PleaseStopIt

Square Enix used to set the bar. Now they trip over it and blame the floor. This so-called remaster is the purest distillation of modern Square Enix which is hazy, thin, conflicted, and allergic to feedback. They can't even get their flagship series Final Fantasy right when all the work has pretty much done for them in this case. The original is a masterpiece and can't even get that right. It is more crayon drawing on top of a Shakespeare play. It took them seven years to ship a basic facelift. The original was built in 13 months. Fans waited longer for less. They stated they lost the source code. That wasn't the only thing they lost. -Full price for a minimal remaster. No meaningful additions, just a receipt that reads like a collector's tax that can be over $200 and doesn't even include the game. -They discarded the PSP content because “faithfulness,” then lift the PSP translation anyway. Faithful when it's convenient, derivative when it saves time. -Balance mangled by ideology. Gender terms scrubbed and gender-locked gear removed, tilting heavily toward male units and devauling females. Cometic on the surface, game-changing in reality. -Scripts rewritten (JP & EN) to "add info" and make it easier for the voice-actors. Removal of "God" to the "Father" is just more concealed censorship. -Audio identity dulled. Death cries and chocobo are changed completely and sound strange. -Default blur like a bad Photoshop filter. Yes, you can disable it but it is shipped as the look of the game which is telling of its overall product. -"New content”? Just a preorder outfit. So additions are possible, you just have to pay more first. This isn’t preservation and it isn’t modernization. It’s a cash-grab with a conscience cosplay lecturing the fanbase about purity while gutting what made the PS and even PSP version valuable and charging more for less. Shills will clap; critics get blocked. When sales underperform yet again, SE will ask “what happened?” instead of reading the replies they’ve muted for years. What a competent release would've done in a fraction of the time: -PSP-content toggle (on/off) and better overall redrawing. -If you’re killing gender-locked gear, replace the strategy depth you're removing or just don't do it at all to please a small minority. -Audio pack with original SFX selectable, not “trust us, it’s better.” -Added content like multiplayer or just anything really. Until then, FFT Remaster is exactly what Square Enix has become: artistically timid, commercially cynical, and proudly unlistening. If they go eventually bankrupt or bought out, perhaps they will question what happened. No need to worry about the artistically bankrupt element though as it is in full-swing. Go with any other version and save your money. I wish I had.