Final Fantasy 14's Yoshi-P knows you want an FF9 Remake but doubts a new spin on the JRPG could fit into a "single title"
Sep. 27, 2024He’d also rather revisit Final Fantasy 3 anyway
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Final Fantasy 14 and 16 producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida has said he’s wary about potentially remaking what’s secretly the best game in the series, Final Fantasy 9, because it could balloon into more than a single game like the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy.
In an interview withVideo Games(the website, I mean; your Xbox hasn’t gained sentience yet), Yoshida said he’s aware “there are requests for Final Fantasy 9 to be [remade], but when you think about Final Fantasy 9, it’s a game with huge volume.” Similar to its PS1 siblings, Final Fantasy 9’s polygonal world was stretched across multiple kingdoms, deserts, caves, marshes, wintry peaks, and, err, unusual places that now seem rote by Final Fantasy standards.
“When you think about all of that volume, I wonder if it’s possible to remake that as a single title,” Yoshida says, probably alluding to the same problem Final Fantasy 7 had with its trilogy of expensive remakes. “It’s a difficult one. It is a tough question.”
All that “volume” could be connected by a flat, barely detailed landmass that old-school JRPGS called the world map, but giving Final Fantasy 9 the fancy remake treatment would probably mean those locations would need to be stitched together more realistically, thus inflating an already huge game.
Either way, Yoshida has said in the past that he’s not working on the long-rumored project - in fact, hehas no idea if a Final Fantasy 9 Remake is even in development. Elsewhere in the interview, though, Yoshida did explain thatthe various Final Fantasy 9 cameos in his MMOweren’t a tease to any future games but rather an acknowledgment that Final Fantasy 14 is somewhat of a “theme park for the franchise.”
Yoshida actually has a left-field pick for his choice of a remake, however: “The one that I would like to make myself would be Final Fantasy 3, I think.”
In the meantime, why not check out the otherbest JRPGsto play right now?
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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