FF 7 Moment I recall that was different.

[BHvrd]

Decided to replay Final Fantasy 7 recently and just got to the Mako Reactor in Sector 5.

After hitting the wheel I got no timer, I recall a timer before and an item is missing from one level up as well.

Also when we get to the Techno Soldier I beat it in one shot? Barrets Big Shot hit it for 1525...

I dunno something seems different. The game seems easier and things seem to be missing I remember from playing before. Any ideas?

[skaar]

You got older.

[c0ldb33r]

Some games don't age well. Is FF7 one of them?

I like it but personally, I find it to be the most overhyped game in history.

[p_b]

Some games don't age well. Is FF7 one of them?



You mean the game starts forgetting things like putting in a timer? :)

[Nodtveidt]

Decided to replay Final Fantasy 7 recently and just got to the Mako Reactor in Sector 5.

After hitting the wheel I got no timer, I recall a timer before and an item is missing from one level up as well.

Also when we get to the Techno Soldier I beat it in one shot? Barrets Big Shot hit it for 1525...

I dunno something seems different. The game seems easier and things seem to be missing I remember from playing before. Any ideas?

When you go to Sector 5, you have a better bomb which isn't timed. Good thing too because you've gotta do that stupid "press all 3 buttons at once" thing on the way out.

Beating Airbuster (I believe that's its name) in one hit isn't hard to do. A blast from behind of Barret's Big Shot should be more than enough if you've got him leveled up enough.

The game may seem easier because you're older now and probably far more experienced as a gamer.

[BHvrd]

When you go to Sector 5, you have a better bomb which isn't timed. Good thing too because you've gotta do that stupid "press all 3 buttons at once" thing on the way out.

Beating Airbuster (I believe that's its name) in one hit isn't hard to do. A blast from behind of Barret's Big Shot should be more than enough if you've got him leveled up enough.

The game may seem easier because you're older now and probably far more experienced as a gamer.

Better bomb works for me...didn't know there was one but, cool, yeah.

Also what you say kinda makes sense, cause I know years ago I never would have leveled my characters "I was always in a hurry" so that kinda explains it. I actually like random encounters now??? Go figure....lol.

Just didn't seem as dramatic and I guess that's why. Just thought there may be a variant version possibly, good to know it isn't. Still a great game imo, still love the characters and underlying themes.

Thanks for the response.

[NayusDante]

The closest thing to a variant is the PC version, which gave each character a mouth on their field model and revised the text. Instead of "This guy are sick," Aeris says "This guy is sick." Also, a lot of profanity is replaced with punctuation, comic style. "It's cuz Shinra keep suckin the life out with those #%#$ machines!" FF7PC also runs at 2x resolution (640x480, higher with hacks), but the videos are just stretched, making them look like crap.

I have both. My ideal version to play is the PC version with the videos converted uncompressed from the PSX disks.

[Krook]

The closest thing to a variant is the PC version, which gave each character a mouth on their field model and revised the text. Instead of "This guy are sick," Aeris says "This guy is sick." Also, a lot of profanity is replaced with punctuation, comic style. "It's cuz Shinra keep suckin the life out with those #%#$ machines!" FF7PC also runs at 2x resolution (640x480, higher with hacks), but the videos are just stretched, making them look like crap.

I have both. My ideal version to play is the PC version with the videos converted uncompressed from the PSX disks.

The ideal would (should) be to play the PSX version on the ePSXe emulator. And boost up the resolution and other graphics.

[NayusDante]

Boosted resolution in an emulator looks like crap. Something about the PSX renderer makes polygons look wavy and distorted, especially at higher resolutions.

The PC version also allows for modification, such as the NPC Reconstruction Patch. Imagine high quality, non-SD models everywhere.

[Krook]

I remember playing FF9 with boosted resolution and stuff on epsxe before i got my ps2 and I cant recall that the polygons were messed up.
Hmm, gotta try it out. :)

[Damaramu]

Boosted resolution in an emulator looks like crap. Something about the PSX renderer makes polygons look wavy and distorted, especially at higher resolutions.

The PC version also allows for modification, such as the NPC Reconstruction Patch. Imagine high quality, non-SD models everywhere.

I'm assuming you're speaking from hands on experience here?

Last time I fired up my copy of ePSXe, the games I played (Front Mission 3, Grandia, Xenogears, Rival Schools, etc.) had no such distortion on the polygon models. In fact, the games looked absolutely fantastic with the higher resolution and smoothed/cleaned up textures.

But then again, I guess it's all about which video pack you get.

[Moo Cow]

I'm assuming you're speaking from hands on experience here?

Last time I fired up my copy of ePSXe, the games I played (Front Mission 3, Grandia, Xenogears, Rival Schools, etc.) had no such distortion on the polygon models. In fact, the games looked absolutely fantastic with the higher resolution and smoothed/cleaned up textures.

But then again, I guess it's all about which video pack you get.

I'm certainly no expert on things like this, but it could be that it employed things that his graphics card at the time didn't support.

[Snapple]

I think you're confusing the bomb sequence at Sector 1 with the bomb sequence at Sector 5. The first one has a timer. The second one doesn't.

You killed him in one hit because the boss is weak when attacking him from behind. The Big Shot does a lot of damage, and the boss doesn't have much HP. It's early in the game, and they're throwing easy stuff at you.

As for emulation, I haven't had problems. I prefer psxemulator to ePSXe now, but I can run FF7 on both without distortion.

[NayusDante]

I'm certainly no expert on things like this, but it could be that it employed things that his graphics card at the time didn't support.

About two years ago, I tried FF8 and Chrono Cross with many different video plugins, and they all looked warped. I was using a GF6600GT at the time. I tried ePSXE or whatever that was, and several others that supported the same plugin type (AdriPSX, etc). I tried FF7, and the 2d graphics looked awful. The games were designed to output at probably 320x240, maybe 640x480.

Then again, I personally never liked the way PSX handled 3D. To me, the wavy textures and the somewhat abnormal polygon movement REALLY bugged me. I only own a handful of fully 3D games for PSX, as I mainly bought one for Megaman. The 3D rendering winner of that era was N64, but the lack of texture storage space somewhat hindered it.

[Krook]

Did some research...

Here is FF7 for PC with the high resolution patch in 1280x960 (looks damn nice!):
http://savvygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/ff7pc5.PNG

And here is FF7 for PSX (PAL version) in ePSXe, 1024x768
http://www.bildbox.se/1093.html

And finally FF7 PSX PAL in ePSXe 1280x960 (my laptop screen didnt fit the whole image but you get the point)
http://www.bildbox.se/1095.html

Think I get some qualityloss when saving it as a jpg tho, its not THAT blurry... ah well screw it.

Here is a guide for the FF7 high resolution, better sound etc patches.
So for you guys who dont play FF7 for the crappy graphics. Check this out!
http://savvygeek.com/2007/10/05/final-fantasy-vii-in-restored-glory/

[NayusDante]

Wow, someone finally made a guide for all that. And to think of all the hours I spent tweaking my setup to run properly...

[exit]

Wasn't there a project going on that completely updated the graphics? I can't remember if it was just for the battle models, but it looked very promising.

[NayusDante]

NPC Reconstruction Patch, officially forum-hosted down at the Qhimm forums. I just installed it for the heck of seeing how far it's come (0.6) and it's definitely neat. Not for battle models, but rather, field models. Sadly, they look better than the battle models, so it doesn't do anything for the visual continuity problem that FF7 has.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2422631586_ab532f5007_o.png

[Haoie]

What? FF7 isn't the same without This guy are sick.