Let's delve deeper.

[Bakusa]

So, most of us have played the fuck out of this game. I personally beat the game 14 or so times and loved every minute of it, but there's one aspect of Final Fantasy VII that keeps me interested; it's history. More complexly, there are several things that keep me interested; it's history, it's mysteries, it's rumors, it's production, it's atmosphere, and it's bugs.

Here's some things I've discovered using the PC version of Final Fantasy VII.

One, using Jenova, a save-game editor, I discovered one of the locations I could be started on was "Sumimasen!". Curiously I decided to see what this was about. Upon loading up my savegame I was immediately placed in a battle...

The strings at the top of the screen continuously loop in that order; "ENCOUNT ERROR", "If you found this message, then please call staff."
Upon attacking the giant pyramid, it will reply...

Sometimes it replies with something different, though.
After beating the monster you're placed in the middle of the ocean at the top left corner of the map, unable to move.

Another fun/weird thing is the Debug Room. It goes pretty deep, but generally it's a rather complicated (I'm not really sure how developers found it effective, actually) series of rooms where you can go to different parts of the game and see different things. However you'd need a guide to effectively search around because the options, room order, etc. are not clear at all. You can access the debug room using Gameshark on the PSX, and you can do it on the PC version using Jenova or another savegame editor.

Another thing I have to mention is the old "Aeris Resurrection" theory by Ben Lansing, back when the game was only out in Japan and still not released in NA. There were lots of message board posts which you can read here http://ff7citadel.com/efiction/viewstory.php?sid=6 about it. Lots of weird things, like a guy called the "GENERAL". I'm not sure why he was named that, but he's the guy at Sector 5 who mentions something about getting him something at Wall Market someday, but he never sends you on a quest.

Feel free to ask me any questions, I'm pretty knowledgable on it. Other than that though, post any weird occurances, fun facts, strange facts, development interests, etc. about Final Fantasy VII.

 

[EVA]

Wow, that first one is really interesting! And funny, haha.

As for Aerith's ghost, I actually just read something interesting about that. I'll post it here, and then post the credit to the site at the end if that's alright.

--
We all know of Aeris's ghost in the church, right?
And we all know that the ghost disappears when you pass by a certain point in the church. In the game this is represented as a certain 'flag' in the game reaching a value of 128 or higher. If the value is 127 or lower, the ghost will still be there.

However other than that certain spot in the church, certain events and talking to certain NPCs around the world will increase this flag value gradually. If unlucky this can lead to the ghost disappearing despite you never even entering the church after leaving Midgar!

Using codes provided by BrutalAl, and playing the PAL version of the game, I am able to determine these flag values by talking to all NPCs I can find in the game (an arduous task, yes). Each new flag value is permanent and they accumulate upon each other.

*The following section will be edited as time goes by.

Here is a list of those events and NPCs I have found so far.

--------------
Passing an area slightly ahead of the entrance, causing the children to talk to Cloud. Before leaving Midgar for the first time.

Flag value: 64
--------------
Cloud's flashback in Kalm starts. CAN'T BE AVOIDED.

Flag Value: 1
------
Talking to Nibelheim Inn Keeper, Cloud's flashback.

Flag value: 64
--------------
Talking to Nibelheim Inn Keeper a second time and choosing the third option;
"Let me know the situation of the town."

Flag value: 128
--------------
When talking to Sephiroth in the Inn, second floor, a Shinra Grunt enters the floor. As soon as the grunt stops in his track, in the bed room, flag points will be added. Avoid this by either leaving the floor quickly enough, or initiating the next sequence of events by talking to Sephiroth.

Flag value: 32
--------------
Initiating the next set of events in the Nibelheim flashback by choosing "Yeah, let's get some sleep" when Sephiroth asks. CAN'T BE AVOIDED.

Flag value: 6
--------------
Nibelheim flashback still; when the team reaches the bridge on their way to the Nibel Reactor, more points will be added. CAN'T BE AVOIDED.

Flag value: 8
--------------
Nibelheim flashback still; when Cloud's story continues, after being given the option to save or not save, more points will be added. CAN'T BE AVOIDED.

Flag value: 16
--------------

Summary: So far, we have 1+6+8+16 = 31 unavoidable flag points.


WORK STILL IN PROGRESS. I have only just begun this work, and it could be that there are no more freak flags anywhere, but I have no idea so I will just keep on working with this unless a valid source tells me there are no more NPCs or events to worry about.

http://thelifestream.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2186

 

[Bakusa]

I've never heard that one before. Awesome.

Makes me wonder if the Aeris ghost was supposed to be an easter egg.

 

[Ashe B'nargin]

http://www.ff7citadel.com/secrets/sa_seen4.shtml

Final Fantasy VII citadel did some debugging a few years ago, they reckon that Aeris was meant to die during the Northern Crater

Spoiler

Maybe after Cloud goes psycho and looses the plot ?/ Hands Seph the Black Materia..

Picture taken from the Death Scene, you could almost say that kinda looks like the Northern Crater ??

Seph was meant to wear gloves during the death scene, to show that it's a cold area ?

Then when the changed the place where Aeris was going to die, they thought that maybe to remove the gloves from Sephiroth ??

If you try and keep Aeris alive with a Exploder code, Aeris will have spoken dialogue during the Northern Crater...

... Though it isn't much...

But FF VII Citadel shows us that maybe Aeris was originally meant live longer..

 

[Bakusa]

If you try and keep Aeris alive with a Exploder code, Aeris will have spoken dialogue during the Northern Crater...

I thought that was in the Great Glacier.

 

[apcloud08]

i was looking at ff7citadel and they think that aerith's death was originally planned for the norhtern creter but they decided to move it to the forgotten city. There is a room you can get to using through the debug room that will take you to an area in the northern crater that is annaccessible by normal gameplay. Therefore you do not show up on screen and you cannot move. it is the lower area from where the weapons were released and where sephiroth was at. But if you go there using the debug room, this area has a name and aerith's theme, the one played during her death, is played. so they think maybe she was meant to die there

 

[Gongangan Hobo]

This stuffs pretty neat. Hey Bakusa how are you using Sephiroth up there?

 

[Bakusa]

This stuffs pretty neat. Hey Bakusa how are you using Sephiroth up there?

Using "Jenova", a savegame editor for the PC, you can pretty much do whatever you want. You can add Sephiroth to your party, though he's computer controlled. I just put him there for screenshot purposes. Oddly enough, he misses the pyramid monster every time.