For a long while now, there has been a lonely little gap in the Final Fantasy folder on my iPhone. I could sit there and count the numbers up: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… 9. Where are you, Final Fantasy VIII" Did Selphie take a wrong turn at Galbadia" Was Squall’s ambivalence so great that he could not get out of bed" Did they all just forget somehow" The 20th anniversary year came and went. A remaster appeared on consoles and computers. And that gap still persisted.
Well, until now anyway. What a lovely little surprise! Final Fantasy VIII Remastered ($16.99) is now available for both iOS and Android in their respective stores! The normal price will be $20.99, but there’s a launch discount until April 4th that lets you snag the game for a mere $16.99. It’s a big fella, so make sure you have plenty of room on your device. By the looks of it, controller support and cloud saves are not ready to go yet, but they are to be added in a future update.
Every Final Fantasy seems to get its turn being the black sheep of the series, but Final Fantasy VIII has a lot of unconventional systems that went misunderstood by many for a long while. Its reputation seems to have been rehabilitated somewhat in recent years, which is nice to see. It certainly has some of the most epic moments of the series, and the gameplay systems are thoughtful if not always well-balanced.
This remaster improves the visuals while adding in a bunch of quality-of-life...