Square Enix has brought a pleasant surprise for loyal fans of Final Fantasy series with the reveal of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered which is heading to major consoles and PC this year. The remastered version also gains new features absent in the original game.

Here’s our first look between the remastered version and the original version on the PlayStation.

New Looks!

Here’s one of the earlier scenes in Balamb Garden. The left side shows the original version. Comparing both of the images side-by-side, there are definitely noticeable improvements such as the fluffier shoulder and the softer textures.

This one is from the Steam version. As you can see, the visuals do have a sharper look thanks to DirectX anti-aliasing, but it still retains the original textures.

It’s clear that the remastered version has updated a lot. For example, Squall’s hair has been given a nice touch while Instructor Trepe’s costume has its textures improved. Squall’s jacket mane has also been altered to look fluffier.

And into combat, we go! Squall’s Renzokuken limit break gets a feature here. The first thing you’ll notice that Squall’s face has been upgraded, as well as his weapon, the Gunblade. It’s no longer a flat model, rather it has been enhanced so now it has a revolver and a trigger visible.

Here’s Renzokuken from another angle.

Even his Griever necklace gets a nice texture upgrade.

New Features

If you owned the Steam version of the game, you’ll notice that it has game boosters such as High-Speed Mode, AP Max, and so on, but Final Fantasy VIII Remastered will be having all these functions below:

• Get All Items: Get all items apart from a select few
• Get All Abilities: Learn all the abilities from all acquired G.F.
• G.F. Level MAX: Max out the levels of all acquired G.F.
• Gil MAX: Sets Gil to the maximum limit
• Magic MAX: Sets inventory of each acquired magic spell to the maximum limit
• Get All Limit Breaks: Learn all the Limit Breaks
• Get All Cards: Get a max number of all cards other than rare cards

Some of these ‘cheats’ are already available on the Steam version.

It’s not Final Fantasy VII Remake levels of improvement, but with Final Fantasy VIII finally getting attention, I’m grabbing the game at the first opportunity it presents. Why not? It’s the best Final Fantasy in the series.

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered will arrive on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2019. No exact date has been revealed so far.