Square Enix today released their slightly upgraded version of FINAL FANTASY VII, along with making it available on GOG too. The original version has been renamed to "FINAL FANTASY VII (2013)", and has be hidden for purchase on Steam with this newer version completely replacing it. However previous buyers on Steam have access to both.

The new addition has no story changes, mainly just a few tech additions including:
3× speed mode
Play through the game at up to three times the speed! This feature can only be used in battle, travel, and select events.
Ability to turn battle encounters off
Activate this option to turn off random encounters. Story event battle still must be completed to advance the story.
Battle enhancement mode
Activate this mode to recover HP/MP during battles and max out the Limit gauge.
Autosave feature
Nice to see it on GOG now as well though, along with a bunch of other recent FINAL FANTASY titles that were previously released on GOG. Options are nice for gamers for whatever store they prefer.
Quoting: CaldathrasYou'd think that GOG, in the interests of game preservation, would want the original version too, not just the "slightly upgraded" version.I'm sure they do want it, but if Squeenix says 'nah', there's not much they can do.
The game works broken, the FPS limit has been increased from 15 to 30 doubling the speed of fights and actions but without adapting the animations so the actions desyncs with the audio. Roulettes must be extreme hardcore; it plays generally like a ATB hard-type mod.
- Bilinear filtering making the game a lot blurrier, especially pre-rendered backgroundsCalled the blurriness and filtering. Somehow still underestimated Square.
- Absolutely horrendous filter applied on sprites and text
- Sounds problems, notably with sound effects that usually repeat in quick succession (i.e. navigating the menus, exp and gil, etc.)
- Can't disable boosters
- Double the file size
- FMVs lagging for some people
- Currently battles are at 3x the speed (confirmed patch to being worked on)
As for the crappy port Square Enix has done... What a shame, really.
Suikoden had a very elegant solution for this back in the day: if you moved in a perfectly straight line (i.e. "I know exactly where I'm going") you'd get fewer encounters along the way. I think the rate lowered further the longer you stuck to that straight line. It's basically been a solved, but widely ignored problem since the 90s.




How to setup OpenMW for modern Morrowind on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck
How to install Hollow Knight: Silksong mods on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck