Background Edit

Planning sessions for Final Fantasy VII began in 1994 after the release of Final Fantasy VI.
At the time, Final Fantasy VII was planned to be another 2D project for the Super Nintendo
Entertainment System.[14] According to Tetsuya Nomura, the series creator Hironobu
Sakaguchi originally "wanted to do a detective story" with the first part involving a "hot-
blooded" character named "Detective Joe", in pursuit of characters after they had blown up
the city of Midgar.[15] Many staff members chose instead to work on Chrono Trigger, and
development was halted.[14]
Development of Final Fantasy VII resumed in late 1995, and required the efforts of
approximately 120 artists and programmers, using PowerAnimator and Softimage|3D
software.[16] This was the largest game development team at the time, and included
Japanese CG artists working alongside Hollywood CG visual effects artists. Final Fantasy
VII was the most expensive video game of its time, with a production budget of around
US$45 million.[17]

Technology Edit

The first full-motion video in the series.

As a result of the high quantity of memory storage required to implement the motion data
for characters, only the CD-ROM format would be able to suit the project's needs and thus
the game would be developed for Sony's PlayStation platform.
Visually, the goal was to make Final Fantasy VII a completely unified work with a single
style running from beginning to end. The transition from 2D computer graphics to 3D
environments overlaid on pre-rendered backgrounds was accompanied by a focus on a
more realistic presentation. The green and blue of the game's logo set the theme for the
color tone for the rest of the game, reflected in the Mako energy and Lifestream that play
crucial roles.[18]

Story Edit

Early character relationships chart.

The co-director and scenario writer of Final Fantasy VI, Yoshinori Kitase, returned to direct

and co-write Final Fantasy VII. He was concerned the franchise might be left behind if it did

not catch up to the 3D computer graphics used in other games at the time. Unlike with Final

Releases Edit
See also: Final Fantasy VII version differences

Original Edit
Final Fantasy VII was released January 17, 1997 in Japan, and later that year on
September 7 in North America and in October 2 internationally. Its United States marketing
budget amounted to $100 million,[17] spent on a three-month marketing campaign. This
consisted of three thirty-second television advertisements found in Saturday Night
Live and The Simpsons and on channels such as ESPN and MTV, as well as print adverts
within magazines, such was Rolling Stone and Spin, and within comic books by DC
Comics and Marvel Comics.[22] The $145 million budget, of which $45 million was
development costs and the rest marketing,[17] made it the most expensive video game
release of all time until Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2011,[23] even when not taking into
account inflation.
The North American and PAL releases of Final Fantasy VII made substantial changes to
the original Japanese version. Several areas of gameplay have been made more difficult by
adding in new bosses. Random battle rates were cut down, and Materia swapping between
characters was made easier. New flashbacks of Tifa meeting the semi-conscious Cloud on
a train station, and a flashback of Cloud and Zack escaping Nibelheim, were also added in.
This version was re-released on PlayStation Network in North America on June 2, 2009,
and in Europe and Australia on June 4 of the same year. The re-release made it playable
on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita consoles. It was downloaded
100,000 times within the first two weeks of release, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation
game on the Network.[24]

International Edit

The game with the changes made to the North American version was re-released in Japan
as Final Fantasy VII International, the first International Version, a semi-recurring feature of
the series. It includes Final Fantasy VII: Perfect Guide, a special fourth disc with maps,
character information, design sketches, and other trivia. A later limited version, Final
Fantasy VII International Advent Pieces: Limited was released in a collectible metal case
that could be assembled into a display stand.

This version was re-released on PlayStation Network on April 10, 2009.

PC (1998) Edit
In 1998, the game received its first port to the Microsoft Windows platform. The re-release
features smoother graphics and fixes to translation and spelling errors (such as "This guy
are sick" and "Beacause Cloud"), though the audio quality was diminished. The PC release
is popular among modding communities.
PC (2012) Edit
In 2012, Square Enix re-released the game for the PC platform. It was initially released
through the Square Enix Store in August 14, 2012, before later released on Steam on July
4, 2013. Initially, the re-release appeared on August 5, 2012 on the Square Enix Store, as a
result of testing the site for the product's relaunch, though the product upon purchase was
unusable, and Square Enix offered a refund and a free copy of the re-release to those who
had bought it.[25]
In addition to graphical resolution improvements to the previous port, the re-release also
featured cloud saving, as well as unlockable achievements and a Character
Booster feature. The audio quality received many complaints, and on 27 September 2013,
Square Enix upgraded the in-game audio.[26]

The system requirements for this release are as follows:

Minimum

OS Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64bits)

Processor 2GHz

Memory 1 GB RAM

Graphics DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphic card

Hard Drive 3 GB available space

DirectX 9.0c
Others
Square Enix account