FF8 and Second Chances
 

Well, since I've been effectively unemployed the last few weeks, I've been catching up on my gaming.

One such title that I've had an inexplicable attraction to, is Final Fantasy VIII.

I bought it the day it came out, and I still have my original copy in mint condition. I ripped through the game when it came out five-odd years ago, and was sorely disappointed. I put it down, and never came back.

Well, two weeks ago, I had an irresistable urge to play it again for the first time in about five years, and I am quite glad that I did. Without a doubt, it left a sour taste when I originally played it, but with time and an expanded perspective on console RPG's, I have grown to appreciate it quite a bit.

For one, it has a very unique and interesting gameplay system that adds a good amount of depth to the overall experience. While it is quite easy to exploit, after having played so many cookie-cutter RPG's in the last few years, it's quite refreshing to see new ideas being incorporated into the series. I really think it paved the way for FFX by taking risks with both the presentation of the story, and the gameplay system. Whether or not that is a good thing, I suppose it is up to the individual to decide.

With my initial play-through, the biggest thing that irked me was the storyline, or lack thereof. Upon re-playing it though, I have a bit of a better idea of what it was all about. It is the absolute polar opposite of it's predecessors, which featured simplified gameplay mechanics (And that is not a bad thing, believe me!) and a more plot-driven story. FF8, by contrast focused more on the characters, their individual personalities, plights and overall development, rather than the situation they found themselves in. It also had a much more in-depth game system via the GF's, Junction, Draw, and the other myriad experimental ideas that were implemented into the gameplay.

For many people, it was an utter trainwreck of good ideas with bad implementation. I was a firm believer in this for a very long time, and I can assuredly sympathize with the idea. But if you're a bit jaded with console RPG's, I fully reccomend a re-play of this game, as it is a truly refreshing experience. Just keep an open mind to new ideas (Though they may be five years old) and I think you will find the time invested a rewarding experience.


~All self-contradictions, circular logic and general hypocrisy brought to you by your Local Drunken Infernal Storm.

I have always LOVED FFVIII, and for the longest time it was my favorit! I think it really was a great experiance. Though I must say, the junctioning has a few disadvantages. One, you never use your best magic. You want to junction it. Two, it made the game very easy. I have done everything in the gaim except get DoomTrain, and that is more of lazyness than of not knowing how...

other than that, I too enjoyed FFVIII. To me, it paved the way for all FF games after it. After all, it was the first to feature a Vocal Theme, Eyes on Me, which is still one of my favorit songs!

I love FFVIII!

FF8 was one of the best FF games ever, and I often have trouble deciding if i like it more than FF9 (but FF7 is, and always will be, the best). I really like being able to draw magic from enemies, and I kept wishing I could do that same thing all while I was playing FF10. I would see an enemie use some cool spell, and then I would want to draw it, and remembered I couldn't because I was playing FF10.

As for the story, I loved it. I don't really understand why so many people didn't like it. Maybe because it didn't focus on any single event like so many of the other FF games did (like Sin in FF10, or Meteor in FF7). But events aren't what matter in telling a good story. What's really important is character development, which FF8 had by the truckload.

Yep. I loved FF8 more than FF7. Not a whole lot more, but more nonetheless.

FF6 is still my favourite though. Gotta love that oldskool feelin'

My friends said that all the people that like FF8 liked it because "Oh, Rinoa was so pretty" or "Oh, Squall was so pretty!" I fell in love with RInoa; but the thing I loved about FF8 was the environment; the gameplay system, everything.

The ending was a bit... strange but still, no different from most early Final Fantasies. Actually, when the whole weird Time Travel thing happened, it felt *more* Final Fantasy for a minute.

He looked at me shocked saying "Oh I thought you were a real FInal Fantasy fan!".
He always does shit like that. Taste is taste.

He has only played the 3 Playstation games, whereas I've played, even if only for a few minutes, all the NES and SNES games, as well as the 3 Playstation games, and FFx on the PS2.

I didn't like 8 for the simple reason that the storyline was too predictable. And the characters were generic. The battle system and everything else was just fine, I just found I couldn't get into the game because of the fact I could guess what was going to happen before it happened.

I still dislike 8 out of all of the games, but I'm not going to say I hated playing it or it didn't deserve to be part of the series. I just didn't believe it was as good as it could have been.

i like ff8 more then 7 but less then 9.
my favorite part of ff8 has to be when u crash ure garden into the balmora(whatever it was ) garden that rocked seeing all the students kick the armys asses

I'm glad someone on the other side has come to appriciate what I've been saying for a long time.

Had I possesed the patience 5 years ago to play through the entire game, I might've felt very much the same as the FF8 bashers. Reason being, is that I came to 8 right off from 7 and it immediatly left a bad taste in my mouth from the graphical change to the ultra confusing (at the time, remember) junctioning system. I didn't hate it, I just didn't feel like taking the time to learn a new gameplay system.

two years later, at about the age of 16-17, I played it straight through, and LOVED it. Your like or dislike of the story (rairai) is completly up to peronsal taste etc, so i can respect people's feelings of disdain for the game in that way. It was a teenage love story, somewhat shallow and lovey dovey, no doubt. I however, thought that the story was played out in a good way. Not overly steriotypical, a few twists, and not too sweet to bare. Squall was a decent enough charecter, his weaknesses not readily apparent until you start understanding the charecter's history... (Orphanage life? Yeah I know... corny. But I liked it ^_^)

The gameplay itself, I liked even more. Making the choice between using magic directly, or whomping some serious butt via junctioned magic to attacks and defense was an option I enjoyed exploring more fully the second and third times around in the game. It made collecting magic less of a chore... And drawing? Great idea. Made perfect sense to me.

The GFs were great too, in that this was REAL charecter customization. I'll grant that X did a better job, becuause it was harder (and more fun) to customize your charecters, but 8 was good in that you got to pick who was the healer, the fighter, etc (even if the charecters limit break had them labeled as a speific job, any action outside of that could be determined via junctioning).

Were their ways to cheat the system? Sure. They left it you can "cheat" easily... I mean, pick any FF, then just level up enough in one area, and you're some 30 hours ahead of the game! Were their "Bars" placed in the system in 8 to prevent this kind of stuff, I think you would have lost some of the fun for people who enjoy tweaking out game stats a little bit (or a lotta bit)

I liked 8 so much, i started a fanfic for it. I stopped doing it about ...35 chapters into the story. I'm glad I did stop though, cuase it was really a waste of my time. Those interested can check out www.fanfiction.net and search for the user 'nique-lina' (i turned the story over to someone else who has failed to update it since the turnover... ah well.)

My least favourite FF. . . it had one brilliant moment that I recall, where Squall was trying to save Rinoa in open space. I luv drama, as I alwas seem to be saying on this site. . .

Anyway, it's been a great while, maybe I should try it again. Thanks for reminding me. =,

Another person comes to appreciate the game most know as 'the FF after FFVII'.

Glad someone else has come to like this amazing game. Its one of my 5 favorite RPGs easy and probably up there on my favrotie games list. And without question my favorite FF.

It's been quite some time since I heard someone singing the praises of Final Fantasy VIII. It's still hard for me to decide which is my favorite, IV or VIII, especially since they changed all the dialogue when they ported IV to the PS (Does Tellah still call Edward a "spoony bard?" I forget.)

But I digress. Some of the story in Final Fantasy VIII felt sort of out-of-place, but no less necessary. The game felt a lot more realistic to me and I had wished I done everything before I beat it (The Card Queen Sidequest pissed me so much that I went ahead and beat the game, but I'll try to do it again next time around. I think I'm at the SeeD field mission).

Plus, I like the match up of Squall versus Seifer. Those were my favorite fights.