The Spin-off Doctors: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Alright, moving forward, you actually answered my question about IX. To make things a bit more clear: I don't think every entry in the series should get the VII treatment. I don't want Square Enix to go and fuck with the characters of my favorite PSX era FF by giving it a prequel where they ignore everything that made the original game great. I also don't want a Compilation of Final Fantasy VIII consisting of an Anime, a series of spin-off games for all the different systems, an Irvine Kinneas Cover-Shooter, a Laguna/Kiros/Ward RTS Wargame, a live-action movie sequel and a Japanese Opera. What I meant to say is that it's ridiculous why VII should have all that while all the other games get ignored by Square Enix as if they're saying "Thanks for indulging in all of our unsuccessful attempts at following up the grandure of our only good Final Fantasy!" And I wouldn't mind a nice Remaster/Remake or a well-written(!) and well executed spin-off to either VIII or IX as long as it's not just for the sake of making a spin-off in order to grab more GIL!

I actually disliked Final Fantasy XIII from the start but then again, I was actually very sceptical and disappointed in Square Enix at the time. While I totally agree that Final Fantasy VII holds a very special place in gaming history and earned it at that, I also think it's vastly overrated in some aspects. Square Enix' "milking" of it doesn't help, either. Yes, it was the first ever 3D (or should I call it "2.5D"?) Final Fantasy game and the first that was available to a world-wide audience but it isn't without it's flaws and yet gets treated like a masterpiece. Jim, you said your favorite of the bunch is IX if I'm not mistaken!? Doesn't it bother you that there is a "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" and a big Remake coming up and yet there's fuck all for IX? No Remake, no Spin-off, no sequel, no prequel, no mobile game etc.? I think that, while it doesn't dictate anything, your personal entry-point into the series, i.e. which game you've first played, heavily influence your preferences. I didn't really know about Final Fantasy until I first played VIII, so I prefer that one over it's predecessor. Sure, that one has a LOT of flaws as well but I actually like the story, the soundtrack and many of the characters more than what VII had to offer. It's more serious and less goofy in tone and I like that. And nobody can tell me that Squall's Gunblade, as ridiculous a concept as it may be, isn't absolutely awesome! As such, I for one was kind of pissed off by Square Enix releasing spin-off after spin-off, creating a mobile game, a PSP game, a PS2 game, an Anime short, several spin-off novels ("On a way to a smile" if I'm not mistaken) and a freakin' CG movie and absolutely nothing for VIII. About the Compilation: Crisis Core is definitely the best out of the spin-off games. There was also a mobile game called "Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII" which was just about the turks and was set way before Crisis Core even but that wasn't really "good". Likewise Dirge of Cerberus was terrible in many ways and not only from a technical standpoint (the third person shooting wasn't exactly excellent on a DualShock 2). Every character except for Vincent was badly misrepresented in my opinion. There's this scene in the beginning where basically everyone gets recked by the newly invented group of antagonists and then you defeat them easily in boss battles as Vincent, implying that he is vastly superior to everyone else including post Advent Children Cloud and that's just one example. It does have it's merits, though and if only to saturate your curiosity, you should definitely check it out and form your own opinion but I am certain that you're never gonna call it "genuinely good".

I definitely prefer the original version. If nothing else Reno and Rude set the bombs, wait for Cloud to drive by, then take off in the helicopter they have sitting right there (which is notably absent when Lotz and Yazoo get blown to hell). So there's no heroic sacrifice nonsense. Great review guys, and yes... the movie is definitely 'brain shut off' action silliness!

Trevor Bond

I saw this film for the first time in 9th grade, I'd never even seen a final fantasy game up until that point. Needless to say, I was very confused, but I loved it! I tried going back after finishing 7, (and getting much older) I can see how poorly it's written, but I still enjoy it. But then again, my favorite film is "Equilibrium"...so, you could say I like very silly over the top films.

BOBdotEXE