I got this idea from one of Kru's posts here ...

quote Krunal

Why - because it isn't an "I hate FFXII" thread, but a "What could have been done to make it better THAN IT ALREADY IS". You don't need to hate it to make it better. I mean take FFVII for example, most people think it was perfect, but a few changes here and there could have made it even better. Well that's what this thread is for.

if they were going to change anything they could possibly have added some more sidequsts and weapons but other than that, nothing much else should be changed.
Maybe Aeris still living couldve been changed but then im only mentioning that coz i was one of those who actually trained her and got cut when she died. would make a nice alternate game though if she lived

Yeahm just being able to revive Aeries. Cloud, Cid, Aeris.... best team.

Other than that, nothing really. The game is damn near perfect. Just graphics and technical things I guess. Change the "Off Course" in the battle arena to "Of Course."

being able to play as sephiroth more

more sex apeal i guess they could'nt really cause the whole game was nilly based on the same sort of graphics and it was pretty weird im talking bout outside of battles but inside battle is pretty good

LLOLOL
More sex apeal = gooood

But seriously I wouldn't change anything! Well ofcourse getting ridd of the typos would be nice ^^P
And at this day of age that the graphic is up to todays standards. =3
But that doesn't count! XP

The only thing that would be nice to be changed is the length of the game, it was always such a intensety about the game, so I wouldn't mind have played it another 60 hours to get to the end ^^P

Change every last appearance of 'Aeris' to 'Aerith', just to piss people off. '

And yes, more sex appeal. Preferably in the form of more topless Sephtan. Mmyep.

But it needed to be longer and more difficult. When you can go through the first two discs in 13 days, you know there's a problem.

I would add some real sidequests and throw in a post-game dungeon or two. Seriously, these FF games could really use one of those. That's what I love about the Tri-Ace (Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile) games.

There's very little, if not nothing that would improve the storyline. The characters were extremely well developed, their traits and pasts unfolding at exactly the right times, etc, etc. All that can really be worked on is side quests.
In which case, I'd include a little dungeon in each cave leading to Quadra Magic, Mime, etc materias just to make it a little challenging. Maybe throw in a few weapons here and there, give the darn Ziedrich some freakin' materia slots, make that Mako gun of Palmer's available for Vincent. xD A few more things to do with the submarine, like salvage treasures, a few new locations underwater that lead to rare materia, and so on. And make the Masamune equipable!

I don't agree about being able to equip the Masamune, but it would be nice to see a few more weapons here and there, not to mention some more compatible materia combinations.

Storyline wise, I agree with you. There's very little that could be done to really benefit the story, aside from adding in a few more optional flashbacks here and there to show a bit more about Vincent and Zack. Had they just gone and done so in the first place, there may not even be a need for all of these spinoff games.

Allowing the submarine to travel all around the world would be a very nice and small addition. I definitely felt they should have done more with it, particularly because it's irritating to know there's a whole half of the world out there that you can't explore in it. All they need to do is open that up and it gives them a whole range of possibilities for extra dungeons, etc.

The only thing I really want is a better trnaslation and upped graphics. I mean I aint no graphics whore, but that doesnt mean I cant appreciate it.

Music/ Sound: The game suffers from a slightly inorganic sound at times, as if synthesisers were used to do the music. Whilst this is of course the reality for many of the tracks, I think orchestral versions always tend to sound better. Voice acting is a must, there really isn't any excuse not to have it anymore, and in reality plenty of PS1 games had it.

Gameplay: More interactive limit breaks would be my only major suggestion. That was one of FFVIIIs more impressive traits. The game engine is a little hit and miss in a sense: it represents the best of that old school turn based style, but in reality that is a very primitive style of gameplay. Realistically improving on it isn't very plausible, but that doesn't necessarily make it 'perfect' (pfft, what a silly term to use anyway). I wouldn't object to having the attack order list like in FFX, that added ludicrous amounts of strategy to the game.

Graphics: I know people bleat on and on about it being the first FF in 3D, but that doesn't change the fact that stylistically the rather gaudy 'sprites' used during story sequences were a peculiar choice by any standard. I don't think they were 'perfect' in any sense, they were sufficient at best. Cosmetic update is one of the more straightforward aspects of the overhaul, really. More sex appeal? Let's just make it a hentai game, doesn't get much more 'sex appeal' than that. It would save me the time of looking up the hentai afterwards.

Storyline: Every single character besides arguably Cloud could have done with more backgrounder. Half the cast is forgotten after disc 1, and even when in prominance during the first disc (Red XIII, for example) the role is minor at best and we don't learn a great deal about them [Oh wow, Red is a teenager, and he has a dad, and a mum, and and... no wait thats it]. I am constantly astounded at how people claim FFVII characters are so well established when in reality they don't tend to be [in a relative sense], unless you take post game retcon into account.

Overall: Sidequests is an easy one. Secret dungeons, it would definately work. I think the game just has to better utilise disk 3... it always irritated me how trivial the disk was in comparison to the others. There is also one other aspect that I don't tend to be fond of, but will promote considering I found FFVII too easy: a difficulty mode. Even just as an extra. Heck, any extras at all.

Personally I am under no pretence: the game isn't perfect. Perfect denotes the inability to be improved upon, and I can't think of a single aspect of the game that couldn't be refined... and the reality is that time isn't the significant factor in the majority of the criticisms I had: they existed as defecits the moment the game was released. Remember, FFVII existed on a system that had games like Suikoden, Star Ocean, Grandia and Xenogears.

Ah, Star Ocean 2 was such a good game. It's a shame I can't find it anywhere. =/

I would have to agree on the sounds, although I personally loved the music in the game.

Oh, I thought we were thinking about how we'd make the game better if we had done it back then; not how we'd do the remake.=/

More sex appeal? Isn't Sephiroth's bare chest and Tifa's giant jugs enough sex appeal for you pervs? XD

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I agree that the side-quests are the main thing that could do with a bit of work. The four caves could be turned into "retro stle" dungeons.
Maybe a few more attractions at the Gold Saucer could be too.



For it's time, I think the music was absolutely perfect. Hell, I prefer alot of the original music over the remade versions. XD

quote Moonrise

Oh, I thought we were thinking about how we'd make the game better if we had done it back then; not how we'd do the remake.=/

All the criticisms I made were based off my initial interpretation of the game, there were plenty of ways the game itself could have been made superior given the technology.

Yeah, Star Ocean 2 is a great example of a game contemporary to FFVII that did a lot of things better but was lost in obscurity. Grandia is another example: it did pretty well in Japan despite being released the same time as FFVII, and yet it was years later until the english version. Pity, too, the first Grandia happened to be really good.

The reason I criticise the music is because games like Suikoden came out before FFVII, and it has a lot more variety as well as less synthetic sounding music. FFVII didn't take a big enough leap from the 'bleeps' and 'bloops' of the SNES era, despite having the technology to do so. Perhaps that reflects more my taste than anything: I find FFVII to be one of the least impressive soundtracks of the PS1 RPG era.

quote Gothic Girl

Tifa's giant jugs enough sex appeal for you pervs? XD