Thanks to saber372 for the inspiration.

Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary came and went. But so far, Square Enix hasn’t treated it as such.

Why?

Maybe that’s because they’re waiting? Maybe we’re going to get tons of leaks?

I’m sure we’ll get something soon…

I wrote about what I would want to see from the 30th anniversary here. But I also wrote about the game with the most remake potential here.

Why are these two posts significant? Well, a month after I wrote the latter post, we get an article about remaking games from the PSX era.

The sixth, eighth, and ninth installments in the franchise are all strong contenders for a remake.

I’ve theorized the Final Fantasy game with the most remake will be Final Fantasy VIII. They could add a ton of side content. Not to mention a story about Japanese high school really resonates with Japanese teens audiences (see: Type-0). I think after the success of Final Fantasy VII, they’d naturally move on to Final Fantasy VIII.

But in my post, I also stated what I believe wouldn’t get a remake, and why. Namely Final Fantasy III, V and VI. Well, OK. Maybe they’ll remake them in the style of the PSP anniversary editions. And this is exactly what I think would be feasible for a “Crystal Collection”.

They’d be perfect for a set. As the first six games, Final Fantasy I and VI will be symbolic for outlining the foundations of Final Fantasy.

And if you want superstition for extra power, six is actually a positive number in many East Asian countries. In kanji, I think it means “it’s going well”. That’s exactly how Square Enix sees Final Fantasy 30th’s anniversary.

“It’s going well.”

I wrote about an idea of an Final Fantasy “Legacy Collection” long before the overhype of a “Crystal Collection”. But credit actually goes to lilacgeek, for suggesting this scenario for the 30th anniversary. I don’t know what they’ll call it, but it’s the perfect opportunity to release it, right?

So what will we see? Probably Final Fantasy I – VI. Will Final Fantasy III, V and VI remade in the style of the PSP anniversary edition? And this is it. This will be the definitive versions of these games on the “Final Fantasy: Crystal” collection. They will contain character artwork, bestiary, item locations, OST, sequels; everything on just one disc.

Perfect send off to Sakaguchi’s era of Final Fantasy.

They aren’t going to put Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and anything higher in this so-called “Crystal Collection”. Not simply for disc space and resource. They can make more money selling Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX alone. They did this with Final Fantasy X, XII, and will with XIII. Plus, they’re going to get the rights from Nintendo and Famicon all at once. And remastering Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX from the PSX might prove to be technologically difficult:

“You look at the other titles in the series and technologically anything before the PS2 era is going to be difficult to do a modern remaster of to a suitable level of quality…that means a [future game] is more likely to be a remake,” [Takashi Katano] said.

Will Square Enix to release Final Fantasy VIII, IX, XI, XIII, and XVI on the PS4?