168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Square Enix has been trading in remakes and remasters for years, but never before have we seen the company so dedicated to bringing its storied legacy back to life. Remasters of titles like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Chrono Chross and remakes of the Mana series are just a couple worth mentioning, and Final Fantasy continues to 🅷be a certified cash cow whether it’s capi🌠talising on nostalgia, new entries, or the ever-expanding MMORPG. It is no surprise that the series is sticking around.
This means, after the release of Rebirth and the Final Fantasy 7 remake project’s third entry, we’re likely going to see more revivals. Final Fantasy 9 has been rumoured, and vocal fans have made it obvious that remakes of 6 and 8 would also be very much appreciated. But it’s important to consider what these games would even look like in the modern day, and if we’re wishing for something a little too ambit💦ious without realising the eventual consequences.
Take Final Fantasy 6, which, almost three decades on from its release, is still a classic. If you went the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Octopath Traveller route with HD-2D graphics and an updated comb🌳at system, we’d still adore it, and, honestly, this would be a refreshing direction for Square Enix to take over turning every single game in the series i𓂃nto a 3D action-adventure juggernaut. It makes sense with 7, 8, and perhaps even some earlier games so far back into the timeline that any other revival just doesn’t make sense to go for a big-budget AAA shindig, but for a game like 6 or 9, which have their own very well-defined character and tone, it needs to receive a very different treatment.
Back when it originally launched in July 2000, Final Fantasy 9 was a massive departure from the games that prec🐲eded it. It traded in futuristic dystopia and dieselpunk beauty for a darling retro aesthetic that dr🥃aws inspiration from classic entries and iconic fairy tales. Characters in their 3D form are cutesy and exaggerated, ranging from human beings to giant duck people. This atmosphere was carried across its visual design, music, and narrative.
Even now, it’s a gorgeous game, with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:remake projects and fan mods helping recreate things we loved so much about it or allow the pre-rendered backgrounds to shine like never before. It’s a luscious game, and one whose charm has aged surprisingly well even when played on original hardware, unlike Final Fantasy 7 with its awkwardly translated dialogue and blocky characters, a clear compromise of Squaresoft taking its very first steps into 3D graphics. It isn’t possible for a high-budget, cinematic take on Final Fantasy 9 to work, not without a keen understan☂ding of what made its picturesque aesthetic work so well in the first place.
Final Fantasy 9 is the Sylvanian Family equivalent of a JRPG, and we hold it dear because of that. Its comforting aesthetic and varied characters are pulled straight from a children’s book, but that never stops it from exploring deep, emotional themes and threats that are very real. Main heroine Princess Garnet is abused by her mother to rob her of special power, while Black Mage Vivi spends the e🌳ntire game wrestling with♓ what it means to be alive.
Each character grapples with morality in one way or another, questioning their purpose and what it will take for them to feel fulfilled in life. It’s dark, introspective storytelling that isn’t held back by its cute, retro aesthetic. If anything, it allows the game to go to plac🔯es we never could have imagined. A remake can’t abandon this, it needs to go🍃 even harder in such a direction, and pushing into photorealistic ray-traced realism would miss the point completely.
With expansion also comes understanding the value of restraint. Knowing the right things to expand upon or leave as the original creators intended is something I still worry about when it comes to Remake and Rebirth. Like the original, I want Final Fantasy 9 remake to become the video game equivalent of a warm hug from a loved one after years a🍨way. Comforting and whimsical, but beneath it all is hiding plenty of surprises and signs of growth that will cement it as a firm favourite all over again.
