FF VIII Remaster [Available Now!]

[Shademp]

 

[Lulcielid]

The frame rate issue is a big dissapointment.

 

[Jairus]

I've been playing it a lot lately and haven't had any issues with framerates. It runs just fine. Might just be affecting some people and not others.

 

[Lulcielid]

You not noticing is not the same as that not being a factual problem with the remaster.

 

[Jairus]

Because it's not 60fps? I don't understand why some people want to play the game in what's basically fast-forward. Because when you accelerate it beyond what it was originally designed for, it doesn't look right. There were also other bugs that were fixed that will likely make the remaster easier to mod than the original, as I've read on the Steam boards. And a fix for the black bars has also been posted there as well.

 

[Kuja9001]

Boost, the skill is broken too.

 

[Jairus]

Boost, the skill is broken too.

How so? It's worked fine for me so far.

 

[Kuja9001]

How so? It's worked fine for me so far.

On the PS1 version, I can mash Shiva or Ifrit up to 125-150 whereas now mashing makes the number tick by 1 for like every 3 mashes. So I can't do it anymore.

 

[ForceStealer]

I always hated that skill/mechanic.

 

[Jairus]

On the PS1 version, I can mash Shiva or Ifrit up to 125-150 whereas now mashing makes the number tick by 1 for like every 3 mashes. So I can't do it anymore.

I can usually get it up to around 128-130 without much trouble on the remaster. I haven't seen anyone else mention any problems with boost, either. Also, did you notice that the magazines now have higher-quality images for the most part? And contrary to what some have said, it isn't just the main character models that have been upgraded. Many others have as well, though, more that what's been done by modders thus far. And the ones that weren't still look cleaner and crisper than in the original. The only things that are really needed are imo better world map textures (I never understood why the PC version's world map looked worse than the PS1's, the original PC version had the same issue and I'm hoping the mods for that can be ported over to the remaster), battle backgrounds, and better prerendered backgrounds than what's been done by modders thus far - what I've seen looks like blurry watercolor paintings, and I don't know why people like that stuff. Something more like Remako or Moguri would be better.

 

[Ite]

I’m pretty opposed to any action mechanics in my JRPGs, including Squall’s trigger and Zell’s combos (although they are admittedly better than Sabin’s or Cyan’s). Instead of making me feel ‘involved’ or ‘excited’ they just stress me out. I recall holding off on getting Boost until I literally had to. iirc if you have Boost it lowers the base damage of the summon.

 

[Strangelove]

boost and that one bit in metal gear solid were the only reasons i wanted a controller with a rapid fire button as a young 'un

i never did get one

 

[Tetsujin]

boost and that one bit in metal gear solid were the only reasons i wanted a controller with a rapid fire button as a young 'un

i never did get one

Spoiler

he won't know

 

[Strangelove]

you mean i lived in fear of ocelot for all this time for no reason

 

[Shademp]

Key comments by Kitase:

- The original plan was to just port FF8 to modern consoles, not to remaster it. He says that "midway through" they decided on upgrading the graphics for the character models.

- "The" original character model designer (I assume they double as 3D-modeler and texturer) for FF8 still works at Square and they were the person to upgrade the character models for FFVIII Remastered. The credits for FF8 actually include a ton of character model designers and other "character modeling" staff, so from this interview alone we can't pinpoint who Kitase is talking about. Maybe earlier interviews about FFVIII Remastered sheds light on this but I haven't bothered to look this up.

- Kitase acknowledges Squall's "meme face" and expresses that Squall's fate as a joke has now been avenged.

 

[looneymoon]

this remaster looks horrendous. on top of that, there's screen tearing issues, as well as frame rate issues for the cinematic cut scenes. this becomes really apparent during the sections of the game where the characters become playable over a cinematic.

my s/o bought it and refunded it, he was that annoyed. ff8 is his favourite, so out of spite he found a bunch of mods people have made for the steam/pc version. it took a couple of hours but trust me. it looks a million times better than what square enix is getting you to pay for.

don't waste your money.

 

[Jairus]

How do you know it's not his system that's the issue? How things look is a subjective opinion. The UI and many character models are greatly improved, and not everyone has issues with the frame rate. I haven't, for one. It's run just fine. Haven't seen any screen tearing, either. They can't test on every possible system configuration out there, remember. And see the last post. It wasn't originally intended to be a remaster, they just decided partway through to redo many of the models and the UI. So think of it more as an enhanced port than a true remaster.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

So think of it more as an enhanced port than a true remaster.

That would kind of still lend to going the modded Steam/PC route as preferable.

 

[Jairus]

Well, mods are being ported to the remaster anyway, and once the .fs files for the rest of the backgrounds are able to be accessed, those mods are sure to be brought over as well. Besides, there are things that the remaster has that the original lacks. Pocketstation items integrated in the main game, for one, eliminating the need to play Chocobo World to get them. Built-in cheat functions for those who like that sort of thing, even if it's just the speedup to make drawing magic less of a hassle or the no encounters toggle to free up an ability slot so Enc-None doesn't have to be used. And the new models are much better and smoother than the ones from mods, and there are more of them than what modders have done (they've only done the main six plus partials of Laguna and one or two others, but SE redid many more than that). Not to mention that there aren't likely to be any more of the fan-made character models since the last update was over two years ago, unless someone decides to start over from scratch.

 

[Ite]

My wife surprised me with FF8 Remastered for the Switch yesterday. Our FF8 playthrough was cut short when my PS3 died a couple of years ago, and she quote “want(s) to fall asleep while (I) play Triple Triad.”

If you insist, m’lady XD. I think this might be my actual full no-level card run. I’ll finally do the Queen and CC quests, and PuPu if I can. The 3x speed has already helped me run back and forth between the dormitory save point and the cafeteria players.

Our playthrough cut off right when Balamb Garden took flight, so she’s spent years thinking Selphie’s team is dead and hasn’t seen the basketball scene yet. She says she likes 8 better than 7 and 10 so far (not as much as 9) so I’m waiting to see how that’s affected by the twists. I made sure to root out all the extremely important foreshadowing hiding in Squall’s computer so that the twists aren’t too much of a slap in the face — this seemed to work with NORG before, as she knew from the computer that Cid had borrowed the money for Garden, and kept eyeing the Garden staff whenever they were rude to him — so, the NORG crisis wasn’t the twist, but NORG being a yellow blob monster was. I wonder how she’ll react to the basketball scene, and also I wonder if everyone would benefit from having someone literally guide them through the story to properly set up the twists lol.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

My wife surprised me with FF8 Remastered for the Switch yesterday.

What a timeline we live in that this can be a sentence.

 

[Ite]

What a timeline we live in that this can be a sentence.

Truly a blessed time.

Card update: I haven’t even gone to the fire cavern yet and I have the first 44 monster cards plus Wedge, Biggs and MiniMog. Every time that Trepe Groupie #1 busts out his Quistis card, though, I get slaughtered. Might have to get Ifrit before I stand a chance.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Truly a blessed time.

Card update: I haven’t even gone to the fire cavern yet and I have the first 44 monster cards plus Wedge, Biggs and MiniMog. Every time that Trepe Groupie #1 busts out his Quistis card, though, I get slaughtered. Might have to get Ifrit before I stand a chance.

You know how to play this game. I applaud you.

 

[Ite]

You know how to play this game. I applaud you.

Hehe tx ?

My first few playthroughs of FFVIII I didn’t touch Triple Triad. My second and third playthroughs were DRAW-DRAW-DRAW-RUN grindfests. It was only on my most recent playthrough with my wife that I discovered the benefits of cards — you can play a card game instead of grinding for spells!? ?

With 3x speed, I’m also finding that the Draw grind is positively bearable — I just sucked a bite bug dry with both Quistis and Squall in less than five minutes!

 

[Strangelove]

man i wish every game could have a 3x speed mode