Final Fantasy VIII-Remastered

[Dai]

Well, this certainly is completely unexpected.

[stk5]

I had a feeling they were going to finally do something this year, since it's the 20th anniversary. I already did a replay on my PS2 earlier in the Spring (long story short: I bought a PocketStation) and yes I'll gladly play it again for this version.

[Fabulously Olivier]

I was kind of expecting more visually from a modern remaster, but it looks fine.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Etheus

[vanguard333]

Huh, and here I thought a remaster would never be made because no one at Square bothered to keep track of the source code for this game back in the 90s and they lost it. 

[Dai]

8 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Huh, and here I thought a remaster would never be made because no one at Square bothered to keep track of the source code for this game back in the 90s and they lost it. 

To be fair, the same thing happened with Kingdom Hearts 1, no?

[vanguard333]

5 minutes ago, Dai said:

To be fair, the same thing happened with Kingdom Hearts 1, no?

I think so, but I wouldn't really know. I've never played either series; I just saw a video about it once. 

Still, that means they've either made the game from scratch (unlikely) or they found some way around the lack-of-the-original-code problem. 

[Slumber]

Now I can finally see what the hell Pandemona is supposed to be.

I wonder if they'll fix the translation.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Slumber

[Dai]

1 minute ago, Slumber said:

I'm surprised it looks like they're not fixing the translation.

Ooof. I hope they do. They cut out so much of Squall's thoughts, which contribute to his character.

[Slumber]

2 minutes ago, Dai said:

Ooof. I hope they do. They cut out so much of Squall's thoughts, which contribute to his character.

It's more Rinoa than Squall that needs fixing. Squall's thoughts still get his character across.

Rinoa becomes almost a different character.

Also the implications of Ultimecia's motivations get completely lost.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Slumber

[Dai]

1 minute ago, Slumber said:

It's more Rinoa than Squall that needs fixing. Squall's thoughts still get his character across.

Rinoa becomes almost a different character.

Also the implications of Ultimecia's motivations get completely lost.

Oh? What was Rinoa initially?

As for Ulty, I was under the assumption that she doesn't wish to die, thus wishes to erase the opposition through time kompression, or the like.

[Slumber]

6 minutes ago, Dai said:

Oh? What was Rinoa initially?

As for Ulty, I was under the assumption that she doesn't wish to die, thus wishes to erase the opposition through time kompression, or the like.

Rinoa's... a bit more naive in the original, and a big part of her story is growing out of it, and then having to deal with it after becoming so dependent on Squall and eventually her inevitably coming to terms that being a sorceress will means she'll hurt a lot of people.

In the translation, she's more bratty and comes off as a lot more forceful, seemingly more aware of the trouble she puts everyone through, and then still doing it anyway. And she mostly stays this way until about disk 3 where she comes to the same realization about being a sorceress.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Slumber

[Dai]

1 minute ago, Slumber said:

Rinoa's... a bit more naive in the original, and a big part of her story is growing out of it, and then having to deal with it after becoming so dependent on Squall and eventually her inevitably coming to terms that being a sorceress will means she'll hurt a lot of people.

In the translation, she's more bratty and comes off as a lot more forceful, seemingly more aware of the trouble she puts everyone through, and then still doing it anyway. And she mostly stays this way until about disk 3 where she comes to the same realization about being a sorceress.

Ah, so, they made her more aware of her faults without willing to change them for the better. I guess they wanted her to appear as a stronger woman, without it working as well.

[Acacia Sgt]

Oh, this is nice.

Hmm, though depending on how it goes, I might just stick with the original. At least it's accessible for me, in case I do want it, however.

4 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Rinoa's... a bit more naive in the original, and a big part of her story is growing out of it, and then having to deal with it after becoming so dependent on Squall and eventually her inevitably coming to terms that being a sorceress will hurt a lot of people.

In the translation, she's more bratty and comes off as a lot more forceful, seemingly more aware of the trouble she puts everyone through, and then still doing it anyway. And she mostly stays this way until about disk 3 where she comes to the same realization about being a sorceress.

Oh, really? That's interesting. Man, can't say I like when changes like that are done...

[Slumber]

3 minutes ago, Dai said:

Ah, so, they made her more aware of her faults without willing to change them for the better. I guess they wanted her to appear as a stronger woman, without it working as well.

It's not as bad as I made it sound on paper.

It's mostly when the romance with Squall comes in that her character hurts the game a bit. On Squall's end, there's a ton of development to get him to the point where he admits to himself that he loves Rinoa. On Rinoa's end, it's basically like she singles him out at the ball, and that's kind of it. There's no parallel growth with Squall to get them to the same point, which is more apparent in the original script.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Slumber

[Dai]

Just now, Slumber said:

It's not as bad as I made it sound on paper.

It's mostly when the romance with Squall comes in that her character hurts the game a bit. On Squall's end, there's a ton of development to get him to the point where he admits to himself that he loves Rinoa. On Rinoa's end, it's basically like she singles him out at the ball, and that's kind of it. There's no parallel growth with Squall to get them to the same point.

I still kind of like the bit where she calls him "The best-looking guy" at the ball. Personally, it makes it seem as if she's trying to make him feel better in spite of his fresh scar-though, it could easily come off as quite patronizing.

[Slumber]

8 minutes ago, Dai said:

I still kind of like the bit where she calls him "The best-looking guy" at the ball. Personally, it makes it seem as if she's trying to make him feel better in spite of his fresh scar-though, it could easily come off as quite patronizing.

It's a nice character moment. But to parallel Squall, he doesn't realize how much he needs Rinoa until

Spoiler

she falls into a coma, after a whole 25-30 hours of development.

Compared to that, her immediately hitting on him, followed by those same two discs of her being rescued without the same development... it's not as much of a compelling story on her side, and Squall's growth and the romance between the two are such a huge part of the game.

There are also some scenes that become less charming. Like the concert in Fisherman's Horizon, which in the original script, IIRC, was Rinoa just wanting to do something nice for Squall, with her crush on him being a bit more innocent and more subtly driving her motivations in directing the whole scene. Since we already know Rinoa's pretty actively pursuing Squall since their first meeting in the translation and she's more aware as a character, it makes it seem like she's being much more deliberate in trying to get him to fall for her, so the scene's not as cute as it's supposed to be.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Slumber

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

sometimes, i'm glad that i still own my good old PS2 along with all the original PSOne games.

[Lightcosmo]

7 hours ago, Slumber said:

There are also some scenes that become less charming. Like the concert in Fisherman's Horizon, which in the original script, IIRC, was Rinoa just wanting to do something nice for Squall, with her crush on him being a bit more innocent and more subtly driving her motivations in directing the whole scene. Since we already know Rinoa's pretty actively pursuing Squall since their first meeting in the translation and she's more aware as a character, it makes it seem like she's being much more deliberate in trying to get him to fall for her, so the scene's not as cute as it's supposed to be.

I just passed this point, and to me it seems like shes trying to show him how to be more honest and voice his feelings, no matter how nervous or scared he is. Besides, she teases him a lot throughout the game so it's not that unusual.

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 hours ago, Slumber said:

Like the concert in Fisherman's Horizon, which in the original script, IIRC, was Rinoa just wanting to do something nice for Squall, with her crush on him being a bit more innocent and more subtly driving her motivations in directing the whole scene. Since we already know Rinoa's pretty actively pursuing Squall since their first meeting in the translation and she's more aware as a character, it makes it seem like she's being much more deliberate in trying to get him to fall for her, so the scene's not as cute as it's supposed to be.

Yeowch, that scene was one of the ones that didn't make me like Ms. Heartilly all that much. And it tainted the other PCs I actually liked by their willingness to participate in that. If someone is not that into you, and you try that hard, drop it. It being more innocently and lightly meant would have made it a bit better.

[Lightcosmo]

27 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Yeowch, that scene was one of the ones that didn't make me like Ms. Heartilly all that much. And it tainted the other PCs I actually liked by their willingness to participate in that. If someone is not that into you, and you try that hard, drop it. It being more innocently and lightly meant would have made it a bit better.

Isn't it good to establish character flaws, though? I don't think it's all that strange, if she likes him. I mean, she doesn't know if he likes her back, that's why she tries to make him comfortable by making the situation less tense.

[ChickenBits]

I lost my mind when I saw this lmao. FF8 is my favourite of the series I may or may not have shit tastes so this was incredibly exciting. Lots of fond memories playing this as a little kid. Day one for me. Also the graphics are nice once you start comparing it to the original, it's quite the glow up for a remaster. I'm gonna miss Squall's meme face

Spoiler

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by ChickenBits

[Tryhard]

I hate this game with a burning passion, but I'm kind of surprised this is a thing after Square reportedly lost the original source code.

I figured something would have been done with it already if that wasn't the case.

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

36 minutes ago, ChickenBits said:

Also the graphics are nice once you start comparing it to the original, it's quite the glow up for a remaster. I'm gonna miss Squall's meme face

they basicly went from lol PSOne to PSP - Dissidia 012 in terms of graphics quality, wich is more than fine.

i wonder if they changed the trigger rate of Limit Breaks, since they were utterly broken in the original version.

i still remember getting to low hp with Squall » spamming triangle » destroying anything with Renzokuken. good times.

[B.Leu]

The advantage of not expecting anything of E3: You are pleasantly surprised.

So. Yeah. This came out of nowhere. But frankly, why the hell not ? Thought it could look better, but eh, don't care about that.
Funny game, FFVIII, funny FF too. It's the weirdest FF imo. (In a good way I mean.)

Very interesting plot too.