TwoCredits

Yes.

(Seriously, that's the whole comment. I agree.)

Final Fantasy VII was a great game on many fronts. It introduced a new generation to RPGs. It may not have technically been ground breaking, but it is recognized for being so because of the marketing push. It was easy to learn and play for the average gamer, but also had a lot of complexity that the more hardcore gamer could delve into if they wished.

The artistic direction was good as far as settings and backdrops, even character design (even if the blocky renders are now hilarious by today's standards.)

I would say it's a long shot from the best game ever. But through a combination of being so imaginitive, replayable, and enjoyable it's a good game. Combine that with the fact that it's more accessible than the bulk of rpgs released at the same time and it's pushed to the forefront.

Personally, I've always considered Square's Chronotrigger for the SNES to be the best game of all time.

I wouldn't say it's the best game ever, but it's certainly the game that's sucked up the most amount of my time. I spent two solid years playing that game and have since installed it on my PC to re-live the magic.

Final Fantasy 7 is only what it is because of the games that came before it, most notably Final Fantasy 6.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best selling game of all time from what I understand, but I wouldn't suggest comparing them too closely as one is an epic RPG and the other is a small-scale time-traveling adventure game.

FF7 is definitely one of the best, but I wouldn't go as far as saying THE best.

bgilham: be careful, the PC version is bug-ridden on newer computers/graphics cards.

It may not have technically been ground breaking

It wasn't groundbreaking, but it was the first in the series to have complete 3D gameplay..at least I think i read that somewhere.

Zelda isn't even in the top Top 20 of console games. Final Fantasy VII is number ten in the top 20.

It was likely one of the better selling console games in the US, but don't forget Japan is a video game giant, not just in manufacture, but sales. Heck, they've even called off school or held short days when episode of the Dragon Quest series are released because such a large chunk of the population would be in the stores to get it anyway.

I stand corrected then, I must have been dangerously mis-informed, must track down where I heard that about Ocarina.

It's the only game I've spent 40+ continuous hours playing. It's the only game I've played repeatedly, trying to beat my fastest completion times. It's the only game I've even played more than once, for that matter. It's the only game I actually tried to unlock everything in.

Definitely my favourite game ever. And Tifa always appealed to my 14 year old testosterone levels.

While it is impossible to select the best game ever made objectively simply because none of us have played every game ever made I'm going to have to be the outcast here and say that FFVII doesn't even make my Top 10 for games of all time. I would definitely place Half-Life over it along with many other games. I think the appeal of FFVII for many people was the fact that it was the first game that featured heavy CGI cutscenes and the story is great all the way up to the horrible ending.

okay, good comments, i suppose its a personal fave then. I think first time I played it, it took me 25 hours lol. the next time i explored more and it took more like 40 hours

My first post here because i dont know what should i do here .. lol .. but i think my 9rulez is just a forum like many other forum :)

anyway .. although i really like FF7 but i just cant give it the best rpg vote .. because most ps1 rpg games are simply the best :D

true, true. I suppose i think it's best because i haven't had that much exposure to other rpg's of that generation. FF7 took up enough of my high school time already, pobralby why i cnat sepll

Yes! Best game ever.

Ok to start with it's impossible to compare FF7 to Half-Life to Pro Evo so from my opinion RPGs are my prefered game.

Now lets get to it. Final fantasy VII is the greatest piece of entertainment ever created by man. It's better than any movie, album or book ever. It is the single greatest thing I've ever experienced and in my life and ever will.

How it somehow manages to evoke such emotion is astonishing. The story is just pure magic, Seipheroth as a villain is unmatched and then Naubo Uematsu's score is just so majestic, epic and emotive. It's just pure perfection.

The only bad thing I can say about this game is that after playing it numerous times I'm left with a sadness that never again in my life will I be blessed with something as beautiful, as magic, as amazing, as special and utterly unique as Final fantasy VII. Squaresoft. Thank you. I will forever be indebted to you for the blessing that is Final Fantasy VII.

(Please search for FF7 on amazon.co.uk and Vincent Byrne's user review to see how much this piece of magic means to me. )

The game was good, and indeed, I played it a LOT, but I wouldn't say it's the best game ever. I think it's simply one of the most well known games ever, due to the huge marketing campaign they had for it. (I won't get into the issue of all of the commercials showing solely the 3D rendered movies, and none of the actual gameplay...)

Final Fantasy Tactics, while it had a far more confusing storyline, had better gameplay.

Seipheroth? *his inner fanboy twitches in agony*

How can anyone play Final Fantasy VII and mistake his name after that epic song at the end...

SEPHIROTH!

And the songs are by Nobuo Uematsu. You fail at being a proper Final Fantasy VII fan, or at least at spelling properly.

While FF7 was visually a good game, and the sole reason I bought a PS1 back in the day, it's not the best ever. The boss battles were a joke, it had no replay value at all and the ending degenerated into standard FF whatthefuck-ish-ness. I'd call Ocarina of Time the best ever.

I just started playing it again on an old PS1 system. I love it!

There are a lot of bad things you can point out about Final Fantasy VII. No one liked the materia system a first, even I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of it, but as the story progressed, and the meaning behind the materia became clear, I grew to enjoy it quite a bit.

But I don't really understand what you mean by the ending wtf'ness. If you said that Final Fantasy 9 had a wtf ending, I'd be clapping and agreeing with you. But Final Fantasy 7 is one of the few Final Fantasies that didn't have me going wtf at ending.

Perhaps you didn't fully understand the story, which is normal. And the complexity of the story is a perfectly legit reason to give the game another go and capture more details that you missed the first time.

I've played through the game more than 5 times and recently gave it another go on my custom-firmwared PSP (it was as good an excuse as any other :P).

Final Fantasy 7 was Squaresoft's swan song. It would either succeed and save the company, or fail miserably and end driving the company to bankruptcy. You can notice, in every little aspect of the game, that it was given special "care" compared to any previous Final Fantasy.

It was the sole reason I bought a Playstation, in fact, I loved it so much when I played it at a game store that I purchased it right then, months before I had the console. That isn't to say previous Final Fantasy games are bad, in fact, if it weren't for 7, the Final Fantasy 6 game would still be my favorite, or perhaps even 8 (yeah, I liked that cheesy love story RPG).

Wellllllllll...Final Fantasy VII is an amazing game and is probably in the top ten if not the top five. Rich and complex story, distinctive characters, innovative gameplay. I personally found it to be somewhat chilly in tone, and that the story sometimes crossed the line from complex to convoluted, and for me that was somewhat offputting.

I have to admit that I have a great love for Chrono Cross (even over Chrono Trigger--I'm probably alone in the world for this) for its warmth and charm, and its considerable emotional power. For me, it's probably the greatest game ever.

There are also strong arguments to be made for Starcraft, Half-Life, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4 and Metal Gear: Solid. Hell, even Doom and Tetris could be up there, if we want to talk groundbreaking.