Without a doubt, many are looking forward to the upcoming Final Fantasy 8 Remastered, especially those biding time until the full remake of Final Fantasy 7 or those who have always been enamored by Squall. It'll be clear when they load the game up that there have been changes, graphical and otherwise, to better improve the experience, but there are other changes fans have noticed that don't make a ton of sense. Specifically, it appears that Final Fantasy 8 Remastered censors the game in a lot of strange, not terribly consistent ways.
New screenshots of the game were recently released as a way to hype up its forthcoming launch, but as fans took a closer peek at these new images, it's clear that there's some level of censorship in Final Fantasy 8 Remastered. The first image where this is clear is of the Siren, and it may be hard for some to notice. In the remastered version, the skirt has been fully extended around the waist, censoring the groin area that was more exposed before.
However, Shiva hasn't been changed in FF8 Remastered, yet features a similar design. This has lead to speculation that it's due to the color of the apparel, but that's unconfirmed at this time. It doesn't fully end here, however, as images reveal that Rinoa's cleavage has also been censored to an extent. The clothing in the remaster has been altered to cover more than it previously had.
These changes are not explained, and it seems likely even more will be found when the game releases. As it stands, there seems to be two plausible explanations for this censorship. It could be an intentional change, likely at the request of Square Enix's Ethics department, which previously asked the remake of Final Fantasy 7 to 'restrict' Tifa's chest, but that doesn't make a ton of sense considering how little was exposed.
On the other hand, it's plausible that these changes have just come about with the updated Final Fantasy 8 graphics, at least as to how it applies to Rinoa's cleavage, adhering to the original design but updating with it more modern engines. The changes thus far certainly won't have any impact on FF8 Remastered, but the full extent of this light censorship remains to be determined.
Final Fantasy 8 Remastered is set to launch September 3, 2019, on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: Just Push Start
