Final Fantasy 8 AI Concept Trailer Is “Impressive” Despite Creepy Smiles

After the success of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and its Rebirth sequel, the Square Enix community is enthusiastic about discussing the next Final Fantasy installment to be shown the same treatment. Two entries in the running are Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy 8, and unofficial concept art for the two hypothetical remakes is nothing new. Still, a recently created AI trailer for the latter has divided the fandom.

The uprising of computer-generated content is lightyears away from producing Remake and Rebirth’s quality, and some projects, like the recently released AI rom-com trailer, have turned into laughing stocks – similar to Red XIII’s treatment in Rebirth. Most can agree that AI produces pretty images but spits out uncanny valley characters that no one can get behind, and while the Final Fantasy 8 AI trailer is visually impressive at surface level, the “creepy smiles” are off-putting.

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Created by YouTuber Lab 13 and titled Final Fantasy VIII Remake, the 1 minute 45 second-concept trailer filtered through moving images of the game’s main characters, such as Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartilly, and Irvine Kinneas. The presentation also recreated environments from the 1999 RPG, including Deling City and Galbadia with a strong military presence.

As expected, the Final Fantasy fandom had a few things to say about the final product, ranging from “beautiful, absolutely breathtaking” and “…the AI software actually made Selphie look hot” to “those smiles are f-ing nightmare fuel.” The characters’ toothy grins were a point of discussion over on X also, highlighting the “creepy smiles” and the general lack of direction within the trailer was mentioned by popular composer Alex Moukala stating: “The prompt must’ve been something like: Take Final Fantasy VIII’s creative direction, throw it in the trash and do a mish-mash of everything and anything.”

The trailer’s creator, Lab 13, produces content around game and movie concepts built using prompts through the generative AI software Midjourney. The comments on YouTube were largely positive and stirred hype for the eighth installment to be put in Square’s pipeline. However, fans on X dragged this idea over the coals and didn’t hesitate to defame the AI achievement.

Discussions were also geared towards developing a remake for Final Fantasy 6 first, alongside elements fans would like to see in a hypothetical Final Fantasy 8 remake, including Unreal Engine cutscenes, action-based combat, a deeper dive into the lore, and a request for a “developed romance between Squall and Rinoa.”

AI is fine for brainstorming, but leave the real graft to Square and they’ll cook something special.

Final Fantasy 8

Released

February 11, 1999

Developer(s)

Square Enix

Publisher(s)

Square Enix

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