Yoshi-P has officially denied he is working on a remake of Final Fantasy 9.
We had been reporting rumors that Square Enix was working on this remake since last year. The most compelling proof that they are working on such a project was a data mine, which found DLC and other data for the game.
As shared on the GamingLeaksandRumours subreddit by user MKlby1998, Yoshi-P clarified some of the rumors that spread around after he ran the Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail media tour.
Apparently, Yoshi had an interview with a Dutch language game media outlet, but something got lost in translation from this interview. The interview got translated to say that Creative Studio 3 was working on 2 new games, and that they would be announced soon.
Yoshi officially stated that Creative Studio 3 had more than 2 projects in development, and that he did not go on record that they would be announcing those games soon. And this was where he denies he was making any game related to Final Fantasy 9.
Interestingly enough, Yoshi then claimed that if Square Enix was working on a Final Fantasy 9 remake, it would definitely be a big project, possibly bigger than the Final Fantasy 7 trilogy.
There’s certainly good reason for Yoshi-P to refer to Final Fantasy 9 as such an ambitious title. In essence, it was ambitious, pushing what they could do on the PlayStation. The story was a return to the action of Square’s NES Final Fantasy games. However, being published on the PlayStation, Square would be able to get away with more mature themes and similar content.
Playthroughs of Final Fantasy 9 run up to the forty hour mark, and even though it showed significant improvements in comparison Final Fantasy 7, it is still quite clear that Square held back. This game had some multiple choices and an Active Time Battle system, but it’s clear that what they would have wanted to do with this was make it a full action RPG.
And, of course, the rerelease of the original Final Fantasy 9 is easily available everywhere. So the impetus for this remake goes beyond making the game easy to find and play, but to do that huge sprawling storyline. That’s why Yoshi claims that Square would make this remake a big project.
But hopefully, Square Enix had already planned to make this a multiplatform release, if it does turn out to be real. They simply can’t afford to make console exclusive games anymore. In any case, it would be great if Square actually went ahead and confirmed this project at least before the year ends.
