I got the Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS4 when it was first released. I wrote rather extensively on it, and throughly enjoyed it, even if there were gimmickly quests and lots of filler content for something that tugged as hard as possible on nostalgia, while at the same time giving birth to a new game, and expanding the depth of a beloved story.
While it gave "thirty" hours of content if you pursued everything that was the story, without additional content - it could've been condensed, just as the installation process on the PS5 installation of Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade. I put the disc in my console, and then it tried to take my money for Intergrade. I said no, and eventually fiddled with some options in the PlayStation Store, and I had access to Intergrade.
I then needed to part with a tiny bit of money in order to purchase the Intermission DLC which features the somewhat optional character from the original Final Fantasy 7, Yuffie.
There's a clear step up in the visuals of Final Fantasy 7: Remake: Intergrade (which also wins a few prizes for the most semicolons used in a video game title). For the first time, we get the title presented in true 4K, with higher resolution textures, slick animations (and even a faster framerate mode if you want!) - and absolutely gorgeous character models.
The Intermission DLC focuses on Yuffie, and is new content. She enters Midgar from the city of Wutai. Yuffie is a ninja, and she wants to steal all the materia (spheres of condensed magical energy that allow its users to cast magic) she possibly can from Shinra. Shinra are the evil-corporate overlords sucking the world dry, and the main cause of all the turmoil that leads to the plot of FF7 becoming so beloved.
As a ninja, and as a spy, Yuffie carries a shuriken as her main weapon, and combat is tweaked ever so slightly for this set up. There are some anomalies and annoyances with targeting foes in battle, but once you get the hang of it, it's thoroughly enjoyable, with outrageous flips, kicks, spins, and dashes, that make the combat in Final Fantasy 7: Intermission feel far more like a Capcom Devil May Cry title than any of the combat featured in the PlayStation One classic title.
The pacing of the game is fairly decent, but after exploring the slums of Midgar, the pacing accelerates dramatically. You can spend as long, or as little time as you like in either part of the game, with their being plenty to do on the sidelines for a bit of DLC that came in at a small cost (and good value) for the level of enjoyment I got out of the title.
There's a new mini-game called Ford Condor. People who played the original will remember this as being an early mini game you could participate in while still on the first disc of FF7, and here it is adapted into a board game which you can play against other NPCs. It's got some great depth, presents a real challenge, and Square-Enix would potentially enjoy charging for this on a standalone basis if they could, with micro-transactions, and booster packs, and everything else they possibly could do to extract money of out a mobile gaming crowd.
I think they might actually end up doing it as well - it would work really well as a 1v1 multiplayer strategy game in the current adaptation. Whatever the second part of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake brings, I hope that Ford Condor (the board game) - makes an appearance. It makes it questionable, however; if Fort Condor itself will appear as a playable / explorable area - given its entirely optional exploration in the original title.
Toward the end of the Intermission DLC, we're given a deeper look into the Shinra development labs, and there's some cool monsters - we also learn more about Yuffie's backstory in context, and her motivations for despising Shinra are very clearly laid out. Here, she transforms from happy go-lucky-ninja-killer-spy, to gritty, dark, tormented individual - and I hope we see more of this in the 2nd part of the remake, and beyond.
Finally, the DLC closes with the main party, Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Red XII approaching the city of Kalm - discussing their journey, and what might be next. This particular section appears significantly better in detail than any element of FF7: Remake on PS4 (and I played on the Pro) - and it makes me excited to revisit the title in full on PS5 once I finish FF6, and FF7 vanilla.
If you're still reading this, and love everything Final Fantasy 7 - it about time you get a PlayStation 5 and get the Remake. This is the definitive version of the Remake, and through the PlayStation store, you can also play the original game in full (not just the Remake initial chapter) - through the PS4 version of FF7.