Final Fantasy Vl vs. Final Fantasy Vll

[Lozjam]

Regarding final fantasy, fanboys have been ablaze since the beginning, which one is better?

So what do you think Zelda Dungeon?

For me. Definitely Final Fantasy Vl, by a long shot.

First off, is that Final Fantasy Vl still holds up very graphically well today. It looks amazing even now, with it's awesome sprite work, coupled with amazing environments.

First off, the characters are better than those of 7. Each has an intricate backstory that you can choose to explore(or not if you would like). Terra, Locke, Celes, Setzer, and everone else didn't just feel comical for the sake of comical. They have more reason to do what they are doing. They are also more relatable. The characters in FF7 are amazing for sure, but the characters in FF6 purely spread the definition of hope, despair, and triumph.

I also prefer the story as well. Final Fantasy 6 provides way better juxtoposition of the world of magic, versus machines, while still making them meld together in amazing ways. This is again a time to save a destroyed planet. However, without spoilers, you actually get to know the world as it was. You also get to see and experience just how crazy a villain Kefka is. You get this pure hatred towards Kefka that I never had for Sephiroth.

I also like the music better, but this is totally subjective(Though FF7 wins on the regular battle theme).

The last thing, is of the theming, that propels FF6 to be better than FF7. While FF7 has the clear theme of identity. Final Fantasy 6 has a better one that makes you feel. It is of hope, in a place of true despair. This is placed throughout the whole game, and you, the player not only gets to see this, but experience it. I have never really seen a game rip out everything you have done prior to take away all you have worked for.... To caring so much, to come back, make a triumphant return. Other FF games in general, try to emulate this. But FF6 has never been matched. Actually, I don't think any videogame matches this.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

I personally prefer VII, and this is coming from someone who played VI well before I ever had the means to get my hands on VII (I owned the GBA version far before I ever owned a PSP, which is how I first played VII via PSN). Both are spectacular games in their own right, for sure. VII ranks as my 2nd favorite Final Fantasy (Being behind FFX), with VI being 4th behind FFV.

VII has the more solid battle system, in my opinion. VI has a great strength in its enormous cast of characters when it comes to the story it's trying to tell, which allows for multiple and diverse viewpoints on the situation the world finds itself in. But I think this is a weakness in the battle department - VI doesn't do a good job conveying how to use every one of its characters to full potential, or even explaining which characters are worth using or keeping around (some characters are used for a single segment and then are never available again). VII has the advantage of a relatively small playable cast in comparison, and the characters fall into much more traditional Final Fantasy roles, ie "Monk", "Knight", "Thief", "White Mage" and so on. It's easy to know that Aerith is your magic-using medic, while Barret is the best for long-range attacks in the back row. VI doesn't really have such a distinction, and I think the lack of surface-area recognition keeps it from being more focused and refined.

This also holds true when we get to the two defining features of the two game's combat - Magicite and Materia. They're both similar in their own ways, but Materia is just so much more intuitive and simple to understand, on top of having a much more commanding game presence that demands more strategy and attention. Magicite is fine in its own right, but its lack of depth and variety on top of it being somewhat difficult to implement on the player's front makes it inferior. With Materia, you have so many options - offensive magic, healing magic, summoning, stat boosts, specific battle actions, and other more niche options like Mimic and All Materia. I feel like this explodes the potential combinations and match-ups the player can experiment with when it comes to which characters work best with which Materia.

These two of course are built on the pre-existing ATB gauge that the series had in place since IV, which I think was used to great effect through a majority of the classic titles.

I also kind of prefer VII's story as well, although I think it's much closer. As I said above, VI has an excellently crafted tale from the get go. We have an incredibly interesting cast of characters that are extremely diverse, and their relationships with each other really drive the first half of the game for me. I can't stress how much I love seeing the Terra/Locke/Edgar/Sabin core we have at first, and since I love each of those four, I also really enjoy when they branch off and form new relationships with other characters (Cyan especially).

My only problem is that I definitely feel like VI's story loses a great deal of steam after the world is destroyed and the cast is all scattered. Up to this point, we had this really tightly written tale that was paced very well. After Kefka wins though, we're kind of thrown into this open-world type of nonlinear game where we go and try to get the gang all together again, but everything seems so segmented because of it. One of the most jarring things that happened to me in VI was finding Terra again and getting her back into the party. It just seemed so.... I don't know, anticlimactic? VI doesn't really have a hands-down main character, but if I had to name one, it would definitely be Terra. And yet, when we get back to her, her entire storyline and what she had been doing since the destruction of the world seemed inconsequential not only to the overarching plot, but to the rest of the characters. It's sadly this way with most of the characters we meet again, and with some of the characters we just flat out don't see them again.

VII definitely has the death of Aerith as the major character shake-up, but that's about it. The cast stays consistent throughout the entirety of the adventure, with Yuffie and Vincent adding some extra meat if you go out of your way to get them. This allows for a much better planned narrative in my book - the developers were able to introduce character-based plot elements like the Barrent/Dayne or RedXIII/Seto side plots in a more compelling manner. I just can't remember any segment in VI that was something like the Golden Saucer segment in VII - the latter is so interesting because the situation was designed to take place at a specific time between all the characters in the party. VI has some things like the opera house scene, but while these are really nice, they don't encompass the entire cast like the Golden Saucer part of VII did.

The one thing I can't decide on is the whole Kefka vs Sephiroth debate. I can't tell you who I think is better, because I don't know. Kefka has the awesome Joker nihilist thing going on that presents some interesting thoughts on humanity and morality. Sephiroth presents a deeper and more complex character that ties into Jenova very well, and Jenova is just a super awesome villain in and of herself. They're both great in their own ways, definitely the best of the series in my book.

Graphics are something I don't care about that much when it comes to those two, given their age. FFVII's dated look doesn't detract from the experience of the story or gameplay at all, so it just isn't that important for me. The music is subjective, but I personally give the edge to VII for tracks like "J-E-N-O-V-A" and "One Winged Angel".

 

[Djinn]

Definitely VI for me, it is the FF that I replay most often. Plus I think it is the one that gives me the best chances at a new replay experience with the gigantic number of party members and all the different combinations I can use depending on how I want to play. VI just gives me so much more variety in how to play and replay.

FF VII seems more like a typical scifi shonen series in game format with the same cliche ultra powered hero and sidekicks playing catch up. The setting dows not really wow me much and there are not that many party combinations I can care about outside of the main two or so. The story is okay but I think the game really drags around the middle, shortly after Cloud finds Sephiroth in the arctic.

 

[Salem]

I never beaten either but I reached near the end of VII.

I dunno, IV(II in the SNES) has always been my favorite.

 

[thane98]

I enjoyed both quite a bit, but Final Fantasy VII always felt a bit more focused with its presentation. I think this was a result of the cast sizes - Final Fantasy VI had more characters to keep track of, and so you ended up having moments where the story felt like it just kept jumping around between characters. I enjoyed the condensed cast of VII since the game was able to take more time to develop each individual character at a decent pace. I will admit that Kefka's the better villain though - Sephiroth doesn't even compare to Kefka.

Both VI and VII delivered solid gameplay, but I enjoyed VII's systems more. The materia system allowed for plenty of flexibility with character building, and I always enjoy having plenty of options in RPGs. I also enjoyed having limit breaks - they did a good job at mixing up the combat to keep things interesting. I did enjoy the variety both had as far as gameplay goes - I always like having an occasional minigame or something similar in there to mix up gameplay, and both VI and VII do a great job with that.

As far as visuals, I think that one comes down to personal preference - I thought the dated 3D models and pre-rendered backgrounds of VII were awful originally, but they really grew on me as I played. The style of VI definitely ages well though, especially when compared to VII. As far as music goes, I have to say that Dancing Mad and the World of Ruin pieces are two of my personal favorite songs from a video game. Outside of that though, nothing really stood out all that much. The soundtrack of VI was definitely high quality, but I think I enjoyed the overall soundtrack of VII more. It's just a case where more songs from VII stuck with me and caught my attention as I went through the game.

Even though VII's my favorite, I still hold VI to an incredibly high standard. If I was to list out my favorite RPGs, both would fall in my top 3. I'd count both among the greatest RPGs out there.

 

[DoomDash]

Easily, by a long shot, VII. I preferred absolutely everything about it, characters, story, presentation, delivery, music, plot, character development, twists, length, world, etc.

I think VI was a perfect game for the time and system, but I think 32bit CD based systems is when games could actually hit a peak of delivery that could not be done before hand. Had VI been on a 32bit CD based system and I think MAYBE it could have been close to rivaling Final Fantasy VII.

VI is the only game in the series I can fathom someone preferring over FFVII, I'm not saying I don't think other people out there exist but I can't see their point of view or argument well enough to understand it, with FFVI at the very least I can see where they are coming from, so there is that.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

k so I'm playing 7 at the moment,and to be honest,I do prefer it over 6

 

[Adventurer of Hyrule]

in many ways FFVI is a better game, but FFVII is just much more fun to play, has a better realized world and soundtrack.

 

[DoomDash]

I hate to say but the 32bit cd based system actually makes the difference in this case. I think FF6 was the best possible game you could have got on a 16bit cartridge system, but the jump to 32 bit games on CD's made such a huge difference in delivery that it's almost unfair comparing the two. I don't think there really are jumps like that in console generations anymore.

 

[Salem]

Neither, I prefer IV.

 

[Lozjam]

I hate to say but the 32bit cd based system actually makes the difference in this case. I think FF6 was the best possible game you could have got on a 16bit cartridge system, but the jump to 32 bit games on CD's made such a huge difference in delivery that it's almost unfair comparing the two. I don't think there really are jumps like that in console generations anymore.

Graphically maybe.... But even so. Not much really changed between Vl and Vll in the gameplay.

Even still so, 6 has aged so much more gracefully than 7. It looks better than 7 by a long shot. The characters are very nicely detailed at all times in 6, and everything is just as flashy as ever.

Story wise, they could have told the same exact story in 6's engine, and it would still have the same impact. Actually, the way they handled the story in 6 invokes so much more emotion than 7 in my opinion.

Both games pretty much have the same amount of content.

FFVl actually has way more playable characters and mechanics than 7.

I mean, I'm not seeing where this big jump is. The only thing FFVll added was CGI cutscenes, more realistic sound bytes, and 3D models(of which, looks absolutely terrible now). It isn't like SMW to Mario 64. The gameplay, mechanics, and story are largely the same.

 

[Lozjam]

Neither, I prefer IV.

The DS version of IV is actually one of the best RPG's ever created. The difficulty was hiked up, to create a truly strategic experience. The graphics were really good, the dancers are way hotter this time around, and the voice acting was actually very well done.

Now..... If only FFVl could get such treatment.... :'(
I cannot believe that SE continues to ignore one of their best games. Well, no. They spat in our face with the terrible "HD" remake that looks absolutely terrible. I don't care if you like Vll over Vl, but I think we could all agree that Vl actually deserves a proper remake.

 

[DoomDash]

Graphically maybe.... But even so. Not much really changed between Vl and Vll in the gameplay.

Even still so, 6 has aged so much more gracefully than 7. It looks better than 7 by a long shot. The characters are very nicely detailed at all times in 6, and everything is just as flashy as ever.

Story wise, they could have told the same exact story in 6's engine, and it would still have the same impact. Actually, the way they handled the story in 6 invokes so much more emotion than 7 in my opinion.

Both games pretty much have the same amount of content.

FFVl actually has way more playable characters and mechanics than 7.

I mean, I'm not seeing where this big jump is. The only thing FFVll added was CGI cutscenes, more realistic sound bytes, and 3D models(of which, looks absolutely terrible now). It isn't like SMW to Mario 64. The gameplay, mechanics, and story are largely the same.

FF7's graphics are still extremely good, pre-rendered backgrounds made the 32 bit era games look way ahead of their time, and while Cloud's in game model wasn't amazing I prefer it to pixelated characters like in FF6 or even FF8. The models in the fights are sick as well. And that's excluding the FMV's and much higher CD quality soundtrack. For those days you weren't able to reproduce the epicness of FMV's in engine.

That and the amount of content, I highly doubt FF6 had nearly as much content as FF7. I can't say for sure since I haven't beat it since 1998~, but I'm pretty sure I had almost everything and all my characters level 99 within about 42 hours. I remember my first play through of FF7 took me 42 hours and I missed basically most of the optional content and items. FF7 has a bunch of content that needs repeated play throughs as well, not sure how much FF6 has. I do know I had every character in FF6 though.

Honestly though, I really should replay FF6 because I remember almost nothing about it anymore. I just remember collecting Imp Armor, Vanish+Xzone being broken, and the miss-able side characters. I feel like if the game was as good as people claim it to be I wouldn't have forgot it so easily, but hey maybe I'll appreciate it more as an adult who knows. I was impressed with it for a 16bit era game, that's really the jist of it. I want to bring up how FF7 has imo the best twist in all of gaming, but since I can't remember FF6 I can't be sure if it's full of its own twists as well.

I also wanted to revisit FF9 for that very reason, very forgettable.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

also is it just me,or are random encounters less frequent in 7 than they were in 6?

 

[Lozjam]

ember almost nothing about it anymore. I just remember collecting Imp Armor, Vanish+Xzone being broken, and the miss-able side characters. I feel like if the game was as good as people claim it to be I wouldn't have forgot it so easily, but hey maybe I'll appreciate it more as an adult who knows. I was impressed with it for a 16bit era game, that's really the jist of it. I want to bring up how FF7 has imo the best twist in all of gaming, but since I can't remember FF6 I can't be sure if it's full of its own twists as well.

Ummmm.... Yeah. You should definitely replay FF6.

Like, FF6 has an even bigger twist than FF7 in my own opinion. So much as it makes the player regret his or her decisions thus far, and it creates even more of a helpless feeling than FF7 created.

I am not going to go into much more detail than that, but really, play the game for yourself again.