Is there anything on disc 1 that can ONLY be done on disc 1? Apart from the regular story obviously.

There are a few minor things (not really mini-quests, but rather items that can only be gained at specific points in the game) that become unavailable in disc 2 and 3. But there's nothing major that is disc 1 specific, apart from areas that can only be visited in disc 1 as part of the story (Sector 7 in Midgar, the Cave of the Gi, Corel Prison, Temple of the Ancients etc).

The main thing that you cannot do of course in discs 2 and 2 though is naturally you lose Aeris from the party, due to, um, a certain event that really doesn't need any further discussion on ;) Only by using a cheat device or a save file trainer (PC version) can you continue to have her in your party after that point.

Oh I see, have you done it? Does she talk? Or is she just silent....

Well, yes I have 'revived' her - or more accurately, hacked her back into the party in the PC version. And yes, there are curiously parts where she has minor dialogue and even appears in cutscenes. Mostly though, she's a blank space in the party, and will often freeze the game up if you have her in your party at certain sections of the story. It's still fun to do though. :D

There's an FAQ on the subject at www.gamefaqs.com if you're interested.

There may be certain enemy skills you can only get in disc one, I think, but I'm probably wrong.

As I recall, Aeris wasn't originally intended to be the one to die, it was in fact a male character. However, the developers thought males dying in games was too common and it'd have a much more dramatic impact if it was a female character. Thus they changed it somewhen into development.

Actually RedMajesty, that's just a rumour that was started by certain members of the modding community when the 'hidden' dialogue for Aeris in discs 2 and 3 was first discovered. But it's actually incorrect - Aeris was the one the development team had always planned to die, not another character.

The main members of the development team, in particular, the writers (namely, Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura) have stated in the past the reasons for Aeris's demise, and that it was always planned from the beginning that she was meant to die as part of the storyline, that it was to destroy the Western cliche of a 'noble sacrifice', by instead depicting a narrative where a main character dies suddenly and unexpectedly.

So anything else mentioned to the contrary is incorrect.

Ahh I see :>

Now that I think about it, I'm fairly sure the whole "It's a game that teaches you that when someone is gone, as long as you remember them they're not truly gone." vibe came from the fact Hironobu Sakaguchi had lost a dear relative at the time.

Though i'm confident that one came from the man himself. I should remember where I read things really :P.

Taken from Final Fantasy Wikia (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Wiki):


During the development of Final Fantasy VII, Hironobu Sakaguchi's mother died. At the time, Sakaguchi wanted to craft a story that told of how just because someone has passed away, doesn't mean in any way that they are gone, and to show a realistic death rather than a "Hollywood" sacrificial death that previous games in the series had done. These desires developed into the Lifestream, and Aeris' iconic death scene and subsequent continuing role in the lives of the cast.

Ahh, cheers for the clear up :).