Final Fantasy VIII
RPGs That Deserve the Zodiac Age Treatment
Final Fantasy VIII has always been in a strange position, a bit of a divisive game wedged between the beloved Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX. That doesn’t mean VIII is bad in any regard, but it could certainly benefit from a few updates. There was a Steam version of the game released with some boosters like high-speed mode and battle assistance, but these updates would be appreciated on console as well. Final Fantasy VIII fell in a strange time of PS1 graphics, where it tried to emulate realistic character models instead of the more stylistic design of both VII and IX. Unfortunately this hasn’t age well, and the characters of VIII are quite blocky and ugly.
While Final Fantasy VIII’s story was top notch, its battle system was overly complicated resulting in absurd amounts of customization for each character, although each inevitably felt similar to the next. Besides a visual update, certain gameplay additions could be made to tighten up things like the Junction and equipment systems.
