Now I don’t normally review DLC add-ons separately but given this was released a while after the original and exclusively on the PS5 (well, and PC) instead of the console I reviewed the original game on (that review can be found HERE) it didn’t really fit discussing it there, so here we are! INTERmission (I guess because it’s an extra mission in Intergrade? Maybe?) is set during the latter half of Remake and focuses on Yuffie, a character who didn’t get much story in the original due to being an optional party member. Given Rebirth is just a few weeks away I thought I’d better finally get round to playing through it, so let’s get to it!
Background:
Big businesses should try hiding their top secret labs in multi-windowed rooms at the top floor, just to throw people off.
The original Final Fantasy VII: Remake was released on April 10th 2020 on the PS4 exclusively but this version, subtitled “Intergrade”, was released for PS5 on June 10, 2021 and on PC December 16th, 2021. While the Yuffie INTERmission DLC was released alongside it, it was still an additional item, unless you brought a “complete” version. Thankfully those of us who had the PS4 version got a free upgrade to this version so all I had to do was buy the DLC (and convert my save, which took a lot longer than I would’ve liked…)
Intergrade is mainly a performance upgrade, the PS5’s power and most importantly load times make the game run as I imagine it was intended to in the first place. I remember a lot of unloaded textures and the like in my PS4 playthough…
Gameplay:
Yuffie hits her big Limit Break attack. Trust me, she’s in there somewhere!
The gameplay you’ll be completely unsurprised to hear is exactly the same as the core game this is DLC for, though with the key difference of only controlling one character this time rather than a party of three. Battles take place in real time, meaning you can run around and freely attack your foe/s by mashing square but as with Remake it also pays homage to its routes and has a menu with special attacks, magic attacks and items to pick from that as you’re accessing time slows down (but doesn’t stop entirely), all of which adds up to a very satisfying and varied system. Yuffie, like the other characters from the main game, has her own spin on the system, in her case in that you can press triangle to throw her massive shuriken and while its caught in an enemy she can then fire generic magic blasts as a combo and use a special skill to change what element type it is, from the default physical to fire, ice, lightning and wind. This is helpful because enemies once again have a large health bar but also a “Stagger Meter” that goes up extremely slowly unless you hit it critically, in a specific weak spot or with something its weak against, and obviously with Yuffie’s unique ability that latter was the easiest, and safest way to deal with most of the enemies in the game as once they’re staggered they take a lot more damage.
What is this weird HUB-filled insanity? Fort Condor, obviously… Read about it down below, and then be prepared to never hear about it again.
Yuffie is quickly joined by a partner called Sonon and while he is entirely AI controlled you can order him about during battle and most importantly do “synergised” attacks, where you join forces to do different combo attacks depending on how many bars of stamina and such you have. Both characters also have Limit Breaks, which will unlock after you take a certain amount of damage and they’re, well a special flashy attack that does a large amount of damage. Outside of combat you can freely walk around, talk to people and take a couple of side quests, including fighting a summon or two via VR, hunting down posters and one where you fight people using a “board game” military strategy… thingy called “Fort Condor”, which is a whole mini-game in of itself and I honestly didn’t enjoy it at all, but your milage may vary. It’s a classic case of placing troops and taking out your opponent’s base but each troop has one of three roles and the roles form a triangle of being weak and strong against each other, so there’s strategy to go along with just placing strong troops near the border and sending them to your opponent’s base. An odd addition but I guess it beats the predictable card game stuff (which seems to be a thing in Rebirth, so… hooray?)
That’s about it, but given it’s essentially two bonus chapters to a main game that shouldn’t be a surprise that there isn’t much in the way of bonus stuff, it itself IS a bonus thing!
Graphics and Sound:
I forgot to take a screenshot specifically for the nice graphics, so here’s another mid-combat one. Enjoy!
Graphics are obviously amazing, the opening scene zooms straight in on a knitted bobble on top of Yuffie’s hood just to show how crazy-detailed everything is, only getting more impressive as it pans out. Remake on the PS4 was already something of a visual marvel so the upgraded PS5 version is unsurprisingly great as well.
What also unsurprisingly great is the soundtrack! Great music as always, the voice work is top notch and the sound effects are extremely satisfying. Presentation-wise you can’t fault Remake and that carries over to INTERmission.
Story:
Yes, you do that. It’s only taken an entire chapter to chase down your false IDs, if you ended up not using them after all that I’d go mad!
While Cloud and co. are dealing with exploding Mako reactors and getting ready to stop the Plate Drop Yuffie, a young but extremely talented ninja from Wutai (a country ravaged by Shinra Company-led warfare) has infiltrated Midgar in order to break into Shinra HQ and steal their new super-secret Materia. She meets up with a less extreme branch of AVALANCHE as well as fellow Wutai agent Sonon and after a long chase sequence with their fake ID contact they manage to sneak into the Shinra HQ only to be immediately found out by board member Scarlet, who sends them to her weapons testing lab in order to use them to test the effectiveness of their latest mechs.
Spoilers in the next Paragraph!
“Who’s Nero?” I hear you ask… read on! (or be someone who knows about Dirge of Cerberus, one of the two…)
Yuffie and Sonon manage to make it through all Scarlet’s trials and even beat the women herself as she piloted a massive (appropriately red) mech, but that led to her using Shinra’s dark secret, the Deepground soldiers, specifically Nero, a man who can control a dark energy that absorbs the life force of all those it touches (for the record Deepground boss Weiss himself also makes an appearance… who would’ve thought Dirge of Cerberus characters would get reused? Not me, mostly because I had no idea who they were as I played this and had to look them up afterwards! Dirge is pretty much the only gap in my FFVII knowledge…) Our lead Wutai pair manage to beat Nero back but Sonon ends up sacrificing himself to save Yuffie, who tearfully escapes only to witness the dropping of the Sector 7 plate. These harrowing experiences only serve to confirm to Yuffie how much Shinra needs to be stopped, but she’s now more aware than ever that she’ll need more help… Which leads nicely into an expanded ending with our main cast, who reflect on leaving Midgar and make their first few big steps into the wider world.
Spoilers in the next Paragraph!
So there isn’t a tonne there story wise, and what little there is was stretched extremely thinly via excuses for lots of battles in the same few environments (man I was fed up of the Shinra Weapons factory by the end of Chapter 2…) Still though, it had a good emotional end and it did establish Yuffie and her character’s personality and motivation very well leading into her joining the main party in Rebirth quiet nicely.
Thoughts Now:
Scarlet isn’t a character I ever really thought about from the original game, so it was nice to see her with a different focus here.
*Beep breath* Final Fantasy VII: Remake – Intergrade: INTERmission was a fun reminder how great the Remake combat system is and a good (but very short) short story to boot. Obviously you’re most likely going to play this alongside Remake and therefore it was just be a little Epilogue to that grand adventure, but even standing on its own its well worth a few hours of your time.
Hogan Reviews 