While most fans would've known Square Enix would bring a PS5 port at some point, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is taking things one step further. Instead of just an upgraded and optimized version of the PS4 JRPG, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade brings plenty of new story content as well. Not only is Yuffie, an originally optional party member, receiving her own standalone story for the remake. What's more important is soldiers from Shinra's top-secret "Deepground" seem to appear in the Yuffie-portion of the trailer, originally introduced in Dirge of Cerberus. Final Fantasy 7 Remake seems to be addressing Compilation content before the remake's next chapter.
Assuming a certain tease from the most recent gameplay trailer is true, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7 content makes its very unprecedented return. It's hard to believe Dirge of Cerberus narrative content, and characters like Weiss, are already being teased in Remake. Normally these details aren't even introduced canonically over three years after the events of Final Fantasy 7 Remake's first episode. Granted this was the purpose of a remake, to reimagine the overarching story of Final Fantasy 7, but Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 content making it into Final Fantasy 7 Remake this early certainly wasn't expected.
FF7 Remake Intergrade Introduces Dirge of Cerberus Elements
There's two major hints that essentially prove Dirge of Cerberus content is coming to Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade's Yuffie episode. The first hint comes from the unusual armed soldiers Yuffie affectionately refers to as "jerks." They very strongly resemble the Deepground, a top-secret division of SOLDIER meant to serve as the medical division for standard SOLDIER infantry. They're identified specifically by their distinctly lit suits and gas masks, something not seen on any other Shinra military force in all of Final Fantasy 7 canon. The second hint comes from a certain other obnoxiously-haired character who was teased at the end of the Intergrade trailer.
To be fair, the hint shows this character inside the VR room and not in any specific scene, but it appears Weiss is coming to Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. The most likely scenario is that Weiss may become an optional boss fight in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but he's not just a random character. Weiss is one of the main antagonists of Dirge of Cerberus, and is also closely related to Professor Hojo's Mako experiments and the Tsviets. Weiss isn't necessarily related to Yuffie specifically, but he is indeed related to Vincent Valentine. However, the big issue with that connection is that, at the time of Yuffie's Remake episode, Vincent Valentine is already in a deep sleep.
What Yuffie's Episode Means For Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was presumably always going to find a way to inject Yuffie and Vincent Valentine into the canon timeline. The original Final Fantasy 7 relegated them to side-stories that were completely optional, despite Vincent's storyline being relatively integral to Sephiroth's origin story. As for Yuffie's story, well, she never really received the same treatment, despite seeming like an important connection to Wutai and Avalanche. However, that may change with Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, where she's made her way to Midgar much earlier than she ever would in the original Final Fantasy 7.
However, the implications of Yuffie's mission landing her in trouble with Deepground seems to imply that Vincent Valentine's introduction may be related. Deepground were the main antagonists of Vincent's own game, Dirge of Cerberus, but canonically Vincent should be nowhere near Midgar at this point. Perhaps Yuffie and Vincent, as the only two party members who were optional in the original Final Fantasy 7, are consolidating their respective introductions together for Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Perhaps the best way to implement and improve on their character origin stories is to meld two storylines together, with Yuffie and Vincent crossing paths.
A Potentially Intelligent Inclusion of FF7 Compilation Content
Nomura did mention that Weiss specifically was designed as a secret boss character for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so his presence isn't particularly narrative-pertinent. However, the inclusion of Deepground implies a much deeper connection to Dirge of Cerberus in Final Fantasy 7 Remake than many would've ever expected. However, that could be the perfect way to emphasize the connection between Avalanche and Wutai, some of which was already teased in the Yuffie episode trailer. Yuffie and the new character Sonon already meet with some kind of sub-division of Avalanche, unrelated to Barret Wallace and his crew of Avalanche freedom fighters.
In fact, this may be the reason why Final Fantasy 7 Remake made it explicitly clear that Barret's crew was working independent of Avalanche's full support. Fans should at least look at Yuffie's adventure to Midgar and inclusion in Final Fantasy 7 Remake with a cautious optimism. It's unclear if Vincent may even be related at all to what she is doing, and while the inclusion of Deepground doesn't necessarily mean Vincent will make his way into the game, there is a plausible opportunity for him to appear. Either way, this could be a non-nonsensical way of introducing Deepground early, as a way of incorporating Compilation content without over-extending the story.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade releases on June 10, 2021, for PS5.