Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

Description :

Final Fantasy VII Remake is an action role-playing game by Square Enix, released for PlayStation 4 in April 2020. It is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. An enhanced version, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows in 2021.

Set in the dystopian cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar, players control the mercenary Cloud Strife. He joins AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group trying to stop the powerful megacorporation Shinra from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. The gameplay combines real-time action with role-playing elements.

Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced in 2015 following years of speculation. Several key staff members from the original game returned, including Tetsuya Nomura as the director, Yoshinori Kitase as the producer, Kazushige Nojima as the writer, Motomu Toriyama as a co-director, and the composer Nobuo Uematsu. The staff redesigned the characters to balance realism and stylization.

Final Fantasy VII Remake received positive reviews, with praise for its graphics, gameplay, narrative, and music. Critics praised the expanded story and the updated battle system for its strategic elements and visual flourishes, but the linearity and repetitive side-quests received criticism. The game was one of the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 games, selling more than 3.5 million copies in three days and more than 7 million by September 2023. The second game in the remake trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was released in 2024.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is an updated rerelease of Final Fantasy VII Remake (a partial remake of Final Fantasy VII). Announced at Sony Interactive Entertainment's February 25, 2021 "State of Play" digital livestream, Intergrade released on June 10, 2021, for PlayStation 5 consoles. A Microsoft Windows version was announced on December 9, 2021 during The Game Awards 2021, and released as an Epic Games Store exclusive on December 16, 2021, with a Steam release following on June 17, 2022. The game features various improvements and new bosses, as well as an additional episode focusing on Yuffie Kisaragi named Episode INTERmission.

The game is available for individual purchase in standard or deluxe editions, through both physical and digital means, as well as through a free "PS5 enhancement update" for players that already have the PlayStation 4 version. These free updates do not include the additional story episode, which must be purchased separately.

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Story :

Cloud Strife (Cody Christian/Takahiro Sakurai) is a former member of SOLDIER, the elite warriors of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Shinra uses Mako, a refined form of the Planet's spiritual energy harvested by massive reactors, to power the metropolis of Midgar and develop cutting-edge technology. Disillusioned with Shinra, and at the request of his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart (Britt Baron/Ayumi Ito), Cloud takes a mercenary job for Avalanche, an eco-terrorist organization, led by Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley/Masahiro Kobayashi). Barret believes excessive Mako harvesting harms the planet and leads a bombing attack on a Mako reactor. In the aftermath, Cloud is haunted by memories of Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin/Toshiyuki Morikawa), an enigmatic former SOLDIER member, and meets the florist Aerith Gainsborough (Briana White/Maaya Sakamoto). Strange ghost-like entities, who alternately help and hinder Cloud throughout the game, cause him to be recruited for another attack, in which he goes missing in action. Cloud meets Aerith again and protects her from Shinra forces. After they reunite with Tifa, the trio learns that Shinra plans to collapse a piece of the "plate" onto the Sector 7 slums. Avalanche fails to stop Shinra's plan, and the plate falls. Aerith helps most of the population, and Barret's daughter Marlene evacuate in time but is captured by Shinra.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret infiltrate Shinra headquarters and rescue Aerith from being used as an experiment by Shinra scientist Hojo (James Sie/Shigeru Chiba). She reveals that she is the last descendant of the Cetra, a near-extinct precursor race who resided in a "Promised Land," which Shinra covets for its boundless Mako reserves. The group meets a talking feline-like creature called Red XIII (Max Mittelman/Kappei Yamaguchi), who explains that the ghostly entities are called Whispers. They exist to ensure that the course of destiny is not altered by correcting any deviations from this course. Meanwhile, Sephiroth infiltrates Shinra and steals a mysterious entity known as "Jenova," connected to the extinction of the Cetra.

In a confrontation at the top of Shinra headquarters, Sephiroth murders the president of Shinra. Shinra's son Rufus (Josh Bowman/Tōru Ōkawa) assumes control of the company and fights Cloud, but is defeated. Cloud and his allies flee the scene via the Midgar Expressway but find Sephiroth waiting for them at the end. After defeating Whisper Harbinger, an entity formed by an amalgam of Whispers, Cloud's group battles Sephiroth. Sephiroth separates Cloud from the group, asking him to join him and defy fate. Cloud refuses and fights Sephiroth, but is defeated, although Sephiroth spares him and departs. Meanwhile, as Cloud's group leaves Midgar to stop Sephiroth, SOLDIER Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce/Kenichi Suzumura) ends up alive and defeats an army of Shinra forces, and departs with Cloud to Midgar.

Intergrade adds additional ending scenes showing Cloud and his group arriving at the village of Kalm after hitching a ride with Chocobo Bill, and Zack entering the Sector 5 church searching for Aerith.

Intermission

Shortly after the bombing of Mako Reactor 5, Yuffie Kisaragi (Suzie Yeung/Yumi Kakazu), a ninja working for Wutai, arrives at Midgar and meets up with her partner Sonon Kusakabe (Aleks Le/Yoshimasa Hosoya) in order to steal Shinra's "Ultimate Materia". With the help of a local Avalanche cell, Yuffie and Sonon infiltrate the lab under Shinra headquarters and fight through Shinra's forces before discovering that the Ultimate Materia is not yet complete. As they try to escape, they are confronted by a Shinra supersoldier named Nero (Sean Chiplock/Ryōtarō Okiayu). Outmatched, Sonon sacrifices himself to ensure Yuffie can escape. She leaves Shinra headquarters just in time to see the Sector 7 plate fall. Sometime later, Yuffie has left Midgar and muses that to achieve her desire to see Shinra's downfall, she will need a team to help her.

Characters :

The main party of Final Fantasy VII Remake consists of mercenary Cloud Strife, eco-terrorists Tifa Lockhart, and Barret Wallace, and flower girl Aerith Gainsborough. Cloud is an ex-member of an elite military branch called SOLDIER and thus a formidable fighter. He also has inside knowledge of Shinra, a local paramilitary/energy conglomerate.

When his childhood friend, Tifa, approaches him with a job to blow up a reactor, Cloud accepts. Barret, a man with a gun for an arm and a real chip on his shoulder for Shinra, leads the mission. It is Aerith who will be most important to the fight against Shinra, however. The last surviving member of an ancient race, her magic may be the key to saving the world from Shinra's dangerous schemes and grandiose plans for power.

Next, there's Red XIII. Though he only joins the team as a supporting member toward the end of the game, his role is essential nonetheless. A hybrid creature experimented on by Shinra, Red XIII resembles a cross between a wolf and a lion. He can also speak and has a life expectancy of about 500 years.

Finally, there's Yuffie. Star of the new chapter featured exclusively in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Yuffie is a ninja thief from Wutai Island. She's obsessed with materia, has a happy-go-lucky attitude, and a serious ax to grind with Shinra, who have been in a prolonged conflict with her people.

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