Final Fantasy VII version differences

The following is a list of version differences between releases of Final Fantasy VII. The article uses two h3s, one for PlayStation and one for PC. This is because these are the two significant releases for the game. Both of these releases have seen re-releases based on the specific versions. The PlayStation version will also detail differences between the original Japanese release and the International version (which includes the changes made for North America and Europe).

Japan
Final Fantasy VII was released in Japan in January 1997. This was the original version of the game.

International
The "International" version of the game was released in North America in September 1997, Japan in October 1997, and Europe in November 1997.


 * The game was translated to English by the Japanese development team.
 * A scenario where the player party fights Diamond Weapon was included.
 * The Rising Sun weapon, previously dummied from the Japanese version, is made the item drop for this enemy.
 * Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon are added superbosses for this version.
 * The Desert Rose and Earth Harp were introduced as respective drops for these superbosses.
 * The Guide Book item became the Morph item of the Ghost Ship.
 * The Kalm Traveler was introduced to the game, who would trade the above items for prizes.
 * The Underwater Materia was used in the game, given to the player in exchange for a Guide Book for help in the Emerald Weapon boss battle.
 * The cutscene at Northern Crater was extended to show Weapon emerging from the crater.
 * The complex version of the clock puzzle in the Temple of the Ancients was removed, always giving the player the simple version which would only otherwise be accessible in the Japanese version after falling three times.

PlayStation Network
Released in April 2009 in Japan, and June 2009 to the rest of the world, the PlayStation Network version of the game is identical to the original release. The only change made is the way disc changes occur due to not using disks (instead having to access the console menu and changing an option).

PC
The PC version of Final Fantasy VII was not released in Japan, but released to the rest of the world in June 1998. This version is notable for not being fully functional, requiring a patch to function properly throughout the game.

The team that worked on the PC port of the game were originally given an early build of the game, and other things were done wrong. This could help explain a number of problems the game has.

The PC version of the game has gained significant attention over the years due to modding communities accessing the game. A fan also developed a rendering engine was also developed for the game known as Aali's Driver which would fix a number of graphical glitches, as well as other glitches and allow for more modding of the game. This rendering engine would later be re-used by Square Enix for the 2012 re-release.


 * The translation was re-done. Most grammatical and typographical errors were corrected. Other changes to the translation also made things incorrect, including timeframes and less faithful translations. One thing includes Corral Valley (PS) being renamed Corel Valley (PC) when it has nothing to do with Corel, but is instead literally "Coral Valley".
 * The Chocobo minigame freezes the game. A patch was developed by Qhimm which would alter be linked to by Square to fix this.
 * A number of graphical glitches occurred in the game, most notably Vincent's glitched animation at the Water Altar.
 * The music was changed to MIDI format, and thus reduced in quality from the PlayStation version.
 * FMVs were downscaled.

2012 re-release
The 2012 re-release was released in August 2012 to North America and Europe. In this version they used and edited Aali's Driver to improve on the files of the original PC version. The 2012 release therefore has fixed everything that was previously fixed by the engine. A number of new features were made available, and other minor changes were made to the game.


 * The translation remains the same as the original PC version, however a few corrections were made. These include correcting the list of Greens items in the Chocobo Farm to match the item names, and correcting controls.
 * A cloud saving feature allows files to be saved to the internet and synced to the web. This does not replace local saves.
 * 36 Achievements were added to the game.
 * A Character Booster available from the game's website allows the player to "boost" their save files.
 * The MIDI music files were converted into OGG format, still utilizing the sound quality of the MIDIs.
 * The FMVs were upscaled to be of better quality than the original PlayStation FMVs.
 * Shaders were added to increase the quality and looks of models.
 * The Chocobo Minigame works fine without any need for a patch.
 * The Magic Defense Bug was fixed.
 * Vicent's Water Altar bug was fixed by changing his animations.
 * Disk change screens were removed, instead saying "End of Part X".
 * Minor timing and background scripts were added and changed.
 * The Secret Cow Level easter egg was added.