I think it’s a matter of taste. I prefer JRPGs, so FFVII is the best one for me. But both are great games in their own right.
Ocarina is more innovative and its formula was copied for many years. Z Targetting especially (I know some other game used something very similar before OOT), set an example for everyone to follow.
And FFVII, while not that innovative, also set its own legacy: if not for FFVII the West would have missed many great JRPGs from then on. It opened the floodgates and publishers started thinking of US and Europe as viable markets for JRPGs. So we have FFVII to thank for that.
Ocarina of Time was the first third-person 3D game that I thought actually had decent controls. I didn’t play it too much because I didn’t have an N64, but after trying it on a friend’s system I spent years seeking out things like Soul Reaver, Beyond Good & Evil and the Dark Cloud games to get a similar experience.
FFVII was just the existing JRPG formula with Little Big Adventure-style graphics.
Final fantasy. The controls and camera on oot we'e so annoying I quit after about 30 minutes. That's not to say ff doesn't have its own issues with camera and such.
It was a toss-up at the time but I’d argue FF7 has aged much more gracefully. Sure, you’ve still got the Lego figures and messy navigation on pre-rendered backdrops, but the battles still feel snappy and dynamic even with the low framerate. It isn’t a slog like FF8 and especially FF9 turned out to be when they started pushing the hardware.
OOT is objectively bad in hindsight, despite having played it like 20 times myself because of the place it holds in my memory as being something I’d never experienced before. Here’s the argument: youtu.be/XOC3vixnj_0?si=xnuSdmY942tBQGpp
FF7 has its flaws but IMO is a better designed game
Thing is those criticisms also mostly apply to FF7.
Disconnect between combat and exploration? I see that for Zelda, but ff7 goes harder, with a random encounter jolting you into a different game engine for combat.
To much time in combat waiting while nothing happens? FF7 battle system is mostly waiting for turns to come to with lots of dead time.
Exploration largely locked to narrative allowing it? Yeah, FF7 had that too, with rare optional destinations a very prescribed order and forced stops. It opens up late in the game.
The video generally laments that OOT was more a playable story than an organic gameplay experience, and FF7 can be characterized the same way. Which can be enjoyable, but it can be a bit annoying when the game half of things is awkward and bogs things down a bit. Particularly if you are getting subjected to repeated “spectacle” (the slow opening of chests in oot, the battle swirl, camera swoops, and oh man the summons in ff7…)
They both hit some rough growing pains in the industry. OOT went all in on 3D before designers really got a good idea on how to manage that. FF7 had so much opportunity for spectacle open up that they sometimes let that get in the way. Also the generally untextured characters with three design variations that are vastly different (field, battle, and pre rendered) as that team try to find their footing with visual design in a 3d market.
You’re correct on all fronts, but I guess what I would point out is that those design elements were a staple of the FF franchise long before 7. It was another turn based strategy role playing game in a series of turn based strategy role playing games. With OOT you had a real time action adventure franchise with a game using design elements you’d expect from…well, from a turn based strategy role playing game xD
That’s where I have issues with OOT in hindsight. It stumbled in executing on its own self-image, whereas FF7 did a better of job of understanding itself
The game's story is thread-bare and incomprehensible in places because a bunch of stuff got cut extremely late to get the game out the door. The entire Zack thing. Yuffie and Vincent had almost everything related to them cut out entirely. And then there was the english localization which fixed some of those issues but added more of its own with the pretty bad translation making things even harder to figure out. Square would end up doing the same thing but far far worse with Xenogears with large chunks of the game removed and replaced with text at the beginning of the second disc to give one example.
You already know which one is better. You know. Everybody knows…and those that disagree with me are trying to start a civil war!!!
(Guys, I’m doing this new thing where I cause so much division, and threats of civil war that the concept of division loses all meaning, and nobody has any more hate in their hearts. That way we can go back to having nightly anal orgy surprise parties!)