Which version do you prefer? New vs Old.

[Mako]

Hello all, with the release of FF7 Re-Release today, I'd thought it be nice to have a discussion on which version you prefer. Here are the pro and cons I can think of:


Re-Release:
Has .ogg support.
Much cleaner fmv's (then anything I've seen on Qhimm)
Battles look amazing, while staying true to the original.
Slightly easier to Mod in some aspects.


Original:
Support for great mods.
Better Backgrounds. (Does not seem like the shaders are used at-all in the re release on the backgrounds. Altering the shaders only affected the .fmv files.)
Fixed mini-games thanks to Dan. (This might be available in the future for the re-release)
Better translation options.
More graphical options.


**
Me, I actually prefer the original over the re-release. The inclusion of .ogg, fmv, and battles aren't a strong enough case to deal with the horrible drm issues and the loss of really great mods.

[omega res novae]

old.
there may have been many cons but these are all fixable and there are many pros.

with the new bugs were fixed to the point that it works something that shouldve been done initially instead of acting like microsoft.
in my oppinion fmvs arent that much better.
now cons the drm,
their cloud saves dont allow you to edit or use old saves they get deleted when you start up ff7
alot of mods have to be tweaked or trashed
achievements i was excited and let down simply because a true player of this game would get them all hands down

whats easier to mod about the new?

[Mako]

whats easier to mod about the new?

Mostly the music aspect of it. Out of the box on the old we were forced to use FF7 music. A bunch of mods aren't needed anymore as well. (Audio, resolution, fmvs, ect.)

[omega res novae]

i like the intro fmvs that Leonhart7413 put together.  and now menu overhaul is set to not work, and team avalanches overhaul needs aali's driver

[Antonia]

Old.

First, it's nostalgic.  I've been playing it since release day from this same set of CDs. 

I'll have to do some comparisons, but I'd honestly be a little shocked if the FMVs in the new look even close to as nice as some of the stuff I've found here.

The music isn't really huge.  I mean, generally FF7Music fixes the problem, and it probably won't be long before we don't need it anymore either, which will put the 'ease of modding music' at least to a tie.

Don't get me wrong though... while I'm rather unimpressed with this little 're-release', it's nice for people who just never did manage to find a reasonably priced copy.  At the very least, they can play the thing (essentially vanilla) and experience it without spending 12 hours trying to make it run.  That part is cool, and who knows how far we *might* be able to tear it apart and mod it a few months or so down the road.

I guess though, ultimately, as scarce as the thing had gotten, and in view of the minimal effort put into this release, I feel it really should have hit the e-shelves about 10 years back.  If sales had gone crazy, it just might have given them that push to give us a REAL remake by now, and regardless, they'd have only widened their fan base larger than it is now by making the game a lot more available.  Being made for download, it wouldn't have been at all hard to keep it (reasonably) up to date for modern hardware with patches either.

And no...  I'm not actually expecting a remake --ever.  But then, if all we had were expectations, where would all the orphaned dreams live?   

[DLPB_]

I don't think these FMV are bad but I like mine better.  Certainly mine are sharper.

[BloodShot]

Actually I was gonna say, watching the FMVs fullscreen, the ones here seem to be a little clearer. I do like the OGG support, but I talked  to Aali in the livestream that was posted here earlier:



So unless that was someone in the stream pretending to be Aali, I think it's safe to say he has something up his sleeve for the next driver update.

Also, what's different about the battles in the new one?

[omega res novae]

maybe if we put the old and new releases in a room alone theyll breed and give us the best version of ff7 to date

[EQ2Alyza]

lol Squall

I still like the mods here on the original version. Since we're talking about FMV's, Rumbah 1280 Smooth are my preferred best.

[omega res novae]

in bootleg there are so many options to choose from. i have to start writing stuff down. i know i like the intros put together by leonheart

[dkma841]

Well for now it's got to be the old one who knows it could later change in the future

[Tenko Kuugen]

you forgot: con's of the re-release - SecureSHIT
I do not like malware on my PC. and secureROM is nothing but malware in disguise.

[Covarr]

you forgot: con's of the re-release - SecureSHIT
I do not like malware on my PC. and secureROM is nothing but malware in disguise.

SecuROM is annoying, and doesn't always work right, and has activation issues... but it's not malware. It is entirely harmless to the computer running it. Perhaps you've confused it with Starforce, which actually screws with your disc drive and whatnot. Some versions of SecuROM will refuse to launch your game if it detects CD mounting or copying software such as Daemon Tools is currently running, but will not actually change anything on your PC without permission.

Note: This is *not* to say that I actually like SecuROM. I don't. It doesn't work right, and it's too unforgiving with activations. It just doesn't fit the definition of malware.

[TheNathanParable]

Yeah, the SecuROM is annoying, but it could be worse. We could be forced to have a constant internet connection like the DRM Ubisoft likes to use.

I'm sure Square will learn their lesson soon enough. When Spore came out with SecuROM, it became the most pirated game of 2008. This forced EA to publicly apologise, release an activation tool for Spore, and vow never to use SecuROM ever again (a promise which they've held up so far).

Considering the fact that Square don't work in the realm of PC gaming anywhere near as much as they do console gaming, it's clear they haven't learnt the finer points of modern PC gaming yet, in particular how DRM can ruin a release.

[Terid__K]

Indeed, DRM for a 1998 game is simply unforgivable (especially considering almost nothing was changed). GOG.com has the right approach on this. Man, I'm glad I still have my original CDs.

We can just take the updated FMVs and use them on the old release, there shouldn't be any legal issues with sharing them here (After all, they are just upscaled PSX FMVs).

[Covarr]

We will not be distributing any files from the new release, FMVs included. While they may be upscales for the old PlayStation FMVs, the upscales themselves are new and technically under copyright (which we must adhere to more closely than ever considering the game is being sold legally now).

[Terid__K]

We will not be distributing any files from the new release, FMVs included. While they may be upscales for the old PlayStation FMVs, the upscales themselves are new and technically under copyright (which we must adhere to more closely than ever considering the game is being sold legally now).

No problem.

[kini]

right not i like the rerelease over the old version just for the fact i dont need to patch it to pass the loading screen and fingers crossed wont have crashes in the mini games

patch wise i know a lot of the old ones dont work but it could make it easier to develop new patches for this version since we all have the same core files etc

but id love to play crisis core on the pc now

[Tenko Kuugen]

SecuROM is annoying, and doesn't always work right, and has activation issues... but it's not malware. It is entirely harmless to the computer running it. Perhaps you've confused it with Starforce, which actually screws with your disc drive and whatnot. Some versions of SecuROM will refuse to launch your game if it detects CD mounting or copying software such as Daemon Tools is currently running, but will not actually change anything on your PC without permission.

Note: This is *not* to say that I actually like SecuROM. I don't. It doesn't work right, and it's too unforgiving with activations. It just doesn't fit the definition of malware.

plz2realize when I exaggerate for comical effect. SecureROM does nothing of value. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.  And it actually stops people from playing the game. Theres a lot of Malware which is less annoying than this.

We will not be distributing any files from the new release, FMVs included. While they may be upscales for the old PlayStation FMVs, the upscales themselves are new and technically under copyright (which we must adhere to more closely than ever considering the game is being sold legally now).

Well, not publically. In the forum. Whatever people do after they arrange a meeting over private messages and file hosters has nothing to do with us. COUGH.

[Jewels]

It's been about three years since I last touched FF7 on the PC, and at the time I was able to put in the effort to patch, tweak and mod the installation so it played better than ever. Now I'm abroad with just a laptop and no access to my physical game collection, yet I'm able to experience smooth and trouble-free gameplay, enhanced thanks to the brilliant UMI as well as the ease with which the music can be replaced. If I were to revisit my old installation from 2009 (which still exists on my main computer at home), I'd need a couple of hours to get fully reacquainted with it.

I'm a firm supporter of mods and enhancing any vanilla experience, but usually heavily modded games require time, patience, and a certain mindset before one can truly immerse themselves.

[Dark_Ansem]

new. no more headaches because of lack of updates of Aali's driver if one wants to use the newest one. and perhaps one with full-screen shaders will come for the new version.
also, no more idiotic disc change, altered registry path for movies etc.
No more awesome UI. but perhaps that will come in time.
And WallMarket works, so I can only guess proud cloud will too. some of the most well-done mods will still work. others might follow.

[Datapack]

New

[DLPB_]

Old.  I like new world map that you cant get with the cash in.  I like my menu project and a few others that you have to have aali's driver for.  The "new" game is only good if you want to play a mostly unmodded game out of the box.

[Prince Lex]

For vanilla VII, obviously the new version is much much better. But also obviously, people here are going to want to play with mods, and if you want to do that, it's obvious which version to use. So this isn't really much of a discussion? XD

[Covarr]

I might be fairly unique among long-time members in this, but I actually prefer the new release. The only mods I ever really used to begin with were Aali's driver for high resolution/bugfixes, and FF7Music to replace that awful midi. Since the new version can do both of those anyway, I really appreciate the overall lack of headaches that comes with it.