FFVIII : Love It Or Hate It?

Love it or Hate it?

  • Total voters
    441
Final Fantasy VII and VIII were the first games I came across, I recall I played to the end of the Train Graveyard in VII before I played FFVIII. I loved that game so much I played through until I got stuck on the BGH251F2 at the missile base on disc 2. It's safe to say that Final Fantasy VIII captivated me as a child with some issues I could directly relate to as well as my love for science fiction and fantasy in general was sated by this game. Preferring what I address as an organic or neon sci-fi style over the industrial sci-fi setting of FFVII I found that VIII was very pleasing aesthetically too. As it was only my second FF game I appreciated the variation in the battle system and having integrated the draw system into myself early on found it to be more than simply tolerable.

So yeah, it's safe to say I love FFVIII for what it is.
 
Love this game. If I could change one thing it would be to make drawing magic from enemies easier. Sitting around drawing magic for hours on end gets old.
I've tried a few times to restart this game and play through it but I never finish it for some reason...Guess nowadays there is just to many other good games out there to waste time playing even a classic FF.
 
Aside from the junctioning/draw system and the whole Orphanage angle I like it.
 
Hated the storyline to be honest, and i despise the junction system, it kind of ruined the game for me, "spend an eternity drawing magic to make yourself stronger" ohh, but if you use the magic your character has drawn you become weaker / lose some of the benefits. OKAY? :/ GFS and win.. also the backstory of the characters was pathetic. IT could have been a much better game with more time spent on it.
 
I found ff VIII to be an overall good game,I think the only thing about this one I didnt care for was having to draw magic,,I found it to be annoying.Triple triad was cool,played the holy hell out it so I could get my holy wars to beat Omega weapon.I ended up spending somewhere around 216 hours total in VIII.
 
The news of FFVIII coming to steam made me want to vote on this.

Again, FFVIII is amazing, but underrated. I believe it will forever live in the shadow of VII's "legendary status", as will IX.

This game's plot was involving, the "time" element was well used/not overly done, most of the characters were likable, Triple Triad is a great addition as a mini-game, and so on. The load times are something to be desired, though. :shame:
 
Everyone has there preference. Me viii is by far the best. But there all good games you can't play only one of them. Vii has the best combat experience viii has the best and most mature story and ix reached back to gameplay more original than the two before it then we have x which is also an amazing game tidus is an awesome character and the graphics are stunning but it lacked story. And of course vii had the best final boss of any game. Seprioth was amazing. But seifer and ultemcia were also pretty good bosses in viii and in my opinion I didn't care for the cartoon effect in ix although it had a good story and I like how it has knights and mages. But everyone has there opinion and in mine it seems like the further they go along the more true gameplay they lose. Vii viii and ix are the best!!
 
This is the final fantasty that ends up in the lowest tier. That doenst mean i hate the game! But FF 8 is the ff that i liked the least. And i played ALL final fantasys.

The reason why.
- Didnt like most music. I hated the garden music!
- The overal vibe of the game whas not my taste.
- Although i strongly encourage news ideas, this time i didnt like it. And it is because whole the draw thing. I am such a neurotic gamer that i want have all stuff, so when i get into a battle with my party, and see that the ememy carries a new magic (or worse, 2 or 3 new magic!!)..... i want 100 for each character... This mean draw draw draw... Next battle same shit!
- Junction was ok, but problem with this was that, neurotic gamer as i am, i never ever cast magic that is junctioned, beceause my stats get down. Meaning i never use the good magic because its junctioned! I actually played the whole game several times, without ever using magic. Only melee combat and items.
- Story mwah. Only the ending makes it a reasonable story. (time loop, like ff1 nice!)
- I trully hate the dream world with Laguna.

What i like about ff8.
- Nice card game, and pretty addictive.
- Good graphics. And awsome FMV.
- Weapon upgrading. lion heart rocks!
- I like squall as he becomes a real leader.
- I like the junction with guardion forces. (reminds me a bit of ff6)
- Wel its Final Fantasy, and way better then a lot of other RPG!
 
Hi,
Final Fantasy VIII is, in my opinion, the best in the series so far. And I have a feeling that nothing better will be produced by Square anytime soon.
The reason I really liked the game is that it takes you for a real ride - like a good movie it has action, suspense, time travel and a Romance that is quite realistic, actually.
I think a game should take hold of you and not let go. Final Fantasy VIII did that!
 
I love it my favorite Final Fantasy yet. The characters the GF system the junction system even the story is by gosh amazing. Yeah it has its draw backs just like every FF but its not as severe as Final Fantasy 2 or 3. Squall's character does have a little left to be desired same with Rinoas' but there chemistry makes the game without them there would be no Final Fantasy VIII
 
I love the game mainly cause the characters got out of the Mario Brothers look. Large heads and small bodies. Sad that IX went back to the bodies with the big heads and small bodies again. Have to admit the bosses lost some challenge when you max out Zell. Zell is so overpowered. But he is fun though. As to the people who did not like the story. The story actually has a lot of depth. In fact it takes a few times playing before you really understand the storyline. The storyline is basically the fight to earn existence.
 
I love this game. Essentially I
say its my favourite of the series. I read through a bit of the posts here, and
noticed people mentioned they hate it based on "lack of depth" in
characters. Which I find odd since I felt it had great development. The characters
were the drive of this story.

*PLOT SPOILER AHEAD*


I find people tend to pigeon hole Squall for example, as he was right within
the first few hours of gameplay. He is cold, stoic, and has dealt with trauma
in his youth, he also is suffering from abandonment issues. However as the game continues
Squall evolves, he comes into his own. He is pinned with the leadership
role, so he HAS to learn to trust his companions, and as they go he does.
Eventually when Rinoa is unconscious, he is so distraught because regardless of
keeping his guard up, she got to him in a way he can't ignore. His
friends have been supportive, and accepting of his more quiet nature,
and by the end of the game he is a strong confident leader, very much changed
from start to finish. Which I think alot of people forget. Dissidia didn't help
either portraying him as he is in the first hours of gameplay. Other characters
evolve to, and have depth to why they all have their own idiosyncrasies.

Admittingly the plotline is odd, but I feel it was more of a device to provide conflict and drive character development then anything else. But I love it 100% through anyways lol

 
Have been playing through FFX recently, which has always been my second favourite FF behind VIII - I've taken on a whole new appreciation of X thanks to the remaster, but tbh, I still adore VIII the most.

Whilst I've thoroughly enjoyed replaying X in all its gorgeous HD glory, I'd kill to have this same treatment applied to VIII, along with an audio track.

Only hope that the FFX remaster is a great success and SE might be prompted to think about remastering some of the earlier games.
 
It isn't my favorite FF, rather, probably it is the FF that I have appreciated less, but I don't hate it.

However I should play again this game to take a final opinion, because in Italy FF8 is considered "the best FF game ever made" and sometimes "the best game ever made" (this is due to the fact that FF8 is the first final fantasy that is been translated in Italian and this bias hasn't benefited my gaming experience ^^"
 
Love it very much. I'm playing even to this day. I really love the card game and I'm getting a better grip of the junction system.
 
Love it.

My first FF game I was a complete newbie to RPGs in general let alone FF and I got around to loving it after battling with it first.
I only bought it second hand originally cos I liked the cover and the game made me fall in love with to the point these days where FF music is always playing in my head when at work.:boogie:

I don't get the hate Squall gets maybe its cos im irish and we like to moan (the weather's always too hot or too cold it's never nice or if it is we are broke or something)so the whole whining thing meh I don't get it I remember finding characters like Zidane and Tidus annoyingly cheery. I'd much rather be stuck in a room with Squall or Cloud and their "whining" than Tidus or Zidane at other end of the spectrum.:monsmash:

Yeah Junctioning and draw magic weren't perfectly balanced but it was what you made of it draw was only necessary for acquiring GFs in boss fights. You spent a lot more time collecting items with refine abilities to get magic otherwise. I guess I just adored the world and the setting and yes there are some cheesy moments in it but ive seen cheesier ff10 & 10-2 show how cheesy it can be between ott girlish banter and weird lets go team team talks with the zanarkand abes. :facepaw: For me the battle system was most enjoyable aspect. The music was spot on in particularly the boss music best ever in the series always got me pumped up and with the screen splitting in 2. I just adored the world and setting of it I know I have rose tinted glasses :sup:on cos it was my first but i have no problem admitting it.

If it was rereleased again there are a few changes I would make to it its not perfect but I feel it just suffers from been the FF after FF7. If FF9 was released before 8 as FF8 it would have been the one getting the hate because it was no FF7 to people who played that game first.
 
VIII is one of my favorite FFs. i agree with another poster that said it takes some getting used to. my first time through I barely had a grasp on the weapon and junction system, but on subsequent playthroughs i realized how deep, customizable, and fun it could be.

i agree that the characters aren't as interesting as those found in some other FFs, but doesn't mean that they're uninteresting either.

overall i just really like the atmosphere and world it presents. one of the better soundtracks imo as well.
 
Don't get me wrong, FF8 isn't that bad of a game, because I've found myself playing it through a few times... but when put beside other FF games like FF, FF7, FF6, it really is reduced to a tedious and sour pile of turd.

The simple fact is, if you have to "force" a game on yourself just to like it, it's not that good of a game. A good game should have you hooked within a few hours of playing it... NOT a few playthroughs.

Here are some paramount issues

#1 : The Junction system is tedious, complicated, and uninteresting. Functionality wise it gives the illusion that it's highly customizable, but honestly, if you strip it down to just mechanics, the Materia/Slot system allowed far more customization and "effect synergy". The junction system simply just lets you pick which stats are enhanced base on what magic you have to work with. In fact, in a lot of ways, it inhibits personalization because of that limitation.

Face it, the junction system just sucks overall.

#2 : The card games rules spreading and abolishing system is complete tedious and time consuming garbage. But I'll cover that in the next point.

#3 : Your first playthrough is pretty much guaranteed to be self-game-breaking if you don't follow walkthroughs word for word.
-If you miss out on drawing GF's, you're screwed until disc 4.
-If you accidentally spread too many rules, you have to do countless hours of abolishing and spreading just to make the game not broken to play anymore [I'm looking at you "Same" and "Random"], let alone the further work it takes to make it fun to play again.
-If you don't keep a backup save before you ram into Lunatic Pandora, then you're completely screwed in terms of farming cards for items or drawing certain important magicks like Ultima. There's no going back, you work with what you got at that point and judging by how hard Ultimecia is the first time around, what you got is probably not enough. That's why most people that get to her never beat her then never play this game again.
-Let's not forget the game-breaking bug that poofs your Ragnarok if you land it too close to a town.

Face it, no game should punish you indefinitely, by breaking itself, for not being aware of such things. Your first playthrough really sucks and that's the mark of a bad game.

#4 : The story-line is corny... but even more importantly is ridiculous and hardly makes any sense. For instance, in disc one, Rinoa shows no interest in Squall and in fact virtually drools at the subject of Seifer. Suddenly disc 2, Seifer is non-existent to her and she's madly in love with squall. The garden starts flying, Squall somehow survives a fatal blow to the chest at the end of disc one with no explanation of how and no scars or even mention of it afterwards, there's no motivating plot for Seifer to keep plowing forward the way he does for Ultimecia, Squall is an immature, callous, and unlikeable character, the whole uncanny "everyone is from the same orphanage" plot, Squall suddenly goes from "Just made it to SeeD" to "I run this place now" with Cid not really giving any explanation on why someone else wouldn't have been a better candidate or why he even stepped down in the first damn place... I could go on and on and on.

Face it: The characters suck, the plot doesn't make sense unless you subscribe to the "Squall is dead" theory [In which case, Squall is an even more unlikable narcissist, and his relationship with Rinoa is fake, therefor it's spoiled anyways], and the love story between Squall and Rinoa is corny and lacking any sort of real compatibility.

FF8 is a decent game to play if you already know what you're doing and like Triple Triad a lot. Otherwise, it's a steaming pile of garbage.
 
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