Tom's Hardware Giveaway - Final Fantasy VII!

[choctawfootball]

Welcome to the final entry of SEQUEL HYPE MONTH! I actually really enjoyed doing theme months, so perhaps I’ll revisit the idea soon!

For our grand finale, we are giving away what, in my own humble opinion, was the pinnacle of gaming in the 90’s, one of the greatest games released on the original PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII! Okay, so there isn't an actual "sequel", but it's getting remade so that counts right?! Plus, it's still a great game either way! It brings me back to the old days when a game was more than just pretty graphics, when it made you feel things and shed manly tears. Hopefully, the upcoming remake takes all of the things that made it a wonderful, defining moment of late 90’s gaming, and adds SUPER HD GRAPHICS so that we can all worship Sephiroth in all his glorious one-winged beauty.

We’ve got seven (7) copies to give away, and here's how you can enter! Tell us about your absolute favorite installment of the Final Fantasy series and what made it so great; or, if you haven’t played any or just weren’t a fan, what do you think is the greatest RPG/RPG-variant ever made and why? Winners will be randomly selected from among all participants.

I’m hoping to see some old-timers show some love for things like Tactics Ogre, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound! And remember—this is an open discussion! Chat amongst each other! Debate and argue (but keep it polite)! Things are more entertaining when everybody gets passionate about it!


Contest will run until 12 PM EDT on Friday, July 31st. That’s 12:00 noon. Winners will receive their prize via Steam gifts; a Steam account is required to receive and to play the game. One entry per user. Attempts to cheat the system will result in automatic disqualification.



Be sure to join our Steam group! We’re actively looking for volunteers to write community reviews for games, so if you’re interested, please reach out to me for more details!

FFX

It is hard to describe how epic this game is.

It boggles my brain to think about how you create a masterpiece as such.

You have 100+ hours of core game play.

400+ hours of game play if you include mini games, side quests, and arena monsters (that are separate from the main game).

I dont think matthew McConaughey would want to play this masterpiece.

 

[Andulvar]

Final Fantasy 7 will always be one of my favorites due to the fact that it was one of the first RPG's that should any real emotion through cutscenes. Before, all we had was midi tones. After than, Final Fantasy Tactics, I loved the old tactic's mechanics in games.

 

[Prince_Porter]

Final Fantasy 8, despite it's numerous flaws, remains one of my favorite RPGs of all time. I know the flaws, so let's leave them out of this. What was great about it to me, was running around a (at the time) visually stunning world, brimming with characters, amazing music, and memories. Playing Triple Triad in Balamb Garden remains a staple of my teen years, and visiting Laguna through dreams was always a welcome surprise when such a thing occurred. My overall favorite feature was that each town felt like it had personality, from Fisherman's Horizon, to the futuristic cityscape of Esthar. The visuals were unique, the music amazing, and the vastness unparalleled at the time. I've plenty plenty of Skyrim, Morrowind, etc, and while "vast", those worlds feel empty and dull, FF8 while smaller in scale, felt enormous and infinite.

 

[John Vitor Constant]

FF6 (FF3 on USA) is my favorite game. Becausa it's my first RPG and I loved all characters from this game.

 

[Lemuel Cilocilo]

Final Fantasy VII of course is the BEST OR THE GREATEST Final Fantasy ever made, the humor, the story-line, the characters, and also the mini-games! Also I have to slightly give credit to Final fantasy Tactics, the storyline was great and the battle system resemble chess so this is perfect for me. Though it might not be an open world but the job system was truly fantastic

 

[HKILLER]

I'm Kinda into FF games...i haven't played many only the Crisis Core on PSP...i liked the game play and it felt more like a hack and slash compared to a turn based RPG...the story was interesting and funny enough people kept telling me this one and the 7th game are the best...i never had a console to know how the 7th game was and i didn't really wanted to see game plays or walk through to know what's it about...i knew the original one came to PC but i was turned off by its graphics and i knew at some point there will be a remake...so this might be it...

 

[Luis Diego Vargas Guerrero]

Final Fantasy VI! Because Kefka is the best Final Fantasy villain ever!!!

 

[Takasis007]

For me nothing got me more emotionaly attatched than the FF VII, after spending hours and hours leveling up Aeris as a truly amazing healer only too, (spoiler alert!!) have that SOB Sephiroth drop from the ceiling and skewer her. I remember vividly that jaw dropping sense of What the H** just happened. I mean like she could do her wolf pack healing skill and it was wonder full. I went back to a save point again and again to figure out what I did wrong. The console almost became air borne at that point.

Fired up the Dial-up and reached out to the vastness of the Internet at the time. I then proceeded to let out a soul wrenching wail 'NOOOOOOoooooooooooo' as I came to learn it was scripted. I made it personal at that point to hunt that freakishly long haired pretty boy down and introduce him to the business side of the Buster Sword.

On another note, another game that ate up hours and hours of time was Ultima Online. E-Bolt FTW. I fondly remember the moment I finally Grandmasterd Blacksmithing and my Avatar's name was being inscribed on each and every Master made piece. Fishing was a usefull skill as was Cartography. Cartography is not a skill you see very often in RPG's.....

There were so many great games in the 90's, every hear of a little gem that never hit it off but should have? If you can, you really need to try Parasite Eve. At the time it was gruesome and awesome at the same time.

Ending this off another wonderful (opinions vary) RPG for the time was Manga Carta - Tears of Blood. I mean at the time it was beautiful to look at. Put your brain on hold for some portions of context that just does not translate well but if you read actual manga's this sort of thing happens all the time and it just gives it a certain authentic feel.

And that brings me to now.... Dragon Age - Inquisition is my current poison. I have my Qunari Warrior woman Oriana. There is something about a 7 foot tall red eyed, red haired (yes, Iron Bull she is a redhead) with jeweled horns walking around with a monster of a sword looking down at the puny human seeker. Sorry, i just cant bring myself to invest in a muscle bound dude with pecs like watermelons. The Avatar has to at least be something I don't mind spending hours with. Hairy guys and a bunch of Mr. Universes not so much. (But if that is your thing, have at.)

There are so many outstanding games from that time frame. I think though I will leave off from there.

Have a good day and panahedan

 

[ffleader1]

My favorite game in the franchise is Final Fantasy VIII
It's the first FF game that I have played. Since then, I've played FF Vmany other FF titles.

 

[cody_mckee]

My favorite is FF Tactics. It was the first RPG of any type I had played, when I was about 10. I was in my late teens before I figured everything out enough to beat it. Orlandu's sword abilities made him my favorite character. Calculator was my favorite job, so powerful if you take the time to build them. I can remember ending some battles pretty quickly by petrifying all enemies.

 

[Sangien]

I never played any of the Final Fantasy games, but I've heard a lot of positive things about the series. I can't say I have a particular favorite RPG, I've been trying out different ones lately (Torchlight, Dungeon Defenders, Magicka, Gauntlet). Final fantasy has been on my list of games to try though.

 

[mr_trotta]

I'm not into RPGs. From what I read, GTA San Andres had some RPG elements in int. That count?

 

[Corkelfinn]

Unpopular opinion incoming!

I really liked Final Fantasy X-2. Likely because it was the first Final Fantasy game I played. Also contributing is that it was back when I could still go through an RPG. I was a big fan of the dress sphere system, though, and every so often I think about popping it in and giving it a go, for old times sake.

I'm with you. I really liked X-2. FFVII remains my favorite but X-2 is second to me. I think the characters and gameplay were just as enjoyable, and story and cinematics immersive, and replay value great. For me it was only ruined by too much Charlie's Angels kitsch. But overall, a great installment in an epic series of games.

 

[Corkelfinn]

FFVII. I named my dog Red 13. My car is still called Ragnorok. I married a girl called Tiffany because she said I can call her Tifa (wouldn't let me call our daughter Aeris though). There are great villains in the FF series, but Sephiroth is the greatest. He's the bad guy you love to hate, the one you almost wish could win just so you could see what his world would be. The cast is gold, the mini games stellar, the mechanics pure yet epic, and the cinematics just mind-boggling (for the time). I used to make my parents stop what they were doing to come watch me summon Bahamut. There is no single thing I have given as much of my free time to as FFVII. It is the answer to almost any question.

And now it's re-released for a whole new generation of fans. I hope a few winners are those who have never played. I hope someone gets to discover Midgar for the first time, cry as (spoiler) Aeris dies, and shout in triumph as Cloud Omnislashes the piss out of Sephiroth. my own kids are starting to game seriously this year; no child's life is complete without a game like this, and what kind of parent would I be if my kids didn't get spend hours racing chocobos?

FFVII is always the answer.

 

[Joe Young]

FF7 was the reason that I bought my first game console. The Sony playstation 2

 

[juxtaposer]

I'm not familiar with Final Fantasy. I had a Crysis and then wandered around Tamriel in a state of Oblivion for quite a while... My favorite genre/series is Myst/Riven/Uru, and I'm looking forward to investigating an Obduction (http://obduction.com/). (The trial for the Talos Principle was good too.)

 

[Brett Mayes]

Final Fantasy 7, is my favorite Game out of all the Final Fantasy Games i have played, it had great story at the time, plus i loved to sit down and watch my aunt and uncle play it on there play station when i spent the night over their house. Growing up over in japan for most of my childhood i grew up on, jrp's like Chrono trigger which is one of my favorite rpgs to this date,i recently picked it up on google play and just finished it today,

 

[Abmario]

FF7 seems to be the most popular in Final Fantasy Series.. But FF6 is still the best over all! Great story and game play imo tho old school graphics. I love FF Tactics as well.

I wish they'd release enhanced version of FF6.

 

[Juliany]

I must say that the RPG are very difficult for me, I've never finished one, as close as I was to finishing one was parasite eve 2 which I enjoyed very much but reaches a point where it was impossible to finish because I haven't the right items. And as for Final Fantasy I only tried the 9 and always wanted to try the 7 because my friends say it is the best.

 

[clintonph2121]

Final Fantasy 7 had the best combat system and the materia system was the best ability and magic system they ever had!!

 

[ERR11CC]

FF9, because it had the best combat system (classes) and graphics, along with story, and humor.

 

[shiva92]

I have not played Final Fantasy. The first ever RPG i have played is Farcry 2. I like that game so much because there were so many things to do in the open world and I like shooting some badass criminals

 

[Nachoman64]

Played a FF tittle on a snes emulator. Very cool atmosphere and music, but the constant random battle triggering pissed me off and wasn't so fond of that turn based gameplay yet, so I didn't make it to far into the game (Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG fixed that).

Also tried a demo from a magazine's CD for a more modern, 3d FF tittle and it was a lot better, but it was only a demo.

 

[Quiksilver]

Final Fantasy 3 is the best with my second best being Final Fantasy 9, the story of those games were off the wall and great, which is what an RPG should be no matter what the graphics are. I would love to attempt 7 if I win a copy and finish it as a newly remastered HD graphics of the original game would be awesome. The only RPG I have ever played better than FF3 is chrono trigger, and a great RPG but to short was super mario RPG Legend of the seven stars.

 

[razvanc]

I didn't have a console when I was growing up, so I didn't know about these games. When they release FF for PC I was happily playing Diablo Then I saw the FF movie, which blew my mind at the time. It looked amazing and I loved the characters. That's when I found out about the games. But, I still haven't played FFVII because when I tried it, it wouldn't work on my modern PC.