For any Final Fantasy series fans....

H

huxley

Pleeze Maik Mee STFU!!
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Messages
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This guy has a really excellent review of the series game by game

http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=patff

Basically, he played through every game in the series, talked about the creators and themes and compared them to past and future games. Pretty interesting if you are a FF fan or were at one point in your life.
 
Not bad, I agree with his review of XIII. XIII has pretty much soured Final Fantasy for me.
 
I didn’t think XIII was that bad. Wasn’t the best FF but wasn’t a terrible one IMO. Yet I’m one of the few that think VII is very overrated. My top 3 would be IV, VI and IX.
 
qbanb8582 said:
Not bad, I agree with his review of XIII. XIII has pretty much soured Final Fantasy for me.
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Pretty much this right here. Is it really that hard to make them in the same style as the older games in the series?

Hell, at this point, if they did remakes of the older titles they could basically print money.
 
I read the conclusions to all of the games listed and agree for the most part, except 7 wasn't my favorite by far. To me, 6 was the best, followed by Tactics, then 4, then maybe 9 (I loved the story of Vivi), then 7... I hated 8 and 10, the j-pop themes in general (this is why I haven't tried X-2 or 13)...

His review of 12 is making me consider giving it a try though, I only played the demo and just didn't like the MMO-style gameplay, but maybe the story and characters will make it worth it? I know it's kinda based on the world from Tactics... I didn't really enjoy Vagrant Story either, but only because of the battle system, the story and everything else was really good though...

I'm also thinking of giving FF Tactics Advanced a try... I just like the more fantasy based stuff rather then j-pop scifi stuff...

anyways, cool reviews, but OMG huge spoiler alert, he basically gives away everything, lol...
 
Youn said:
I read the conclusions to all of the games listed and agree for the most part, except 7 wasn't my favorite by far. To me, 6 was the best, followed by Tactics, then 4, then maybe 9 (I loved the story of Vivi), then 7... I hated 8 and 10, the j-pop themes in general (this is why I haven't tried X-2 or 13)...

His review of 12 is making me consider giving it a try though, I only played the demo and just didn't like the MMO-style gameplay, but maybe the story and characters will make it worth it? I know it's kinda based on the world from Tactics... I didn't really enjoy Vagrant Story either, but only because of the battle system, the story and everything else was really good though...

I'm also thinking of giving FF Tactics Advanced a try... I just like the more fantasy based stuff rather then j-pop scifi stuff...

anyways, cool reviews, but OMG huge spoiler alert, he basically gives away everything, lol...
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Since we seem to have very similar taste...yes play 12. ;)
 
This just made my contempt of Kitase even greater.
I hope the next game tanks SquareEnix and everything changes. Tomb Raider selling buttloads and being a monetary "failure", makes me think the next FF game must sell 100 million for them to make anything.
I hope its true. I can't wait for the day SquareEnix closes or get sold.

XIII is NOT a FF game.
I don't care how much you like it or think it was decent. THAT "game" was NOT a FF game. That game was missing everything that makes a FF game and further insults you by guiding you down a tube for 50 hours. Square doesn't make video games anymore, they make corporate shit based on targeting surveys that somehow tell them that we want LESS in our RPG's.

X was the last one I played. The VA's killed that game, I totally agree with that. In fact that alone keeps me from playing that game again. It's awful. XII could have been cool, if what is in that article it true. SquareEnix going androgynous with its characters kept me away.

100% on the FF7 comment.
DONT. TOUCH. IT.
They have already ruined Final Fantasy. Just leave that one alone. My memories of when the series was worth something should stay the same. Fuck you SquareEnix. Fuck you to bankruptcy or buy out.
 
They have a bunch of these 20 + minute reviews on youtube save the effort of reading for us lazy people.

I agree'd with pretty much everything he had to say.

I knew as soon as I finished FFX that Final Fantasy was done for. After finishing FFXIII my prediction of Final Fantasy's demise was realized.

I'll not be playing another Square game for a long long time......Which is fine as Atlus has filled the gap they left.
 
Kinsaras said:
Since we seem to have very similar taste...yes play 12. ;)
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I guess I would review them in two orders

Moment I played them
1
7
6
4
10
12

Looking at them from my current perspective

6
7
10
4
12
1

The first one blew my mind when I was a kid. I didn't even know what an RPG was, just knew I loved the game. At the time, 7 was mind blowing...now, its not so great. Six is probably the most timeless and interesting of them all though.

10 was ok...
12 was actually not so bad

They had a lot more success with dystopian type societies with dark towns and dark worlds. Why they moved into these weird futuristic cities (starting with 8) no one knows. It doesn't make any sense and it is not a successful model. People want dark, adult themes not generic fantasy drivel.
 
huxley said:
The first one blew my mind when I was a kid. I didn't even know what an RPG was, just knew I loved the game. At the time, 7 was mind blowing...now, its not so great. Six is probably the most timeless and interesting of them all though.
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Final Fantasy 1 didn't have too much of an impact on me. I played Phantasy Star and Dragon Warrior before Final Fantasy 1 so I already had RPG exposure. And Phantasy Star was significantly more advanced than Final Fantasy and dragon warrior was also cool though I liked Final Fantasy more.
 
agree with the 7 = over rated

my favs are 4(2), 8,10,12

i thought 12 was fantastic. I pre-ordered 13, I played it for maybe 5 or 6 hours and nevre looked back. 13 is where FF died. (could throw in X-2 as well)

13 took the game to new lows to me. Like they should have just made it a 3rd person action game and called it a day. SO disappointing to me coming after 12. 12 was weird for me also. I HATED it at first. went back to like 6 months later and loved it.
 
Bigbacon said:
agree with the 7 = over rated

my favs are 4(2), 8,10,12

i thought 12 was fantastic. I pre-ordered 13, I played it for maybe 5 or 6 hours and nevre looked back. 13 is where FF died. (could throw in X-2 as well)

13 took the game to new lows to me. Like they should have just made it a 3rd person action game and called it a day. SO disappointing to me coming after 12. 12 was weird for me also. I HATED it at first. went back to like 6 months later and loved it.
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What do you mean you agree with 7 = OverRated as the dude who did these reviews said

"
Final Fantasy VII is not overrated.

You heard me. I repeat: Final Fantasy VII

is

not

overrated.
"
 
stevedave said:
What do you mean you agree with 7 = OverRated as the dude who did these reviews said

"
Final Fantasy VII is not overrated.

You heard me. I repeat: Final Fantasy VII

is

not

overrated.
"
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I think it's just opinion, most people I know liked it the most out of all of them, but personally, I thought 9 was the best, and by a lot.
 
Bigbacon said:
agree with the 7 = over rated
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stevedave said:
What do you mean you agree with 7 = OverRated as the dude who did these reviews said

"
Final Fantasy VII is not overrated.

You heard me. I repeat: Final Fantasy VII

is

not

overrated.
"
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BiH115 said:
I think it's just opinion, most people I know liked it the most out of all of them, but personally, I thought 9 was the best, and by a lot.
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Kinsaras said:
Maybe he was agreeing with me? IDK

And 7 is overrated but that doesn't make it a bad game :D
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I refuse to join this....

Damn it.
7 is NOT overrated. I hate you all.
 
I fail to see peoples point of view when they say FF7 is over rated. This person also agree's that FF7 is not over rated. Having played RPG's since their inception I can say FF7 isn't over rated.

In fact the only games that are 'over rated' are games in which people pay other people to write overly inflated reviews for. Thus getting a higher rating that otherwise deserved. FF7, and pretty much every other game, is rated exactly as it should be.

FF7 is highly rated because its a great game and thus deserving of its high rating. Disagreeing with a rating doesn't make the game overrated it makes your opinion of the game under valued. If you take the average rating of a game you pretty much have its exact rating...No over or under rating just its rating
 
I think people are just looking at it from different perspectives. Playing it now...it's not that great, filled with tropes and the graphics suck.

Playing it when it came out? The graphics were mind blowing. The CGI cut scenes were fantastic (remember, there really wasn't very many CGI cut scenes in games at all, they were very cool at the time).

It really is a now vs. then type situation.
 
huxley said:
I think people are just looking at it from different perspectives. Playing it now...it's not that great, filled with tropes and the graphics suck.

Playing it when it came out? The graphics were mind blowing. The CGI cut scenes were fantastic (remember, there really wasn't very many CGI cut scenes in games at all, they were very cool at the time).

It really is a now vs. then type situation.
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Maybe to some people it was the graphics and CG that made FF7 great. That wasn't the case for me, so I still think it was a great RPG. The world was interesting, the story was good, the materia system was creative, and all the extras (ultima/ruby weapons, chocobo breeding, mini-games, etc) were pretty cool. Is it as good as FFVI? No, but nothing will ever top that game.

PS: Speaking of FFVI, playing through it again for the gazillionth time (GBA ver. this round). That game is still as wonderful as the first time I played it.
 
Out of 552 ratings on metacritic FF7 gets a 9/10. This is its rating. Its not over rated. Its not under rated. Its just rated.

Just because I rate a game (Halo for instance) a 1/10 doesn't mean that the game is over rated. I'm in the minority and my opinion of the game does not reflect the average or normal opinion. The game is not overrated I'm under rating it.


The worst aspects of FF7 are the graphics. The storyline and characters is what makes it a great game.....Hell if they made a FF7 book it would likely be amazing as well. I could go into the Cloud and Zack Story line and how original that entire thing was....but the dude's review says anything I'd want to.
 
Angelus897 said:
The world was interesting, the story was good, the materia system was creative, and all the extras (ultima/ruby weapons, chocobo breeding, mini-games, etc) were pretty cool.
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Hit it on the head.
Basically EVERYTHING that is missing from XIII, and the characters were somewhat normal compared to the retarded/annoying characters they came up with the next games.
7 gets a lot of things right and puts them together better than the other games. Square never did it like that again, and is also why XIII sucks so much as a Final Fantasy game. The gamey parts are missing.
 
Of the ones I own (and I've replayed them all fairly recently): 7 > 10 > 12 > 8 > 13

The materia system is 7 was just so awesome. Linking materia to create your own combinations was unique and really enjoyable. Plus they all had independent XP levels, so you'd get friggin stoked about level ups pretty much all the time.

As for FFX, I could play blitzball forever.
 
Agreed with most of the things he said about I, IV, VI, IX, and X.
Disagree with VII "not being overrated".

IMHO VI > IV > X > IX

The first time I played VII I played til mid-disc 2 before my memory card was stolen. I've tried playing the game again to get back to that point and I can't do it because I realize how much I hate the fucking game. :cool: I hate the cast (except Vincent, Red XIII, and the Turks). I hate the graphics. I hate the ebonics. I hate the main characters. I will never see VII as a worthwhile FF game, it's just not ever gonna happen. (That's my opinion, and trust me, you'll never change it.)

X was a very good game except for the Blitzball. If it wasn't for having to do that to get Wakka's ultimate weapon, I would have never bothered. Loved the Sphere Grid and the new battle system. Love Lulu and Auron. But especially Lulu.
smiley-love016.gif


IV and VI are unquestionably the pinnacles IMHO. VI slightly edges out IV but I love both games and are easily the two best RPG's I've ever played.
I bought X (again) and XII used a few years ago when Gamestop was clearing out used Ps2 games. One of these days I'll finally start playing that one. ;)
 
everybody has a preference when it comes to FF

i know my friend absolutely loved 9. i hated it though


to me 7&8 were the best. i didnt come around on 10 until later but eventually grew to love it. 12 was shit if you ask me. and i didnt mind 13 but didnt think it was amazing either

characters are less of an importance like previous games and that kills it for me.



other JRPGs that I love

xenogears
lost odyssey ( if you havent played this you should; also look up the creator as he was apart of square soft / enix )
chrono cross and trigger i liked them both.
grandia series.. the third was just meh
 
DyNamiC. said:
Pretty much this right here. Is it really that hard to make them in the same style as the older games in the series?

Hell, at this point, if they did remakes of the older titles they could basically print money.
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It's funny, I can't get anyone to agree with me about the same problem but with the Resident Evil series. I miss the style of Code Veronica and RE 1-3. It's what made the game exciting and fun. Survival Horror has been replaced with Action Adventure Shooter.
 
zamardii said:
It's funny, I can't get anyone to agree with me about the same problem but with the Resident Evil series. I miss the style of Code Veronica and RE 1-3. It's what made the game exciting and fun. Survival Horror has been replaced with Action Adventure Shooter.
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I agree with you completely I haven't been able to enjoy the latest Resident evils ... Both games and movies.


I really don't think Square has the ability and talent to remake FF7 or FF6. Creating that world in modern graphics wouldn't be easy and they'd likly do a Point A to point B instead of having an open world.


I'd Say FF6 is the 'golden standard' when it comes to Final Fantasy. I liked FF7 quite a bit more than FF6 however the main crimes FF7 committed stand the series forever.

Crime 1 : Reduction of party size to 3.
Crime 2 : Reduction of equipment Options
Crime 3 : A general retarding of items.

These three things persisted in every game after with exception to FFIX which was had its own set of problems to make up for upping the party size and gear.

What Square needs to do it make a new 2D game with an open environment. Build in at least 6 pieces of gear. Custom skills similar to FFX Grid, Custom special Items similar to Materia, with special skills similar to Espers.....the only reason I say 2D is I have serious doubts about their ability to make anything other than a point A to point B RPG in 3D.
 
As much shit as 13 and 13-2 deserve, it is still among my favorite combat systems in all the RPGs I played. It takes a long time for it to ramp up (and most quit too early to get beyond the "auto-attack" segment of the game), but the paradigm shifts was really fun working together. It's always a cool feat to fully buff up, fully debuff an enemy, stagger the enemy, and go to town with the Cerberus paradigm (com/com/com) for massive damage.

I always had trouble finding the perfect 6 paradigm setups. I mainly kept with Com/Com/Com, Rav/Rav/Rav. Syn/Syn/Med. Sen/Med/Med, Sab/Sab/Rav. and Med/Sen/Rav. But man, it would've been nice to have a lot more combos at my disposal.

What I miss from XIII when playing the tales RPGs (a different real time combat) is the friendly AI getting smarter about enemies. I scan an enemy, the enemy is immune against earth, and Rita sits in the back for 15 seconds casting her ultimate earth spell against the enemy. What. The. Fuck. Rita. I liked in XIII when you cast debuffs and realize that the enemy is immune, your allies stop trying to debuff with that spell. Your ravagers cast an element, and find out that the enemy is weak against that element, your allies will generally stick to that element (especially if you know the enemy is resisant/immune to others). It's nice knowing that you dont have to micro manage your allies in Real Time combat battles.

The pace in XIII-2 was much more challenging in battles, unfortunately almost everything else got much worse. Some of the special battles required really good timing in shifts. And the challenge really reached its peak with the last DLC (tears of the goddess i think) where you control only lightning, but have access to a variety of classes to attack/defend/heal/debuff/buff. The pacing was spot on.

I dont have much faith in Lightning Returns in terms of what many would judge to be what makes FF games of old great, but the combat system has potential from what I've seen. I'll deal with crappy story, bad exploration, bad art design, bad VA (although I love the actress that plays the english lightning), and even deal with Hope still being a whiny bitch, as long as I have enough fun with the combat system.
 
I guess this is where I disagree about FF7. I got sucked into the WOW factor when it first came out. Yet after awhile the world didn’t interest me, especially since you spend way too long in Midgar. The story was just one long Captain Planet episode. Sephiroth isn’t very interesting villain. He just has the Boba Fett “cool factor” going for him, if Boba had an unusually long sword and walked slowly through fires.

They killed off the only interesting character about 1/3 of the way through. I thought the best part of the game after that was when you lose emo spiky hair Cloud for awhile.

Materia system, while kind of cool, ruined the characters. They became nothing more than skins you jam colored balls into. I guess I’m just old school like that. My Mage should be a mage and my fighter a fighter. One big reason I like FF 9 better.

I will say they had lots of fun mini games. I spend more time playing snowboarding at the Gold Saucer then I care to admit.
 
zamardii said:
It's funny, I can't get anyone to agree with me about the same problem but with the Resident Evil series. I miss the style of Code Veronica and RE 1-3. It's what made the game exciting and fun. Survival Horror has been replaced with Action Adventure Shooter.
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Well, in a way they ARE making games in the old style, they are called "remakes" ;)

I'm sure it's a big challenge for the developers to make a game that is both new and exciting, yet also pulls in older gamers who are a bit stuck in the past.

And for the old-school gamers, they have Dragon Warrior... maybe that's their reasoning for taking more risks with FF
 
FF 9 was awesome. If only they didn't use 14 year olds and super saiyans in the story.

A version of the Chocobo treasure hunt should be in every game in existence it was awesome.
 
I used to think that FF6 was the be-all and end-all, but now in my old age it's not nearly as good as I remember it. You have the annoying micromanagement with the esper leveling if you want more than a handful of your party members to be any good at magic, and you'd better put that level of effort into each party member because you need 12 of them to beat the end boss!

Did I mention half of your party members have annoying gimmicks that are hard to do consistently (Blitz), or they take so fucking long to prep you fell asleep (that's your cue Cyan)? And I don't suppose you'll ever get tired of one-trick ponies like Relm and searching forever on The Veldt to find Gau something more powerful than Fire 2 (or remembering which creature does what WHEN YOU NEED IT)? The game gets a lot less annoying once you learn everyone the various spells and boost their magic rating using the (pathetically few) espers that do that, but again by the time you get there you are dead from micromanagement boredom. Every time you gain a level you have to balance your esper sheet, it feels like I should cut the game a check!
 
stevedave said:
FF 9 was awesome. If only they didn't use 14 year olds and super saiyans in the story.

A version of the Chocobo treasure hunt should be in every game in existence it was awesome.
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Have you played any Chocobo spinoffs? Chocobo Tales is a clever little game on the DS.
 
I enjoyed 10 and other than the Yuna and Tidus laughing scene never really noticed the bad voice acting that he criticizes so much, but noticed right away some of the voice acting deficiencies in Skyrim as an example. Also I can think of numerous examples in television where awkward or out of place laughing scenes occur usually at moments when people are trying to cheer themselves up in a dire situation.. I cringe at them too but it's certainly not a new thing to have those.

Anyways he's pretty good with his reviews otherwise... my favorites are 6, 7, 10, and 12 with honorable mentions to 1 and 4. 9 isn't that bad either. If other ones are good and I didn't list them, it's because I didn't play them. I like 12 more for the gameplay mechanics, the story itself is pretty forgettable, though after all these years I admit to not being able to vividly remember the story from 7 in it's entirety. I remember 10 because I played it more recently, because it just looks damn good on the PC emulated with 'antialiasing' cranked up.

I know it's not a final fantasy game, but Suikoden 2 is one of the best 2D RPGs I've ever played from a story perspective, though there are a number I have not played. Life is short. As an adult, I just can't go back and play them all...

I also like games that let you get very powerful early in the game, which can be done in FF8 (cards, lots of cards. :) ) , FF12, and Suikoden 2 (farming double beat runes early in the game, pushing on that wall to access high level area) .. FF13 would be the polar opposite where you are prevented from ever feeling Godlike at any point in the game, being forced to progress in a linear manner. I never did finish 13, and don't remember anything about the story at all.

Some nostalgia built in, but the story in 6 was mesmerizing for it's time. On the other hand the game itself was quite easy, with atma weapons, economizers, gem boxes, paladin shields, Illumina, etc. 7... another middle or high schooler's gaming dream come true.. just legendary games at a great time to grow up gaming, the SNES/PS1 era.
 
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Kinsaras said:
Sephiroth isn’t very interesting villain.
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Compared to most of the other villains (especially Golbez and Kefka), Sephiroth is a complete pansy.

Materia was a good idea and it still is, but the reason I think VII was half as popular as it was/is is because Sephiroth killed Aeris. If that whole scene hadn't happened, I think once people got over the graphics, VII would have been completely forgettable. I still don't think the game was that good, and I don't think the characters were that interesting.

I'd take a "castoff" from any of the other FF's over any of the main characters from VII.
 
zero2dash said:
Compared to most of the other villains (especially Golbez and Kefka), Sephiroth is a complete pansy.

Materia was a good idea and it still is, but the reason I think VII was half as popular as it was/is is because Sephiroth killed Aeris. If that whole scene hadn't happened, I think once people got over the graphics, VII would have been completely forgettable. I still don't think the game was that good, and I don't think the characters were that interesting.

I'd take a "castoff" from any of the other FF's over any of the main characters from VII.
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Not much point arguing opinions but the Aerith death scene is very small and insignificant in comparison to Cloud pretending/thinking he was Zack. For the people who really like the game this is likely the main reason why. I know it is for myself and everyone else I know. Never before had an RPG included this level of psychosis and I don't think one has done it since.

If the villain was switched from Sephiroth to say Mojo or Shinra and Aerith wouldn't of died the game would have still been great.
 
Xenogears definitely had that messed up psychological stuff going on, but IMO was just not a fun game to play. I did find Cloud going bonkers to be the most interesting part of the FF7 game/story. Aerith getting murdered was understandably the most memorable scene though.

To me, I like unexpected things like that. Stories in general are often just far too predictable and safe. I know people get pissed at the presence of plot holes and bizarre/unexplained happenings, but I find it more entertaining myself.

Apart from Goblez, Kefka and the emo wannabe Sephiroth (who, let's be honest, really just needed a friend) I can't seem to recall much about any major villain from any other FF game, even the recent ones... it could be my short term memory going bad though, lol...
 
Youn said:
Xenogears definitely had that messed up psychological stuff going on, but IMO was just not a fun game to play. I did find Cloud going bonkers to be the most interesting part of the FF7 game/story. Aerith getting murdered was understandably the most memorable scene though.

To me, I like unexpected things like that. Stories in general are often just far too predictable and safe. I know people get pissed at the presence of plot holes and bizarre/unexplained happenings, but I find it more entertaining myself.

Apart from Goblez, Kefka and the emo wannabe Sephiroth (who, let's be honest, really just needed a friend) I can't seem to recall much about any major villain from any other FF game, even the recent ones... it could be my short term memory going bad though, lol...
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The Sorceress (Edea) in FF8 had some potential as a main villain, but the game really squandered that and completely ruined any semblance of a reasonable plot with the orphanage shit.

Seymour in FFX also had potential, but his character design really ruined any and all chance he had of being threatening, on top of that the plot simply didn't spend enough time developing him as a villain. Having Yevon being the main bad guy in the game was pretty cool though, even though they really should have given the "God" some kind of back story to make the fight feel more epic (since the wimp died so easily).

Prior to 4 the games didn't really have meaningful characters and with 13........Yeeeeeah I'm lucky to remember all the playable character's names much less the random villains that are never developed.

Cloud going cuckoo for cocopuffs in FF7 was about the only time he did anything interesting. For the most part the plot in FF7 was not at all pushes by Cloud. People pushed Cloud, rather unwillingly most of the time, in various directions where things happened but his actual impact on the plot was minimal. Cloud was a really bland character, who's development didn't come until towards the end of the game.
 
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