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

bandokanon said:
please god no voice acting.
I do not want this.
I didn't want this when ff10 happened, and I don't want this now.
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Too be fair, when FFX released, it was their first mainline game that had VA in it. Since then the VA/direction has improved a good amount. Take FFXV for example. There's no definitive VA language that's superior for that particular game. Does a remaster need VA that wasn't originally present, I'd say no. If FFVII Remake is successful enough though, I think people would naturally expect VA if and when it ever did get a remake.
 
It will be nice to see how this looks in modern day graphics and to see updated cutscenes. I bet seeing Esthar is going to be phenomenal as well as the Gardens. The Bahamut summoning in this game has always been my favorite of any FF.

That said, I really wish Square would focus more energy on new ideas for new FF games. Like the 10 or so years to get XV's storyline out, they made several remakes/remasters and spinoffs. Personally, I don't need any of these games to be updated to enjoy them, but I would like to see original games done in original environments. Just my 2 cents.
 
I don't want HD remakes. I want the original experience, or as close as I can get without buying a European SCART-input CRT monitor to get the max out of the original dithering effects.

A huge problem I have with Square-Enix's remakes are the variable quality and platform availability of all their stuff. There is no consistency. FFI and FFII get a great 32-bit 2D upgrade with the PS1 and GBA versions that mostly only have small quality-of-life changes. FFIII--also an NES title--gets a 3D upgrade with lots of changes that, in my opinion, spoil the mechanics of the NES original. FFIV, V, and VI get great GBA ports, but only IV gets the 3D remake treatment, while V and VI get horrible mobile remakes.

And I have a huge problem when they change things. Without emulators, it is very, very inconvenient today to play FFIV in a Japanese SNES-authentic form. I admit the DS remake is wonderful and makes changes that render the game more fun. (The PSP remake is, well, eh.) But I love early-SNES graphics and recapturing that feeling of playing "Final Fantasy II" on the SNES at my best friend's house, but with the proper difficulty of the Jap release. So I sit through the PS1 version's atrocious load times.

So, long story short, my ideal is not an HD remake. My ideal is to keep the game the same, even with respect to resolution, except maybe to remove the dithering and to make Chocobo World into a mobile app with connectivity to your console of choice. Because that's how Chocobo World was meant to be played: on the go. Granted, back in the day, its only real competition was grayscale Gen 1 Pokémon (or the semi-colorized Yellow Pikachu version), but that's my biggest complaint with the PC version. Chocobo World is supposed to be a minigame that you play to kill time at recess (or during your job's lunch break), not something you sit in front of your desktop to play.
 
@mothcorrupteth I'm surprised to hear you weren't keen on the PSP version of Final Fantasy IV, I don't have much experience of previous releases, I tried the PS1 version but it looked awful due to the European's version aspect ratio and load times. I thought the PSP version was a very solid way to experience it along with FF1 & 2. I do wish the release was on PSN, I can't even play it on my PSTV.

As for changes to Final Fantasy VIII, Well I' on day 44 of pleading with Dotemu & S-E for a widescreen version, doubtful as always but at least I can say I tired.
 
Aww, I really can't wait this remaster to be launched! I didn't play FFVIII yet, so this version would be a nice opportunity to experience it. I've heard so many great things about it, and finally I will have a version which I can play. :D (Still need to decide whether to buy the PS4 or the Switch version.)

I don't really know what to think about the added voice acting though... I mean I love games with dub, but if they include voices, I hope it will be dual audio. I like English dub but prefer the Japanese one.
 
Really? honestly I thought the 16-BIT style of the PSP version was still apparent, especially in comparison to the horrid iOS versions - Each to they're own I guess, I know I'm hardly the biggest advocate for 16-bit gaming :P
 
Vivi-Gamer said:
Really? honestly I thought the 16-BIT style of the PSP version was still apparent, especially in comparison to the horrid iOS versions - Each to they're own I guess, I know I'm hardly the biggest advocate for 16-bit gaming :P
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Yes, really. The sprite edges are too smooth, the color variety is too rich. No, it's not as bad as the mobile FFV and FFVI, but it's still too far from my fond memories.
 
All I want from the remaster is the ability to play it on PS4, and trophies. I'm so easily pleased. I don't care about voice acting or how good the graphics are, or aren't as the case may be...

Though please, sweet Jesus, no trophies as stupidly difficult as the FFIX Remaster. Most irritating game to platinum ever.
 
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Release Date Anounced

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered just got a release date, and it's sooner than we expected. On September 3, fans will have the chance to re-experience the cult-classic Final Fantasy 8 with updated visuals and customization options on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam.

The news was rather unexpectedly announced on the official Final Fantasy Twitter page along with an all-new trailer. The Twitter announcement also confirms that pre-orders are now open and links to a page with information on where to do so: the Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, and Steam. Conspicuously enough, there's no mention of the Nintendo eShop or Switch release anywhere on the page at the time of this writing, so here's hoping we can pre-order it on the Switch soon.

Here is the newest trailer of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. Enjoy!


https://www.gamesradar.com/final-fantasy-8-remastered-gets-september-release-date/
 
^^

@Daenerys

You came back wanting to know about this recently, so here you are! :monster:



This is great news, personally. This is shaping up to be a great year for FFVIII fans.

I particularly love how excellent Brothers look in that trailer after my recently rediscovered respect for them. :argor:


I seriously doubt the rumours about voice acting will be true. If they are, they've kept it quiet for a long time and they haven't got very long now to release that information to us before the game itself is released. It could also be very difficult to add any voice overs to that game.

But as I've said elsewhere, if they do add some voice overs I'd wonder who could voice the invisible monkey...
 
If I have to be annoying and whinge about something, it's that Squall now looks completely different compared to cutscenes and in-game. New FFVIII theory. Squall isn't dead, he has a twin. 😅

Apart, from that, this is a Day One Buy.
 
Well, since this is a remaster, not remake, I think voice acting might be too much? And if they are adamant to do it...it can either be very great or super terrible. Unless the voice acting will be like with Link - yells and grunts, that might actually be funny~
 
That remaster is looking great, hyoed for it =3

I hope they will put some new GFs, it would be a good idea to let Eden to Monarch at the Seabed thing and to give Chronos to that big boss we find in the Ultimecia's Castle that actually also has Eden if you've not made the Seabed dungeon
 
I haven't played FF8 since I was maybe 13 years old, so I'm really looking forward to replaying it in better graphics. It was my first FF title and I played it the release year. It's such a long game that I've always put off replaying it, but now that it's all purty, i gotta!


Wait--there's gonna be voices??
 
Flower Bell said:
I haven't played FF8 since I was maybe 13 years old, so I'm really looking forward to replaying it in better graphics. It was my first FF title and I played it the release year. It's such a long game that I've always put off replaying it, but now that it's all purty, i gotta!


Wait--there's gonna be voices??
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No. It was already confirmed that this isn't the case. They also aren't adding any new content, it won't be $60 like a lot of people assumed, and there is no physical version with an FFVIIR Demo included.

In short, it's FFVIII with some of the key character models redone in a more modern style akin to the Dissidia models, the cheat options like invincibility, no encounters, and speed up from the modern PC/console versions of VII and IX, and the PocketStation options removed with the rewards from it placed elsewhere in the game.
 
Is anyone playing this yet? I'm not yet, but I know some of you are.

What do you think?

I've heard a lot of people really enjoying themselves and loving the excuse to relive this amazing game.

On the other hand, I understand there is some disappointment with the way the backgrounds haven't been given the same respect as the excellent new character models.
 
I have noticed that too from the few walkthrough I have watch on youtube. That is something that I am really concerned about this awesome remastered.
 
Dionysos said:
Is anyone playing this yet? I'm not yet, but I know some of you are.

What do you think?

I've heard a lot of people really enjoying themselves and loving the excuse to relive this amazing game.

On the other hand, I understand there is some disappointment with the way the backgrounds haven't been given the same respect as the excellent new character models.
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I saw some footage on DreamcastGuy's YouTube channel, but the points he raises do concern me:
  1. I like the upgraded character models, but if they didn't want to boost the backgrounds too, they should have left it all pixelated and just upped the resolution.
  2. I absolutely abhor trainers in these remakes. You may respond, "Hey, Moth. You know, if you don't like them, the game doesn't FORCE you to use them." Well, yeah, but the back of my mind will always know that they're there and will pester me about how I'm not playing optimally. I can kind of see the appeal of trainers for (a) new players who didn't grow up with the obscene difficulty of Wizardry and Might & Magic, and (b) older players who no longer have the time to sit down to grind for a 40+-hour RPG, but FFVIII is unique. FFVIII's Junction system basically requires you to do more than just thoughtless grinding to gain an advantage in battles. You have to make smart, conscious decisions about how to exploit the design if you want to get an advantage. The trainers just completely wash out that aspect of the FFVIII experience. It would be like if someone took a SaGa game and gave it trainers--that would defeat what makes SaGa games unique and worth playing over other jRPGs will traditional leveling systems! The only two places where I could see trainers being justified is in drawing magic and boosting summons. Drawing magic is just as tedious as grinding and is the only time sink in FFVIII that doesn't add anything to the challenge, and boosting wears out your controllers faster while distracting you from the visuals.
 
I've put in about 4 hours on PS4, and honestly, it's fine. The thing to keep in mind is that Square doesn't have the original master of the game for PC or consoles. So it seems as if they took the PC version and extracted all of the assets to more or less rebuild the game from there, similar to what they had to do with Kingdom Hearts 1 for the 1.5 release. However, this means that they didn't have the choice of re-rendering backgrounds based off of the original models, nor getting less compressed, higher resolution versions of the images from the master build. So they kind of had to do what they could with what they had. I still think it was probably a mistake to not at least give people the option of using a 'nearest neighbor' scale for the backgrounds and textures so as to keep that chunky, pixelated look. But overall, it's not a big deal.

It's funny that people are complaining now for some reason, but all that proves is that they clearly they didn't pay much attention to the FFVII or IX remasters that came out in recent years, because they have similar problems. The backgrounds in both of them are using the same smoothing filter (though FFVII's look slightly sharper because many more of the backgrounds are from a top down, isometric view that retains detail slightly better), and only FFIX has retooled textures on the world map; VII's are also rather smudgy with seams clearly visible. IX was done by a different team, by the way, hence why it has things like the No Encounters and Speed Up ability in the Pause menu and a few different options. Regardless, the point is that if people wanted something different, maybe they should've been making that clear years ago. Otherwise, it's pretty standard fare, so I can't really complain too much. I can see an argument for them maybe trying to use a neural network upscaler on the backgrounds, but otherwise for $20 I think it would be unfair to expect anything more than that, because so much money likely already went into rebuilding the game in the first place. Actually doing paint-overs of the backgrounds to spruce them up would've likely skyrocketed the price, so that's not really a fair expectation unless you want to pay like $40-60 to play a twenty year old game. As for me, if I wanted to play the original... I have the original. Still, enough people are making a ruckus, that we might see some sort of response update.

TL;DR This is a fine version of the game, but don't go in expecting something astonishing, because they had to rebuild the game from a retail copy. Feel lucky we got anything at all. If that doesn't sound good enough for you, just play the original.
 
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