Which is the greatest, VII or XII?

[uppfinnarn]

Like the title said, which of these games do you think is the greatest?
I've heard a lot of people saying that either of the games are great, BlueHighwind even says both are the greatest.
What do you think?
I've never played VII, but i think I'm gonna buy it when i get the money to, but i experience XII's License Board system frustrating, along with the weak but cool espers and too expensive Limit Breaks(Quickenings).
I personally like games where every character has their own weaknesses and strengths, like IV and VI(i love both!), rather than those where you can easily program around them...

[Belugn]

I think they're quite uncomparable, but that goes for every FF game in my opinion. xD Different themes, different worlds, different characters, I guess it's a matter of taste. I personaly think they're both great games, though I have to admit that if FFXII was reduced to the graphics of FFVII, it'd lose a lot of it's spirit, being the piece of art that it really is...

And hello fellow swedish person~

[Yesha]

They have both weaknesses and advantages..

I say that.. in

FFVII: The story is more interesting and Longer than the one in FFXII.. the battLe-system is great and I Love the "materia" thing.. The characters are amazing and got a great Life history or side story.. :-)

On the other hand..

FFXII: Got a short story and an unsatisfying ending.. BUT.. aLL the Animations there that you can see are great and enjoyabLe aLso.. you may say that Espers are quite not important and weak.. because of course, you don't get any advantages getting them.. but just unLocking them in the License board and have the chance to summon them.. aLso one of the Espers are part of the story.. (BeLias) since he'LL be the key to open a door.. Leading to Giruvegan..

Be aware that.. summoning Espers are not quite a good idea especiaLLy when you're in the way of LeveLing up.. because the one who summon that specific Esper is the onLy who'LL get the EXP. from the monster that the Esper or the one who summon that Esper kiLLed.. Mmm.. the Animations when you summon Espers are impressive and their attacks and DeathbLows are great too! And.. there's many sidequest that you can do in FFXII just Like the "Hunts" job.. etc. that's the advantages of FFXII in aLL FFs.. :-) The characters here, got a weak side story.. and very.. boring.. I think.. the most interesting characters are onLy three.. Basch, Fran and BaLthier.. for me..

Anyway.. aLL in aLL.. both games are good in a different ways.. and you shouLd get FFVII aLso! The License board is not that hard to compLete.. I compLeted cLearing it, when I got my whoLe characters to max LeveL.. :-) About.. near ending.. :-)

[Belugn]

Actually I don't think that FFXII has an especially short story, what it lacks is character interactions, and perhaps more fleshed out character backgrounds. It's all the tip of an iceberg when it comes to the characters from FFXII. I mean imagine what they could've perhaps done with say...Balthiers past. And Basch and..you know. Everybody in FFXII seems to have such a professional relation to everybody, just sometimes did something happen to break off the stiffness. In previous FFs there's been lots of flashbacks showing the pasts of the characters, but in FFXII you never really learn anything, unless you read into the beastiary which hints with a lot of important information, instead of showing it with cutscenes. But it's a big game, I guess it didn't fit?.. I do agree about the ending however, but to be honest I'd hoped for something more out of the FFVII ending too. FFXII is still a great game, but it had so much more potential still.

You should totally get FFVII however! It's so fun and keeps you interested all the way through. : )

[bobbo087]

I enjoyed final fantasy XII quite thoroughly in my opinion it has a much richer storyline than that of final fantasy VII but don't get me wrong, I enjoy VII as well, I just like how it is harder to level up and gain gil, It makes it more like XI that way, also being able to see the monsters is another plus and it makes it MUCH easier to avoid confrontations if need be.

[Dodie16]

Really? A thread comparing two of my favorite games in the series? Sure. Why not?

I seriously love both of these games, and choosing a favorite among them is next to impossible for me. So I voted that both are equally awesome.

I love FFVII for it's storyline, characters (main and supporting), and the more sci-fi approach to the series. Yes, the in-game graphics didn't age very gracefully, but those cutscenes back in the day were truly something spectacular.

I love FFXII for it's rich detail and wonderful battle system. I was particularly fond of hunting for marks. Dear God did I love those hunts. I spent WAY too many hours just roaming around trying to find and defeat those things. Still haven't got them all, but I'm working on it.

[loaf]

XII has epic scenes, VII has epic characters. The rest is about to same in my book.

[Locke4God]

You know what, I loved VII, I held it as my favorite barely over VIII after it came out and then still over both IX and X. But XII has outdone it at last.

XII is the absolute epitome of Final Fantasy has been aiming for its entire existance. The voice acting if fabulous. The step away from random battles worked brilliantly. The sides quest and hunts were great. The cities were huge and fun to roam through. The License board was the best version yet of customizing characters. The characters themselves were diverse and fun interesting to get to know. Everybody had their place and motivation. It was just an all out perfect game.

[Belugn]

YES the voice acting was indeed fabulous. For once the voices were really diverse. Not that they weren't diverse in FFX, but I just found myself LOVING the voice actors of FFXII, and they all did a great job. I mean for animated movie dubs they always pick out really unique voices for the characters, but for some reason, not for lots of games. It's fun when a game character gets a voice that sticks out, like Balthier, Vaan, or Fran. Basch voice were just spot on too, and Penelo were really nice to listen to, and so was Ashe. Cid was hillarious, one of my favourite Cids so far, I have to say.

[Josh_R]

VII was definately better than X the story the characters...The only X has on VII is the graphics but what do you expect from a PS1 game

[Belugn]

Hey hey hey! FFX happens to be one of my favourite final fantasies (together with VI), mind you. it's story is not just my favourite game story, but one of my favourite stories over all. That it had good graphics and beautiful scenes just added to the experience. A gorgeous master piece imo.

FFVII is amazing and I wouldn't wish it to have any other graphics than what it has.

[kajarxxx]

Probably XII because I enjoyd the gameplay,story and other elements there.
I have played VII bit but it wasnt really my taste

[nocht]

neither are the most awsm game

[Josh_R]

neither are the most awsm game

How dare you...you my friend are the devil jk!!!!

[sephirothsbigfan]

Both are really good but I really like FFVII better. I don't like how they have learning the moves on FFXII. It ticks me off. I like it really better if you just equip the weapon or materia, and you have the move right there! Trying to earn money is hard in FFXII. I like the idea that at the end of every battle you earn money instead how they have it in FFXII. FFVII is alot better than FFXII especially with money and the action.

[GypsyElder]

FF VII for me. In all honesty, FFXII wasn't that great. Compared to all the other FF I found it kind of boring for some reason. It was ok but not better that FFVII in my opinion.

[Josh_R]

my main reason for choosing VII over XII is the battle system VII was superior because I enjoy the turn based battle system....

[Belugn]

I actually liked the gil system of FFXII, looting was fun! If time consuming, though, but it felt natural and searching for the creatures with best loot was..fun too I guess. The bazaar could've been better though, there were no way to see what you had actualy sold and such...

FFVII is easy to get money in when you get to a certain point in the game where you can find the head hunter enemies, and quickly master your ALL materia, and then sell it for a VERY high price. Correct me if I'm remembering it incorrectly.

[WilsonDean1990]

Personally i think Final Fantasy XII was the worst

Its still a good game, its just i don't think the storyline meets the same standard as the rest

[Pete]

Six.

That being said, VII was much better. XII had a cool idea, but could have done so much more with pretty much everything. The characters weren't particularly memorable, mostly because they didn't really have great stories... or histories. It really felt like a bunch of cliche's, without a real background. You have your treasure hunter, thief, disgraced knight, orphaned princess, main character's perky friend, and the typical ancient sage type person/ person shunned by her people for leaving the village.

The cool thing about XII was that it tried to kind of be a commentary on the war in Iraq, from the view of the Iraqis and on the world in general. Granted it wasn't modern at all, but you can kind of see the parallels, especially with the middle eastern flair of Rabanastre, and how the classes are so ridiculously segregated. I really dug that symbolism and how it kind of overstated itself. At the same time, because of that, I feel like they didn't really go too much further into the story. It was just a series of events to stop the evil empire from ruling/ destroying the world.

With VII, the plot slowly developed to where you think Shinra is the enemy, until the real enemy reveals itself, in a pretty surprising manner. Plus, there are so many more developed intricacies between the characters that you feel like you almost know them or what they're thinking in each situation. Each character has their own reason to join your party, whether or not it is for the same reasons as your protagonist.

XII did have a better battle system, but I hated the gambit system. I didn't like how totally hands-off you could make a battle, just by some simple menu planning. VII on the other hand killed me with random battles, especially when I was just trying to get to the next town. I did enjoy the materia system though, and the ATB systems. It really let you micromanage the battles, and if you screwed up, it was completely your fault. With XII, if you forgot to change your gambits based on each area or each type of enemy you fought, you could get screwed pretty easily.

The licensing board was a cool idea, but if you power leveled your characters, the game just wasn't fun anymore. If every character has every single skill, weapon, and augment, then they are pretty much completely interchangeable, and that really takes the fun out of the game. I do like how you can bring party members in though. The PHS system in VII was cool in that it at least gave an explanation as to what everyone was doing when they weren't in your party, but it also made it seem less authentic, like a rogue group traveling together.

That being said, they're both good games, but VII's character and story development, what should be the main focus of any RPG was much stronger and much more interesting than XIIs

Both don't even compare to VI though

[ffking997]

ahh a great question... which game is better?? can u really say?? no you cannot... xii has great startegy needed tihnking... bazaar?? brilliant! looting from rare creatures... and hunts!! great! and the license board was extravagant! but in vii the story was better.... more charcter compatibility and interactions... both great games all in all....

[dark Kain]

People have diffrent opions for wich is favourite but for me ffxii was easier and had a very bad story line but everything else was perfect as for ff7 by far the greatest ff storyline of all

[~FANTASY-ENDER~]

The greatest between Final Fantasy VII and XII in my opinion is no question Final Fantasy VII is way better than Final Fantasy XII. Final Fantasy VII has better gameplay, storyboard, chartacters, and the boss fight was harder than Final Fantasy XII.

[Furore]

neither are the most awsm game

This. I don't think either would even be in my top five Final Fantasy titles. If forced to choose though, definetey VII as it certainly had it's moments (many minor characters were hilarious), and the battle system was more to my taste. FFXII on the other hand just disappointed me and made me less enthusiastic about the FF branding.

[killercloud718]

def ff7 didnt like 12 that must the story was better in 7 i got more into it then i did 12

[Ethan Blitzball King]

final fantasy vii is pretty good i liked the plot

[Zidane77]

VII is the best game that has been made, XII got so many flaws it's not even funny.
For example the quickenings,summons and music was really bad most of the time, the license system and storyline was too short and the characters had no depth whatsoever and scenes,dialogue between them were not that many..

Vaan is the stupidest main-character i've ever seen in FF game, the only one that really sucked in the end. He wasn't 100% bad but still he kinda sucked. I don't even use him in battle except for stealing.
The only thing i like about this game is the battle system and the side-quests are alright at times.
So it's fun to fight and do missions, the storyline wasn't nearly as bad as Dissidia though, i have played XII over 600 hours, Dissidia under 10 when i stopped playing it months ago.

So comparing it to Dissidia would be alright in my opinion, XII definetly is the better one there, but the worst one in the series along with II.
Although II had a lot better music so yeah

[ZantetsukeN]

To me, VII beats any other FF (apart from VIII). But that being said, I loved XII. Epic locations, great story and awesome characters. Balthier is probably one of my top 3 FF characters along with Squall and Sephiroth, but VII is a much more memorable game. The characters and the story are better in my opinion. The locations in XII are better though.

So yeah, I'll say VII

[Ernest]

Everyone has basically said what I would say on this subject. What I'd say is that Final Fantasy XII is the least J-RPG-like game in the series. It's without any cheesiness, stereotypes, disproportioned characters etc.

It's quite a serious game, with a deep plot but with untapped potential.

[Fate]

I've never played FFVII, even though I bought it for my PSP (the first twenty minutes bored me so I stopped there x3), but Final Fantasy XII is one of my two favorites. (Yeah, ties now, because I think back on the other one.) Final Fantasy IX is the other. But anyway, I really enjoyed XII, I don't see why so many hate it.

Still, who knows, once I play XIII, I might change my mind again. x3