While the rumors about Final Fantasy 9 Remake are more intense than ever, as the game celebrates its 25th anniversary, there’s yet another installment in the series that’s deserving of a remake – and it’s not Final Fantasy 6, which also requires some attention. FF9 celebrates its anniversary on July 7, but developer and publisher Square Enix has been putting the classic 2000 game under the spotlight for months on end. The title’s anniversary has received a special website, and there have been several new points of attention, leading to the speculation that the long-rumored FF9 remake may be true.

New celebratory merchandise has been released, featuring the characters from the game, such as Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi, for example. Additionally, each of the main playable characters in the game has also received brand-new artwork. Though they’ve been shared under the guise of celebratory artwork, they do seem like new key art pieces for what could be a game. I’m concerned about the FF9 Remake for a single reason, but I hope the rumors are true, as this is one of the best games in the series. However, there’s another Final Fantasy that deserves a remake after Final Fantasy 9.

Final Fantasy X Deserves A Remake

The Game Aged Poorly, Even Compared To Older Installments

There is a lot of talk about how FF6 deserves a remake, and I agree, as the adventure led by Terra is one of the most well-written in the series, and it’s been stuck in a pixel-art style for decades. Even so, FF6 still holds up well nowadays, especially after the release of Pixel Remaster series that brought several quality-of-life updates and enhancements to it. What I believe is that another installment in the series that deserves a remake is Final Fantasy X. The game, led by Tidus and Yuna, is also one of the most popular in the franchise.

However, it’s aged quite poorly, even when compared to some of its predecessors. FFX is not only a 3D title, but one of the first to try to go for a more realistic design, which, in turn, made its realism fade as technology evolved – FF9 doesn’t suffer from this as much, for example, because its style is less realistic. Beyond the realistic approach to its character design and art style, Final Fantasy X was innovative in more ways than one, but a lot of its groundbreaking features, seen as innovations at the time, have been surpassed and forgotten.

FFX Is Almost Perfect, But One Gameplay System Needs Extra Attention

The Sphere Grid Needs To Be Removed Or Tweaked In A Remake

Although there is a lot of space for improvement in a game that is nearly perfect, there is one particular aspect of FFX that could benefit significantly from a remake. The game’s skill tree, known as the Sphere Grid, is one of the worst gameplay progression systems ever designed in the franchise and, possibly, even in the RPG genre. The way players upgrade each character’s abilities, making them stronger in battle, is initially overwhelming given the structure of the grid. Once you start playing, you will get an idea that character builds are daunting, and you can easily make mistakes.

The concept of the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X is that it will give players more options when building these characters, different from all other games in the series until then. However, tissue is that once players get the hang of it, they’ll soon understand that it has created a false sense of leeway for character upgrades. Instead, players are somewhat restricted to the paths imposed by Sphere Grids, and not only is character progression now a linear path that they should be following, but the supposed freedom they’d have with it is stripped away.

The Sphere Grid is simultaneously overly complicated and annoyingly simplistic, making it a generally poor progression system for characters. It is one of the game’s most criticized elements. Overall, it would have been better if the game set aside the innovative aspect of the Sphere Grid and stuck to natural progression, such as unlocking new skills and boosting stats with each level, for example. This system doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to and gives players a lot more trouble than they should have, tainting how great Final Fantasy X is in so many other ways.

That is where a FFX remake could help. With a new approach to the game’s character progression system, a remake could tweak the Sphere Grid to actually give players more freedom when building their characters as they level them up. This could be done by eliminating the Sphere Grid’s paths or, perhaps, enhancing the Sphere Grid so as to have fewer restraining paths. Another option is to completely remove the Sphere Grid and exchange it for a new system or return to the classic progression systems of older Final Fantasy games that work so well.

A FFX Remake Could Also Improve Some Of The Game’s Weakest Links

Improved Graphics, Better Frame Rates, & Tweaked Lip Sync Could Make The Remake Perfect

In addition to a renovation to the Sphere Grid, a possible remake of Final Fantasy X could also address a few of the game’s weaker elements. One of the most notable ones is a total revamp of the graphics. With current-gen hardware, a more improved level of realism could be applied to the game, allowing it to make up for how much the original game has aged. This would not only be seen in new designs for the world and its characters, but also in more subtle elements, such as animation sets and improved frame rates.

A FFX Remake could take inspiration from the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series.

Another thing that could be significantly enhanced with a remake of the game is how acting is combined with current lip sync technology. The acting in the original FFX is great as it is, but one of the things that breaks player immersion is how loose it was from the characters’ lip sync technology at the time. This led to an evident uncanny valley feeling that made taking some scenes as seriously as they should. The notorious laughing scene is one of the silliest scenes in gaming, but it’s worsened by how the lip sync worked.

Overall, FFX would benefit greatly from a remake, as most of its worst features could be enhanced. The game is already fantastic, but tweaks could make it much more attractive to newer franchise players. There hasn’t been evidence that Final Fantasy X will receive a remake anytime soon, but it could be the one in the franchise that would most benefit from it after the rumored Final Fantasy 9 Remake.