There’s just something so accomplishing about being a game collector. The rush of dopamine we get looking at our shelves and seeing video games we’ve collected over the years gives us a sense of pride. When Microsoft announced they were announcing an Xbox One system that would be digital only, it made the collective consciousness of the gaming collector community sweat a little bit. There were comments all over the internet hoping this was just an option for people who can’t carry around physical games everywhere and not an actual trend.
When Square Enix announced they were releasing a remastered version of a classic, Final Fantasy VIII, we all screamed in unison over the hype of seeing our favourite brooding swordsman in high-definition detail. However, the hype came to a screeching halt a couple of days ago when Square Enix announced that the Final Fantasy VIII remaster was going to be digital-only.
Many were excited when boxed copies of the game were shown on the product pages of many different websites. We’re not sure why we were holding our breaths anyway, since Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX were digital-only as well. However, there were still a good chunk of us hoping they wouldn’t continue that trend. We’re still going to download it anyway and swim in an ocean of nostalgia as we play a handsome introvert who gets the cute girl in the end after battling a sorceress and her well-equipped military in a floating school, but we’re still disappointed we won’t get to smell the physical copy before placing it on the shelf where it belongs. We’re hoping someday Square Enix decides it wants even more money by releasing a physical copy of all their remastered digital copies, but that would make too much sense.