Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis the PS5 exclusive upgrade for the award-winningFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, which released in April of last year. The title was a limited-time PlayStation exclusive, and with that time ending fans are looking forward to experiencing the game on other platforms. However, PlayStation is still retaining a lot of exclusivity with Intergrade.
Intergradewill only be available on PlayStation 5, making it the only next-gen version of the game so far. It will also include content that won’t be available anywhere else, at least for the foreseeable future. Fans seem to have some mixed feelings aboutIntergrade,partly because PS5 consoles are still in short supply and partly because Intergrade may have taken some development time away from thehighly anticipatedFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2.
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However, the latter is not a bad problem for Square Enix to have. Plus, there’s more than enough new content being added to warrant an update likeIntergradeand it gives an exciting sneak peek into whatFinal Fantasy 7 RemakePart 2might look like.
FF7 Episode INTERmission: Yuffie’s DLC
The biggest and most exciting reveal aboutIntergradeis the Yuffie DLC, which has officially been titled “FF7 Episode INTERmission.” It will release as part ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeor can bebought separately for $19.99. Yuffieis a fan-favorite from the 1997 game and fans are looking forward to experiencing part of her story, which takes place during the events ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake.However, the DLC is only available for PS5, so gamers who haven’t upgraded to next-gen are out of luck. It seems unlikely that the DLC will be released for PS4.
Yuffie is a ninja materia hunterwho, alongside her companion Sonon, is planning to infiltrate Shinra to steal it. Recently, Square Enix revealed additional gameplay details about how Yuffie will accomplish her mission. She has several unique abilities including Banishment, which damages enemies based on how much ATB has been spent, and Windstorm, an ability that pulls enemies to her while doing damage. Of course, Yuffie wouldn’t be caught without her iconic shuriken, and long-range ninjitsu allows her to take advantage of enemies' elemental weaknesses similar to the existing combat mechanics inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake.
The DLC will also introduce some new characters from the Avalance headquarters and feature Weiss, the powerful leader of Shinra’s top-secret Deepground organization.Weiss was also an antagonist inFinal Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus,so it will be interesting to see what role he plays in the remakes.
Photo Mode
The fans who mourned the fact that they couldn’t compose and capture screenshots of the beautifully re-designed characters inFinal Fantasy 7 Remakehave had their prayers answered. With theIntergradeupgrade,Final Fantasy 7 Remakewill finally get the photo mode it deserves.
TheFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradephoto mode looks great, and while it’s not as dynamic as thephoto mode inGhost of Tsushima,it looks extremely versatile and will enable players to take a lot of great shots. There are plenty of filters to choose from and players can opt to hide party members if Barret is photobombing a cute moment between Cloud and Tifa, for example, or hide the whole party to take a landscape shot.
Possibly the most exciting thing about the photo mode is the wide range of camera movement. Every photo mode allows for some camera movement, but some games are definitely better than others. It’s often easy to take photos of the playable character, but NPCs can be a huge challenge due to camera limitations. TheIntergradephoto mode looks like it will allow for free camera movement that will enable to take impressive shots of NPCs as well as Cloud; a very important feature for a game with dozens of iconic characters.
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Enhanced Graphics, Effects, and Features
Intergradedoes a lot to enhance the visualsand gameplay experience. In the PS5 upgrade, lighting is significantly improved in many scenes and textures are more detailed, which was one of the criticisms of the version released last year. Intergrade will also incorporate fog effects, which make the tunnel sequences feel a lot more realistic. The differences aren’t extreme, but the little details add up to create an environment that’s more dynamic and immersive. Animation also appears to be much smoother.
Because of the improved graphical capabilities of the PS5,Intergradeoffers a Performance Optimization mode and a Graphics Optimization mode. In performance mode, 4k graphics are sacrificed for 60 fps. With the graphics mode, frame rates are downgraded slightly to allow for 4k graphics.Intergradealso adds a Normal difficulty for Classicmode, which was previously only available on Easy.
TheIntergradeedition boasts much faster loading times thanks to the PS5’s improved hardware and will use some of the features available within theDualSense controller’s haptic feedback system. However, Tetsuya Nomura was transparent about Intergrade not using the DualSense to its fullest potential. He promised that it would be used more inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2when the development team can implement those features from scratch, rather than adding them in later.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Owners Can Upgrade
The nice thing is that players who already boughtFinal Fantasy 7 Remakewill be able to upgrade to the Intergrade version, provided they own a PS5. The upgrade is available regardless of if players bought the digital copy or a physical disc copy, and saved data can be carried over for a seamless next-gen transition. However, there are a couple of caveats to the upgrade, the first being that players who purchased a physical copy ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeand now own the PS5Digital Edition are not eligible for the upgrade.
The other condition of the upgrade is that “FF7 Episode INTERmission” will not be a free DLC for previousFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeowners. Players who take advantage of the free PS5 upgrade will have topurchase the Yuffie episode separatelyfor $19.99. Those who redeemedFinal Fantasy 7 Remakefor free as part of PS Plus are also not eligible for the upgrade.
Unfortunately, that means it’s not that great of a deal.Final Fantasy 7fans who bought the game on release day dropped $59.99 in most cases, andFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradeis priced at $69.99. That means original buyers wanting to upgrade to the PS5 version can do so for free, but if they also want the Yuffie episode they’ll have to pay $10 more than fans whose first purchase is theIntergradeedition.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergradereleases for PS5 on June 10th.
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