The PC community is getting its first crack at Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster with a release yesterday morning on Steam. Square Enix decided not to take pre-orders at all, but kicked off the release with a strong 20% off launch discount, taking the retail price from $29.99 to $23.99.

All other third party retailers authorized by Square Enix are also carrying the same 20% off instant discount during release week. At GMG, you can even STACK an additional 25% off coupon to tally the total price down to only $17.99 - a full 40% off the list price.

The 20% instant savings across all retailers will end on Wednesday, May 18th, but the stacking coupon above will end even earlier on Monday the 16th. After that, you can still use a 20% off code for a few more days before the release week discount goes away completely (until it returns a few months down the line, anyways).

What does the Steam version offer vs. previous installments?

In a nutshell, more content and customization. You can break it down further into 4 categories of new features.

1) Settings

  • Original or Remastered background music
  • Customize resolution and graphics settings
  • Auto-save options

2) International Edition content

  • Final Fantasy X - Optional bosses, new abilities, and new sphere grid
  • Final Fantasy X-2 - creature creator system, fiend arena, lutycyr Tower dungeon, last mission mode, and new dresspheres

3) Optional Battle settings

  • 2x and 4x Turbo options
  • Super Charge (characters have full overdrive meter each turn)
  • Option to encounter enemies more often or less frequently
  • Auto battle mode
  • Ability to hide the heads up display for better screen shots

4) Optional Parameter Changes

  • 99 of each item
  • Unlock all skills for all characters
  • Max Gil

Besides Steam trading cards, this is what the PC version will net you. We should note that if you want English text with a Japanese audio you're currently semi-out of luck. Japanese audio only comes with Japanese text for Final Fantasy X-2, but there is already a mod which allows you to pick Japanese audio with English text for Final Fantasy X. Here's hoping Final Fantasy X-2 support will come around eventually.