In news that has no doubt pleased many, Square Enix has finally announced that they will release Final Fantasy VIII on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch worldwide in 2019 while also re-releasing it on PC in celebration of the game's 20th anniversary.
It will be titled Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, although the actual remastering appears to be similar to what Final Fantasy IX received in 2016 with the character models in particular receiving work.
It will be available on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop and Steam worldwide.
The already available PC version features Steam Achievements for those curious what ones they may include in these versions but while they usually don't change them for Final Fantasy VII they did change them for the PS4 release.
It will include 3 new features on all platforms:
Battle Reinforcement: Keeps HP and ATB at maximum, allowing special skills to be activated at any time.
No Encounters: Turn on / off battle encounters.
Triple Speed: All scenes advance at three times the speed (excluding movies).
These are of course the same features included in the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch versions of Final Fantasy VII.
But what is yet another case in the long run of Square Enix including system exclusive features, they will include 7 more features exclusively on the PC version.
Obtain All Items: Obtain all items, excluding some items.
Obtain All Abilities: Learn all obtainable G.F. abilities.
G.F. Level MAX: Max out obtainable G.F. Level.
Gil MAX: Max out Gil.
Magic MAX: Max out obtainable magic stock.
Obtain All Special Skills: Learn all special skills.
Obtain All Cards: Obtain the maximum amount of cards, excluding rare cards.
Square Enix has enlisted DotEmu once again to handle the development of these 4 versions of the game after DotEmu also did the initial PC re-release in 2013 and 2014.
There is currently no word on what exactly will happen to the PC version of Final Fantasy VIII already available on Steam and the Square Enix e-Store in Japan. They may just be planning on updating the Steam version or may replace it with the new version.
The existing PC version of Final Fantasy VIII has suffered since launch with low quality music and FMVs. It's currently unknown if these will be fixed but you would certainly hope so.
There's also currently no word on iOS or Android versions but considering the difficulties they had with Final Fantasy VII it's understandable, they've probably decided to focus on the console versions first.
PS:Sorry for the long update. Been busy with work and stuff so happy late 2019 and i promise i will be more active. Keep up the good work people i'm so proud of all of you.