Let’s define the experience of running the game directly from the 1998 CD, with no patches (not even the official Square soft patch that fixed some bugs).
One brutal fact: The original unmodified PC port did not support analog sticks. You used the keyboard (the arrow keys, Enter, and Ins/Del) or a standard two-button digital joystick. No vibration. No smooth walking. You ran in eight directions like a robot. This is heresy now, but in 1998, keyboard JRPGing was a rite of passage. final fantasy vii pc original unmodified
Let’s be brutally honest. Playing the original unmodified PC port on a modern machine is an act of digital archaeology. You will face issues. But that is precisely the point. Let’s define the experience of running the game