‘Final Fantasy VIII’ Remaster: Everything To Know

Square Enix announced a lot during E3, and one of those announcements is that the game company is working on a remastered version of the classic beloved JRPG, “Final Fantasy VIII.”

Square Enix finally announced that it is bringing the beloved “Final Fantasy VIII” role-playing game to today’s generation, and is working on a remastered version for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and the PC. A trailer for the game was revealed during the game company’s E3 press conference.

The Verge noted that “FFVIII” was originally released in 1999. It featured a group of students studying at an elite military school called Balamb Gardens. These characters, all of them considered as “SeeD” save for one, enter a conflict with a sorceress named Ultimecia, who was out to compress time.

Engadget noted that this title is the only one that wasn’t ported to the Nintendo Switch. Other titles, including the original “Final Fantasy VII,” were ported to the portable game console. Now that Square Enix has announced that it is working on a remastered version, more than a “port” is coming to the platform.

A well-deserved remaster

As seen in the reveal trailer, Square Enix did a great job polishing and enhancing the game’s visuals. IGN noted that the remastered version features better graphics than that of the PC version.

"I think Final Fantasy 8 is wonderful, and the character models in the remake look great," an IGN news editor said. "It's one of my favorite Final Fantasy's, and the PC version looked awful and just didn't work great. So I haven't played it since I was 14-years-old."

Turning point

“FFVIII” is considered the “turning point” of the “Final Fantasy” series in terms of art style and visual graphics design, GameSpot noted. Indeed, this was the first “Final Fantasy” title to feature characters that looked more like ordinary people than not, save for a few designs of course.

Aside from featuring realistic character designs, it also featured realistic vocals in its soundtrack. And although the game introduced a magic system that became a hot subject for how it differed from previous games, it brought a well-loved side activity that continues to have fans among many players today -- a card game called “Triple Triad.”

“Final Fantasy VIII Remastered” is coming soon at an undetermined date. Stay tuned for more updates.