How does the re-release of FF VII differ from the original PC game?
Solution 1:
The game requires Internet connection during the initial setup because of its DRM. After that, you can play offline if you wish. However, the way the game is programmed is that it always checks for connection and attempts to sync the save files to the cloud servers first. If it cannot find the connection, then it gives you the option to save locally.
It is a pain sometimes since a lot of times it would have problems connecting to their cloud server even though there is an internet connection. Many people have reported the "fail to sync" problem in game forums. Their cloud server is not very reliable for some reason.
The game still has a few bugs, but at least it does not crash on modern computers like the old one does (the old one runs on directx 5). The 3D graphics is cleaned up a bit and looks nice.
Solution 2:
I was thinking of buying this just to try the new features (since I still have my original PS discs). From what I can tell, the new things that are added are achievements, cloud saves, some kind of character editor, and some fixes to old bugs/glitches.
While looking on the forums earlier, someone did find a old bug inside the game involving the Save Crystal and the North Crater: Stuck in the Northern Crater on FF7 for PC
Here is a article passage involving the new features:
The Final Fantasy VII PC website teases several new features. The game will get unlockable achievements, "cloud" saves (hopefully the pun is intended) as well as something called Character Booster.
Character Booster will allow players to automatically max out their in-game health, experience and Gil (Final Fantasy cash, to the uninitiated) in order to cruise more easily through the game's legendary story. It's not clear if that will involve micropayments or not.
Cloud saves will let players save their games to Square Enix servers, so it can be continued on more than one home PC or laptop. This is not dissimilar to Valve's Steam Cloud on the Steam digital distribution platform, and comparable features on Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus.
Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/04/final-fantasy-vii-pc
Where to download(since I see people asking in other threads): Square-Enix Store - Final Fantasy 7 PC