People are not happy about the font used in the Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 Pixel Remasters.
A scroll through games Twitter shows folks are discussing the Square Enix’s font choice, and depending on how you look at things, people are rightfully upset. The font used is certainly questionable and there’s no denying that it doesn’t necessarily fit within the art style of these Pixel Remasters.
Some Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster screenshots from 1+2+3
Not sure about that font.. pic.twitter.com/oGVSFl4J5P
— Nibel (@Nibellion) June 30, 2021
It’s quite modern, for starters, and not a font that a pixel art game would have used back when these games were made. Case in point, the original versions of Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 used a pixelated font to accompany the pixel art used in the games.
Then there’s the fact that the font is quite small, which doesn’t bode well for the game’s overall accessibility.
ᶦ ʳᵉᵃˡˡʸ ᵈᵒⁿ’ᵗ ˢᵉᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖʳᵒᵇˡᵉᵐ
— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) June 30, 2021
These three titles are coming to PC and mobile and the font certainly screams “mobile port,” although the “why?” behind the decision to change the font at all remains unanswered and unknown.
To catch people who aren’t familiar with the remasters up to speed, Square Enix announced earlier this month that it would be remastering the first six Final Fantasy games using a pixel art style reminiscent of their original art styles. The reason these remasters even need to exist at all (besides archival purposes) is that previously-released ports of these games — looking at you, Final Fantasy V, and VI, especially — were not held in high regard by fans.
The ports saw the game’s beautiful pixel art smoothed over, giving the beloved characters and settings an almost toy figure-like look. These ports were criticized far and wide — they were literally pulled from Steam today — by people who simply wanted to play these games as they were released.
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The pixel remasters aren’t necessarily one-to-one in terms of pixel art, but they are a significant step up from previous ports.
Then…people saw the font.
To make a long story short, people are not happy with Square Enix’s decision to change the font to what it currently is.
hey @SquareEnix did you know that you can PAY for a really, really, really good font for like only $120 . . . i, uh, i will buy it for you, if you want . . . seriously, my DMs are open pic.twitter.com/zRhT7K2Bfq
— tim rogers (@108) February 27, 2018
It was revealed today that the Pixel Remasters of Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 would be released on July 28, 2021, and it seems this small and not-so-desirable-to-some font is what will be used in those July 28 releases.
The Pixel Remasters of 4, 5, and 6, however, do not yet have official release dates — their Steam pages simply say “coming soon” — so perhaps Square Enix could change the font before they release those titles. Only time will tell, but if Square Enix checked Twitter today, the message was probably received.
While waiting for these games to release, check out these screenshots from the first three Pixel Remasters and then read about how two Final Fantasy games were pulled from Steam today.
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.