It certainly cannot be said that the Final Fantasy VII restoration project is not controversial. From the announcement with great fanfare, to the interminable waits and through the noises of great difficulty in the work, over a year ago to reach the shelves is a video game that could be defined – with a pinch of audacity – even surprising. The exceptional technical-artistic reconstruction exudes quite evidently the passion and research of Kitase & co, as well as the fine and effective processing of the gameplay shows a remarkable skill in terms of game design and in the reading of an evolution in the dynamics of the medium. (here you can find the complete review of Final Fantasy VII Remake).
However, uncertain communication and some slippery production choices, such as the fragmented administration of the adventure and the relationship undertaken with the original material from a narrative point of view, have thrown more than a veil of shadow on the project and its future.
From the exclusive temporal release on PS4, the inevitable deluxe edition – Intergrade, in the circumstance – has not long been awaited, which has rode the wave of the new generation of consoles by making further technical-performance improvements and introducing new content, the INTERmission episode in the company of the character Yuffie.
This same edition with all its contents also arrives on PC through the Epic Games Store, for a price (79.99 euros) that has already raised a piqued chatter among users. Well, today we are here to tell you without too many frills – and after the obvious evidence of the case – that Final Fantasy VII Intergrade on PC is a rather bland and lazy conversion, supported by an optimization that is still discreet and the excellent product offered.
The base of the assets is that of the PS5 version of the title, so undoubtedly the best. And Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, from a technical point of view, it must be said that it is a solid title. Of course, we find some small burrs, such as the texture packs of some elements in evident lower resolution (the hair models above all).
However, it is really difficult and ungenerous to dwell on these aspects in the presence of such a loving and clean reconstruction of a Midgar truly rich in details and personality. From the artistic direction to the animation sector, embellished with particle effects that the Unreal Engine 4 always manages to embellish, this edition is certainly the most effective in terms of mere visual rendering.
However, we have an optimization that is not yet very solid, with perceptible stutter phenomena that accompany some excited moments in the clashes, especially when the scene is particularly dense with elements, or in certain transition phases in which the engine processes large portions of textures. . Let’s be clear, this is not anything that compromises the enjoyment of the experience or that conditions the clashes, and probably everything will be resolved with the first updates, but it helps to restore the feeling of a somewhat hasty job.
The title is not excessively expensive in terms of resources. As a recommended requirement, a third generation Intel i7 processor and a GTX 1080 are indicated. We with a mid-range configuration that mounts a third generation Ryzen 7 and a GTX 1070 have always managed to keep the framerate above 60 – between 70 and the 80 fps to be precise – in 1440p, except for the sporadic phenomena mentioned above, with the “details” at the maximum. At 2160p the performances settled between 50 and 60 fps on average, a still good result considering the possibilities of the card.
Therefore, net of some inaccuracies – both of a technical and performance nature – everything seems to work properly. What puzzles and denotes the laziness of the operation is the lack of any scalability of the visual experience, certified by the rather unsettling absence of any graphic parameter.
There are only two graphic settings: the detail of the textures and the game environments. You can set the resolution up to the maximum of 4k, or alternatively go to touch the voice of the fps, which has 4 presets: 30, 60, 90, 120. Choose the fluidity you would like to achieve and resolution and quality of environment-texture will adapt in based on the resources of your machine. Enough. End. Locked down.
There is not even a shadow of the multitude of aspects that we can touch up in Horizon Zero Dawn, to name one. No filters of any kind, field of view, aesthetic minutiae and no mention of Nvidia’s RTX and DLSS technologies that we saw in the excellent port of Death Stranding, for example. We are definitely below the “competition”, and we regret having to arouse a pinch of malice, but the inevitable feeling that touches us is that of a work based too boldly on the philosophy of maximum yield with minimum effort.
Final Fantasy VII Intergrade arrives on PC inert, indolent, therefore. Listless, and perhaps even a little smart. The operation almost seems to rely excessively on the quality of the product, neglecting even the heart of the ecosystem of the platform on which it arrives, that is, the scalability in technical-aesthetic personalization. If we add to this an optimization work that is not even completely finished and a price in full deluxe climate, the verdict here can only be cold. If you only have a PC to play, the pill will certainly be less bitter – and must be swallowed, please. For everyone else, really, it’s hard to find a particular reason to prefer this version, let alone to repeat.
6
/ 10
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