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I've had this going on inside of me for a while, and I just had to write down! LOL
Between Cheese and I, there is the eternal struggle to prove which is better - FF7 or FF8. I may be a bit biased, having finished FF7 and haven't quite finished FF8, but I think I know both both of them well. I'm gonna start on several different topics, and rant.
^_^
(But, Cheese, you're way more biased than I am.. you haven't even played FF7! Naaahh! Pssshhh! Zip it! Zip it gooood! I don't wanna hear excuses! LOL)
Actually, if you ask me now, I'd say FF8 - all the adrenaline from the final battles is getting to me!
And is this ain't gonna be set out like a proper essay - eck, had enough of them lately. ><
Battle of the Airships: The HighWind VS The Ragnarok
The first thing that comes to mind, are the Airships. Who would win the battle between the Cid-piloted "HighWind" or the mainly Selphie-piloted "Ragnarok". Let's the compare the details.
The HighWind has a chocobo stall, where you can keep your chocobo that you catch, and whenever you get out of the HighWind, you can ride your chocobo. Extremely handy. Nothing of that sort on the Ragnarok.
(Which actually leads to the idea of Chocobo's, but I'll get onto that later)
I think the HighWind is actually a little faster, but it can only land on grass areas. The Ragnarok can land anywhere, with the exception of dense forests. The Ragnarok also has an auto-pilot function, which can be very useful.
The Ragnarok has a save-point, however hidden it may be. The HighWind has a save point, switch member function, and an auto-heal, free of charge. And auto-heals are good! ^_^
In terms of looks, though, the Ragnarok is cooler. It has the modern-space age look, crafted by aliens and what-not. The HighWind, while still cool, was home-grown.
Battle of the Baddies: Sephiroth VS Ultimecia
Second topic to rant about, the villians. Sepiroth vs Ultimecia. I think I know who wins this hands-down. LOL
Sepiroth, for one, is hot. He is a stud, good looking, with kick-ass color eyes, and cool as hair. He is thoroughly evil, weilds a ruley sword, and wears cool
clothes
Ultimecia, is a girl. She is a sorceress. I must admit, her dress, when she was Edea, was cool. But that's about it. LOL
Every time that Sephy came on screen, I shivered. Then I got scared, as he started doing evil things. When Ulti appeared, I just looked and wondered when the next FMV was going to be on.
So yes, Sephy wins the villians arguements hands down.
Final Fantasy 7 also has one thing that FF8 does not. The Turks. ^_^
The other-villians of FF7 are so cool, there is no denying the fact that FF7 is made better because of them. Especially Reno. ^_^
Battle of the FMV: The Old-ish Generation VS The New-ish
In the way of the FMV's, FF8 wins without an arguement. Granted, the FMV's of FF7 are cool, but they are few, and far between. And not quite the real-like quality of FF8. Besides, there are so many "graphically pleasing" FMV's in FF8 - it's hard to say anything bad about them!
Battle of the GamePlay Graphics: Chibis VS Life Sized
Whereas - gameplay graphics, I still prefer FF7. I think, that in their way to try and get gameplay graphics more details, they made it more squarish and dotty, and the backgrounds more flat (in battles) that they should be.
Although the height-right people of FF8 are better than the chibis, and FF8 characters don't walk into each other like Russian Nesting Dolls, I still prefer FF7. It's beats having three of them running round and getting in your way when you want to see things. And climbing down a ladder - they appear so close that the person under Rinoa actually gets their head enveloped by her cloak-thing. ><
Battle of the Chocobo: The Long-Term Chocobo VS The Short-Term
Chocobo
In FF7 - you can catch a chocobo in the areas where they normally stay. You can keep them at Chocobo Billy's ranch, feed them greens, and breed them until you get the best possible chocobo. Feeding them greens make them better, raise their stats. You breed a yellow and a yellow - you get a green, and then a blue. You breed a blue and green - you get a black. You then breed the black and soemthing else, and you get the ultimate chocobo - the Gold. Of course, this takes time, but is very satisfying, and you can race them for Gil. And you
can keep them.
I actually haven't tried to catch any chocobo's in FF8 - buit from what I gather, you catch them once, and when you have finished riding, it goes away never to be seen again. Until you catch the next.
In FF8 - it seems the whole catching of chocobos is a bit of a waste of time -
once you've ridden them, they run away. But in FF7, the breeding of the Gold chocobo allows you to get the one thing all FF7 players end of craving - KOR, The Knights of Round
Summon.
Go the FF7 chocobos - definately more fun! ^^
Battle of the Characters: Personality VS Fated
Now, I have to touch on one of the most delicate things on the game (because I know some people might send me "Heeeeyy!" mail. I've been dreading this. LOL
I have to say, I prefer the characters on FF7. The characters on FF8 are pretty cool, but for me, they just don't have that... special touch.
I reckon that FF7 characters have a lot more viarety, for one thing. We have smokers (Reno, Cid), we have a black guy (Barret), we have a bald guy (Rude), we have a guy that curses a lot (Cid), we have a guy with extremely impossible hair (Cloud, and maybe Reno), and we have Sepiroth. Cloud Strife and Vincent Valentine are by-product experiments from Hojo, Aeris Gainsbourugh is a Cetra from another planet, Tifa Lockheart and Barret are part of the group AVALANCHE, Cid HighWind used to work for the enemy, Cait Sith is a robotic moogle controlled by a spy, and Yuffie Kisaragi is a 16 year old teenager from Wutai, who joins the crew for somewhat selfish reasons.
The Turks play a semi-large part, and you eventually grow to really like them. For instance, when I was fighting Reno on top of the Sector 7 Pillar - I was shouting
"Yes! Go Reno! Go you good thing! Whohoo! 200 points of damage! Go Reno!" before it dawned on me that I should be going for Cloud. LOL
Noow... we have the FF8 Cast. Their practically all orphans, so that goes unspoken. LOL Squall Leonhart is Laguna's son, and eventually grows to love Rinoa. Zell Dintch is a guy that loves hotdogs, Selphie is a hyperactive girl that came from Trabia Garden, Irvine Kinneas is a sharpshooter from Galbadia, Quistis Trepe is an instructor from Balamb Garden. Rinoa Heartlily and Seifer Almasy are the two more interesting characters in the game - Rinoa is in danger of becoming the sorceress, and Seifer becomes Edea's Knight.
Battle of the Magic: MP VS Drawing System
No matter what fact I am faced with - I still like FF7 Materia better. And you also have the coolest spells in FF7 - Mini, Transform, HP and MP Plus, Quadra Magic, Enemy Skill, Mime, and so on.
In a battle (FF8), there's also a limit to how many spells you can cast, if you only have so on. If you have 39 Flares, then you can only cast 39 Flares, fullstop, unless you can draw them from the enemy.
In FF7, you can keep restoring your MP and casting them again and again - even KoR, which takes 250 MP.
But, the battle effects of magic in FF8 are better, with better graphics and the Dual-Shock controller (if you have the Playstation).
Battle of the Summon: The Red Materia VS Guardian Forces
I don't think there is even a choice here - Guardian Forces are better. You come to develop a 'kinship' of sorts with them, through your characters. And as your characters get better affiliation, you feel like the GF even better. You can teach the GF certain abilities, and you can boost their power during gameplay. Plus, you can summon them however many times, and they can also take hits for you.
Summons are cool, but they just don't have that touch that GF's have. One thing that GF's dont have, is that when you Master the Summon Materia, you automatically recieve another, and can summon two of the same Summon, which is handy. Escpecially for KoR.
And, since I have Dual-Sock on the Playstation - I can sit there during the GF summons and feel the controller shaking like mad. It's fun!!
(If I haven't ranted
about a topic you think is important - feel free to
tell me and I'm sure I'll be able to rant about that for a while as well! ^^)
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