‘Final Fantasy 8: Remastered’ pre-rendered areas among the criticism levied on Square Enix

“Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” has now been released and the gaming community’s general impression of it is positive. While the game is essentially the same one that came out in 1999, people are still enjoying it, with nostalgia the biggest factor to the overall warm reception.

Square Enix has added a few notable quality-of-life changes to “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” including the option to speed up the game, turn off random encounters, and a “Battle Assist” that max out the HP and ATB gauges. The last one also allows players constant access to Limit Breaks, which is a nice addition to spice up the battles.

For those playing on PC, the gaming studio also provided a cheat option that’ll unlock items, abilities, cards, and more in “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered.” This is a great addition to have, especially for those who are experiencing the game for the first time.

The graphics of Final Fantasy 8: Remastered

Graphics-wise, “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” delivers what was previously promised although there is still some criticism to be thrown towards Square’s way. Looking at the title for the first time, the most glaring thing that you’ll notice is the standard quality of its background, TheVerge reported.

With the “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” characters given a fresh coat of paint, having Squall run around pre-rendered areas can be quite jarring. One couldn’t help but notice the disparity between both factors, which goes doubly true for NPCs that have been given with fewer details compared to the main protagonists.

Why Final Fantasy 8: Remastered is a love story

Be that as it may, one can easily overlook this criticism once you get a handle on “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered.” It's battle mechanics is immersive – albeit tedious – and the storyline delivers a satisfying narrative that will see the main characters evolving as the plot progresses. As to why Square decided to tell a story that revolves around romance, director Yoshinori Kitase explained the thought process behind the decision.

“The ‘Final Fantasy’ series always placed emphasis on drama, and with ‘Final Fantasy VII,’ from a broad perspective, I believe we reached the pinnacle of depicting a story where ‘protagonists face a large force of evil…’ With the advancement of CG technology allowing for a more delicate expression of characters’ emotions, we decided to take on the challenge to focus on ‘love,’ which delves deeper into the internal aspect of humankind, as our theme,” Kitase said. In short, the developers wanted “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” to break away from plotlines that Square has previously done.

Whether or not this decision yielded positive results for Square remains one of the most discussed topics in the franchise. Some are annoyed that Squall and the others are whiny teenagers, while others understand why the developers needed to go down this route to emphasize the character development that’ll take place. Whatever the case, “Final Fantasy 8: Remastered” is out now and it would be interesting to see how it will perform in the market. The game is available for $20.