While it was certainly an influential game, the transition from 2D to 3D did nothing in terms of gameplay for the Final Fantasy series in VII. Final Fantasy VII
literally rehashed the gameplay from Final Fantasy VI and added the extremely novel and worthless materia system to try and make the gameplay look less
cut and pasted,
yet anyone that had played Final Fantasy VI beforehand could see what a shameless copy VII was. Many other game series that had moved from 2D to 3D had retained the classic 2D gameplay feel while actually getting significant gameplay changes from moving into 3D which made them feel
fresh (e.g
Zelda and Ocarina of
Time). Since Final Fantasy VII changed nothing gameplay-wise when moving into 3D, the gameplay ultimately felt stale to those who had played previous Final Fantasies.
The presentational values VII introduced were excellent but the complete lack of any real gameplay evolution was largely disappointing for fans of the series who had played previous installments. Unfortunately VII is
overrated for the fact many
people had never played a JRPG before in their life (as they were mostly popular in Japan until that point). Many
people were unaware of how its gameplay had no significant changes in the transition from 2D to 3D and how the games only redeeming factor was the presentation.
A disappointing game all in all.
FFVII Fanboy:
FINAL FANTASY VII IS
DA BEST FINAL FANTASY EVAR!
Person: What significant gameplay additions did it make over Final Fantasy VI?
FFVII Fanboy: IT ADDED TEH UMVS AND TEH COOL CLOUD AND SEPHIROTH!!!
Person: No what I
mean is "gameplay", you know the bits you actually play, not what you watch. You know, most of us buy games to play them.
FFVII Fanboy: ...
