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[Rykan]

You know what I don't get about this game?

This game had a huge development budget. It had an even bigger advertisement budget. Almost unheard of in gaming at the time.
Yet, despite all this money poured in the game: Nobody, and I mean nobody, could be bothered to proofread the game to remove all the typo's and grammar mistakes before the game's release?

Like, really? That was too expensive or too much work?

 

[Power Pro]

You know what I don't get about this game?

This game had a huge development budget. It had an even bigger advertisement budget. Almost unheard of in gaming at the time.
Yet, despite all this money poured in the game: Nobody, and I mean nobody, could be bothered to proofread the game to remove all the typo's and grammar mistakes before the game's release?

Like, really? That was too expensive or too much work?

Haven't re-releases of this game still use the same broken translation also? I think the bigger question in the case is why it hasn't been correcting in the 20 years since it was originally released, and then ported to newer consoles.

 

[Rykan]

Haven't re-releases of this game still use the same broken translation also? I think the bigger question in the case is why it hasn't been correcting in the 20 years since it was originally released, and then ported to newer consoles.

That's exactly right. All the ports are based on the PC version of the game, which was based on an incomplete version of the game. This is why all characters have these weird mouths that weren't present in the original on every version now.

 

[EDMIX]

Historic deal for modern gaming.

FFVII and Metal Gear Solid 1 might be some of the most important games to show gaming can be marketed to a difference audience and that production concepts are not limited to films, they can help in gaming and even push the medium forwards in regards to story telling or conveying a message better.

So it seems Sony's deep push to market this way and land these deals becomes the first huge major push to bring gaming to many many demographics vs just "kidz".

Decades later, Call Of Duty becomes one of the fastest selling games and the demographic of a adults in gaming is just as big as any other. They clearly saw something that was lacking and many of us can't imagine gaming without this type of marketing and production value.

We expect it

 

[Yoboman]

Sony's PS1-2 marketing was a masterclass

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Psh, it worked. I had an N64 at launch but absolutely had to have a PlayStation in 1997 after seeing those ads. There was nothing else like it at the time

Also not showing gameplay was something EVERYONE did. For years E3 presentations were just trailers not playable demos.

 

[cireza]

Psh, it worked.

Certainly not for me, but I wasn't Sony's target anyway. They were expanding the market and reaching other kind of players.

Also not showing gameplay was something EVERYONE did. For years E3 presentations were just trailers not playable demos.

And it was shit, but as some other said, if they were happy with this, then great for them.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

And not a single one of them was the reason I learned of this game and played it. The idea of marketing perplexes me so much. I hate marketing, I hate being a "demographic" or being reduced to anything that guys in suits try to figure out how to sell to. I hate seeing commercials so much that I actively don't want something if I see it advertised too much.

Hardcore hipster/contrarian energy. There is no way you are immune to advertising. Sorry

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I think it helped A LOT showing zero gameplay. All FMV.
As hyped I was for ff7 I was not prepared for hooves as hands.

I got into FF when I was 7 years old. My first FF was FFX via rental around 2002. I started getting into the series. When Advent Children was revealed, I just thought it was FFVII. I couldn’t understand why Final Fantasy VII was the only one with a subtitle, but I just accepted it as the FF that had a subtitle for some reason. I also couldn’t understand why FFVII had better CGI than FFX (don’t remember what mental gymnastics I performed for that explanation). I then learned that the game was 3 discs and that made me want to rent the game NOW.

I pester my mom to take me to Hollywood Video so I could rent FFVII.

I popped it in. I was very underwhelmed by the opening. “That’s weird, why is the opening with in-game graphics?”

Then the Lego figurines showed up.


I was SOOOO upset lol.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

They won Square over Nintendo, so they had to go all in.
Don't I remember wrong if I say that a couple years later they released their first movie and everything went to shit? Old Square was a jrpg powerhouse

 

[saintjules]

Sony actually does a great job of marketing when its a game that makes sense to them. They had FF7 commercials running on primetime TV in the US.

Yup, I remember those days watching before release. I saw it frequently every Monday night.

 

[Thaedolus]

Certainly not for me, but I wasn't Sony's target anyway. They were expanding the market and reaching other kind of players.

Well they aired months before Christmas, so for me I got all hyped about Final Fantasy. My best friend’s older brother had the games on SNES and let me borrow them and my love of the JRPG was born leading up to Christmas 97 when I got that PlayStation and FF7.

People can scoff all they want at the flashy marketing campaign not focused on gameplay, but at the end of the day, it got my attention and introduced me to a genre I didn’t really know before and ended up really enjoying. That’s a success story.

 

[Duchess]

Bought a PS1 back in 1998, just to play this.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Not quite. There were also issues with publishing the game and to an extent, development due to a lack of funds. Sony really did save them from closing down.

Yeah, only blaming the CD drive is revisionist coping. There were quite a few factors, one was actually that the N64 didn't push enough polygons so they couldn't have actually made the graphics what they wanted.

The other big piece that usually goes unmentioned is that Sony also gave Square a ridiculous deal on the licensing costs - I don't think anyone has ever said the exact number, but the quotes I've read make it sound like it could have been in the single digits, or even zero. Meanwhile even if Nintendo used a CD they would have charged the normal licensing cost and probably like $10 a disc to manufacture because they are Nintendo.

 

[West Texas CEO]

 

[Fbh]

That's a crazy amount for back then.
Pretty misleading ad though.

"Hi I bought that FF7 game I saw on Tv here but you seem to have mistakenly given me the Lego version"

Don't I remember wrong if I say that a couple years later they released their first movie and everything went to shit? Old Square was a jrpg powerhouse

Spirit within was 2001, the same month as FFX. By then Sony had gotten a ton of gems in their partnership with Square.

While it was a big blunder for Square, resulted in the exit of Skaguchi and an overall shift in the franchise. FF as a brand has still remained strong. I can't really think of any Non-Nintendo franchise from the NES era that's still as relevant as FF

 

[cireza]

Well they aired months before Christmas, so for me I got all hyped about Final Fantasy. My best friend’s older brother had the games on SNES and let me borrow them and my love of the JRPG was born leading up to Christmas 97 when I got that PlayStation and FF7.

People can scoff all they want at the flashy marketing campaign not focused on gameplay, but at the end of the day, it got my attention and introduced me to a genre I didn’t really know before and ended up really enjoying. That’s a success story.

Everyone has their story I guess. I was playing Phantasy Star way before FF VII was a thing. Much better series, as far as I am concerned.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

Spirit within was 2001, the same month as FFX. By then Sony had gotten a ton of gems in their partnership with Square.

In 4 years they made 8, 9 and 10?lol that was a productive period

 

[Kokoloko85]

Square wanted to go CD. FMV’s etc

 

[BlackTron]

Typical Sony ad from back then, showing only CG and not the gameplay.

I was 12 when I saw FF7 in a TV commercial and I still said "that looks cool but where's the real game". If I had known the phrase CGI I would have said it. I knew everyone would go crazy over this but it was a "trick" for the teeming masses.

It seemed like a bad faith thing to do and actually hurt my impression of Sony.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Unbelievable game but I grew up with ocarina of time.