Final Fantasy 8 Remastered: Why Did It Take So Long?
108Recently Square Enix has put a lot of effort into releasing its major Final Fantasy titles on different platforms.
In late 2018, the company delighted fans by announcing that it was releasing a whole host of games - including Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2 and XII - on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
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This video is a critical commentary on the release of the videogame FINAL FANTASY VIII REMASTERED and the reasons the game took so long to be released, and is therefore presented to viewers for the purpose of news, criticism, debate and commentary.
However, one game was conspicuous by its absence β Final Fantasy VIII.
While other Final Fantasy games were getting ports and re-releases left right and centre, it seemed like FF8 had been neglected for some unknown reason.
It was even suggested that Final Fantasy 8's source code had been misplaced or lost. When Square Enix made its 2018 announcement, this rumour seemed to have been all but confirmed by the Final Fantasy 8-shaped hole.
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Despite this however, by the time June came around and E3 2019 was just around the corner, there was a sense of hope and optimism in the air that maybe all wasn't lost for Final Fantasy 8.
After all, Square Enix appeared to be in a charitable mood, having just released the first new Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer in four years.
Perhaps the reason why the company had not announced FF8's re-release along with the other games was because it had something else in mind β a Final Fantasy 8 Remake!
Well, in some ways this turned out to be partially true.
While we didn't get an announcement for a full Final Fantasy 8 Remake, we did get what I would say is the second best thing - news of a Final Fantasy 8 Remaster!
However, that begged that question - why the heck had it taken so long to reach that point?!
Luckily director Yoshinori Kitase provided some answers to this question in an interview with Famitsu, translated by Siliconera.
When questioned about the Final Fantasy 8 project, he said: "At first the plan was to release it on current generation hardware with more or less the same graphics", but this changed when the team "decided that it was necessary to improve on character quality."
He finished by saying that "the troubles were there, but in the end it was the right call."
That last point is the one I find most interesting, and which I wish heβd elaborated on. Was this alluding to the rumours that had been flying around about problems with Final Fantasy 8's source code?
It's also interesting that the idea to work on Final Fantasy 8 Remastered, as opposed to just doing a direct port, apparently came "out of nowhere".
Surely a games development company of Square Enixβs stature and experience would plan out projects of this scale long in advance?
Maybe it's just the case that, when it came to it, the likes of Kitase and Nomura weren't happy to release a 20 year old and much-loved game without giving it the kind of care and attention that other Final Fantasy games had received.
There does seem to be some truth to the reports that Square Enix have had problems when it comes to archiving their older games, as stated by Yosuke Matsuda himself, the company's CEO and president.
In an interview with Gamer Informer, Matsuda said: "I'm embarrassed to admit it, but in some cases, we don't know where the code is anymore."
I'd love to hear what you think about this.
Do you have a theory about why we've had to wait all this time for Final Fantasy VIII to get a re-release? And are you excited to play Final Fantasy 8 Remastered? Drop your comments below!
#FinalFantasy8Remastered #FinalFantasyVIIIRemastered
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