Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade Intermission Review – Half-Measure

Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake’s tone typically slides between gentle, humorous moments and darkish, tragic drama. However from the primary moments of Intermission, the DLC mission added to the sport with its Intergrade PlayStation 5 improve, it is clear this new episode is usually a comedy. In jumps Yuffie, one of many unique sport’s optionally available characters, and instantly her harmful espionage mission to infiltrate the evil Shinra Company in Midgar is performed like a child goofing off. It is a vibe that actually works for the DLC, buying and selling on the truth that Remake continues to be nice about establishing enjoyable, eccentric characters.

Happening in the midst of Remake’s story, throughout the portion wherein Cloud is separated from his compatriots, it follows Yuffie as she embarks on a mission to steal a secret Shinra weapon on behalf of her homeland, Wutai. Although the mission is harmful, Yuffie approaches it with all of the seriousness of a child enjoying pretend–even although she’s on her technique to first meet with Midgar’s Shinra resistance motion, Avalanche, after which sneak into the headquarters of an organization that just lately concluded a full-scale warfare together with her dwelling.

The difficulty with Intermission is that this aspect story would not really feel important to something happening. Positive, the DLC is offering context and backstory for a personality that followers of the unique Ultimate Fantasy VII know will present up later within the story, however Yuffie’s mission is basically about her wandering round areas we have already seen, floating previous however barely interacting with Remake’s solid, and participating in minigames to waste a while. Yuffie’s a enjoyable character to spend time with, even when you do not have historical past together with her from the primary iteration of Ultimate Fantasy VII, however it all comes off as a tease for one thing higher down the street in FF7 Remake’s subsequent installment. And after the remarkably deep and excellently realized model of the story that’s Remake, Intermission seems like precisely that: a half-measure to fill time whereas we await the true present.

That is to not say Intermission is not enjoyable to play as a rule, although. When Yuffie is in fight, which is fairly rattling typically, she’s a blast to play. Like all of the characters of Remake’s primary solid, Yuffie has her personal distinctive fight fashion that distinguishes her from how everybody else has performed to date. As a Wutai ninja, she packs a throwing star that is good as each a close-range melee weapon and at lengthy ranges. The choices mean you can management the space as you battle enemies–you can get in near wail on them, bounce again to create a niche, then throw the star for distant harm that Yufife follows up with elementally charged “Ninjutsu” assaults that maintain her out of hurt’s manner. Faucet the Triangle button and you may retrieve your thrown star, not by drawing it again to you, however by sending Yuffie to it, permitting you to shortly shut gaps and use enemies to maneuver across the battlefield.

Yuffie’s fight is all about controlling house and touchdown combos, and the string of melee assaults, star throws, and Ninjutsu mean you can completely lay into enemies for lengthy barrages that may knock them off their toes and make them simple to dispatch. When you get a rhythm down, there are occasions when it may be virtually too simple to dismantle foes with all of the choices Yuffie has on-hand, particularly as you add extra weapons and materia to the combination. She’s a fast-paced fighter who may be devastating whenever you string her assaults collectively, and it is lots of enjoyable to deftly combine all of her assaults collectively to dominate the battlefield.

Partway by means of the primary chapter, Yuffie is joined by Sonon, her accomplice on the mission and a barely older Wutai operative. In fight, Sonon acts as one other means by which Yuffie can construct out combos. You possibly can’t management him, however you may set off “synergy,” which has Yuffie and Sonon executing capability assaults for giant harm and added results. It is a cool, if pretty easy, system that gives one other device for fight, whereas protecting the concentrate on Yuffie and her particular fashion.

It is within the dynamic between Yuffie and Sonon the place we see shades of Remake, and Intermission at its finest. As a result of Yuffie is technically the senior ninja regardless of her age, Sonon defers to her, whereas bouncing between exasperation for her overconfident, just-wing-it antics, and attempting to offer her a bit useful recommendation. For her half, Yuffie takes all of it in stride. She is aware of how nice a ninja she is, however she additionally by no means lets go of that air of excitedly performing “cool” for whoever occurs to be wanting in her route. She’s a child of unimaginable expertise who’s nonetheless determined to be taken significantly, whereas Sonon is a protecting older brother sort in search of a center floor between annoying overbearance and dangerous overindulgence.

Whereas the dynamic between Yuffie and Sonon is an attention-grabbing one, it would not get examined or pushed a lot. That is as a result of the DLC neither covers an particularly very long time, nor places the pair in particularly impactful conditions (you may wrap up the primary story in 4 or 5 hours, longer in case you determine to do some aspect content material). The primary chapter sees Yuffie and Sonon serving to an Avalanche member keep away from getting captured by Shinra by wandering by means of a sanitation plant within the undercity; the second has them operating across the Shinra constructing. There are no actual twists or turns and there is not a lot in the best way of battle aside from the mission itself and the robots Shinra dispatches to attempt to cease you.

The identical goes for what the story provides to the general story of Remake. Intermission plops you in the midst of Sector 7 throughout the tumultuous time earlier than the story’s midpoint, however you largely simply get a number of strains that flesh out the backstory of the squad of Remake. What’s extra attention-grabbing are the bits wherein Yuffie and Sonon have idle discussions concerning the political scenario in Midgar and the remainder of the world, in addition to their ideological similarities and variations to Avalanche and its anti-Shinra operations.

These little tidbits are the place what Intermission provides to the story appears helpful. It offers these little appears to be like into each Yuffie’s character and the bigger political panorama of Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, in a manner that helps you perceive the world a bit higher. However these small gadgets are fairly few and much between, and whereas the character-building for Yuffie is good, it is not tremendous clear why we’re revisiting this time limit or these locations, or what revisiting them provides to the sport total.

There is a massive swing on this feeling proper on the finish of the DLC, the place Intermission begins throwing deep-cut FF7 characters into the combination. It appears fairly clear that the thought right here is to convey the broader FF7 universe, fleshed out in spin-offs like Disaster Core and Dirge of Cerberus into the primary storyline, however the DLC would not present any context for what is going on on or, crucially, who these persons are. Once more, it performs into the concept Intermission seems like a tease for the place issues are going afterward, after we’re more likely to get a extra full take a look at a few of these components. For now, it largely provides confusion, particularly in case you’re not overly accustomed to all that further FF7 lore, and makes for some lower than satisfying moments because the DLC wraps up.

Other than the primary story, Intermission additionally provides some aspect content material to maintain you busy, however it largely appears to exist to pad the runtime. There are a number of new fight challenges and minigames, like Whack-A-Field (wherein you break bins by hitting them, incomes factors earlier than a timer runs out) and Fort Condor, a kind of gentle technique sport. Fort Condor is the large new merchandise in Intermission, mixing the spirit of chess with the creature summoning of Magic: The Gathering, within the broadest sense. You get a sequence of characters you may place on the board, who then march towards your opponent’s aspect and attempt to destroy their three forts. Your opponent may drop characters, and who wins a battle is determined by a rock-paper-scissors system that determines which varieties of characters get the higher hand. Its simplicity makes it very simple to choose up and play.

Fort Condor may be enjoyable, particularly as you add new items and boards to your repertoire, which offer you quite a lot of choices on your assaults and defenses, and the flexibility to make use of some magic spells throughout a match. But it surely’s all fairly simplistic, finally. You do not management the character, you simply select the place to place them, and the technique is all about what items you utilize and when. Boards that allow you to get items out quicker and in higher numbers are likely to win, and there is simply not lots of brainy choices or strategic pondering that may provide help to to win out in case you occur to have the fallacious set of items of a specific matchup. With solely a handful of matches to play throughout your first run by means of the story, it additionally will not maintain you busy for very lengthy.

Altogether, Fort Condor, the story of Intermission, and all the opposite content material within the DLC undergo from the identical downside: They really feel exceedingly skinny. Not that an add-on chapter to a sport must be particularly monumental, however Intermission is a DLC that largely takes place in one of many hub areas of FF7 Remake, and but lacks significant character interactions or aspect quests to flesh out its world. Hanging out with Yuffie and Sonon is enjoyable, however when you have run-ins with numerous vital characters in key moments, the entire thing brings little to your understanding of the story of Remake as a complete.

In the long run, Intermission is a pit cease, a fast jaunt into the gasoline station minimart of Ultimate Fantasy VII to refuel, seize a snack, and prepare to attend some extra. With its enjoyable fight and quirky character moments, it will doubtless remind you of what you want about FF7 Remake–but it will not be sufficient to carry you over.