Final Fantasy VII: Losing One's Objectivity?

by Andrew Seidman 

In the face of rampant gaming media hysteria and Square's media blitz, it's certainly easy to fall into the trap of worshipping FF7 for the sake of FF7 - in other words, to lose one's objectivity completely and pronounce FF7 the king of all RPG's, regardless of actual quality. Yet a few posts I've seen have made me wonder: What will FF7 really be like?

Almost every source, unreliable or not, has stated that FF7 is the easiest RPG yet, and that the path is almost totally linear. I've heard reports of people finding all of the secrets in the Japanese version of the game - without knowing a single word of English! If these should prove true, how can FF7 possibly hope to live up to the dreams and expectations placed upon it? Is it, perhaps, time to separate oneself from the hype and look at FF7 as if it were (horror of horrors) just another game?

NO.

At least, not for me. After pondering this for awhile, I came to the conclusion that I don't want to be objective in this case. Maybe in a few months I will, but not now. For me, this represents possibly the last chance I have to feel like a kid again, to breathlessly await a release "because it's cool!" The media hype is a wave in which I can get caught up, enjoying the excitement and hysteria without having to worry about whether or not I should.

And what is objectivity? What really determines our perception of games? I consider Phantasy Star II one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had; yet, if I played it today, in all probability it would end up nowhere near as high. It was the excitement I felt as an eleven-year-old enjoying my first truly plot-driven RPG that caused my heights of gaming excitement, probably more than anything else. I believe our preconceptions and other decidedly unobjective critieria color our perceptions just as much as, if not more than, the actual quality of the game itself. To look at a game with complete objectivity, one would have to divest oneself almost completely of any emotions surrounding the game - and aren't they really what make the game worth playing?

So I'm quite willing to toss my objectivity to the winds. The critics might be right - but who'll have more fun?