Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for PC, the review

The excellent remake of the Square Enix classic also debuts on PC in its richest and most interesting version: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade review.

Originally published in 2020 on PS4, Final Fantasy 7 Remake was the protagonist of a remaster (the remaster of a remake, yes) for PS5 last June, and it is precisely that edition, improved and enriched, which is available from today on PC. This is an important debut, as always happens when a project made exclusively for Sony consoles crosses those boundaries to land on other platforms.

The reasons why Windows users should get excited about this launch are not limited to the commercial aspects of the operation. Final Fantasy 7 has meant a lot to many fans, back in the days of the first PlayStation, and the remake directed by Tetsuya Nomura has had a long and complex development, but at the end of this long journey has shown that it really has something to say.

To some the revisiting of the adventure of Cloud Strife and the inevitable differences with the original did not go down, others have welcomed with great enthusiasm even the bravest choices. You on which side are you? And what expectations do you have about the conversion? In a few hours you can find out, but in the meantime here’s our review of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for PC.

Background

If you’ve read our review of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, you’ll know that the re-release of the game for PS5 not only introduces two graphics modes (dynamic 4K at 30 fps or dynamic resolution at 60 fps) and improves several assets, but also includes a brand new DLC starring Yuffie Kisaragi: you can find out everything you need to know about the package in the Episode INTERmission review.

The PC version offers all this content and something more, specifically a technical compartment on paper that can take full advantage of the most powerful video cards to give us an experience even more visually striking and spectacular. At the same time, we know that there has been controversy about the price announced for the game, but at the time does not appear on Epic Games Store. This is also an important element for evaluation purposes and we are sure you will draw your own conclusions when it is made official.

History

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is just the first part of a particularly ambitious project, which enriches the original of many details and facets, giving more space to several secondary characters and thus offering a better characterization general. We speak in any case of a very durable experience, which will keep you busy for over thirty hours net of the duration of Episode INTERmission, which must be played after completing the campaign.

The story’s protagonist, Cloud Strife, is a former elite soldier of Shinra, an unscrupulous corporation that controls and exploits the planet’s vital energy. Having become a mercenary, he decides to put his enormous sword and superhuman abilities at the service of AVALANCHE, a group of ecoterrorists determined to strike at the company by planting bombs at the main reactors of the city of Midgar. A plan that will have inevitable consequences for Cloud and his new friends.

Gameplay

The core of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s gameplay lies in a combat system that mixes real-time action and strategic elements, giving us the possibility to face stronger and stronger opponents by making the most of not only Cloud’s abilities but also those of his companions, whom we can control with a simple switch or coordinate by giving quick orders.

As mentioned on several occasions, the artificial intelligence of the enemies is certainly not the strong point of this production and the sequences in motion definitely leave something to be desired, but overall the variety of situations, the excellent boss fights and the many facets related to strengthening, items, evocations and special maneuvers paint a picture that we found even on PC very solid and exciting.

PC version

So we come to the central question: how does Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade perform on PC? The new edition of the game is based on the assets and performance of the PS5 version, but in terms of scalability and especially optimization unfortunately leaves disappointed, relying on a handful of presets and dynamic scalers that often do not perform well, resulting in frequent stutter and frame rate drops.

Listing the game’s graphics options is easy, as there are very few: general resolution (up to 2160p), texture and shadow resolution (high or low), frame rate target (30, 60, 90 or 120 fps), number of characters displayed (from zero to ten) and some items related to the possible HDR setting, specifically brightness, luminance, black level, etc. With an RTX 3070 we were able to set everything to maximum and play at 60 fps, but not without some backlash.

There’s practically no room for fine-tuning, the only thing you can do is activate the few presets available and figure out which one behaves best. As you might guess, the frame rate option activates a dynamic scaler so that the game maintains those frames in any situation, instantly changing the resolution to respond to any computational load. That’s why there isn’t even an option for vertical sync, and in fact we haven’t noticed any episodes of tearing.

The problem is that the scaler doesn’t do its job well in busy situations, it’s not aggressive enough and therefore there are some dips. Not to mention the annoying stutter that accompanies exploration sequences that are actually very quiet, perhaps due to a difficulty in transmitting the assets during the movement of the view. The most serious episodes, however, are others, when an obvious lack of optimization puts the graphics engine in clear difficulty, for example during the appearance of spectres in the depths of Midgar.

On the test setup, we didn’t perceive any difference in resolution going from the 30 fps preset to the 60 fps preset, even when zooming in to the maximum images. However, we do notice artifacts on the hair that indicate in any case the use of some image reconstruction technique. The scenario changes when switching to the 90 fps preset, at which point the drop in definition becomes apparent, with distant details becoming blurry.

Frankly, having to play without the possibility of adjusting any graphic aspect in detail, lacking fundamental technologies such as DLSS or Super Resolution, having several optimization problems and no improved effects that make sense of the use of more powerful GPUs, we struggle to understand the sense of opting for the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade compared to PS5, beyond clearly the well-known limitations in terms of availability of the new Sony console.

Now, let’s be clear: the game visually is very beautiful and spectacular, with polygonal models of the characters excellent for design, details and animations, and likewise a general art direction that often leaves you stunned, stopped to admire certain views. There are still some ingenuities compared to the original for PS4, but it tends to quietly turn a blind eye given the beauty of everything else, and it is therefore a pity that such an interesting technical sector can not take a step further on PC.

This is also true for the audio, enhanced by an absolutely wonderful soundtrack and dialogues in English or Japanese interpreted with conviction and intensity, despite some less brilliant choices.

PC System Requirements

Test Configuration

• Processor: Intel Core i5 10400
• Video card: NVIDIA RTX 3070
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• Operating System: Windows 10

Minimum Requirements

• Processor: Intel Core i5 3330, AMD FX 8350
• Video card: NVIDIA GTX 780, AMD RX 480
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Storage: 100 GB space required
• Storage: 100 GB space required
• Operating System: Windows 10 64 bit
• Operating System: Windows 10 64 bit

Recommended Requirements

• Processor: Intel Core i7 3770, AMD Ryzen 3 3100
• Video card: NVIDIA GTX 1080, AMD RX 5700
• Memory: 12GB RAM

Comment

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade also confirms on PC all the merits of an engaging game, spectacular and durable, that the long campaign base adds the pleasant DLC Episode INTERmission starring Yuffie. Equipped with a fascinating narrative, an artistic direction of great value and solid gameplay, the title Square Enix is unfortunately presented on the Windows platform with a conversion frankly listless, poorly optimized and not scalable, lacking even the most trivial graphics options. The hope is that the developers can fix everything with some update, because the game itself absolutely deserves your attention.

PRO