Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade’s skilled developers describe how they used the PlayStation 5’s beefier hardware to take the newest edition of the classic JRPG series to the next level. The FF7R EPISODE INTERmission DLC took players in the feisty Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi as she sneaks into Midgar to steal Shinra’s top-secret Ultimate Materia during the events of Remake, was released in June with Final Fantasy VII Remake.
When the Final Fantasy VII Remake was released last year, it was already regarded as a huge technical advance above the iconic 1997 original, despite decades of fan desires and conjecture. Aside from the expected graphics boost from the PS1 to the PS4, Square Enix filled up the early portions of Final Fantasy VII’s plot, turning Cloud and Team Avalanche’s time in Midgar from a quick prologue to a multi-hour adventure. As a result, when it came time to port Final Fantasy VII Remake to the PS5, the developers used the new machine to push the game’s technological boundaries even further.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Lead Rendering Programmer Shuichi Ikeda and Lead Technical Programmer Tomohito Hano sat down for an interview with Unreal Engine yesterday, as reported by PlayStation Lifestyle, where they listed the ways in which the PS5’s superior-tech allowed them to improve on last year’s hit title.
The PS5’s 4K capability, according to Ikeda, allowed for a bigger skybox (the in-game background that makes the game world appear larger than it actually is), especially during daytime portions. Hano claims that the PS5’s enhanced compression technology, along with the Oodle Texture and Oodle Kraken compression tools, enables his team to reduce Intergrade’s file size.
Finally, both say that thanks to the PS5’s much-lauded Solid-State Drive, I/O speeds are “no longer a bottleneck.” Fans eagerly anticipate the next Final Fantasy VII Remake installment, seeing Cloud and his friends fleeing Shinra and the evil Sephiroth after they escaped from Midgar at the end of the previous game.
Because of the chronological shift in FFVII Remake, everything is now possible. Square Enix has promised that the FF7R storyline and gameplay aspects established in INTERmission would be carried over into the next chapter of Remake.
The PlayStation 5 is a technological wonder in terms of hardware and software. Hearing how companies like Square Enix plan to use it to build on their existing titles is always intriguing. With the Final Fantasy VII Remake series said to be shifting entirely to the PS5 with the next release, Shuichi Ikeda and Tomohito Hano will be able to fully use the additional elements they mentioned to guarantee that Final Fantasy VII Remake continues to blow players’ minds.
