Square Enix announced today that the HD Remasters of Final Fantasy I, II and III will be coming to PC on July 28th. As the press release reads, the pixel remaster series brings all the magic of the originals combined with quality-of-life upgrades while staying faithful to the retro design of these masterpieces.
Fans can look forward to enjoying a host of updates including:
- Redrawn 2D pixel character and background graphics, featuring iconic FINAL FANTASY character pixel designs created by Kazuko Shibuya, the original artist and current collaborator.
- Beautifully rearranged soundtracks, overseen by original composer Nobuo Uematsu.
- Improved gameplay, including controller and touch controls, modernized UI, auto-battle options, and more.
- Dive into the world of the game with supplemental extras like the bestiary, illustration gallery, music player, and the ability to save at any time
Square Enix’s Hironobu Sakaguchi said:
“When working on the originals, I didn’t think that the FINAL FANTASY series would be remastered almost 35 years later. The video game industry had only just been established. So, with nobody else leading the way, we had to keep moving forward at the front line. I remember how we went through a lot of trial and error at that time. I’m very happy and grateful that Final Fantasy has continued for such a long period of time.”
FINAL FANTASY Brand Manager and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Producer Yoshinori Kitase also added:
“Every time a new Final Fantasy title is released, I think there are those who want to return to the origin of the series. This project began because we wanted to create a convenient way for fans and new players to enjoy these original classics, with consistent graphics and a unified user interface.”
FINAL FANTASY series composer Nobuo Uematsu concluded:
“We are rearranging all the music tracks this time. One of the first ideas I had was to make sure to stay faithful to the originals, but of course I couldn’t just leave it in the original 3-tone sound, so they have been built up into full-scale tracks. I have made sure that the original atmosphere has been retained and each can be listened to as separate music pieces, so that fans can enjoy.”
Do note that these aren’t HD-2D Remakes like Dragon Quest III. Therefore, you should not expect major visual differences. Instead, these remasters promise to feature better backgrounds and sprites.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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