Slashdot Mirror
Final Fantasy vs. Oblivion
An anonymous reader writes "bit-tech has up a short comparison between Final Fantasy VII and Oblivion. While Oblivion is touted as the latest and greatest PC-based RPG, Final Fantasy VII is held in the minds of many gamers as the best RPG of all time. From the article: 'At the time of its release, nearly ten years ago, FFVII received rave reviews from the press and the public, and it has a claim to being the best loved Final Fantasy game ... In a Top 100 Games of all time, it would be up there in the single digits. It is, by all accounts, Sergeant Pepper-Citizen Kane great. If something is great, it should be great whenever you pick it up -- buy a fresh copy of Pepper or Kane now and they'll still blow you away: they were great in '67 and '41, and they're great now. Is the same true of FFVII?'"
No. The graphics aren't as great as they were perceived when it first came out. I'd much rather play a great sprite-based game (FFVI) than a game with early 3D graphics.
Then again, graphics aren't everything. But FF6 beats it in the story department, too. And the gameplay department.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
FFVII isn't even the greatest of the final fantasy games- 4,6, and 9 blow it out of the water.
That said, I'll take even 7 over Oblivion any day- RPGs are about the story to me, and sandbox RPGs have way too weak a story.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Nostalgia makes everything old seem good. FFVII was a great game (perhaps the greatest) in it's time but any flaws it did have fade from our collective minds over time. I say the video game press should let people keep there fuzzy memories and stop this endless stream of lists of top games and apple orange caparisons between the modern popular games and the classics. If this is the only way to fill the pages of a gaming mag (or blog or site) that should tell us something.
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
They're pretty dissimiliar games. Final Fantasy 7 is pretty linear, has turn-based combat and a more traditional leveling system. Oblivion is mostly non-linear, has real-time psuedo-FPS style combat, and has a less traditional skill based leveling system. Comparing the two is almost like comparing Command and Conquer to Civilization because "they're both strategy games".
No, I havn't RTFA, and don't intend to.
The article is not a real comparison between two completly different games but about why the author prefer a game more than the other...
IMHO, the whole article is biased, just take a look at the screenshots, do you see any of Oblivion ?
For me, a really interesting article would have been build around the differences between eastern RPGs and western RPGs. Trying to analyse the reason why each genre is fun in its own way, trying to improve them in mixing concepts but still respecting the specificities...
The story line in nine was quite weak and I had a hard time getting attached to any of the characters. Plus the character design was weak, the main 16 year old princess looked like she was 9.
The game play was it's redeeming factor but I loved the flexibility of the materia system much more.
Hmmm... Pie...
Oblivion nor FFVII can hold a candle to FO2.
Although, I get teary eyed everytime I want FF:Advent Children mostly over Aeris's death. I think that is the only game that has ever made me cried.
For some reason FFVII made me very emotional throughout the game, but I don't know if it was because I was young or if it was the first game to do that.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Final Fantasy wasn't the greatest RPG per se. Most RPG fans will say there are other games which stand out far more such as Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Ultima VII, or Fallout. It was simply an RPG that for some strange reason was loved by so many, even those who hate RPGs in general. I would say that its the same thing as what happened with World of Warcraft. Most expected WoW to be a success, but it's instead been a monumental achievement the likes of which investors dream of when they invest in a company.
I wouldn't call FF7 the Citizen Kane of RPGs or games, but rather I'd call it the Star Wars of the gaming industry. Noone I think really expected it to explode into the success that it was and reach such a larger audiance (I dont think anyone who had a PS1 didnt have FF7). On top of that, like star wars it seems each recent sequel can't find the same place in people's hearts that FF7 found. It was strange indeed, but I think its success can largely be attributed to many little things. Things ranging from marketing and publicity down to the twists in the story and Characters in game (Sephiroth is still by far one of the greatest villains ever). I can still remember working on leveling my characters up all day just so I could beat the Ultima creature.
As far as keeping it fresh and would FF7 still stack up today? No... I don't think so. Unfortunatly games have made moves in recent years that are so major it can't be helped but not feel impressed by games like FF7. Sure FF7 will always carry the nostalgia love with it, and while its story and characters are still top notch, you cant help notice some things that have been improved on since (graphics aside) and perhaps wish that PS3 tech demo at E3 was actually being made into a FF7 remake =)
Oblivion could be called a Role Playing Game. At least, it allows for and arguably encourages that kind of gameplay.
Final Fantasy games are adventure games with a leveling system, just like Deus Ex is an FPS with a leveling system.
You don't "role play" in either of those games, any more than you do in a conventional adventure game or FPS.
It doesn't mean that any of the games is better than the others necessarily, I just think it's silly to automatically label anything with a leveling system and involving some kind of magic a "Role Playing Game".
The "JRPG" genre is really the Text Adventure genre with graphics and leveling.
Console RPG, yes. There's no clear winner in PC RPGs with contenders like Planescape:Torment, Fallout, and Ultima IV.
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan
If we assume for a moment this guy ain't a shill then all he is showing that he prefers adventures over RPG's.
The simple fact is that the western RPG ala Baldur's Gate is a totally different genre then the japanese "RPG" ala the Final Fantasy series. The biggest single difference is that you do NOT have a choice in the japanese "RPG". Why do I use quotes? Because I am a westerner and as such think that RPG's originate with the D&D Pen & Paper style games. These games were not just about fighting and levelling up or being told a story. They were about making choices. The dungeon master would tell you the situation and then the game starts with, what do you do.
The western computer RPG usually tries to give you choice, choice as to what you play, choice as to how you play and choice as to well what choices you make. There are costs involved. The non-choice character Planescape Torment gives you a far stronger story then say Icewind Dale where you create your own party. Yet PT is as free as a bird compared to the on-rails gameplay of Final Fantasy.
If anything the Japanese "RPG" in western eyes is closer to an adventure with stat based fighting. Adventures are great games but usually not known for their free form story telling. Linear is the word most often used. I amazed to see games like Fire Emblem labelled as an RPG. Exactly where is the RP element?
You therefore in my eyes can't compare the Final Fantasy with Oblivion (although Oblivion does suffer from a lot of linear quests) because fundementally they belong in different genre's.
To me, a western CRPG lover Final Fantasy doesn't count as a great RPG, a mediocre RPG or even a bad RPG. I don't count it as an RPG. Doesn't mean it is a bad game. It just ain't a RPG.
I am not totally alone although I realize it is hard to come up with enough labels to eh label all the various game genre's. Lets just settle for Japanese RPG and Western RPG. Most people here would know what is meant by that including that comparing games between the two is futile.
This reviewer probably hasn't learned that distinction and was either burned by Oblivion thinking that ALL RPG's are like Japanese RPG's. Either that or he is an idiot.
As for this being posted by Zonk, well big supirse there.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Final Fantasy has more of a fixed story line. No matter which way you go your allways on the side of good. Oblivion is more open ended. You have the choice to kill whoever and whatever you want. There is also much more room for customizing character development in oblivion. They are on 2 different levels of gaming I would say.
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
For starters, I never owned a console system until the now-deader-then-a-doorknob Dreamcast, and my enjoyment of RPG games didn't start until many years later. That being said, I think it's a poor comparison to take a game from (almost) 2 console generations ago and compare it to a recent PC release. Almost everthing is different: controller vs keyboard/mouse, linear story vs non-linear, gameplay style, and timeframe. Using an old game vs a new one only allows the older players to make an informed comparison. Everyone else (especially including myself), gets left out, so to speak.
Meh, a real sig would take too long, and I have an MMORPG to play with....
Every gamer has a momemt, sort of like losing your gamer cherry. You never forget the first time a game moves you to tears, makes you laugh out loud, or scares you so much you have to turn on the lights and turn off the computer.
I didn't get FFVII, but I was 30 at the time. I had already played Ultima Underworld, Lots of Wizardry, and more traditional CRPGs. I'm sure if I was 13 and I had a Playstation, things would be very different.
I don't begrudge anyone their favorite game. I think it's great that people are passionate about it, and want to share the experience with others.
For the record, my "first game" was Ultima Underworld II. There's a portion of the game where you need to raid the tomb of a king, and his ghostly court tried very hard to stop you. When you reach the king, you realize they weren't trying to stop you from stealing his treasure, but were trying to keep you from letting him realize he was dead. At that moment, I had a feeling that I had done something very wrong... much worse than just stealing a trinket.