Final Fantasy VIII Remastered arrives in September

For all the decades of ha-ha-hilarious jokes about a final Final Fantasy as the numbers kept climbing higher, we hadn't predicted that Square Enix would keep it going from the other end too with remakes and remasters aplenty. Up next is Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, a fancied-up version of the game which in 1999 was definitely the last in the RPG series for real ho ho! Squeenix today announced that it's coming real soon, on September 3rd. This is the game our Katharine declared the best Final Fantasy (and Brendan reluctantly agreed) so maybe I'll have a look next month.

Along with vague talk of "new graphical enhancements," Square Enix say they've added a few handy/cheaty options for the remaster:

• Battle Assist: The ability to always have maxed out HP and ATB, and trigger Limit Breaks at any time.
• No Encounters: An enemy encounter option that allows players to enjoy the storyline uninterrupted. While enemy encounters are turned off, players can still enjoy the story’s event battles.
• 3x Speed Boost: Play through the game with three times the speed.
• The Steam version will also receive additional functions, including All Items (possess all items except for a few certain items), All Abilities, GF Max Level, Max Gil, Max Magic, All Limit Breaks, and All Cards (possess max number of Triple Triad Cards except for Rare Cards).

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is coming via Steam on September 3rd, priced at £16/€20/$20. The unremastered version re-released in 2013 is still sold on Steam for £10 too.

Occasional RPS contributor Nic Reuben is also a big fan of FF8, gushing about special moments and going drinking with the game's GFs. I don't know what "GF" stands for but I'm pretty sure it's not "girlfriend." Though a Cactuar wouldn't be a bad choice, as Final Fantasy characters go. Ah, I need to stop thinking about this. Bye.