It’s Risky Business Remaking Final Fantasy IX

of FinaOne of the last major titles unveiled in the great Nvidia leak of 2021 is a remake of Final Fantasy IX and all signs are pointing to an imminent announcement.

It’s the 25th anniversary and the dedicated website is loaded with new information and art. Almost like there are some major game events in the next week or so.

I for one am excited. Although its my least favourite of the VII-X run, it’s such a strong run of titles that that doesn’t mean very much. It’s a masterpiece, with a few problems in side quests and character development. There are so many questions and barely any bad answers.

As the reveal of Final Fantasy IX remake gets closer, people have been weighing in and what do you know? No two people seem to agree on what this remake should be. Some want voice acting, some want silence. Others want a fixed perspective while others are imagining a game with moving cameras. What about art style? Would you like something cutesy or something more representative of the original game’s cutscenes?

There’s not much that would put me off. Unless this turns out to be a Red Dead Redemption situation where rumoured remakes turn out to be a standard re-release. Fans have already upscaled the original’s backgrounds and I don’t need Square to do it themselves.

Occasionally we’ll talk about the risk of remasters. The job of the developer is to make it how you remember it rather than how it was. It’s a thin line to walk.  Our imaginations are very good, and their budgets are usually very low. Remakes have an even tougher time. Look at Final Fantasy VII.

The Risks of Remasters: Final Fantasy IX

They have to recreate that entire world on a scale so much bigger than it was ever conceived originally. Thousands of characters, each with their own place in your adventure. Bigger cities that do more than just give the impression of being busy and populated. Kalm in the original game is a couple of shops and a house or two. In Rebirth it’s a town.

By all accounts the Final Fantasy IX remake isn’t on anywhere near the same scale, and you wouldn’t expect it to be. But it faces the same kinds of problem. If it’s a straight 1:1 remake but with better graphics, fine. But if it diverges at all, it had to be up to the standards of 2025. Fixed perspective can hint at scale, but those locations aren’t necessarily as grand if you can move the camera. Voice actors rarely beat the voices in our heads, and might actually hurt the experience. And I am desperate for them to add story for some of the characters – Freya and Amarant especially – but it must live up to the vague expectations we’ve all had for 25 years.

Pitfalls everywhere. That’s evidenced by every conversation about this game. Right now the game effectively doesn’t exist. It can be anything to anybody. I’ll love it, and I’m sure others will too. But it’s definitely risky business – and if Square pulled off FF7 I trust them to pull off this too.