Recently I was perusing my Twitter timeline when I saw Square Enix announce a remaster of SaGa Frontier. I confess that I had never heard of this game, which given the fact that it was never released in Europe is understandable, but while I’m excited to try out another classic Square Enix JRPG, I remain cautious due to the fact that Square Enix is well known for the inconsistent quality of their remasters.
As you might be aware, I am a big fan of Square Enix and their game catalogue. I can remember the joy I felt back in 2013 when both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII saw a rerelease on Steam. I wouldn’t exactly call these releases remasters as they were very heavily based on the ports released by Eidos Interactive but they were noteworthy for being relatively basic, lacking some of the polish we’ve come to expect such as the correct button graphics and questionable audio quality. “Well” I thought, “at least it’s a start. They’ll improve the quality of their releases in the future.” How could I have known that I would be both right and wrong!
We soon saw some releases such as Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD but I consider the releases of Final Fantasy V and VI to be the first sign of a lethargic Square Enix. Their PC release was based on the remasters developed for iOS and featured “high definition artwork” which was viewed by many as inferior to the original. While there were plenty who criticised the new art, I would argue that we were still in the honeymoon phase of Square Enix’s remasters and ports and the majority of people simply accepted the new look and UI.
The remasters of both Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X/X-2 for PC were generally well received with many noting that the ports were of a higher quality than previous releases. Star Ocean The Last Hope also saw a remastered release that was generally accepted as being decent. The release of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age was also well received, making some excellent changes that brought a lot more depth into the gameplay.
However, I believe that the release of Chrono Trigger in February 2018 proved to be a turning point for both fans of Square Enix and for Square Enix themselves. Chrono Trigger is quite often listed as one of the greatest games of all time and a rerelease of it should have been cause for celebration. Instead, the remaster immediately received backlash with an aggressively negative reception due to the change to visuals and UI designed for mobiles. It’s interesting to note that this remaster was in many ways similar to the releases of Final Fantasy V and VI but, three years later, the honeymoon period was over and people were outraged that Square Enix were seemingly content with these “lazy” remasters.
Interestingly, Square Enix did something that ended up surprising a lot of people. Square Enix proceeded to spend the next few months releasing patches that worked to overhaul the UI, change the graphics, the font etc. By August, most of the problems had been sorted out and many now consider the PC release to be amongst the best ways to play the game. Interestingly, this year has seen both Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV receive an update to clean up the UI and introduce widescreen support. This move has made me hopeful that some of their other controversial remasters might receive similar attention someday.
However, it’s worth noting that their recent remaster of Final Fantasy VIII has had its share of problems. While the remaster as a whole was generally well received, the blurriness of the pre-rendered backgrounds, a world map that saw little to no improvements over the original and a decrease in frame rate in the menus from 60fps to 16fps saw some accusations that Square Enix hadn’t put enough effort into the remaster.
In conclusion, there is no doubt in my mind that many of the remasters of Square Enix games are inconsistent in quality. While I would love to say that Square Enix has learned their lesson and will put more effort into their future remasters, I confess that I still am not certain of this. Nevertheless, it will be worth seeing if any of their past remasters receive updates like Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV and how their remaster of SaGa Frontier turns out. Let me know your thoughts on Square Enix remasters, including games I’ve mentioned in this article and games I haven’t, whether you think Square Enix have changed or if they have not, your thoughts on Square Enix overall and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.