Final Fantasy 10's Official Return Has Completely Split Gamers

Final Fantasy 10 fans are divided on the upcoming release of a new remaster. During the week of Summer Game Fest, which also saw a PlayStation State of Play and a Nintendo Direct, Square Enix made the unexpected announcement, confirming that remasters of Final Fantasy X and its direct sequel Final Fantasy X-2 are both coming to the Switch 2 on July 23.

It came at the end of a banner week for Final Fantasy fans, who also learned during SGF that FF7 Remake Revelation has a release window of spring 2027, and saw a first trailer for the HD-2D turn-based game Final Fantasy Resonance. The FFX announcement, though, provoked more of a mixed reaction from the fandom.

In a Reddit thread discussing the upcoming remaster, commenter StrifeBuster7 summed up many grievances with the FFX remaster thusly: "What's even the difference? Like how much more HD can it get?"

In many ways, FFX/X-2 HD Remaster, as it's officially titled, has become Square Enix's Skyrim. It's constantly getting a re-release for the latest platform, and Square Enix is still charging $49.99 for the privilege of playing it on Switch 2. (For what it's worth, that's not a terrible price to pay for both games, but if you already own one or both on another platform, I could see it being a deterrent.)

Others tie it in with another recent Nintendo controversy: the FFX remaster will only be available as a Switch 2 game key card, a system of digital rights management that's caused some consumers to sound the alarm about the increasing uncertainty of game ownership. User heliolisk also points out that there's no way to upgrade to the remaster if you own the original version on the Switch, which means you'll have to pay the full price of $49.99 if you want all the flashy new features.

Some commenters are a little more positive on the remaster. Commenter kdlt points out that quality-of-life gameplay features present in other versions of the FFX/X-2 remaster — the fast-forward feature and toggle for random encounters, to name a couple — are still missing from the original Switch port. "I know that filtered me hard before Zanarkand."

But others are a lot more negative on the pricing of the Switch 2 port. "I'll be honest," says ryudo6850, "This is one of those releases that need people to go shame Square Enix into submission. No one should have to pay this price if you own the standard Switch editions."

"If you buy this, you are the problem."

It's worth noting that these remasters were already controversial. They've already been criticized for the relative lightness of characters' skins when compared to the original PS2 release (likely an inadvertent result of updated lighting and shaders). Others find the rearranged soundtrack lacking compared to the original music.

So really, the Switch 2 version was always going to be a little unpopular, but the pricing, lack of upgrade path, and game key card-only availability seem to have pushed fans of the series over the edge. Still, the Switch 2 remaster of Final Fantasy X might be worth it if you've never played the games before.