FFVIII : Love It Or Hate It?

Love it or Hate it?

  • Total voters
    441
Like many others, this was my first ACTUAL FF game. I watched my older cousin play FFVII for hours and really enjoyed it, but never got that into it. Then one day I picked FFVIII up at the store and immediately fell in love. That was it for me.

It was the first game I've ever beaten, and in all honesty I don't think I would be as into video games as I am if it wasn't for this game. I absolutely adore it.

Just thought I'd put my two cents in. =)
 
Wow...I'm quite surprised to see so many people love it. I get so f**king tired of VII lovers dissing it. It is such a great game. Squall is way cooler than Cloud and the story was brilliant except maybe the orphanage scene. Nobuo did the best for the music on it. The time travel-esque story added to the depth of the game. I loved the characters and they were more relatable than most games make. And, I want to marry Squall........I wish he were real :(

PS: I love all the FFs except XII. That was a terrible game X(
 
I really enjoyed playing this game. :-) One thing that I love about the game is the junctioning. Sure it may take sometime to get magic but hey, it was outside the box. I love [most] of the characters and fell in love with the game shortly. Fun game imo. :)
 
Still remember when i bought it quite a few years back, i was psyched mostly beacuse i loved FFVII (which was my first FF).
FFVIII puts together a deadly combination, an easy to unserstand system (Junction), a super interesting (altough sometimes confusing) story-line and realistic character design (which maybe a let down for some, not for me though), all set in a futuristic world. The backstories of each character are also pretty good and that's and important plus IMO (*bashes FFXII*).

I'm a fan of every aspect of it, of course it's not a perfect game but it's briliant nonetheless.
 
I Simply love this game, everything about it draws me in, the characters expecially sephie, zell, rinoa and squall the way they act just reminds me so much of real life friends but that was not why i loved it but it meant i could relate slightly. :)

The whole way the game was brought out was brilliant, the cut scenes pulled you in from the set go, the characters made you feel for them from the start even with the bad guys you could not help but like them too in one sense or feel sorry for them in another, seifer for instance sometimes i liked him, hated him and then downright felt sorry for him because he solely really wanted a place to fit in.

The way they all was linked throughout the game was a nice touch because even when at first they just seemed to be random encounters as you went through the game you found out they was linked through either parents, gardens or the past. I loved the way they slowly brought out those past memories in one scene i liked that closeness.

Plus with all the other ffs i had prior to this there seemed to be one bad guy throughout and you had to kill him in different forms and you knew right from the start he was who you needed to kill in the end. With this game the bad guys kept changing form and the end boss was something entirely different to the first one you faced and i thought that was a nice touch which they continued with 9 in a strange way also.

The only thing which i did find annoying from the game was the whole chocobo scene. Each ff has a strong chocobo line through it and after playing 7 and breeding them i really hoped for something similar in this game and sadly i was slightly dissapointed. thats the only thing which annoyed me xD
 
Love it.
In my opinion one of the best FF games of the series, and unlike some say, I don't think it was massively overshadowed by FF7. I like the characters and the storyline, and although the materia system was probably my favourite from every game, the juctioning system is also very good.
The game is much more detailed than those before it and I prefer the futuristic world to the more old style of IX and X, I loved the fact that you could actually complete the game quite easily without having to level, and when I found out you could avoid random encounters completely Diablos was always acquired as soon as you got the lamp on my following playthroughs.
I also quite like the ability system whereby a GF learns an ability rather than a character, and then that ability is able to be transferred between characters, as once I choose a team I tend to stick with those characters, but at points you are forced to change teams, and this choice to transfer abilities saved me a number of times.
 
Last edited:
For me, this game is right there in the middle. There are aspects that I love and aspects that I hate about it. For instance, I love the gameplay and the beautiful, urbanized world. Even the story, though not good on its execution, had some nice concepts and unique charm into it.

On the other hand, I absolutely despise most of the characters (bad anime cliches and characterizations do not make interesting characters for me, sorry) and plot twists (that orphanage flashback nearly made me give up on this game). They are just stupid. Honestly, there was one point in the story that I started feeling as if it was insulting my inteligence, which isn't saying much.

That being said, surprisingly, it was one of the games that I most enjoyed playing in the series. Perhaps the fact that the locations and mechanisms of this world striked me as being great and the battle system as being complex and long (that's not a complaint in any form, I actually prefer my games that way) made up for all the bad things going on in FF8.

Houdini Splicer said:
Can't stand FFVIII. I couldn't relate to any of the characters even a little bit. There was just something about them that I found...insufferable. Selphie made me want to rip my hair out, Quistis was so boring I forgot she existed most of the time, I always associate Irvine with the word 'pussy'(I actually try not to...but it's like it's automatic now...whoops), Squall wasn't emo, he was just an anti-social little bitch and Rinoa was a spoiled little brat with daddy issues.

Zell...he didn't really irritate me...so he can live I suppose.


One thing that also made me insane was the bastardization of Seifer. Seifer was an asshole and obviously had some superiority issues, there is no question about that, but because he went against the grain and didn't want to be another boring little piss-ant, he was made out to be just plain 'evil'. I honestly could relate to Seifer more than anyone. I don't fucking blame him for wanting to be Edea's Knight or wanting to piss Squall off. I'd take Seifer any day of the week over Squall. At least he had actual dreams and not a pre-programmed personality.

Yes, I am a Seifer fangirl, and it pisses me off that one of my fave FF characters ever is from one of my least liked games :/

Which leads me to what may be one of the stupidest plot twists I've ever been a witness to. I totally 100% agree that there are plot holes and plot twists in most FF's and general RPG's, but for each one of the main characters to conveniently forget that they all grew up in the same orphanage together? Bullshit. I don't care if it's the GF's fault or not, the likelihood of each and everyone of them to forget that entire stretch of time is absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't take anything that happened seriously after that.
Click to expand...

That just summarizes how I feel about the characters and story of this game. I agree with everything, especially with what you said about Seifer.
 
I'm enjoying it so far, i'm glad i bought it off the PSN store. I finally understand the junction system, thanks to reading some guides my party is maxed out in stats and all. I'm on disc 3 at the moment, haven't gone back to finish the game yet because i recently got tekken 6 and a number of other games.
 
It's my favourite FF game. The hate for this game is overated, The haters are the most vocal.

The battle system is horrible - it's just GF GF GF GF heal GF GF GF
Click to expand...
someone seriously has not played it properly, you dont really need to summon GF's at all, junctioning properly and abusing limit breaks is faster.
 
Yeah I am not even very far into the game but I can say for sure it is very good so far.

Mod Edit: Can you please try and expand a bit on your post? Tell us what you like about the game so far. Thanks. :)
 
I just played this game after more than 6 years of not playing it, and I have to say that it's not what I remember it to be. The story now seems to be contrived for the most part and laugh inducing. Love, friendship and whatever, what's that? The story itself is not very clear. It had me wondering why
Ellone has that ability to send people back and how exactly does she do that?
. Or why
only Balamb uses GF? Does that mean Balamb students are cheating? And why aren't Galbadia and Trabia students taught to use GF too?

The battle system is okay, but I'm hardly crazy about it. I'm not too crazy for some of the soundtracks of this game, especially Eyes On Me. Can't stand it. It's worse than Suteki Da Ne, although still better than the vocal soundtrack from FFX-2.

I couldn't stand any of the six main characters. Maybe Squall, but only for the first few minutes because he was not all "love and friendship" and he was yet to show his angstiness (is that even a word?) Edea and Seifer are cool, though. And I wish we could know more about the plot. There's too many unexplained occurences.

One thing that I really like from this game is the Triple Triad mini-game. Best FF mini-game, in my opinion.
 
between the boring characters, the cheesy 4th grader lines that are popped out every few minutes, and the BORING, I mean BORING spell stuff, in my opinion its bad to the point that the only other Final Fantasy worse than it was X-2.
 
its one of my favorite Final fantasy's and one of the first ones i ever got to beat so it became extra special to me. it also has my favorite male character squall in it so its extra awesome lol. but the junction system is useful when you dont want to use your stores of magic you can cast right from drawing it. very helpful.
 
i love 8 its excellent i think it has an excellent story and an excellent game play. I bet most of that 10% of the people that hate it have'nt beat it or are just to far up any other final fantasy to realise that there is other good ones.
 
I played this game when I had my Playstation back in the 8th grade.

To me, personally, Final Fantasy VIII was a high disappointment and is the weakest Final Fantasy Title in the series. I absolutely found myself abhoring just about every aspect. I played through the entirety of this game and was completely annoyed by the Draw & Junctioning System and the horrible plot devices that try to hold the storyline together. The only thing that I honestly enjoyed about the game was the musical score (Which has to be one of the best that Uematsu has composed for an installment) and the CGI graphics at the time which were really groundbreakingly beautiful, especially the ending which was simply nothing short of amazing.

I have had the fortunate opportunity to play through each title of Final Fantasy starting from the first one on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, following up to the Latest 13th installment (Which I honestly think was a very refreshingly different experience that was well needed in the series). So for me, things started to change for better or worse with the Final Fantasy VII after Amano stepped down as Art Director for Final Fantasy projects.

Noting that each title is very different, There is something that I could not overcome with this particular title. The sheer lack of difficulty in this title compared to many others is surprising, as all you honestly need to do is spam a GF without even using the draw system and you can pretty much surpass everything up to the Ultemecia's Castle, where you might have some trouble if you haven't upgraded your weapons.

The thing that jarred most with me was the Orphanage scene -- terrible terrible plot device. It completely destroyed the plot for me with no redemption to follow within the storyline. (L'cie and Fal'cie made more sense to me than this Orphanage scene ever did) The more interesting paradox of Ultemecia and Rinoa is derived from hinting but never chased. I personally can suffer through Annoying Voiceovers, linear corridors (Final Fantasy X? How linear and successful are you exactly??), and cliche character archetypes (Because we can't see Cloud Strife in Squall Leonhart...) than have to ever sit through something like this in another Final Fantasy title ever again.

For those of you who might not remember -- here's a video to refresh your memory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adO8ZPAMugs

For me, Final Fantasy has always been about the story (The storyline in FFXI is much more interesting imho). Where the story fails, usually gameplay would make up for -- which is definitely not the case in Final Fantasy VIII where the draw system is horribly reminiscent of one of the factors that make Final Fantasy I on the NES slightly nightmarish (I only have how many charges of Cure??), not to mention that your statistics are increased by the power and amount of magic that the GF allows you to junction just really didn't make the fighting scene entertaining or any more strategic.

What Final Fantasy VIII lacks in storyline, difficulty, and gameplay mechanics it does make up for in originality, musical composition, and very impressive art direction; the storyline and gameplay just flat kill the entirety for me.

I honestly think they should of actually made a movie out of this one and cut out the Orphanage scene. It would of sold better than Spirits Within.
 
a few years ago when I first played VIII, I didn't really enjoy it that much.

I decided to download it to my PSP when it was available on the Playstaton Store, and you know what? I LOVED IT.

the main thing that made this a great game was the characters; each one had their own personality and importance, and they all changed as the game went on.

the way Squall changes through the game is brilliant; he get's kinder as he starts to love Rinoa, and he becomes more open and supportive to others as he realises his potential as a leader. I didn't show as much appreciation towards these kinds of things when I was young. Squall is probably the most realistic main character ever in the FF series, I think we all have something that we can relate with him.

I recommend all of you to replay any old FF's lying around; I'm certain that your opinion will have changed from when you were much younger, since you should understand more about human emotions and stuff like that.

the OST is in the top 3 FF soundtracks for me (Fisherman's Horizon is just fantastic). the battle system I really didn't mind, even when I first played it, and I think people disliked it because they didn't completely understand the system? the key was to get stronger whilst maintainig a low level. the people bragging about reacing lv.100 in VIII are idiots, it makes all the enemies lv.100 too making it much harder.

I thought junctioning was no different to materia in FFVII, but much more versatile. drawing was good because i still think it's weird that a person has 'mp' inside them to allow casting of all those magics they know. it's good because it makes the characters themselves not very strong; they only become super strong by the help of GF's.

then of course, the card game was brilliant. plus being good at it meant you could get stronger magics and items by modifying good cards.

there's a lot more I would talk about, but it's a bit complicating and long to just write out. so I'll leave it here.
 
Loved it.
Was my first FF.
My brother in law lent me his PS1 when he and my sister were going on their honeymoon.
I think I spent the whole two weeks played that game.
Then immediately went out to by myself a PS1 and a copy of FF7,8 and 9
 
I understand that there are many reasons to hate this game but I personally don't. Out of the three PS1 installments VIII is the weakest in my opinion. I think why I can't get myself to dislike this game despite its flaws is the music and nostalgia? Meh, anyways. Like it, don't hate it.
 
People really love to hate this game, I personally love every aspect of it from the introvert protagonist all the way down to the junction system (ok maybe the drawing was a bit tedious but every game has thier minor flaws, it adds to the charm) The GFs were incredible and played into the story well. The story and characters are phenominal with the intro cutscene being the best introduction to a game ive seen in a while. The music was breathtaking as well as the 2d rendering. It had the ability to really capture the moment(s). The game overall (i feel) deserves a little more respect. Not to say "YOU HAVE TO LIKE THIS GAME" but you have to admit this is an awesome game lol jk. But seriously take a closer look and i'm sure you'll find something you like enough about it not to absolutely hate it....if anything just get it to play Triple Triad its well worth the money in the side game alone

Happy Gaming!
 
imisstheoldffgames said:
i love 8 its excellent i think it has an excellent story and an excellent game play. I bet most of that 10% of the people that hate it have'nt beat it or are just to far up any other final fantasy to realise that there is other good ones.
Click to expand...

lol its nice to meet someone who doesnt burn it to the ground and complain about having to junction fire to do so
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top