Square Enix confirms new Final Fantasy VII PC version

Square Enix, the company that has so frequently denied having anything to do with a remake or re-release of its most beloved of games, Final Fantasy VII, has now confirmed its plans to make a new PC version of the game available.

This echos what was said on a now cached page that temporarily appeared on Square's website last month. It stated that the new PC version would be the definitive one, offering cloud saves, a character stat tweaker and unlockable achievements for those that wanted to try and finish every aspect of the game. All these have now been confirmed also.

The stat booster is a weird one for an RPG. Square describes it as capable of giving players maximum life or money or whatever it is they need. Was Final Fantasy VII ever that hard to begin with? Sure it's a bit of a grind, but what eastern RPG isn't? Part of the fun of the game was going back to old parts that were previously difficult and cakewalking them because of your battles with tougher foes.

Said to be only available at the Square Enix store upon release, it's difficult to tell if much has been done to the game beyond the basic features. The screenshots seem to show reasonably nice visuals, but they're all from the game's cut scenes which were far more impressive than the in-game aesthetics.

The trailer however, shows the old paintbrush hands and blocky characters, so nothing new has been done to make this game look more modern. Of course there are those who would say that's a good thing, that the 1998 look is a style on its own. Those that have been modding the game since its original release to make it prettier, might think otherwise.

Minimum system requirements have been released for the new version:

• Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64-bit)
• 2GHz Processor or faster
• 1GB RAM
• DirectX 9-compatible graphic card

Compared to the specs for the original, these are monstrously inflated:

• Windows 95 compatible system
• DirectX 5.0
• Intel Pentium 133 (recommended Pentium 200)
• 4 megs Video Card (8 megs 3D accelerator recommended)
• 32 megs of RAM
• 4x CD-ROM
• DirectX 5.0 compatible sound card

So what's changed? Making the game Windows 7 compatible requires over 3,000% more RAM?

Kitguru says: While Square might be finally bowing to fan pressure to re-release the game, with no visual, audio or gameplay tweaks, when you can still play the original that when heavily modded looks and plays better, what's the point? While Square may be introducing cloud saves, there's no mention of being able to save more regularly either. Eurgh, back to save orbs.

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