I've been covering my FF7 playthrough in a thread in the modern gaming forum. That coverage is now being transferred here.

The highlights:

I was testing some PS1 and PS2 consoles with several games. Final Fantasy 7 was one of them. Only one console turned out to be not repairable, that was an SCPH-1001. The spindle was bad on a new laser unit ordered from Rich's PSX parts. Rich's would not respond to my emails, but I was able to win a chargeback against them. I have been running FF7 on one of the PS2 consoles as a sort of extended test after adjusting the laser voltage and skew.

I downloaded the re release of FF7 and played through to the Shinra building. The program stopped saving correctly. It was very difficult to get started anyway, more so than the original PC release on which it's based. I got into a nasty email exchange with Square-Enix. Ultimately, I also won a chargeback against Squeenix and was allowed to keep the software. It's been uninstalled but I have an archival copy.

Anyway, I went back to the PS1 version of the game. I delivered solid defeats to tough bosses like Motor Ball and the Midgar Zolom. I was able to defeat Midgar Zolom right after leaving Kalm Town for the first time, earning my first copy of Beta in the process. This was not an accident--I planned to learn Beta at this time.

I was able to pass through all the way to Junon, learning all the level 1 to 3 limit breaks before reaching Junon. My only Game Over screen occured in the Shinra Mansion. I got careless and nearly lost to Gi Nattak while trying a new strategy. My carelessness continued into Nibelheim where it cost me the battle with Lost Number. I reloaded and delivered solid defeats to both Gi Nattak and Lost Number within 30 minutes. They were able to attack once or twice each before falling. I killed Gi Nattak with a single Phoenix Down and I hit Lost Number with physical attacks until his purple side showed up. I hit that side twice with Beta to end the battle.

I am now on the Nibel Mountain. Materia Keeper opened with Trine (yeeeesssss!!!). As a token of my gratitude, I whipped the snot out of him with Bio2, ????, and Aqualung. I've been leveling the first Elemental materia since I got it from Domino, so at this time, I must be eternally grateful to Materia Keeper for healing Cloud with Trine!