Back when I played the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I quite enjoyed it, so I was disappointed when the DLC released in 2021 was PS5-exclusive.
Since I didn’t have a PS5 until late last year, it’s taken me a while to get around to it.
But after finishing Crisis Core a few weeks ago, I decided the other thing to do before moving on to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was to finally get the DLC.
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intermission is a new story starring Yuffie, in which she heads to Midgar in order to steal materia from Shinra.
Joining her is a young man from Wutai named Sonon, and they team up with members of Avalanche (the larger group, not our primary Avalanche characters from the main game) to get the information they need.
Although Sonon joins you in battles, you only play directly as Yuffie, although you can issue commands to Sonon to have him use abilities or magic. Yuffie’s combat style took a little bit for me to get used to, with sort of a mixed melee/ranged approach, but eventually I enjoyed it. The combat system itself is similar to that in Remake, but with a new “synergy” feature that lets both characters attack together.
There are a handful of side quests, as well as a new mini-game called Fort Condor that I tried a handful of times and then vowed to never touch again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are people who love Fort Condor. It’s not the mini-game’s fault. But it’s real-time strategy, and that’s a genre I’m rarely able to enjoy.
So that was a whole aspect of the DLC I ignored, but I still managed to play for nearly 8 hours. My time would probably be a lot longer if I’d gotten into Fort Condor, so there’s a respectable amount of content here for the DLC’s $20 asking price.
The story is fine. While it doesn’t cover a whole lot, it was a nice look at Yuffie’s character and gave a lot more screentime to Scarlet as the DLC’s main villain.
Click for FFVII Intermission spoilers
It also gave a good role to Nero, from Dirge of Cerberus. Although he didn’t have much in the way of story content here, he was a tough and seriously intimidating final boss. My memories of Dirge are kind of fuzzy, but I didn’t expect Nero to come across like he wandered in from a horror game. I enjoyed his creepy portrayal here.
Meanwhile, the most interesting part of the DLC’s story was the very last scene, which showed Zack, seemingly alive. That scene made me lean more toward the multiple timelines theory, but I’m curious to see where Rebirth takes it.
Overall, playing Intermission reminded me of how much I enjoy Final Fantasy VII and its remake. Now that I’ve completed it, I’m more excited than ever about diving into Rebirth!
---
If you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!
Yesterday evening, Square Enix held a Final Fantasy VII anniversary celebration broadcast, and after the way they hyped it up as a must-see event, I was fully expecting Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 to be announced.
Well, we got that and more!
They began with the announcement that Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is now on Steam. However, they did so with a trailer full of scenes from the ending, so I suggest you don’t watch the trailer if you haven’t played the game.
Intergrade is the newer version that includes the DLC episode starring Yuffie, which I haven’t played yet since it never came out for the PS4. Eventually I’ll get Intergrade so I can play the DLC.
Anyway, they then showed off some merchandise and then showed off their mobile games. I couldn’t care less about the battle royale mobile game First Soldier, but I remain extremely interested in Ever Crisis, just like I was when it was announced.
I was half-hoping they would announce Ever Crisis is coming to other platforms, but it’s still a mobile game. A closed beta will be held later this year. I just hope its mobile game elements (apparently interviews last year confirmed it would have loot boxes) aren’t too intrusive.
As an episodic game that covers the entire compilation with ATB combat, Ever Crisis seems like the answer for people who wanted a more straightforward remake, so I really hope it’s good.
After the mobile games, they then announced Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, a remaster of the Final Fantasy VII prequel game Crisis Core. Some places have referred to it as a remake, but the official press release about all of these announcements called it a remaster, so I did the same.
I always wanted to play Crisis Core, but since I don’t have a PSP and there’s no digital version, I wasn’t able to. I’m thrilled to finally be able to play it, and it’s a multiplatform release, too! Crisis Core will be out this winter.
That announcement was leaked ahead of time, which took away from the surprise, but it was exciting to see it confirmed.
Finally, they closed with the news everyone was waiting for, the official announcement of Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2… or rather, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, as it’s actually titled, which I’m sure will cause absolutely no confusion whatsoever.
It looks beautiful. Not only that, but it looks like the Nibelheim flashback is still playable, which is the one thing I was hoping for confirmation of. I hope Sephiroth still fights alongside you in combat to do a ridiculous amount of damage.
Now, this trailer has caused a divide among fans yet again. Some have taken the trailer as a clear sign that Square Enix is doubling down on making significant changes to the story, but I didn’t take that away from it at all. In fact, I’ll admit that when the trailer asked, “What is fact and what is fiction?” my first thought was that my JENOVA theory is true, which was probably me jumping to conclusions too.
After listening to it again, the dialogue in the trailer actually fits events from the original game, so I don’t think this trailer told us anything about how much they’re changing the story.
Anyway, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will be out “next winter” for the PS5. Since Crisis Core was announced for “this winter,” that probably means late 2022/early 2023 while Rebirth will follow in late 2023/early 2024. The confusion around this was increased, however, by the producer saying in a message to fans that it will be “approximately three years after the original Final Fantasy VII Remake released in April 2020.”
It’s probably still late 2023 at best, but we’ll see. I assume they don’t want it to be too close to Final Fantasy XVI’s summer 2023 release window. And it looks like now I have a deadline by which I need to get a PS5…
They also confirmed that this incarnation of Final Fantasy VII will be a trilogy, and development of the third game has already begun.
All in all, the Final Fantasy VII anniversary broadcast was well worth the hype! I’m excited for Crisis Core, cautiously optimistic about Ever Crisis, and can’t wait to see more about Rebirth. Meanwhile, Capcom held its Dragon’s Dogma stream at the same time and confirmed that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in development. Since that’s all they said about it, I’m not sure why they didn’t include the announcement in their showcase.
So, what did you think about the Final Fantasy VII announcements? What are your hopes and fears for Rebirth? (For that matter, maybe you’d rather talk about Dragon’s Dogma 2, so feel free!)
---
If you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!
Today is the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, and Square Enix revealed special 25th anniversary logos.
The anniversary logo features Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack and is reminiscent of the 10th anniversary logo, which also featured those three.
Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura both had messages about the anniversary as well, which curiously mentions “even more new FFVII projects that started up after the remake.”
New projects? That sounds like something outside of the remake, First Soldier, and Ever Crisis. Maybe we’ll get a Crisis Core remaster at last.
Square Enix also held a live stream today to give updates on First Soldier. That’s the mobile battle royale game, so it doesn’t especially interest me. However, as reported by Gematsu, Kitase said during the live stream that he hopes to share more details about the Final Fantasy VII Remake this year.
That’s far from a guarantee, but it’s still exciting! I’ve been dying for a glimpse of Part 2, so maybe it will finally come in the months ahead.
The live stream also included a small clip from the Ever Crisis opening movie. It’s caused a fair amount of confusion, since it features characters from First Soldier. However, if you recall, Ever Crisis is supposed to cover the story of the entire compilation.
First Soldier’s story being included in Ever Crisis was announced from the start, so that’s presumably what we’ve gotten a glimpse of here. Since it was a First Soldier live stream, it makes sense that they’d focus on that part. I’m very intrigued by Ever Crisis, and I hope we learn more about that soon as well.
So we’ve got a few tidbits of Final Fantasy VII news and the potential for Part 2 to be revealed later this year. What are you hoping to see?
---
If you want posts like this delivered straight to your inbox, enter your email in the box below to subscribe!
Back when I played the Final Fantasy VII Remake, I quite enjoyed it, so I was disappointed when the DLC released in 2021 was PS5-exclusive.
