Why Final Fantasy VIII Deserves a Remake
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Hey this is Tarrmu and welcome to Thinking Out Loud, today's topic of discussion is surrounding the topic of remakes, and especially given recently with the conversations on Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy and a video that I've recently dropped surrounding the contentious gem that is Final Fantasy 8, I wanted to talk about a topic that I touched on in that video, but talk more at length about it here, and that is why Final Fantasy 8 deserves a remake.
Honestly if there is any Final Fantasy that I think that I think is a prime candidate for receiving a remake, to me it is undoubtedly 8. I look at the story, it has so much promise from the political conflicts of the different gardens, the the the reveal of the sorceress and the overall goals and more major plot points of this story that could be elaborated on and more properly woven together.
The Junction system is a gameplay system that could be quite refreshing in this day and age, but is one that would need fine tuning and would need to have some modifications how drawing abilities to remove the monotonous aspects of combat that was a big point of contention in the original. On top of that Final Fantasy 8, tried to double down on the action of FF7 providing active abilities like pressing R1 to do extra damage, and more interactive Limit Breaks. It feels like it would be the perfect candidate to adopt this active action combat that is found in the FF7 Remakes, and really could take it a step further.
Next when I think about gameplay systems and exploration I think about the SeeD Rankings and the ways that this could be reworked to compliment requests and missions that you can take on in each city, and what types of sub-plots and stories they could introduce here to flesh this game out. I haven't even got into Triple Triad, after how we've seen Queen's Blood handled in FF7 Remake, there's no doubt in my mind that FF8's Remake could provide a ton of different approaches to providing a Triple Triad questline and rank system.
Tarrmu
I look at how the summons have been handled in FF7 Rebirth, and whilst they're acquired through simulations in that game, it is a perfect building block to how you could acquire and complete the side quests that lead to the Guardian Forces that you'd acquire in the open world.
I'm only scratching the surface here and talking about how they could refine systems that already existed, but honestly Final Fantasy 8 is a game that is full of potential, in terms of a universe that they could insert new stories into, similarly to the FF7 remakes, but also tell and capture the original vision of Final Fantasy 8.
Idk, Final Fantasy 8 has been a wild experience for me, it is a game that has flaws, but it's one of those games that you say "had they done this, or addressed this" it would be less of a polarizing experience, and a much more beloved entry. But yeah it's just something that I've been thinking about since finishing FF8 recently, and honestly there is something so charming about FF8 and I feel like a remake could really capture that magic, and refine many of the contentious parts of its narrative and gameplay systems, that could become a classic in the series.
But hey that's just my opinion, what are your thoughts, would you play a Final Fantasy 8 remake, and what would you like to see them do, add, or refine if they did? Thanks for watching and this has been Thinking out Loud.
