I remember this came with the PlayStation 1 when I bought it in 1997. I didn’t play it for a few weeks because I bought some games with my PS1. I remember finally putting it in and playing it. Once I finished the demo I went out and bought it immediately. One of those games that forever change how you see and play video games.
Yeah, it was that kinda game for a lot of people. Personally I had already been playing games for some time when it came out, but FF7 instilled in me that games can also tell engaging stories and take you on a journey.
My mom bought me FF7 when I got my first honor roll in high school She may be gone now but every time I boot up and play FF7 I think of that happy memory
Imma be honest I like this one more. It did a better job of giving you a taste of what to look forward to. Gave you spells and summons that you won't get till later to give you something to shoot for. Made you OP but still gave you tough frequently attack foes that will knock you out if you aren't thinking on your toes. The music was better to me cause it just punches harder then it's orchestrated version. Just a better Demo overall
@@TyroneTG3 Yeah, there's a strange lack of summons in the demo. I guess back in the days they had to put them there to wow players. It's almost like they're keeping them secrets for the full release... they better be good
I just read the intro dialogue and said "And this,young player,is where *your* fantasy begins!" right before the logo appeared. This made it even more awesome.
Even the FF7 demo disc had its own unique differences. Like how you had tifa instead of Aeris on the reactor mission. But this one really stands out with its battle arrangements and the sound they use for the music
Always keep demos, they’re a treasure trove of old games and how they differed from the final product. And it’s funny how Aerith is playable, despite being far away from Cloud at the opening of the game.
I lost my copy 😢 the fact that you get Summons, and characters like Aeris in this early demo got me Super pumped to get the game, the only thing better is the Gameshark Debug room.
+TheLifestream.net That's for sure! One of the more subtle changes, besides the obvious ones, that I noticed right away was Cloud actually spinning his sword in the opposite direction for his victory pose.
+TheLifestream.net Also, after inputting a battle selection for Cloud, he goes into a weird "ready stance" of some kind where he pulls the Buster Sword closer to his body before attacking.
I notice they have ready stance after selecting a command similar to the later ff9, wonder why they didn't use it on the finished game it was nice little detail.
You remember correctly, there was another demo that was featured in one of the PlayStation Underground demos, which did have Tifa instead of Aerith as a playable party member. However, that demo was based on the shipping build of the game, so in a sense, it's the less interesting of the two to look back on today simply because it's identical to the game that released (minus things switched around for demo purposes, like available summons).
Noticed from the final product from Final Fantasy VII Demo is that Aerith is playable with all the Cure spells, Ice Spell, and a Summon that is later found in the game! Same with Cloud and Barret with the spells and Cloud has the “All” Materia equipped on as well! Other than that I didn’t notice anything else.
@@SuperMarioPlush220 The *All* Materia is a *Support* type. You connect it with another materia (like *"Thunder",* for instance), and you gain the ability to cast a spell upon all of your enemies instead of just one.
The text in the first FMV is different, Makoro instead of Mako, Cloud spinning the buster sword backward, the use of "solider" instead of SOLDIER, the mugshots are sepia, there's no victory music played, Still More Fighting (boss theme) isn't played there's no timer after setting the bomb... there's also some differences with sound and dialogue. Also, the ending text says the game is "Coming In December" despite it's North American release date being 9/7/97. Cool to see this. I got FF7 on 9/2, five days ahead of its official release date and had no idea there was a demo for it when it came out. Seeing the differences here reminds me of the changes made from the FF8 demo.
Thanks for the vidéo i never had the chance to play the demo! The weirdest change for me is the way the camera at the beginning of the battles its so disturbing!
Man this brings back memories. I remember playing this on a demo disc compilation that Ive no idea how I got. Had Tomba 2, Tekken and a few other games on it. My friends biggest question was always "Wtf is Gil?" Like... you earned it after battle but there was just no use for it in the demo. Haha
Indeed there was. This is from the pre-release demo that was released alongside Tobal No.1. There was another demo based upon the finished game that was made for the Playstation Underground magazine in '97, which featured Tifa instead of Aerith, and where Neo-Bahamut was one of the available summons, so you remember correctly. As the latter demo is based on final code, there really aren't any differences to the game proper, aside from character and magic/summon availability and such.
I played 2 demos back in 1998 for the pc version... demo 1 was the battle arena in the gold saucer...no materia or weapons, you had the shiva summon and months later we found the hades summon all the way to the bottom of the summon menu. Of course we died when we were turned into a frog. about a year later my friend found online a demo with the whole corel area on the bridge and reactor.
12:46 I played through this demo for the first time tonight and was able to get Cloud going up and down the ladder without the climbing animation. Instead he had the running (facing toward the screen animation). Also, since the game didn’t register that he was climbing, I ran into a battle encounter while still on the ladder. He could move to the left and right slightly as well so I will need to go back and see if I can break him totally out of the boundaries of the ladder.
I never played the demo, so seeing the game like this is mind blowing. I overall like the finished product more, but there is some cool stuff going on in this demo.
There was a other (secondary) demo from ff7 but the Story and music was same as the Finished version. Called: "PS Preview". This one is the Interactive cd sampler of this game.
Three minutes until detonation? It took them a bit of time to clear the random battles! However, this is pretty cool being able to have Aeris/Aerith in your party from the start!
I was only 8; I played this over and over.... I was like; what happened to the audio? Why doesn't Aeris have Leviathan?....Why is she now Aerith?......
Great video. I'm working on a video essay for FF7 and i'm really interested in some of the changes they made from this demo. Would you mind if I used some of this footage in my video? Fully credited to you of course.
Used to watch my older brother play this game till 5am from previous day didnt have a clue how the fights worked looked confusing and I still don't now 🙈😂😂😂😂😂😂
I remember this came with the PlayStation 1 when I bought it in 1997. I didn’t play it for a few weeks because I bought some games with my PS1. I remember finally putting it in and playing it. Once I finished the demo I went out and bought it immediately. One of those games that forever change how you see and play video games.
Yeah, it was that kinda game for a lot of people. Personally I had already been playing games for some time when it came out, but FF7 instilled in me that games can also tell engaging stories and take you on a journey.
My mom bought me FF7 when I got my first honor roll in high school She may be gone now but every time I boot up and play FF7 I think of that happy memory
Oh, so that's why the opening star sequence takes so long. There was going to be text there!
Rewatching after playing the remake's demo
same here
Imma be honest I like this one more. It did a better job of giving you a taste of what to look forward to. Gave you spells and summons that you won't get till later to give you something to shoot for. Made you OP but still gave you tough frequently attack foes that will knock you out if you aren't thinking on your toes. The music was better to me cause it just punches harder then it's orchestrated version. Just a better Demo overall
@@TyroneTG3 Yeah, there's a strange lack of summons in the demo.
I guess back in the days they had to put them there to wow players. It's almost like they're keeping them secrets for the full release... they better be good
Rewatching after playing Rebirth demo
I just read the intro dialogue and said "And this,young player,is where *your* fantasy begins!" right before the logo appeared. This made it even more awesome.
Barret saying heck instead of his usual cursing feels so.... quaint. Couldn't help but burst out laughing.
A demo of Final Fantasy seven is what got me into the franchise, I’ve loved Final Fantasy ever since
Even the FF7 demo disc had its own unique differences. Like how you had tifa instead of Aeris on the reactor mission. But this one really stands out with its battle arrangements and the sound they use for the music
Always keep demos, they’re a treasure trove of old games and how they differed from the final product. And it’s funny how Aerith is playable, despite being far away from Cloud at the opening of the game.
Different sound effects and fonts too
I lost my copy 😢 the fact that you get Summons, and characters like Aeris in this early demo got me Super pumped to get the game, the only thing better is the Gameshark Debug room.
Wow! I remember playing this demo version! Looking back now it really looks and sounds like a beta version, but it's still awesome.
How cloud is spinning the buster sword in reverse is sick 💪
honestly a lot less dangerous lmao
Okay, now the intro lingering on the stars for 20 seconds makes more sense, it was originally to facilitate text
It made me think that it was alluding to outer space
Really interesting seeing the little changes they made.
+TheLifestream.net That's for sure! One of the more subtle changes, besides the obvious ones, that I noticed right away was Cloud actually spinning his sword in the opposite direction for his victory pose.
+TheLifestream.net Also, after inputting a battle selection for Cloud, he goes into a weird "ready stance" of some kind where he pulls the Buster Sword closer to his body before attacking.
Aerith boobs... lol
@@JuskiReign Also it's a 5-frame animation instead of 4.
Also interesting that Cloud's portrait is different. Is that the young Cloud from Nibelheim?
@@Fuchsia_tude It is.
Soundfont sound like a weird hybrid of SNES, N64 and PS1 chips to me...and I love it.
very interesting seeing all the little changes they did compared to the final version especially seeing this after the remake demo
I notice they have ready stance after selecting a command similar to the later ff9, wonder why they didn't use it on the finished game it was nice little detail.
Cut to save space?
And Final Fantasy VIII.
I remember having a demo when I was a kid but for the life of me, I could have sworn it had Tifa and not Aerith.
You remember correctly, there was another demo that was featured in one of the PlayStation Underground demos, which did have Tifa instead of Aerith as a playable party member.
However, that demo was based on the shipping build of the game, so in a sense, it's the less interesting of the two to look back on today simply because it's identical to the game that released (minus things switched around for demo purposes, like available summons).
Actually this whole demo has such a rough translation, that's really amazing.
I really want to play this demo
Rewatching after playing Rebirth demo
Noticed from the final product from Final Fantasy VII Demo is that Aerith is playable with all the Cure spells, Ice Spell, and a Summon that is later found in the game! Same with Cloud and Barret with the spells and Cloud has the “All” Materia equipped on as well! Other than that I didn’t notice anything else.
What did the "All" materia do?
@@SuperMarioPlush220 The *All* Materia is a *Support* type. You connect it with another materia (like *"Thunder",* for instance), and you gain the ability to cast a spell upon all of your enemies instead of just one.
The text in the first FMV is different, Makoro instead of Mako, Cloud spinning the buster sword backward, the use of "solider" instead of SOLDIER, the mugshots are sepia, there's no victory music played, Still More Fighting (boss theme) isn't played there's no timer after setting the bomb... there's also some differences with sound and dialogue. Also, the ending text says the game is "Coming In December" despite it's North American release date being 9/7/97.
Cool to see this. I got FF7 on 9/2, five days ahead of its official release date and had no idea there was a demo for it when it came out.
Seeing the differences here reminds me of the changes made from the FF8 demo.
There’s so many translation errors LOL I love this
The music in the demo reminds me of the N64
Ff7 or ff6 64 was planned to be on n64 but due to ps1 uprising, they changed the development time on Sony's console instead.
Christian Ramirez I already knew that
Yeah it's strange that the midi-instruments of the demo differ from the final version.
As a matter of fact,the music literally uses one sample that is used in Smash 64!
@@systemshocker2875 Oh?
Thanks for the vidéo i never had the chance to play the demo! The weirdest change for me is the way the camera at the beginning of the battles its so disturbing!
Man this brings back memories.
I remember playing this on a demo disc compilation that Ive no idea how I got. Had Tomba 2, Tekken and a few other games on it.
My friends biggest question was always "Wtf is Gil?" Like... you earned it after battle but there was just no use for it in the demo. Haha
3 minutes to detonation, each battle takes 2 minutes
This had to of boosted Tobal No. 1s sales 75%.
Wonder if there was more than one demo. I remember playing a version at a neighbors house that had bahamut summon
Indeed there was. This is from the pre-release demo that was released alongside Tobal No.1.
There was another demo based upon the finished game that was made for the Playstation Underground magazine in '97, which featured Tifa instead of Aerith, and where Neo-Bahamut was one of the available summons, so you remember correctly.
As the latter demo is based on final code, there really aren't any differences to the game proper, aside from character and magic/summon availability and such.
I played 2 demos back in 1998 for the pc version...
demo 1 was the battle arena in the gold saucer...no materia or weapons, you had the shiva summon and months later we found the hades summon all the way to the bottom of the summon menu. Of course we died when we were turned into a frog.
about a year later my friend found online a demo with the whole corel area on the bridge and reactor.
@@wobbles2851 well that makes sense. I remember the demo I played had the countdown timer which seems to be missing from this one.
Bro the way cloud puts his sword on his back I’m his victory animation
Next to Doom shareware discs, this is the most important videogame demo ever made.
12:46 I played through this demo for the first time tonight and was able to get Cloud going up and down the ladder without the climbing animation. Instead he had the running (facing toward the screen animation). Also, since the game didn’t register that he was climbing, I ran into a battle encounter while still on the ladder. He could move to the left and right slightly as well so I will need to go back and see if I can break him totally out of the boundaries of the ladder.
I never played the demo, so seeing the game like this is mind blowing. I overall like the finished product more, but there is some cool stuff going on in this demo.
So that's why the opening night sky a bit long, the opening credit was cut
At the end the sounds that they use to display ff7s release date are the same sounds in sephiroths theme one winged angel
Really?
never knew about this with aeris
Special Time!
Makoro.
How can Aeris be in the intro location and then on the other side of town fighting in 5 seconds??!!
Originally, there are only Cloud, Aerith and Barret in the game.
The answer is in FF VII Rebirth ? Maybe?
There was a other (secondary) demo from ff7 but the Story and music was same as the Finished version. Called: "PS Preview". This one is the Interactive cd sampler of this game.
12:22 Lmao
Three minutes until detonation? It took them a bit of time to clear the random battles!
However, this is pretty cool being able to have Aeris/Aerith in your party from the start!
I believe the battle time didn’t count against your 3 min countdown
music sounds differnt?
It's an early version. Looks like Uematsu hadn't quite finalized the soundfont.
has someone ripped the soundtrack from this demo?
Barret! Nice demo!
Anyone else prefer this version of Let The Battles Begin to the final version
I was only 8; I played this over and over.... I was like; what happened to the audio? Why doesn't Aeris have Leviathan?....Why is she now Aerith?......
Makoro
Great video.
I'm working on a video essay for FF7 and i'm really interested in some of the changes they made from this demo.
Would you mind if I used some of this footage in my video? Fully credited to you of course.
Sure, I don't mind.
@@wobbles2851 Thanks :)
Chills.
I remember the ff8 demo too, and ff12 too, I'm old lol
Can I play it on the PS2?
Yea
You'll need tobal no.1
Via backwards compatibility, at least with the final release version of the game.
Jesus they made it nearly impossible to gain a level
My understanding is they made it actually impossible to gain a level in this demo
1:05 large rewards = few thousand gil.
Also what the heck is GP? Cannot be GoldSaucer Points.
The previous FF games used GP as their standard currency. They hadn’t implemented GIL yet on this early build.
The damage numbers were using Japanese fonts.
This game was the Star wars of video games.
musics different
Used to watch my older brother play this game till 5am from previous day didnt have a clue how the fights worked looked confusing and I still don't now 🙈😂😂😂😂😂😂
Well there's a remake now 😄
I thought the original bombing mission song in the demo seen here was better.
Dude, I forgot all about Bushido Blade. That was a sweet game.
Where did you learn, to fly?
This version of the bombing mission theme is better lol.
Nah