I somehow failed to unlock Yuffie during my first playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, having made the fatal mistake of saving before speaking with her and getting my god damned gil stolen. About as successful as any Shin Megami Tensei recruitment attempt, frankly. At the time, I didn't even realize Yuffie and Vincent were optional characters; I was aware of them and just assumed you unlocked them as part of the story. Oh well, she stole my money, but I'm sure she'll be back around, and then we'll go on all kinds of crazy adventures together...
Naturally, I did a more complete playthrough of Final Fantasy VII sometime after my disastrous first run, and being as Yuffie is optional, I found she doesn't really have much agency over the story. Sure, there's plenty of interesting side content involving her and Vincent which helps build the world of FFVII and provide additional context for some of the game's larger narrative beats, but besides puking all over the Highwind and raining even more puke down onto unsuspecting citizens while skydiving into Midgar, she isn't given much to do.
So, at face value, Episode Intermission attempting to weave Yuffie into the core narrative of Remake is welcome, and I feel like there's far more character building and actual growth bottled up in its short 4-to-5 hour run than the entirety of the original game. There's still two more parts to the remake series, too! Yuffie fans are eating good (note: Yuffie fans are shattering their teeth on rock hard nuts, they are maniacs, and you should not trust them or accept any gifts from them)!
Intermission takes place roughly halfway through Remake, with Yuffie and her partner Sonon infiltrating Midgar to steal experimental materia from Shinra with the help of Avalanche. It's a little ironic that Avalanche's splinter cell is accused of working with Wutai operatives when the core branch of Avalanche was doing that all along, and throughout Yuffie's time in Midgar, she and Sonon both wonder if the more extreme sect ought to be who they partner up with. Also, there's a bunch of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII shit in here, and I can barely parse any of it from content exclusive to the Remake continuity. I will never play Dirge of Cerberus or read On the Way to a Smile, that is TOO MUCH FINAL FANTASY VII!
Yuffie's playstyle is a hybrid of close quarters and ranged combat and I like it quite a bit, though I never did get the hang of her parry timing or dodge ability. Not that they're necessary, but I feel like there's a skill ceiling there I never could reach. Being able to change the affinity of your basic attacks without the use of elemental materia is overly generous if it carries over into Rebirth but considering she's the only playable character in Intermission, it becomes an invaluable addition to her kit. Mug also compensates for a lackluster assortment of stealable items by applying a large amount of stagger at little cost.
It's a shame Sonon is not playable as I'm a sucker for any character that uses polearms, but hey, Cid is in Rebirth and I kinda get why they didn't want to overcomplicate the DLC. Dungeons, likewise, are pretty simplistic and don't have a whole lot going on, but good combat, great bosses, and an enjoyable story more than make up for how dry they are.
The true stand out feature of Intermission, however, is Fort Condor. Finally, the return of the persistent collectable mini-game to Final Fantasy. Much like the Fort Condor game in the original, it's a mini RTS/tower defense game, only it functions a whole hell of a lot better here and gives you a little something extra to work towards. Once you hit Shinra HQ, you're pretty much locked in until the credits roll, so most of my time with this was bottled up in the opening hour of the game, but I really hope it shows back up in Rebirth. I'm a huge slut for Tetra Master and I can see myself getting deep into this, too.
Now's a good time to jump into Intermission if you haven't already. It's worth the asking price and certainly seems like it will be required reading for Rebirth, and if you pick it up now you'll still have enough time to Google "what the hell is up with Nero?" before that game releases.
Naturally, I did a more complete playthrough of Final Fantasy VII sometime after my disastrous first run, and being as Yuffie is optional, I found she doesn't really have much agency over the story. Sure, there's plenty of interesting side content involving her and Vincent which helps build the world of FFVII and provide additional context for some of the game's larger narrative beats, but besides puking all over the Highwind and raining even more puke down onto unsuspecting citizens while skydiving into Midgar, she isn't given much to do.
So, at face value, Episode Intermission attempting to weave Yuffie into the core narrative of Remake is welcome, and I feel like there's far more character building and actual growth bottled up in its short 4-to-5 hour run than the entirety of the original game. There's still two more parts to the remake series, too! Yuffie fans are eating good (note: Yuffie fans are shattering their teeth on rock hard nuts, they are maniacs, and you should not trust them or accept any gifts from them)!
Intermission takes place roughly halfway through Remake, with Yuffie and her partner Sonon infiltrating Midgar to steal experimental materia from Shinra with the help of Avalanche. It's a little ironic that Avalanche's splinter cell is accused of working with Wutai operatives when the core branch of Avalanche was doing that all along, and throughout Yuffie's time in Midgar, she and Sonon both wonder if the more extreme sect ought to be who they partner up with. Also, there's a bunch of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII shit in here, and I can barely parse any of it from content exclusive to the Remake continuity. I will never play Dirge of Cerberus or read On the Way to a Smile, that is TOO MUCH FINAL FANTASY VII!
Yuffie's playstyle is a hybrid of close quarters and ranged combat and I like it quite a bit, though I never did get the hang of her parry timing or dodge ability. Not that they're necessary, but I feel like there's a skill ceiling there I never could reach. Being able to change the affinity of your basic attacks without the use of elemental materia is overly generous if it carries over into Rebirth but considering she's the only playable character in Intermission, it becomes an invaluable addition to her kit. Mug also compensates for a lackluster assortment of stealable items by applying a large amount of stagger at little cost.
It's a shame Sonon is not playable as I'm a sucker for any character that uses polearms, but hey, Cid is in Rebirth and I kinda get why they didn't want to overcomplicate the DLC. Dungeons, likewise, are pretty simplistic and don't have a whole lot going on, but good combat, great bosses, and an enjoyable story more than make up for how dry they are.
The true stand out feature of Intermission, however, is Fort Condor. Finally, the return of the persistent collectable mini-game to Final Fantasy. Much like the Fort Condor game in the original, it's a mini RTS/tower defense game, only it functions a whole hell of a lot better here and gives you a little something extra to work towards. Once you hit Shinra HQ, you're pretty much locked in until the credits roll, so most of my time with this was bottled up in the opening hour of the game, but I really hope it shows back up in Rebirth. I'm a huge slut for Tetra Master and I can see myself getting deep into this, too.
Now's a good time to jump into Intermission if you haven't already. It's worth the asking price and certainly seems like it will be required reading for Rebirth, and if you pick it up now you'll still have enough time to Google "what the hell is up with Nero?" before that game releases.