KnockBack, Episode 103: Final Fantasy VII

Just finished this game over the weekend. Love catching up on podcasts and reviews for backlog titles I finish up later on. Crisis Core Reunion next! Then Remake this weekend. Thanks for the pods, Colin and crew.😊

Nierly Crazy

You just corrected 25 years of my gaming ignorance

Lonely Shepherd

Late to the party, but FYI Colin -- Phoenix Downs revive characters from KO status, not death.

ReadyPlayerNice

The most funniest thing I've ever seen in FF7, in my opinion, is when Red was trying to disguise as a Shinra guard in the airship scene, where it seems like he's dancing, as he tries to keep balance.

FluffyNeko

I know I'm late to the party, but I just wanted to clear up how summoning works in Final Fantasy IX. Like IV, IX limits the ability to summon to its two summoners, Dagger and Eiko. I feel the game also handled the animations well, it has both long and short versions of the animations, with the long version being less likely, but with increased damage.

My Dude

Definitely know that's one of your things, it was only added in terms of your reference that Uematsu had continued scoring Final Fantasy games up to XIV. Keep doing you Colin, congrats on Twin Breaker man you really do deserve it.

The Rose Experience

I'm honestly not familiar at all with any Final Fantasy music post-IX. I played X, beat XII, and played most of XIII, and I don't remember any songs from 'em. That's just a me problem, though. I'm not an especially careful music listener when it comes to JRPGs.

Colin Moriarty

That is very understandable.

kevin berger

Further, I think Uematsu has lost a step and is a little out of touch with the series audio beats, case in point the new song for REMAKE: Hollow. The mood and tone just don't fit with what is happening in Final Fantasy VII at all, particularly the content it's covering. It's a folk vibe when Midgar is anything but. Anyway, just my take on the musical aspects of the series and Uematsu's role since the PS1 days.

The Rose Experience

Just wanted to pop in and say I enjoyed the episode and yes, Final Fantasy VII is one of the greatest/most important games of all time. A couple things: Nobuo Uematsu hasn't fully scored a mainline entry since FFIX. FFX he co-composed and XI he was mostly not involved in. XII he only composed the main theme and it continues on from there. To your point, Uematsu really hasn't been the man behind Final Fantasy music for well over a decade and during that time the series has seen some of its best audio composition since. While not taking away from his past extraordinary work, I'd say it's one of the aspects of the franchise that hasn't suffered at all, improved even in his absence. PS: Sorry for the run on sentences here but hitting enter simply posts your message instead of giving sentence breaks.

The Rose Experience

It's perfect in that sense. =)

Colin Moriarty

Great episode! Couldn’t agree more that FF7 is just one of those nostalgic games that just takes you back to being a kid in the 90’s.

Ryan Basyooni

FF7 is the reason I became a Sony loyalist. Followed all the PlayStation news on IGN, which eventually led me to becoming a Podcast Beyond fan (started listening around episode 170-ish). So, thanks FF7!

Matt Woo

Thank you.

Colin Moriarty

It drew many of us over from Nintendo to Sony!

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, the QoL stuff in FFVII on PS4 was great. Otherwise it would have taken forever.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

I can't do it. =\

Colin Moriarty

While I dont agree with your pronunciation of Yuffie sir, I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Taylor Frye

Final Fantasy 7 is the very reason I jumped ship from Nintendo to Sony. My 16-year-old mind was blown away the first time I saw the Bahamut summon. Oh, and FF8 is the best Final Fantasy ever ;)

Matt Woo

Nice. Can't wait to listen to this one. I finished the FF7 remaster on PS4 with those wonderful quality of life improvements (3x speed, no random battles, full health and limit break restore). I just couldn't handle the difficulty and random battles before when I tried playing it on PS3/PSP years ago. Super excited for the Remake, will pre order.

Also great episode. Vincent is iconic.

kevin berger

If you can get past the “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” FFX is not bad at all. Mute it Colin I promise it’s not bad.

kevin berger

What you do is up to you, but I don't see why you'd play the Remake without knowing the original. If you can deal with PSone-era graphics, then play the original.

Colin Moriarty

I agree. IX is great.

Colin Moriarty

I really enjoyed this episode even though I've never played a Final Fantasy game, let alone a JRPG besides Pokemon. Should I use the original FF7 as a jumping off point for the series or just wait for the remake to be released? I know Colin says that's a bad idea, but I can't help but feel like playing a modern version of the game would help me enjoy the series more.

Cole Helgerson

Dagan hasn’t played Final Fantasy IX?! This needs to be corrected ASAP.

Michael Miller

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for listening. =)

Colin Moriarty

Definitely don't play the Remake before the original!!!

Colin Moriarty

Throw it on the pile!

Colin Moriarty

Great episode, thanks for the memories! Have fond recollections of renting a Playstation from Blockbuster just to play this and staying up as late as possible before I finally got my own PS. Fun fact, my first time ever facing Bizzaro Sephiroth I got Cait Sith's Game Over on the first turn and instantly won. Only time I ever got it.

Allan Sweeney

You two have this very innate ability to make me wanna play games that I never had any intention of playing. Gonna have to check out FF7 before the remake...

GameSimp

I really, really need to get to this game. The backlog, though!!!

Vaughn Allison

Oh my.

Colin Moriarty

See my response to someone who brought up something similar above!

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, I remember it not being well-received, but I've never played it.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening!

Colin Moriarty

Oh, that's sad to hear. That actually sounds familiar, though. I feel like I knew that.

Colin Moriarty

Im gonna listen to this while I grind the last trophy for my Sekiro Platinum. I have a cat called Yuffie btw, I got her when I was replaying the game in 2009 and was in the process of getting her into my party. Also when I first played the game, my wife and I had just started dating so I named Could Ryan (my name) and Aerith Susan (My wife), and she fucking dies. Needless to say I was out for Sephiroths soul afterwards.

Ryan Murdoch

It's not that phoenix downs bring you back from the dead, it brings you back from a K.O status. Life's description does says to revive, which by definition can also mean restore to consciousness.

Troy Leonard

For the record I just watched a YouTuber who's name is Maximilian play Dirge of Cerberus and it's really fucking bad. I finished it when I was a kid but I almost forgot all of it.

Aj

I love ff7 so damn much. I enjoyed listening to your thoughts and memories on the game. I think Remake is going to be something special.

Dr. Peter Venkman

Hey C&C - just on the point about The Prodigy; the lead singer Keith Flint passed away a couple of years back. They were absolutely massive here in the UK. I actually went to a festival in Spain in 2007ish to see them play there. Re FF7: I loved this game so much. My brother and I would play this for full evenings at a time. We also had the same experience regarding the memory card. Coming up with NES and SNES we just weren't used to that. Trying to talk my Mum into spending another £40 on a card that done "nothing" LOL! ALSO! one thing I've noticed revisiting this game is that the Destiny universe has used or repurposed a lot of the names from FF7.

Marc Cairney

That's so sad that you had to buy it when your brother already owned it! The pendulum has certainly swung back in its favor, though, you're definitely right there. P.S. Wild Arms rules.

Colin Moriarty

The game is long enough as it is. LOL.

Colin Moriarty

No, you're right in theory. It's just not really explained why Aeris is killed by a sword through her chest when people are getting the ever loving shit beat out of them in battle, that's all. It's a meaningless plothole, ultimately.

Colin Moriarty

The latter I agree with.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks! The speed perks on the PS4 port are awesome.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, I was blinded by the fandom. My feelings had no actual basis in reality.

Colin Moriarty

I'm eager to see.

Colin Moriarty

Keep talking, and maybe you'll find that chemistry. =)

Colin Moriarty

I’m 36 years old , and this game is my childhood. Before it’s release , I fell in love with Wild Arms , which I first saw on vacation with my friend who’s PlayStation was broke so I read the manual the entire vacation and borrowed the game when we got home. I played that for months and was the best next gen experience of an rpg up until that point. I was a rpg nerd having completed Chrono Trigger (best soundtrack and sense of gravity) Lufia , Breath of Fire and FF3 (NA) which raises the bar and is still one of my favorites. Then it came out .... FF7. Which combined all the depth of 3 and all the graphics of Wild Arms plus more. My older brother bought the game and wouldn’t let me play. I played it while he was at work and had to delete my game from his memory card every day so he wouldn’t notice. I was that enthralled. Until I forgot to delete it and he started hiding the disc. I was crestfallen. I begged and saved and finally got it myself and played it on end after school every day. I opened the game up to my friends who thought RPGs were for nerds and only played Resident Evil by doing a show of all the summons. If you remember how cool Knights of the round was at the time. Then you know. Any video game player saw how cool it was. To say this game holds memories is an understatement. Then game the internet and I realized how many others liked the game. Then came the backlash and contrarians. Now we are back to loving it with the remake. I hope that does well it looks amazing but nothing and I say nothing can ever replace this game in my nostalgic mind. And for that this is my most looked forward to episode since I know Colin is a super fan and we have similar tastes. Let’s go !

Anthony Longo

I keep hearing you mention DQ11. You should have used the option to bump up enemy difficulty. Completely changes the game experience. There were so many moments where I would get decimated by a boss, and be forced to retool my party and go in with a new strategy. The game is far too long though...

Brandon Hardman

Are you kidding me. You don’t have to listen to the whole thing. But those that want more are able to get more. Where as you can just stop. If the guys go long it means they are enthusiastic and passionate which to me always equals a great episode. More for your money how can you complain ?

Anthony Longo

Colin I may be wrong but I was always under the assumption in turned based RPGs that when a character hits 0 Hit Points that they basically are fainted or knocked out. Pokemon explicitly spells this out. Pokemon dont die they faint. I always assumed the same logic was held across most turned based games. Because tactical RPGs explicitly state that death is permanent with Fire Emblem as an example of that.

Brett Carlson

I got to be honest. The constant stream of 3+ hour episodes is starting to wear on me. In my opinion it’s too long. I don’t think I’ve finished some of the recent longer episodes, and frankly I lose a bit of interest by the time the new episode releases the following week. It’s great hearing deep dives into topics, but when I see the time past that 3 hour mark I actually lose some interest. I think something right around 2 hour mark is always a good runtime for a podcast episode. A healthy 2 hour 30 minute episodes for a special thing like Star Wars or something is great. But these last few episodes I feel are getting bloated. Just my thoughts, I’m sure there are some who love the long run times. I’d be curious if any other listeners felt a similar way.

Zack E

Don't understand the FFX hate. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The last good FF. Everything since has been trash. (MMOs don't count) The worst thing that ever happened to FF was the Square Enix merger.

Biv

Really strong episode guys! Just playing FF7 for the first time on PS4. Don't really have time for it so playing with 3x speed and unlimited magic or whatever. The only final fantasy game I've ever enjoyed are Tactics Advanced and TA2 on the DS but I always convince myself that I will enjoy other FF games.

Matt tamer

It's funny that myself and a few hardcore FF fan friends felt the same way when VII released. We had been fans for so long and then these jock-types just think they can suddenly invade our ground? F dat! I blindly hated on it for years until finally playing the digital release on PS3. Damn was I wrong. Funny thing, I'm actually playing through again to get re-familiarized before the remake launches. Also yeah, FFX is trash. Keep on keepin on Moriarty bros. Love each episode!!

Jordan Falduto

This is still my favorite game of all time. The weapon/magic/skill/materia system is unmatched to this day. Damn near perfect battle system. My biggest fear about FFVIIR is that they change it too much. It didn't need updated.

Biv

I wish me and my brother had this kind of relationship. We're good, but so different we can barely hold a conversation.

Biv

The Weapon fights are so eerie!

Colin Moriarty

To be fair, this isn't exclusive to Aeris. It didn't make any sense that Tellah died in Final Fantasy IV, either.

Colin Moriarty

The music is definitely special. The PS4 version has really cool features that make it go way quicker. Give it a try!

Colin Moriarty

Good luck!

Colin Moriarty

The 311 song?

Colin Moriarty

I didn’t get to play ff7 till the ps2 came out, but I remember being in love with it to the point I bought the strategy guide because of how beautiful it looked. To this day the underwater weapon while you’re in the sub scares the shit out of me

Kenneth Oms

Heck yeah dude. I like Sacred Symbols but I don't know why it gets so much more attention than Knockback

McBain

My understanding of way Aeris is dead, dead, is that the battle system is "hit points" and anyone who hits zero is KO'D but they aren't dead. That's why phoenix downs work. Is it kind of lame? Yes, but that is the only reason that makes any sense to me at all.

Andrew Oh

I dunno why I mostly ignored Knockback, but since I listened to episode 98, this is my favorite podcast now.

Paul Scondac

I have a lot of nostalgia for FF7 despite never actually finishing the game. I think a lot of it has to do with the music. As an adult, these songs hit me in such an indescribable, emotional way. Especially certain ones like Aeris' theme. I guess I need to finish it soon with the remake almost upon us.

McBain

Yyyeeeeesssss!!!!! This will do nicely as I grind out the platinum for Supercross 2 You Moriarty boys go alright xoxo

Adam Barnes

Fire water

NotYurRealDad

Sony owns the Sunset Overdrive IP, but they can't publish the original game. It may be a timed thing (in fact, I'm sure it is), but the reason Insomniac wanted to work with Microsoft was to retain the IP. So the only thing Microsoft could do in exchange for funding the game was get the publishing rights to the original.

Colin Moriarty

We definitely wanted to get this one in pre-Remake. =)

Colin Moriarty

Well then, this episode is for you.

Colin Moriarty

We appreciate you!

Colin Moriarty

No problem. The shows will be as long as they need to be!

Colin Moriarty

Well, that's the idea!

Colin Moriarty

Smart.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your support! Enjoy.

Colin Moriarty

I think we're gonna put off VI for a while, but I assure you we'll get there.

Colin Moriarty

Do it.

Colin Moriarty

Hello.

Colin Moriarty

Colin this is totally unrelated to FF7 but talking about it being a seminal game for PS1 as a brand made me think of the upcoming PS5 launch and what possible launch games could help make the system take off running, and then Insomniac tweeted out a picture of Sunset Overdrive. At first I brushed it off because I was under the impression that Xbox owns publishing rights to the first game, but on further review they do not. Sony owns it all outright. How big of a move do you think it would be to have either a Sunset Overdrive 2 or a port of the original as a launch title for PS5? It was a fantastic game that was shortchanged because it was stuck on XBOX exclusively which was not selling at the time. Playstation gamers have a strong affinity for Insomniac and connection and have been clamoring to get this game on Playstation. I think this would be a great opening punch of the next gen if it launches on PS5

Brett Carlson

These patreon notifications are the best part of my day. What great timing for this topic in the year that we see the remake of VII. I’d love to say more, but my ear holes are too excited to not stop right now and go listen to the Super Moriarty Bros!!!!!!

KingKeiffer

My favorite video game of all time and the reason I stumbled upon you and Greg on podcast beyond. It meant so much to me to know I was not alone in being into video games.

Markeus

Been anticipating this one! Appriciate you guys!

Joseph Sorisho

I just want to thank you and Dagan for not being worried about fitting episodes within a certain time amount for fear of it running too long. It truly shows that you respect the material and want to cover things the best you can. Same goes to you and Chris on Sacred Symbols. Thank you!

Barrett Boswell

This is really going to improve my quality of life over the next few hours!

Ryan Harvey

i wouldnt.

Joey Finelli

I just put a stop to all my other podcasts to listen to this...my body is ready haha

Andrew Oh

This pod is going to make the day go by so fast after lunch lol you guys are the fucking best.

HRMxGREAT

Far from one of my favorites in the series, but definitely a landmark game. We've seen the brother's Moriarty do IV and now VII. That leads me to believe VI has to be the next one and the one I want to hear you both talk about the most.

ZachAttacksGames

I’ve never played final fantasy VII and I plan on playing the remake, so should I listen to this? I don’t know the story at all.

MayorGarbageMan

Alright... let’s mosey.

Forrest Hunter

Notification Squad checking in! 👌

Remington James