For one reason or another, Final Fantasy 7 Remake decided to make the scenes in Elmyra's flashback sepia-toned to differentiate them from the events in the game's present timeline. It's a wonder why it does this because the rest of the game's flashbacks don't. Cloud's flashbacks, for example, remain in full color whenever they happen, such as when he remembers his promise to Tifa. It seems Square Enix realized this, though, and decided to do something about it with Intergrade.
For those out of the loop, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade added a Photo Mode to the main game, allowing players to take screenshots of everything from gameplay to cutscenes. They can then edit these photos to some degree, including adding color filters, which some fans are discovering applies to Elmyra's flashback cutscenes as well. In other words, photo mode gives fans a way of seeing what the flashback scenes look like when colored to match the present timeline.
Reddit user-tag "xPhantasma" posted multiple photos of the result. They show off the colored appearance of every character that appeared in the flashback, such as Ifalna, Aerith's mother, who never appears outside these scenes in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and so never had a colored appearance in the game until photo mode's addition. The mode may not be as good as watching the scenes play out in color, but at least it does allow fans to see what these characters really looked like at the time. Those interested can find the rest of the images here.
It's interesting to see all of the details that the colors give to the flashbacks. For example, Ifalna really does look like just an older, more mature Aerith, right down to the colors in her clothes and the hairstyle she wears. If Aerith survived her fate in the original game, it wouldn't be surprising to see her end up looking just like Ifalna. It's also interesting to see a young Aerith primarily wearing green when she and her mother seem to both prefer tones of red.
Here's hoping that any flashback scenes in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will be in color. Sepia's not a bad thing, it's just unnecessary and mutes the little details that colors may reveal when present, and with photo mode now available, it can still appear as an alternative filter without taking away anything from Final Fantasy 7 Remake's vibrant look. Photo Mode already offers various filters to try, so sepia wouldn't be out of place.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is on PS5.