Final Fantasy 7 Remake: How Square Improved The PS5 Version
The talented developers behind Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade explain how they took advantage of the PlayStation 5’s beefier technology to take the latest installment of the iconic JRPG series to the next level. Final Fantasy VII Remake was brought to Sony’s newest console back in June alongside the FF7R EPISODE INTERmission DLC, which put players in the role of the spunky Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisaragi as she sneaks into Midgar to steal Shinra’s top-secret Ultimate Materia during the events of Remake.
Final Fantasy VII Remake was already seen as a vast technical improvement over the landmark 1997 original when it launched last year after decades of fan wishes and speculation. Aside from the expected graphical upgrade from the PS1 to the PS4, Square Enix fully fleshed out the early chapters of Final Fantasy VII’s story, turning Cloud and Team Avalanche’s stay in Midgar from a brief prologue to a fully-fledged game spanning several hours. Hence, when it came time to bring Final Fantasy VII Remake to the PS5, the developers made good use of the new console to take their game to further technical heights.
As reported by PlayStation Lifestyle yesterday, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Lead Rendering Programmer Shuichi Ikeda and Lead Technical Programmer Tomohito Hano sat down for an interview with Unreal Engine, where they listed the ways that the PS5’s superior tech allowed them to improve on last year’s hit title. Ikeda mentions how the PS5’s 4K support allowed for a larger skybox (the in-game background that makes the game world seem farther-reaching than it actually is), particularly in daytime segments. Hano notes that the PS5’s improved compression tech allowed his team to reduce Intergrade’s file size along with Oodle Texture and Oodle Kraken compression programs. Finally, both note that thanks to the PS5’s much-lauded Solid-State Drive, I/O speeds were “no longer a bottleneck.”
Fans are currently waiting for the next Final Fantasy VII Remake entry which will feature Cloud and his friends on the run from Shinra and the evil Sephiroth following their escape from Midgar at the end of the last game. FFVII Remake’s altered timeline means that anything is now possible, and Square Enix promises that the FF7R plot and gameplay elements that were introduced in INTERmission will carry over into the next chapter of Remake.
The PlayStation 5 is a technical marvel in both hardware and software capabilities, and hearing how developers like Square Enix can use it to expand on their already-existing titles is always fascinating. With the Final Fantasy VII Remake series supposedly moving to the PS5 completely from the next installment onward, Shuichi Ikeda and Tomohito Hano will be able to make full use of the new features they described to ensure that Final Fantasy VII Remake continues to blow gamers’ minds.
Source: PlayStation Lifestyle, Unreal Engine