The Final Fantasy series is going back to its roots once more. Revealed at E3 2021, Square Enix announced that it is planning remasters for not one, not two, but all of the first six Final Fantasy games. That's all the mainline games from the NES era through the SNES.
Sadly, it was merely a tease of the companies plans, with no footage revealed. But these are formative games in the world-beating franchise, some of which are well-overdue a remake for modern audiences. And, in the case of some of the games, it's an opportunity for Square Enix to right the wrongs of some more half-hearted remasters that have blighted the series.
However, this is a grand undertaking, revisiting six games at once. So, while there's not much to go on right now, we'd be surprised to see these games to be more than some improved 2D visuals and quality of life features. In other words, don't expect something on the scale of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
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Righting past wrongs?
Square Enix has revisted these games to varying degrees over the years. It did a great job bringing Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV to the Nintendo DS, for instane, bringing their 8-bit visuals a new 3D, "chibi" style.
But other titles have fared much worse. Most recently, for instance, Final Fantasy 6 (arguably the best Final Fantasy game ever), was ported to mobile, tablet and PC in a horrific fashion, with a smoothed over art style that took all the pixel nuance away from the originals.
Final Fantasy 6 is a true classic, and one that's been left without genuine care by the company for a while. If this newly announced remastered series merely breathes new life into that single game's JRPG, turn-based magic, then it will all be worth it.
