Final Fantasy VII demo


 * For the PS3 tech demo, see: Final Fantasy VII Technical Demo

The Final Fantasy VII Demo was a beta version of Final Fantasy VII released in 1996 and was the game's first playable demo. It appeared on Square's Preview Extra, released with in Japan and North America. Square's Preview Extra also contained a video preview of Final Fantasy Tactics, as well as and.

The demo includes only the opening bombing mission right up until the explosion. While the basics were the same as seen in the final game, there were a few notable changes. Other differences were used in the demo as a taster of the full game, such as the inclusion of ready-leveled-up Materia, a summon, and a third party member, Aeris. She does not appear outside of battle, however.

The translation is very different, and some terms were changed, an example being "Makoro plants" instead of "Mako Reactors," and SOLDIER are spoken of as actual soldiers instead of an organization.

Opening sequence
The opening sequence is largely the same as the original. The biggest difference is the text appearing in the starry sky which tells the opening story of Final Fantasy VII. In the game, the story is picked up on only as the game proceeds.


 * ""Shinra Company" --- A large conglomerate that possesses all of the world's energy and controls its politics. Outraged by the Shinra,the inhabitants formed the rebel group ' Avalanche ' to resist them.  After coming into contact with Avalanche in a bar, Cloud joins their demolition mission in return for a large reward.  Their target is the Shinra power plant Makoro."

The only other difference is the text beneath the Square logo, which reads "1996 SQUARE" instead of "1997 SQUARE".

Events and restrictions
The menu is not accessible in the demo; therefore, Materia and items are inaccessible except during battles. The characters cannot Level up and will remain at levels 9 (only Aeris) and 10 during the entire demo. It is difficult to be Knocked Out during the demo unless done deliberately.

Areas are slightly different. Jessie will also get stuck in a different area, just further on her path. Biggs can be found collapsed in the area next to the stairs, and much like the situation with Jessie, the player will have to use the activate button to get him to move. He will claim he was attacked by a guard from behind. Oddly, he wasn't arrested.

There is no Save Point, as the player cannot save data in the demo.

The scene where the screen goes red and Cloud reacts is missing. If the player runs out of time before they escape the reactor, it will still say Mission Complete. Once the timer is activated, the player will get just three minutes to escape instead of the ten given in the actual game. Instead of the timer appearing in the top-right, a message will appear on the screen saying "3 minutes until detonation", "2 minutes remaining" and so on. Time in battles does not count toward the time limit.

Graphics and display
The battle models have slight differences, as do the out of battle models. This can be seen in characters' eyes, which appear as soulless black ovals instead of the more life-like eyes seen in the game. Cloud's menu portrait uses the young Cloud portrait, as seen during the Kalm flashback to the Nibelheim Incident. Aerith's menu portrait has a more serious expression on her face than in the final game.

When a character is speaking, their words are not shown beneath their name as in the actual game. Instead, the demo version presents their name, a colon, and then spacing before displaying the dialogue.

Messages in battle, such as the name of the enemy attack, appear taller than in the full game.

Music and sound
Four pieces of music are featured in the demo. The first plays on demo's the opening menu and isn't used in the final version. The next piece plays the same as in the opening of the final version, "Opening ~ Bombing Mission", with only minor differences.

In the same place as the final version, preceding the terminals, "Mako Reactor" will start playing. The demo's version of the track is slightly different to the final. "Those Who Fight" appears as the battle music at this point, again, sounding slightly different to the final version, but using the same notes. Notably, there is no Victory Fanfare.

During the boss battle the "Opening ~ Bombing Mission" plays and continues playing until the end of the demo (as it does in the full version).

Characters
All of the characters have the same name except for Jessie, who is named "Jesse." In the demo, players cannot name their characters, so at the start of the game, Cloud appears in battle as "Cloud" instead of "Ex-SOLDIER".

Items
Just three items appear in the demo. All three are basic, restorative items. The only difference in names is that "Hi-Potion" was "Hi potion". Items such as the two Potions retrieved from the guards at the beginning are not present, nor is the Restore Materia on the bridge before planting the bomb.

Attacks
The Attack command is called "Fight" in the demo, the same as it was called in the six previous installments in the series. The Limit Break command is called "Special", despite still being called "LIMIT BREAK" in the demo's Japanese version. Aeris can only use the Healing Wind special technique, and Barret can only use Heavy shot, the demo's name for Big Shot. Cloud has access to both Braver and Cross Slash, however, they function differently to the full game as Braver temporarily paralyzes an enemy, and Cross Slash does not - the opposite to the full game.

Magic
Many more spells appear in the demo version that aren't available at this time of the story in the full game. Bolt, Ice, and Fire all appear up to their second stages, Demi appears without an upgrade, though with the same power as Demi2 has in the final version, and all three levels of the Cure spell are available, except for Regen, despite being in between Cure2 and Cure3 in the full game. Many MP costs are also far smaller than in the full game, likely due to huge MP consumption they would use otherwise. All the spells' animations are the same, bar Ice 2.

The only name differences in Magic Materia is the lack of spacing between the spell names and their spell levels. So "Ice2" is called "Ice 2" in the demo. When an All Materia is equipped to another, selecting that Materia will give the player the option to cast it on All opponents, or just a single opponent. It will also tell how many more times the player can use the All option, changing depending on the level of the Materia, although it is not possible to level Materia up in the demo.


 * *In the demo, Demi is equivalent to Demi2. In the final version, Demi only reduces a quarter of the enemy's health. For the same effect in the final version, Demi 2 costs 33 MP.

Summons
Only one summon features in the demo, Leviathan, who uses the Tsunami attack for a cost of 40 MP. The Tsunami attack is the same as Tidal Wave as seen in the full game, just with a different name. The MP cost is also far less than seen in the full game (78 MP).

Enemies


The majority of the enemies appearing in the demo version did appear during the bombing mission in the full game. However, only two of the enemies retained their name from the this demo version, these being the same enemies that don't appear in the area in the full game. Other enemies have had their enemy name pluralized despite appearing alone.

The Guard Scorpion does not appear as the boss, but is replaced by a larger version of the Sweeper, who is not a normal enemy, accompanied by two Grunts. Only one enemy appears in the demo which does not in the full game, the Grenadiers, which is a recolor of the Security Troops (MP) and therefore not the Grenade Combatants seen later in the game.

1st Ray, Mono Drive, and the ordinary Sweeper are the only Random Encounters not featured in the demo that do feature in the Sector 1 Reactor mission in the full game.

The below abilities in italics are not named in games, and therefore the name recorded for the full game is used.

Abilities
The CASE used for enemy attacks is different. Instead of "Machine Gun", the attack is called "Machine gun". Other ability names are also different.

Formations
Enemy formations are largely different. One formation features a Security Troops enemy standing directly next to a Guard Hounds enemy, twice. Another formation is six Hedgehog Pies in a 3-2-1 formation.


 * Security Troops x2 (Fixed)
 * Deenglow x5
 * Combatants x2, Deenglow x3
 * Combatants x2, Hedgehog Pie x2
 * Combatants x3
 * Guard Hounds x2, Security Troops x2
 * Hedgehog Pie x6
 * Sweepers, Combatants x2 (Boss)