Molyneux: 'FFVII, that to me defined the genre'

NewsPublish Date 23/09/2008 - 12:23pm GMT+1

Fable 2 creator thinks the PS3 hasn't seen many 'oh my god' moments.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com earlier this week, Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux has revealed that he considers Square's Final Fantasy VII to be the game that defined the RPG genre.

"I always remember back to Final Fantasy VII, when I first played FFVII, that to me defined the genre," he said when talking about the PS3 and if it has had any defining titles. "Those were the 'oh my god' moments, I don't believe they exist. I haven't seen many of those on the PS3."

Before angry PS3 gamers send Mr Molyneux angry emails it's worth bearing in mind that, despite his company being owned by Microsoft, he owns all the major consoles.

"This is very much me as a gamer talking, not as an industry spokesman," he told us. "I've got a PS3, a Wii and a 360, I've got just about everything."

Read part one of our interview with Peter Molyneux here and look out for more from the industry legend over the coming days.

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Duh !

MGS 4 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

Posted 08:38 on 24 September 2008

FantasyMeister@ hangar-96

I think Peter Molyneux's referring to the 'rpg elements' in FFVII rather than roleplaying itself, every rpg game of note that's followed has included those same elements e.g.

Level your character, adjust stats, learn new abilities, travel around, interract with NPCs, affect the world around you etc., 'tweakability' might be what he's thinking of.

In that sense it defined that specific subsection of the RPG genre, but it was so definitive and done so well that these same elements are found in games not even from the same genre, e.g. COD4, Forza 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and so on.

In the same vein, Fable is probably the definitive title when it comes to character morphing, the way your actions affect not only the environment around you but your own physical appearance.

In both cases, no game prior to their release that attained a mainstream following had tackled those respective aspects so well, although I'm sure there are plenty of titles that gave it a shot.

I'm guessing the next step will be the ability to tweak with emotions, e.g. if your character sees enough death and destruction they can become desensitised to it which makes it easier for them to make difficult decisions later on, alternatively they can become more sensitive to it which makes decisions harder for them later on, something like that.

Posted 20:54 on 23 September 2008

hangar-96

What utter bulls**t. There is no role playing in FFVII, it's just an adventure game. Not saying it's a bad game, I find it decently entertaining, but it sure as hell didn't 'define the genre'.

Posted 20:17 on 23 September 2008

Anonymous

You're kidding me. FFVII destroyed what JRPGs used to be and gave us what we have today: belts and zippers, improbable hair, and unbelievable characters that come right out of the blogs about why no one understands them and that's why they ilsten to Linkin Park. There are exceptions, yes, but FFVII brought out the worst kind of fans, which companies nowadays cater to.

Posted 19:20 on 23 September 2008