Changes

The story of how this game came to be has a story more expansive than the game itself. It starts, as most stories do, with its prequel.

== Squaresoft and the "Big N" ==

Nintendo, without a drive system, quietly disclosed to their third parties that the Ultra 64 was going to be cartridge based. The maximum limit that any game could be was 32 megabytes. Squaresoft was now in a bind, they had invested millions of yen into creating a movie-like RPG experience and now had to cut it down to fit on a cartridge. When it was revealed that the PSX would also be using a MIPS CPU, Square abandoned Nintendo and gained an exclusive distribution contract with Sony. The groundwork for Final Fantasy VII was now laid and could continue unobstructed.

== The Production ==

Halfway through the production of Final Fantasy VII, two very important things happened. First a second team was spun off to start production of [[FF8|Final Fantasy VIII]]. This allowed a staggered development cycle were when one game one done, another would be half done, cutting production time in half. Also half way through production, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the producer, learned that his mother Aki had died. Sakaguchi drew on this death and altered the story in a radical way. It now revolved around life and death and the earth.

== The Release ==

Later, Japan got a re-release of the expanded U.S. version, along with a scene viewer and other bonus content. This was called "Final Fantasy VII International"

== The PC Port ==

Eidos was dropped when Final Fantasy VIII for the PC was released.

== Where are they now? ==

The PC port is now out of print and does not run on the Windows NT type kernels due to some farflung misallocated pointers. Many now play FF7 via PSX emulation. With this way of playing the game, graphic modes higher than 1024x768 resolution, 32-bit color, and texture filtering, can all be used. The PSX version is also stable and for the most part, bug free. The engine has continued to be built upon. It has also been used in other non-Final Fantasy games such as "Parasite Eve", which was the first to support full body textures before FF8. The PC port is still supported by a small band of users. Unofficial patches have also been released with varying degrees of success. Not bad for a little engine that could.