They had spent years preparing the information about the return of Final Fantasy 7, rebuilt from scratch to adapt the old game to modern tastes. At E3 2019, Square Enix let fans and media get their hands on a Final Fantasy 7 Remake demo, which won't be fully available for years, but soon revealed it would be another blast from the past: a remaster of the upcoming game. of the series, Final Fantasy 8.
While the game has never been this beautiful, it's more or less a clean port, and light years away from the stunning visuals of the completely reimagined Final Fantasy 7 Remake. So the question remains: Is Final Fantasy 8 Remaster worth playing?
This is a difficult answer, because 8 is a difficult game to love.
While Final Fantasy 7 heralded the series' grand entrance into the polygonal era with a steampunk fantasy, its successor was a darker adventure filled with neurotic characters drawn in a realistic style. Suffice to say, it divided fans when it was released in 1999, leading to a well-established rivalry between 7 and 8.
This tribalism inevitably influenced everyone's opinion of Final Fantasy 8, including this author, and pushed fans to ignore the game's flaws in order to stick together on the walls. The announcement of the FF7 redesign has probably caused a smile among the most ardent fans. Presumably, FF8 fans showed a minor glee when they learned their own remaster was coming much earlier this year.
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Final Fantasy 8 Remaster has faithfully brought the game into the post-HD era, with limited but crucial tweaks. Square Enix has created new models for the characters (everything else has only been cleaned up in the jittery days of the 32-bit game), while players can use a trio of debug codes to ignore the fight or enjoy fighting to just enjoy themselves. the history.
Which is a long, long way from a proper remake, and it's hard not to watch Final Fantasy 7 Remake's cut-scenes and in-game sequences without some serious envy. Remastering FF8 is a smart solution to satisfy fans of the Final Fantasy dynasty and save time while the publisher painstakingly brings Final Fantasy 7 into the modern era. It's not really fair, but FF8 fans' denial isn't about ignoring its predecessor's huge cultural imprint.
This outsider mindset does things for fans, like making them believe that their game is inaccessible to anyone who hasn't signed up years ago.
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Before releasing the remaster, I would have sternly warned all newcomers: the original game is opaque, with some useless tutorials that allow players to figure out the idiosyncratic binding and drawing systems. And thanks to FF7 fans, I'm tired of defending the game's really weird story, which tells of eager teens battling witches in a disconnected, steampunk-lite world.
My first few hours have confirmed my suspicions, especially with the polarizing protagonist: Squall is a stubborn loner and lonely from his peers, all of whom unsuccessfully try to destroy him, sometimes because they need him to become a mere leader. I took on the connection system like I said yesterday, but spent hours racking up magic to fill out my stats before continuing with the story, an obvious jump over the course of the game. The character's inwardness, Squall's frustrating thoughts about his teammates, his aggressive detachment, exasperates my older, wiser self. How did I resist this stupidity?
But after riding with Squall for a dozen hours, my frustration wore off. I'm not really sick of the fierce loner who is too stubborn to let others in; I was desperate not to revisit the character that I identified with so much as a teenager. Cloud is a silent tough guy with a big sword; Squall is prickly and lost in an endless introspective spiral. No matter which game I played first, I would have been hooked during my formative years.
(Image credit: Square Enix)
I rediscovered a game as awkward and clumsy as it is fast and thin, emotional and serious, which has affected players more lonely than I thought. I would have warned potential players with warnings, as I described all the warts in my hometown, trying to prevent people from seeing a place, a game, with flaws that I would have projected onto myself. I was very into it and I was identifying with it a lot; to play is to see me young.
But Final Fantasy 8 is richly unique. Aside from their super Limit Breaks, each character is essentially interchangeable: you build your team by choosing who you prefer, rather than evaluating skills and team composition. The setting is a mix of esoteric architecture and futuristic technology that makes you feel out of place, familiar and fantastical. And even though the game has melodramatic streaks, it's also prone to fierce humor and ridiculous dialogue.
I've seen people tweet long discussions about playing Final Fantasy 8 for the first time and about to fall in love with the stupid, opinionated, questionable crap that makes up the cast. (And no, they weren't disabled by a crossover, idiosyncratic, as it is.) This is not a confirmation that we, and other heads of FF8, have been right all along; It's a relief to see that the game has always been more than just a baffling experience, desperate to prove itself in one of the game's greatest dynasties.