Is the Steam version of FFVII a good port?

[vasiD]

So, I'm not an absurdly huge FF fan anymore, but I'm still a huge fan of playing with the feeling of nostalgia. To that end I occasionally like to take a trip down memory lane with many games, FFVII being one.

Now I, I'd honestly assume like many people, actually already own both the PSX (from my childhood) and PSN (for my vita) versions, and my favorite way of playing the game at the moment is upscaling it through ePSXe to run in beautiful HD and (pixel-ratio-maintained)widescreen.

My question to my fellow Escapists, and more specifically those of you who have already tried the steam version, how is the quality of the port?

The rendered graphics look great in screen shots and videos, and it looks like the annoying (though charming) "PSX blink" is gone, both of which are promising developments. My concerns come from the soundtrack, as I hear it's horrible for some reason? That and I'm curious as to how it handles widescreen, I know it can go up to 1080p, which is sweet, but does it do bars on the side or does it render out the additional area?

How them nostalgic feels, Escapists?

 

[Starnerf]

It's an updated re-release of the original PC port with new online features like achievements and cloud saves. This page has a list of the changes made to the re-release: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII/Version_Differences

I played through FFVII on the original PC release from 1998 and I thought it was fine. This new version supposedly includes all the fixes accumulated over the years so it should be pretty solid. If that thing about the music still being based on the MIDIs is true, that's a bummer, but I'm sure someone will make another MP3 mod for this version.

 

[Revolutionary]

It's a jrpg, so even if you find the keyboard cumbersome, it's not a game-breaker. Overall I'd say it's a decent port, it's hard to comment because it's an older game and doesn't have as much as the modern swankery that you'd expect from a modern AAA release. But yeah if you wanna play FFVII, and you don't have a PS, this is how to do it.

 

[Agayek]

So, I'm not an absurdly huge FF fan anymore, but I'm still a huge fan of playing with the feeling of nostalgia. To that end I occasionally like to take a trip down memory lane with many games, FFVII being one.

Now I, I'd honestly assume like many people, actually already own both the PSX (from my childhood) and PSN (for my vita) versions, and my favorite way of playing the game at the moment is upscaling it through ePSXe to run in beautiful HD and (pixel-ratio-maintained)widescreen.

My question to my fellow Escapists, and more specifically those of you who have already tried the steam version, how is the quality of the port?

The rendered graphics look great in screen shots and videos, and it looks like the annoying (though charming) "PSX blink" is gone, both of which are promising developments. My concerns come from the soundtrack, as I hear it's horrible for some reason? That and I'm curious as to how it handles widescreen, I know it can go up to 1080p, which is sweet, but does it do bars on the side or does it render out the additional area?

How them nostalgic feels, Escapists?

I'm only a couple hours in, so take this with a grain of salt, but here goes:

Personally, it's a pretty good port overall. The keyboard controls I find to be rather clunky and unintuitive, but it works just fine with my Xbox 360 controller, so I can't really complain there. Other than that, mechanically it works pretty good. I've had no technical issues with it or any real problems. The sound isn't really bad, but it is the same files the PSX used, and that much is clear. You're not going to be hearing any sweeping scores from The Black Mages or whatever here, just the old PSX chiptunes. I find it to be charmingly retro, but your mileage may vary.

When it comes to the graphics though, it definitely doesn't run at 1080p. If you set it to that (which I do), you'll get black bars on either side and a very small bar on the bottom. It looks fine and works, but it's not really 1080p.

 

[Doom972]

According to the Steam forums (which I suggest checking out when unsure whether or not a game is worth your money), this version uses midi files for music and requires that you connect to Square Enix's online service to play the game. As far as I know, that online service doesn't have an offline mode (correct me if I'm wrong), so that means no offline play.

 

[Foolery]

I'm inclined to say no. It's not that good. Bland midi sound in comparison to the PSX version. There's an attempt to clean up the UI a bit, which makes it look crisp. And the game has to be run through an always online launcher. It's a simple cash grab by Square Enix. You're better off with your PSX copy and ePSXe.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

According to the Steam forums (which I suggest checking out when unsure whether or not a game is worth your money), this version uses midi files for music and requires that you connect to Square Enix's online service to play the game. As far as I know, that online service doesn't have an offline mode (correct me if I'm wrong), so that means no offline play.

I've heard say that if you go into the launcher settings and disable the could saves it doesn't require a constant connection. That said, it's not as good as running it upscaled, there's no true 1080p setting.

It's really for those who don't have access to the psn version I would imagine.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Ugh. If it's midi, then it's highly dependent on the synthesiser on your computer.

And... Unfortunately, since few people use midi anymore, the synthesisers on most people's computers are terrible.

Back in the day (of windows 98) I used the Yamaha S-YXG 120 software synthesizer (The original PC port of Final Fantasy 8 even contains specific extension for Yamaha software synthesisers).

Now, trust me when I tell you that the sound quality of even the low end yamaha S-YXG 50 software synthesiser is miles ahead of the Rolan GM/GS synth that is included with windows.

Best of all, you can improve the audio quality of ALL programs that use midi just by getting a better midi synthesiser on your computer.

Unfortunately... The drop in popularity of midi has meant such synthesisers are hard to come by.

The Yamaha software synths are no longer sold, and the last ever version released runs on windows XP, but nothing more recent.

To top it off, sound cards with decent midi hardware are almost as rare these days...

All that leaves for midi playback on modern systems is that same old legacy Roland GM/GS synth microsoft has included with windows since the days of windows 95. And that really is pretty awful overall.
You might not think so, but that's probably only because you've never heard the alternatives.

(If you're interested in a comparison, go into a music shop that sells electronic keyboards, and play around a bit with the cheap £200-300 dollar keyboards for a bit, then try the £700-800 or more ones. Guitar sounds are especially good at demonstrating the difference...)

Oh, how I wish Yamaha would release another software synthesiser that works on modern systems... But... That's probably not going to happen. (Then again, Yamaha did make the technology behind vocaloids, which, odd as it may sound are very closely related to a software midi synthesiser on a technical level...)

 

[Doom972]

According to the Steam forums (which I suggest checking out when unsure whether or not a game is worth your money), this version uses midi files for music and requires that you connect to Square Enix's online service to play the game. As far as I know, that online service doesn't have an offline mode (correct me if I'm wrong), so that means no offline play.

I've heard say that if you go into the launcher settings and disable the could saves it doesn't require a constant connection. That said, it's not as good as running it upscaled, there's no true 1080p setting.

It's really for those who don't have access to the psn version I would imagine.

Constant connection? As in always-online? I didn't know that it required that. Do you still have to log into the service each time after disabling it?

Copies of the original PS1 version aren't hard to find, and any modern PC can run it by using an emulator. I think that it might be a better way to play the game.

 

[Dragoon]

My concerns come from the soundtrack, as I hear it's horrible for some reason?

Theres already mods to change the soundtrack, google Anxious Heart. As for the port itself, it's a good port and worth getting if you want to play FF7 again.

 

[AngryMongoose]

The sound isn't really bad, but it is the same files the PSX used, and that much is clear. You're not going to be hearing any sweeping scores from The Black Mages or whatever here, just the old PSX chiptunes. I find it to be charmingly retro, but your mileage may vary.

I don't know if it's technically a straight rip of the PSX Midis, but the soundtrack on the PC port is very different; it uses Midis and the instruments are all a bit fucked up.
compares some PSX and Midi versions. Compare the song that starts at 0:00, to the one at 1:13. The former is what you hear on a Playstation, the latter on the PC.

That being said, I've heard there's mods for all this (Last time I played FF7 it was on an emulator)

(Edit: Sorry about that Doom!)

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

This is the exact same version as the one available on the Square Enix site. I bought it off the SE site a few weeks back and it's quite a good port. Contrary to what people say, after you've installed it, you CAN play it in offline mode. All that happens if you play offline is that it doesn't download save files from the SE site, and you can only save locally, not syncing your files online. This won't mess up the next time you're online, as it automatically syncs the website to hold the most recent save file available.

In regards to the sound, there is a project called 'Anxious Heart' which I used. The program itself allows you to automatically replace the midi music (which are actually .OGG files) with either the PSX music, or a mixture of PSX, OCRemixes and orchestral versions. I didn't have ANY issues with the controls whatsoever, but I personally used the Xbox 360 controller.

The personal profiles section on the SE site is a bit iffy, however. I've viewed my profile multiple times, only to see it as a completely empty page. 0 save files, 0 achievements etc. I'm not one to care for showing off achievements etc, so I'm fine with it. I completed the game with no problems, no crashes etc.

 

[tilmoph]

The personal profiles section on the SE site is a bit iffy, however. I've viewed my profile multiple times, only to see it as a completely empty page. 0 save files, 0 achievements etc. I'm not one to care for showing off achievements etc, so I'm fine with it. I completed the game with no problems, no crashes etc.

Wait, so do I need an SE profile to play the steam port, or am I reading this wrong? I really don't have any interest in adding another account just to play one game.

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

I'm not sure, but from what I've heard, this just seems to be the SE version quickly pushed onto Steam. If that is the case, you will most likely need an account with them to play it. After registration, you don't have to log in again though.

 

[Doom972]

The sound isn't really bad, but it is the same files the PSX used, and that much is clear. You're not going to be hearing any sweeping scores from The Black Mages or whatever here, just the old PSX chiptunes. I find it to be charmingly retro, but your mileage may vary.

I don't know if it's technically a straight rip of the PSX Midis, but the soundtrack on the PC port is very different; it uses Midis and the instruments are all a bit fucked up.
compares some PSX and Midi versions. Compare the song that starts at 0:00, to the one at 1:13. The former is what you hear on a Playstation, the latter on the PC.

That being said, I've heard there's mods for all this (Last time I played FF7 it was on an emulator)

You're quoting someone else's words with my name. You should probably change it if you want that guy's response.

 

[vasiD]

I'm only a couple hours in, so take this with a grain of salt, but here goes:

Personally, it's a pretty good port overall. The keyboard controls I find to be rather clunky and unintuitive, but it works just fine with my Xbox 360 controller, so I can't really complain there. Other than that, mechanically it works pretty good. I've had no technical issues with it or any real problems. The sound isn't really bad, but it is the same files the PSX used, and that much is clear. You're not going to be hearing any sweeping scores from The Black Mages or whatever here, just the old PSX chiptunes. I find it to be charmingly retro, but your mileage may vary.

When it comes to the graphics though, it definitely doesn't run at 1080p. If you set it to that (which I do), you'll get black bars on either side and a very small bar on the bottom. It looks fine and works, but it's not really 1080p.

That's a shame about the bars, especially for things like combat where they could have easily just opened up the screen to show the rest of the rendered bits (though I can totally understand it on the Pre-rendered backgrounds where the sides might just cut off, not that there isn't a way around that through programming...).

And, yeah, as much as I love Keyboard and mouse for most games, for console games I always just use my DualShock3 (which usually just emulates a 360 controller when using it with my PC), so that won't be an issue.

Side note: I love chiptunes.

Ugh. If it's midi, then it's highly dependent on the synthesiser on your computer.

And... Unfortunately, since few people use midi anymore, the synthesisers on most people's computers are terrible.

Back in the day (of windows 98) I used the Yamaha S-YXG 120 software synthesizer (The original PC port of Final Fantasy 8 even contains specific extension for Yamaha software synthesisers).

Now, trust me when I tell you that the sound quality of even the low end yamaha S-YXG 50 software synthesiser is miles ahead of the Rolan GM/GS synth that is included with windows.

Best of all, you can improve the audio quality of ALL programs that use midi just by getting a better midi synthesiser on your computer.

Unfortunately... The drop in popularity of midi has meant such synthesisers are hard to come by.

The Yamaha software synths are no longer sold, and the last ever version released runs on windows XP, but nothing more recent.

To top it off, sound cards with decent midi hardware are almost as rare these days...

All that leaves for midi playback on modern systems is that same old legacy Roland GM/GS synth microsoft has included with windows since the days of windows 95. And that really is pretty awful overall.

So I find all this very interesting because I'm actually an electronic music producer and sound engineer, so my computer is actually loaded with quality softsynths and has a studio quality sound card, though after a bit of checking it's clear Windows 7 isn't smart enough to use any of them. It can however use my audio-card's MIDI using a user made control panel, but honestly I'm not wowed by it so I'm looking in to this: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth
Looks promising, and I'll be playing around with it and Doom for a bit to find a quality synth, and based on your comments very natural rage against the Roland GS I'd suggest you check it out too.



So, as OP, I feel the need to come to a conclusion, and based on what everyone is saying I'm probably just fine sticking to ePSXe, however based on what I've seen the graphics do come off as better, and with the possibility of mods around the corner that enhance the game even further, and the fact that my only other real concern of the music is something highly flexible I think I might just go ahead and throw a bit more of my money at Square (here's hoping it reminds them to go back to making good games instead of mildly interactive CG movies).

That said, I think I'm buying it more to tinker with it and examine how it looks, and for other users I'd suggest waiting for a Steam sale, because you know there will be one (and know that I'll see that sale, and be like "UGG, why didn't I wait?!", haha).


One final note, more in the hopes that some SquareEnix guy will see it by some chance: I'm not keen on SquareEnix's new love for DRM, and if anything were to stop me from giving them money in the future it would be that. I'll never forget the time I tried to play Chrono Trigger on my tablet while on a train only to find the DRM wouldn't allow such a thing.

 

[zephyron]

Stand-alone, you're probably better off getting a legitimate FF7 disc and emulating it, but the great thing about FF7 PC (and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet!), is that it has a very active modding community. In fact, they've written this great program called Tifa's Bootleg [http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=13212.0] that handles all the complex modding work for you-- just pick out your player models for in and out of battle, which retranslation you want, which difficulty mod you want, which movies and music you want, etc, and then you click go and watch it patch all the right files. It will also turn your copy of the new FF7 into the original version, so you won't have to deal with the Square DRM stuff, although you'll lose everything like achievements and cloud saving.

 

[vasiD]

Stand-alone, you're probably better off getting a legitimate FF7 disc and emulating it, but the great thing about FF7 PC (and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet!), is that it has a very active modding community. In fact, they've written this great program called Tifa's Bootleg [http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=13212.0] that handles all the complex modding work for you-- just pick out your player models for in and out of battle, which retranslation you want, which difficulty mod you want, which movies and music you want, etc, and then you click go and watch it patch all the right files. It will also turn your copy of the new FF7 into the original version, so you won't have to deal with the Square DRM stuff, although you'll lose everything like achievements and cloud saving.

And this is why I love being a PC gamer. I had no idea their mod community was so active!

This alone is enough to sell me on it as I love modding.

To hell with waiting for Square to make an HD remake, I'll make my own!

 

[CrystalShadow]

Spoiler: Stuff about midi

Ugh. If it's midi, then it's highly dependent on the synthesiser on your computer.

And... Unfortunately, since few people use midi anymore, the synthesisers on most people's computers are terrible.

Back in the day (of windows 98) I used the Yamaha S-YXG 120 software synthesizer (The original PC port of Final Fantasy 8 even contains specific extension for Yamaha software synthesisers).

Now, trust me when I tell you that the sound quality of even the low end yamaha S-YXG 50 software synthesiser is miles ahead of the Rolan GM/GS synth that is included with windows.

Best of all, you can improve the audio quality of ALL programs that use midi just by getting a better midi synthesiser on your computer.

Unfortunately... The drop in popularity of midi has meant such synthesisers are hard to come by.

The Yamaha software synths are no longer sold, and the last ever version released runs on windows XP, but nothing more recent.

To top it off, sound cards with decent midi hardware are almost as rare these days...

All that leaves for midi playback on modern systems is that same old legacy Roland GM/GS synth microsoft has included with windows since the days of windows 95. And that really is pretty awful overall.

So I find all this very interesting because I'm actually an electronic music producer and sound engineer, so my computer is actually loaded with quality softsynths and has a studio quality sound card, though after a bit of checking it's clear Windows 7 isn't smart enough to use any of them. It can however use my audio-card's MIDI using a user made control panel, but honestly I'm not wowed by it so I'm looking in to this: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth
Looks promising, and I'll be playing around with it and Doom for a bit to find a quality synth, and based on your comments very natural rage against the Roland GS I'd suggest you check it out too.

Lol. That would just figure. Someone who does in fact have plenty of synthesisers to work with...
But from what I've seen of it, what does still exist these days tends to be more awkward to configure, since it isn't specifically designed to work with the windows midi system.
In any event, consumer level midi software and hardware has become almost non-existent. (I mean, if you wanted to you could still use midi cables to plug a keyboard into a PC and redirect the windows midi output through the keyboard... That's technically possible, but kind of extreme. Especially given the cost of a keyboard with a decent sample set...)

Thanks for the link by the way. That looks promising...

Meanwhile, for anyone else that wants some idea of what I'm on about, this video demonstrates it pretty well. (That's a hardware synth, but the same kind of thing used to be possible with consumer level software...)


Not the the best I've heard, I should say, but the difference here is still pretty striking.

Edit:
Oh, and here's some midi tracks from the old Final Fantasy PC release... There's a bias towards using Yamaha here because the old PC releases of both final fantasy 7 and 8 contain midi tracks with Yamaha XG extensions which don't sound quite right without a synthesiser supporting the XG standard.

Spoiler: Final Fantasy VII XG midi tracks

Eh. I could go on... And include some with different synths. But this demonstrates reasonably well what's possible.

 

[WeepingAngels]

When it comes to the graphics though, it definitely doesn't run at 1080p. If you set it to that (which I do), you'll get black bars on either side and a very small bar on the bottom. It looks fine and works, but it's not really 1080p.

You need to uncheck the Keep Aspect Ratio checkbox in the settings if you want it to fill the screen.