While the upcoming Final Fantasy XV release is still slated as console-only, SquareEnix has been bringing a substantial portion of their back catalog to Windows. The company seems to be slowly marching the Super Nintendo era toward Steam, just recently announcing that Final Fantasy V will join III and IV on September 24th. This leaves just Final Fantasy VI missing from that era, at least from the main series, which suggests that it will join the party (pun intended) in a little while.
A few other titles are still in radar silence. The entire NES era, Final Fantasy I and II, is no-where to be found… unless you count the former's re-release on Windows phone (although, even if you do, a case for “no-where to be found” could still be made). From there, everything has made it to the PC until you reach the aforementioned Final Fantasy VI.
From the PlayStation generation, both VII and VIII launched on the PC back in the late 90s, and both have been re-released on Steam, so those are fine. The only missing title is Final Fantasy IX, which is currently an original PlayStation exclusive. It has not been remade for any other system, period. This is a bit concerning, because it means that a team cannot be set aside to bulk-port a chunk of titles. Every port from that generation stemmed from their PC versions, so this would (at least I expect) need to be a special case. It never had one. Would they think the effort's worth it?
Next is the PlayStation 2 generation. This is a PC dead zone, apart from Final Fantasy XI, the MMO, which launched on Windows alongside Sony's console. We need ports of Final Fantasy X, X-2, and XII for the platform to be complete. Interestingly, the PS4 has just received an HD remaster of X and X-2, but XII is stuck on the PS2 (at least for now).
This brings us to the PS3 generation. The only thing we're waiting for is Lightning's Return, which is the third installment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. It has been announced and, in fact, should have already launched several months ago. SquareEnix has confirmed a delay, re-affirmed that the PC will get it, but a firm date has not been set. Still, I'll count it as “PC”. Final Fantasy XIV was an MMO that launched, a few times, on Windows.
Lastly, Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy VII Remake may or may not come to the PC. Who knows?
So, ignoring the offshoots, we are currently missing: Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Final Fantasy XII (plus the future titles). It is funny how SquareEnix seems to be grouping the ports by generation. While it looks fairly random from the Steam search page, the gaps make sense when you consider the work required to port a game. Ressurrecting Final Fantasy IX is a completely different process than VI.
Final Fantasy V will come to Steam on September 24th. Some may argue with the price, but you can wait for it to come on sale if that is an issue. You've waited long enough already.
Of all the final fantasy
Of all the final fantasy titles I found FFV to be the most disappointing (not the worst, just the most disappointing). I played it for the first time in the mid to late 90s when emulation was beginning to mature and FFV was one of the first translations available. Given that FFIV was and continues to my favorite game of all time, and FFVI was second only to Chrono Trigger after it, I was, to put it mildly, quite excited to get my hands on the mysterious FFV which i had only caught the occasional glimpse of in 90s gaming magazines, and which we were so unjustly cheated out of playing in the west…
It however wasn’t long after i started playing it that it became obvious to me why it was never released here: While the technical aspects of it were definitely ahead of FFIV with regard to the job system, sidequests, non-linearity, etc, the story and tone were a huge step back from the epic adventure in FFIV, and even the graphics were more childish and blocky. Where FFV was an obvious half-step to FFVI in the technical department, everything else was a mess.
The game, while enjoyable, feels like it came from a different company than the one that made FFIV and FFVI, and if it had my criticism would probably instead be praise at how good it was because with FF square was in a league of their own and anyone that could come that close to their glory would be worthy of respect. As it stands, ehhhh.
I guess the moral of the story is that some things are better and more titillating as a mystery, and that sometimes it’s best to avoid the cold bludgeon of reality.
Squeenix already said that if
Squeenix already said that if FFVII remaster sells well, they’ll do FFVI next.
FFVII is a remake. Not a
FFVII is a remake. Not a remaster. This is an important distinction.
The Holy Trinity of the
The Holy Trinity of the entire series was always the “VI-VII-VIII” combo. These are extremely hard ones to fully remake without screwing something up. Everyone knows it, Square knows it. That’s why We didn’t have FFVIIR for some many years – Square was LITERALLY scared of touching it. They’ve finally overcame their fears, but this is only the beginning. FF VI and FF VIII, on the other hand…these clearly won’t be worked on anytime soon. No until FFVIIR fully comes out, that’s for sure. Square just cannot make such big risks anymore like it did back in the mid and late 90s. Square’s not the same anymore. I highly doubt we’ll see FFVIR until FFVIIR gets released, and as for FFVIIIR – it definitely won’t come out until Square makes 100% sure that both FFVIIR and FFVIR were 100% successful projects, so FFVIIIR obviously comes the last and furthest down the line. Hell, these days I’d rather believe more that Square’s going to do a full-blown remake of Xenogears OR Chrono Trigger before it actually starts working on FFVIIIR.
ok square for fracks sake put
ok square for fracks sake put a cloud save option in all the damn games and allow that damn save to be sync’d across all platforms
Cloud saves are essentially
Cloud saves are essentially Save States.
These suck major rat’s ass in comparison to hard manual saving.