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On September 17, Square Enix released the final trailer for Final Fantasy Resonance, a new title said to take the pixel-art style of Final Fantasy and evolve it further as-is. In the 5ch Geinou/Sports News+ thread, some voiced nostalgia for the richly detailed pixel art of late-SFC-era titles like FF6 and Dragon Quest VI, while others vented frustration with the Octopath Traveler series and Dragon Quest remakes, which use the similar pixel-x-3D “HD-2D” style. Many also pointed out that what’s truly been lost isn’t the visuals but the “good old-fashioned fantasy world” feel, and opinion was split over whether the series’ tone changed starting with FF7 or with FF9.
Final trailer released for Final Fantasy Resonance — the latest title making “what if FF had kept evolving in pixel art” a reality
September 17, 2026, 12:40
Square Enix has released the final trailer for Final Fantasy Resonance.
Source: news.denfaminicogamer.jp / Original article here
What people said
Give up.
A company that hasn't made a good game this century isn't gonna pull this off.
had gorgeously detailed pixel art, being the final entries of their series on the SFC.
FF6 especially.
Honestly FF6's level of detail wasn't my taste.
I prefer the FF4-5 range.
Why would you even do that on a high-res monitor now?
That's exactly why they're going back to their roots on tiny smartphone screens.
Honestly I think it's garbage.
Octopath Traveler, 2, 0
every time I bought one hoping it had evolved a bit, it was garbage, so I've decided never to buy HD-2D again.
Thanks to that I didn't get fooled by the Dragon Quest I·II·III remakes either.
No matter how many years pass, it hasn't evolved one bit — that's HD-2D for you.
Not interesting at all.
Dragon Quest got popular because it has this fairy-tale-like world you just can't help wanting to dive into.
There are about 3 extra scenarios, so the total volume is over 3 times the main story — it's absurd.
The story has some tearjerker moments here and there, but overall it's pretty flippant and lightweight.
It's promo for characters from past FF titles.
Just leftover vibes from summoning them in the gacha game.
What matters is that good old-fashioned fantasy world setting.
Things started going wrong around FF7.
FF was originally more of an ancient-fantasy setting, you know.
Maybe influenced by Dragon Quest, it somehow shifted to medieval, and by 9 it ended up like that.
Originally, anything went.
Exactly.
Around when the world field stopped being a single overworld map,
it stopped feeling right.
Was there a part in Xenoblade that made you cry?
Well, it did seem like something anime otaku would go for.
Not sure about 2 though.
That sense of actually adventuring was strongest in 12.
And yet the main story didn't get left behind either.
12 was fun.
Starting with 7 it turned into a cheesy movie.
8 is amazing though.
Was that made by the staff from 2?
It's a total mess but somehow it holds together.
Pure genius.
Who on earth keeps designing these lame characters over and over?
Feels like a small, dated character cobbled together by ripping off bits from all over the place.
16 changed too much — 14 or 7 Remake is the proper evolution.
16 would've been better off not being an FF game — then it wouldn't get needlessly compared to past heroines.
A classic fantasy setting doesn't have a space station show up.
Anything went lol
It was ancient fantasy, so anything was fair game lol
Things got weird from 9, when it somehow tried to match Dragon Quest's style.
The language keeps getting shallower, with characters just stating their emotions outright.
I think early RPGs had that depth precisely because their means of expression were so constrained.
It's the same reason a song that just repeats 'I love you, I love you' doesn't sell — indirect expression is what actually hits you.
That's the trend these days.
Even Demon Slayer explains everything through dialogue, and a lot of isekai light novels ("narou-kei") cram in just as much dialogue and exposition.
This goes for any medium, but
when a sad scene literally has someone say 'this is sad,' it kills the mood, doesn't it?
Now watching the footage, my heart doesn't move at all. Guess that's aging for you.
If being able to predict that it's just gonna be some half-baked, sub-novel-tier story and lame battles counts as 'getting old,' then yeah, I guess that's what it is.
Personally I feel FF12 was the turning point — FF12 itself was just plain boring. FF13 has some battle highlights but everything else about it is boring.
FF10 honestly had boring combat too and plenty of dated gameplay elements, but it had things going for it — the story, its distinct Asian-inspired world, and being the first game with voice acting.
The battle themes always follow that 'da-da-da-da-da-DAN' formula lol
Background and Points of Discussion
HD-2D is a Square Enix rendering technique that combines pixel-art characters with 3D backgrounds and lighting effects, used in the Octopath Traveler series and the Dragon Quest III: And Then Into Legend… remake, among others. In the thread, nostalgia for FF’s pixel-art era gets mixed together with opinions on recent HD-2D titles themselves, so it’s worth noting these are related but distinct topics. Opinions on when FF’s style shifted are also split, with some pointing to FF7 onward and others to FF9 onward — where players draw that line of “change” largely depends on their own formative experience with the series. All of this reflects individual thread participants’ impressions, and should be read as a separate discussion from any evaluation of Resonance itself.
※This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Square Enix] The Latest Title Making “What If FF Had Kept Evolving in Pixel Art” a Reality — Final Fantasy Resonance: Final Trailer.”
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