Oh man FF7. I spent a great many hours on my PSX playing around in that game, i played disc one to the end of hell because i never knew i was supposed to put in disc 2 after i exited midgar.
I was like 12 at the time i think, so you have to understand how stupid i felt, not to mention that at one point i basically grinded for the 1st boss till i could one hit it with limit because of the disc being scratched up from extended use, and its scope move would freeze everything, later on i even discovered i could put in the other disc DURING the fight sequence to unglitch enemy moves.
I also had to do this for specific cutscenes too, i had quite the extensive experience with that game
I don't know what version of the game you were playing, but as Walter noted Disc 1 lasts quite a bit past Midgar unless you meant something else, and that other disc-changing stuff sounds wild.
I distinctly remember seeing a Junon Cannon billboard in Atlanta around 1998, and it was fucking surreal. For me, FF7 was just a cult kind of thing, and very special to me. Prior to its release, I can't remember ever being more invested in a single game. This hype was mostly because I was a huge fan of FF6 (still my favorite game), and the fact that Square was riding the crest of their career. Everything they sent stateside had been solid gold for years.
I had followed its release closer than any other game (to this day). In an age when game news sites didn't update every day, I would still check extremely frequently. Square would regularly release CG stills of environments, and also character info / designs in a trickle fashion up until the Japanese release (I remember Sephiroth was the last). I would print out pictures and tape them to my goddamned wall like some kind of serial killer.
Game news SITES in 1996? You were ahead of the curve (or around the bend judging by some of this stuff =) my friend, because game news for me back then was Nintendo Power, 300 page Electronic Gaming Monthlys or maybe GamePro. I bet 200 pages were just game ads but that was a FEATURE! Good times.
Sweet mother of god:
https://retrocdn.net/Category:Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_scansActually, back then I was mainly using the Internet to mine precious new information about Dragon Ball Z, but I do recall downloading all the cool Ocarina of Time official art you could find back then, like those bitchen' Lizalfos images and Link looking like a totally sassy, pro-active paradigm with his bow and arrow. I was going to keep those downloads FOREVER!
I ended up importing the game at the Japanese launch, and modifying my PS to play it — a hardwired solution, not the disc swap. I played through most of the game blind at first, and then with a guide. I also ended up memorizing a few kanji and hiragana/katakana just to navigate the menus and spells. But by the time the US version hit, and the FULL scope of the story had settled into my teenage brain, it really didn't live up to my expectations. What possibly could? I had ruined my experience with the game by treating it like it was supposed to be a transcendental experience.
Damn, I know you've always regarded it with a tinge of cynicism or, like, skepticism, and though you've described your anticipation and disappointment coming off FF6 before I didn't realize the depth of the roots to your resentment of it. For me it was a simply transcendental experience!

For you FF6 is FF7, and FF7 is what everything FF7-branded that came out after is to me. I'm sorry it went that way since the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but clearly the seeds and the scaffolding of your Berserk fandom were laid, so I'm giving FF7 some credit for you there!
BTW, the translation of that game always seemed weird and off. Is it bad? Would it just be much better if it wasn't so culturally confusing or can it not be helped because it was trying to deal with things probably too complex for them to do well and translate in a game ostensibly for teens anyway? Square should have just remastered and re-translated it rather than doing this protracted and inevitability doomed remake. I think this thing's been in production longer than Battlecruiser 3000 or Duke Nukem Forever and it's a
remake!
For anyone who lived through that time, this is an incredible article on the game's creation and the people and personalities behind it: https://www.polygon.com/a/final-fantasy-7
Looks cool, I'll have to give that a read when I'm not writing articles on the game, and Star Wars, myself.
Disc 1 ends much, much later than Midgar, after a certain character's death.
Dude, spoilers! (this was actually fucking spoiled for me by a friend simultaneously playing the game; though, maybe it spared me years of aggrandizing that character =)
I watched them a few years ago, and they don't hold up that well in my opinion. I'd stay away if you want to maintain your memories of them.
That's what I figured. I didn't get the full ad blitz Wally did in Atlanta because I hadn't moved to the BIG CITY yet, but the commercials were unlike anything I'd seen for a game at the time.
Part of me misses the console wars. Even today, when I see a Sega and Nintendo crossover, it feels weird to me. 
Me too, yet I also find people that feel that strongly about their consoles today obnoxious. It's not the same as Nintendo/Sega!
https://www.somethingawful.com/hosted/firemancomics/consolewar.htm