14 DAY TRIAL // Square Enix has just announced that Final Fantasy VIII Remastered will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on September 3. The game is already available for pre-order for $19.99/€19.99 on all platforms, so fans can check that out.
Along with the announcement, the Japanese company outed a release date trailer and several screenshots captured in-game. And for those who'd like to know what the remastered version brings in terms of improvements, there's a list published by Sony that offers all the details.
There are two types of improvements: visual and gameplay-wise. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered features enhanced visuals, as several characters, enemies, GF, and objects have been refined to look better than they look in the original game.
Well, that's about it when it comes to visual improvements, so let's take a loot at the new gameplay features that were not available in the original Final Fantasy VIII game. First off, Battle Assist lets players activate a booster to max out HP and ATB bars to trigger Limit Breaks at any time.
However, players are taking a big risk when they activated Battle Assist since they will lose all HP when they get hit by a critical attack that gives more damage than their HP, or by lethal damage.
Another important new mechanic is “No encounters,” which does exactly what the name suggests. When it's enabled you'll be able to explore the world of Final Fantasy VIII without fear of attack. Obviously, even if you turn off random encounters, event battles must still be done if you want to advance the story.
Finally, there's a new 3x speed boost option, which accelerates time by a factor of three. It shortens the battle duration by a lot, but it will not apply to certain scenes including movies.
If you haven't played Final Fantasy VIII, you now have the option to play the remastered version for much less than the original game, on your favorite platform.
