Current Events > I've been watching a guy stream Final Fantasy 7

(+) Yeah! (+)

It started last year, I was grinding in Runescape and had a brainwave. I wanted to see Vinesauce's Crisis Core streams but I didn't want to just sit and watch a dude play a video game, so I shrunk down the browser window and played Runescape in windowed mode. I had a blast grinding for once, and I got to see one of my favorite internet personalities have a good time without getting too bored.

From there, I decided to watch his Final Fantasy 7 streams. I've always been interested in FF7 to some degree, but I tried the PC version and it wasn't to my liking, and honestly the game is super overrated so I wasn't so hot on the game for a good while. But after seeing past the point of the game that I had quit at, I began to really enjoy what FF7 has to offer.

First of all, the translation is pretty ass, but it's kind of endearing. The whole jive-turkey thing they have going on for Barrett is kind of stupid and a bit insensitive to say the least, but I love how stupid it is when he says "mebbe" instead of "maybe". Like what the actual fuck is up with that? Why? It's so stupid. I love it.

The graphics are servicable. Sephiroth's pose after The Cutscene is fucking awful, but honestly I like the low polygon art style. The Gold Saucer is absolute cheese, with the Chocobo Race taking place in all these glitzy, fake locations as well as a translucent rainbow path. It really feels like one of the first 3D titles of the fifth generation, and there's this unique disconnect between the fucked up subject matter and the beginner-level simplified chibi graphics. It's an interesting dichotomy. I understand the complaints, but I'm really into it. It also makes the fucking bonkers Materia system stand out even more, because such a massive, intricate system is hidden behind a mess of untextured polygons and artifacted jpegs.

The music is god tier. I remember a year or two ago when I discovered Ahead On Our Way - it was a really special song to me for a long time, I love this theme. Of course, I didn't know that it was the default town theme for a lot of places. I've grown to really appreciate a lot of the game's music, especially this one song that's really low and depressing, but gives off this feeling of intrigue and getting to the bottom of something. I think it plays the most in places where the plot thickens, and the characters need to spout exposition.

And dude, the plot - it's a giant, convoluted animu mess, but I fucking love it. It's kinda dumb in places, of course, but the story is crazy. Cloud going missing, so you have to play as other party members? Cloud potentially being a Sephiroth clone all along (even though I saw Crisis Core first, so I know this is a red herring)? Fucking rad. I haven't played or heard about other games with a surprise like the latter example, so it's kind of awesome. I love the twists and turns of the game's plot.

It's still overrated, and I still laugh about it losing to Undertale in the Best. Game. Ever. contest, because whether it's awesome or not the fanboy hype around it is annoying. But I'm starting to understand why it's such a special game to a lot of people.

Now, why am I watching a dude play the game instead of playing it myself? Because I don't have the desire to play it myself, and because I like the personality of the guy playing it. I think RPGs would be a particularly good genre to watch someone else play, because the gameplay and grinding can get boring. Look at the North Crater part of the game, before you get to Sephiroth, where you have to navigate this snowy setting with a map. There's a part of the section where you can put down markers to help distinguish where you are, because the area is a detail-less white landscape. There's also all the forced minigames - they're one of the reasons I stopped playing it myself. Those aspects of the game haven't aged well, and I think it's a better experience - at least for me - to watch it rather than play it.
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I should note, the guy uploads his full streams to Youtube. This stream is from like 2015, and halfway through the playthrough Square Enix announced the FF7 remake. It's pretty dope.
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ok
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Glorious exposition, comrade.
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