A Final Fantasy 8 Remake Is Off The Table Says FF7 Remake And FF8 Directors

With Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth on the horizon, Final Fantasy fans can’t help but wonder whether other aging entries in the long-running RPG series will also be getting sleek, high-budget remakes of their own. For Final Fantasy 8, the answer is a clear and unequivocal no.

In a recent interview with IGN, FF7: Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi and Final Fantasy 8 director Yoshinori Kitase were asked for their take on an FF8 remake. Hamaguchi couldn’t have shot the idea down fast enough.

“If after we’ve finished the three games in the [Final Fantasy 7] trilogy, Mr Kitase then comes to me and says, ‘Right, we’re going to be remaking another numbered Final Fantasy game and you are on the project,’ I’ll just turn around and go, ‘No!’,” Hamaguchi said.

Kitase also seemed to share the sentiment, despite his attachment to Final Fantasy 8, citing the immense scale of such a project. “Trying to recreate that kind of volume of content you had in the RPGs back then in the modern day really is not something you can take up lightly,” he explained. “It’s such a massive investment of time and effort that we really have to think very hard about taking on any kind of project like that.”

While we likely won’t be seeing Squall, Rinoa, and the rest of the FF8 cast with more modern gameplay and visuals, that doesn’t mean that its old director doesn’t have a list of what he would change if they were to work on a remake.

One of the first things that would be reworked is the game’s battle system. Those who’ve played FF8 will probably be familiar with the quirks of its Junction System. Rather than equipping weapons and gear to boost your stats like in traditional RPGs, you assign spells and Guardian Force (GF) abilities to your stats instead. The stronger the spell and the more you have of it, the higher the boost.

Unfortunately, the system wasn’t easy to pick up, especially if it’s your first playthrough. Personally, I only figured it out on my second run and struggled to beat almost every boss the first time around.

“I think it was a very difficult system for some people to get into. Depending on player skills, sometimes they just didn’t work out the best way of doing it,” Kitase admitted. “I think I’d want to return to that and really rework the battle system… and make it something where that level of difficulty and approachability for some fans was a lot better balanced.”

Unfortunately, it’s all just wishful thinking at this point, since both Kitase and Hamaguchi clearly don’t want to work on something that could potentially take a decade to complete. I’m not giving up hope though.