Reviews of Final Fantasy original titles on Playstation

The original releases of Final Fantasy games on Playstation
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Review contents(Final Fantasy VII,Final Fantasy VIII,Final Fantasy IX)
//At the moment of these 3 reviews being made, I have finished playing FF games 1-2, 7-9, both 10 games, and all three 13 games.
//I have no intention of ever playing FF11 or FF14.
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FF7
Has a robust combat system that allows the players to explore many possibilities.
Has a lot to discover in regards to side quests and the story itself manages to continue to intrigue players.
Allows all playable characters to be named.
Allows the menus to be customized to a user-specified combination of 4 RGB colors.
The enhancement source is called materia and there is a wide variety in types of it.

Equipment is partially balanced by how it interacts with materia which helps to keep the players making interesting choices that feel like their own. Character classes are indistinct and the player has enormous control over how each playable character shall be played. Limit breaks are individualized, but a great deal of deviance can be achieved through the careful placement of materia on the characters' equipment. Undesirable or lesser-desired characters are often relegated to the bench for enormous stretches of the story, and since the current party members are the only ones commenting on the story in many circumstances, one can find some replay value by starting a new game and using different characters.

Has some 'neutral-hostile' enemies that are much stronger than any of the antagonists. This results in extended play time beyond just the story itself, and gives more meaning to the great variety in the combat system.

The story is not very predictable and it can be very confusing at times, especially for younger audiences. But the story progression is simple and clear unlike a lot of other FF games. The only times where it gets a little bit vague are good times for exploration which makes sense and is a convenient way for them to include content that isn't necessary to completing the game. The side questing in this game was quite revolutionary and there is another game that came out this year that followed suit, it was called Saga Frontier. I'll make a review that includes that game also.

There is more than one type of currency, which is quite fitting. It feels good to have alternate ways to earn things. Such items cannot be purchased with the usual currency and as such, it really tests the worth of a player. I'm surprised that later installations of the FF franchise did not follow this example. This is arguably one of the best things about this game, that you can get combat power through doing side quests and that these side quests utilize an alternate form of currency. It's such a good design that I'm flabbergasted that they haven't repeated it extensively.
The chocobo quests are very satisfying in this game. Some lament the RNG of some of it, but it isn't hard to intuit the majority of what we need to know. Also, the NPCs are very helpful in this regard. FF7 has some of the most helpful NPCs I've ever experienced in RPGs.
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FF8
Has a revolutionary and memorable summoning system that ties directly into the combat system.
Has very rewarding side quests that are full of twists and turns allowing the player to explore like no other RPG I've played yet to date.
Has an opaque story that leaves a lot to deduce about the characters for the player.
In addition to almost all guardian forces, allows the main character and the dance partner to be named.
Has an experimental monster leveling system that didn't deliver very well on its goal, however I would like to comment that Lightning Returns did a fantastic job of delivering on what FF8 tried to do. I'm glad they didn't give up on the concept and I hope if they were to remake FF8 that they would improve on this.
The guardian forces are customizable through the usage of items, and the characters are individualized by their limit breaks.

Gil is obtained in an unusual manner and the way it comes reminds the player of what kind of character they are role playing as which I think is a good idea for any RPG to do if possible.

There are some really phenomenal secrets in this game that adds so much to the intrigue of playing it. Part of me wishes that I had played this game without a guide, but the younger me was such a sucker for collecting that I didn't mind getting spoiled for me how to do certain things. I have to admit, in FFXIII-2, there were also some really difficult search tasks that I gave up on and consulted guides for. Although that game was particularly annoying with the side quest story progression compared to the average FF game. In FF8, only a small portion of the side quest story progression is very difficult to figure out.

The magic/draw system is quite controversial and may poorly trigger some casual players, but dedicated RPG fans will likely enjoy the challenge of mastering it and figuring out how to make it more efficient. There are a variety of techniques, and figuring those out is part of the fun. There is some RNG involved in drawing magic, but as we find out, the GFs that allow our characters to draw have some methods of allowing us to get 100 units of a particular type of magic faster.

Like  FF7, this game has some great songs to listen to. Overall I like this game's music more, but FF7 still had a great soundtrack to listen to.

The chocobo questing is tied into the other side quests, primarily exploration. If you've played FF2, it's like that but much, much better.
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FF9
Has a simple combat system that revolves around equipment allowing characters to learn abilities.
Has a story that looks at the perspective of the antagonists often and includes 'meanwhile' events which allow players to get a well-rounded picture of what's happening with no confusion. This ATE(active time event) system is amazing and should be added into future RPGs because it's just excellent. This would have made the story progression (TUTORIAL is 9 out of 13 chapters long *cough cough*) in FF13 a lot less annoying to play through if the game had it.
Allows the player to name all of the non-guest combat party members.
Guest combat party members can be controlled in this game, unlike most FF games. I don't think I like that, but it's fine. Didn't give it much thought in the past, but it's not really consistent.
Characters are customizable primarily in the sense that they have a limited number of abilities that may be equipped. Not every ability has the same equip cost however, which helps to keep them balanced. However, there are many abilities that are unique to particular characters.

This game features groping extensively. The presently-played character is expected to discover items by searching for them with their hands. I use the word groping because these items are not visible. They are hidden. Not just treasure chest treasures. To be fair, a lot of such treasures are actually being stolen by the character. However, the main character's class is a thief, so not only him, but all others are encouraged to steal.

The chocobo questing involves a lot of hunting for buried treasure and is necessary to complete a lot of other side quests, as we should expect from a game that prominently features finding treasure.

I don't think the music is as consistently good or as selectively good as the FF7/FF8 music, but the music ties into the story well enough that it's still quite enjoyable and my love for the story of the game made me appreciate the music so much.

The game features a treasure that can only be obtained by speed running the game, thereby ignoring most every other treasure in the process. There are also some minigames which are an exercise in dedication, frustration, and dullness. They grant some rewards but they are of highly questionable value. The card game was mildly similar to FF8's card game.