The original Final Fantasy VII is arguably the most famous JRPG in the world, literally paving the way for the genre beyond the Land of the Rising Sun and is still dearly loved today, even 24 years later. The fans were waiting with bated breath for the remake: the first mentions of it appeared back in 2005 after a short presentation of the video on PS3, but the full announcement took place only ten years later, in 2015. The remake reached the shelves in 2023 as a PS4 exclusive, and a year later a kind of remaster of the remake for PS5, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, was released, which we’ll talk about today. Of course, let’s touch on Episode INTERmission, a story expansion exclusive to PS5.
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Old new story
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake
The seed of the remake has remained the same: former SOLDIER and now mercenary Cloud Strife undertakes a difficult task – helping the Avalansh eco-terrorist cell, whose purpose is to undermine the mako-reactor and other partisan actions under the nose of the Shinra corporation. Cloud goes for all this for the sake of money – by his own admission, he is ready to do almost anything if the pay is correct. Of course, destroying the mako reactor is only the first step on a long journey that will be ahead of Cloud and his friends.
Yes, Final Fantasy VII, both in the original and in the remake, does not hesitate to fill up the player with a bunch of terms, at first not really caring about whether he understands everything or not. Fortunately, most of it will become clear as the story progresses: the one-armed Barrett from Avalanche happily talks about the essence of mako, a kind of spiritual energy in liquid form, at every opportunity. SOLDIER is a special Shinra project to create mako-enhanced warriors whose abilities greatly exceed those of humans. And Shinra itself is primarily an energy company that – yes – uses mako as a source of energy. For this, Avalanche hates her, whose members are sure that the use of mako for such purposes is gradually killing the planet. Such is the ecological message.
Revisionism as a narrative lever
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake
And if the first hour and a half cause an acute attack of nostalgia, then soon after the first bossfight the game begins to make unexpected deviations from the classics, and you can understand them only if the player is familiar with the original. For example, in one of the scenes, the remaining one Cloud notices Sephiroth, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII, who, according to the plot, was supposed to meet much later. And the first time he saw Iris, the “girl with flowers”, he did encounter strange hooded ghosts, which were not in any form in the 1997 game.
The fact is that the team responsible for the remake has set itself a big task – the players need to be surprised. So, simply transferring the plot to a new engine was not an option, something else was required. So a new story was born, following in the footsteps of the original only partially, and the further along the plot the player advances, the more often liberties can be noticed. And it’s not even about the expansion of the lines of minor characters (the same Jesse, a member of “Avalanche”, has ceased to be just “cannon fodder”), but in the very approach.
The Final Fantasy VII remake is a highly revisionist piece that changes the tone and ideas of the original for something new. Old fans may consider such treatment blasphemy, or, conversely, praise the authors for their courage – there is something closer to whom. The battle with fate comes to the fore here (although the ecological message does not disappear anywhere), and the twists help to turn the ending so unexpectedly that it is completely unclear what to expect from the continuation. Which will certainly be: Final Fantasy VII Remake is only the first part of the story, covering well if a third of the original.
Mechanisms of war
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake
New times – new mechanics. The 1997 turn-based combat system was replaced by real-time battles, albeit with nods to the original. The latter are implemented through the still present ATB counter, which gradually accumulates and allows active skills to be used in addition to standard attacks. They are learned in a rather interesting way: each type of weapon has an ability tied to it, which must be used several times to get it into a permanent arsenal.
Interestingly, even the initial weapon does not become useless: the local pumping system is designed in such a way that each sword, machine gun or staff will find a use depending on the chosen play style. Of course, each user will have their own preferences, but it is quite possible to come to the final battle with the original “buster sword” Cloud here – thanks to the successful combination of built-in improvements.
As in the original, matter also returned – dense balls of mako energy with special capabilities. There are five types of them in the game: green ones give magical attacks like elemental or status attacks, yellow ones – new abilities like stealing or learning enemy skills, blue ones bind to other materials and give bonuses (for example, elemental damage to weapons), purple ones mainly improve various basic characteristics. Finally, there are also red ones that allow you to summon summons, which can turn the tide of the battle.
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake
In battle, you can freely switch between characters, which gives several advantages at once: opponents are more often distracted by active fighters, plus the ATB counter accumulates much faster in the heroes controlled by the player. Each at the same time feels differently: the developers were able to create a unique combat system for the characters, which is why the management of, say, Cloud is radically different from playing for the same Tifu. If the first one uses two stances in battle, then his childhood friend’s attacks are closer to those familiar from Japanese action games – weak and strong. Barrett fights in ranged combat with a machine gun and is much less mobile than other heroes due to his size.
And if at first it is enough to manage Cloud, without being particularly distracted by the rest, then towards the end the correct management of all the heroes comes to the fore: without competent switching between characters and using all their capabilities, most battles will be difficult even on “normal”.
Future technologies
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake
When creating the remake, the developers set themselves another ambitious task: the graphics level must be no lower than Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the animated sequel to the original game. With a slight adjustment for less realism, it succeeded: the picture looks really cool even on the basic PS4 version. In the remaster for PS5, it was tightened even more: the detail and draw distance increased, the lighting changed, and the frame rate increased to a confident 60 FPS. You can, of course, switch to the “Quality” mode – in which the game produces 4K at 30 FPS.
The animators and designers have done a tremendous job: in some places the game is not inferior to modern blockbuster films in terms of image quality. You can see the smallest details on the models of heroes, special effects can give odds to many large AAA projects. Even the reflections created with SSR look just as good as ray tracing in places – perhaps that’s why it wasn’t added to the PS5 version.
But the use of a gamepad can be easily disappointing: more often than not, the vibration does not go beyond the standard, and adaptive triggers are used only in one place – during levels on a motorcycle, of which there are only two in the remake. From the version, which many will get at full price, you expect more than minimal improvements in comparison with the original.
Hunt for matter
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission
And yet the main innovation in the remaster of the remake (it sounds like something!) Was the INTERmission add-on, which offers a new story that was not in the original. You have to play here as Yuffie, a ninja girl from the Kisaragi clan. She represents Wutai – a city and a nation of the same name that once lost the war to Shinra. The girl arrives in Midgar to infiltrate the Shinra headquarters and steal a particularly powerful material rumored to be hidden there. She will be assisted by Sonon, another Wutai warrior.
The plot is not that far from the aforementioned plot: for about four hours the player will try to get the same mythical matter, breaking through the Shinra guards. This, of course, is still interesting, but it falls short of the level of the original, and the final twist in Yuffie’s story looks tight and cheap. But the scene after the credits, continuing the ending of the remake itself, will be able to please many.
The gameplay changes in INTERmission are even deeper than in the remake itself: only Yuffie can control here, despite the fact that Sonon always fights with the heroine side by side. The ninja herself can fight in close combat with the help of a huge shuriken, as well as throw it at opponents. When she has no weapon in her hands, Yuffie uses ninjutsu and inflicts constant elemental damage in one of the four elements (fire, ice, air and lightning), which is useful in battles with opponents with weaknesses.
Sonon is able to use various fighting skills, help with healing and improving the characteristics of the heroine, and can also fight in synergy with Yuffie. This is a special mode in which the heroes act as one and deal increased damage while sacrificing ATB accumulation speed and mobility. In addition, with the help of special materials, heroes can perform unique coordinated attacks: for example, Sonon, using his staff, can throw Yuffie into the air, from where she will fall on opponents with a powerful blow.
The revised approach to the combat system brings a lot of variety to the game, which already had no problems with it. But the most interesting thing, again, is hidden not even in the mechanics, but in the rethinking of the original.
Fresh details
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission
Like the main game, INTERmission handles the original material at the same time carefully and rather freely. Yuffie’s costume, like her character, fully corresponds to that of the original 1997 game, but the same Sonon was not there at all – even at the level of mention. The same goes for the unexpectedly popping up Deepground soldiers, first mentioned only in Dirge of Cerberus, a Final Fantasy VII PS2 spin-off.
Undoubtedly, you can play without getting to know the Final Fantasy Compilation, which is still quite problematic today – not everyone has a PSP or PS2, and it’s better to keep silent about the mobile Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Nevertheless, the authors clearly expect that the remake will also be played by those who are well familiar with the original and its spin-offs – too many details are taken from offshoots without any explanations for beginners. Moreover, many of the events featured in the Final Fantasy VII Remake cannot be explained solely by what was presented in the 1997 game. But through the added details that appeared in the already mentioned Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core, it is quite. Which, by the way, is confirmed by the developers themselves, who relied on the expanded universe of the game.
New toys
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission
In addition to about four hours of plot with unexpected guests from, let’s say, the future, INTERmission can offer several additional activities. The side quests from the remake were replaced by the Fort Condor mini-game, which has changed beyond recognition in comparison with Final Fantasy VII. In the local version, this is entertainment that many are addicted to – you can safely draw an analogy with “Gwent” from The Witcher 3. However, here you need to collect not cards, but figures and alternative boards that give various spells and the speed of replenishment of an analogue of mana, which is spent on summoning warriors on the battlefield.
The battles themselves are held on the principle of “stone, scissors, paper”. Troops are divided into three types: attacking, long-range, and defensive. In this case, the units can be ground or flying (or even bunkers). The main goal is to destroy the enemy base and two towers protecting it.
In addition, there is also entertainment in the form of collecting flyers from the local bar, as well as the opportunity to participate in additional challenges from Chadley, in which you can get the substance of the call. In total, all this increases the duration of the passage by about two times, which, in general, is pretty good.
A new beginning
Screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission
In the end, I want to turn to spoilers a little, so those who plan to play on their own can safely skip the final point.
As mentioned in the text, the remake enters the territory of rethinking and meta-commentary, and the ending of the game makes the biggest twist possible: the second part of the remake … cannot be a remake. The fact is that the authors made an extremely brave act and allowed the heroes to destroy the lines of fate along which they walked throughout the game. And how much this affects the whole story, it becomes clear literally in the very finale.
In the last chapter, players have to face the manifestation of fate and defeat it, after which there is a battle with Sephiroth – while in the original many other events must happen before it. And after defeating his sworn enemy, Cloud not only gains decisiveness, but also manages to see his future – which is now only an opportunity, and not beaten in stone. The strange spirits in robes that prevented the heroes from deviating from the intended path will no longer be able to influence the story.
The pre-credits scene showing the surviving Zach Fair, Cloud’s friend and mentor, who died several years before the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, makes it clear that nothing will be the same. And if the ending of the game itself still leaves room for speculation that the story has changed only slightly, the final shots of the DLC finally dot the i’s: Zack not only survived, but may well intersect with the rest of the characters. And where this will lead, despite the fact that Cloud’s memory consists almost entirely of memories of Zach’s adventures, with whom he confuses himself due to complex experiments with mako energy, is a big mystery. However, the players will not receive answers to questions soon, which, in general, is not so bad. It’s time to come up with crazy theories that, you see, will turn out to be less crazy than the future sequel.
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