Square Enix’s masterful mid-’90s role playing game, Final Fantasy VI, is coming to iOS and Android some time over the coming months.
Square Enix director and producer Takashi Tokita revealed the news following a presentation on the recent Final Fantasy V smartphone conversion.
“It is basically like a remake of the original VI,” he told Kotaku, “but there have been some enhancements.”
As with previous Final Fantasy smartphone conversions, the battle system has been tweaked to be more forgiving and less frustratingly grind-heavy. Basically, you should have to engage in far fewer random turn-based battles in order to level up.
Following the lead of the previous game, Final Fantasy VI on iOS and Android will also feature sharpened graphics. If you’re going to spend upwards of 50 hours playing a single mobile game (which any Final Fantasy game can easily provide), you’ll want it to make the most of your phone’s high-res display.
Released in Japan and the US in 1994, Final Fantasy VI is widely regarded as the finest game in the lengthy RPG series. It was the last mainstream Final Fantasy game to use 2D graphics before the series went fully 3D with the massively influential Final Fantasy VII.
FFVI didn’t make its way to the UK (outside of import shops) until 2002, when it was re-released on the original Sony PlayStation. It also saw release on the GameBoy Advance in 2007 and the Wii and PS3 in 2011.
Final Fantasy VI is expected to hit iOS and Android some time this winter.
In the meantime, Tokita revealed that Final Fantasy IV: The After Years would be the next to see release on iOS and Android. This spin-off game was originally released for Japanese mobile phones in 2008, before making its way to the Wii in 2009.
And what of that other fan favourite, Final Fantasy VII?
“We are aware that we have tons of VII fans,” Tokita said when asked about the possibility of a smartphone conversion. “We have VII fans in our own company. If this Legacy project works out well, we would like to one day be able to work with VII.”
In other words, if you want VII, you’re going to have to buy VI.
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