We have plenty of nostalgia for Final Fantasy. Understandably so, considering many grew up with the series, and how it single-handedly helped Japanese RPGs land outside of Japan.
Decades later, its cultural significance is not to be underestimated. This legacy is a big reason behind recent remakes and reimaginings like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, or continuous remasters and pixel upgrades to classic titles we are desperate to experience on hardware that isn’t slowly surrendering itself to time. Right now, I can boot up my PS5 or Xbox Series X and jump into the vast majority of Final Fantasy games with only a few outliers.
Spin-offs like Crystal Chronicles receiving remasters and rhythm games like Theatrhythm acting as homages to the series’ history only further cement exactly how much it means. Fans care, and because of that, they want to relive these stories and their characters so many times, even if it means discarding new ones. That’s the peril of remakes, and how remaining shackled to our own nostalgia is a potential recipe for disaster.
Final Fantasy 6 Just Doesn’t Need A Remake
In a recent interview, series veteran Yoshinori Kitase talked about the possibility of a Final Fantasy 6 remake, and how a project of that scale and ambition would likely take 20 years before it was completed if it were to make use of modern production values and technology. It isn’t feasible to revive that story with the same sense of gravitas without leaving so much of it behind. Even Final Fantasy 7, the first 3D entry in the series and less complicated than the 2D ones that preceded it in terms of scale and mechanics, has taken three entire games to recreate and expand upon the original tale. It is a tall order, and I woulstatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/’t be surprised if similar resources are required to bring 6, 8, or 9 back to life. Although, I’d prefer Square to take more experimental directions with visuals and gameplay so they don’t end up too similar to the 7 remakes.
But the more I think about potential remakes and the continued peddling of nostalgia, the more I worry we are leaving behind what Final Fantasy actually represents. In spite of its name, there have been dozens of the damn things and each new entry is entirely standalone. There is no right Final Fantasy to start when it comes to newcomers because each one is completely different, presenting amazing worlds and characters which stand the test of time on their own. It’s all about a vibe which resonates most with you, but as production times balloon and the industry has become more reliant on remasters and remakes, we are leaving that novelty behind.
When I was growing up, each Final Fantasy felt like losing myself in a grand new epic of distinct characters, tones, and mechanics - as if Squaresoft used each new game as a way to experiment with an excess of ideas bubbling away within the studio. As the formula grew dated and the company, like most of the triple-A industry, became obsessed with visual fidelity over innovation, this slowly faded away, eventually leading us to where we are now. It isn’t entirely fair, because Final Fantasy 16 delivered a fresh take on the series inspired by Western icons like The Witcher and Game of Thrones, although in taking so much inspiration it lost sight of its own identity.
The days of Final Fantasy blowing us away with distinct takes on the genre that introduce excellent new characters and stories have been lost as we continue to retrace the past, asking those behind it to reimagine or revive their past successes instead of giving them permission to move onto something new. Or perhaps they have a fear of not living up to those victories, while the corporate powers pulling the pursestrings know that putting remakes ahead of a new idea is both safer and more likely to generate sales. It’s an unfortunate way to look at creativity in video games and a storied series like Final Fantasy, but one that is all too true.
So, even if it feels like a distant possibility right now, please don’t give us a remake of Final Fantasy 6. Rebirth, despite willingly retreading the past, is at least aware of the importance of new ideas and subverting our expectations decades after the original classic. If remakes following in its footsteps don’t bother doing the same, I have little interest in them.
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