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[TGO]

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Last year when the Final Fantasy VII, IX, X/X-2 HD remasters were announced, Final Fantasy VIII was noticeably missing but later announced for a 2019 release. The original director Yoshinori Kitase explained in an interview with Famitsu why its remaster was delayed.



Famitsu: We previously heard about all the troubles you had such as missing data from the original versions and such for the other remaster titles. What kind of trouble did you run into for Final Fantasy VIII’s remaster?

Yoshinori Kitase, Director: “At first, the plan was to release it on current-generation hardware, with more or less the same graphics. However, the title recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and since TVs evolved from SD CRTs to LCD HDTVs, we decided that it was necessary to improve on character quality.

So then we continued its development until just before it went gold, then out of nowhere, we decided to work on refining the characters. For that reason, we found ourselves in a situation that needed a major schedule change, but thanks to the efforts from the original staff’s Harada (battle programmer, Hiroshi Harada), character modeler Kayano (Tomohiro Kayano), and character designer Nomura (Tetsuya Nomura) we were able to revive it with wonderful quality. The troubles were there, but in the end it was the right call.”



Final Fantasy VIII Remastered releases for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2019. You can check out its recent announcement trailer here and a few comparison images in our previous report.


Read more at https://www.siliconera.com/2019/06/...te-to-the-remaster-party/#JbUq7WmB3UXVT3U2.99

Full interview in Japanese

『FF8 リマスタード』はオリジナルのスタッフがキャラクターをリファインした結果、クオリティーの高いものに――北瀬佳範氏に訊く | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

サプライズ発表で大きな注目を集めた『FFVIII リマスタード』インタビュー。オリジナル版のディレクターでリマスター版にも携わっているスクウェア・エニックス 第一開発事業本部 本部長の北瀬佳範氏への一問一答をお届け。

s.famitsu.com

If anyone can translate that properly it would be much appreciated.

So apparently they was going to release this with VII & IX but decided to put a little more love into it and even got the original team members back to work on it.
I'll be interested to see more of it and as it was delayed to make it better the previous efforts.

A few Screenshots

 

[Vawn]

Whatever.

 

[Mista]

So apparently they was going to release this with VII & IX but decided to put a little more love into it

I’m sorry but I laughed at this part. Release it with VII he said? The VII that struggled till it made it here? Yeah sure. If one game struggled this much what will happen when there’s two games at the same time? Aaah brilliant

 

[Zambatoh]

The upscaling has not been kind to those movies. Especially the fireworks scene.

 

[Psajdak]

These remasters feel so wrong, though...

 

[Sp3eD]

Please add the 3x speed up. That is seriously the greatest thing ever as I replay FF7 on switch. Would make magic drawing so much less tedious.

 

[Zog]

Whatever.

Perfect response.

 

[TGO]

I’m sorry but I laughed at this part. Release it with VII he said? The VII that struggled till it made it here? Yeah sure. If one game struggled this much what will happen when there’s two games at the same time? Aaah brilliant

I don't follow?
Did PS4 version FFVII on PSN have a problems?
I remember it being announced and releasing a few months later?
Same with FFIX

 

[Mista]

I don't follow?
Did PS4 version FFVII on PSN have a problems?
I remember it being announced and releasing a few months later?
Same with FFIX

I thought he was talking about the remake. My bad

 

[TGO]

I thought he was talking about the remake. My bad

Yeah could you imagine
But now that you mention it
I reckon it's on the cards.
Probably at the end of PS5's life we'll get Final Fantasy VIII Remake Prologue.

 

[Mista]

Yeah could you imagine
But now thtt you mention it
I reckon it on the cards.
Probably at the end of PS5 life will get Final Fantasy VIII Remake Prologue.

Won’t say no to that. I need it more than VII to be honest...

 

[Chinpoko_Master]

I hope they use that AI upscaling technology on the pre-rendered backgrounds, but I doubt it'll actually happen.

 

[Tesseract]

those models looks pretty good, no way those are the original assets right?

 

[Pallas]

So they didn’t lose the source code now? Or even partially lost it?

those models looks pretty good, no way those are the original assets right?

Nah I don’t think it’s the original, the original would be blurrier and kind of a mess. There was a picture somewhere comparing the two.

 

[Zog]

So they didn’t lose the source code now? Or even partially lost it?

You can't trust rumors, hell you can't even trust things that game companies tell you. Remember when the rumor was Earthbound couldn't be released on the VC due to licensing issues?

When you think about it, any speculation in the gaming world should be ignored.

 

[Pallas]

You can't trust rumors, hell you can't even trust things that game companies tell you. Remember when the rumor was Earthbound couldn't be released on the VC due to licensing issues?

When you think about it, any speculation in the gaming world should be ignored.

True, it made sense though as to why it didn’t get ported at the time, that and the assumed licensing issues with that song.

But I’m ok regardless now that it’s finally joining its brethren on current gen consoles.

 

[TGO]

I hope they use that AI upscaling technology on the pre-rendered backgrounds, but I doubt it'll actually happen.

If they did

 

[HaveButOneLife]

I personally think that they could have done Squall a bit better. I thought Tidus looked meh in the X remaster.

 

[ULTROS!]

Maybe I can play this game properly now. Fact: even if I’m a big FF fan, I’ve never played FFVIII properly, I’ve always kept a PS3/Vita save file that begins at the start with max stats and max junctions.

 

[Zog]

Maybe I can play this game properly now. Fact: even if I’m a big FF fan, I’ve never played FFVIII properly, I’ve always kept a PS3/Vita save file that begins at the start with max stats and max junctions.

How and why?

 

[rrice64]

i can't wait for this. i'll be grabbing it on xbox one day one for sure.

 

[wipeout364]

Hopefully they have a speed button so you can skip the summons after watching them a few times. Really looking forward to this though I live VII and IX but VIII was pretty great.

I really miss the old Square PS1 days; so much content released in so short a period of time . Three final fantasies, Final fantasy tactics, Vagrant story, brave fencer, parasite eve, Xenogears, front mission 3, Chrono Cross amazing when you think about it. Square games had a certain look and feel that is not present after they merged with Enix.

 

[Pallas]

Hopefully they have a speed button so you can skip the summons after watching them a few times. Really looking forward to this though I live VII and IX but VIII was pretty great.

I really miss the old Square PS1 days; so much content released in so short a period of time . Three final fantasies, Final fantasy tactics, Vagrant story, brave fencer, parasite eve, Xenogears, front mission 3, Chrono Cross amazing when you think about it. Square games had a certain look and feel that is not present after they merged with Enix.

Aye don’t forget about both SaGa Frontiers and Legend of Mana, there are probably a couple more. Good times though. Them and Atlus delivered some hidden gems during the PS1 era.

 

[ULTROS!]

How and why?

I dislike the gameplay and I really wanted to play it so I had to obtain a modified save file (it seems like the save files you can download are compatible with the PSone classics).

 

[Zog]

I dislike the gameplay and I really wanted to play it so I had to obtain a modified save file (it seems like the save files you can download are compatible with the PSone classics).

Cool, I know on PC you can use a save editor but those save files won't work on the PSP/PS3/Vita.

 

[@gkTH]

However, I rather prefer remake, not only remaster.

 

[Susurrus]

I dislike the gameplay and I really wanted to play it so I had to obtain a modified save file (it seems like the save files you can download are compatible with the PSone classics).

That's because it is the same file. If you use the PS2/PS1 memory card transfer device to transfer saves from a PS1 memory card to the PS3, it is the same file that is made from a PS1 disc in a PS3 or a PS1 classic download, which obviously transfers to the PSP/Vita. Resulting in, you could start FF8 on PS1, PS2, PS3 (disc or dl), PSP, and Vita, all on the same save file.

 

[stranno]

I hope they use that AI upscaling technology on the pre-rendered backgrounds, but I doubt it'll actually happen.

Square destroyed the palette back in the day, in order to fit the vram requirements, and algorithms like ESRGAN or Gigapixel dont handle well some shots, so some backgrounds could look really great while others could look terrible. AI upscaling doesnt always do a proper job.

 

[Silent Duck]

I thought Tidus looked meh in the X remaster.

I agree.

 

[Virex]

Literally can't wait. My favourite Final Fantasy

 

[Psajdak]

I personally think that they could have done Squall a bit better. I thought Tidus looked meh in the X remaster.

Few days ago, I started a bit of PC remaster of Final Fantasy VII, and while it looked okay (minus backgrounds) for me, and I found myself surprised at how gameplay was still fun, it still felt that graphically, it looks the best on PS1 / CRT.

New FFVIII models look visually better, but still kind of wrong for some reason.

As for Tidus in remaster, yeah, definitely seems to look better in original, and same goes for other characters.

They do, IMO, look really good in Dissidia, though...

 

[Elios83]

I'm definitely looking forward to play this remaster but I thought the extra time was mostly due to lost code as admitted by a top executive recently. FF9 has improved character models as well and it was released long ago.
Also the biggest issue with these games is the resolution of the pre-rendered backgrounds. Using AI based algorithms seems to be the only feasible way to fix this issue having lost the assets to be able to render them again at a higher res.

 

[cireza]

Those 2D backgrounds are painful to look at.

 

[ULTROS!]

I'm definitely looking forward to play this remaster but I thought the extra time was mostly due to lost code as admitted by a top executive recently. FF9 has improved character models as well and it was released long ago.
Also the biggest issue with these games is the resolution of the pre-rendered backgrounds. Using AI based algorithms seems to be the only feasible way to fix this issue having lost the assets to be able to render them again at a higher res.

There’s rumors that the game will have voice acting, I’ll be posting a thread about it in a while.

 

[Elios83]

There’s rumors that the game will have voice acting, I’ll be posting a thread about it in a while.

Is there substance to this rumor?
I mean, the game was obviously conceived to be text only, they would need to add facial animations to be credible and it's a lot of work for something that might not work well. CG cutscenes are also designed not to have talking characters.
Also why haven't they announced this already as a feature?

 

[IbizaPocholo]

An Interview With Final Fantasy's Yoshinori Kitase

We chat with one of the minds behind the Final Fantasy series about his career, the franchise in general, and remaking an RPG classic.

www.gameinformer.com

 

[Eliciel]

let's just hope FF VII remake delivers and we get those gems one-by-one ..