Final Fantasy 8 is turning 25 this year and you'd best bet that Square Enix will talk about it.
As it finds itself knee-deep in the massive remake trilogy of Final Fantasy 7, its producer, who was the original director of FF8, recently shared his thoughts about a hypothetical remake.
Despite there being no official plans from Square Enix to remake the game, the discussion is providing insight into the challenges and considerations of modernizing classic titles.
Kitase, in an interview with IGN, expressed a desire to rework the game's battle system if he'll ever get a chance to do a remake. He noted that while it was innovative, the system proved a bit of a challenge for some players as it involved its enemies leveling up in parallel with party members. It requires adept management of the Junction system to succeed in combat. Kitase claims revisiting this aspect of the game would be a priority, aiming to balance difficulty and approachability more effectively.
The Junction system, central to FF8's gameplay, allowed players to assign ("junction") magic spells to characters to improve their stats or grant them new abilities. It's a departure from the more straightforward mechanics of its predecessor, Final Fantasy 7, and its complexity was a point of contention among fans.