FFVII on a PS1 is still absolutely gorgeous

[Traxus]

I've been having a great time watching others play through the new Remake the last few days so I'm not some kind of purist but I went back and fired up the original on my hacked PS Classic and dude...I hope ya'll haven't forgotten how stunning the original art was in this game. From jaw-droppingly beautiful CGI renders to the colorful, iconic characters, the art just slaps.


---

I'll try not to go on a big diatribe but I have a feeling our memories have been tainted a little by the ports on literally every platform that upres the low-poly character models into these super clean lego-like freakazoids then throw them in with low-res backgrounds that've merely been enlarged. You end up with this weird juxtaposition of assets where the characters now look like they've been pasted onto the game instead of existing within the game world. I appreciate the QoL enhancements and the ports are still a great way to experience FFVII but otherwise I gotta say, give me the jaggies all day long.

I snapped a few shots and even in the first five minutes of the game the detailed backgrounds tell a story, the characters are immediately memorable and the colors just pop off the screen. And I'm just playing in Retroarch with a simple scanline overlay.

If you agree, please post some of your favorite art and screencaps from the original game!

 

[Yoshichan]

Agreed 300%.

 

[Chief Malik]

that looks awful to me

 

[Red]

I agree, it's held up well. Despite, or maybe because of, its blocky simplicity.

I am playing the Switch release right now and I find it doesn't look as good as the original. This game needs a good CRT filter (or a good CRT).

The PC version and its descendants share these weird graphical quirks, where it looks like the prerendered content was badly cut out and pasted back together. The Ps1 original is still the best way to play this game.

 

[Wariobenotware]

All PS1 games look terrible even if you use a PVM. The 5th generation was a plague.

 

[Acquiescence]

I'll love those pre-rendered environments of VII, VIII and IX til the day I die. They did so much to enhance the games.

Even dungeons in those games were interesting to look at because of the backgrounds and how not one single screen looked the same.

 

[Banzai]

The backgrounds, yeah. Most other things, nah.

 

[Y2Kev]

Totally agree. The backgrounds are gorgeous and full of so much detail.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

I always saw it as a bit of a shame that the character models used in battles weren't used during exploration etc.

 

[astro]

The models look dated, but I still like them.

The backgrounds will always look lovely.

 

[Vault]

backgrounds look good

the framerate and characters models are bad

 

[bwahhhhh]

on an actual PS1, i think VII has aged better than VIII or IX. the flat and gouraud shaded models look better than the aliased/pixely messes of the other 2 when played on a big screen on original PS1

but yeah the best way to play the PS1 FFs is to down-sample the models from a much higher res so that they still look like they belong in the environment, while getting rid of the aliasing. Wish the current gen ports gave that option

 

[Bishop89]

Some backgrounds I'm sure but character models nopppppee

 

[Eeyore]

backgrounds look good

the framerate and characters models are bad

Click to shrink...

Well the battle system has always run at 15 fps. Is that what you mean?

 

[Mars People]

Its looks even better with AI upscaled backgrounds.

 

[Gelf]

The pre rendered backgrounds when displayed at thier intended resolution look better aesthetically than many areas I've seen in the remake.

 

[disgraciau]

I've been playing it these days on a VITA OLED, and it really looks good!

 

[Odesu]

Strong disagree. The character models completely destroy it for me. They are such an atrocity design-wise.

I just don't understand how this can be aesthetically pleasing to anyone:

This was on the same console, a year and a half later:

 

[Kain]

Chrono Cross says hi

 

[Deleted member 4262]

I prefer playing it on Vita but I agree. I still think it has better atmosphere than the remake.

 

[Bulby]

Yes it does. The remake did a way better job than I expected, but doesnt quite nail the aesthetic.

 

[Geobros]

Yes it is but IX is even more gorgeous.

 

[Sylmaron]

I agree. Still beautiful.

 

[RingoGaSuki]

Yeah no. The 5th gen doesn't hold up at all graphically, PS1 and N64 games universally look absolutely atrocious today (except the 2D stuff like Paper Mario)

 

[Vault]

Well the battle system has always run at 15 fps. Is that what you mean?

Click to shrink...

yeah i played the PAL version so it was even slower

 

[Pankratous]

It looks like dog shit, lol.

Doesn't mean it doesn't retain it's original charm though which can still be appreciated now.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Not really. Those models were hideous even back in the day. Backgrounds always looked blurry, too. The game has style, a lovely soundtrack and, for the time, amazing CGI. But when the same year we had stuff like this:

Or this:

The very same year... well, FF7 didn't age that well at all. I'd argue it's never been a looker outside of the CGI.

 

[Yarbskoo]

It has a bit of retro charm, but the sequels blow it away really.

 

[The Shape]

I agree. Never played FFVII back in the day, I was intimidated by it. I'm playing the PS1 version right now on PS Vita and it's really gorgeous! Also so much fun to play.

 

[LukasHeinzel]

I always hated the ps1 look, as I started gaming with 3D and the N64. So I never liked it, it looked bad when it released.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Yes it is... one of my favorite looking games have it's own atmosphere and feelings.

 

[Grzi]

Chrono Cross says hi

Click to shrink...

Greatest game ever made.

 

[Alienhated]

You can't make an argument like this in a place filled with such an huge "ewwwww everything that came up before 2018 has aged horribly and it's literally unplayable!!!!!" crowd.

But i kind of agree, you need to have a taste for it but it has its own kind of charm and beauty, especially if you play it on a consumer crt

A lot of games with pre-rendered backgrounds from that era still look amazing to me. FF IX it's legit gorgeous.

 

[hoserx]

Not really. Those models were hideous even back in the day. Backgrounds always looked blurry, too. The game has style, a lovely soundtrack and, for the time, amazing CGI. But when the same year we had stuff like this:

Or this:

The very same year... well, FF7 didn't age that well at all. I'd argue it's never been a looker outside of the CGI.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, both of those games are running on PC. Likely much more powerful systems than the ps1.

 

[Aleh]

Looks so bad it actively deterred me from playing it despite loving the other two PS1 FF games

 

[ara]

The backgrounds, yeah. Most other things, nah.

Click to shrink...

I'll have to agree with this. Just replayed the game (well, most of it) and while the backgrounds look great, it hasn't aged well otherwise.

Now I'm replaying FFIX and that one, on the other hand, looks amazing all around for a PS1 game imo.

 

[No Depth]

I spent part of the weekend modding the PC version by updating the models and backgrounds and its dramatic how far fans have gone to improve the look of the game. I'll have to take pics next time I play.

Also highly recommend people try the "New Threat" mod, which retools the entire game to a more balanced and interesting experience. Characters now have roles and unique abilities, enemies have new surprises, especially bosses. It's great.

 

[RROCKMAN]

Strong disagree. The character models completely destroy it for me. They are such an atrocity design-wise.

I just don't understand how this can be aesthetically pleasing to anyone:

This was on the same console, a year and a half later:

Click to shrink...

Chibi's were a thing long before ps1 games lmao

It's not a graphics thing it's a style thing, and it's one you very clearly don't like.

 

[AzureFlame]

The backgrounds are timeless, but the characters models are not.

 

[Terraforce]

Looks atrocious, especially the out of battle sprites.

Chibi's were a thing long before ps1 games lmao

It's not a graphics thing it's a style thing, and it's one you very clearly don't like.

Click to shrink...

It's more the fact that they're particularly ugly chibis. I love chibis, but not the blocky wannabe chibis that are from FF7.

 

[Xater]

The blocky character looked bad back then and time has not helped with that.

 

[His Majesty]

I think it looks bad.

 

[Yarbskoo]

Chibi's were a thing long before ps1 games lmao

It's not a graphics thing it's a style thing, and it's one you very clearly don't like.

Click to shrink...

There are better looking chibi games on the system too though. Final Fantasy IX for starters.

 

[GymWolf86]

not necessarily gorgeous in the graphic aspect, but it sure has a lot of unique charme difficult to replicate.

 

[Prefty]

Absolutely, just look at this:

It looks so bad but is so charming that I love it

For spanish people, this will make you laugh:

 

[Odesu]

Chibi's were a thing long before ps1 games lmao

It's not a graphics thing it's a style thing, and it's one you very clearly don't like.

Click to shrink...

Nope, that's not it. I like a well made Chibi art style. World of Final Fantasy looks fucking gorgeous. Puzzle Fighter - releasing a year earlier than FF 7 - had amazing looking Chibi Characters.

FF VII doesn't even really go for the Chibi look. They are still proportioned kind of like a normal human being - but they are incredibly blocky at the same time, have no hands and weird noodle arms until they suddenly change to look like tree trunks.

 

[Yata]

Nope. Backgrounds and atmosphere is on point, but everything else is incredibly dated. I especially hate the character models, and I won't ever find them charming.

Can't wait to play the remake, this is going to be a long quarantine.

 

[CyberWolfBia]

Yeah I agree, and I honestly don't even need a CRT to appreciate. I love lowpoly aesthetics in general and I think FFVII in particular and its timeless prerendered backgrounds complement it beautifully. And I'm not even a RPG guy

helps a lot that is also a fantastic game, of course.

 

[Leandras]

Sadly it isn't. The game really suffers from being the first 3D final fantasy from a technical standpoint. But the game itself is phenomenal regardless of those limitations

 

[Traxus]

Not really. Those models were hideous even back in the day. Backgrounds always looked blurry, too. The game has style, a lovely soundtrack and, for the time, amazing CGI. But when the same year we had stuff like this:

Or this:

The very same year... well, FF7 didn't age that well at all. I'd argue it's never been a looker outside of the CGI.

Click to shrink...

I played the hell out of those games but the art direction in any of the PS1 FFs was in a whole other league. In those screencaps I see a whole lot of brown, and a whole lot of grey. I'm not just talking about graphical power or realism.