The modern modding scene (7th Heaven, Reunion) is incredible, but it changes the game dramatically. Purists want a "clean slate." The unmodified executable is the base DNA. You cannot appreciate how brilliant modern mods are unless you have suffered the original Eidos launcher.
: The PlayStation used specialized hardware for 3D calculations that consumer PCs didn't have at the time. Replicating this 1-to-1 required extreme ingenuity from the five-person programming team at Eidos.
It is a flawed masterpiece trapped inside a broken launcher. And for the retro archaeologist, that broken launcher is a portal to 1998.
The unmodified version is the only one that feels like a "PC game" from the transitional era where developers didn't know if you had a joystick, a mouse, or a racing wheel.
A lightweight external tool for the original PC release
Purists argue that the unmodified PC MIDI version of "One-Winged Angel" lacks the vocal choir of the original, making it feel more like a synth-rock opera. It’s a unique take on Uematsu’s score that you simply don't get in modern ports, which default to the PS1 audio files. It’s a "glitch" of hardware limitations that became its own genre.