Get An Inside Look at Final Fantasy VIII’s Development With a New Dev Diary Video

If you ever wanted to dive inside the minds of the developers behind Final Fantasy VIII and its remaster, Square Enix has you covered with a new video.

Inside Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is the sixth video in a long line of developer featurettes. Essentially a developer diary consisting of “secrets and anecdotes from the developers,” the twenty-minute video delves into the game’s creation and brings to light intriguing and hilarious tidbits about how the game was made and finalized.

For example, Yusuke Naora, Final Fantasy VIII’s art director, was apparently asked to use a Tequila Sunrise cocktail as the inspiration for the key colors in a specific, emotional scene between protagonists Squall and Rinoa. Additionally, the main antagonist Ultimecia began life as a Final Fantasy VII sorceress character who didn’t make the final cut.

You might want to set aside some time if you plan to watch the Final Fantasy VIII dev diary since it is just short of half an hour. Moreover, the video is in Japanese, but it comes with handy English captions.

When our Zhiqing Wan got her hands on Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, she wrote that the gameplay still holds up and the graphical upgrades are impressive. The game is a must-play for any Final Fantasy fan, and the developer diary is likewise a must-watch, especially if you didn’t know that director Yoshinori Kitase wanted to “channel a bit of the essence of The Wizard of Oz” in the game.