Final Fantasy 7 Remakewas a bold reimagining of one of the most classic video games in the industry. Not only didFinal Fantasy 7 Remakecompletely evolve the game to a new combat style, but it also completely overhauled the visuals, showing fans the world of Midgar and its colorful cast of characters in an entirely new way. One of the game’s more controversial changes, however, was breaking up its release and making the game episodic.Final Fantasy 7 Remakewas only the first part of the release, and fans have thus far been left in the dark on just how many episodes there will be or how long it will be before they can play the remake in its entirety.
Now,Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradehas released to bring the title to the PlayStation 5 with a variety of upgrades and an entirely new DLC to boot, as a buffer of sorts between the first and second parts. Theupgrade toFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis freefor most players who own the original on PlayStation 4.Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradebrings a lot of changes to the originalFinal Fantasy 7 Remake;however, which makes it the definitive new way to experience part one of the remake and adding story elements that very well may be necessary for the game going forward.
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What Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade Actually Is
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis the PlayStation 5 enhancement ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. It brings a number of visual enhancements, an entirely new DLC, updated story beats for the main game, and a number of quality of life improvements. Some of the changes are smaller, likeFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s new photo mode, but many of them are much larger additions. The largest, and most notable, is the newEpisode INTERmissionDLC that is included for players who newly purchase the game and follows Yuffie across two entirely new chapters. Any players who getFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradevia the free upgrade will have to purchase the DLC separately for $20.
The DLC has some important narrative beats, so it is a necessary addition for players who want to experience all ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’s story. Its inclusion of Yuffie as a playable character also introduces an entirely new combat style and gives the DLC a unique playstyle to the rest ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.However,Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis exclusive to the PlayStation 5, which could also indicate the direction thatFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewill take in the future.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Visual Improvements
The most far-reaching and noticeable changes ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeare the visual improvements present throughout the entire experience. The game allows players to pick between Performance Mode and Quality Mode. Quality Mode plays at 4k resolution at 30 fps while the Performance Mode plays at 1620p at 60fps. For comparison, the PlayStation 4 Pro ran the game at 1620p but with only 30 frames per second. The visual enhancements also include a rather sizable increase in global illumination that allows more lights to cast shadows on characters and increase the visual fidelity ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Midgar.
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Another large visual improvement inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradecomes in the form of the game’s textures. Textures have been improved across the board, with an increase in visual fidelity and detail. Some textures that had slightly off placements or clipping present have also been fixed to be more seamlessly implemented. Shadows have also been reworked slightly in conjunction with the global illumination improvements to allow for them to have more detail as well as being more accurately cast.Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradealso has greatly increased memory usage thanks to thePlayStation 5’s solid-state hard drive. This translates to vastly decreased pop-in as well as substantially improved load times. The PlayStation 4 version ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remakefrequently features 40 second load times, but those have been cut down to only 2 seconds withFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Story Additions
In the originalFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, players run into Yuffie randomly in a brief encounter that many players found a bit disorienting and inconsequential. Thankfully,Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeexplains this encounter furtherand helps contextualize it while also providing players the backstory of Yuffie while fleshing out the character. Yuffie was an optional character inFinal Fantasy 7and had very little in the way of backstory or explanation. The story of the two chapters in the DLC follows Yuffie on a mission to steal an extremely powerful Materia from Avalanche and fleshes the character of Yuffie out much more than she ever has been before.
Fans playing through the DLC have also found that it adds to the original ending ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remakein a big way as well. The new ending scene is at the end of the DLC, however, so players who are just interested in two new chapters will still get a chance to see it without replaying the entire game. The new scene sees the party after the end ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewalking on the road from Midgar on their way to Kalm. The biggest story addition, however, is at the end of the cutscene when it cuts to Zack arriving in Midgar as he looks for Aerith. This is a big deviation from the originalFinal Fantasy 7that saw Zack dying off-screen so that Cloud could take over his identity when it was later needed.Zack being alive and appearing more inFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewill an expansive impact and will likely play a big role in the second part of the game.
All in all,Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis a sizable update to the PlayStation 4 version of the game. With all of its enhancements and story additions, it has definitely become the de facto way to experience the first part ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. And withYuffie’s all-new combat in theINTERmissionDLC, it is a great place for fans of the first game to get more of the game as they wait for news on a complete sequel. Hopefully, fans will not have to wait too long to see whereFinal Fantasy 7 Remakegoes next, as it has set up some truly fascinating possibilities.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeis available now for PS4 and PS5.
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