Which Final Fantasy is the best in the series? What’s your favorite Final Fantasy game? You’ll find this question pop up quite often in gaming circles and message boards, and most likely someone will answer with one of the PS1 Final Fantasy titles, where the series really hit it’s stride selling a combined 33 million copies combined, which outsells the series totals on any other system by a long shot. However, the games created on PS1 haven’t aged well at all, and that’s where the Final Fantasy IX: Memoria Project steps in.
In a Tweet on 6/19, 3D character artist Dan Eder shared screenshots of one of the main characters in Final Fantasy IX: Vivi, in the famous opening scene where he explores Alexandria for the first time while waiting to see the play “I Want to be Your Canary.” However, these weren’t just any old screenshots of Final Fantasy IX, they were beautiful.
This new fan project is called Final Fantasy IX: Memoria Project, and according to the Memoria Project website, this is a project is “a non-playable passion project led by a team of professional developers and artists in the video game industry that aims to re-imagine what the legendary game would look like if it was remade with modern graphical capabilities.” It’s a “non-profit love letter” that is being created as a tribute to the original game, which was released in 2000. The team states it is meant to be a “proof of concept,” not a playable product that would infringe on Square Enix’s copyright.
Even though Final Fantasy IX is my personal favorite game in the series, I don’t expect Final Fantasy IX to ever receive a proper remake like Final Fantasy VII did. The Memoria project is good enough for me though, even if it is a non playable game. If you follow Dan Eder on twitter, or keep tabs on his website, you will be able to see plenty of screenshots and progress on the project. Including this amazing render of Garnet! (I’m sorry, I just can’t call her Dagger).
The project is still going strong, and the team is looking for help from a sound designer or an Unreal Engine tech designer. You can apply on the website, or directly sending Eder a DM.
You can tell this team is so passionate about their project, and will do so well with it. I’m looking forward to future updates, and can’t wait to see General Beatrix square off against Zidane and co in Burmecia! What do you think about Final Fantasy IX: Memoria Project? Which characters do you want to see in this project? Let us know in the comments section or on our Discord!
Source: Dan Eder, FFIX-Memoria
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