One of my New Year’s resolutions was to finally get through my DLC backlog. Theoretically this shouldn’t be too difficult given that DLCs are pretty short, but there’s always something newer and shinier demanding my attention. And so, almost two years after I foolishly shoved it into my PS Store cart, it’s time to return to the Final Fantasy VII Remake for the Yuffie-focused Episode INTERmission.
In 2020 I had my issues with the Remake‘s ending, but with the passing of time I’ve very slightly warmed to it. After all, it’s difficult not to have a grudging respect for promising a remake of one of the most beloved games of all time and then going completely off-piste in the final act.
Returning to Midgar in Yuffie’s shoes proved to be a nice little 5-hour diversion, though very quickly I realized that my skills with the idiosyncratic real-time/turn-based battle system had completely atrophied. One of the very earliest battles here is against two dogs and on default difficulty I found it absurdly difficult – dying about five times before I headed online to figure out what the hell I was doing wrong.
But from there it was relatively smooth sailing, though there’s also the considerable speedbump of Yuffie herself. For the first half of the DLC she grated on me like nails on a blackboard, with her perky/ditz anime teen girl personality driving me up the wall. But either she got more tolerable or I got worn down, as by about the mid-way point I kinda liked her.
Some of that is helped by adding the hunky Sonon Kusakabe to the mix as her straight-man, who at least gets to be as mildly annoyed by her antics in the same way we are. The DLC introduces new combat mechanics to sync or desync their moves and everything’s delivered with the same maximalist, particle-effect heavy whomp of the full Remake.
I also have to give this DLC credit for delving into the obscure lore of the awful PS2 third-person shooter Dirge of Cerberus. I suffered through that back in 2006 and had mostly wiped it from my memory, so seeing Nero the Sable (whose name is, ludicrously, Black the Black) in all his ridiculous bandage bondage man glory via the power of the PlayStation 5 was quite a trip.
The next instalment of the Remake project: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is supposedly due out later this year, and this DLC ends by returning to Cloud, Aerith, Barrett, Tifa, and Red XIII as they trudge down the road to Kalm.
While I still have some major reservations about where they’re going with this story I admit that this DLC episode made me realize how much I liked the 2020 game. I’m looking forward to being back with these characters as we begin that fateful trek to the Northern Crater and what lies beyond. Here’s hoping Square Enix have gotten metacommentary out of their system.
Pixel Hunted 