Final Fantasy VIII demo

Final Fantasy VIII had two demo versions released; demos for both the PlayStation and PC-versions. The PlayStation demo is known for playing slightly different from the finalized version, with Selphie and Quistis absent and the scene's original music, which ended up being replaced, still intact.

PlayStation Demo
The demo takes place at the Siege of Dollet, with Rinoa in the party replacing Seifer and Selphie for the bits they are playable in the finalized game. The party wear their normal clothes instead of the SeeD cadet uniforms they do in the final game, and the demo's FMVs are altered to show Rinoa in place of Selphie, and the different wardrobe. The dialogue is re-written with a different translation, the party has the Leviathan, and is the only Guardian Force the party can summon as the menu is disabled. The most spells that can be drawn at once is only three, Squall has Fated Circle instead of Rough Divide for his Renzokuken finisher and the player cannot enter Zell's Duel commands, instead, Zell performs a scripted Limit Break. The demo is actually more difficult than the actual scene in the final game, due to the disabled menu which prevents the player from customizing the party, and the characters can't level up in the demo. Certain sound effects and animations are slightly different in the demo than in the final game and the X-ATM092 cannot be destroyed. Even if Rinoa is in the demo she has no spoken lines and nobody refers to her during gameplay.

The scene at the beach is longer with Seifer explaining the party's objective, as the demo lacks the scene present in the final game where Xu explains the mission within the vessel. On the Central Square Zell comments on the dog licking Seifer, Rinoa laughs and Seifer shoos the dog away, annoyed. Seifer doesn't call Zell a "chicken-wuss", but instead comments on how taking the dog along instead of Zell would probably prove more worthwhile, which sends Zell into a rage. The communications tower (called "antenna facility" in the demo) doesn't have the Blind draw point the final game has, and instead of Selphie, a Dollet soldier, who, curiously enough, uses the SeeD salute when greeting the party, delivers the withdrawal order, and unlike in the final game, the demo only has 15 minutes to reach the shore. At the demo's end, Squall and co rush back to the vessel and the X-ATM092 is destroyed by a Dollet soldier, instead of Quistis.

During the demo the track "Raid on Dollet" plays, which was replaced by "The Landing" in the final game, and "Raid on Dollet" never appeared on the game's original soundtrack. Although no official reasoning has been given, it is generally accepted that "Raid on Dollet" was taken out due to sounding too similar to the theme of the then-new film The Rock.

PC-version Demo
The PC-version demo was available for download shortly before the game was out and included the the ballroom scene and Squall and Quistis's trip to the Balamb Garden training center, ending with the boss battle against Granaldo. All the dialogue played the same as in the finalized game, but notably, the party has the Leviathan, a Guardian Force not available at that point in the finalized game, and due to limited junction magic available, the PC-demo is also harder than the final game, especially if the player ends up encountering the T-Rexaur.

Guardian Forces:
 * Level 8 Shiva
 * Level 4 Siren
 * Level 4 Leviathan