Final Fantasy VIII Remastered - Let's Talk About It!

[greenyxi]

I've played up until Timber and just got on the train (spoiler free hopefully).

I find that the most important aspect of a remaster (upping the graphics) is very mixed. The models look a million times better; Squall certainly is handsome now, Rinoa . My issue is with the backdrops. They used to look amazing when on PS1, but now that you have good looking models running around them, they look really outdated. Also, the world map shows in squares sometimes, if that makes sense? Like they haven't blurred the green of the grass over the squares they used to make the...field? I can't explain it at all lol. There's also tearing when you turn the camera and there's a lot of distance ahead of you?

Anyway, bad explanation aside! The music is the PS1 soundtrack that we know and love. The story seems the same? I can't remember the script enough to notice. The load times are non existent. The speed up feature makes drawing much less of a chore. I haven't tried the other boosters but I'm sure they're grand for the right people.

All in all, I'm loving playing through it again at such a fast pace. Even Lunatic Pandora won't be shit now that it can just be sped through! I never did see the point in trying to do well in that "dungeon" when you

Spoiler

just get kicked out anyway

.

 

[mothcorrupteth]

As for me, if I wanted to play the original... I have the original... Feel lucky we got anything at all. If that doesn't sound good enough for you, just play the original.

But... that's the thing. To play the original is only going to get harder with time. Yes, they re-release it on new hardware, but accessing that for re-download or transferring to my PSP and my Vita requires connecting to the PSN. There won't always be the financial incentives to maintain those servers. As for physical copies, we now know that disc rot is inevitable; eventually my physical copy will be unusable. That leaves hacking a PS2 or a PS3 to play ISOs. In the case of the former, that's a somewhat pricey option because it involves a lot of hardware, and in the case of the latter it's very time-consuming to get an external hard drive to interface with the PS3's funky architecture.

What I worry about profusely is that we may end up for some games with a Star Wars: Special Edition situation, where it becomes harder and harder to get the original, unedited experience. I actually prefer the PS1 version of Final Fantasy IV to all other versions because it comes closest to matching the Japanese original on SNES, but it's the most difficult to preserve because it only exists on a disc that has compatibility issues with a PS3, and on pirated ISOs. I have to run that sucker through a SCART-to-HDMI setup on my PS2 to play legally. So we've seen the neglect Square-Enix has for the original IV. That makes me nervous about VIII. Will I always have a legal option to play it in the form I fell in love with in 1999, as opposed to the Remaster(s)?

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Also, the world map shows in squares sometimes, if that makes sense? Like they haven't blurred the green of the grass over the squares they used to make the...field? I can't explain it at all lol. There's also tearing when you turn the camera and there's a lot of distance ahead of you?

You see those seams because that's where the texture repeats. They're harder to see when there's no smoothing filter, because the pixels are so big. But they're technically still there. As for the camera tearing, are you playing on PC? Because I'm pretty sure they're using triple-buffer V-Sync on consoles, because I haven't found any tearing at all, nor did Digital Foundry. The only problem they noticed on the world map was inconsistent frame times, which can cause very minor hitching. If you are on PC, you should be able to fix the tearing by just turning on V-Sync

But... that's the thing. To play the original is only going to get harder with time. Yes, they re-release it on new hardware, but accessing that for re-download or transferring to my PSP and my Vita requires connecting to the PSN. There won't always be the financial incentives to maintain those servers. As for physical copies, we now know that disc rot is inevitable; eventually my physical copy will be unusable. That leaves hacking a PS2 or a PS3 to play ISOs. In the case of the former, that's a somewhat pricey option because it involves a lot of hardware, and in the case of the latter it's very time-consuming to get an external hard drive to interface with the PS3's funky architecture.

What I worry about profusely is that we may end up for some games with a Star Wars: Special Edition situation, where it becomes harder and harder to get the original, unedited experience. I actually prefer the PS1 version of Final Fantasy IV to all other versions because it comes closest to matching the Japanese original on SNES, but it's the most difficult to preserve because it only exists on a disc that has compatibility issues with a PS3, and on pirated ISOs. I have to run that sucker through a SCART-to-HDMI setup on my PS2 to play legally. So we've seen the neglect Square-Enix has for the original IV. That makes me nervous about VIII. Will I always have a legal option to play it in the form I fell in love with in 1999, as opposed to the Remaster(s)?

Well firstly (and I'll be quick about this I suppose, since I don't remember if this forum is okay with emulation talk or not), but emulating isn't illegal if you own a real copy of the game. So if you own FFIV on PS1, you can play an ISO on your PC. You don't need to dump the BIOS for PS1, so you also don't have to worry about getting a legal copy of your own console BIOS like on PS2 either. In short, if you own it on PS1, nothing about emulating it would be illegal

Regardless, that means the original version of FFVIII is clearly preserved by the community and ready to go; it's not going anywhere because it has been digitally backed up.

And even if that doesn't sate your need to keep the original around... you can still buy the original PC version of FFVIII on Steam if you don't want the remaster. I honestly understand your worry. But what exactly do you propose they do about the fact that the master backup of the original PS1 game doesn't exist anymore, and likely hasn't for near two decades?

 

[mothcorrupteth]

Well firstly (and I'll be quick about this I suppose, since I don't remember if this forum is okay with emulation talk or not), but emulating isn't illegal if you own a real copy of the game. So if you own FFIV on PS1, you can play an ISO on your PC. You don't need to dump the BIOS for PS1, so you also don't have to worry about getting a legal copy of your own console BIOS like on PS2 either. In short, if you own it on PS1, nothing about emulating it would be illegal

That isn't how Nintendo sees it. (Although, let's be honest: how delusional do you have to be to excuse your own lack of game preservation by claiming that the new games with the old characters should be good enough for people?) And granted, we're not dealing with Nintendo in the case of the original release of FFVIII, but do you really think Nintendo won't shut down copies of a Sony-console-release game now that it has a remaster on their own system? Do you really think publishers like EA and Ubisoft (and Square-Enix has been looking more and more like them each year) who are constantly looking for newer and sleazier ways to maximize profits won't eventually lay pressure on Sony and Microsoft to start defending their copyrights, especially as the retro gaming hobby continues getting more and more popular?

Regardless, that means the original version of FFVIII is clearly preserved by the community and ready to go; it's not going anywhere because it has been digitally backed up.

Great. Now I just have to go EmuPara-- Oh, wait, they got shut down because Nintendo doesn't care if you only want to play Robot Alchemic Drive (a game exclusive to the PS2 that was never ported or re-released that I know of). They will shut the WHOLE site down if there's so much as a copy of Super Scope 6 on the server. And how long before Sony or Square-Enix decides to do the same? What good is the backup if the fans can't get to it?

And even if that doesn't sate your need to keep the original around... you can still buy the original PC version of FFVIII on Steam if you don't want the remaster.

But I don't want the PC version. I want my jerky, floating-point-less PS1 graphics with Chocobo World on my import PocketStation.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

That isn't how Nintendo sees it. (Although, let's be honest: how delusional do you have to be to excuse your own lack of game preservation by claiming that the new games with the old characters should be good enough for people?) And granted, we're not dealing with Nintendo in the case of the original release of FFVIII, but do you really think Nintendo won't shut down copies of a Sony-console-release game now that it has a remaster on their own system? Do you really think publishers like EA and Ubisoft (and Square-Enix has been looking more and more like them each year) who are constantly looking for newer and sleazier ways to maximize profits won't eventually lay pressure on Sony and Microsoft to start defending their copyrights, especially as the retro gaming hobby continues getting more and more popular?

Great. Now I just have to go EmuPara-- Oh, wait, they got shut down because Nintendo doesn't care if you only want to play Robot Alchemic Drive (a game exclusive to the PS2 that was never ported or re-released that I know of). They will shut the WHOLE site down if there's so much as a copy of Super Scope 6 on the server. And how long before Sony or Square-Enix decides to do the same? What good is the backup if the fans can't get to it?

But I don't want the PC version. I want my jerky, floating-point-less PS1 graphics with Chocobo World on my import PocketStation.

Okay, firstly, it doesn't actually matter how Nintendo sees it. Legally, it is fully within our rights to make or own personal copies of the games we bought. It is within the licensing agreement. Nintendo won against LoveRoms because LoveRoms was making a profit from hosting the roms, not because they had the roms themselves.

Secondly, Nintendo can't shut down or sue emulation sites because they host Square games on their platforms. They are not a law firm; the only Square games they can directly protect like that are ones that they published. And even then, they have to first prove that there is tangible damage being done to their profits, since they don't own the IP. What they're mostly doing is scaring people into not hosting roms. But that won't hold forever. Prohibition like that always backfires. Meanwhile, your conjecture and slippery slope argument about Square being 'more and more like EA' and whatnot every day means little. As of now, they are fairly respectful and accommodating when it comes to mods, sharing gameplay, let's plays, etc. They have also made many more efforts than others in recent years to try and preserve their games to at least some degree. Square becoming a bigger publisher is not really evidence that they will start being neglectful, even if that's a decent possibility.

Thirdly, EmuParadise didn't get shut down. You might want to brush up on what's actually going on if that's what you think. They voluntarily stopped hosting roms to prevent themselves from being targeted next. But they have said that they still have these roms on their servers, and hope to bring them back up as soon as they feel safe. In fact, we know this is accurate because we have proof, though I won't discuss what that proof is here Beyond this, there are other safe sites to download verified working and clean roms from. Several of them in fact.

Fourth, if you're so worried, get your backup now of these games.

Fifth, it's not difficult to make your own backup of your on games if you have a PC CD drive still. You can buy USB CD drives for dirt cheap, so do that if you don't trust any site but EmuParadise.

And finally, I don't know what to tell you then. Not everything can be preserved perfectly, so I don't know why gamers seem to think they're entitled to it. Do you not think people want perfectly preserved versions of classic cars that are all original? Do you not think people want perfectly preserved CRT PVM displays to play retro games as originally intended? Feel lucky that games can be digitally backed up at all. Because a lot of other art is guaranteed to be lost to time. All this really illustrates is that -regardless of what morons like Nintendo want- it is more important than ever that fans back this stuff up for preservation purposes. To use your Star Wars example, the only reason most people can watch the original cuts still is because people have preserved them to the best of their ability. That is the way forward, because we can never expect a corporation -Square or otherwise- to be fully aware enough to do it perfectly themselves. That's unrealistic.

Regardless, you have continued to ignore the fact that the original game was lost, meaning they either have to make changes like they have done with this remaster, or host the original version digitally as they did on the PS3. Without the master build, it can only be rebuilt entirely from the scraps they can extract from a retail copy, or re-released with an official emulator as they did on PS3 or the original Steam version. Both options are currently available, as are several others. So I think we should count ourselves lucky that we have these options at all. Because thousands and thousands of other, less popular but no less valuable games are all but lost to time, with only unofficial rom backups keeping them on life support. All things considered, Final Fantasy VIII is objectively in a pretty alright spot as far as preservation is concerned. You don't have to want to buy or play this remaster. But it's not entirely fair to criticize the remaster because it's not 100% accurate to the original. No version outside of the original was, is, or every will be 100% faithful. Heck, depending on the hardware, even games played on the same hardware is not accurate to the original intent; this is personified by the differences between Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3 Genesis/MegaDrive sound reproduction... each is slightly different.

As I said before, I understand and sympathize with your idea. But it's unrealistic, and ignores all of the alternatives we currently have that are as close as one could expect to the original in many ways, considering the circumstances. Again, I simply don't know what you expect them to do about the fact that the original PS1 master was lost long ago. Build a time machine?

 

[mothcorrupteth]

Okay, firstly, it doesn't actually matter how Nintendo sees it. Legally, it is fully within our rights to make or own personal copies of the games we bought.

Legally, you're within your rights to do lots of things. Doesn't mean someone who can take the financial hit can't sue you for it so they can make an example.

Secondly, Nintendo can't shut down or sue emulation sites because they host Square games on their platforms. They are not a law firm; the only Square games they can directly protect like that are ones that they published.

And how many sites host Nintendo titles in addition to Square and Square-Enix ones? They wouldn't have to mount a direct attack.

Thirdly, EmuParadise didn't get shut down. You might want to brush up on what's actually going on if that's what you think.

Semantics. They got legally bullied into "voluntarily" pulling their ROMs and ISOs. The distinction between that and getting shut down may be relevant in a legal argument, but we all know they're being coerced by Nintendo.

Fourth, if you're so worried, get your backup now of these games.

I won't say whether I have or not. But my point is, I shouldn't have to.

And finally, I don't know what to tell you then. Not everything can be preserved perfectly, so I don't know why gamers seem to think they're entitled to it.

Buddy, I'm so conservative I'm literally monarchist. This ain't about entitlement. This is about me wanting to preserve how the world felt to me before I started having symptoms. I don't feel entitled to it. I just want to be able to do it legally and without fear of someone like Nintendo dropping the hammer on Charter for my filesharing 1 kb of an ISO of Excite Trucks.

That is the way forward, because we can never expect a corporation -Square or otherwise- to be fully aware enough to do it perfectly themselves. That's unrealistic.

Well, I agree to that. But I would still rather do it legally.

Again, I simply don't know what you expect them to do about the fact that the original PS1 master was lost long ago. Build a time machine?

Remake it with original graphics but modern resolution. I would pay high dollar for that.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

I'm gonna sum up all the Nintendo VS emulation stuff really swiftly. Yes, Nintendo can do a lot of foul things without legal precedent. Nobody here is pretending that EmuParadise wasn't scared into taking down their downloads. I said that very thing in fact. But you are still choosing to misrepresent the situations by twisting facts to suit your narrative. Just because I call you out for inaccuracies doesn't mean I'm making an argument based on 'semantics'. Facts matter if we wanna interpret the situation correctly

You were complaining that it's hard to get a legal copy of the games as they originally were. I told you it was legal to download a rom if you own a copy already, and told you that there are places other than EmuParadise where you can download them safely. That wasn't good enough. I told you you can still buy it on PS3, or PC in their original forms, or buy a physical PS1 copy. But you continued to move the goalposts and argue that's not good enough either, because that's not what you wanted to hear. It really feels like you only want to hear me say "Yes, Square should bow down to your wants and only your wants, by releasing a 100% intact version of the PS1 original modern consoles, no matter the cost.", even if that isn't realistically possible.

Maybe I want the trainers in this version because I've played the game a billion times. Maybe I want the new character models, and don't want the Pocketstation minigames. So I'm glad I got this version, and I appreciate that they thought about doing something different. You know why? Because if I want to play the PS1 version, right now I have three avenues to do so (PS1 discs, PS3 digital, and emulation). And if I wanted to play the original PC version, I have access to that too. You know what I didn't have access to until now? The version differences we just got with this new release.

Remake it with original graphics but modern resolution. I would pay high dollar for that.

And there lies the truth. I don't think this was never about preservation for you. This is about you getting the port you want, with your personal preferences met. Because doing any form of port like you just described is no more preservation than what they just released... nor what they released on the PS3... or the Steam PC port from before this one. It's fine if you personally just wanted something more accurate to the original in this port. But don't pretend it's some moral issue when all you really wanted was your personal preferences met. Because if you wanted the exact same game with the original graphics, but a modern resolution, that already exists in multiple, readily available places. The PS3 natively upscales PS1 games to 1080p if you set it to do so, which is exactly what you just called for.

But no, you complained that they'll eventually shut the servers down and you won't be able to redownload the PS3 version. And the original disc version isn't good enough either because disc rot will happen at some point. Here's the thing though... if they did that exact thing on the PS4 -released the original PS1 version with the same graphics, using nearest neighbor scaling to push the resolution to 1080p/4k- you'd have two options... a disc susceptible to disc rot eventually, or a digital version that eventually will no longer be re-downloadable. That has nothing to do with preservation and you know it, because it preserves nothing. In other words, your preferences and your moral argument contradict each other. If you won't accept an official digital version because it will eventually get shut down, and you won't accept an official physical version because the disc will eventually decay, and you won't accept legal emulation of the original hardware/rom because of the unpredictable availability... what will you accept, exactly? No version of the game officially released will work on all hardware forever

Like I've said, I'm all for proper preservation, and I'm fine with people having preferences that they want to see in ports. I mean, obviously I am, since a core part of my argument has been acknowledging that Square didn't properly preserve the game the first time, which is why they're in this mess in the first place. And I also already said I'd have loved to see this port come with nearest neighbor scaling as an option instead of just smoothing. But preservation, and your hopes for a port... these are two different things man.In 10 years we'll be worried about PS4/Xbox One/Switch servers shutting down, disc rot if they'd done physical releases, and who knows where Steam will be in 10 years? Real preservation of the game is already taking place unofficially, and Nintendo can't stop it. So the bottom line is this... conflating this one release with a lack of proper preservation is unfair to the people who like the changes in this version, because currently both they and you can easily and legally get the original version elsewhere. So if you simply wanted something different from it, I get it, I sympathize, and I hope the outcry will lead them to issue a patch that fixes your problems without making problems for others in the process

 

[mothcorrupteth]

But you are still choosing to misrepresent the situations by twisting facts to suit your narrative.

No, I'm catastrophizing, and there's a difference.

But you continued to move the goalposts and argue that's not good enough either, because that's not what you wanted to hear. It really feels like you only want to hear me say "Yes, Square should bow down to your wants and only your wants, by releasing a 100% intact version of the PS1 original modern consoles, no matter the cost.", even if that isn't realistically possible.

I really don't know why this is so important to you or why you choose to characterize me as demanding anything from anybody, much less you. I'm simply saying, "Here's what I want. I will find a way to get it. It's up to Square-Enix whether they want to make money off of it."

Maybe I want the trainers in this version because I've played the game a billion times. Maybe I want the new character models, and don't want the Pocketstation minigames. So I'm glad I got this version, and I appreciate that they thought about doing something different.

Well, good for you. I want you to get what you want. But I also want me to get what I want.

And there lies the truth. I don't think this was never about preservation for you. This is about you getting the port you want, with your personal preferences met.

Wrong. I want both of those things.

It's fine if you personally just wanted something more accurate to the original in this port.

That's exactly what I wanted.

But don't pretend it's some moral issue when all you really wanted was your personal preferences met.

I think you're reading stuff into my posts that's not there. Just because I write with a sense of urgency and just because I wag my finger at companies for not preserving their games doesn't mean I consider it a moral issue. It means I really, really want what I want, and companies that want to complain about piracy should think about the reasons why pirates pirate.

Because if you wanted the exact same game with the original graphics, but a modern resolution, that already exists in multiple, readily available places. The PS3 natively upscales PS1 games to 1080p if you set it to do so, which is exactly what you just called for.

It upscales. It does not display the graphics in 1080p per se. Still, I will accept an upscale if that is all I can get. And at this point, I imagine you're confused. Again, I'm a catastrophizer. That's all this is about. Sure, FFVIII is in a halfway decent state now, at this very moment, but again, look at IV. Look at III. Look at I and II. How easily can you get those in the original form? How long will it be before the same is true of VIII?

But no, you complained that they'll eventually shut the servers down and you won't be able to redownload the PS3 version. And the original disc version isn't good enough either because disc rot will happen at some point. Here's the thing though... if they did that exact thing on the PS4 -released the original PS1 version with the same graphics, using nearest neighbor scaling to push the resolution to 1080p/4k- you'd have two options... a disc susceptible to disc rot eventually, or a digital version that eventually will no longer be re-downloadable. That has nothing to do with preservation and you know it, because it preserves nothing.

Perpetual re-releases are a form of preservation, in the absence of once-for all physical and digital releases. They are not as good, because we all know that the companies in question can and will exploit the perishability of disc/DRM-locked releases, but they go further to satisfying the concerns of persons like myself.

In other words, your preferences and your moral argument contradict each other. If you won't accept an official digital version because it will eventually get shut down, and you won't accept an official physical version because the disc will eventually decay, and you won't accept legal emulation of the original hardware/rom because of the unpredictable availability...

Well, first, it's not that I don't accept "legal" emulation because of unpredictable availability. It's that it's not my ideal solution individually because I don't want to invite the wrath of someone like Nintendo. There's nothing "moral" to that. There's just the unfortunate fact that my interests begin to cross someone else's and they feel the answer is coercion.

...what will you accept, exactly? No version of the game officially released will work on all hardware forever

A complete, no-online-update-required cartridge-type release, such as we occasionally find on Switch and used to find on older hardware. I've gotten real friendly with the GBA and DS the past few years, because it's occurred to me that it's those systems where physical releases are most likely to hold their value.

Like I've said, I'm all for proper preservation, and I'm fine with people having preferences that they want to see in ports.

Great--then we have no actual disagreement.

Real preservation of the game is already taking place unofficially, and Nintendo can't stop it.

They can't stop it, but they sure can make it difficult. I don't recommend torrenting GameCube ISOs.

So the bottom line is this... conflating this one release with a lack of proper preservation is unfair to the people who like the changes in this version...

I have no problem with those people enjoying themselves. And I think that's probably what this is really about. You want the changes, and I want them out. But I never said I was opposed to the changes absolutely. What I'm opposed to is the changes becoming the standard. If Square-Enix wanted to package the changes into modular DLC or simultaneously release two versions or a combination of both strategies, I would have no quarrel. (And actually, that's the wrong word. I don't have a quarrel so much as I'm clucking to myself that I don't like the odds of preservation that I see in the current offerings.)

...because currently both they and you can easily and legally get the original version elsewhere.

Currently is the operative word.

So if you simply wanted something different from it, I get it, I sympathize, and I hope the outcry will lead them to issue a patch that fixes your problems without making problems for others in the process

Again, we don't have any actual disagreement. I have a certain degree of background paranoia, and I catastrophize. You took my catastrophization as demands at odds with your own wants. That's not the case.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Well, if that's truly the case, then I apologize.

Though that leaves a ton of questions about your preferences on preservation as a whole, which I'm interested in if you don't mind. Like I mentioned earlier for example, each Genesis/MegaDrive model had different sound reproduction. In a faithful port, which version should they go with? Final Fantasy VII JP? FFVII International? The modern port with the fix to minor localization errors, and fix to oversights like Magic Defense not actually doing anything? Completely offline disc and cartridge games got patches too a lot of the time, whenever they printed more copies. So with that in mind, black label DBZ Budokai 3, or Greatest Hits, which comes with more costumes, but has a character doubling bug that was newly introduced? Killer Instinct Arcade, or the SNES version many more people actually played? PS1 Symphony of the Night, PSP, or Saturn? And again, what about games that don't have the masters any longer? Do we just give up and continue to do nothing but emulate it through pack-in, official emulators, rather than give it a proper port that might risk minor or unintended changes? You mentioned the PS1 version of FFIV specifically. What do we do with the others? Do we expect them to release all at once? Do a rotation where they remaster each version one at a time in a cycle? Drop some of them for obsolescence if we can come to a general agreement? What happens if one of these ports then has an unintentional change in it that people actually like and want to see again? I mean, this kind of stuff has to matter at least a little to you, since you compared it to the Star Wars situation, and said you worry that certain versions will be preserved over others. We can't possibly carry over each version in an official capacity, so where is the line?

 

[greenyxi]

You see those seams because that's where the texture repeats. They're harder to see when there's no smoothing filter, because the pixels are so big. But they're technically still there. As for the camera tearing, are you playing on PC? Because I'm pretty sure they're using triple-buffer V-Sync on consoles, because I haven't found any tearing at all, nor did Digital Foundry. The only problem they noticed on the world map was inconsistent frame times, which can cause very minor hitching. If you are on PC, you should be able to fix the tearing by just turning on V-Sync

Sorry, I'm not sure if tearing was the right word. I'm playing on PS4 and sometimes the draw distance (excuse the pun lol) doesn't keep up with you as you move forward. Whatever it is, it doesn't bother me or anything :s.

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Ahh, yeah. Okay. Understood

 

[EpicSquall73]

Hi guys new here my first pist
I love this game and i have played VII, IX, X never did get X2 though or any after it for me playing this on the PS1 and IX as well was just awesome
But would it really be imposdible to do a te-make of VIII i know it is about the lost code but if they got their hands on the original game wouldn’t that, make it easier to do a re-make?
I have seen some youtube gameplay of this remaster it looks great, still some say that on the PC the steam version with a ton of mods looks better than the remaster but on consoles i think remaster is the best option.
Best of whishes
EpicS

 

[ZaXo Ken'Ichi]

Hi guys new here my first pist
I love this game and i have played VII, IX, X never did get X2 though or any after it for me playing this on the PS1 and IX as well was just awesome
But would it really be imposdible to do a te-make of VIII i know it is about the lost code but if they got their hands on the original game wouldn’t that, make it easier to do a re-make?
I have seen some youtube gameplay of this remaster it looks great, still some say that on the PC the steam version with a ton of mods looks better than the remaster but on consoles i think remaster is the best option.
Best of whishes
EpicS

Welcome!

So here's the thing. They did use a copy of the original game to remaster it here. But you can't just dismantle a retail copy and do whatever you want with it. You kind of... umm... Oh! You kind of have to think of it like all of the parts of the game are super glued together. Some parts will be pretty easy to get at, and others will be impossible to get in a usable state. So they kind of have to go at it from a half finished game. As far as the master copy, where nothing is super glued together yet, that is 100% gone, and there's really no way to get it back.

They could do a complete remake from the ground up. But it would likely be more expensive than it's worth, because despite its high sales numbers, FFVIII isn't a highly acclaimed game these days. So they'd have to do a lot of extra work to clean its reputation with the remake as well. Probably not worth it when they could just remake something with a lot more of a positive presence, like FFVI

 

[mothcorrupteth]

Well, if that's truly the case, then I apologize.

Though that leaves a ton of questions about your preferences on preservation as a whole, which I'm interested in if you don't mind. Like I mentioned earlier for example, each Genesis/MegaDrive model had different sound reproduction. In a faithful port, which version should they go with? Final Fantasy VII JP? FFVII International? The modern port with the fix to minor localization errors, and fix to oversights like Magic Defense not actually doing anything? Completely offline disc and cartridge games got patches too a lot of the time, whenever they printed more copies. So with that in mind, black label DBZ Budokai 3, or Greatest Hits, which comes with more costumes, but has a character doubling bug that was newly introduced? Killer Instinct Arcade, or the SNES version many more people actually played? PS1 Symphony of the Night, PSP, or Saturn? And again, what about games that don't have the masters any longer? Do we just give up and continue to do nothing but emulate it through pack-in, official emulators, rather than give it a proper port that might risk minor or unintended changes? You mentioned the PS1 version of FFIV specifically. What do we do with the others? Do we expect them to release all at once? Do a rotation where they remaster each version one at a time in a cycle? Drop some of them for obsolescence if we can come to a general agreement? What happens if one of these ports then has an unintentional change in it that people actually like and want to see again? I mean, this kind of stuff has to matter at least a little to you, since you compared it to the Star Wars situation, and said you worry that certain versions will be preserved over others. We can't possibly carry over each version in an official capacity, so where is the line?

Well, I think all your questions heretofore presuppose a kind of objectivism that's simply not in my system of thinking about it. There is no one line. There is my line. There is your line. There is another fan's line. Some Star Wars fans fuss about "Episode IV: A New Hope" being added to the opening crawl for the '95 VHS release. I don't. I gladly accept its removal from the Despecialized Edition, but it's never been a deal-breaker for me, because my childhood experience was watching video-recordings from when Empire and Jedi ran on network TV, followed by finally seeing the original Star Wars by borrowing the VHS tape from a friend. People who fuss about the opening crawl do so because they want to preserve the experience they had in the theater in 1977. But I want to preserve the experience I had from 1995 to 1997 at the height of the Expanded Universe. There's no inherent conflict in that. I want what I want, and I advocate for what I want. If that means conflict, I engage in conflict. But even in conflict, I don't fault anyone for defending the experience they want to defend (except in a tongue-in-cheek way--I refer to myself as a "Star Wars fundamentalist"). What I fault is when a company like Lucasfilm completely ignores or even suppresses what people like myself want.

But let's take another example, one that I care about. (I've never liked Genesis games that weren't a Phantasy Star title or Shadowrun, and Castlevania has never interested me as a series.) I am an avid fan of Pokémon Gen. 2. I didn't play it when it came out, but I did play a lot of GBC games, and I loved the system's palette and graphics. (Incidentally, this is why I love the original Phantasy Star so much; the Master System's graphical output resembles my favorite GBC game of all time, a criminally underrated gem called Bomberman Quest.) My bias, therefore, is toward the original release, despite its objectively inferior graphics. But I end up playing HeartGold more because of its quality-of-life improvements, its ability to transfer to other games in the series, the increased detail in the story, etc. So which version "should" get preserved? There is no "should" about it, from my point of view. I'm utterly pragmatist regarding the ethics of this question. It's just, if we could only preserve one, I would choose the GBC original, and so I am going to agitate for that version. If that means the marginalization of HeartGold, so be it. I don't want that--I want everyone to get what they want, no matter where they draw the line--but I prioritize my own wants, and realistically what often happens is that content creators often effectively abandon original versions once they have a fancy new remake or remaster. (Not always; Sword of Mana appears to have disappeared down Square-Enix's memory hole. But often enough to make me wish for something different than this FFVIII remaster.)

 

[EpicSquall73]

Thank you Zaxo it is too bad they can’t do a remake of FF8 it is one of my favorite games.
But i guess a temadter isn’t too bad
I thought FF8 was considered as one of the alltime best FF games guess not
Thx and have a great day

 

[Dionysos]

I thought FF8 was considered as one of the alltime best FF games guess not

It certainly does have its hardcore fanbase.

I know a lot of people who hold it high as their all-time favourite Final Fantasy game. In some cases because it was their first, but in other cases because it combined modernity with fantasy and a very colourful setting.

To some people it really is one of the best FF games ever, but then there are others who think otherwise. It is very much like Marmite in the fandom.

I think that it is clear that it does have a lot of support. People were really excited about the Remaster when it was announced, so there will no doubt be a lot of people excited about a remake if that was to ever happen. That would be a long way off though even if there is a chance of it becoming a reality.

 

[LovingOfLightning]

Hi guys new here my first pist
I love this game and i have played VII, IX, X never did get X2 though or any after it for me playing this on the PS1 and IX as well was just awesome
But would it really be imposdible to do a te-make of VIII i know it is about the lost code but if they got their hands on the original game wouldn’t that, make it easier to do a re-make?
I have seen some youtube gameplay of this remaster it looks great, still some say that on the PC the steam version with a ton of mods looks better than the remaster but on consoles i think remaster is the best option.
Best of whishes
EpicS

Greetings EpicSquall! Still haven't got a PS4 (but started a job and I'm developing a plan to put some earnings away) yet but welcome to the forum and I'm looking forward to buying this game for that console. No doubt missed the deal of PS4+FFVIII but I hope to still keep up with the FF forthcoming titles.
Too bad I never multiplayer and just focus on the game. The PSOne FF Anthology of FFV and FFVI must surely be the next to be upgraded to modern consoles?
Welcome to the forum once again! FFVIII was the second Final Fantasy game I played after FFVII and I never did beat the final battle.
Never even looked online at YouTube to see how it was supposed to end.

 

[Lysith3a]

It certainly does have its hardcore fanbase.

I know a lot of people who hold it high as their all-time favourite Final Fantasy game. In some cases because it was their first, but in other cases because it combined modernity with fantasy and a very colourful setting.

To some people it really is one of the best FF games ever, but then there are others who think otherwise. It is very much like Marmite in the fandom.

I think that it is clear that it does have a lot of support. People were really excited about the Remaster when it was announced, so there will no doubt be a lot of people excited about a remake if that was to ever happen. That would be a long way off though even if there is a chance of it becoming a reality.

Marmite is exactly right. Seems people either adore it, or loathe it. Doesn't appear to me much in terms of middle ground opinion.

Personally, it's my favourite entry in the entire franchise. I think VI through X are all varying shades of excellent, but VIII, due to the characters, the storyline, the non-cartoony graphics and the stunning soundtrack is a step above. Playing the remaster again at the moment I'm astonished at how well it all still holds together. Granted, even though remastered, the limitations of the visual upgrade is obvious but even then it doesn't distract to the point of ruining the game.

It's a shame, although understandable, that VII seems to get all the TLC, while VIII is the black sheep of the (series) family. When VII:R is done and out of the way, I'd love them to turn their attention to VIII (and IX). Fully remade games, with full VAing, would send these games into the stratosphere. As someone who hasn't really rated FF as top tier since FFX, they could do far worse than go back to the golden era of the series some more.

 

[Dionysos]

Marmite is exactly right. Seems people either adore it, or loathe it. Doesn't appear to me much in terms of middle ground opinion.

Personally, it's my favourite entry in the entire franchise. I think VI through X are all varying shades of excellent, but VIII, due to the characters, the storyline, the non-cartoony graphics and the stunning soundtrack is a step above. Playing the remaster again at the moment I'm astonished at how well it all still holds together. Granted, even though remastered, the limitations of the visual upgrade is obvious but even then it doesn't distract to the point of ruining the game.

It's a shame, although understandable, that VII seems to get all the TLC, while VIII is the black sheep of the (series) family. When VII:R is done and out of the way, I'd love them to turn their attention to VIII (and IX). Fully remade games, with full VAing, would send these games into the stratosphere. As someone who hasn't really rated FF as top tier since FFX, they could do far worse than go back to the golden era of the series some more.

I agree. Final Fantasies VI through to X are all solid entries and seem to possess all elements of the magic formula: great characters, great story, great music, etc.

I have still not played the Remaster of FFVIII due to an enormous backlog, but I still intend to one day. I have many fond memories of playing FFVIII and I still read up on the lore and familiarise myself with it from time to time. And reading Micah Rodney and M.J. Gallagher's SeeD: The Beginning novel has only strengthened my desire to give this game an earnest playthrough again some day in the near future.