Final Fantasy 7 Remake is set to receive an upgraded version for the PS5 on June 10th of this year. Fans of the game and the Final Fantasy 7 collection at large were treated to a trailer for the upgrade, titled Intergrade, at the recent PlayStation State of Play event. It showed off the expected updates to the game’s graphics and quality of life improvements but surprised many by revealing that there will be two new chapters in the story, exclusive to PS5.
The new chapters revolve around Yuffie, who is being introduced in FF7 Remake Intergrade, but the trailer ended with the appearance of enemies from some of the spinoff titles that were part of the FF7 compilation. Fans of some of the more obscure spinoff games recognized that the game will be introducing Deepground and other elements from the 2006 game Dirge of Cerberus.
The expansion of Yuffie’s story in FF7 Remake came as a welcome surprise for many fans, but Deepground was even a bigger shock. The group was originally a medical division for the Shinra company that worked to help SOLDIERS (Shinra’s super-soldier program) that were injured in battle to recuperate.
As many things associated with Shinra do, the division soon became a secretive hub for human experimentation with the aim of creating individuals even more powerful than those from the SOLDIER program that created Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud. The experimentation on these different individuals began before even birth, with fetuses injected with Mako energy, and was happening both before and during the events of the original FF7. But after the destruction of Midgar at the end of the original game, the group was sealed beneath the Shinra headquarters until their escape several years later, instigating the events of Dirge of Cerberus.
Dirge of Cerberus was somewhat of a strange entry into the FF7 continuity. The game was a third-person shooter with RPG elements, in and of itself already a big departure from the game’s predecessor. Dirge of Cerberus was largely overlooked at the time, not really reaching commercial or critical success. Dedicated fans of FF7 still enjoyed some elements of the game that focused on Vincent Valentine, the other optional character alongside Yuffie in the original FF7, and expanded on his backstory with Shinra. The game also introduced Deepground and a slew of other new antagonists spawned from Shinra’s experimentation like Weiss who made an appearance in the ending of the FF7 Remake Intergrade trailer.
Some fans felt that the game overly complicated the already complex plotlines of FF7 in a similar situation to the Kingdom Hearts spinoff games, but overall, it introduced an even darker side to the experiments performed by the Shinra corporation’s leadership. The strange offshoot game introduced more WEAPONS, the powerful monsters created by the planet itself, and expanded Vincent’s story in a way that to some made him an even more important character than Cloud in the overall narrative.
With bringing in elements from the various spinoff games into FF7 Remake, it would seem that Square Enix is looking to uniform the FF7 brand somewhat. With the announcement that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis will be an episodic retelling of the entire FF7 timeline, it seems that the company is using the FF7 Remake changes to the story as a way to bring together disparate elements from all of the spinoff content like Dirge of Cerberus and Advent Children. The most veteran fans are likely excited to see characters like Zack, Vincent, and the SOLDIER predecessors like Angeal and Genesis taking a larger role in the overall story.
In doing so, Square Enix is giving itself a monumental task in bringing together so many different storylines. The FF7 Remake parts to come already have a huge amount of narrative to cover even without including obscure groups like Deepground into its world so much earlier than before. Fans are looking forward to seeing how Square Enix will pull this off after the massive success of FF7 Remake, and bringing in plotlines and characters from outside the original game will be exciting to see in the future of FF7 Remake that is now wide open after the ending of the first part.
With the defeat of the Whispers at the end of FF7 Remake, Cloud and the other members of Avalanche have defied their intended fate in a way that seems to still be reminiscent of FF Versus 13. This ultimately means that the story to follow doesn’t have to follow the events of the original games, which has led to more than a few fan theories about what changes are to come. With these new possibilities come new questions about how deep into the game’s more obscure backstory will FF7 Remake dive in its future parts. Bringing in Deepground is the first step in this task, and it will be interesting to see how they are adapted into this new world of FF7.
The group’s story could remain largely unchanged, or could be rewritten to interact more directly with Cloud and the others in his group. The implications about Vincent appearing earlier in the timeline seem obvious after elements from his standalone game have been introduced. FF7 Remake Intergrade is already doing this with Yuffie after expanding the story around the war between Shinra and her homeland of Wutai. It would seem natural for something similar to be taking place with Vincent.
Deepground being a more active participant in the mainline events of FF7 would have big ramifications on not just the main party but would even affect the antagonists of FF7 Remake. The Turks and SOLDIER are both elite groups within Shinra that are used to deal with extra powerful threats. By introducing an even more powerful set of foes like Weiss and the other Tsviets (the Sephiroth-equivalent elite members of Deepground), it could set the stage for conflict between Sephiroth and these other powerful entities.
Most of Shinra’s scientific outings are centered around Sephiroth and Jenova, so seeing a version of the story where Sephiroth is perhaps not even the greatest threat would be a wild departure from the original game. Fans still have many questions about what’s to come in FF7 Remake and how they will narrow down the story for the next part. Including obscure threads like Deepground this early in the timeline has many fans wondering about what’s next for FF7 Remake.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade releases June 10 for PS5.
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