FFVII and TLZ:OoT

Which do you prefer and why?

  • Final Fantasy VII

    Votes: 6 14.0%

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

    Votes: 37 86.0%
  • Total voters
    43
The.Lost.Hylian

The.Lost.Hylian

Conquer your Shadow
is a Researcher Alumnus
I've to write a paper and I decided to write it on gaming.

My manager's twin is in town and both are adamant gamers (which makes sense since we work in a video game store). We got to talking about great games, and I made the statement that Ocarina of Time was the greatest game ever made, to which he replied that Final Fantasy 7 was the greatest game. We debated, and I'm not quick on my toes, so the debate ended in stalemate, because I couldn't come up with responses fast enough.

I've played both, but never beat FFVII. I've read the story on internet sources, though I'm a bit rusty on the details. Not to discredit FFVII, but I believe Ocarina of Time was the better game, and did more for gaming as a whole. Introducing one of if not the first gaming experience where the entire 3-d "world" was open to exploration, which Mario 64 hinted on, but didn't have the vast, open world map that Ocarina of Time did. All the different weapons, like the hookshot (holy shit I was so excited the first time I figured out what that did) and the bomb-chu. The game wasn't TOTALLY linear, as you could comeplete some storyline quests in various order, whereas FFVII (from what I played) was rather linear in story and game progression. FFVII did introduce voiceovers and good cinematics, but I just felt like the Zelda experience was more complete and satisfying. I love traditional RPGs, I really do, but being in complete control of Link was more entertaining than choosing commands. I prefer the more fantasy based Zelda as opposed to FFVII's mix of sci-fi and fantasy.

My manager's brother (who is a manager in a store elsewhere) told me that he loved Zelda too, but the story is bland and repetitive, and that there was no "wow" factor in OoT like FFVII. That the ideas presented in FFVII were "so much better" that in OoT, and that those people who think OoT is the best game ever made are just fanboys.

So I am a fanboy. But only because I really believe OoT can't be surpassed.

This thread is not intended for other games to be discussed, so let's keep it at these two. Don't come in here bullshitting the thread with "no this game is better than both". I need responses from those who are far right wing or far left wing on this matter so I can get opinions from all over and formulate a better opinion on the subject of FFVII vs OoT's greatness in gaming history.
 
1. Go beat Final Fantasy 7
2. Realize that Final Fantasy 7 is basically just Final Fantasy 6 with 3d graphics
3. Ocarina of Time had many inovations like 3d horseriding, melee combat, warping by playing songs, complicated 3D dungeons.
4. Compare Majoras Mask (awesome game) to Advent Children or Crisis Core.

But seriously though, go beat Final Fantasy 7 and if you haven't beaten Majoras Mask then you can't call yourself a fanboy. Being a fan of Ocarina of Time is like saying "I enjoy good games". It's a fantastic game with an original storyline and advanced game mechanics for it's time.
 
klarth, there is quite a bit of irony in your post. I cannot with any reason see how anybody could say that FFVII is basically FFVI with 3D graphics and then turn around and called OoT's storyline "original".

Ocarina of Time was A Link to the Past in 3D. Same world. Same locations. Very, very similar storyline.

Final Fantasy VII had a much larger impact on the business side of the games industry. Ocarina of Time had a larger impact with regards to game mechanics in 3D games.

FFVII solidified the PlayStation as the leader of that generation. It expanded the audience for jRPGs, and Japanese-styled games in general, by quite a bit.

Ocarina of Time on the other hand didn't help the Nintendo 64 much at all. The game however is widely recognized as one of the best designed game ever made and is my personal favourite game of all time. The mechanics in many 3D games can be traced straight back to Ocarina of Time.

In both cases, nostalgia plays a big part. It's going to depend on if you had a PlayStation or Nintendo 64 at the time and the experience you received at the time. I haven't actually played FFVII yet either (yeah yeah shock and awe I know), so I can't comment on it for sure, but neither game has aged all that well in my opinion. One of the reasons being that they were both first generation 3D games.

The two are really hard to compare. FFVII is a linear story-driven traditional Japanese RPG. Ocarina of Time is an exploration-based action-adventure game. The wow factor from Zelda does not come from pre-rendered cutscenes and plot-twists. If your manager's brother was not wowed the first time he stepped into Hyrule Field, then he played the game much more recently than most people who call it the "greatest game ever" did. Both games have aged in a way that really does not favour their strengths in 1997 and 1998.
 
@firestorm
I guess maybe you played Final Fantasy VII first. Basically it was a MY FIRST JRPG for so many people. I played Final Fantasy six before Zelda Ocarina of time and before Final Fantasy VII. As you put it the wow factor was definitely present in Ocarina of time and the managers son must have played it later on in life.

Final Fantasy VII added better graphics to the same tired old formula. The only reason why I said that Zelda Ocarina of Time had a good story is because the stories in the previous Zelda titles were really easy to ignore. Nintendo 64 owners were treated to an amazing array of graphics, gameplay and plot development that had never really been experienced before. All that, coupled with the OST made Ocarina of time a truly amazing game for it's time.

I'm not saying that Ocarina Of Times storyline is better than FFVII's I'm just saying that the game was fun without the storyline whereas FFVII relied on the great storyline heavily. The in depth almost novella like storyline with fun gameplay and addictive repetition definitely appealed to first time Jrpgers and this trend was also observed with pokemon but it's not as if it was anywhere near as innovative as Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

By extension I'd say nowhere near as inovative as Mario 64 since Zelda Ocarina of Time uses a heavily modified version of the Mario 64 engine (which means it could possibly maybe be ported to DS!!!!!111).

But as you said the wow factor hasn't transcended time very well. Personally I thought Majora's mask is the best Zelda game ever made but most of the people I know seem to bitch about it being too hard.
 
LoZ: OoT is without a doubt the best game in the world for its time. No game lives up to that kind of sheer awesomeness. Sprawling dungeons, an interactive 3D world, and a fucking hookshot. FFVII is great, but compared to OoT, the clear victor is obvious.
 
What I meant was that you cannot say that FFVII is FFVI in 3D when Ocarina of Time is one of those games where they literally took all the mechanics from the 2D version (aLttP) and made it into a 3D game. They both have the same plot progression. Everything you just said about OoT actually applies to FFVII as well. Do you think Final Fantasy fans had been treated to that type of graphics or gameplay? No. The gameplay in both Zelda OoT and FFVII were fairly similar to the gameplay in Zelda aLttP and FFVI.
 
ocarina of time hasnt aged well in my opinion; some of the puzzles are just fucking annoying, as well as other things, like the auto jump feature and stuff. FF7 has aged much better, and is replayable to this day. i'd give the slight edge to FF7 overall

link to the past was THE zelda game anyway =)
 
@steelicks, LTP? Hell no! Yeah, I'll agree with you that Ocarina of Time hasn't aged very well though. It gets really tedious, you should play some Majoras Mask instead, it's delicious.

God Tier: Majoras Mask, Wind Waker

Top Tier: The legend of Zelda: Links Awakening, Ocarina Of Time, A Link To the Past

Medium Tier: Twilight Princess, Oracle of Seasons/Ages

Low Tier: Minish Cap

Shit tier: Phantom Hourglass

Moustache tier: http://i41.tinypic.com/b9eq6f.jpg
 
I enjoyed Minish Cap more than the Mid Tiers!
Anyways, I really enjoyed OoT more, but that might have more of something to do with playing it first than it being better. I dunno!
 
I think it's fair to say that we are not going to make any ground for this. I played OoT and FFVII at the same time, and loved both. Personally, I prefer FFVII because it's my type of genre, but it all depends on what type of game you like.

OoT had The adventure, freedom, and exploration. It was open world, and you could just play around with things as much as you like. I mean seriously, am I the only one that went in there and was like "Ohhhh. Chickens!!!" And then beat the shit out of them until I realized they attacked back?

FFVII Had the greatest story line of any game I can remember leading up to it. (I was 7 at the time, so I can't go too far back). The story was stellar. The backgrounds were rendered in superb artistic quality. Not only that, but Nobuo Uematsu made a killer sound track with amazing orchestral numbers. Remember the first time you got to the world map and that song just blew you away?

These games are completely different though. It's like comparing Jeff Gordan and Milley Cyrus as greatest American. (lol) It just doesn't make sense. It will always be split. Some prefer the open world of Zelda where you could ride your horse around and jump over fences for shits. Others will prefer the DEEP gameplay and story of FFVII.

To the OP, you are not going to have this answer any time, ever. It's a non-issue. Everyone has their own personal preferences, and it's impossible to come to a solid conclusion because of that.
 
Personally, I think they both suck. But I'd say that from what I've played, I enjoyed OoT more.

But everyone has an opinion, and there's no reconciling them. There is no logical argument you can give to the absolute, objective higher quality of one game to the other because it's a matter of subjective opinion. Your argument preparation is pointless.
 
I don't think either one of these games are the best ever (definitely not bad games by any means) but I liked Ocarina of Time better.
 
your forcing me to pick between two of the most over rated and fanboy/girl riddled games of all time i'll pass on that.
 
I'm going with Ocarina of Time. I've played both, beaten both, and I enjoyed OoT much more. Cool as it is to get that early Beta Enemy Skill from Midgar Zolom, the game just drags on forever, far, far more than any of the 16bit Final Fantasy(s).

And really, Cloud and Sephiroth's swords? Overcompensation much? Link's Sword is at least proportional to his body.
 
Surgo said:
Personally, I think they both suck. But I'd say that from what I've played, I enjoyed OoT more.

But everyone has an opinion, and there's no reconciling them. There is no logical argument you can give to the absolute, objective higher quality of one game to the other because it's a matter of subjective opinion. Your argument preparation is pointless.
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The opening sentence to the topic also confused me. I hope you are not using "fanboy warz oot vs ff7" as your research topic. If you want to look at their impacts on gaming, that's something that might be doable, but do not under any circumstance try to do a direct "which one is more important". That is not going to end well.
 
If you're attempting to go that route, you might wanna just list what each game brought to the table rather than pitting the two of them against each other.

Not sure what I would say is better, since I first started playing FF7 around the time I started to grow tired of turn-based RPGs. That's a question for the fanboys to fight over.
 
If I was teaching a class about logical arguments and I received a paper about which game was better, I'd definitely give it a D for reasons I already said. You might want to reconsider your paper.
 
I would honestly take Surgo's advice and do something else. The logical arguments behind this case are just not sound enough. There are no logical arguments to be honest. The only logical arguments would come from exploring the impact they made on the games industry (business) or future game design. Either way, doing a comparison of the two and how large an impact they made is something you just cannot do effectively.
 
I got a 96 on my Wii and PS3 compare and contrast essay ;_;

Regardless of whether or not the paper will be written on this subject, I'm still curious if there are more replies.
 
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