Kishi's Gift of Gif

[Meditative_Zebra]

Holy crap, that is amazing and horrifying. The GBA did not do justice to that sprite.

Their eyes have been gouged out! Yikes!

[Violet]

Clearly I need to do a run of Aria on a TV screen where I make sure to wear my glasses the whole time, because I never noticed any of that.

[Octopus Prime]

Grahams final form was one of my favorite designs for a final-form of Dracula.
Or a Dracula-substitute at least.

I was never quite clear whether it was two angels connected at the... stomach and eyeball or one which was partially torn apart.

[Makkara]

Originally Posted by Octopus Prime

I was never quite clear whether it was two angels connected at the... stomach and eyeball or one which was partially torn apart.

I'm pretty sure it's the former, if nothing else because you can see a pair of wispy, malformed arms hanging beneath them, to go with the big ones in the foreground.

[Bit]

Originally Posted by Kishi

I didn't notice any of those details when I played.

Easiest "final" boss ever, though! Just remain ducked and slide.

[Octopus Prime]

Originally Posted by Monda

I didn't notice any of those details when I played.

Easiest "final" boss ever, though! Just remain ducked and slide.

And if you have the Claimh Solais, you can probably kill him before you need to slide.

[Zef]

I could probably do without that peristaltic motion from the hanging colon down the middle, though. It looks like... well, something's bound to come out of there.

[Octopus Prime]

Originally Posted by Zef

I could probably do without that peristaltic motion from the hanging colon down the middle, though. It looks like... well, something's bound to come out of there.

Dude had a heavy meal while waiting for Soma to show up. And I'm not sure if you've ever had to eat a pot-roast you found inside the drywall but, mister, it doesn't go down so nicely.

[Kishi]

Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?

[Javex]

Good Lord that is gorgeous.

It's really telling that you can immediately recognize what that's from, and yet be consistently amazed at details you didn't notice the first (dozen) times.

[MetManMas]

I recognized they were mutilated ladies in-game, but I didn't even notice many of the minute animation details. Well played, Konami.

[Meditative_Zebra]

Gee, Kishi. Between you and BIP I'm getting so nostalgic that I might just have to hook up my PS2 and play through the first ten or fifteen hours of this game again.

EDIT: Couldn't look at this image without queuing up the appropriate musical selection.

[Kishi]

I like your style.

Also, not animated, but:

[Kishi]

[Loki]

These are really startling. There's a quality about them that is missing in VIII and IX. A sort unconstrained ambition and over-the-top cartoony exaggeration.

[Makkara]

Originally Posted by Loki

These are really startling. There's a quality about them that is missing in VIII and IX. A sort unconstrained ambition and over-the-top cartoony exaggeration.

I've always dug the style of FFVII. What it lacks in refinement it more than makes up for in enthusiasm. I think what they wanted to do was bring the super deformed look of earlier FFs into 3d. That would also account for the Popeye arms.

[Octopus Prime]

I can't really decide if those are helped or hindered by the presence of the little Lego men running around them

[Loki]

What really helps is that they're super high res. I don't think they looked that good playing the game.

[Makkara]

Originally Posted by Loki

What really helps is that they're super high res. I don't think they looked that good playing the game.

You'll notice most of them are 320 pixels wide, which is the resolution the game runs at. Of course, you do get a much fuzzier picture when it covers the entire screen, and you never see the entire bitmap at once, which lessens the impact.

[Kishi]

Originally Posted by Loki

These are really startling. There's a quality about them that is missing in VIII and IX. A sort unconstrained ambition and over-the-top cartoony exaggeration.

You're not wrong, my friend.

[MCBanjoMike]

The real secret of Final Fantasy VII is that you can now play it on the PSP, which is hands-down the best way to do so. The graphics actually look pretty OK when shrunk down to that size, random shifts in art style notwithstanding, and the lo-fi nature of the music is less bothersome when the experience is squished down into a smaller form factor. I think that loading from a memory stick also speeds the transitions into and out of battle, at leaset somewhat. I played through the game this way last year and quite enjoyed it. It's easy as hell - probably the easiest game in the series - but finding new combinations of materia is still lots of fun.

[Willm]

Originally Posted by MCBanjoMike

The real secret of Final Fantasy VII is that you can now play it on the PSP, which is hands-down the best way to do so. The graphics actually look pretty OK when shrunk down to that size, random shifts in art style notwithstanding, and the lo-fi nature of the music is less bothersome when the experience is squished down into a smaller form factor. I think that loading from a memory stick also speeds the transitions into and out of battle, at leaset somewhat. I played through the game this way last year and quite enjoyed it. It's easy as hell - probably the easiest game in the series - but finding new combinations of materia is still lots of fun.

I just started a replay of FF7 a few weeks ago. It's my first time playing it on the PSP, and Mike is completely right.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by Kishi

[/center]

Absolutely heartbreaking And hey those are HOUSES just behind the playground and now they're CRUSHED under debris=(

I don't remember the ghost house, though. Is that in the Gold Saucer? I've successfully blocked out almost everything about the Gold Saucer.

[Kirin]

Yeah, it's Gold Saucer; the gravestones are portals leading to other sections. The haunted house was actually the inn you slept at before the date sequence, wasn't it?


I always remember thinking that one tall screen of the forsted path with the sun peeking over the top was one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole game.

[blinkpen]

I really wish I had a means to capture screenshots of this game because if ever I was to do a Let's Play, it would be this.

[Makkara]

Originally Posted by bloodyinkpen

I really wish I had a means to capture screenshots of this game because if ever I was to do a Let's Play, it would be this.

If you have a halfway decent computer, you can always emulate it.

[Lady]

or [better?] yet, play the PC version.

[Mr. Sensible]

You're better off running the PSX game off of an emulator, honestly. The PC version's a mess.

[Violet]

I've been waiting for indie game-makers to pick up on that kind of map design. There's a hell of a lot of potential for expression in pre-rendered backgrounds that could add all kinds of art and ambience to an otherwise sparse and simple game.

[Paul le Fou]

Holy hell do I want to replay FF7 now or what.