I did enough chores that I had the money to buy my own copy. That was by far the most exciting purchase I've ever had, when I got out of school and my mom was waiting in the car with the game. I've had like three copies since then, with many poor choices in friends leading to broken or stolen games.
I spent so much time playing my first file on that game. The clock topped out at 99 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds LONG before I did everything. I spent like a month trying to beat Gi Nattak in Cosmo Canyon, and at least two months trying to defeat the Materia Keeper on Mt. Nibel (VII was the first turn-based J-RPG I'd played). I spent almost a year trying to defeat Emerald Weapon, playing the game every day after school. When I wasn't playing it, I was acting out the imaginary sequel using Legos or out in the yard with my friends. When I was in school I was constantly drawing things related to the game, and even made my own Pokemon-esque trading card game based on it.
When I finally did find access to the internet, I printed out pages and pages of guides and secrets. I tried every imaginable method for reviving Aeris, and raced my gold Chocobo 999 times in a row in order to breed him with another gold Chocobo in order to get the brown 'flying' chocobo that didn't exist. I spent like ten hours straight in the tunnels after jumping off of the subway train (on the way to blow up the second reactor), fighting the Shinra soldiers down there, having been told that eventually Zack would show up and join the party. I combed every damned screen for hours and hours, looking for the Enemy-All Materia that was shown in the booklet. The booklet translation seemed to claim that said Materia would do whatever command it was paired with, as well as attack the enemy at the same time. I didn't find out until later that it was just an early name for the regular All Materia. I rammed files into the ground using Gameshark codes, so that I could use (and control) Sephiroth, gain Aeris after the first disc, have my limit bars automatically fill up, etc. I even memorized the Debug Mode.
I went through that game probably a dozen times just in the first two years of owning it, and yet I still didn't understand it until I was in high school. One of the best parts (due to the terrible translation combine with the inner workings of my tween mind) was speculating and forming plots in my head based on what few things I did understand in the game. The combat is totally unbalanced nowadays, the translation is crap, and it's not exactly the best looking game by today's standards. But damn if it isn't amazing regardless. I still play it all the time, and probably have over 5000 hours and 30 playthroughs in it. I go through VII, VIII, and IX at least once a year. Final Fantasy VII is a large part of who I am today, and I love it for all of its beauty and its flaws.
I just realized this is about the tenth time I've watched this video. I do remember that hype, and your stories are always great!
Man, I wish I was born back then! This video was awesome! I actually tweeted both of you. I met you yesterday. (I was the one with the BMO hat.) It was awesome!!!!
I LOVE your entusiasm!
When I first played FFVII it was already around 10 years old so it's really interesting to hear you guys gush about it from your perspective.
I've got a semi-interesting story, not about myself, I was 3 when FFVII came out, it's about one of my former co-workers. I was talking to him about video-games and how I see them as an artform and that games are possibly the most important medium to this day, and he starts talking about how the only game he's ever really played was Final Fantasy VII, and how he told his friend that he'd just try it and suddenly 3 hours had gone by. I thought it was interesting because he's not the type you'd think would get into a JRPG.
I remember hearing about a game that was 3 disc long. And I was curious, so I asked for FF7 for my 12th birthday. Blew me away. FF use to have this magical feeling when you played them. Last time I felt that was with FFX, haven't felt it since.
I remember my dad got it for me on my 13th birthday and had no clue what it was, when I got to leaving Midgar I was amazed the game carried on, I was so used to short games this was a pleasent surprise for me
Man you guy's brought back so many memories with this vid. FF7 came out 3 days after my 16th birthday.
This game came 100% out of left field for me (and by left field, I mean my best friend from down the street) I was 10 years old (2002) I had never heard of Final Fantasy, I had a playstation for 1 game (croc, and the legend of the gabo's) and then I went to my friends house for the first time, and he turned on his TV, saying i had to see this game. It was the 2nd stage of the final fight with Seph. I can not tell you how blown my mind was.
This game made me love turn based combat, story, character growth, drama, and leveling stats to this day.
I have never beaten disk 1, and yet this is how much this game affected my life. I wish I had been old enough to see those trailers, and have the hype, and see those ads. But little 5 year old me didn't know anything more than sonic 3, and Spiderman (the good one) on the Genisis.
I thank my friend for giving me the love for this game, and the whole of RPG's. It has lead me to LoZ, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, Rouge Galaxy, and SO much more.
Thank you guys for doing this video, and reminding me of how much I love this game.
When my Older brother came home with this game, he bought me Sonic and Knuckles so he could play FF7 in peace (I loved to talk to watch and talk to him while he played games). Pretty awesome big brother.
I was 15 (i think) when i saw a ff7 review on tv. I thought to myself, man i wish i could play that. 2 years later i get a job, first paycheck i buy a playstation and ff7. Best game of all time imo :)
I think the reason Final Fantasy 7 was so big was b/c it was the first really accessible rpg that many people played. Most people had no experience with RPG's before FF7
Dave Hobbs No it was the marketing.But, people fell in love with the game. Even I did, 5 years after it came out,when I was 12
First time seeing a video of yours when you first upload it lol
I bought FFVII and the strategy guide as a birthday present for me when the game came out and my brother and I were just amazed with how amazing this was. I still have it in my collection (sans strategy guide) and it's still awesome to play to this day.
The experiences you guys have shared are quite similar to the ones I have from back in the day and I still get chills when I start up the game and watch the opening cinematic. In my opinion, this game should be in every gamer's library.
Great vid, Johnny and Rob!
"...this game rocks the gaming world which it will never rock again."
*one year later*
*FFVII remake*
gaming world died
Lol yup
Not just died. EXPLODED!
FFVII remake, still nothing.
Three years later, and still no remake.
@@kerrydustin3996 New trailer tho ^^
i was there when this game came out! I love it so much! to this day its my fav final fantasy! I geeked out so hard playing the remake! I love watching this video, you guys make me feel the hype again
Final Fantasy VI brought me more into JRPG games. When this game came out I was expecting it to be big but I did not expect the hype to be so big that it brought more gamers into JRPGs. Not to mention PS1 was still relatively new and I was thinking as well how could Final Fantasy leave Nintendo. At the time I did not have a PS1 so I was waiting for this game to be on PC. Eventually it did and I played this game on a slow computer 200 MHz with may be 16 mb ram. It took me over 160 hours to beat the game. Usually took me 40 minutes to summon Knights of the Round from end to finish. I remember fighting the Emerald weapon took me almost 4 hours. In a sense when I finally got to play this game on a PS1 I was blown away with how fast it really was supposed to play as. Thanks for sharing your story I really enjoyed it.
Sadly I couldnt experience the hype since I celebrated my 2nd birthday when that game came out lol. But i can imagine the hype. Your stories are so amazing and the way you tell them always get me sucked in. Keep it up :D
Now moving on to the remake hype! :D
Thanks for bringing me back to those times guys! Someday I wish I could get that excited about a game again...but probably I'm just too old now haha.
You guys are amazing, totally changed my mood and made me super happy I'm playing Final Fantasy at the moment. :D
Thanks for making this video just before I went to twitter to request it!
FF7 along with a few other games like Megal Gear Solid were games that really sold PlayStations. That was really a fun time in gaming! You had seemingly loyal 3rd party developers leaving Nintendo and they created these amazing games that we now consider some of the best of all time.....imagine if SquareSoft decided that they didn't want to leave the safety of Nintendo's nest and decided not to make FF7 or worse, trim the game down and cram it onto a cartridge...Blah.
I'll never forget buying Final Fantasy vii for the first time. My older brother and I went to Target one day, looking for games, and my brother said something like "you would probably like Final Fantasy," so I bought it. Up until that point, I had never even played an RPG before. I thought it was amazing back then, and I still think it's amazing today. Final Fantasy VII changed my life forever.
Amazing views Rob and Johnny. I remember playing this tons at my friend, Gareths, house. I never owned my copy until later.
The series seems to have gone off on a tangent now. After FFX I lost some drive for the series.
Listening to you guys talking about this game and the good old days made me so happy. I miss those days! I love FFVII, it was my first FF and I played every FF released since then.
You had the younger years I wish I had. I had a couple friends that got me into Final Fantasy (7 was my introduction) but only had one other instance of hanging out with friends and playing FF. That was when 13 came out, but you guys had it in the heydey.
I have to tell you that I am so glad you guys are from my era!!!
The smell, feel and taste of games back then was something NOBODY ever again will EVER experience...when the PS1 first came out I was sure it was alien technology, maybe because of the pot we were smoking back then but the magic of this machine fit in with the magic of that time of my life and this game is better than ANYTHING released in the last 10 years!
Still love your show......all the best from Australia......I was born in March 1977 and we would have been GREAT friends if not for geography,
PEACE
Completed this again recently and its still my favorite game of all time, awesome video guys!
I agree/ Pre-Internet era in gaming was great. Especially for RPG's at the time. The internet is like a double edge sword. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.
While I was never around for the hype of VII, there is one game I can share the enthusiasm on: Kingdom Hearts II.
Didn't use the internet, only saw ads for it. And for my birthday, I got two issues of EGM. I should explain that there was 4 different covers of the same issue, I remember getting the Halloween Town version and another version that I can't quite remember off the top of my head. I used to flip through the pages, read every single piece of tidbit of info about it, look at every screenshot. Just dreaming about what it would be like.
Another great episode Johnny and Rob!
Loved the video guys. Was great to hear how you came about getting this classic title.
For me the hype and playing the game was amazing too. However, I find that it has gone the other way these days with this game. People hype it more now than back in the day. And going back and playing it now I find the game has aged pretty bad. I prefer the memories to playing it again these days.
Amazing game and still one of my all time top 10's games for sure ;)
THIS is the definition of passion in gaming!!! I used to go watch my friend play this all the time...have me goosebumps! The crazy thing is that i didn't even know what final fantasy was!
I've always come to expect some really awesome stories from you guys. Unfortunately, there really was no hype for me leading into final fantasy VII because I didn't play it until 3 years after its release. I feel pretty grateful, that nothing was ever spoiled to me since I went three years without playing the game. It was a wonderful gaming experience, and its the first playstation title I ever owned and thankfully that game is completed to 100%. I have vivid memories of being blown away by the television commercials but it was very painful to know at that time that I wouldn't be able to play it anytime soon. I wonder what were your impressions about a certain death in the game, and I would love to see a part 2 of this video of what things in your game blew your mind the most with regards to summons, story elements, fmv's and things along those lines.
slept over for the weekend at my friend Logan's house, we had the game and strategy guide and plenty of junk food. no gaming experience compares to us wortking through that game, we beat it by the end of the weekend somehow. then it was time for my solo playthru, got my own copy and mastered the fuck out of it, grades suffered in highschool from it and i wouldn't change a thing :D absolute all time favorite game, just masterful. i doubt any game promotion/release will ever capture the magic this had, just pouring over tidbits of info in magazines was absolutely epic
Watched this while eating some late-night Jack-in-the-Box. What a treat! I was a 7th grader in 1997 and somehow managed to be the first person to rent FF7 from our local video place (it was called Videotron--ah, memories!). The fact that it was on 3 discs just completely blew my adolescent mind, and the cinematics mesmerized me for days. I didn't even get through the first disc that weekend because I spent so much time replaying parts just to experience them again! It wasn't until that Christmas that I got my very own copy, and my best friend and I had countless sleep-overs playing through the game and talking about the story. Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane. Now to listen to some Cosmo Canyon music...
I love watching your show! Watching your show brings back nostalgia of the guys I hung around at high school, and their passion for video games was like mine. I subscribed! :)
Being from the UK this was my first experience with the Final Fantasy series, sure i could have imported and bought an adapter etc for the SNES games but money and just the the mass knowledge of the series wasn't readily accessible at the time.
I just knew it was from the same people that gave us Secret of Mana, it was on the console i was saving for and it had some of the best cinematics i'd seen in any game...which is saying a lot given how much i was into PC gaming at the time. The gaming magazine i bought at the time had a VHS packaged with it just to show off the damn game!
I bought my playstation, without a bloody memory card i might add, rented FF7 from the local video store and spent the weekend playing FF7. My PS1 was so damn hot by the end of it i was sure it was going to break!
You guys are so right about the pre-internet days though, it really gave the games a mystique that we will never see again. It really built up the hype and made you want the game even more.
Great vid though guys, it really brought back a few memories i had kind of forgotten about.
I remember those commercials back in 97, I didn't know what Final Fantasy was but the game looked epic ...I was in college and people who were playing it would be on campus taking about their gameplay experience, they'd be geeking out, figured I got to try this out!
I hope in a few decades, I'll look back and talk about Final Fantasy XV like you are with Final Fantasy VII. I was too young to appreciate Final Fantasy VII.
same I was like 9 months old
I was a Saturn dude back then.. I was Playing Panzer Dragoon Saga. Such an underrated game!
I don't usually say this but that game deserves a re-release or a remake.
I definitely remember the hype being incredible. I remember the commercials which, in the States anyway, played during a few NFL games. That struck me as unusual and made the game seem monumental, especially considering it was a JRPG. When it was released, I recall its popularity spreading out over a so many different groups of kids in school. The hard core got it first and could not stop talking about it. My group of friends, mostly fighting and sports game players at the time, didn't get it initially, but picked it up after a few months, and then we could not stop talking about it and retelling our in game experiences from the previous evening. I introduced it to a friend who avoided games, but once we popped it into his sister's Playstation, he got addicted and played it non-stop through the summer of 98. Playing FF VII was so magical. It might be my favorite gaming memory.
The game came out when I was four years old. I remember seeing it in a video rental store and I used to rent it all the time. Probably the biggest game of my childhood second to Pokemon Yellow. I'll probably go back through the game once I am finished with FFX HD. You guys should do a FFX video if you haven't already as well. Also.. really missing Johnny on the AGG podcast! Hope to see you there again soon man.
Great video Rob and Johnny, its great to hear all of your stories :).
I look at the past to all the releases for a new FF game, like 7, 8, 9 and 10, and I remember thinking the same thing for every one of those games "Wow, a new FF game, this is going to be amazing, the story, the characters, the music, the world, everything, I cant wait to play this game and immerse my self in it, the journey its going to be awesome" Let me tell you something, that thought, that feeling is now gone, I havent feel the same for any of the new so called Final Fantasy games, and that really saddens me, because I know that regardless of what will happen in the future, I will never get that feeling again for a FF game, not even for FFXV (aka Versus).
Haha that was Alpha Omega Sin that did the "Shit or Get Off the Pot" video. Great shit! This game means sooo much to me its unreal, the only other games that reach its greatness are Castlevania - Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy III (US). Great vid guys!
FFVII is for me on of the biggest reasons I'm eternally glad I went
M/Drive, SNES, PS1 ...
I still consider my self a SEGA fanboy .. But the PS1 Blew my mind.
" Segata Sanshiro " ????
My friends and I were all pretty much PC gamers by this time...But we were still very much excited for this and swept into the hype. Thankfully the PC port was right around the corner.
Gamefan definitely sold me on FFVII, some of the later layouts by Takuhi and Nick Rox were just... ART! First RPG I got on launch day. Took it home and immediately my Playstation started stuttering during cutscenes and freezing during gameplay (I had one of the first Playstation models, you know, the ones that work better upside down after some use, but I didn't know that at the time). Eventually I just ended up getting a new system to play the game with.
Hey Johnny, great work, man. Love the show.
You should start making videos dedicated to those shelves in the back. I'm trying to read your SNES titles, but can't identify them. You should start making one episode per shelf going over what games you already have.
That was awesome! i love hearing you two have the best stories!
I need to do a video just about ff7 , it literally changed my life in gaming
Omg I love your stories. :) you guys remind me of my cousin who was so in deep with FF7 - FF8. This game came out around the time when I was just a 10 year old kid who was completely blowb away by the Playstation.
My favorite game of all time. I remember when it first came out I was so excited. I am still in awe of how great this masterpiece of a game is.
Solid 14 minute video. I had to wait until January 1998 to play this game. My mom was in the US and I was in the Philippines at the time. A lot of the things said in this video I totally get it.
This game review brings some serious memories. Me and my brother paid $30 for the demo disk to FF7 when it was released with Tobal no.1 from the local game store. I was the first to beat FF7 over him and he was the hardcore Final Fantasy gamer haha. I actually beat Sephiroth by luck. I forgot to debarrier Septhiroth at the begining of the fight which would have beat him within seconds being I had all my materia's maxed out at like disk 2 I think it was lol. Anyways I had Knights Of The Round and all the others goodies but I was taking Sephiroth head on during that battle and changed Vincent into the beast and man sure enough did I luck out Vincent landed a final blow to Sephiroth at the end before dieing. My brother was like holy shit you beat him man haha. Good good memories
(Btw great work and videos guys. Thanks for sharing this! I feel ya on the hype it was!)
I have a terrible confession. I have only played about 15 minutes of Final Fantasy VII. My Mom's boyfriend (who I played Playstation with, I had an N64) and I went and rented it and another game. After needed a change of pace from the other game I put in FF7 and loaded his save file before I started a game, just to get a little peek. I thought it was cool, but got sidetracked by whatever and never got to play it again.
In case you haven't picked up on it, I can't even remember the name of the other game that I played over FF7... I can't picture it... Can't tell you if it was an adventure, fighting, fps, etc... I just know that it was the game I played instead of FF7. I went ahead and beat the first one about a year ago and I decided that its finally time for me to go back and address this problem.
My first game from the Final Fantasy series was X and that game to this day remains my favorite. I've played through 7, 12, 14, 13 and all its sequels and i'm working on 6 and 4 right now. 7 didn't really do it for me, it was a good game for sure and I love a lot of the characters, but 10 was just incredible to me. 14 has really grown on me too, I'm amazed by how addictive it is. My subscription ran out and i'm having withdrawal symptoms haha. All of these final fantasy games are great though, each has their own bit of nostalgia to it, there are memories that we build together through these games and you guys are showing that beautifully. yeah, you guys look nerdy, but you know what? we're all nerds and i'm damn proud of it.
LOL, I'm replaying this game before I saw this! I love the atmosphere this FF has. With a subwoofer this time around, I got so creeped out during the lead-up to Sephiroth's change at Shinra mansion. Back in the day I'd stare at the CGs with each person's respective background. So much character in those even if I can't see faces. Those are still some of my favorite FF CGs.
Awesome stories, guys! Four shirts? A litte bit excessive, Johnny... I remember those game discussions with friends for hours. Great times! :)
I was 14 or 15yo I think, and 3 of my closest friends also had the Playstation, all waiting Christmas to get our new games, but one of them got FFVII just when it was released here in Europe, in November... well, my friend was obviously playing the hell of that game, and only lent it us when he reached the 2nd CD, but then we had to share the game, giving it to another friend after 2 or 3 days. I still remember that month before Christmas, it was like we were sharing the same story, playing almost at the same time... that's the kind of things that makes you love games.
Amazing episode, You guys really took me back to 1997 for 14 min through the nostalgic story telling. Also thanks for taking the time to talk/take pics at the Van retro gaming expo yesterday, Definitely my highlight moment from the event. - Antonio
Man, I remember the shock of hearing for the first time that Final Fantasy was not going to be on the next Nintendo console. 4:17 The nostalgia chills seeing that PS Underground demo disc. I need to see if I can find mind. That is awesome to have. 9:50 I used to wear my FF7 shirt all the time. I don't still have mine. :( Funny thing, before I got FF7, I didn't have many games for the PS1. So I didn't have a memory card... FF7 was the reason I got my first memory card. :P Another little story about the game, I remember playing a demo in the store. And before I knew it, I had about 10 kids huddled up watching me play the game. It was pretty cool. ;) Great stories, guys! Great memories! :)
I wad in 8th grade , i remember watching the commercials thinking it was the most amazing thing ever. I bought it with my money and a memory card , I got home and put it in. Now mind you I thought the game would be like all the cut scenes ... So at first I had never played any rpg especially turned based ... After just couple of hours in I was hooked like crack ... Still my favorite game to this day I love it !!!
4:44 is the screenshot I saw of the Mako Reactor in the buildup to FF7's launch. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, or at least one of the most beautiful, and I was awestruck that a video game could produce an image like that. I loved FF7's art design, coloring, lighting, atmosphere, and mood even before I ever played it. I too saw a Midgar foldout map and was just dumbstruck at its creativity.
what did you guys smoke? :)
This was at a time where I rather spent my money on weed and chased girls instead of gaming. But I had the PS1 with no games (only a demo cd) for half a year or such and I saw it on TV, so I went and bought it. Afterwards, I never went party on the weekends again. I just sat at home and played this game. Every saturday evening tons of people came over and played with me. And of course smoked too much weed. It was the point where I went back to being a full-fledged gamer. And that time where Aeris died was the most traumatic moment of my teens.
I still have my PS1 CDs, but rebought it on Steam aaaand on the PSN Store for the Vita. Have to play now. Still love it to this day.
God.. when it came out in Belgium, i was lining up in the store called "FNAC" in Brussels and i didn't go to school that day!! (and seems a lot didn't go neither :D)
This was my first Final Fantasy game. Never heard of them before, but was hyped by the magazines talking about it. I had just bought a PS1 as I began to realise that SEGA were failing in Europe with the Saturn. I had a similar experience when I preordered the game. Got a call to say it was in and drove to the store to buy it. Went home and was blown away. This was by far away the best RPG I had played up to this point. The rest is history
Jesus Christ I was in such a bad mood until I watched this video. You guys really chilled me out. Cheers lads 👍
I bought this game just a week after it launched. I played the demo first that was included with Tobal no.1 and so I was really looking forward to the whole thing. I also recieved a VHS tape in the mail with those interviews. Guess I was on the mailing list, gratefully!
Anyway, I traded a few of my old games to get credit because I didn't have a lot of money at the time. I got from EB Games at the time(be fore Gamestop raped and killed it!) and got them game and went home, I was happy. It was a good experience!
But yeah, the hype was ridiculous! I don't remember FFIII/VI getting this much hype in the US at the time! This is what helped made jrpg's more popular outside Japan, IMO.
Good video, guys!
you guys are the fucking reason I love youtube... you are utterly incredible... I did the same to the ff8 demo as u did johnny to this demo... love ur channel, love this vid... rock the hell on - much gamer love from Toronto!
This video truly made my day, or night considering it's 4 in the morning. xD I remember I got this legendary game for Christmas in 1997. I was 10 years old. It was definitely the most memorable Christmas of my life. This was my first official RPG and never again have I played a more epic RPG. Well, Final Fantasy VIII was just as epic to me, but VII is where it all began. Never again will there be a greater time for video games in my opinion.
The first video game commercial I ever saw on tv was for this game. So the hype was real here in Finland too. The ad was made to look like a movie trailer and between awesome cinematics the text went something like "They said this movie couldn't be done... It would be impossible... That's because.. IT IS. Final Fantasy VII"