Enjoy the movie(Final Fantasy Advent Children), so – as I’m sitting here with a broken collar bone – thought of getting the game.

It came out in 1998, so was hoping it would be a few £s on ebay or fairly cheap from play.com, and playable with mouse only. How wrong on price:

£149.99 from play:

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/2555381/Final-Fantasy-VII/Product.html

New buy it now ebay £139.99:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-VII-7-PC-Computer-NEW-FACTORY-SEALED_W0QQitemZ120397501015QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS?hash=item120397501015&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1687%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Used ebay £26 + £3 with 9 hours to go:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-VII-for-PC-BOXED-RARE-7_W0QQitemZ230337809635QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS?hash=item230337809635&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1687%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Anyone play it way back when? If so, is it worth it? Maybe get my mum to look out for it at car boot or something.

Some would say that the Pirate Bay would be a good place to look for a ‘trial download’. I wouldn’t as it’s clearly a very murky legal area.

I wouldn’t even know where to look. Never even downloaded a music track, since I’m not a massive music lover.

Reading the comments in the links that PB offer it seems as if there’s a fair amount of fiddling about with patches and/or using virtual drives to get their files working so it would probably be a bit of a hassle if you’re not all geeked up. It might be worth just getting an old (working!) PS2 and the PS2 version as that would surely be cheaper than the PC version – can’t believe those prices!

I seem to remember owning and playing this, I wasn’t overly impressed.

Freespace 2 however…

It was a long, painful, pointless meandering nightmare of a game.

If you like the idea of a game where you are FORCED to race giant chickens for days, in order to gain a special kind of magic necessary to defeat another boss then it might be for you.

Prices are mad. Most new games I get are only about £20 from play. Got Company of Heroes – Tales of Valour sitting here. That’s just out last week, and was £17.99. Need 2 hands though ;(

Cheers MisterGnar, just what I need – someone to put me off. Seems wakthrough of game’s on YouTube anyway – I’ll have a look. I’ve generaly fared well v giant chickens mind 😉

I’ve got an old copy you can have for nowt (or a small donation to STW) if you like. Email in profile.

That’s very agreeable Mr Agreeable. I couldn’t take something off you for a small donation that’s certainly worth over £30 if you bother to put it ebay.

I’ll gladly donate £10 + postage to borrow it though. But I can only find link to http://www.bristoltrailsgroup.com in your profile.

Sorry chap, it’s bristoltrailsgroupATgmailDOTcom.

[/QUOTE]It was a long, painful, pointless meandering nightmare of a game.

If you like the idea of a game where you are FORCED to race giant chickens for days, in order to gain a special kind of magic necessary to defeat another boss then it might be for you. [/QUOTE}

So very far from correct – FFVII is THE game that launched RPG’s on the PS1, until then you had 2D blocky pixels that your imagination would have to fill in the details. The FMV’s were mind blowing, the plotline/story is compelling (specially if you do complate all the little bits and bobs).

The battle system is simple, quick and efficient – equipment is well balanced and suitably difficult to get the best out of. The use of materia (magic) is frankly sublime – and not been bettered since. You can set it up simple, or you can have complex combos that allow for a myriad of outcomes.

As for being forced to race chocobobs, thats only to get Knights of the Round – which is total overkill for everything except the 2 optional weapons, and useless for the emerald weapon as the FMV sequence is way way too long (If you don’t have the underwater materia) – And if you beat the weapons you get a free gold chocobo with which you can then get KoToR without having to breed it. FFVII was reknown for being the RPG that showned the gaming world (that were not RPG nerds) that RPG’s don’t have to be linear – once you get out of Midgar you are free to explore a massive world.

Can you tell I’m a fanboy?

On my first playthough I bought the game on a friday afternoon, didn’t stop playing except for going to the toilet and passing out on the sofa until midday monday (had to phone work). First playthough was 60hours and I just couldn’t defeat the final baddie – survived for ~3 hours but couldn’t inflict enough damage. Next walk through took me 120 hours and I wiped the floor with just one of the 8 chars. My current walkthrough is a little over 270 hours (I’ve been boosting stats on all chars to maximum) and I don’t need to equip anything but a ribbon.

Ribbon is #1 item to go for/get – if you have any Q’s give me a shout, I’ll probably know the answer.

Saccades – Member

So very far from correct – FFVII is THE game that launched RPG’s on the PS1, until then you had 2D blocky pixels that your imagination would have to fill in the details. The FMV’s were mind blowing, the plotline/story is compelling (specially if you do complate all the little bits and bobs).

The battle system is simple, quick and efficient – equipment is well balanced and suitably difficult to get the best out of. The use of materia (magic) is frankly sublime – and not been bettered since. You can set it up simple, or you can have complex combos that allow for a myriad of outcomes.

Impressive video sequences do not a great game make. In fact if they are jarring, indulgent and protracted they can detract from it. The same goes for graphics. The plot was insipid…utter shit in fact compounded I suspect by the kind of poor translation that afflicts most japanese media.

I found the battle system to be rigid, stale and seemingly random.

Saccades – Member

As for being forced to race chocobobs, thats only to get Knights of the Round – which is total overkill for everything except the 2 optional weapons, and useless for the emerald weapon as the FMV sequence is way way too long (If you don’t have the underwater materia) – And if you beat the weapons you get a free gold chocobo with which you can then get KoToR without having to breed it. FFVII was reknown for being the RPG that showned the gaming world (that were not RPG nerds) that RPG’s don’t have to be linear – once you get out of Midgar you are free to explore a massive world.

Can you tell I’m a fanboy?

On my first playthough I bought the game on a friday afternoon, didn’t stop playing except for going to the toilet and passing out on the sofa until midday monday (had to phone work). First playthough was 60hours and I just couldn’t defeat the final baddie – survived for ~3 hours but couldn’t inflict enough damage. Next walk through took me 120 hours and I wiped the floor with just one of the 8 chars. My current walkthrough is a little over 270 hours (I’ve been boosting stats on all chars to maximum) and I don’t need to equip anything but a ribbon.

Ribbon is #1 item to go for/get – if you have any Q’s give me a shout, I’ll probably know the answer.

The above, I feel just backs up my argument.

Cheers Saccades, I could well be in touch. Do you like the movie?