Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is the definitive version of one of the best games ever made, and the inclusion of a new story chapter makes it that much more worthy of the title. In 2029, when the second half of the remake finally comes out, Square Enix will have (hopefully) figured out how to incorporate the DualSense 5 controller a little better, but by then, we might be talking about the DualSense 6, and the game will be uploaded to and played solely within our minds, so it may not matter anyway.
While it is the same game at heart, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade brings the first part of the remake to new heights with a 60 FPS gameplay option, some quality of life enhancements, much improved visuals, and a very fun new story episode starring Yuffie. The new tweaks and additions do not alter how the game feels and play, but there is no denying that they do make Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade the best way to enjoy one of the best role-playing games put out by Square Enix in the past few years.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade doesn't just add on to last year’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, but brings it to new heights. Playing the game one year later made us rediscover the overall quality of the battle system as well. Yuffie’s story is much more than just a new standalone chapter, as it enriches the game’s lore and story by depicting the Avalanche headquarters and their members in more detail than before. On new-gen hardware, the game has become even more immersive, resulting in an experience that’s worth going back to even if you’ve already beaten the original remake version.
Overall, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is a solid package. It's not quite worth buying at full price if you've already played the original, but the upgraded original game and the DLC combine to create an excellent experience. Remake still holds up as a really fun game a year later, and Yuffie's side story shows that the developers still have plenty of ideas on how to keep the combat fresh for a sequel. If this is your first time playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, then Intergrade is absolutely the version to get.
It's not a huge difference over the main game, but all the improvements from Intergrade are a nice addition, and the perfect way to replay FFVII Remake. INTERmission is just the cherry on top... And a BIG tease that will leave you longing for Part II.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade shows the correct way to conclude a console generation’s journey. But beware - the Intermission episode won’t really satisfy the hunger for the next instalment - on the contrary, your impatience will probably only increase.
Intergrade not only reintroduces a fan-favorite character ahead of her fated meeting with Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Barrett, but it also lets us play with a few new mechanics and fleshes out a little more of the periphery of the main game’s narrative.
OVERALL=
It was pretty amazing, but it has rooms for improvement that I hope part 2 will fix.
PROS=
I get rewards for being a square enix member.
graphics on point.
aesthetics on point.
character designs on point.
user interface on point.
fleshed out story and cinematics, ON POINT.
overall game design, on point.
on point is on point, because obviously high production values.
MEHS=
voice acting is just alright, but I only listened to the eng dub, I don’t know about the other voice overs.
CONS=
the classic mode wasn’t enough to replicate turned based combat.
when it comes to action style combat, there are better games, one of those is Kingdom hearts.
needs more playable characters.
sometimes the AI, both com and partners, can be on the slow side.
I tried really hard to not see the Remake as a cashgrab, but even when reminding me of all my love for FF i can't help myself. Or maybe it's because of it. Sqare Enix expects you to pay more for the remake than the original ever was whilst offering less content, less playability, almost no post-game whatsoever and the outsight to pay even more for the upcoming parts god knows how many of them there will be. The only part in which the game delivers in abundance are the cutscenes, and boy do they take much space of the game. Well the problem is, i bought a game and not a CGI movie. I play games to have an active time, if i wanna sit passively on the couch i would have chosen to watch a movie or some series. I played the game together with a friend, there were numerous times someone got the controller handed just to lay it back down after holding it for ten minutes during another cutscene-fest. I know very well that cutscenes have been an important part in FF7, but the former parts usually had long stretches of free gameplay and freedom so the breaks were spread out widely and thus not interrupting the gameplay. The remake has barely any freedom in gameplay nor any interesting parts or longer stretches of pure playing, it basically feels like the game is playing you, only needing the player to get to the next loading zone starting another cutscene. I know many people view it differently, but for me cutscenes, no matter how many hours there are, are a small percentage of the whole presentation. So if it comes to rate the game, id give cutscenes a 10/10, which is great, but it only determines around five percent of the games overall rating, so you can put in as many hours as you want, it wont be a better game at the end, i dont care. I take the other 20 hours of the actual game and rate that accordingly, like the cutscenes wouldnt even exist, which leaves you with an absolute garbage game no one would even remotely think about giving a proper rating. Dont get fooled by eyecandy and looks, it drags you away from viewing things as they really are. Actual gameplay, as already mentioned, is streamlined to the max. There is not one situation in the game that needs your decisions, not even thoughts. Its as casual as it can get, feels terribly bland and its not worth at all diving into any builds for your characters, because your party isnt together anyway for the most part of the game. Dont even bother building one char as support, because chances are extremely high after the next cutscene this char will be removed from the party for another 8 hours (6 hours of cutscenes) and you need another character to do the job. Just build every char as allrounder so they can to everything on your own, it wont give you good damage or fun with different classes, but there are no real mechanics anyway that matter a lot in terms of fighting, the game, as mentioned, just needs you to get to the next cutscene, after that almost all your former gear gets useless anyway because you reached the new tier items without even realising. To the people that say "not every gamer enjoys the hardcore-postgame and grind, some just want have a relaxing gaming time after a days work" i will only reply: imagine getting home after a hard day, looking forward to play two hours of fine FF7 gameplay because thats all the precious time you got, then after those two hours you watched 103 minutes of cutscenes, spent 11 minutes in the menu trying to figure out if you need sth. for the upcoming fights and a whooping six minutes of actual gameplay. No thanks, how frustrating. Play Uncharted or the Last of Us if you wanna have a good casual gaming experience. For me the new FF7 experience is a true disappointment, and by **** their masterpiece into pieces, Square Enix undoubtedly showed their only aim is to squeeze as much money out of it as possible. Have fun paying 400 bucks for a 5 piece set of CGI movies with some gameplay on top of it, im gonna play the original instead and celebrate a true game.
Overall disappointing. The graphics at times are pretty, but you can easily see where all the sacrifices had to be made. This is just another SquareEnix Hallway RPG.
This game has 10-20 hours of padding.
Storytelling is all emotion and little to no substance. Tired Hollywood story arcs; along with the meta, near 4th wall breaking ‘Whispers’ loses all impact of the story. Characters are unlikeable. Cloud and Aerith are awful. Secondary characters like Johnny and Kyrie get too much screen time and are more meme than human. There’s also an uncomfortable alliance with ‘The Trio’ even though they are sex traffickers. This game almost glorifies the villains, and the heroes just kinda ****.
Environments are static and lifeless, there are next to no interactions, or world building. In fact there are numbers of opportunity to insert lore and it’s absent.
The battle system is nothing but lame lizard brain gameplay, the original turn-based system was better.
SummaryFINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE expands upon and reimagines the spectacular world of the original PlayStation game. It covers up through the escape from Midgar and is the first game in the FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE project. INTERGRADE is a bundle that includes both REMAKE and the new episode featuring Yuffie. In her episode, play as the spirited...