Review | Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Yuffie DLC

Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade, episode Intermission, Yuffie DLC. No, it's not a joke. As this game gets episodes, so does its name, so the first DLC is actually an episode of the first episode of the base game, which is a remake of the first part of the first disc of the original. Mindblown.

Expect one hectic experience, and that’s just because Yuffie is hectic all the time. Cocaine? Yes, tons.

Technical Performance

Before I tell you what is new, I would like to throw a little technical picture, and what is free, what has been improved on the PS5 version, and what is not. First, anyone with a PS4 version of the base game can upgrade it to the PS5 version for free. Only those who have a digital version of the PS5 console and a game on disk - of course in that case you are out of luck. The upgrade applies to everything except for the DLC, which is still charged (and is only available for PS5 for now), and if you want to transfer your save progress, you will have to install both versions of the game and upload it through the interface of the base game, then download in menu of the PS5 version.

The PS5 version comes with improved visuals, and there is support for 60 FPS with little graphics degradation. I have to admit that it's a little weird for me to play in 60 FPS, somehow they did it "fast and snappy" and it made it lost all that cinematic feeling I felt in the PS4 version. On the other hand, graphics mode in 30 FPS is very "jerky" and I don't know what went wrong there. What bothers me the most is the brightnes - the game at the lowest settings is so bright that it's not clear to me what's going on. They definitely did something wrong, and that was already seen in the first trailer announcement for the PS5.

Photo mode is here, Shurikens are here, Materia's are here… More than 3/5 game is still missing. I think Squre should hurry up a bit though, this is not worthy of our hunger (us who are hungry).

Who is Yuffie?

Few can accommodate our dear Yuffie in Midgar. That is exactly what awaits you. By the way, Yuffie is an optional member of the main team in the game, a native of Wutai, and with the profession of "materia thief". She desperately wants to restore glory to her city / village, which was devastated during the conflict with Shinra. Yuffie extends from Before Crisis mobile spin-off, Crisis Core and other FF7 sequels / games.

Not to bother you too much, Yuffie will "guide" you through 2 additional chapters completely separated by progress from the main game you had the opportunity to play. The first part is fiercely focused on Slums which were honestly the worst part of the first episode for me. The whole chapter where you get introduced to the story is still very linear, and it was even exhausting at points. The chapter dungeon itself is designed to image something similar to the first episode. Luckily, the rest is much better, prettier, Yuffie even crazier and busier, and the boss fights are epic. If they had just inserted Wutai and possibly left the second chapter, I think this would have been another FF fairy tale. Thus, the locations are just improved, already seen versions without any exploring and simply unnecessary in an already largely stretched game that with this add-on did not show the depth of the additional story.

Sonon is a mediocre character, quite dumb in combat. Everything you achieve, you will achieve with Yuffie - and she is a hyperactive machine full of magic and moves.

You can finish the new episode in about 5h, but I spent 20 and I’m not sorry. While I find this to be a completely unnecessary addition to the game, I’m glad to see Yuffie and hear how she sounds. I was completely struck by her character, and your comrade Sonon is a cool character, although he remained somehow poorly characterized until the very end. Squre is not good at "hitting" that FF7 feel with new characters, best to stick to old ones.

The best thing that happened was definitely the Fort Condor mini-game. Old fans will surely remember this strategy where you want to win your opponent’s base before your opponent wins yours. The game is very simple, certain classes are stronger against certain others, and you can additionally choose a board with which you get certain buffes and magic. Tactics are everything, and with 7 opponents plus Hard mode, for me this is the best segment of the whole DLC. Alongside of course, the hard mode…

Short and sweet - both mini-games are cool, but Fort Condor was really good. Maybe I just lack a little strategy in life.

Action JRPG?

I never felt stronger action segment in the turn-based approach to combat. Yuffie is a little different; she's fast, she flies, jumps, throws magic… At first I didn't like it at all because it turned into a kind of button-masher, but the second chapter, boss fights and hard mode definitely proved that this theory doesn't go. I love what they did in hard mode, what they put into combat simulators and how it all took the fight to another level. The before mentioned mini-game and combat are definitely the stars of the evening, but until you start the hard difficulty you will hardly feel any of this. I think that difficutly should be exactly what the game should be for everyone. Many won't even try it, and how detailed they were about everything is impressive to me, to say the least.

I spent hours putting together a good setup and approach for new challenges, and to make things better, there’s another extra challenge in the basic game that I’ll just say - good luck beating it! It took me a couple of hours to master it, I had to start with some tactics from scratch and in the end I somehow succeeded. Kudos to them, that fight is something out of my mind how hard it is. Try button-mashing here and let me know how it went.

It should be noted that your comrade Sonon is not a character you control in battles, instead you just give him commands and it is possible to take advantage of group attacks (synergy!). This bothers me a bit, because the AI ​​of comrades is quite sloppy, so the ATB will charge poorly for issuing attacks, and you need it, a lot.

Weiss is totally irrelevant in the story, but in the arena this one goes: "This guy * ucks"

I don’t have much more to tell you, I think they could definitely do without this episode because it doesn’t reveal much, but it will reveal some things about the main story. My fear came true and now I am pretty sure the story will go the other way. Or it will be worked out through such separate episodes in parallel worlds. Maybe it will turn out well if they don’t change the main game, they just shouldn’t touch it.

If you are not a fan and a fan of FF 7, this DLC will definitely not be for you. It’s short, a lot of it is similar and even generic, the music is mediocre and it all makes one mediocre picture to someone who isn’t a fan. I managed to "do" 120h when I add up this and the first episode, simply those fights and challenges that are introduced in hard mode raise the gameplay, I take my hat off to them and once again the progress makes sense because the tactics and development are totally different.

The team is here, Yuffie is going her own way… When we will finally find ourselves in the old forest and reunite our destinies only heaven knows…

At the end of the day, though, we should get more and what everyone wants - and these are definitely not episodes like this. Yuffie, it's not your fault, Square is to blame for everything.